Amazing Spider-Man #9: This issue is incredibly random.
As I'm guessing other reviewers have said, it's mostly the timing that spoils it, as it takes place during the Hellfire Gala. Maybe if we weren't already onto the next event, the two months (in real time) that passed between "Hellfire Gala" #1 and this issue wouldn't seem so long. Instead, everything about this issue seems dated, including Mary Jane rebuffing Peter's offer to get coffee given the fact that they seemed in a better place recently.
Given this series at the best of times seems scattered, a delayed tie-in issue to a minor event during an allegedly major event doesn't help matters. Wells is clearly in no rush to let us know what atrocity Peter committed six months ago; it's all starting to feel like the "Superior Spider-Man" all over again. If you've read this blog before, you know that I don't meant that as a compliment.
Dark Beach #6: For this series to make sense, you have to believe that Dr. Jozef Stanley had complete and total control over all decision-making on Earth.
Breaking into the New Reykjavik Corps of Engineer's (NRCE) Center for Science and Technology, Gordo and Eve manage to retrieve, respectively, a photo of the captured extraterrestrial and the data on Schulz's computer. They release the information to the public, and Stanley is discredited given the revelation that the solar flares occurred due to corporate greed and not natural phenomena. The series ends with the New Reykjavik Council (having replaced NRCE) deciding to move Earth to its original position, placating its extraterrestrial watchers.
(One quibble I have here is that the extraterrestrial apparently landed on Earth before we left our original position. I thought Earth only attracted their interest as a result of moving ourselves?)
Returning to my original proposition, Stanley seems to be the only actor trying to keep Earth in its new position (so that he could get the extraterrestrial to reveal the details of interstellar travel, though I still don't entirely get why those two developments were linked). Did no one else have any interest in staying? If not, did Stanley really have that level of control over Earth that we only stayed where we were on his say-so?
As much as I enjoyed the start of this series, Ruiz-Unger wraps up everything a little too neatly here for my liking. He seems to leave all sorts of interesting possibilities on the table, mostly to free up space for the extraterrestrial plot that didn't really have any impact on the story in the end. It's a disappointing end to an otherwise solid series.
Spider-Punk #5: This issue is a muddled mess of an ending as the Spider-Band wins mostly because it's supposed to win. I honestly don't understand the mechanics, like Osborn's suddenly producing a minion army from nowhere or Hobie seemingly disintegrating Osborn with sound or RiRi inexplicably gaining control over Iron Man's armor. But I'll admit it doesn't detract from my affection for these characters. I hope to see them again soon in a story that maybe challenges their worldview a little, as opposed to the fascist-bad/anarchy-good tale that we got here.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #27: This issue is something of a return to form as T'onga and her crew take a job protecting a Pyke boss celebrating a recent victory over "a rival" at the Accretion Disco, a nightclub that hovers at the Crseih black hole's event horizon so you can feel a little extra "tingle" in your dancing. It's exactly the sort of premise that I hoped we'd see in this series.
But this team is battered, so it isn't exactly a good time. Losha is obsessed with matching Vukorah's brutality so she can get revenge for the Nexu, and Tasu kills the Pyke boss after learning from the Nar Kanji assassins hired to kill him that said boss' victory was taking out a school while the students slept.
I know it's a weird complaint, but I found this issue almost too character driven. Although I like the theme of T'onga taking the job to keep the crew together, the characters' trauma is real. It almost feels wrong to watch them struggle through this job. Valance's decision to reciprocate his fellow officer's advances fits into this category as well.
After weighing down this series for so long with the ultimately futile search for Cadeliah, I kind of feel like we need the crew to get a big enough score for a beach vacation or something.
Also Read: Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi #5
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