Moon Knight #13: Ooo, this series keeps getting better and better.
Moon Knight has set his sights on Tutor and his vampire pyramid-scheme, which remains one of the best and funniest plots that I've ever read in a comic. According to Moon Knight, he's put off getting vengeance for what Tutor did to Reese for too long. It's a solid enough excuse; he's had a lot on his plate since then. I was actually impressed with McKay returning to it. It's like how the best Batman and Spider-Man writers get the balance between "monthly idiot villain" and "shadowy scheming adversary" just right. Even though Joker is planning on blowing up Gotham, it doesn't mean Calendar Man isn't also trying to rob a bank.
But McKay goes one further: Reese and Tigra discuss how Steve is really doing it as revenge for Soldier. The way everyone talked about Soldier, I figured that we were going to see him in comatose in a hospital. Instead, Reese turned him into a vampire! Brilliant! That said, Tutor is pissed, because he believes that he's the only person in New York who can convert people. He hires Taskmaster as a consultant and tries to get him to take out Moon Knight. Taskmaster, wisely, declines. As such, Tutor hires Grand Mal and Nemean, who I don't know but look, um, unfriendly.
Meanwhile, Reese wants more information about Steve, which Steve is unwilling to provide at this point. But he does call a meeting between the various personalities, which promises to make next issue a fun one.
I'm really impressed with McKay moving us into such a great premise for the next arc. These transitions are usually difficult, but McKay launches us here into a status quo that makes perfect sense in terms of where we've been. Read this series!
Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #4: At some point, it became clear that Orlando wasn't putting in too much effort to tell whatever story he initially intended to tell. For example, Miguel starts this issue by suddenly informing us that he needs to find the Black Widow so that she can lead him to Doom's heir, a technopathic mutant named Nostromo. Apparently Nostromo turned over Latveria to its people so Miguel figures that he can use his technopathic powers to take out the Cabal's Black Cards without feeling tempted to use said Black Cards. (Of course, I don't understand why the Cabal couldn't just make new Black Cards, but, again, we're kind of past trying to find narrative logic here.)
I had to read it twice to (almost) understand, but Nostromo is in hiding because he knows that Doom (and not Osborn) actually killed Jovion the Enactor with Hawkeye's help. Hawkeye wants Nostromo dead because the Cabal would otherwise want him dead as the only other person who knows that Doom, and not Osborn, killed the Celestial. (It has something to do with the right of ownership, I think?) Anyway, after finding Nostromo, Black Widow travels to Hawkeye's orbiting station and kills Hawkeye before he can kill Nostromo. She's Yelena, somehow, and Hawkeye apparently killed Natasha. So it's revenge. Sure. Great.
Miguel takes Nostromo to the Celestial Garden but Sentinels are attacking so the X-Men on next issue's "heroes of the month." [Sigh.] We'll just stop there.
Spider-Punk #3: This series continues to be the best time in comics. After the Spider-Van dies in a confrontation with Kingpin's Marauders (a brilliant combination of Armor, Daken, and Sunfire that I wouldn't mind seeing in the real world), Hobie and Kamala put together a side project (hilarious) with Philly's Daredevil to take out Kingpin and free the goods that he hoards so they can fix the van. (It gave me March 2020 flashbacks, y'all.) Along the way, we get the same whip-smart banter that we've gotten through out this series. I love it so, and I would love to see what Ziglar could do beyond the five-issue structure. But, if I only get these five issues, I'll take it.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #25: This issue is like an old "Challenge of the Super-Friends" episode, as T'onga and her crew battle the Knights of Ren. Obviously, that's high praise
Sacks does something here that we often don't see, namely putting the series' main characters in a situation they can't overcome. When Bossk realizes that they're facing the Knights of Ren and immediately suggests they run, Tasu is dismissive. By the time the team is lucky enough to escape with their lives, Tasu realizes that the guy with maybe more muscles than he has (i.e., Ren) almost beat him. I'm hoping Sacks follows up this realization with a deep dive into Tasu's psyche, since it seems like his abilities are almost like Gladiator's, dependent on his self-confidence. T'onga releasing the injured crew to continue what now seems like a suicide mission to get Cadeliah is poignant, a sign of just how close this crew has become. It isn't all emotion, though, as Sacks has the characters also get in some pretty great banter.
My only criticism is that Valance continues to feel like an afterthought here. That said, Sacks ups the stakes as Haydenn learns that the Empire wiped out the Rebel base where Yuralla was stationed. She declines to tell Valance that, as she's trying to get him to see that he could be happy with the Empire, introducing him to the engineers he saved. (I don't recall that happening but it sounds like it happened last issue. I only remember the failure to prevent the officer's assassination last issue.)
The good news is that I feel like Sacks is moving us where we need to be, concluding T'onga's quest for Cadeliah while at the same time preparing Valance for the next stage. I'm curious where we go when that happens.
Undiscovered Country #19: This issue is straight to the point.
While Charlotte and Valentina are stuck in a time loop in Revolutionary War America -- dying in a hail of bullets every time they're discovered -- Ace, Chang, and Janet find themselves at a "V-Day" parade in Times Square. A besuited President [Alex] Graves is cheering the "great liberators" - Ace, Charlotte, Daniel, Pavel, and Valentina - but the crowd recoils in horror when they realize the "great villains of our greater nation" are in the crowd - Chang and Janet!
In their era, Charlotte and Valentina wonder how they've gone backwards in history, and it's clear that Ace, Chang, and Janet have gone forward, possibly to an era after the Closing. It implies some treachery on Chang and Janet's part, treachery that the rest of the team overcame. But it also raises the question how Alex can be in two times at once, unless he and Daniel arrived here after the events of "Undiscovered Country: Destiny Man Special" #1.
In other words, it isn't the most exciting issue in and of itself, but it sets up a story that I think could really get to the core of what Snyder and Soule are doing here.
No comments:
Post a Comment