Astonishing X-Men #14: OK, last issue might’ve been slow, but this issue is pretty great. Rosenberg leaves you feeling like a fly on the wall as he focuses on the banter, conversation, and dynamics between the characters. We get an incredibly sexy, bearded Colossus sounding like Colossus should sound in my head canon (as he rarely does in other authors' hands). We get Dazzler desperate to leave her middling tour only to discover the “team” actually came for Forge because he was on the hit list that Beast found in one of the Reavers’ processing units. We have Warpath joining the team under orders from Kitty. Last but not least, we’ve got zombie Banshee, who...doesn’t seem to be doing so well. Rosenberg makes it clear that they’re all there for redemption, even if they maybe wished for different teammates for that journey. But, rather than just use overwrought dialogue to exposit that information, Rosenberg uses witty banter to get there, such as Dazzler criticizing Alex for putting together a sausage party after she learns that he’s not there for her or Alex constantly having to explain that they’re not technically X-Men. It reminds me of Fraction’s run on “Uncanny X-Men,” which is high praise.
Batman #52: OK, I’m willing to buy the idea that someone framed Freeze by freezing the women’s brains after the coroner examined them. But, King will have to explain the coincidence of it being women exactly Freeze’s wife’s age who died at exactly the same time and of exactly the same problem. (I assume if you buy that Freeze is being framed, that could work.) I also guess that I can accept the idea of him preemptively preparing for a conflict with Batman, even if it violated his parole to do so. But, like the difficult woman on the jury, I just don’t buy that he continued to confess to the GCPD for days because he was scared of Batman. It’s here where Bruce is confusing “reasonable doubt” with any ol' doubt. Like, yes, in theory, space aliens could’ve caused Mount Vesuvius to explode and wipe out Pompeii. But, it's unlikely. “Reasonable” doubt means a believable double, and Bruce’s failing to convince me of his “doubt.”
Batman #52: OK, I’m willing to buy the idea that someone framed Freeze by freezing the women’s brains after the coroner examined them. But, King will have to explain the coincidence of it being women exactly Freeze’s wife’s age who died at exactly the same time and of exactly the same problem. (I assume if you buy that Freeze is being framed, that could work.) I also guess that I can accept the idea of him preemptively preparing for a conflict with Batman, even if it violated his parole to do so. But, like the difficult woman on the jury, I just don’t buy that he continued to confess to the GCPD for days because he was scared of Batman. It’s here where Bruce is confusing “reasonable doubt” with any ol' doubt. Like, yes, in theory, space aliens could’ve caused Mount Vesuvius to explode and wipe out Pompeii. But, it's unlikely. “Reasonable” doubt means a believable double, and Bruce’s failing to convince me of his “doubt.”
Captain America #2: I’m really excited about where Coates is going here, as he seems ready to take on a lot of sacred cows. Steve admits to himself that HYDRA took over the United States not just with a guy wearing his face but with a guy driven by his same need for people to see him as a man: Coates recalls how Kobik told him to be strong again. (We have echoes of "Avenging Spider-Man" #5 here.) It’s what drove Steve to volunteer for the Super-Soldier Program because he was afraid that he was going to be the only boy to remain a boy in the wake of the war. It’s a brilliant insight into Steve, giving him an honest-to-God weakness for possibly the first time. It’s also driving his need for redemption, as he’s unable to forgive himself as Sharon tells him that he needs to do. (Don’t we all, Sharon? Don’t we all?) It's why he’s made a deal with the Black Panther to take on the Nuke soldiers, despite Thunderbolt Ross telling him that he had to stop his unauthorized missions. But, Coates goes even one step further: he shows Steve marinating in the FACT Channel’s conspiracy theories about him, that he and the Supreme Commander are the same person. Ross alluded to the lack of trust that Washington now has in him, and Steve is obsessed with that absence. He’s obsessed with it just like the rest of us get obsessed over how people see us, unable to disconnect when we know we should. In other words, man, Coates is really on fire here.
Infinity Wars #1: Blah blah blah. Gamora hornswaggled Peter with a kiss and stole the Power Gem, somehow became Requiem in the day or so between that moment and the Infinity Watch meeting here, and demands the Soul Gem. She also allegedly kills Peter after saying nothing ever dies. Sure, OK. But, it’s really the timeframe that bothers me here. In “Infinity Countdown,” we saw Requiem force the dwarf to make her the sword, which we now know contains the Power Gem. I guess that it could’ve happened in the short timeframe we see here, but I thought it actually happened a long time ago. Also, in “Infinity Wars Prime” #1, Dr. Strange was still lying about possessing the Time Gem even though he called together the Infinity Watch at the end of “Infinity Countdown” #5. I guess in theory that it could all work sequentially, if you just assume the events of “Infinity Wars Prime” #1 happened before the end of “Infinity Countdown” #5. It just feels unnecessarily complicated, with Duggan skipping steps. (We also don’t learn why Iron Lad, and not Kang, came with Adam Warlock to the Infinity Watch meeting. But, that seems a minor concern at this point.) Also, Loki meets a version of himself from another universe who wields Mjolnir and talks about the “original” universe. Is he talking about the one before “Secret Wars?” I guess we’ll see.
Nightwing #47: This arc doesn’t wrap up nicely, and I totally dig that. Dick and Babs discover Cloke is really just Wyrm’s somewhat willing victim, as we learn that Wyrm approached him about getting revenge on the three men who shoved him in front of a subway train. But, we still don’t really know Wyrm’s plans. We know that he wants to ensnare Earth’s heroes in a “dark web" and that he thought that Dick was the perfect target given his extensive connections with other heroes. But, we don't know what he wants to do once he was them all in his web. Dick says that Wyrm is heading to Gotham next, though Percy doesn’t make it clear how Dick knows that. That said, I’d do the same thing if I were Wyrm. Making matters all the more confusing, Wyrm manages to pull Cloke through Babs’ phone before he can reveal much more information to the pair, making me wonder in what form we’re going to see him next.
Star Wars #52: C-3PO, Action Hero! I always love stories where Artoo and Threepio are the secret heroes of the Rebellion, and this one is no different. Han realizes that he can’t outmaneuver Vader long enough to pass Luke the message that the hangar doors will open if the ship is broadcasting a Rebel frequency. However, he notices that one of the cruisers is jettisoning loose escape pods, and it gives him the idea to fire Threepio in a pod at Luke's cruiser. Han maneuvers through the fire and rubble of the destroyed cruiser to lose Vader for a moment, and Threepio makes it to the cruiser. But, he’s forced to crawl his way to the airlock, where Luke finds him. He mentions that it isn’t in his programming to do all that, and Gillen is really making a larger point here, about how Threepio has exceeded his programming. He’s doing it for his friends, and, man, it made me cry, just as Luke naming his group of ships Rogue Squadron in honor of Jyn Erso did. This series just gets better and better.
X-Men: Gold #33: This issue serves as a coda to my complaints about “Batman” #50 and “X-Men Gold” #30, as Rachel breaks off her relationship with Kurt in order to process the realization that she almost killed everyone. She says she can’t do so as one-half a couple, again making it clear the editors and authors of Marvel Comics clearly break off relationships the minute anyone faces trouble. I just don't know what to do with that anymore.
X-Men: Gold Annual #2: In this annual, McGuire uses a story about a 14-year-old Kitty Pryde’s time at camp to underline the scapegoating problem that mutants face. Kitty returns to the camp to try to be normal, something she gets to feel when she reunites with her summer best friends. Later, looking for her missing phone, Kitty discovers that the junior counselors have been stealing people’s stuff for years, and she uses her powers to return the items to everyone. But, she goes one step further, scaring the counselors by pretending to be a ghost. The counselors tell everyone that they saw a real, live mutant, and anti-mutant hysteria takes over the camp. Kitty’s best friends out her as a “mutant sympathizer,” and she’s forced to meet Asher, one of the kids outside the popular clique to which she belonged. He’s also a mutant, and when they kiss he’s horrified, saying that breeding for people like them should be a crime. (Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren't we, kiddo?) Kitty’s friends eventually apologize, and she points out the junior counselors were humans and dangerous assholes (e.g., they pushed a girl in a wheelchair into the lake). But, McGuire makes his point here, that hate is irrational: her friends sort of agree, but it’s half-hearted. Asher’s self-hatred shows how deep this hatred runs, and Kitty is left realizing that maybe she doesn’t want to be normal after all.
Also Read: Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #22
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