Friday, July 7, 2023

Six-Month-Old Comics: The January 11 Edition - Part 2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Mary Jane & Black Cat #2:  Now that this series doesn't have anything to do with Dark Web, it's much better.

Belasco explains to Felicia and Mary Jane that, when Madelyne connected Limbo to Earth, she created "arcane vibrations" that rendered the spell phasing the Screaming Tower outside reality vulnerable.  Belsaco destroyed the spell, and he wants Felicia and Mary Jane to beat out all the other thieves trying to swipe his Soulsword from the Tower so he can rule Limbo.  I'm not entirely sure why he chose this pair but, given the nonsense we've seen in Spidey books lately, I'm good with the ambiguity.

We also get a hint that Mary Jane and Peter were gone longer than the six months everyone on Earth thought they were gone, but I've given up hope we'll ever fully understand that story.

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #30:  I've said it a lot, and I'll say it again:  I still don't understand this arc.  

Soule reveals that Rabé infiltrated the Executor at the same time as Dormé.  While Dormé distracted Vader, Rabé hacked into the Executor's systems and discovered Sabé was on Brentaal IV.  When Vader takes Dormé with him en route to Fentalle, for reasons Soule doesn't make clear, the Handmaidens attack.  They threaten to blow up the Executor with a code Eirtaé wrote based on information Dormé and Rabé pulled from its system.  But it's an easy bluff for Vader to call.

Meanwhile, it turns out Sabé only wounded Jul Tambor, since she knew that Vader would've killed all his allies if he insisted on destroying the Imperial garrison on Skako Minor.  Tambor reveals that he's been buying up droids that Vader killed to analyze his movements (using their last memories).  As the Handmaidens struggle with Vader calling their bluff, Tambor contacts Vader to tell him that he has Sabé.  The Handmaidens agree to accompany Vader to retrieve her.

To a certain extent, I get all the Handmaidens' motives.  Sabé is using her influence to save as many people as she can, and the remaining Handmaidens are just trying to save Sabé.  But I still don't understand why Vader is entertaining this nonsense.  Is it really worth his time to toy with them?  Soule has gone to great lengths to show that Anakin is gone, so I don't think we're supposed to believe that he's in love with them.

[Sigh.]  I hope one day this story ends.

Wild C.A.Ts #3:  Rosenberg makes it clear here that these series isn't going to win any awards for narrative complexity, and I'm OK with that.  

Grifter immediately gets into a fight with Pike, one of the Seven Soldiers of Victory who worked with him on Team 6, when Grifter was known as Deadeye.  Marlowe suspends Cole for the fracas, but he's unsuspended when Deathblow, Fairchild, and Zealot need help saving Damon Walsh, the son of Dante Walsh,"the Ambassador."  Apparently some group kidnapped Damon to prevent the United States from getting involved in their country's internal affairs, but Voodoo reveals to the team that Damon's death would end the world.  Voodoo seems to direct the team's missions based on her visions.

At the time the team call him for help, Cole was visiting a rich guy named Jason Halliday because Cole somehow found out Halliday was a member of the Court of Owls.  (Halliday was shirtless when Cole awakened him in bed, but he's wearing a shirt when Cole is hanging him out a window, and I like to think Cole made him put on the shirt just to do that.)  I still don't get why Cole is so obsessed with the Court, but Rosenberg is a good writer so I assume we'll get there.

X-Men #18:  This issue is a mess.  The art is rushed, with everyone looking more like sketches than characters.  Moreover, Laura, Sr. confronts Laura, Jr. as if it's her fault that they're both alive.  Duggan also weirdly ties this issue to the "X-Terminators" series, meaning the Lauras have this conversation while fighting vampires.  Also Beast apparently thinks that Laura's discovery is overly convenient, which Jean dismisses since she and Synch both verified her identity. It's supposedly showing how dark Beast's heart has gotten, but we all know that he's going to turn out being correct.  Also, Jean and Scott save some Orchis workers from an exploding space station?  As I said, it's a mess.

Also Read:  Moon Knight #19

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