Three-Weeks-Old Comics: The May 11 (2022) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Captain America:  Symbol of Truth #1:  Honestly, I prefer Sam Wilson stories to Steve Rogers ones at this point.  To make matters even better, Onyebuchi and Silva are a spectacular team.  Silva provides us action sequences that exude kinetic energy, and Onyebuchi finds the perfect combination of Sam Wilson falcon-eyed social commentary and, as Misty says, "typical Captain America #%$&."  I'm also thrilled to see Joaquín and Misty in the rotation.

In terms of the plot, Onyebuchi has a lot of pots on the stove.  First, we've got the mission at hand in this issue.  Mistry provides Sam intel that someone is smuggling Super-Soldier Serum on a train through the Southwest.  Sam and Joaquín arrive at the train at the same time as a group of unaffiliated mercenaries.  Sam and Joaquín eventually defeat the mercs, but Sam learns from the train's conductor that they hadn't even picked up their cargo yet.  Moreover, Joaquín discovers his cousin from Sonora with other immigrants in one of the cars. 

After the battle, Sam talks with a blond woman - who may or may not be Sharon Carter - who works for anti-immigration Senator Mansfield, who sent the Marines to help with arresting the defeated merc.  At Sam's suggestion, Joaquín accompanies his cousin and the other immigrants to the Mansfield-run, off-the-books immigration facility.  Meanwhile, Cap is left wondering why the mission was a bust, as they saw no sign of the Serum.

At the Cumberland Federal Correctional Institute, the White Wolf approaches a slim-seeming Crossbones to work for him.  He says that he's recently gotten into pharmaceuticals, so I assume that he's involved in the Serum debacle.  But, he also wants to overthrow a few countries and have Crossbones kill Sam, so he's a busy guy.

Again, it's a great start to this series, and I'm thrilled to see Sam back in action with the shield.

Moon Knight:  Black, White & Blood #1:  The saddest commentary on this issue is that the most easily understood story is the one told backwards.  The Hickman/Bachalo story is almost incomprehensible due to Bachalo's art, and the Ayodele/Akande story could've been fun if it didn't read like Ayodele wrote it in 15 minutes.  The Guggenheim/Fornés story is the best of the bunch, but it's not where good enough to justify the price.

X-Men #11:  This issue is pretty straight-forward.  

First, we learn that Cordyceps Jones used his powers to infect Mojo's shareholders, "convincing" them to sell him Gameworld lest he kill them.  Mojo orders his minion to make it seem like he's shorting Earth at Gameworld, thereby attracting Cordyceps to Earth and, to Mojo's mind, his downfall.  Jean, Polaris, Rogue, and Wolverine arrive on Gameworld, but everything doesn't go to plan when Cordyceps uses his powers to take over Wolverine and possibly Jean.  

Meanwhile, Synch uses Wolverine's power to follow Dr. Stasis' trail (after he killed Scott) through the sewers, and Cyclops discovers that Stasis is Mr. Sinister, though a version of him who doesn't recognize Cyclops.  

Duggan has a lot going on here, but he's doing a great job keeping them all clear and exciting.  Larraz is also on fire; the entire issue is a joy to behold.

One-Month-Old Comics: The May 4 (2022) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Marauders #2:  I have to say, I am here for the Marauders-Shi'ar war that we're clearly getting.

Despite occasionally confusing moments, Orlando does a solid job throwing a lot of information at us here without relying on too much exposition.  I mean, the conversation between Delphos and Betel, a fellow Noble of the Kin Crimson, pushes this boundary, as they list the Ten Shames in an IM exchange as if they're discussing them with at uninitiated person and not a fellow Noble.  But, it does what it needs to do.  We learn that only one person can speak about the Tenth Shame and Xandra only knows about the First Shame.  

Orlando does a great job with Xandra, as she both acknowledges to Gladiator that they have to keep the First Shame secret since it's so heinous but is also furious at him (and all Shi'ar) for essentially making her subordinate to the Kin Crimson.  Xandra's horror at just the First Shame makes it clear that the Shi'ar's treatment of the first mutants (I'm guessing involved making them lab rats) was far beyond the pale.  As such, it's hard to empathize with the Nobles' outrage at the mutants' "affront" in trying to discover what happened to the first mutants.  Orlando is setting up a story that involves some comeuppance for the Shi'ar, though I'm not quite sure how it's going to happen.

My only complaint here is that Orlando uses several deus ex machina in the Marauders' battle with Erik the Red.  For example, Somnus can essentially stop time given that his dreamscape exists at a slower pace and Bishop (I think) somehow creates energy helmets for everyone after the ship explodes.

In other words, I like where we're going, but I'm hoping Orlando tightens up some parts.

Spider-Man 2099:  Exodus - Alpha #1:  I'm fucking thrilled to say that this issue is spectacular.  This issue is Orlando's best work in comics.

Honestly, I'm so excited, I don't even know how to begin.  As anyone reading this blog for a while knows, I don't say the following part lightly, but I think Orlando wisely puts aside Miguel's continuity for the moment and keeps the focus on Miguel and Lyla here.  Miguel's (and 2099's) continuity is so confusing at this point that it does no good trying to explain it in a debut issue.  Orlando sticks to the basics, and it's a reminder how good the basics are.

We kick off this new chapter in Miguel's adventures with a man named Bruto Olafsen cutting off a man's arm.  When Public Eye officers try to arrest him, he shows them a black card with white concentric circles, and the officers realize that he's a Cabal pledge.  Bruto tells them that he's just trying to make his numbers when Miguel snatches him.  Bruto is shocked Spidey would take on the Cabal, but Miguel notes that he's just a pledge; Miguel tells Bruno the Cabal was testing him and, if he had passed the test, it would be there to help him.  Realizing Spidey speaks the truth, Bruto says that he's Nueva York's sixth richest man and can pay him.  (This part makes it clear we're not dealing with an organization recruiting from the lower classes.)  Miguel wants the Cabal's leader's name, but Bruto doesn't know it.  Instead, Bruto can only send him to the comms station where Bruto was supposed to transmit his zipgun's thrill counter.  (I love the "thrill counter" idea.)

As Miguel heads to the comms tower, Lyla and Miguel's conversation provides some background on where we are in 2099.  Lyla informs us that the Cabal is the world's only "real" superpower, and I love Orlando deciding to put the days of Alchemax serving as 2099's sole villain behind us.  We learn that the Cabal operates from "Heaven," which I'm guessing is a satellite, and brutally and publicly murdered the Avengers, which has left the world in a state of shock.

Arriving at the comms station, Miguel uses the key that he swiped off Bruto to hack into the system.  He discovers the Cabal has routed a "stellar mass" on a collision course with the Ontario Expanse.  He also learns that the station was going to explode with Bruto inside.  Miguel realizes that Bruto's initiation was a "cruel joke," and I'm intrigued why the Cabal singled out Bruto for such punishment.  Miguel also discovers that the Cabal is scanning the entire planet for some reason but notices some dead zones.  Lyla tells Miguel that the drive has more encrypted files, so Miguel grabs it before the station implodes.

Miguel then heads to one of the dead zones while Lyla scans the news.  The C.E.O. of Green Globe Partners, an activist fund, blames Alchemax for "R&D gone wrong, citing the crash's immediate mutagenic effects on the terrain."  At the dead zone, Miguel discover the Ghost Spire, a tower that Ghost Rider controls and where he protects a city of unhomed, unwanted people.  Zero informs Miguel the crater is birthing new elements and new conspiracies, worrying that the coming fear riots will hurt his people.  Zero agrees to crack the "mysterium datadrive" (a great Easter egg for X-Men fans) but demands Miguel leaves after he does so before the Cabal can track him to the Spire and hurt Zero's people.

In a truly genius moment, the drive is "quest encrypted," which means, to decrypt it, Miguel and Zero have to defeat a digital troll.  I mean, this part is just brilliant.  It wasn't necessary - Zero could've just decrypted it.  But, Orlando adding in this detail shows how carefully he's thinking about each part of this issue's plot.  After defeating the troll, Miguel learns that the "stellar mass" is a dying Celestial, Jovion the Enactor.  The Cabal used the bullet inside him (which they probably shot at him) to pull him to Earth, creating the "weird Eden" they clearly plan on harvesting.  

Before Miguel can learn more, Zero pulls him from the drive as the Cabal has sent a killcraft with shocktroops to the Spire.  As the Spire disintegrates, Zero takes out the killcraft and Miguel engages the shocktroops.  One of the shocktroops tells Miguel that he's a Manfredi (so, again, not a plebe), and Miguel demands to know who the Cabal's leader is.  Before Miguel and the residents can take out the troops, the Manfredi tells Miguel that the leader will reveal himself soon and then uses a "cellular cyanide" tooth to dissolve himself (as do the other shocktroops).

One of the residents demands Miguel helps them now that they've lost the Spire, and he agrees to ferry them to the Transverse City Spire.  Lyla informs Miguel that the Cabal has offered membership to anyone who can stake claim to the Celestial Garden, and Miguel understands that pretty much anyone alive now stands between him and the Garden.  More shockingly, Lyla tells him that the Cabal's leader has, in fact, revealed himself:  it's a very Norman Osborn-looking Green Goblin.

Again, I couldn't be happier with this issue.  I would love for Orlando to keep ignoring most of Miguel's past to create a new 2099 status quo that we could embrace.  I cannot wait for next issue.

Star Wars #23:  Although everything doesn't go exactly as she planned, Zahra reminds us why she's the Empire's best officer in this issue.  In fact, she only fails to take out the entire Rebel fleet -- three full divisions -- and a ground division because two Pathfinders sacrifice themselves to take out the Tarkin's Will's primary reactor.  When Kes and Shara arrive at Home One (the Rebel Fleet's command frigate), Leia mentions celebrating their win, but I think that's just Leia blowing smoke up everyone's ass.  Sure, Zahra lost Tarkin's Will, but the Rebels lost at least three ships by my count as well as most, if not all, of the ground division.  Given the Rebellion's already reduced capacities, they'll miss the ships a lot more than the Empire will miss Tarkin's Will.

Star Wars:  Obi-Wan Kenobi #1:  This series appears to consist of vignettes from Obi-Wan's life, timed to the debut of the Disney+ series.  This issue is fine, if a little lackluster.  

Obi-Wan recalls losing his time as a Padawan, when he lost his friend and protector, Gehren Rand.  After receiving a Force vision of her father in terrible pain, Gehren wants to leave Coruscant to go help him.  Yoda tries to explain to Gehren that the Force may (or may not) be showing her the future, but she decides that she has to leave.  As Gehren is the only person ever to care about Obi-Wan, he follows her.  

To me, I would've preferred to learn more about Obi-Wan as (seemingly) an orphan, since the other "Star Wars" titles have frequently mention how the Empire largely recruits orphans.  The parallel between the Empire and the Jedi would be interesting.

When a gangster Gehren paid to transport her off-world double-crosses her, Gehren and Obi-Wan using their fledgling powers to escape.  Obi-Wan decides against leaving Coruscant with Gehren, and, as he tells us in the present, he never saw her again.  This mini-adventure makes Obi-Wan realizes the dangers of acting from fear (as Gehren was), and, later that night, Yoda tells him that it's time for him to protect himself.

I can't say that the Young Obi-Wan Chronicles interest me all that much.  (Next issue focuses on an adventure with Qui-Gon.)  But, after watching the first episode of the Disney+ series, I'm thrilled to see that Eopie survives so I'll take it!

 
Also Read:  Ben Reilly:  Spider-Man #4; Giant-Size X-Men:  Thunderbird #1; Quests Aside #1

One-Month-Old Comics: The April 27 (2022) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (April 27):  [Sigh.]  I haven't posted in a while because I dreaded reading this issue.  "Beyond" was so great, and I was worried that Wells would need to do something to ruin that status quo just for dramatic impact.  Unfortunately, he does.

Obviously, I'm OK with Peter facing challenges.  In fact, I'm intrigued by Wells' idea that something happened to Spidey six months ago (as we see at the issue's opening) and, due to the trauma, he's on the outs with everyone.  Aunt May has moved into a smaller apartment after bankrupting herself paying Peter's medical bills, Peter stole something from the Fantastic Four that has them not speaking to him, Randy had to pay Peter's rent when he fell off the face of the Earth:  it isn't good.

Moreover, the Spider-Man part is interesting.  Tombstone is running New York's organized-crime syndicates, and the Rose wants a "product" from him as well as territory that Tombstone isn't willing to give.  (Tombstone refers to the "Kingpin" being gone, and I'm not sure if he means Kingpin himself or Butch.)  Later, it turns out the "product" is a Goblin Glider, and Spidey interrupts the deal.  When the Rose's seemingly gamma-powered enforcer named Digger (who everyone else seems to know but I don't recognize) attacks Spidey, the deal goes bad.  The Rose's men grab the glider and bolt.  

The problem is that Tombstone guaranteed the Rose's men's safety since they met in Harlem (his territory), so, as Hammerhead tells Tombstone, the Rome and Tombstone are now at war.  Clearly making a move, the Rose has his goons blow up Tombstone's apartment.  Tombstone later approaches Peter and tells him to tell Spider-Man that Tombstone is coming after him, since he has to take out Spider-Man to win back his reputation.  Peter's excited by the fact that he (i.e., Spidey) has something to do, which weirds out Tombstone.

Again, all this stuff is fine.  Great, even.  But, Wells crosses the line for me when, yet fucking again, he breaks up MJ and Peter.  To make matters worse, MJ tells Peter to stop calling her and has children (or at least step-children) with some guy named Paul.  Fuck that shit.  Seriously.  I've been reading Spider-Man for 40 years and I am so fucking over fake MJ drama.  I just can't.  I can't even finish this review.  I know that I'll just be gritting my teeth until the inevitable moment when they're reunited.  I need a drink.

Knights of X #1 (April 27):  I didn't read "Excalibur" and I haven't been too thrilled with Howard's previous work.  I'm mostly here for a reunited Rictor and Shatterstar.  But, this issue shows a lot of promise.  

Howard does a great job of laying out status quo without too much exposition.  We learn that Saturnyne has lost her title as Omniversal Majestrix to Merlin, who's using supersized Furies (who look like Sentinels) to hunt down "witchbreed" (i.e., mutants).  King Arthur serves as his general given Arthur's belief that mutantkind stole his son, Mordred, from him (since Mordred is witchbreed).  Betsy and the Captain Britain Corps are rescuing Otherworld's witchbreed (including Joshua) and bringing them to the Lavender Citadel, where Saturnyne stews over the loss of her throne.  As the portal to Krakoa is closed, Betsy seeks help from Roma, but she doesn't have troops to spare, as her fey were some of Merlin's first victims.  But, given the fey's powers come from stories, she tells Betsy that she can send her to Krakoa one time to gather knights for a quest.

On Krakoa, Betsy assembles a team of former Excalibur members who agree to help her.  She and Rictor work with the Five to resurrect Mordred, but, since they're using an Otherworld - and not Cerebro - recording of his personality, they're not sure who they'll get.  However, it doesn't seem to matter when Mordred's body disappears once he's resurrected.  To make matters worse, Jubilee doesn't appear on the other side of the gate when the team crosses it, as it seems that it's Shogo's, and not her, quest.

With only seven allies (Bei the Blood Moon, Gambit, Meggan, Prestige, Rictor, Shatterstar, and Shogo), Betsey and company go to find Kylun at Meggan and Prestige's suggestion.  When they find them, they enter an initial skirmish with Arthur's forces, only for a young Mordred to appear and help them.  With a full team, the quest reveals itself:  Betsy and company have to find the Siege Perilous.  But, Merlin has other plans for it, as he believes that they can de-mutant Mordred (I think) if they send him through the Siege.

It seems like a lot, but, as I said, Howard does a great job throwing all this information at us without it seeming like a slog.  Although I'm here for Rictor and 'Star lovin', I'm also totally down with this plot.

Past the Last Mountain #1 (April 27):  This series is the flipside of "The Realm:"  here, the humans won a war with magical creatures 50 years ago.  At this stage, it's unclear if the magical creatures invaded Earth (like in "The Realm") or if we're dealing with a different Earth where the races always coexisted.

In the present, a troll escapes from the Westfield Penal Preserve in Montana, where the U.S. government is keeping the creatures who survived the war as well as their descendants.  A troll named Abby escapes.  Neil, the Preserve's new director, and Trevor, one of the Preserve's zoologists, quickly realize she did so as a distraction.  From a nearby cliff, Abby's son Simon watches an agent kill her when Abby threatens Trevor.  His companions, Kate (a Faun) and Willa (a dragon), are escorting him to the mythical "Dragon Lake," which Simon (and apparently Abby) believes leads to freedom.  Kate doesn't believe so, but, for some reason, she's fulfilling Abby's wish to get Simon there.  Agents eventually discover the trio's camp only for Willa to reveal that she's fire-capable, despite Trevor previously telling the agents that they had removed her fire glands.

As good as the main story is, it's the series of short "war stories" at the end that make this book.  We watch as humans and creatures struggle with their relationships as the U.S. government suddenly declares creatures the enemy in 1972.  The authors hint that the government's declaration wasn't entirely unprovoked as the United States alone seemed to experience, as one character says, "griffin terrorism, the Centaur Liberation Army, the..."  Given the United States' isolation in the wake of its declaration, this series also has "Undiscovered Country" parallels.

In other words, it's a solid debut.  Allor and Joyce do a great job of presenting us with both an emotionally engaging story and a fully realized world.  I'm definitely coming back next issue.

Star Wars:  Crimson Reign #4 (April 27):  Like Sergeant Creel, I feel like it's almost criminal that Marvel hasn't given us more focus on Ren and his Knights.  My disappointment is particularly acute here, as both Qi'ra and Vader allude to the Knights' illustrious past and now faded glory.  Ren sees a chance to win back some of that honor by working for Qi'ra.  That said, the job involves breaking into Fortress Vader on Mustafar to steal the "Screaming Key," which opens a door whose whereabouts only Qi'ra (and notably not Palpatine or Vader) knows.  But, Qi'ra plan for Ochi's assassination of the Emperor's guards fails to keep Vader off Mustafar, and he appears at the end to take out the Knights.  They escape with the key, but they're now on the Emperor's hit list.  Given that Ren's impetus for taking this job was, in part, striking the Emperor before the Knights made their way up said list (for their shadow-using powers), I'm not sure the Knights are heading to the bright future Ren hoped to see.