Cletus Kassady is once again back trying to kill all the previous symbiote hosts, allegedly to take the "codex" left inside each host to resurrect his god, Knull. Sure, whatever. Also, Norman Osborn for some reason thinks that he's Cletus and he's trying to get to Normie and Eddie Brock's son, Dylan. Only Spider-Man stands in his way.
At various points in the issue, we're treated to a weird flashback sequence of Peter throwing a welcome-home-from-the-asylum party for Harry where he has tension with a just-returned-from-the-war Flash. I don't quite get where Spencer was going with that. I think that it has something to do with the issues's framing device, itself a flashback, where Kindred is speaking to a catatonic Norman while he's still imprisoned in Ravencroft. I'm guessing that this conversation happens right after Kindred allegedly killed Mysterio and presumably before Norman became Red Goblin again. Kindred tells Norman that he already won when it came to ruining Pete's innocence and that Norman used to make him feel powerless, again implying that he's Harry Osborn.
Spencer's trying to do what he can here to keep us connected to the story that he was telling before he was event-ed, so I'm happy to just roll with these two issues and return to what we were doing after that. But, I'll also say that I really, really hope that his plan isn't to drag out the Kindred storyline until issue #50, because I increasingly find myself not caring all that much.
Batman: Curse of the White Knight #3: I have to say that I'm not really digging this series. Visually, it's as stunning as the first one, but the plot is starting to feel thin. Each issue of the first series produced a major revelation that took on Batman's sacred cows. Here, we're three issues into this series and we already have a "shocking death," the sort of clichéd development that's usually the sign of a desperate author without any other ideas. Moreover, the Joker's promise that he'll reveal his great secret in due course feels like a stalling tactic, like Murphy himself doesn't know how the story ends.
It isn't just the overall plot that has problems. We have some specific moments here that make little sense. For example, I don't understand why Barbara and Dick had to pull in the GTO to rescue Bruce from the bay after Azrael blew up Wayne Manor, thereby revealing his secret identity to the rest of the GTO. Dick claims that they had no choice, because they needed to use a helicopter to rescue him. But,I don't get why they did. Barbara and Dick manage to pull him from the water in a small police boat; they couldn't have gotten to shore in that?
At any rate, other than Bullock's snarky comments, everyone pays close attention as Bruce tells them about the Joker and Azrael back at GTO HQ. He explains that Ruth and the elites are trying to replace Bruce with Azrael to keep the Batman Devastation Fund going. He also explains Azrael's connection to the Order of St. Dumas. Bruce notes that Edmund Wayne was supposed to share half the land with Bakkar (the man who rescued him in London), and they all guess that the Joker has, at the very least, convinced Azrael that he's Bakkar's descendant.
At any rate, other than Bullock's snarky comments, everyone pays close attention as Bruce tells them about the Joker and Azrael back at GTO HQ. He explains that Ruth and the elites are trying to replace Bruce with Azrael to keep the Batman Devastation Fund going. He also explains Azrael's connection to the Order of St. Dumas. Bruce notes that Edmund Wayne was supposed to share half the land with Bakkar (the man who rescued him in London), and they all guess that the Joker has, at the very least, convinced Azrael that he's Bakkar's descendant.
Batman then visits Harley, revealing his identity to her to build her trust as he asks her to try to draw out Napier. They arrive to interrogate the Joker, who thinks, as usual, that he's holding all the cards. But, Batman reveals that he knows that the Joker stole Laffy Arkham's schtick, infuriating the Joker. The Joker settles down a bit and explains that Laffy told the Joker in their first "meeting" the greatest joke in all of Gotham, about the Wayne family, and that he's saving it for his "grand finale" when he shares it with the entire city. (I get why Murphy is stalling, but I don't get why the Joker is. Is it to torture Bruce with slow reveals? It mostly seems like it's just to give Bruce time to stop him.) Batman's attempt to use a pregnant Harley to draw out Napier fails, though we learn that she's carrying twins. The Joker says that he's got to kill Napier's (viewing the other child as his), something that Bruce probably should've seen coming before involving her.
The city evacuates Arkham now that they realize the elites control it, and Batman takes Harley to the Joker's original cell. He's surprised to learn that the Joker didn't tell her his identity (he assumed that she knew, part of the reason he revealed it to her in the first place) just like he's also surprised that he never mentioned Laffy or the Joker's grand finale. (Is Harley lying and she's pulling the strings here?) In the cell, Harley wonders if Edmund killed Bakkar, and Batman is startled when they discover another skeleton buried beneath the floor. Harley then melodramatically goes into labor.
The city evacuates Arkham now that they realize the elites control it, and Batman takes Harley to the Joker's original cell. He's surprised to learn that the Joker didn't tell her his identity (he assumed that she knew, part of the reason he revealed it to her in the first place) just like he's also surprised that he never mentioned Laffy or the Joker's grand finale. (Is Harley lying and she's pulling the strings here?) In the cell, Harley wonders if Edmund killed Bakkar, and Batman is startled when they discover another skeleton buried beneath the floor. Harley then melodramatically goes into labor.
Meanwhile, at a bar, Gordon announces to his colleagues that he's resigning and suggested Montoya take over the department. She's worried that it's tokenism, but they all voice an emotional round of support for her. Gordon leaves and encounters Batman in the alley. He apologizes for losing her temper, telling him that he knows full well that Barbara is going to do whatever she wants to do and that he probably tried to convince her not to do it. Gordon offers his hand asking for no more secrets, and it turns out it's Azrael. He absconds with Gordon and the rest of the GCPD come running after Gordon fires off a few shots. He tells them to tell Barbra that he loves her and that he couldn't be more proud as Azrael's associates open fire on them. Bullock is hit as Azrael stabs Jim with his sword and throws his body off a rooftop.
I guess I'm still interested to see where we go here. Gordon's conversation with "Batman" was the sort of insightful moment that I expected of this series, and if Murphy can reorient to focus more on those sorts of moments I think this ship can still be righted.
New Mutants: War Children #1: I love me some "New Mutants," and I was obviously excited to see Claremont and Sienkiewicz return. I can't say I was disappointed exactly; I was mostly just confused. The exact nature of the transmode virus has changed over the years to suit individual authors' purposes, and this issue is no different. Warlock apparently decides to absorb all the New Mutants so that he doesn't have to kill them in his battle with Magus, a plot development I don't really totally understand. I think Claremont is arguing that Warlock is worried that, if Warlock defeats Magus, he'll become Magus and will therefore kill the New Mutants because they're human, but I'm not entirely sure. I also didn't follow Darkchilde somehow taking over Warlock and creating a demonic iteration of the virus (to the extent that I understand what happened there). In the end Doug willingly merges with Warlock and they use their combined powers to absorb the transmode virus from the other New Mutants, something I don't remember anyone ever doing before. Whatever. At least the art was pretty.
Powers of X #5: Hickman very quickly moves us through the mechanics of the nation that Charles and Magneto have created.
First, in X0, he convinces a willing Forge to create Cerebro 7.0, using a "cloaked antimatter engine of [Shi'ar] design currently in Earth's orbit" to power it and Shi'ar logic diamonds to house five copies of every mutant mind. We learn that Charles creates latest-version copies of every mind once a week and a hard-backup version every year. The latter one is a fresh copy of a whole mind, and it takes him three days, during which time he cannot be disturbed (opening up a future storyline, no doubt). Moreover, we learn that Charles has twice booted his mind to a previous version (something essentially only he has the talent to do) and that only specially adapted mutants could overcome their mind being placed in a different husk. I think this revelation was the last piece of the puzzle of how Charles put together his resurrection protocols, another example of how carefully Hickman has created this story.
In X1, we see Charles and Xavier offering Emma and her Hellfire Corporation a fifty-year exclusive contract to distribute the Krakoa products. (As she says, she's going to be Krakoa's East India trading company.) They also offer her two seats on the Quiet Council, the 12-person Council that governs Krakoa. Why two? They also want her to bring in Sebastian Shaw. Whereas Emma will serve as the White Queen, representing Krakoa to the nations that recognize it, Shaw will serve as the Black King, smuggling the drugs into, and evacuating the mutants from, the countries that reject Krakoa's sovereignty.
Finally, Hickman returns to the X3 timeline, where the Phalanx have accepted Earth's offer to join them. But, to do so, they need energy. As such, the next day, the Phalanx will absorb Earth's' collective intelligence. It'll maintaining this intelligence forever, but the cost will be the consumption of the entire planet.
Nimrod explains that Earth-bound machines and the Phalanx are both self-improving and self-replicating intelligences. However, the Phalanx go beyond just simply generational advancement. Their creators were constructed using the fundamental components of the Universe. They are the super-massive machine brains that the Titan theory holds became so dense that they collapse space-time, turning themselves into the singularities at the center of each black hole. However, Hickman's story goes beyond just explaining what black holes are. As the interstitial page explains, five connected Titans form Strongholds warring with other Strongholds whereas Dominions are ten or more Titans controlling a sector of space and epochs of time: they're "one giant societal intelligence" that resembles our concept of God. Apparently 112 Titans form the Dominion that controls our sector, and they're only afraid of Galactus and the Phoenix.
I don't have much else to say here as Hickman does a solid job of delivering all these plot developments without sounding too exposition-y. I still don't entirely understand the relevance of X3 to the other three timelines, but I'm sure that Hickman has a plan.
Also Read: Captain America #14; Detective Comics #1,012; Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Kylo Ren #1; Star Wars: Target Vader #3
I guess I'm still interested to see where we go here. Gordon's conversation with "Batman" was the sort of insightful moment that I expected of this series, and if Murphy can reorient to focus more on those sorts of moments I think this ship can still be righted.
New Mutants: War Children #1: I love me some "New Mutants," and I was obviously excited to see Claremont and Sienkiewicz return. I can't say I was disappointed exactly; I was mostly just confused. The exact nature of the transmode virus has changed over the years to suit individual authors' purposes, and this issue is no different. Warlock apparently decides to absorb all the New Mutants so that he doesn't have to kill them in his battle with Magus, a plot development I don't really totally understand. I think Claremont is arguing that Warlock is worried that, if Warlock defeats Magus, he'll become Magus and will therefore kill the New Mutants because they're human, but I'm not entirely sure. I also didn't follow Darkchilde somehow taking over Warlock and creating a demonic iteration of the virus (to the extent that I understand what happened there). In the end Doug willingly merges with Warlock and they use their combined powers to absorb the transmode virus from the other New Mutants, something I don't remember anyone ever doing before. Whatever. At least the art was pretty.
Powers of X #5: Hickman very quickly moves us through the mechanics of the nation that Charles and Magneto have created.
First, in X0, he convinces a willing Forge to create Cerebro 7.0, using a "cloaked antimatter engine of [Shi'ar] design currently in Earth's orbit" to power it and Shi'ar logic diamonds to house five copies of every mutant mind. We learn that Charles creates latest-version copies of every mind once a week and a hard-backup version every year. The latter one is a fresh copy of a whole mind, and it takes him three days, during which time he cannot be disturbed (opening up a future storyline, no doubt). Moreover, we learn that Charles has twice booted his mind to a previous version (something essentially only he has the talent to do) and that only specially adapted mutants could overcome their mind being placed in a different husk. I think this revelation was the last piece of the puzzle of how Charles put together his resurrection protocols, another example of how carefully Hickman has created this story.
In X1, we see Charles and Xavier offering Emma and her Hellfire Corporation a fifty-year exclusive contract to distribute the Krakoa products. (As she says, she's going to be Krakoa's East India trading company.) They also offer her two seats on the Quiet Council, the 12-person Council that governs Krakoa. Why two? They also want her to bring in Sebastian Shaw. Whereas Emma will serve as the White Queen, representing Krakoa to the nations that recognize it, Shaw will serve as the Black King, smuggling the drugs into, and evacuating the mutants from, the countries that reject Krakoa's sovereignty.
Finally, Hickman returns to the X3 timeline, where the Phalanx have accepted Earth's offer to join them. But, to do so, they need energy. As such, the next day, the Phalanx will absorb Earth's' collective intelligence. It'll maintaining this intelligence forever, but the cost will be the consumption of the entire planet.
Nimrod explains that Earth-bound machines and the Phalanx are both self-improving and self-replicating intelligences. However, the Phalanx go beyond just simply generational advancement. Their creators were constructed using the fundamental components of the Universe. They are the super-massive machine brains that the Titan theory holds became so dense that they collapse space-time, turning themselves into the singularities at the center of each black hole. However, Hickman's story goes beyond just explaining what black holes are. As the interstitial page explains, five connected Titans form Strongholds warring with other Strongholds whereas Dominions are ten or more Titans controlling a sector of space and epochs of time: they're "one giant societal intelligence" that resembles our concept of God. Apparently 112 Titans form the Dominion that controls our sector, and they're only afraid of Galactus and the Phoenix.
I don't have much else to say here as Hickman does a solid job of delivering all these plot developments without sounding too exposition-y. I still don't entirely understand the relevance of X3 to the other three timelines, but I'm sure that Hickman has a plan.
Also Read: Captain America #14; Detective Comics #1,012; Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Kylo Ren #1; Star Wars: Target Vader #3
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