Amazing Spider-Man #80 (December 1): Ziglar hits all the right notes in this issue, from Aunt May brining in Dr. Octopus to consult on Peter's condition to Maxine siccing her lawyers (and hopefully just her lawyers) on "Brooklyn Spider-Man," a.k.a. Miles Morales. Ben's psychedelics-induced banter with the other captured Beyond employees was a real highlight. It's nice to have some fun again in a Spider-Man comic.
Darkhawk #4 (December 1): I initially rolled my eyes at Captain America's appearance here until I realized that "Mr. Colt" was the AIM recruiter from "Winter Soldier (2019)," which was one of the best and most devastating mini-series that I've ever read. Given how blithely Colt used RJ in that series, Colt's experiments on Shawn probably aren't going to end well for him.
New Mutants #23 (December 1): OMG. SO. MUCH. TALKING. I mean, I like the idea that the Lost Club gets the adults (i.e., the New Mutants) to realize that Amahl is just as much the Shadow King's hostage as they were. But, Ayala has the Lost Club repeat those points over and over and over again. I was basically skimming at the end. I hope the new story arc that they're teasing for next issue isn't as boring and chaotic as this one has been.
Winter Guard #4 (December 1): This mini-series wraps up fairly unsatisfyingly if you're not planning on reading "Avengers" indefinitely to get the necessary answers.
It isn't at all surprising that Red Widow disabled Crimson Dynamo for fear that he would side with Red Guardian. But, I still don't understand what Red Guardian gained from betraying White Widow at the end of last issue. After all, she's forced to provide Red Widow and Vanguard his location in order to secure her freedom.
Moreover, it seems hard to believe that Red Guardian would keep the Operation: Snowblind drives in a briefcase that a kinetically driven shield could destroy since he had to know that a guy with a kinetically driven shield was coming after him. I'm also not sure what White Widow gains by seemingly controlling one of the drives, since I though that the user had to use them all together to access the information.
At any rate, I enjoyed spending time with these characters, but if you were expecting a self-contained story you'll be disappointed.
X-Men: Trial of Magneto #4 (December 1) and #5 (December 22) (TPB): Overall, I'm OK with the story that Williams told here. She manages to thread the needle in probably the only way possible to turn Wanda from the Pretender to the Redeemer.
To atone for her sins, Wanda creates a pocket dimension where all mutants souls - including the ones who died before Cerebro came online or before their X-gene manifested - go to wait for resurrection. It's sufficiently grand to, well, redeem her. After all, it advances Krakoa's first law: make more mutants.
But, Williams seriously, leaves out some pretty important details. Bullet points!
- I don't think that we're ever shown how Wanda recruited Hope and Toad to implement her plan. Toad's participation is particularly important as he accepts exile as his punishment for "killing" Wanda. Did he agree to sacrifice himself or did Wanda manipulate him without his knowledge for the greater good?
- We're never told why Wanda had to go through the Resurrection Protocols to create the pocket dimension. It makes a certain amount of sense, but I would've liked it spelled out a little more clearly, particularly since the idea that she could go through them itself is dodgy, since she's allegedly not a mutant.
- I don't buy that it was necessary for Wanda to act in secret lest people suspect that she was colluding with Magneto. I get the Council would be distrustful of Wanda, but I feel like they've got enough powers between them that they could've vetted her scheme. It seems like Magneto could at least have brought Lorna and Pietro into the plan. After all, Pietro's rage almost jeopardizes the outcome.
- Eye-Boy can see magical enchantments but not uru? What?
- I don't understand how the Waiting Room, as Hope dubs it, replaces the Crucible as a way for mutants to opt into resurrection. The Crucible was only necessary for mutants who lost their powers in M-Day; every other Cerebro-era mutant was automatically opted into the Protocols. Presumably they could've just put themselves on a "do not resurrect" list if they didn't want to go through the Protocols.
In terms of the characters, everything wraps up way too neatly. Magneto somehow reconciles with Lorna, though I don't buy that she would simply forgive him for the awful things that he said to her over the course of this series. He could've pretended that he was the villain without saying what he did.
[Sigh.]
In all honesty, it feels like, going into issue #4, Williams had one outcome in mind and editorial made her change it. I would say that you really don't need to read this series unless you're a dedicated Wanda fan. Wanda is redeemed, and Thunderbird is resurrected. I'm going to guess that all this mini-series' other developments will fade into obscurity.
Amazing Spider-Man #80.BEY (December 8): You guys, this issue may be the worst one that I've ever read. Ziglar renders May and Otto into ridiculous caricatures of themselves. Their innuendo-filled dialogue is just painful to read. I skimmed most of the issue, and I'll save you the trouble.
Otto realizes that the U-Foes were the ones who were fighting the Spider-Men when Peter got hurt, and he and May break into a super-villain holding facility to get samples of Vapor and X-Ray's powers. (May's conversation with Vapor is this issue's highlight.) In the process, Otto discovers that Beyond runs the holding facility, and May is furious that his search for more information on Beyond distracts him. She leaves, though Otto later provides Peter's doctors with his findings, allowing them to heal him.
Later, Otto attacks some guards on a rooftop to hack into a terminal that seemingly holds all Beyond's secrets because why wouldn't every random terminal provide the user access to all a corporation's secrets? He discovers that Beyond purchased Parker Industries and [sigh] swears vengeance.
In other words, a Google search could've resolved Otto's questions about both who attacked Peter and who owned Parker Industries. I don't understand how an editor decided that this story needed 33 pages, but someone should demote them.
Devil's Reign #1 (December 8): I have to give Marvel credit for waiting so long to get to this point, of Fisk declaring war on superheroes. They could've rushed it and foregone all the interesting moments that Fisk's mayoralty has brought. Instead, they bided their time, which is hard to do in comics.
This series is clearly an outgrowth from Zdarsky's "Daredevil," and Zdarsky does a decent job of presenting that series' status quo for the rest of us. Most relevantly, Fisk has apparently appointed his other son, Butch, as Kingpin, and Matt's "brother" Mike is apparently helping him. I rolled my eyes at these long-lost relatives, but I'm not reading "Daredevil" so it isn't my problem.
The catalyzing event that kicks off this story is that Kingpin loses his shit when he realizes that he no longer remembers Daredevil's secret identity; in fact, even the file on Daredevil that he keeps in his safe no longer contains it. Enraged, he announces a ban on unsanctioned superhuman activity, following a federal ban on unsanctioned superhuman activity by people under the age of 21 years old. (I'm assuming that happened in "Champions?")
Kingpin has clearly been planning this move for a while, because he deploys his shock troops - in the form of mixed superhuman and human Thunderbolt units - quickly. Darkhawk and Moon Knight are almost immediately taken off the table.
A Thunderbolt unit grabs Miles Morales as he's saving people from a burning building, but Captain America saves Miles before they unmask him. (This issue comes on the heel of Cap and Miles' appearance in "Darkhawk" #4, and I'm really digging that team-up.) Daredevil, Elektra, and Spider-Man arrive to help, and, in a safehouse later, Daredevil admits that he provoked Kingpin into action. But, in a great moment, Cap tells him that sacrificing himself won't stop Fisk.
Meanwhile, Dr. Octopus and federal troops storms Four Freedom Plaza. If you read "X-Men/Fantastic Four," you'll appreciate the Schadenfreude of Otto using a power-dampening collar on Reed and Sue. Sue manages to alert Ben and Johnny who escape with the kids. Chechetto is on fire throughout this issue, but the look on Ben's face when the Thunderbolt unit opens fires on him and the kids (who he blocks with his body) is worth the price of admission. Otto is keen to access a specific Reed invention, seemingly one of his multiverse portals. I'm sure it's for totally benign reasons.
Later, Shocker and his Thunderbolt unit come after Luke Cage and Jessica Jones as they're trying to help victims of a bus crash, and Luke delivers a Cap-like speech telling people that Fisk is coming for them once the superheroes are gone.
The issue ends with one revelation coming right after another: Wilson murders the Purple Man whose powers he seems intent on taking the Power Group that installed Kingpin as mayor plans on running him for President, and Tony tells a fleeing Jessica and Luke that he plans on running against Fisk for mayor.
Honestly, I'm pretty thrilled with this issue. It feels like how the inevitable confrontation between the heroes and Kingpin would go, and it's clear that Zdarsky has a bunch of tricks up his sleeve. I can't wait to see what they are.
Inferno #3 (December 8): Hickman is unusually concise in this issue, despite its 44 pages. We have three major developments.
First, we learn that Cypher initially prepared Krakoa to host mutantkind by having Warlock consume part of Krakoa and then Krakoa consume the new parts of Warlock. In so doing, Warlock essentially became Krakoa's nervous system. Since he and Warlock didn't trust Professor X, it meant that he maintained knowledge of the No-Space that Krakoa created for Magneto and Professor X. As such, he knows all their secrets.
Second, Emma informs Destiny and Mystique of Moira's existence. They all agree that Moira represents a threat to everything that they've built since at any moment she can start a new life and change this particular present. Emma declines to throw her support clearly behind Destiny and Mystique but makes it clear them that she's no longer in Charles and Erik's camp. Destiny and Mystique engineer Orchis kidnapping Moira at her Paris gate and bringing her to Terra Nova. When Charles and Erik arrive to save her, Nimrod arrives through the translocator (whose existence Mystique discovered last issue), ready to take out Charles and Erik.
Finally, we learn that the "Trickster Titan" sent back Omega Sentinel's consciousness so that she could bring Nimrod online earlier than in her timeline. She informs Nimrod that Apocalypse will return to defeat the Children of the Vault and eventually humankind and the machines. Only through the Trickster Titan separating himself from his sibling does he survive long enough to send back Omega Sentinel's consciousness. She then uses this knowledge to find Devo and convince him that he also experienced her future. Together, they create Orchis.
In other words, man, shit goes down here. It's hard to see how Krakoa even remotely functions as it has after this event.
Amazing Spider-Man #81 (December 15): The Beyond Board is doing an excellent job of slowly but surely making Ben's position at Beyond more and more untenable given Maxine's goals conflicting too often with his own goals.
In this issue, she disciplines Marcus when Ben fails to confront Miles Morales during their team-up over his "use" of Beyond's trademark. When Ben suggests that he wasn't going to beat up a teenager, Maxine makes it clear that it's exactly what she wanted him to do.
Ahmed does some nice character work throughout this issue, as Ben admits to Janine that he's not as impulsive as he was thanks to his work in therapy. It means that he doesn't get mad at Janine when she asks if he's ready to fight Rhizome with Miles right after his fight with Kraven. Ahmed also connects the dots that Ben's patience with Maxine comes from this work. That said, it's pretty clear that said patience is going to end.
Meanwhile, as Kaeden says in their note in the back, the art team is on fire here. If you're a Miles fan, you definitely want to check out this issue.
Devil's Reign #2 (December 29): As I expected, Kingpin moves to the next stage as Crossbones and his Thunderbolt unit break into Danny Rand's apartment to arrest him even though he's no longer Iron Fist.
In an example of pet peeve #2, we learn form the intro page that Kingpin didn't kill Purple Man; he cut off his finger and put it in his staff, somehow giving him his power. (Yeah, it's a stretch.) Meanwhile, Otto creates a device that harnesses the rest of Purple Man's powers, allowing Wilson to coerce, though not control, New York's population. It ends Otto's part of his bargain with Kingpin. That said, he uses Reed's multidimensional gate to bring Ghost Rider, Hulk, and Wolverine to "our" Earth, so he's clearly got something up his sleeve.
Meanwhile, the heroes aren't doing so well. Kingpin assigned Taskmaster to find out Spider-Man's secret identity, and Taskmaster somehow manages to block Ben's powers in their ensuing fight. Where's Beyond when you need them? Also, the reformed New Avengers convince Tony that Luke should run (since rich guy vs. rich guy might not read well with the public), and Tony doesn't seem happy about it.
My only criticism of this issue is that it's a little hard to follow the status quos of the various heroes. In addition to finding out Danny isn't Iron Fist, for example, Elektra is panicked because she realizes that Fisk knows that she betrayed Matt, though I have no idea what she did. But, every event stuffers from a similar problem, so it's small potatoes give how much I'm enjoying the event overall.
Also Read: Marauders #26 (December 1); Nightwing Annual 2021 #1 (December 1); Amazing Spider-Man #82 (December 22) and #83 (December 29); Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #2 (December 22); Moon Knight #6 (December 22)
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