Astonishing X-Men #16: I'll be honest: I got lost here and didn't try all too hard to find my way home. At some point Bastion apparently implanted some sort of code in Alex's brain. Alex agrees to give it to the Reavers so they can find his X-Men and, for them, Donald Pierce. But, it turns out they lied to him that they needed it to find the X-Men: they always had the ability to communicate with Pierce. But, with Alex's code, they can now control Sentinels somehow? It would all be easier to process this confusion if I also didn't have to look at Greg Land's porn poses all issue. I mean, if you're going to give me a porn pose, Greg, at least give me a porny Alex. Maybe then I could get over the meh-ness of this entire enterprise.
Batman #57: Every time Tom King manages to get himself in my good graces he does something to fall from them again. Bruce wordlessly fights KGBeast here in a battle we're supposed to feel is climatic but doesn't look any more serious than Bruce's average back-alley encounter in Gotham. But, it all goes downhill from there. King dubiously asserts that both Bruce and KGBeast insisted their fathers read the same fable to them as children, about a hare, squirrel, wolf, pig, and fox who travel to a church but fall into a pit along the way. King spends a lot of time on the fable, dedicating several pages to Daniel's recreation of the storybook. In the story, the fox tricks the pig and wolf into eating the hare and squirrel with him, then the pig into eating the wolf with him, and then the pig into eating himself. But, the fox is still left in the hole. To me, the fable seems to teach the value of teamwork, as the animals never even try to escape the hole. But, King seems to view it as justifying Bruce using his grappling hook to break KGBeast's neck and leaving him to die in Siberia, his vengeance sated. Really? No editor was like, "Um, that doesn't seem very Batman-y of him?" I think King wants us to see how Bruce and KGBeast are still stuck down the proverbial hole, but I'm not honestly sure. It's just a fucking mess. Percy did great stuff with the aftermath of Dick getting shot in issue #55, but King just totally drops the ball here.
Nightwing #51: Putting aside the jarring change in artists, this issue is decent. It's not great, but it's not terrible. Detective Sapienza finds the burnt-out remains of Nightwing's HQ and eventually decides to put on the uniform to tackle the huge spike in crime that came with Dick's disappearance over the last four months. "Ric" is still driving his taxi, and he encounters Alfred at his bar. This sequence reminds me of "General Hospital," where amnesiac Jason Morgan only trusted one former member of his family; Alfred doesn't rub Ric the wrong way, the way Babs does. They have a civil enough conversation before Ric starts his shift. When he's carjacked, he's stunned to find his reflexes leave the would-be thief battered and broken on the ground. As much as I like this new direction, I loathe Scott Lobdell and worry he's now going to ruin Dick Grayson just like he ruined Jason Todd. [Sigh.]
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #311: This issue is great. Zdarsky's absence is less noticeable because Ryan does a great job showing us how disruptive Morlun's sudden attack on Peter is: we're all disoriented. Peter's been web-slinging all night, so he's really off his game when Morlun attacks. It's a nice touch, because it's a reminder superheroes don't always get to pick when their most powerful nemesis attacks them. Morlun's attack happens essentially in real time: from the moment he attacks to the end of the issue is probably only ten minutes or so. Frigeri does a great job of showing the frantic nature of this fight: his fight scenes are propulsive. He trades off some detail for energy, and it suits this story perfectly. So far, so good, "Spider-geddon."
Thor #6: I haven't said a lot about the last few issues mostly because they've been pretty solid. Among many unexpected developments, the revelation that the glowing green worm driving Ego the Necroworld insane was Loki was awesome. I laughed when he stood revealed on the last page, impressed Aaron had pulled off something so obvious and yet at the same time unexpected. Based on the young girl's comments at the end of this issue, Loki now stands poised to destroy all existence, with Doom, Logan, and Thor all dead. But, Aaron is also telling a larger story, as generations of Earthlings live with a cracking and shaking world, adjusting to the battle between Doom and Thor at their core. If that's not a metaphor for our times, I don't know what is.
Also Read: Darth Vader #22; Dragon Age: Deception #1; Mr. and Mrs X #4; The New World #4; X-Men: Black - Mystique #1
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