Astronaut Down #5: We get a pretty anticlimactic ending to the series here, as Douglas does the right thing and sends the transmission to his Earth. Before he does, he knocks up Maddie, explaining that he caught glimpses of other realities during this travels and in most of them he saw their daughter. In the transmission, he includes a message about learning how to bridge our divides and forgive each other, which felt more saccharine than we've seen Douglas be. To that point, we aren't really given a solid reason for Douglas' change of heart, other than maybe feeling like it was OK to die so long as he procreated? It's unclear. All in all, it was an interesting series, though more notable for its concept than its execution.
Batman #131: Zdarsky shows no sign of slowing down here. In fact, this arc seems poised to exceed his first one in excellence if this issue is any indication.
Bruce awakens in the alley that we saw at the end of last issue. A couple of punks have stolen his equipment and, notably, don't recognize him; one of them comments that Bruce looks like a "Venomed-up freak." Bruce realizes that he's in Crime Alley, but something about it feels different. His proof comes in the form of a skeletal Jim Gordon with the personality of the Joker. He calls himself "Jimbo" and tells Bruce that they fight crime together! "Biff! Bam! Pow!"
Bruce realizes that he's on a different Earth, one where his brownstone lays abandoned and someone else owns Wayne Tower. Zdarksy underscores the seriousness of the situation when Bruce says this "Gotham feels...more foreboding. Darker." If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.
As Bruce quips, it's still Gotham, though, and he follows a scream to an apartment where a Judge Dredd-like "Judge Dent" is terrorizing the residents, asking if they're sane or insane. Bruce recognizes that it's Harvey and that Harvey and his goons are on Venom. When Firely (ever the idiot, as Bruce mentions) sets the building on fire in an attempt to get Bruce, Bruce helps a woman escape but Dent nabs him before he can follow her to safety. Zdarskey does a great job of showing how Bruce is struggling here. He still hasn't recovered from Failsafe, and a Venomized Dent beats him to a pulp. He survives only when a street kid saves him via two knives she throws into Dent's face.
At the girl's dilapidated apartment, she tells Bruce that her name is Julia but everyone calls her Jewel. Zdarsky shifts pace here as we segue from action to characterization. Bruce asks where Jewel's parents are and she doesn't respond, leaving the room to get more alcohol for Bruce's wounds. Bruce realizes that she has the same look of an orphan that he and his raven-haired boys do. Bruce realizes that he and Batman are dead in this reality, which is why Failsafe sent him here: his version of compassion was giving Bruce another Gotham to save.
Meanwhile, Selina is running her own operation but responds to a call from the Red Mask, who sends a carrier raven with a photo of Bruce and tells her to bring Bruce to him alive. I'm not sure who Red Mask is, but, given the torture victims behind him and his Klan-like costume, I don't think he's a nice guy.
In the back-up story, we learn that Tim recognized the gun that Failsafe used on Bruce. Jon Kent apparently took it from Toyman after Toyman killed himself (I thought Grifter killed him?) and stored it - and all other supervillain weapons he found - in the Fortress of Solitude while his father was in space. We know that Toyman is alive given the introduction so clearly we're going on a Toyman hunt.
Later, Tim helps Dick take down one of Joker's goons calling himself Cutup. Dick and Tim discuss how all the low-level goons are making a play based on the rumor that Batman is dead. (As Tim says, the Banes and the Riddlers know not to believe it.) Dick suggests Tim let Batman save himself while they save Gotham, which Tim isn't buying. You'd think Dick would remember how Tim found Bruce the last time he died? Then again Dick is the pretty one so...
At any rate, Jon calls Tim from the Fortress and suggests that Toyman may have left some clues when it comes to the gun. Dun-dun-DUN!
Again, this issue is great, and I'm so fucking happy we're finally getting the type of stories that Batman deserves.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8: This issue is dense.
Steve goes into a gas station and calls Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, telling him to activate the Captains Network. It took some Googling to discover that Aaron is one of the heroes introduced in "United States of Captain America." Aaron manages to collect everyone but Black Widow, who Roger says has gone dark, and Hawkeye, who is apparently still in New York.
Honestly, this entire sequence doesn't make much sense. Does Aaron have some sort of magical railcar? Peggy complains about having to ride outside the car, which Nick says made sense since A.I.M. is likely looking for them. But doesn't it make more sense to ride inside the car where they can't see them? Also, I don't get why Aaron had to assemble everyone. Couldn't Steve just have called them all and told them to meet him in Kansas? To that end, we've not told where the rest of them were during these five days.
At any rate, Steve mentally calls Emma with the code she gave him: hilariously, it's "Mommy." Although Peggy refuses to submit to Emma, the rest of the group does and realizes that the Outer Circle used a M.O.D.O.C. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Control) to disappear them for the five days they needed to take over Lower Manhattan. M.O.D.O.C. also apparently saw into their secrets, which could get interesting down the line.
Again, though, this sequence has issues. First, we're not told A.I.M. was somehow able to take down Cap, Peggy Carter, Sharon Carter, Nick Fury, and Redacted. Sharon discovers a subdermal scar next to her ear, which implies they were attacked and A.I.M. inserted an implant M.O.D.O.C. to use. But how did A.I.M. manage to take down this group, particularly since Black Widow and Hawkeye were also with them at the time. Also, why not just kill them? Also, did A.I.M. really need to take over Lower Manhattan just to get the neganite? It seems like a lot of effort.
In other words, the authors tried to tell a larger story than this issue could contain. Honestly, the best part of the issue is when Steve's art-class friends try to find him and run into Amari. They've all got great chemistry together, and I'd love to see them fight A.I.M. from the inside now that they're captured.
Star Wars #30: This issue is reminiscent of Gillen's initial run on "Star Wars (2015)," as I can hear the characters speaking in the actors' voices for the first time in a long while. Amilyn, Lando, and Luke particularly jump off the page.
The team finds itself in a serious pickle: they learn that the Kezarat convoy has turned into the Kezarat colony because no one has found a way to escape No-Space in two centuries. Uh-oh.
At this stage, my only complaint is that the story's flow remains clunky. I think it's due to the extensive script, which I appreciate narratively but seems better suited to a movie or TV show. I found myself almost tired of flipping pages at the issue's end, which isn't a good place to find oneself.
Hopefully now that Soule has set up the story it'll move more quickly.
X-Men Red #10: Oof. Like other issues this week, this issue has way too many stories happening at once, making it difficult to follow. Moreover, Ewing leans a little too heavily into the Arakkii way of speaking in riddles, slowing down the pace even further. If you strip out the verbiage, this issue's overarching theme is that the Arakkii are finally starting to learn how to cooperate.
Khora uses her powers to amplify Cable's so that he can use his telekinesis to absorb the techo-organic virus Orbis Stellaris has sitting in the lab. He creates a pretty fucking cool set of armor with it and becomes the Progenitors' focus. As such, they take their attention off Manifold who works with Lactuca to teleport the Progenitors "all the way outside," which he hypothesizes is where they originated in the first place.
Meanwhile, Lodus Logos, Sobunar, and Wrongslide help Storm defeat Vulcan, encasing him in a mysterium suit until they can figure out his future.
Brand realizes that Roberto paid off Mentallo to relay Xandra's telepathic manipulation of Brand so Brand wouldn't realize Xandra was hiding Storm at the Autumn Palace. (I'm still not sure about this part. Per my question last issue, I think now that Xandra also manipulated Vulcan to go there so that Storm could finish him, but Ewing doesn't make that clear.)
Roberto, Xandra, and company arrive to confront Brand, but she uses Cable's bodyslide technology to escape. That said, she arrives at her safehouse to discover the Fisher King waiting for her. I'm still not sure what the Fisher King's powers are, so I'm not sure what kind of threat he is to Brand. But he uses her true name (Abigail Thanriaguiaxus, or "Born-as-Axus-Ended") and knew her safehouse's location, so it probably isn't good for her that he calls her an enemy of Arakko.
Underlining my point about how we have too much going on here, the issue ends with the revelation that Orbis Stellaris is somehow Nathan Essex, something Cable also knows after he asked Weaponless Zen (whose power is to draw the truth) to draw his identity.
I'm hoping Ewing uses the end of this arc to focus a little more next issue, because I can't keep all these plots straight much longer.
