Not-Very-New Comics: The April 17 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Tie Fighter #1:  One of the challenges that I've noticed "Star Wars" authors face is that they quickly need to make large casts of new characters into recognizable individuals.  Pretty much every title except the main one -- with its cast of instantly recognizable characters -- suffers from this problem to some extent.  Some authors eventually manage to develop the new characters into great ones:  Triple-Zero form "Doctor Aphra" is as much a part of the "Star Wars" mythos as Threepio in my mind.  Some authors don't:  I stopped getting "Poe Dameron" because I couldn't keep any members of Poe's squadron straight.  

Houser and her art team do a solid job here of identifying everyone right from the start.  By the end of the issue, I more or less recognized the main characters and knew how they fit into the larger story.  Houser's principal challenge is that they're interacting with a large set of other characters that comprise the Imperial forces.  (Thompson on "Star Wars:  Han Solo - Imperial Cadet" faced a similar problem.)  Every once in a while I was like, "Wait, who's that guy?  Is he one of the main characters?"

Houser is at her best when she's using the characters to tease out the culture of fear that permeates -- and, in fact, fuels -- the Empire.  Ganem has an academic bent, and he often notes that the Republic's representative system and subsequent political weaknesses led to the Rebellion.  But, his comrades -- particularly his girlfriend Zin -- warn him that even this sort of historical reflection is verboten in the Empire.  After all, nothing justifies the Rebellion.  Houser is really giving us one of our most in-depth explorations of this Imperial culture of fear, and I'm excited to see where she goes with it.

Uncanny X-Men #16:  Hopefully this issue is just a blip and not a sign of this series going off the rails.  But, Rosenberg is all over the place here.

The issue starts well, with Scott turning in MLF members Dragoness, Forearm, Samurai, and Strobe to Captain America.  But, Steve knows that he hasn't turned over Banshee, Dark Beast, and Hope, and Scott blithely lies to him that he didn't have them as prisoners.  But, Scott also makes a pretty compelling argument that Steve's version of "trust" feels like a one-way street, and Steve seems to agree, as he gives Scott a tip that later leads the team to Magneto.

In the meantime, Alex expresses frustration that Scott not only lied to Captain America but seems to be listening to Logan to the exclusion of everyone else.  Scott claims he's doing so because he knows Alex will always have his back, whereas Logan will always challenge him when he thinks that he's wrong.  Alex points out Scott may be overestimating his faith in him.  But, he also points out the hard truth -- that all the X-Men's leaders, including Scott, have made terrible decisions.  The dream is dead, and the School is gone.  

Scott takes this advice to heart, and it's here where it gets weird.  He spontaneously resigns from the leadership.  It's fine that Alex's argument so sways him, but it's...abrupt. Moreover, given that practically everyone on the team at this point has led another team, Dani convinces everyone to embrace direct democracy -- everyone gets a vote on what they do.  Given the history of in-fighting in the X-Men, everyone seems very optimistic this approach is going to work.  But, they go one step further when Magik, off panel, convinces everyone to invite Banshee and Hope to join the team.  I get why the X-Men would want Hope to be on their side, but I don't get why Hope would suddenly decide to join forces with the X-Men.  Isn't she a terrorist now?  Is she really OK with Scott just blithely turning over four members of her squad to the U.S. government, regardless of Scott telling Steve that he was responsible for anything that happened to them?  Didn't she, like, shoot Scott two issues ago?

To make matters worse, Rahne spontaneously leaves the team to live a normal life.  Shouldn't she have known by now that X-Men-ing isn't for her?  Moreover, she's going to quit at their lowest moment?  Shouldn't she have done so during the era when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an X-Man?  I get her point that it's all hopeless so she might as well try now, but that doesn't feel like Rahne.  It seems like throwing away her life's work just when it became all the more relevant.

Anyway, it gets more and more random.  The X-Men confront Magneto and his new Brotherhood (consisting of Avalanche, Juggernaut, Pyro, Random, and Toad), but it turns out Magneto is Joseph.  Then, Juggernaut turns on Joseph because he wants to help mutants and doesn't like that Joseph lied to him.  (In a great example of pet peeve #3, Jamie reminds Juggernaut that he's not a mutant, but Juggernaut quotes the "First they came for the [x]..." speech, which, again, doesn't really feel on brand for him.)  Then, Kwannon appears from nowhere and decapitates Joseph.  Then, Dani collapses in pain and announces that Rahne is dead. 

It's all...a lot.  Everyone's personalities just seem totally random.  I get that Rosenberg is trying to portray Scott as changed, but he's never been this interested in everyone else's opinions.  He's certainly not someone who thinks the battlefield should be a democracy.  Then, we have Joseph spouting a long, involved Magneto-esque rant about...something?  Honestly, I didn't quite follow it, other than "humans = bad."  Then, we have Alex whining that Scott isn't taking him seriously, which feels like Rosenberg is leaning way too heavily into Alex as a younger brother and not Alex as the leader that he was, of X-Factor and then the Avengers' Unity Squad.  Then, just as the chips are down, Rahne decides she wants to have a life?  And Hope just wordlessly embraces of the team's offer of forgiveness.  It all just doesn't make sense.

Also, when did Salvador Larocca get this bad?  I remember in the 1990s when everything he did had a certain energy.  But, now, it's like he's paying Greg Land to finish his panels for him, which...isn't a complement.

Anyway, here's to hoping we return to form next issue.

Also Read:  Amazing Spider-Man #19.HU; Guardians of the Galaxy #4; Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #2

Not-Very-New Comics: The April 17 Non-Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman #69:  If anything, this issue is a welcome relief as we more or less return to the present.  

After the "Knightmares" ridiculousness -- itself suffering from "The Price" interruption -- King shows us Bane and Thomas Wayne (Dadman?) sparring.  Thomas is eager to return to their plotting, while a naked Bane is obsessed with defeating him.  (Paquette does a remarkably job of keeping us from seeing a naked Bane's junk.  Bane fights with his knees in front of him a lot.)  

Meanwhile, Batman finds Selina in his nightmare.  He programmed himself this way, his failsafe for when his mind discovered that he had been exposed to the Scarecrow's fear toxin.  He admits his real fear is asking Selina why she left him, something he has to face to overcome the toxin.  She pretty much sticks to the script, telling him that she left him because he loves Batman more than he loved her.  King's on stronger footing here than he's been in a while on the issue of Selina leaving Bruce, as I'll buy the fact that Bruce's commitment to Batman -- Selina alludes to his bat-inspired pledge that fateful night years ago -- would always trump Selina.  It makes sense that it's Bruce's actual greatest fear.  

King also supplies an initial answer to the Thomas Wayne mystery here, as Bruce reminds us that his father's last words to him were "Don't be Batman."  In other words, both Thomas and Bane share a "motivation" to stop him.  But, in his sparring with Bane, it seems like Thomas doesn't want Bruce to be Batman not because he's concerned about him, but because he wants to be the only Batman.  

To be honest, this issue's main problem is that the "wedding' was almost 20 issues ago now.  We've been waiting nine issues just to return to why Thomas Wayne is working with Bane.  King really, really needs to do something, anything in this arc.  Looking at the Comic Book Round Up website's rankings, this series is one of the few series that I've seen where the readers' ratings significantly trail the reviewers' ratings.  In other words, it ain't just me.  This issue begins to get us somewhere, but King has to pick up the pace and stop testing our patience.

Transformers #3:  Nothing really happens here, though Ruckley fleshes out some of Cybertron's status quo.  Unfortunately, he does so through extensive use of dialogue.

We start with Megatron railing against the Autobots' failure to stop the attack against him.  After all, the Autobots are the security forces who control Cybertron; it was their responsibility to protect him.  At Megatron's request, Soundwave puts together an Ascenticon Guard to address this failure.  It's composed of Elita-1, Skytred, Refraktor, and Quake.  

Ruckley then shows the Autobots are spying on Megatron; when they observe this moment, Quake's inclusion in the Guard particularly disturbs them.  Orion Pax then asks Chromia why the security forces didn't intervene, and Chromia (somewhat reasonably) insists that they were there to provide crowd control, not foil an assassination attempt.  She claims that the level of security need for the latter effort is beyond the security forces' abilities at this point.  (If so, why are they spying on people?  Isn't that the sort of thing an active intelligence service is supposed to do to prevent exactly these sorts of terrorist attacks?  Are they just spying on them to know when shit is going to happen that they can't stop?  Are they spying on the Rise?  If not, it's pretty clear that politics, and not security, is motivating the spying.)  When Orion asks about the Brainstorm investigation, Chromia tells him that they had their eye on 20 suspected Rise activists; they rounded up ten, but the other ten disappeared.  Prowl interjects that someone leaked information about the raid to the Rise:  the ten Transformers that they arrested were "innocent or irrelevant," which is why they didn't get the tipster's warning.

At this stage, a Transformer named Froid interrupts the discussion, and Ruckley is laying the seeds of a larger story here.  First, we learn why Quake's addition to the Guard disturbed everyone.  Clearly a prison psychologist, Froid describes him as one of the four failures of his career; he's apparently a sociopath with a nostalgia for violence.  But, Froid then tries to convince Orion to give him access to one of his other failures.  However, Orion denies his request because Sentinel Prime (who's apparently off-planet) has made it clear that won't happen.  Clearly, whatever Froid did with his patient went well.

We then return to Bumblebee and Rubble, with Bumblebee promising to take Rubble to the moon given his ongoing fascination with it.  Windblade arrives and tells Bumblebee that he's wanted at the Senate, so she escorts Rubble to his quarters.  Rubble worries that Bumblebee is disappointed in him, but Windblade stresses how excited he was to be a mentor, given how few Transformers are made as a result of the Nominus Edict.  She reminds Rubble how Brainstorm's murder has everyone really rattled.  They arrive at Rubble's quarters to find Chromia there, unexpectedly.  She's there with Geomotus, who is one of Froid's patients and apparently something of an oracle.  Chromia informs them that they're using Geomotus since they don't really have any other leads on Brainstorm's murder.  Barricade and Sideswipe are apparently tracking down Rise members, and Chromia needs Windblade to go to the transmission station with her.  She then connects Rubble to her and Prowl's communicators, even though she admits they usually keep communications limited to mentors.

Ruckley had made a big deal of Bumblebee telling Rubble that he can't accidentally hail anyone since he's only linked to Bumblebee, so Chromia is clearly up to something here.  After they leave, Windblade presses Chromia, noting that she likely installed tracking abilities when linking to Rubble.  Chromia assures Windblade that the capability is inactive, but that they've got to be open to the possibility that Brainstorm's murder has something to do with Rubble.  The weird part about this suspicion is that we, the readers, know that it doesn't; we saw Rubble discover Brainstorm's dead body.  Ruckley has been spending a lot of time on the security forces' suspicions of Rubble over the last few issues, and I'll admit I don't quite get it.

We end with Orion walking through an oddly deserted valley were dead-looking Transformers are attached to the landscape.  He appears before someone named Codexa, herself attached to a crystal-looking cave, and tells her that something is going wrong.

Honestly, I'm starting to lose interest here.  I'm 100% here for nostalgia over the 80s cartoon show, and I'm happy to hang in here for a while.  But, I'm also accepting the possibility that "a while" won't be as long as I thought.

Also Read:  Nightwing #59

Not-Very-New Comics: The April 10 DC Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman #68:  As a stand-alone story, this issue is great, as Bruce and Clark has an awkward "bachelor dinner" at the Manor while Lois and Selina have much more fun turning the Fortress of Solitude into their very own strip bar.  But, when Clark tells Bruce that he hates being Batman but loves having to be Batman (the inverse of Clark), it's clear that it's the final issue in the never-ending "Knightmares" arc.  It isn't King's fault that he lost two issues to the Flash cross-over event, but, OMG, DC, it's been FIVE MONTHS.  End it!

Detective Comics #1,001:  After the Arkham Knight's meh introduction in issue #1,000, I wasn't really expecting much here.  But, holy crap, Tomasi tells a helluva story.   We start with the Knight inducting his own Knights of the Sun into his order, with a motto of burning back the dark.  The Knight declares that the eclipse is upon us, and we then move to their first strike, the widespread deaths of bats in Gotham.  Bruce seeks out Francine Langstrom for help, and even her brief exposure to the Man-Bat serum years ago has her in agony.  She takes the serum again to lead Batman to the source of the noise, the bat-safari exhibit at the Gotham Park Zoo.  Once there, he administers an antidote to Francine, but before he can leave the Knight detonates a bomb that appears to be a nuclear device.  But, it's just an intensely powerful light, essentially creating a small sun over Gotham.  Before Batman has time to react, the Knights of the Sun attack him.  He's quickly impressed not only by their skills as fighters but also by their technology, as they're able to cut his Batline and their arrows are able to penetrate his Batsuit.  He manages to break free of them only to come face-to-face with the Arkham Knight himself.  Dun-dun-DUN!

Not-Very-New Comics!: The April 10 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Age of X-Man:  The Marvelous X-Men #3:  We’re halfway through this event, and I’m still not quite sure what story Marvel is telling here.  At this stage, we seem to have two main conflicts:  Apocalypse is calling for the mutants of this reality to embrace love, and X-Man is struggling to keep his hold on everyone.  Even the other two series I’m reading — "Prisoner X" and "The X-Tremists" — are focused on these two conflicts.  But, the larger point isn’t particularly clear to me.  The original Age of Apocalypse was exciting because you got to see familiar characters making different decisions and living different lives based on their new shared history.  Plus, Bishop was starting to remember his past, which would allow him to undo Legion's assassination of Professor X.  It all came together as you watched the X-Men, different as they now were, sacrifice themselves for a better world.  In Age of X-Man, X-Man is making everyone live these different lives, so it's a lot less interesting.  Plus, the scope of the differences is narrower:  it’s pretty much just the same people arguing over love with a script they've been handed.  Moreover, at this stage, no one's even really trying to return them to reality, as Bishop was in Age of Apocalypse.  Magneto comes the closest at least to discovering the truth, as he realizes that they all seem to be aware of memories of a previous life, one that might be the real one.  But, he doesn't really do anything with this insight; he still commits to confronting Apocalypse at the Xavier Day event in London.  The only theme I can tease from these issues is a critique of the majority's predisposition to embracing authority, but I'm not sure that's really all that interesting in the way it's presented here, since, again, no one is consciously making that decision.

Avengers:  No Road Home #9-#10:  Man, this series flew right off the rails.  The last few issues haven't been great, as the authors have let the story wander.  But, we never really return to a clear path.  It turns out it wasn't about Hercules seeking redemption or the Hulk seeking power.  It was about...Marvel's 80th anniversary?  Throughout the series, the authors gave conflicting motivations for Nyx.  In issue #9, she says it's revenge, but didn't she get that when she (easily) murdered all the Olympian gods?  In issue #10, she seeks to remake the Universe without light, but never seems to understand that she'd rule over a dead Universe.  Then, it all collapses under its own weight when Nyx inexplicably discovers the house that she's seen several times is the "House of Ideas."  Vision follows her through the doors, and he uses his imagination to defeat her, sending team after team of Avengers at her.  Of course, the authors never have Nyx use her imagination to fight fire with fire:  after a few millennia in Zeus' jail cell, you would've figure she'd have thought up some sort of tortures she could've deployed to save herself.  Moreover, Vision acknowledges that he didn't kill Nyx; she's essentially just...gone?  I get the House of Ideas reference like every other kid who read Marvel comics in the 1970s and 1980s.  But, I honestly have no idea why the authors weaved it in here.  It made the series feel like one of those promotional comics you used to get in that era, like when the X-Men were inexplicably shilling for Pizza Hut.  (I totally made my parents go to Pizza Hut for that reason, obviously.)  Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, we then get everything essentially ret-conned, as the Olympian gods are now essentially Flash Gordoned with their Buck Rogers fashions?  I mean, we even end with Hercules standing facing the camera, if you will, despite the fact he's actually shaking someone's hand.  Ugh.  "Avengers:  No Surrender" was a fun romp with a great cast, and I'm sad that its successor series turned out so mediocre.

Invaders #1-#4:  This story is very, very different from the ones I’m used to reading from Chip Zdarsky, but I am very much not complaining.  It’s really one of the more gripping treatments of Namor and, frankly, Cap, that I’ve read in a long time.  This series continues the story started in “Avengers,” with Namor preparing for his war on the surface world.  But, it goes to all new places.

In the first issue, Namor brings a group of secessionist Atlantean militants to heel, using his newfound powers over water to awe them into servitude.  On the surface, Jim Hammond is writing a book about the Invaders.  After interviewing Cap, he travels to Maine to visit Randall Johnson, one of the soldiers who served in their support unit.  In flashbacks, we see the Invaders dealing with the aftermath of a battle where a few members of their support unit, including a kid named Tommy, died.  Namor was particularly close to Tommy, and we see him engaging in his usual terrible behavior in the days after Tommy's death to avoid dealing with the loss.  Equally usual, we see Steve convince Namor to grieve.  These stories collide in a brilliant way at the end:  in a flashback, we learn that Tommy’s last name was Machan (from his dog tags), the same name as Namor’s consigliere.  Then, through the eyes of the defeated separatists, we learn only Namor can see Machan.  Dun-dun-DUN!  In one fell swoop, Zdarsky ups the ante, as we’re now dealing with Mad King Namor.  These sorts of reveals are usually cheesy as hell, but Zdarsky built to this moment beautifully; it was legitimately chilling.

The other main development is issue #1 is Jim stumbling upon a photo of Namor, during the period after the war where he was amnesiac, standing with Charles Xavier.  Randall’s daughter Nay (named after Namor) hastens to cover up the photo, and Jim is now reasonably suspicious about it.  Meanwhile, in issue #2, Cap tries to confront Namor, which goes as poorly as expected; but, he also catches a glimpse of Hydro-Man, understanding Namor’s newfound powers.  We learn Cap’s confrontation was just a ruse so Bucky had time to root through Namor’s room.  (Tricky, tricky Steve.)  Meeting with Cap and Jim later, Bucky reveals that Namor’s making a bomb to exterminate humanity.  Meanwhile, Nay signals for Namor, grateful for everything he’s apparently done for her son.  Namor is unconcerned about Steve and company exploring his past with Charles, seeing it as a wild-goose chase, but he encourages Nay to destroy all the other evidence. But, Zdarsky raises the stakes here as “Machan” encourages Namor to kills the Johnsons and rid himself of the liability.

Everything goes from bad to worse in issue #3.  Cap informs the Avengers, and, despite Tony seeking to confront Namor immediately, Cap is reasonably certain T’Challa will give him the space he needs to try to reason with Namor on his own.  He and Hammond travel to the naval base working on underwater warfare, established to address the threat that the U.S. government (correctly) sees Namor as posing.  The base’s commander is appalled when Cap informs her that the base may be in danger but then asks her not to attack Namor.  Zdarsky does a great job here, as it’s getting harder and harder to side with Steve and his desire to reason with Namor, particularly if you’re not aware of his fragile mental state.  But, the visit is again revealed as a ruse as Bucky tries to sabotage the bomb that the base is developing, because it has the raw materials that Namor needs for his bomb.  Bucky recruits a lab worker to help him while Cap takes selfies with the base’s enlisted men.  But, Zdarsky doesn’t stick his head in the sand here:  one of the soldiers confronts Cap over his connection to the Supreme Commander, noting that the heroes play at gods while they watch their friends die.  It’s a moving moment, and Cap has no response.  It’s a perfect companion to what Coates is doing in “Captain America,” showing the lack of trust the world is starting to have in its “heroes.”  Cap and Jim then visit Randall, who tells Cap that Namor thought that he cured the “oxygen imbalance” that previously explained his “temperament.”  But, Randall somewhat convincingly argues that Namor has no true home but war and needs Cap’s help.  But, Nay has again signaled Namor, and he attacks, flinging Cap into the ocean.  Jim rushes to save him, while Randall confronts Namor.  Namor now seems more concerned about the Xavier connection, and Randall asks if he’s willing to destroy all the evidence, namely Randall and Nay.  Randall then unexpectedly dies of a heart attack.  His last words show his worry about who is going to save Namor now that he's gone, and it seems likely that his death will just push Namor further over the edge.  But, it does make Nay realize that she needs to help Cap and Jim.

She does so in issue #4.  We learn that Namor spent long periods of time with the Johnsons, interrupted by periods where he returned to Atlantis.  He was tormented by his memories of the war during this period.  Then, Charles Xavier arrived.  It was the time before he created Cerebro, so the only way he could find other mutants was to be near them.  Charles recruits Namor to help him find mutants like them.  Zdarsky makes it clear that it’s the cocky, reckless Xavier that we're getting here; he specifically mentions how the term homo superior unnerved Jim, but Xavier had his “hooks” in Namor.  (Knowing Charles, he probably was telepathically manipulating him.)  But, to Namor’s frustration, they fail in finding new mutants.  (There’s a great scene of them walking in the woods with Wolverine using his claws to hide in a tree above them.)  But, they finally encounter one, a young man who had been turning animals into humans (who still acted like cats and dogs, drawing a certain amount of attention to the town).  Charles is thrilled, seeing him as using his ability to change species to create more mutants.  Namor rightly calls Charles an idiot, predicting that they’ll use him to exterminate mutants.  It all becomes moot when the cops kill him after he turns one of them into a cat.  Namor is enraged and attacks the cops.  Charles, in what will become a long line of brilliant moves, invades Xavier’s mind, creating a telepathic version of Tommy to serve as Namor’s in-mind therapist, since he trusted him.  But, Namor resists, and Tommy instead becomes Machan, urging him to win the war.  (Thanks, Charles.)  From there, the story continues as we know it.  Namor eventually regained his memories and returned to the Johnson’s, taking Nay’s son Roman under his wing.  In the present, we see the consequences of that.  The lab technician shoots Bucky in the head with the gun that he (pretty stupidly) gave her in issue #3, revealing that she’s working with Roman...who’s working at the base.  Unaware of Bucky’s plight, Cap and Jim head out looking for a telepath who might be able to heal Namor.

In other words, wow.  I haven't read this sort of tightly scripted thrilled since I think Bucky's time as Captain America.  Zdarsky isn't giving us brightly spandexed heroes here, but complex humans trying to do the right thing even though they're not entirely sure that they are.  It's a great story, and I recommend for anyone.

West Coast Avengers #10:  I am devastated this series is ending.  It was such an amazing breath of fresh air, full of feelings and fun and heart.  I am glad Thompson was able to advance the story of Kate's mom, and I totally bought the idea that her evil father somehow turned her into a vampire.  I somewhat less bought the idea that Johnny and Noh-Varr were suddenly in love (or, more accurately, in lust with another).  The sitcomesque group laugh after Kate wondered if she had ever dated anyone straight was funny, I guess?  But, you could tell it was rushed, and that devastates me, because this series deserved so much more.  I can't believe I'm not going to see Jeff the Landshark happily sitting in Quentin's lap anymore.  [Sigh.]  Kelly Thompson continues to be one of the best assets that Marvel has, and I hope Marvel finds something awesome to give her.  Paging a Young Avengers reboot, anyone?

X-Force #6:  In this issue, Hopeless really manages to unify a lot of threads from numerous stories not just over the last few months, but over the last few years.  He essentially uses the events of "Extermination" to reboot Cable, Stryfe, and their shared history entirely.

The core struggle between them remains the same as it was in the 1990s:  Apocalypse groomed Stryfe to take his essence, but he recanted when he realized Stryfe was Nathan's clone.  Stryfe believes himself to be the original Nathan, and he and Nathan go to war, causing destruction all around them.  Stryfe laments that destruction in this issue, wondering in his own megalomaniacal way how everything went so wrong.  (He's essentially mad he rules over a dead world.)  We learn that he and Clan Chosen are essentially at a standstill, and he's in desperate need of soldiers to gain the upper hand.  He gets that opportunity when a brief temporal storm leads the MLF to Nathan's headquarters and then to their journey into the past to find Cable.  Stryfe recognizes his chance in Transnia, providing its leaders with futuristic weapons in exchange for them giving mutants refuge.  The Transnians unknowingly then give him his army as he convinces the mutants to follow him into the future to live in the mutant Utopia that he's promised.  But, he then engineers the deaths of dozens of the refugees in transit to said Utopia, claiming that the same forces of oppression in the future destroyed the transport.  The refugees then rally to his cause.  Moreover, while in Transnia, he learns that its leaders have not only captured Ahab but also Rachel, and Stryfe brings her into the future with him.  In said future, Clan Chosen has been reconstituted after Nathan successfully ended the temporal storm when he returned the original X-Men to the past.  Clan Chosen is trying to find Cable when Rachel and her fellow hound attack.  In the present, Stryfe informs Kid Cable that he's captured Clan Chosen, has Mother Askani, and plans to have his MLF kill X-Force (whose assess they're kicking) if he doesn't surrender.  He does, and into the future they go.  If you're a fan of the 1990s stories about Cable and Stryfe, as I am, it's hard to be disappointed here.  Hopeless gets the, well, hopelessness of their relationship.  I'm hoping (heh) in the subsequent issues he examines the core struggle of identity that lies at the heart of their story.  But, for now, I'm a happy camper.

Also Read:  Amazing Spider-Man #19; Star Wars:  Age of Rebellion - Princess Leia #1

Not-Very-New Comics: The April 3 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

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Not-Very-New Comics: The March 27 Non-Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Detective Comics #1,000:  For the fact this issue is 96 pages, it's largely forgettable.  I don't mean that in a nasty way.  Like, it's fine.  But, I can't say any of these stories really rise above your average "anniversary issue" fare.

Some of them were way too heavy handed, like "Manufacture for Use," where Batman finds the gun used to kill his parents and melts it down to use as the insignia on his Batsuit, and "Return to Crime Alley," where Denny O'Neil, for reasons that aren't clear to me, embitters his own "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley!" to make Leslie Thompkins loathe Bruce for the violence that he commits.

Some were fine but obvious, like the "Legend of Knute Brody," where it was clear the Bat-family was acting as the incompetent titular henchman.  Others were fine but light, like "The Precedent," where Bruce half-heartedly worries about taking on Dick as Robin given the precedent it'll set for other kids.  (Dick wisely notes Bruce himself is the precedent.)  "Batman's Greatest Case" should've been lovely, with Bruce gathering the Bat-family for a photo to show his parents, but Bruce inexplicably doesn't speak or tell anyone what they're doing; it's just unnecessarily vague.

Some made little sense or didn't seem to go anywhere.  "Batman's Longest Case" inducts Batman into the "Guild of Detection," a group for detectives looking into the universe's most complicated unsolved cases.  It took years for Bruce to solve the case that leads to his induction, and he (understandably) wonders why it took so long.  The guildmaster, "Slam Bradley," simply implies that he's still a young man (despite the Question also being a member).  "The Batman's Design" has Batman using various metahuman enhancements to chase a group of villains into a warehouse that he's rigged to take out each member, which...doesn't seem like his modus operandi at all.  (It's a shame, too, because I love Warren Ellis.)  Christopher Priest continues to be just downright bizarre with "Heretic," where a kid steals Bruce Wayne's wallet in Lhasa years ago and somehow comes to love capitalism so thus runs an underground railroad to help initiates like him escape the League of Assassins.  (Yeah, it made no sense to me.)

The best story to my mind was "I Know" by Bendis (of all people), where the future Penguin gets a surprise when he tells a paralyzed Bruce Wayne that he knew all along that he was Batman.  The "Last Crime in Gotham" by Johns hits probably the most emotional note, if you can get past the truly awful art, as Bruce wishes for his nearest and dearest to him to solve the last crime in Gotham, as committed by the Joker's dying son.

The least interesting was the most relevant.  "Medieval" introduces the Arkham Knight, who clearly isn't Jason in this iteration.  After so many random stories, though, it's lost in the shuffle.  Again, this issue wasn't bad, but for the price tag, it didn't really clear the bar DC set for itself.

The Realm #12-#13:  Not a lot happens in these two issues, as they mostly involve adversaries and potential adversaries circling one another.  But, it's fun to watch the dance.

The party arrives at Jacob's, but it's pretty clear that he and his wife, Ellen, aren't running the same type of establishment as Everett.  Although Will seems to trust Jacob somewhat in issue #12, in issue #13 he more clearly views Jacob as a means to an end (i.e., weapons) and not an ally.  Peck makes that even more clear when Jacob comments how his son Brian is bringing up supplies from the South, but Will correctly notes Jacob previously said that Brian was up North.  Meanwhile, Molly offers to help Ellen with the chores, but she refuses, taking the laundry into an underground fall-out shelter that suspiciously glows green.  Rook watches her leave the shelter later and enters, seeing something that causes her to open her eyes as the green glow reflects off her.

In terms of the bad guys, the party that Johnny Eldritch sent to find Will finds Everett instead, and I'm not sure if Everett and his already battered charges are going to survive.  The goblin and his partner (who I only vaguely recognized) run across a guy who tells them that Redjaw and his party moved through the area a little while ago, and the goblin agrees to his partner's request to "kill Bunny."  Meanwhile, Johnny assures Neera that he's on top of the search for the "key."  We learn from Neera that three pieces of the key are still missing, including one that David is obviously carrying.  Later, Bearded Guy comes close to killing Redjaw but Johnny appears suddenly and knocks out Beard Guy.  He then pulls both of them through his portal.

Back at the farm, David gives Will a modified version of the amulet that the "Spider-Guy" used against him, which should help him control the monster inside him.  (I'm glad to see David helping after swiping the amulet and not plotting something.  Though, the jury is probably still deliberating on that front.)  David leaves, and Molly and Will proceed to get drunk, as Will promises to tell her the story of the monster inside him if she explains their quest.  We learn that they're headed to Kansas City because Dr. Burke worked at a facility where they were researching the Breach.  He had an artifact and a notebook that he was trying to get to the team in Kansas City, and, again, it's pretty clear the artifact is at least one of the parts of the key.  The fact that we're in issue #13 at this point and learn that all this effort Eldritch and Neera are expending is for just one part of the key gives you a sense of how large of a story Peck is telling.  Anyway, we learn David was really just Burke's assistant, so he's not 100% clear on what Burke learned. 

All in all, I'm still fascinating with where we're going here. 

Transformers #2:  Ruckley goes to great lengths to show how upsetting Brainstorm's death is to all the Transformers who learn of it.  Chromia, Cybertron's security chief, arrives at the station with Prowl, Cybertron's best investigator.  After a cursory search for clues, they're stumped.  Chromia seems to think that it's the Rise, who we learn are the more extreme form of the Ascenticons.  (It's interesting that Megatron doesn't seem to be leading the extremist wing; I wonder who is.  Starscream?)  Meanwhile, Prowl takes Windblade to task for not more thoroughly interrogating the Voin scavengers who she and Bumblebee earlier encountered.  Chromia sends Bumblebee and Rubble to Wheeljack, where they get to watch the wonder of Cybertron's winged moon unfurl.  We learn that someone named Termagax created it; in his speech on Tarn, Megatron describes her as the first Ascenticon.  He exposits that she called for an end to the Nominus Edict, which requires kilocycles between forgings and energon rations.  Earlier, Bumblebee said that he heard the moon isn't the most efficient way to harvest energon, and Ruckley seems to be implying here that Termagax may have been overly optimistic in her thinking about how much development Cybertron and the Transformers could experience without negative impacts.  As Orion Pax predicted in a call with Chromia, events start to unfurl when a mysterious assassin opens fire on Megatron.  In the background of all these events, Ruckley also seems to be advancing a xenophobic narrative, from Prowl's hostility towards the Voin to the introduction of the Skitters.  I can't say I'm enthralled with this series at this point, but we'll see where we go.

Not-Very-New Comics: The March 27 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Age of X-Man:  X-Tremists #2:  Williams does a great job of showing how tentative Nate's grasp on this reality is.  First, we learn that the X-Tremists are setting the wildfires so that it gives the X-Men something to do.  I'm assuming Nate is aware of that (though I'm also pretty sure that the X-Men aren't), but if he isn't then it raises questions about how actively Nate is calling the shots.  After all, someone gave the X-Tremists the order to set these wildfires.  But, Williams also shows how Nate's ability to prevent people from forming connections is doomed to fail, as Blob admits his feelings for Betsy.  If even his enforcers can't live by his rules, Nate is in trouble.  So far, the most interesting character in this series is Moneta.  She's violent in her treatment of the pregnant woman the X-Tremists (or "Department X" as they're known in-world) rounded up last issue, though we haven't yet been shown why she's such an extremist (heh).  She was created for this event, so she doesn't have a "real-world" analogue to give us a hint about her motivations.  We'll see where we go from here.

Amazing Spider-Man #18:  Spencer is on creative fire here.  I mean, I already thought that it was ingenious to reveal that Kraven's fellow hunters were controlling the Kravenbots through "advanced VR control unit[s]" imbedded directly into their cerebral cortexes.  But, he then turns it into Fortnite, as you can use your credit card to upgrade your hunter.  Brilliant.  But, I'll admit my enjoyment of this issue was constrained by Spencer going all "Women in Refrigerators" with Mary Jane.  He reveals that the Goblin-looking figure we've seen a few times is in the apartment with her, and I found myself rolling my eyes.  I mean, Spencer does some great work with MJ here, as she contemplates how much better she is about handling the stress of Peter's time as Spider-Man than she used to be.  But, it's overshadowed by turning her into a helpless victim yet again.  I get that Spencer seems to be setting up the next arc here:  Peter isn't able to save MJ because he's trapped in Arcade's Thunderdome.  But, I wonder if it was really necessary, because I would've preferred Spencer to spend more time on the fights in the dome.

Mr. and Mrs. X #9:  This issue reads like Kelly Thompson just read a Brené Brown book, and I'm totally on board with that.  Rogue realizes that it's her fear of connection that led her to keep her powers unchecked, putting a physical and psychological wall between her and the world.  Rogue tears down those walls here as she leans into her fear.  "Everything we've ever wanted.  It's up to us and nobody else.  Exactly as it should be."  I kind of need to hear that today, to be honest.  I can't wait for us to kick Mojo's ass next issue.  #issueoftheyearcandidate

X-Force #5:  This issue is a coda to "Extermination," which is why I'm tagging it here.  We finally see the future events that cause Nathan to force the original X-Men to return to the past.

In the future, Nate is fighting his war against the New Canaanites when suddenly two of his Clan Chosen soldiers, Bava and Flintshard, dissolve into the timestream and another solider, Spheeris, becomes a different soldier entirely, named Dorna, who claims that they all know him.  Eventually, Blaquesmith arrives and brings Nathan to one of the underground safehouses that older Nathan built.  The computer recognizes him and informs him that 893 temporal breaches have occurred since he was last there, but only one was critical:  Hank bringing the original X-Men to (our) present.  Blaquesmith explains the results of this decision are now hitting the present as timelines gets confused.  Blaquesmith and the computer introduce Nathan to Graymalkin, giving him his mission to maintain the timestream.  Blaquesmith expresses his disappointment in Nathan's older self for allowing his emotions to blind him.  (I'm still not entirely sure that we've ever gotten an adequate explanation for why Cable didn't send back the kids, but I think we'll get there eventually.)  It's a cool moment, as Hopeless is essentially showing us the moment that Marvel rebooted Cable to his younger self.  Cable then watches as his remaining allies, including his lover, Aliya, dissolve into the timestream.  Hopeless makes it clear that it's this loss that hardens Nate against Cable, showing him appearing at the burnt-out Xavier Institute as he did in "Extermination."  Meanwhile, we also see Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Force learn about Nathan's activities from a pair of grotesque, Sugar Man-esque (but larger) figures.  Stryfe and the MLF follow Nate into the timestream to prevent Nate, who they deem a terrorist, from destroying their timestream.

In other words, Hopeless does an amazing job of covering a lot of ground while also telling a coherent story.  Is it functionally a reboot of the original Cable/Stryfe story?  Yes.  But, I love the return of Stryfe and his war with Cable, so I'm not complaining.  I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Also Read:  Avengers:  No Road Home #7; Star Wars:  Vader - Dark Visions #2

Not-Very-New Comics: The March 20 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers #17:  This issue is OK, though it felt rushed, to be honest.  Aaron is trying to fit in a lot of plot here, so he resorts to having important sequences, like the Legion of the Unliving taking on the Winter Guard right before the Avengers arrive, occur off-panel.  The battle itself between the Avengers and the Legion is fine, though Aaron again hurries the battle between Blade and Colonel, with Blade defeating him too easily.  He also rushes to the conclusion that Dracula planned the entire "civil war."  The Colonel is revealed to be his son, Xarus, and Dracula's goal all along was to get the Russians to imprison him in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, apparently because the radiation somehow heals him.  (I'd love to see the physics of that.)  But, this revelation doesn't explain why Dracula was willing to sacrifice all his subjects in Transylvania just to move his kingdom to Chernobyl.  Couldn't he have just...snuck into the Exclusion Zone?  Did he have to be invited to an entire geographic space?  It isn't like Chernobyl is a house.  Overall, it was still a strong arc, but I feel like an extra issue would've made it all the better.

Avengers:  No Road Home #6:  Although I know the authors are stoked about getting to use Conan and I'm loving Aaron's run on "Conan the Barbarian" itself, this issue was a dud to me.  Even with the expanded length, they cover too much ground, literally and narratively.  Conan and Wanda seem to cover the entire Thurian continent in search of the thieves who stole the shard.  Some of the individual moments are great, but the authors move off them too quickly to advance to the next location.  The arrival at Shadizar is a great moment, but it would've been even more impactful if I still hadn't been trying to figure out where they had been before they got there.  Moreover, this specific flaw exacerbates the problem that I have with the regular series, where Aaron (and now the trio here) are telling stories across Conan's lifespan.  Here, he loves Bêlit, but we haven't even met her in the regular series yet.  I get that Conan fans will recognize all these various timeframes and characters, but it's a challenge for a newbie like me.  As such, it feels like too much of the authors playing with a toy, particularly given the fact that Conan's presence here is a stretch from the start.  I initially thought that they were going to connect Nyx with the Night-God whose worshipers Conan and Wanda encounter on the way to Shadizar.  How cool would it have been if they had gone to all this trouble to shield Wanda's eyes so Nyx wouldn't know that they found the shard, only for the "Night-God's" worshipers to successfully open a portal to her?  These missed opportunities are what make me feel like the authors are rushing through this mini-series just like Aaron is rushing through "Avengers."  

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4-#5:  For the fact that these issues involve Peter learning Aunt May has cancer, they're not as devastating as you'd expect them to be.  But, it isn't necessarily a bad thing, to be honest.

In issue #4, Tayor wraps up the Underworld storyline in a fantastic way.  The villain arrives demanding Spider-Man and the Rumor turn over his daughter and grandchildren, and they refuse.  Fighting ensues.  But, before we get there, Juann Cabal provides one of the greatest panels I've ever seen, akin to the famous Hawkeye mask covering Hawkeye's hawkeye.  As Peter tells Johnny the story of saving Leilani from her father from the top of an alternate Empire State Building, Cabal given us a Super Mario Bros. background to underline the point.  It is...mind-blowing.  Moreover, during the aforementioned above-ground fight, he delivers an amazingly (heh) kinetic panel showing Peter dodging the thugs' bullets while also saving a cat and setting up the fight's denouement when Peter manages to web every gun and pull them towards him.  The emotional denouement comes when a crowd gathers around Spidey to stand with him, eventually forcing the Kingpin -- who arrived on the scene to force Spider-Man and the Rumor to surrender Leilani and the kids -- to break his deal with the villain.  This entire arc has been great from start to finish, focusing on Peter's New York as promised.

Even after Aunt May arrives in Peter's apartment in issue #5 to tell him she has cancer, Taylor keeps up said focus, when Peter catches one of the homeless kids from the neighborhood stealing a car.  When it turns out he's running from his mother's abusive boyfriend, Spidey -- feeling a little guilty that he got distracted and broke the kid's wrist -- actually helps him steal said car to prevent from getting arrested.  (I guess Peter learned how to drive at some point...)  Peter winds up webbing the car above an alley to allow them to escape the ensuing police, a sequence you kind of have to see to appreciate.  Peter brings the kid to see Dr. Strange, who (somewhat reluctantly) sets the arm.  Peter confesses he broke the wrist because he's distracted by May's illness, and Dr. Strange jokingly refers to making a deal with an interdimensional demon to help her, though suggests that it could bring an eternity of torment.  (Ha!)  Peter wisely passes, and Dr. Strange tells him that some things are beyond magic and medicine.  After originally telling Aunt May he has "a lot going on right now" when she asked if he'd go to chemo with her, he's there when she arrives, with the nurse touchingly referring to him as her "son."  I always love the moments when May and Peter acknowledge their mother-son relationship directly, and this one is no different.  Did I roll my eyes at Peter's initial response of saying that he was too busy to be at her appointment?  Yes, because Peter probably wouldn't have responded that way.  But, Taylor is killing it so much in this series, I can look past it.  Also, Cinar and Woodard's art is so impressive here (including a beautiful Peter) that they convey emotions that Taylor's script alone doesn't necessarily convey.  

In other words, just like "Peter Parker:  The Spectacular Spider-Man," this series is increasingly my go-to Spider-Man series, no matter how much I like what Nick Spencer is doing in the main title.

Nightwing #58:  This issue is a little heavy handed with the narrative, from Hutch's extended meditation on why he's not "cut out for this vigilante crap" to Joker's Daughter's eyeroll-inducing diatribe about the elites to Bab's earnestness in telling "Ric" that Dick would be proud of him.  But, Lobdell and Kaplan still do a solid job of showing how Ric's membership in the Nightwings happens organically, to the point where this new status quo starts feeling more and more familiar.  But, it's really Moore and Bonvillain who shine here; Hutch is so beautifully rendered in the first few panels that he looks almost lifelike.

Uncanny X-Men #14:  Rosenberg continues doing a solid job here.  By the end of the issue, you get the sense that Scott is going to find himself with his hands full of mutants, and Rosenberg implies then it'll really start to get interesting.  After all, he added Logan in issue #11, Havok, Magik, and Wolfsbane in issue #12, Dark Beast and Multiple Man in issue #13, and now Chamber in this issue.  (I don't really count Karma and Mirage from issue #12 since they've unfortunately been non-entities.)  In other words, this issue really gets Scott's little war going.  So far, he's really just struck against O.N.E. for holding Havok, Multiple Man, and the New Mutants and then Dark Beast.  In this issue, we have the team chase down Reaper (only to learn he's depowered and not working with the MLF) and help the remaining Morlocks relocate to Chernaya after eliminating the fascist opposition forces left after X-Force's sojourn there.  (I think they're the same place?  If not, Marvel is really pushing the limits of credulity to make two made-up Eastern European countries into mutant havens with fascist uprisings.)  Why do they need to relocate the "remaining" Morlocks, you ask?  Because the Marauders killed the rest of them...again.  (I'm imaging the Marauders are moving up Scott's hit list.)  Also, the move to Chernaya killed a few too birds with one stone, as Scott and Logan got Valerie Cooper to agree to do them favors if they do her favors (like eliminating said fascist opposition forces).  In other words, Scott's got a lot of irons in the fire.  But, the team takes a well advised moment to celebrate the "small victories" only to have Captain America crash the party.  Again, Rosenberg is doing a great job of making each issue complicate Scott's life even further, but I'm also glad he's giving the team some time to bond as well.  As Jono himself implies, no one on this team has enjoyed a good run over the last few years.  Most of them really need these wins, even if it's clear whatever limited roll that they're enjoying now is going to come to an end.

West Coast Avengers #9:  This issue is great.  It's like Thompson hit full speed as we got to the top of the mountain and she's just letting us enjoy the free fall as we make our way down the other side.  Ramone and Johnny are children of a Dora Milaje?  Ramone's powers allow her to fuse permanently with vibranium?  Johnny and Marvel Boy might forget Katie and get together themselves?  Katie's mom is a vampire?  Each new development builds off previous developments, so it doesn't all sounds as random as it does here.  Plus, we get the usual adorable crazy moments, like discovering Jeff the Shark loves Quentin and likes to sit in his lap.  (The panel where Jeff is actually sitting in Quentin's lap should win Gang Hyuk Lim some sort of award.  That, and the panel where Gwenpool, Quentin, and Ramone all put their hands to their chest in faux outrage, like they're grabbing their Southern ladies grabbing their pearls, after Kate's mom reveals that they're dealing with vampires, not Skrulls.)  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  as Quentin's t-shirt says, West Coast, Best Coast!

The Wild Storm #21:  As we approach the end, each issue seems much more focused now.  Jenny Sparks' trip through Skywatch's computer system allowed her to discover the existence of Midnighter and Apollo.  Wisely, she realizes their defense of the village meant not only that they were preventing Skywatch from making more people like them and the Mayor but also that they were probably good recruits for the still-forming Authority.  Meanwhile, Miles orders Ivana to start creating a narrative that an "extranational terrorist network" is ramping up its activities in nuclear-armed countries, and it leads her to call someone to report that they "may have a situation."  Bendix seems to believe IO shot down some Skywatch ships, but I can't tell if he's confusing Midnighter and Apollo's attack with IO or if he's referring to that fight at Skywatch's ground base a few issues ago.  Bendix is ready to burn down the world, but Lauren warns him that he should focus on IO specifically to prevent them from having "supply issues."  To help the Doctor recognize Skywatch ships when they enter orbit, Angie provides her with a device that allows them to communicate telepathically, projecting to her images of a Skywatch ship.  (Interestingly, Angie is super aggro all issue, and it takes the Doctor confronting her to make her admit the events of the last few weeks are weighing on her.)  Elsewhere, Jackie finds some sort of device in the IO equipment room, and the guy that Miles hired to kill her is on her tail.  Later, Jenny confirms that the bot attack IO launched on Skywatch (though I think it was really the Wild C.A.T.s) allowed them to see the Skywatch space station.  Jenny then observes that everything that's happened since Cray tried to kill Marlowe has meant that "the most powerful people in the world are terrified of everything and everyone," putting the world on the brink of annihilation.  I'm not sure if Ellis is describing their world or our world, but there we are.

(NB:  I tagged this post "Nova" because Richard appears in "Guardians of the Galaxy" #3, but I didn't review it.  It's a fine issue; it just didn't seem to merit much discussion at this phase of the story.)

Also Read:  Batman #67; Dungeons & Dragons:  A Darkened Wish #1; Guardians of the Galaxy #3; Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #1; Star Wars #63; Thor #11