Batman Beyond #5: OK, so, one of the challenges of reading this series is that, except what I gleaned from watching a few episodes of the TV show, I really know next to nothing about the universe of "Batman Beyond." My guess is that I'm supposed to know who the villain on the last page of the issue was, why Dana's brother was in prison (and why his creepy comment about being glad to have returned was so ominous), and who exactly Paxton Powers is/was. However, I don't know any of those things. I'm tempted to do a bunch of Internet research, but I think I'll wind up just being confused, since it's still unclear what elements of previous "Batman Beyond" works -- from the TV show to the previous comics -- Beechen is using. However, despite not entirely following all the ins-and-outs, I still thoroughly enjoyed this issue. Beechen has a great ear for dialogue, and he gives us a really great version of a cranky Bruce Wayne. I hope he gives us some background next issue without falling too far on the "super-villain explaining his grand plan while our hero is perched precariously over a ravine" side of such divides. At any rate, I'm excited to see where this plot goes.
Dark Sun #4: Our rag-tag team of (sort-of) heroes gets one more step closer to the Tomb of Ianto in this issue. Over all, it's a pretty solid issue, with Irvine doing a particularly great job of quietly building the suspense for the first few pages as the team makes it way through the too quiet tombs. However, a lot of the details of the world are unclear to me, and we're far enough into the series that it's becoming distracting. For example, Rubi tells us that she can sense Haskyr, since he's a fellow member of the Veiled Alliance; but, when we first met them in issue #2, they appeared to be unaware of the other's connection to the Alliance. Can members only sense other members when they're revealed? Moreover, the only real information we've gotten on the Veiled Alliance is in the recap page (paging pet peeve #2), which reveals they're an underground group of mages trying to restore Athas to its former glory. Irvine probably doesn't have enough time to flesh out these details, which is a shame. The biggest drawback to the issue itself is the art. I normally like Bergting's pencils, but it feels a little rushed in this issue. At times, it was hard to tell who was saying what to whom and the action sequences were somewhat confusing to follow. The last page, however, is great, thanks to Ronda Pattison's colors; after four issues of a coloring us a bleak, desolate world, we suddenly get a light, green vista, and you realize how much restraint we've seen on the colors over the course of the series. I'll be sad to see the series end next issue, just as we're seeing some hope sprouting in this really sad world.
Dark Sun #5: I'm sad to see this series end. I feel like Irvine has left us with enough material for a bang-up ongoing series. First, he leaves several mysteries unresolved here, almost all of them dealing with Rubi and the Veiled Alliance. When she first appears in issue #2, she doesn't seem to understand the important of the amulet she gave to Grudvik and can't tell that Haskyr is a fellow member of the Alliance. However, in this issue, it's clear that she's known much more than she's let the others think. For example, she knows that Ianto's tomb holds something called Ianto's seed. If she knew that, I kind of figure she knew the key she gave to Grudvik opened the tomb. If so, why did she give it him in the first place? Also, her sudden departure also raises all sorts of questions. If she could form a portal to leave the tomb, why couldn't she just use that portal to get them into the tomb? Who's this militia that will be chasing her? Where is she going? Second, Grudvik and Aki make a really compelling team, with Grudvik's quiet stoicism and Aki's quick wit. I hope this title sold well enough for an ongoing series or at least another mini-series. I'm going to keep it on my pull list just in case something appears one day!
Fear Itself #2: OK, this issue is better than the first one, so maybe this series won't be terrible. Odin brings the Asgardian gods to what appears to be New Asgard, preparing for battle, and the Serpent assembles his warriors, sending them into the world to wreck havoc and spread fear. Meanwhile, we see the heroes try to get a grip on events as they happen, so they don't really do much this issue, though I'm sure that will change shortly. I was kind of hard on Odin in the last issue, mostly because I don't read Thor comics so I'm not entirely sure what his deal is. But, he's a bit more clear here on the fact that the gods will be lucky to survive a war with the Serpent and don't have time to worry about Midgard. As tempting as it is, I'm trying to keep a handle on my collector obsessivism, because I really have no desire to spend hundreds of dollars chasing down all the tie-in issues, particularly since Marvel did such a poor job of making them count in "Chaos War." But, it would be useful if Marvel produced some sort of "core book" reading list. At any rate, I can't say it's worth $3.99 an issue, but at least it's not terrible so far. (How's that for a back-handed compliment?)
Fear Itself: The Home Front #2: This issue is pretty forgettable, if not downright bad. The Speedball story is OK, but, unless Gage really throws us for a loop, it seems pretty clear that Ms. Sharpe is going to come to an understanding about Speedball by the end of this story. We'll probably all hug. It's just starting to seem a little pat, and we're only two issues into the storyline. Otherwise, it's fine. Just like last issue, Gage adroitly presents the anxiety and fear that I imagine regular people would feel in a world of super-humans. We don't get an insight into those feelings often, and Gage does a really great job with them. The other stories are actually pretty terrible. I still have no idea how Jimmy Woo and his "Agents of Atlas" are. The story is basically a post-script to events we originally saw in the "Fear Itself" prelude, where the Red Skrull attempts to track down Skadi's hammer. The dialogue is awful, the characters are wooden, and the plot seems irrelevant. We then have a one-page "Purple Man" story (again, who?) that left me confused, which, really, given that it's a one-page story, is an accomplishment. Finally, we have a totally random story about Liz Allan, Harry Osborn's ex-wife, that seems to screw up continuity, since Liz says they just visited Harry in New York, but I'm pretty sure Harry fled New York after the events of the "Origin of the Species" arc in "Amazing Spider-Man." If next month's issue is as irrelevant and predictable as this month's, I'm pretty sure I'm canceling this series and saving myself $3.99 a month.
X-Men Legacy #248 (Age of X Epilogue): This issue actually clears up some questions left lingering from "Age of X," particularly who Revenant (aka Phoenix) was. We learn here it was Rachel Summers, who got caught in the event while trying to connect with Professor X telepathically, inadvertently rendering her mind separate from her body. I was excited to see Rachel here. Havok and Marvel Girl are two of my favorite X-Men, reminding me of the awesome issues in the early and mid-200s from my youth. They've been gone WAY too long and, hopefully, this issue sets in motion their return. Carey cleverly uses "Age of X" to move along some long-stalled plots here, such as giving Legion more control over his powers (again) and addressing Gambit and Rogue's relationship problems (which I feel like have just been left to linger for a long, long time). I'm hopeful that we actually get to see Legion start on the road of playing a role as something other than his usual "greatest mutant threat alive." Also, I'm sure the psychological effects on the X-Men of "Age of X" are going to be totally forgotten soon, but it's interesting seeing Carey not completely ignore them immediately. I still find Carey's writing somewhat...overwrought, making "X-Men Legacy" a book that I read more from obligation than enjoyment. But, even if I don't exactly emotionally connect with his characters here the way I do with Gillen's in "Uncanny," Carey definitely does some interesting things here. I actually find myself anticipating the next issue for the first time, possibly ever, in this title.
Dark Sun #4: Our rag-tag team of (sort-of) heroes gets one more step closer to the Tomb of Ianto in this issue. Over all, it's a pretty solid issue, with Irvine doing a particularly great job of quietly building the suspense for the first few pages as the team makes it way through the too quiet tombs. However, a lot of the details of the world are unclear to me, and we're far enough into the series that it's becoming distracting. For example, Rubi tells us that she can sense Haskyr, since he's a fellow member of the Veiled Alliance; but, when we first met them in issue #2, they appeared to be unaware of the other's connection to the Alliance. Can members only sense other members when they're revealed? Moreover, the only real information we've gotten on the Veiled Alliance is in the recap page (paging pet peeve #2), which reveals they're an underground group of mages trying to restore Athas to its former glory. Irvine probably doesn't have enough time to flesh out these details, which is a shame. The biggest drawback to the issue itself is the art. I normally like Bergting's pencils, but it feels a little rushed in this issue. At times, it was hard to tell who was saying what to whom and the action sequences were somewhat confusing to follow. The last page, however, is great, thanks to Ronda Pattison's colors; after four issues of a coloring us a bleak, desolate world, we suddenly get a light, green vista, and you realize how much restraint we've seen on the colors over the course of the series. I'll be sad to see the series end next issue, just as we're seeing some hope sprouting in this really sad world.
Dark Sun #5: I'm sad to see this series end. I feel like Irvine has left us with enough material for a bang-up ongoing series. First, he leaves several mysteries unresolved here, almost all of them dealing with Rubi and the Veiled Alliance. When she first appears in issue #2, she doesn't seem to understand the important of the amulet she gave to Grudvik and can't tell that Haskyr is a fellow member of the Alliance. However, in this issue, it's clear that she's known much more than she's let the others think. For example, she knows that Ianto's tomb holds something called Ianto's seed. If she knew that, I kind of figure she knew the key she gave to Grudvik opened the tomb. If so, why did she give it him in the first place? Also, her sudden departure also raises all sorts of questions. If she could form a portal to leave the tomb, why couldn't she just use that portal to get them into the tomb? Who's this militia that will be chasing her? Where is she going? Second, Grudvik and Aki make a really compelling team, with Grudvik's quiet stoicism and Aki's quick wit. I hope this title sold well enough for an ongoing series or at least another mini-series. I'm going to keep it on my pull list just in case something appears one day!
Fear Itself #2: OK, this issue is better than the first one, so maybe this series won't be terrible. Odin brings the Asgardian gods to what appears to be New Asgard, preparing for battle, and the Serpent assembles his warriors, sending them into the world to wreck havoc and spread fear. Meanwhile, we see the heroes try to get a grip on events as they happen, so they don't really do much this issue, though I'm sure that will change shortly. I was kind of hard on Odin in the last issue, mostly because I don't read Thor comics so I'm not entirely sure what his deal is. But, he's a bit more clear here on the fact that the gods will be lucky to survive a war with the Serpent and don't have time to worry about Midgard. As tempting as it is, I'm trying to keep a handle on my collector obsessivism, because I really have no desire to spend hundreds of dollars chasing down all the tie-in issues, particularly since Marvel did such a poor job of making them count in "Chaos War." But, it would be useful if Marvel produced some sort of "core book" reading list. At any rate, I can't say it's worth $3.99 an issue, but at least it's not terrible so far. (How's that for a back-handed compliment?)
Fear Itself: The Home Front #2: This issue is pretty forgettable, if not downright bad. The Speedball story is OK, but, unless Gage really throws us for a loop, it seems pretty clear that Ms. Sharpe is going to come to an understanding about Speedball by the end of this story. We'll probably all hug. It's just starting to seem a little pat, and we're only two issues into the storyline. Otherwise, it's fine. Just like last issue, Gage adroitly presents the anxiety and fear that I imagine regular people would feel in a world of super-humans. We don't get an insight into those feelings often, and Gage does a really great job with them. The other stories are actually pretty terrible. I still have no idea how Jimmy Woo and his "Agents of Atlas" are. The story is basically a post-script to events we originally saw in the "Fear Itself" prelude, where the Red Skrull attempts to track down Skadi's hammer. The dialogue is awful, the characters are wooden, and the plot seems irrelevant. We then have a one-page "Purple Man" story (again, who?) that left me confused, which, really, given that it's a one-page story, is an accomplishment. Finally, we have a totally random story about Liz Allan, Harry Osborn's ex-wife, that seems to screw up continuity, since Liz says they just visited Harry in New York, but I'm pretty sure Harry fled New York after the events of the "Origin of the Species" arc in "Amazing Spider-Man." If next month's issue is as irrelevant and predictable as this month's, I'm pretty sure I'm canceling this series and saving myself $3.99 a month.
X-Men Legacy #248 (Age of X Epilogue): This issue actually clears up some questions left lingering from "Age of X," particularly who Revenant (aka Phoenix) was. We learn here it was Rachel Summers, who got caught in the event while trying to connect with Professor X telepathically, inadvertently rendering her mind separate from her body. I was excited to see Rachel here. Havok and Marvel Girl are two of my favorite X-Men, reminding me of the awesome issues in the early and mid-200s from my youth. They've been gone WAY too long and, hopefully, this issue sets in motion their return. Carey cleverly uses "Age of X" to move along some long-stalled plots here, such as giving Legion more control over his powers (again) and addressing Gambit and Rogue's relationship problems (which I feel like have just been left to linger for a long, long time). I'm hopeful that we actually get to see Legion start on the road of playing a role as something other than his usual "greatest mutant threat alive." Also, I'm sure the psychological effects on the X-Men of "Age of X" are going to be totally forgotten soon, but it's interesting seeing Carey not completely ignore them immediately. I still find Carey's writing somewhat...overwrought, making "X-Men Legacy" a book that I read more from obligation than enjoyment. But, even if I don't exactly emotionally connect with his characters here the way I do with Gillen's in "Uncanny," Carey definitely does some interesting things here. I actually find myself anticipating the next issue for the first time, possibly ever, in this title.
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