Amazing Spider-Man #5: This issue is surprisingly uneventful, given the events of this series' first four issues.
Peter gets revenge on Tombstone by sending Digger to break up one of Tombstone's shipments. Digger is jobless after he failed to arrive when the Rose was frantically calling for help last issue; we learn in this issue that he went for ice cream. Peter convinced Digger that taking on Tombstone might get him back into the Rose's good graces. To ensure Tombstone knows that Spidey is fucking with him, Peter is at Tombstone's mansion when Tombstone hears about Digger's rampage. Peter indirectly threatens to confirm the other dons' suspicion (as seen earlier in the issue) that Tombstone is working with Spidey by going to stop Digger.
In that way, all's well that ends well: Spidey gets even with Tombstone by ruining his shipment (which involved "a lotta capital," according to Tombstone), Tombstone has to take it on the chin so that he doesn't inadvertently confirm an alliance that doesn't exist (though he still benefits from the Rose's incarceration), and Digger gets to show everyone that he's still reliable(-ish).
Between scenes, Felicia visits Peter to express concern about the crazy stories that she's hearing on the street. She wants to make sure that things "aren't...bad again." She tells Peter that she knows that he's been playing hurt since the "accident with Ben," which I think means what happened six months earlier and not what happened at the end of the last series. Peter admits that he doesn't know what to do, and Felicia tells him that he does: he needs to stop playing hurt, because he's at his best when he's having fun. We end the issue with him visiting Aunt May, which seems like a good start.
Beyond the big mystery (or maybe connected to it), Digger is the other mystery. He mentions twice in this issue that he has "thirteen people" in him, which makes me wonder if Ben's accident didn't involve him becoming some sort of gestalt. I really wouldn't mind getting to the bottom of this one soon. I get Wells wants to keep up the suspense, but I can only handle it for so long. I hope Wells gets that we all have PTSD from Kindred.
Also, I have to say that JR JR's pencils just keep getting worse. I get that he wanted to portray Peter as hurt in his conversation with Felicia, but his cheekbone looks completely disconnected from the rest of his face. We're well past the point where it's believable he's even alive if that's true.
Astronaut Down #2: This issue gets directly to the point.
Douglas discovers that this reality tackled the quantum cancer early, as it developed more effective approaches to communicate across beliefs and differences (thereby overcoming the "Don't Look Up" crowd's opposition). As a result, they not only cured the mutation but developed a process through which they could transmit a consciousness and allow it to return. (I'm still not sure why they're exploring this possibility, unless they're trying to prevent the cancer from happening in the first place.) Douglas is paralyzed by the prospect of getting to return to his body and not having to die in this reality.
Mission Control, however, is panicked that Douglas hasn't transmitted the "equation" (i.e., the cure) so they send Vernon to see what Douglas' situation is. Vernon is enraged when he realizes that Douglas is having a picnic with his wife and attacks. He dies but not before rattling Douglas. Meanwhile, the situation goes from bad to worse in Douglas' reality when the cancer overtakes Florida City, where Mission Control is located.
Batman #125: If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I stopped reading "Batman" when I just couldn't handle Tom King anymore. Given my love of Chip Zdarsky, I decided to take a leap of faith here, and I'm glad that I did.
All but the last two pages of this issue takes place in "Another Time" when: 1) Tim is Robin; 2) Bruce has lost all his money; 3) Clayface is a villain, and 4) Barbara is Oracle. A little Googling reveals that Bruce lost his fortune during "Joker War" (I vaguely remember that), and Barbara and Tim moved to their new/old status quos as part of DC's (ridiculous sounding) "Infinite Frontier" relaunch. I still don't have an answer for Clayface, though it could be that he wasn't the one from "Detective Comics." (There are a lot of Clayfaces after all.)
At any rate, Bruce awakens after a dream involving the three Jokers perched a top a mountain of dead Batfamily members. Jimenez gives us gays some great fan service as he's only in a pair of briefs and, might I say, is pitching a tent. He calls Selina, and they seem to be on good terms, though she has to go when "Valmont" appears with coffee. Meanwhile, Bruce looks into the recent murders of wealthy people.
The mystery is quickly resolved when the Penguin reveals publicly that he's killing everyone in Gotham who inherited more than five million dollars. Bruce isn't moved by the Penguin's claim that he's doing it for people like him who had to struggle to get where they are, since it isn't true: Cobblepot also inherited it. It's here when Tim appears as Robin and mentions that Bruce is worrying everyone since he's spending so much time as Batman since he lost all his money.
Bruce agrees with Tim, though it isn't why Tim thinks: it's because Bruce Wayne is a useful tool. For example, Bruce gets him invited to the Flugelheim Gala, where all Gotham's rich people will be in one place. (Tim expresses surprise that they didn't cancel it, and Bruce hilariously quips that, "No. It's the hardest part of this job -- this city wants to die.") As expected, Cobblepot tries to use gas to kill everyone, and Bruce swings into action after retrieving his utility belt from where Tim stashed it in a bathroom and pulling on his mask.
Bruce quickly takes out Cobblepot, which surprises him given how easy it was to do so. He then realizes that Clayface is acting as Cobblepot. Clayface tells Bruce that the building is rigged to explode if the gas didn't work, and Tim tries to get the doors open so everyone can leave. While he's doing so, a goon gets in a lucky shot through Tim's throat. The explosives he planted on the door before he's shot blasts open the door, and Bruce rushes him to the hospital since the goon hit an artery. Tim exhorts him to take off his clothes so that they don't know that Robin is Tim Drake, and Bruce grimly remembers doing so with Jason Todd's body.
Later, Bruce arrives in Cobblepot's hospital room, where we learn that he's dying. (Clayface gave up his location.) Bruce expresses surprise that Oswald went this far, and Oswald tells him that he's dying of mercury poisoning and wants to kill the elites who refused to accept him. Bruce argues that he killed good men like Colin Fitzroy, but Oswald laughs, saying Fitzoy was a boar who'd insult and pawn his staff at the Iceberg Lounge. Knowing Batman under the mask is one of them, Oswald tells Bruce that he only ever sees his friends while they're wearing their masks; Oswald and everyone else see them as they really are. It's a compelling argument, and Bruce seems to take it on board.
At any rate, Oswald announces that Batman was last on his list. He reveals that he's called the police and, as he pushes the call button to summon a nurse, takes a cyanide pill. Bruce tries to save him, but he can't. Instead, a nurse enters as he's perched over Oswald's body, making it seem like he killed Oswald, which the cops therefore also witness. Well played, Oswald. Later, a distracted Bruce admits (to himself only, natch) that he's lost, facing a mystery "just out of reach." Most intriguingly, "Now," a Batman-looking robot activates in the Batcave, announcing "Failsafe online."
In the back-up story, a robot dubbed the Executor (who works for the Underbroker) hires Catwoman (for $500,000!) to track down Oswald's ten (!) children to inform them of the contents of his will, which the Executor will read in seven days' time. (We learn the latter piece of information when Finbar Sullivan and the Yakuza try to take over the Iceberg Lounge.)
All in all, it's a good start. I feel like I have the continuity answers that I need from Googling, and I hope that Zdarsky doesn't lean too much on that right now. This issue was emotional and fun, and it's been so long since we've had a Batman story like that that I don't want the dream to end.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #2: This issue is WAY too talky, but I'm hoping that we go somewhere now that we've got the exposition on the table.
It turns out the shadowy organization has five leaders (just like the five points on the star on Steve's shield): the Machine, the Money, the Power, Love, and the Revolution (who's the figure we saw at the end of last issue talking about getting Steve on the board). Radio Company has been following their broadcasts, and it seems like they don't know that Steve has cracked their code (unlike what I thought last issue). Why are they broadcasting codes openly over the radio? God only knows.
The latest message sends Steve to the Forge, a new German power station just brought online that'll power half of Europe. He's surprised when he runs into silver armored soldiers with Hydra symbology, Hand techniques, and AIM technology. He's even more surprised when he discovered one of the soldiers is actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who informs Steve that he and the rest of the soldiers are all acting on orders.
Relatedly, a very handsome looking Bucky arrives at a card game in Madripoor to interrogate the dealer who's apparently one of the five soldiers fighting for a mysterious cause (as we saw at the end of last issue). It turns out the dealer is Peggy Carter, so it's going to get interesting soon I hope.
That said, again, this issue gets mostly lost in the worst kind of Steve monologue, as we have to slog through a fairly maudlin rumination over how he isn't in the loop. Hopefully we'll spend the next issue or two punching Nazis.
Dark Beach #4: Hoo boy.
Ruíz-Unger lifts the lid off the mystery here. In a flashback, Schultz informs the Sun Freaks that the Center for Science and Tech assigned him to Project Daydream. He learned that it plans on returning Earth to its original orbit, though he can't access information beyond that, since it's classified. He doesn't know if the Center has already built the machine but did learn that Stanley didn't originate it: Marie Clara proposed it 16 years earlier. (I think that explains the time discrepancy. The Center didn't move Earth to the outer solar system 16 years ago; they started planning to return it then.) Then, we get to the connection with Gordo: Clara, who I'm guessing is Gordo's mother, was found dead of an apparent suicide.
The Freaks have Roman develop a way for Schultz to get around the Center's security protocols, but, once they all leave, Roman immediately calls a "doctor" and asks about Project Daydream. Shortly thereafter, we see someone calling Julyus to hire him. Julyus murders Ket as she and Eve are having sex, and Raz finds Schultz dead at his desk. If I'm not mistaken, we don't see Roman's fate, so I'm not actually sure that he's dead like we thought.
In the postlude, fourteen years ago, Stanley's creature warns Clara that it came to Earth because Earth has to return to the Sun before the "Realignment" and the "Correction." Clara exposits that she created Project Daydream to protect Earth from the Sun's "violent outbursts," allowing them to return to the Sun. Stanley, though, is adamant that they're not returning. Clara is just as adamant that they are, but Stanley says that her Dyson sphere will allow humanity to travel between planets, though they seem to need the creature's intelligence to do that. But I'm confused here since haven't we already traveled between planets if we're in the outer solar system? At any rate, Clara says that it isn't the future that she wanted for her son (making it clear that her son is Gordo), and Stanley threatens her.
I'd still like a clearer timeline of events at some point, but I feel like that we have enough clarity now that we can really focus on the story itself in these last two issues. Hopefully Gordo gets some revenge.
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