Almost Two-Year-Old Comics: The Superhero August 5 and 26 (2020) "Empyre" Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Empyre #4 (August 5):  As a Hulkling and Wiccan fan, this issue's main value is the revelation that Hulkling and Wiccan got married in Vegas with the Young Avengers in attendance.  I know that Marvel will address that fully at some point.  In the meantime, the main development in terms of "Empyre" follows on last issue's revelation that Hulkling's grandmother, R'Kill, has all this time been posing as Kree hero Tanalth the Pursuer.  With Hulkling's sudden decision to use the Pyre to destroy Earth if necessary, it seems likely that R'Kill has adopted another persona.  After "Hulkling" orders Mur-G'nn to send away Carol Danvers and Johnny Storm before they can stop "Hulkling," Mur-G'nn wisely sends them to Wiccan, who confirms that "Hulkling" isn't Hulkling.  Oh, Skrulls.

Lords of Empyre:  Emperor Hulking #1 (June 22):  "Oh, M.O.D.O.K., your gown is so pretty!  The prince is sure to dance with..." is possibly the best line that I've ever read in a comic.  (It's a dreaming Billy talking in his sleep, and it's exactly what I imagine Billy dreams.) "Protect the hot twunk with the enormous arms!" (spoken by Krystal M'Kraan the drag queen about Teddy) is a close second best line.

I somehow missed this issue in my pull list, so I just read it.  Beyond anything in the main title, this issue makes it clear how dangerous and precarious Teddy's position is.  Although we now know that "Tanalth" is R'Kill, she isn't the only threat that Teddy faces.  Seconds after Bel-Dann and Raksor approach Teddy about taking the throne,  the Children of Lost Tarnax - a Skrull fundamentalist group dedicated to Teddy's grandfather's purity doctrine - attempt to assassinate him.  Later, "Tanalth" arranges for Kree zealots - who Teddy's peace overture to the Utopian Kree infuriated - to attack his flagship.  In so doing, she underscores how Teddy's commitment to peace resulted in the deaths of his "own" subjects aboard the flagship.  Captain Glory, Kl'rt, Mur-G'nn, and Tanalth then all insist he ends his relationship with Billy.  He does so in public, though he and Billy know that he doesn't actually do so.  But, it's still a lot.  Billy later visits Teddy in secret, and Teddy stresses how scared he is to take on all this responsibility without Billy.

The only criticism that I have is that it's weird that Marvel shunted Teddy's story, which is the story's core, to a tie-in issue.  If Ewing and Slott had incorporated this level of emotion and intrigue into the main title, I think that I'd enjoy it more.  This issue is also helped due to all the sexy Teddy time.  Twunk indeed!

X-Men #11 (August 26):  Given Hickman's penchant for jumping from story to story, this "Empyre" tie-in issue fits into the story that he's telling fairly seamlessly.  Just as Rockslide and Summoner are prepared to play a game that definitely isn't what it seems, the Cotati strike.  Magneto puts into effect a protocol that Cyclops and the other captains developed that creates offensive and defensive groupings of X-Men whose powers fit well together, like the Five's.  To that end, Magma delivers lava to Iceman who freezes it into metal for Magneto to use against the invaders.  Needless to say, Magneto wins.  I'm guessing that "Empyre:  X-Men" deals with Cyclops and his team's fight against the Cotati on the Moon, but given that the main title hasn't mentioned that fight at all and we only have one issue left in it, I'm not bothering with that mini-series.  But, this issue works well enough to see how the mutants are involved in "Empyre."

Also Read:  Empyre #5 (August 12)