Amazing Spider-Man #31: So...much...talking. This issue is just like last one, with Kindred rambling on endlessly at Norman's cell about how much he hates Norman and Peter. Spencer uses said diatribe to review Norman and Peter's relationship, with Kindred wondering why Norman was so obsessed with Peter. He congratulates Norman for bringing down Peter in ways that no one else has accomplished but then threatens to destroy Norman once he remembers who he is. In other words, Spencer is obviously setting the stage for a three-way confrontation at the end of the Kindred story. But, it's starting to feel like Spencer is dragging out this story way too much. I hope he isn't vamping to get to issue #50 or something. Also, this issue doesn't help, as it's a confusing jumble of moments. Spencer uses two flashback sequences -- Kindred speaking to Norman before he becomes Carnage and a variety of scenes depicting Harry's struggles with drugs -- while also juggling the present-day sequence of Carnage trying to get at Dylan and Normie. It's difficult to follow, to say the least. In the end, the only significant development in this two-issue arc is that Kindred injects one of his bugs into Norman's brain, which will eventually cure him of his delusion that he's Cletus Kasady. Although Spencer uses the tie-in requirement as an opportunity to further the story that he's already telling in this title, I could've definitely done without it. I'm excited to move onto 2099 next issue.
The Batman's Grave #1: I love Ellis and Hitch, so I'm excited about this series. That said, it isn't the strongest debut as I'm not entirely sure where we're going here. Batman doesn't really do anything more complicated than solve a murder in this issue. Moreover, the murder itself isn't particularly complicated. The only item of note in this entire issue is Bruce creating a holographic copy of the crime scene that allows him to examine clues from the Batcave. It's cool, but introducing new gadgets clearly isn't the point of this series. The title refers to the fact the Waynes had Bruce's grave (including headstone) created at the same time as they had their graves created. The issue opens with Alfred tending to the graves, knowing that he will live to see Bruce's filled. Bruce returns home to find Alfred drinking, and Alfred confesses that he sometimes thinks that it would be easier for Bruce to buy Gotham than simply to beat on poor people driven to crime to survive. Bruce is unsympathetic to this argument; he comments that they had choices, though he doesn't seem to grasp that, you know, maybe they didn't. Teaching Bruce a lesson to make him examine his lack of compassion seems to be where Ellis is going here, but I guess we'll see.
Detective Comics #1,013: Tomasi is telling a great story here. First, he shows Freeze as a serious match for Batman. After shaking down Freeze's goons to find out his location, Batman arrives in a fancy new suit of armor that includes a fire-spewing gun. But, Freeze is ready for him. He awakens his previous experiments as frozen zombies who quickly overwhelm Bruce, allowing Freeze to escape with Nora. When Bruce battles his way through the zombie horde and makes his way onto Freeze's fancy vehicle, Freeze electrocutes him, sending him spiraling into the frozen lake. Going one better, he launches a depth charge that freezes Bruce in the lake, allowing Freeze (and Nora) to escape. You don't often see Bruce so outmatched by someone else's gadgets, which makes this issue all the more exciting. In the end, Bruce is able to rescue the women who Freeze kidnapped, but Freeze has what he needs: he resurrects Nora. That said, the last page is chilling (heh) as she awakens, screaming, "No, Victor, don't!"
Powers of X #6: This issue is fine, though it feels like Hickman is vamping a little. He repeats the full seven pages of Moira meeting Charles from issue #1 and two full pages of the celebration from House of X #6. In a 38-page issue, it means that we've already seen almost 25 percent of this issue.
The reason Hickman does so is that Moira has allegedly learned her final lesson in X3. As the Man-Machine Supremacy prepares to ascend and become part of the Phalanx, the Librarian visits the Preserve. We learn that Logan and Moira have been living in the Preserve with other mutants for millennia, waiting to find out what the Supremacy was planning. Hickman is particularly Hickmanesque here, as I don't really understand how he connects the following dots. As best as I can tell, the Librarian is sending Logan and Moira off-world so that they don't die, because if they die before the Phalanx makes it to the nearest black hole with the uploaded Supremacy, according to the Librarian, "then all that I know will not become part of the Dominion." I think he means that, if Moira dies, she will reincarnate and try to stop this timeline from happening. As such, the Librarian wouldn't achieve his goal of merging with the Dominion. If he doesn't mean that, I have no idea what he means.
However, Logan asks why the Librarian is giving them this information, and it sounds like the answer is that he's worried that life as part of the Phalanx will be a fake existence. As such, he wants Moira to tell him how he could avoid losing his post-humanity in surrendering to the machines. Again, I'm not sure what the Librarian means here. Does he want Moira to return in a different life and, at that moment, inform him if he's making the right decision? As part of this discussion, he allegedly reveals the final clue: mutantkind always loses, because humanity always ascends to post-humanity through genetic engineering. As the Librarian says, what good is one mutant if humanity can build supermen? The Librarian calls post-humans Homo novissima, and I admit that I love that name. Magneto was always touting mutantkind as homo superior. I never saw coming that a different form of humanity would trump that.
We learn through Moira's journals that the change she makes in her relationship with Charles in her current (tenth) life is that she breaks him of his belief in the people's goodness. I think this revelation finally forces a reckoning over whether Moira is creating new timelines (i.e., the multiverse theory, which DC tends to favor) or replacing the existing one with each new life. After all, if she isn't changing the timeline, Charles in this timeline did believe in people's goodness. Are we supposed to believe that Charles pretended to believe, to fool the X-Men into following him? If so, why bother? Why not just agree with Magneto that humans are untrustworthy assholes? Do they all have specific information that it has to unfold this way, with Charles and Magneto in some form of opposition? If we're to believe that everything that we've seen happen in X-Men comics over the years has happened (i.e., Moira isn't changing the timeline and all of X-Men history has been part of Charles, Erik, and Moira's "long game"), then it's the only possible explanation.
In other words, Hickman has to explain at some point the fits and starts that led Charles, Erik, and Moira to this point. We need to know if Charles and Erik fighting over the years was simply them playing the parts that Moira needed them to play to get to this moment. Or, were they fighting as a result of legitimate disagreements about how best to achieve victory on their way to this point? Did Charles really fake his belief in humanity because he felt that it was the best way to develop a group of mutants like the X-Men? Or, were they simply moving pieces across the board? In her journals, Moira provides a clue, noting that she implanted the idea of an island Utopia in Erik's mind through her experiences. As such, did Erik create Asteroid M and Genosha thinking that he had achieved Moira's vision, with or without her or Charles? In other words, Hickman has so far done a good job of avoiding the implications of Moira functionally time traveling, but I feel like this issue is where that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
At any rate, Charles and Magneto meet with Moira the night before the first Quiet Council meeting and she's troubled to learn that they convinced Mystique to join the Council on the promise of resurrecting Destiny. Moira insists that they can't do so because Destiny has ways of seeing Moira (as we've seen). She's afraid that her resurrection means that she'll see the truth: that they always lose. She worries that Destiny will then tell everyone, and Charles and Erik say that they'll delay the moment, but also that one day mutantkind deserves to know the truth. To them, it's that they always used to lose, but this time is different, something that Moira clearly doesn't believe. They then exit into the celebrations of "House of X" #6.
I guess that I get why Moira would be concerned if mutantkind knew that they always lose. But, if we're talking about millennia as the time scale, is it really that upsetting? Like, sure, if Orchis Forge brought Nimrod online next year (in the case where the X-Men didn't act on Moira's knowledge), I could see Moira's concern. But, if we're talking about mutantkind ceasing to exist because machines run Earth at some point 1,000 years from now in X3, is that so bad? Like, the Universe is eventually going to die, but I can still find a reason to wake up every morning. I'm pretty sure that Hickman has more up his sleeve here. That said, I'm hoping the new titles take a step back a bit and focus on the characters. We have so much possibility for good ol' X-Men drama given how many people we've resurrected here, I'd love to just marinate in that for a while. I also want to make it clear that the disappointment that I felt in this issue didn't in anyway dim how I feel about this reboot. I am so excited to see where we go, and I just really tip my cap to the amazing accomplishment that Hickman has delivered here. Thank you, Jonathan! Onwards and upwards!
Also Read: Invaders #10; Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1; Star Wars: Target Vader #4
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