Over-a-Year Old-Comics: The Top-Shelf January 29 and February 5 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Conan The Barbarian #12 (January 29):  One of my problems with "King Thor" #4 was that Aaron had seemed to write himself into a corner.  If Gorr didn't destroy the Universe, then Thor would win, just like he always does.  This boringly obvious denouement was made all the worse by just the sheer melancholy of the story, as King Thor was no longer the happy warrior who we all know and love.  Burdened as he is by leadership, a hint of that happy warrior still remains of that Thor today.

The same dichotomy was true of this issue:  Conan would survive or die.  But, the equally obvious outcome -- of course he survives -- is by no means boring, as Conan still has that spark.  The best part of Conan's fight with the Crimson Witch's children is the sheer joy that Conan brings to the battle.  Having successfully stared down his own god, Conan exults as he gets to fight another god and, better yet, two godlings.  He's downright thrilled when they confirm that they're no longer children, unleashing him on them in a way that they didn't quite expect, though should've, given that it shows why their mother chose him in the first place.

I've decided to get off this train here, particularly as Aaron wraps up this arc so beautifully.  I was excited to be a part of a Conan story for the first time since a friend bought me the old black-and-white magazine when I was in the hospital in middle school.  This entire arc was great fun, and I hope this series stays that way for a long time.

The Last God #4 (January 29):  Curiouser and curiouser.

In the past, our trio is now a quartet as the ursulon from last issue - who Cyanthe calls "Grey" - has joined the group.  They arrive at the Pinnacle to find floating bodies, the remains of a magic battle according to Veikko.  They stumble upon a room with bodies in cages, and Tyr grabs a tembersteel axe from the body of one of the corpses floating in the purple energy in the middle of the room, awakening the corpses.  A skull and attached ribcage in one of the cages informs them that he's Becker, the Grandmaster of the Guild Eldritch and Master of the Pinnacle.  For his freedom, he offers to get the group a weapon to destroy the Flowering Dead.  The group agrees, and Tyr hilariously carries the head as they make their way through the Pinnacle.  They arrive at the Archives, which Becker says are shielded and shrouded, so the Dead can't find them.  They come to a door behind which Becker claims is the Spear of Freyth, which Freyth took with him into the Dark Beyond to slay Naga Fire-Daughter.  

When Becker informs them that they need a sacrifice of living Aelvan flesh, Veikko reveals that she knew all along that the "servant" is actually animating the skull.  Tyr destroys the bracelet she was using to do so, and the servant is furious, because the Plague had infected Becker before she used the bracelet to contain him.  The group then faces a Flowering Becker.  After they defeat him, the servant - Skol, natch - reveals that she used him as a deception because many people come seeking a "wise old man" and wouldn't believe a "little girl" when she said they needed blood.  She also admits that it isn't a spear behind the door but allegedly a book - possibly the first book - that tells the story of everything's creation, including the Flowering Dead's.

In the present, Veikko hurls a knife into Mol Uhltep's head and then dives off the bridge to save Eyvindr.  Mol Uhltep shrugs off the attack and tells Cyanthe that she and her companions are all under his control; he'll eventually have her kill Veikko and bring the rest to the Black Stair so he can return to Cain Anuun.  Veikko grabs Eyvindr's hand and stabs her knife through it.  In a moment of awesomeness I didn't catch at first, she then activates a teleportation (or "twinning") spell, switching places with Mol Uhltep's head.  The remaining Flowering Dead are dispersed when a legion of Knights Eldritch emerge from behind the Pinnacle's gates.  

As they walk through the Pinnacle, Veikko asks Eyvindr why he tried to save them even after they had betrayed his trust.  He refuses to answer and asks instead why she risked saving him.  She pulls back Eyvindr's hair, revealing that he's a half-elf who, like other mixed-race orphans, has cut off his Aelvan ears since Aelvan slaves fetch less of a price.  Eyvindr is embarrassed and Veikko explains her duty, as the Ferryman King, to save him.  Eyvindr changes the subject, and it gets interesting here.  Mol Uhltep had said that the fey and the Northman were gone, meaning that their hope was gone.  Eyvindr dismisses the fey as a fairy tale but notes that Haakon the Shamed, not Tyr, was the Northman.  Not surprisingly, Veikko refuses to talk about Haakon, since it's becoming clear that he was going to kill Mol Uhltep and the rest of them made a deal instead.

As the group makes its way through the Pinnacle, Federici does a great job of just making it so fucking dark and grim.  Even the tree in the middle is just bleak and grey.  (It helps that there are bodies hanging from it.)  When they arrive, they are surprised to find Valko, who rails again at his mother for leaving him behind in shame.  But, he failed to protect the Aelvan slaves he was supposed to escort to Tchakalta Tuo, telling his mother that the Flowering Dead were too fast.  Uh-huh.  Someone has a story.  Veikko smacks him, outraged he's bitching about shame.  Fair.  They're all then staring when Skol appears as a broken, haggered crone.  She tells Cyanthe she spent her youth on something worthwhile but plans to send a simulacrum of her younger self to help them take on Mol Uhltep at the Stair.

This story just keeps getting better and better.  Every time I'm convinced I know something -- like Eyvindr's heritage -- Kennedy Johnson keeps me guessing.  Moreover, the characters are starting to become more complete.  We see how gentle and naive Cyanthe was in the past, making her current incarnation all the more heartbreaking.  We also see how deep Veikko's commitment to the Aelves is, making her disappointing son all the more terrible.

Star Wars #2 (January 29):  Soule introduces three major developments that we now know happened after "Empire Strikes Back."  First, he shows us the beginning of the plan to save Han.  It begins inauspiciously, befitting this crowd.  After a series of events, Lando manages to sweet talk his way into an audience with Jabba to discover if he's been in contact with Boba Fett.  Unfortunately for Lando, Jabba calls his bluff, forcing him not only to promise Jabba to tell him who has Han (though it's unclear if he actually confirms it's Boba Fett) but also to feed him information about the Rebellion.  Oh, Lando.  Never change.  Second, Leia and Commander Grek brief the remaining members of the Fourth Division on their plan to use a High Republic era space station to send out messages to the scattered Rebel fleet, as it was created to do when the Outer Rim was less settled and communications were more difficult.  Finally, after Chewie turns down Lando's request to let him walk, Lando moves onto Luke, offering to help him find his hand and lightsaber if they can return to Bespin.  Luke then mysteriously has a vision of a robed figure, whose faces is hidden, holding his lightsaber and telling him to follow his destiny.  Dun-dun-DUN!  Meanwhile, Soule also reminds us everyone is rattled after the events of "Empire Strikes Back:"  Leia finds herself remembering Han famously responding "I know" to her profession of love, and Vader telling Luke that it's his destiny to join him haunts Luke.

The Weatherman, Vol. 2 #6 (January 29):  Wow.  Just wow.

To summarize, Nathan reveals that he did swipe Ian's memory drive, which he gives to Cross because, after some deliberation, he decides that he's willing to die doing the right thing.  In order to get an exception to Mars' zero-tolerance policy when it comes to the Earth quarantine, Cross negotiates with President Burga for her and her team to get "renly" scans, which can detect the virus at the atomic level and which are apparently classified, experimental, excruciating, and "astronomically expensive."  (The survivors will live on quarantine ships, which is a lot fucking better than Earth.)  

Eventually, after a final meal at Brutal Noodles, Dr. Argus begins the memory procedure on Nathan.  At the last minute, Cross tries to stop it before realizing she can't, but she needn't worry - a bullet is apparently lodged in the memory drive so it doesn't work.  President Burga's advisory, Zane, then convinces her to send Nathan to find Jenner, pledging that a "Clockwork Orange" sequence that they've developed can turn him into Ian again.  The situation becomes desperate when the Sword of God starts broadcasting a ten-day countdown, so Burga gives Zane seven days to turn Nathan into Ian.

As they prepare to start the process, Zane admits to Cross that the real challenge is when the Sword's psychic scans him (which we learned in issue #5 has doomed previous infiltration attempts) as it'll provoke a series of virtual memories that explains where he's been for seven years.  (They're using the Pearl's fantasy-murder tech for that.)  As President Burga, Cross, and Zane watch Ian approach Jenner's hideout on Venus, Argus plays back something he found on the memory drive:  Dr. Nyseth's video diary, in which she says that she failed to wipe Ian's mind.

It turns out issue #4 was the pivotal issue of this series so far for three reasons.  

First, we learn in this issue that Nathan returned to get his memory drive at Syngen Station in the Arctic after Kestrel's troops tried to find him.  I re-read that sequence, and it's clear that, while the soldiers are randomly pulling drives and stuffing them in bags, they don't pull Ian's drive.  You could say that's overly convenient, and it is.  But LeHeup could've just as easy had Nathan swipe the drive when he initially stumbled into the case, since it's also clear that he saw it then.  No harm, no foul, in my book.

Second, we see Ian's memory confront Nathan in issue #4, and Nathan is legitimately surprised to see him.  As such, when we learn at the end of this issue that Ian's mind was never fully wiped, it's clear that Ian somehow -- either intentionally or accidentally -- managed to hide behind Nathan's consciousness.  It's an open question whether Nyseth is somehow responsible for this subversion, since she only comments on her failure to wipe his mind here.

Third, the Sword of God recruits Gian, Kestrel's nephew, in issue #4 to blow up the transport, which he does in issue #5.  I'm not sure why exactly in retrospect.  It's supposed to advance the cause of ending the tyranny of human life, so I'm guessing the goal was to prevent the virus from getting fed, which I guess was successful in that its hunger -- and presumably Nathan's Voltron antics -- did set it on the rampage and that rampage made Kestrel's people abandon Skyborough.  I guess it worked to some extent, but I'm still not sure what the Sword of God's angle was here.

My biggest question concerns Cross telling President Burga that Nathan thinks that the Sword of God has "the other sample."  Burga tells Cross that she had the other sample destroyed when she took office.  I have two question here.  First, if Burga destroyed the "other" sample, who has the original sample?  Is that the sample Sword of God has?  Second, if the Sword of God doesn't have a sample, then why is everyone so afraid of the Sword of God?  I get that they're trying to destroy humanity, as we see in issue #4-#5 with Gian.  But, if they don't have a virus sample, what threat are they?  I guess that's what they want Ian to learn from Jenner?

The best part of this issue is Cross' conflicted feelings about Nathan.  LeHeup does a great job not making them romantic.  It's just that she now appreciates what Nathan is sacrificing, going as far as she's been willing to go for the truth.  Also, Penny finds Pickles so yay!

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #1 (February 5):  Damn, this series is going to be interesting.  Pak tells us the story of Vader's quest to hunt down and murder anyone responsible for hiding Luke from him and making him "weak."  He brings with him a forensics droid named Zed-Six-Seven, whom he programs to self-destruct if he reveals the nature of Vader's quest.  

The pair start at the beginning, traveling to Tatooine, where Vader is haunted by memories of his past (at least to the extent that he can be haunted).  Pak does everything he can to slow down the story, throwing in some smugglers hoping to shake down Vader after assuming an Imperial officer traveling on his own was going to bribe someone and therefore had a crates of untraceable credits hidden in his hold.  (As you can imagine, Vader eventually makes quick work of them.)  

But, Vader is even more of a bull in a china shop than usual, powering this story almost against Pak's wishes.  They travel to Coruscant not to pay the Emperor a visit but to explore Padmé's apartments, which we learn have been vacant since her death.  Zed-Six discovers that the security recordings for the period after her "reported" death are missing, which seems to confirm someone was trying to hide something.  Zed-Six discovers a trasmitter, which he and Vader trace to Vendaxa, where they come face-to-face with Jar-Jar and, seemingly, Padmé.  Whoa.

Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The November 20 Marvel Non-Event Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Captain America #16:  Coates really kicks it up a notch here as we make our way through the second act of this drama.  First, we see a situation that we almost never see:  a powerless Kingpin.  Coates explains that HYDRA's overthrow of the United States left the NYPD decimated and that it's now impossible to tell if some of the remaining officers are HYDRA loyalists.  Fisk called the Power Elite for help, and they provided soldiers to act as "cops" to make sure Fisk had some control over the NYPD.  After last issue's massacre, Fisk suspects an inside job, and he wants Lukin to give him information on these "cops."  Lukin refuses.  When the Kingpin gets mad, she cows him with a show of sorcery.

Meanwhile, Misty and Steve stumble upon a former Scourge base where they encounter U.S.Agent.  Can I just say how glad I am to see John back in the game?  Spencer did great work with him in his run, in part because it was easy to believe that fascists could manipulate John into pressing Sam to give up the shield.  But, Coates adds some nuance here, as John rages against Cap for betraying him.  John clearly believes that Steve was the Supreme Leader, and Coates does a great job conveying John's very, very personal anger at Steve.  I loved Cap's response, as he tells John that he'll explain over a beer one day.  Yes, they'll probably yell at each other and throw a few punches, but then they'll be good.  But, Steve stresses that they don't have time for that right now.  John seems to agree, telling Cap that he's barking up the wrong tree:  Scourge is an idea, not a person.  Later, Misty realizes that she didn't recognize any of the massacred "cops" from her time on the force.  Toni's research backs up her hunch, as she learned that all but Cap's friend Larimore were rookies.  Cap goes to question Fisk about it, but Fisk is seemingly assassinated.

In other words?  Whoa.  Coates makes this issue feel like you're watching a really intense episode of "Law and Order," an approach that fits this series well.  It's a great issue from start to finish, and I look forward to reading this title so much every month.  It continues to be a great era to be a Captain America fan.

Conan the Barbarian #11:  Conan awakens as a boy in his Cimmerian village, unsure of how he got there and surprised to find himself staring at his parents.  They believe that he lost his memory due to a fall from a tree.  His father gives him a good slap in the head, arguing that another blow to the head might restore his memory.  They then tell him that they have work to do.  Of course, said work is fighting off an oncoming horde.  Conan realizes that everything isn't as it seems and abandons his parents to make for the nearby mountain, even though his mother warns him that the mountain doesn't like it when people climb it.  Conan ages as he climbs the mountain, dying an untold number of times in his battles with the scourges the mountain sends his way.  This entire sequence is really just Aaron's way of letting Asrar loose, and it's a wonder to behold.

By the time Conan arrives at the summit, he's a man and you feel like you've earned your spot there as well.  But, Conan isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he continually defies the voice encouraging him to leave.  Eventually, the voice reveals itself to be Crom himself, and Asrar is on fire here.  You really feel Crom's grandeur, and it really makes Conan essentially telling Crom to go fuck himself all the more profound.  Conan is appalled that Crom is willing to let the Earth suffer under Razazel until the gods get tired of it and go to war with him to stop his plundering.  Conan tells Crom that he's a king with a responsibility to his people and that he'll meet Crom's responsibility to his people if Crom is unwilling to do it.  Aaron injects just a tiny bit of exhaustion and frustration in Conan's rant, as he somewhat adolescently complains to Crom that he spread his word throughout the lands and Crom never noticed.  Crom eventually curses Conan by returning him to life to fight Razazel, telling him that he'll rue this conversation when he dies old and forgotten (as opposed to dying brave and strong, as he would've done here).

It's really just a great issue, delving into Conan's psyche in a way that we don't normally see laid so plain, particularly when it comes to his sense of responsibility.  The back-up story also underlines Conan's sense of honor and loyalty, as he once again climbs a mountain, this time to save Zelandra.  Put together, the stories make you almost feel sorry for Razazel and his child minions as Conan awakens to face them.

King Thor #3:  I feel like Aaron has lost some steam here.  The girls travel to the planet Indigarr, where Thor sent the gods without planets after the events of "Thor:  God of Thunder - Godbomb."  Elli prays and convinces her sisters to join her.  In so doing, they awaken Indigarr's gods, who they bring with them to join the fight against Gorr.   But, even as Thor and eventually Loki emerge from the Necro-Ocean and join the girls and gods in the fight, it doesn't do any good.  Despite the constant heroic pontificating from the gods, they lose.  Atli chops off Gorr's head, but they then realize all the stars are dark, because Gorr has become the Universe.  Although it's Thor flying to confront Gorr the Necroverse, salvation likely will come in the form of Loki, who picks up Elli's book as they make a last stand against Gorr.  At this point, it all feels a little ridiculous, like Aaron has accidentally upped the stakes too much, making any solution seem overly convenient.  How does Loki overcome a Universe?  I guess we'll see.

Marauders #2:  You get you some Bobby!

I loved everything about this issue.  I loved Kate leaning into pirating and getting knuckle tattoos and a great coat.  I loved Storm expressing an extreme dislike of Batroc (which totally makes sense, given who she is and who he is) and displaying an agitated annoyance that we rarely see from her.  ("'Kill no man.'  I made a promise to kill no man.")  I loved Batroc negotiating with Kate in an attempt to sell at least some of the pilfered antibiotics that the Black King hired him to protect.  I loved Kate telling Batroc that money grows on trees on Krakoa as she orders Pyro to burn it.  I loved Emma playing a clearly bankrupt Sebastian like a fucking fiddle.  I loved Pyro enjoying himself immensely the whole time.  I definitely loved Bobby kissing some random guy at a Taipei gay bar and Kate kissing her tattoo artist.  I loved everyone's response to their new ship, from Storm's small-lettered "Oh, Emma" to even Bishop deciding he didn't have to return to Taipei too quickly.  I loved how I can't even describe how witty all the interactions are throughout this issue as Duggan just really leans into the characterizations and the dialogue.  

In addition to his character-first storytelling, Duggan continues to embrace the specifics of the reboot, as he makes it clear that the Marauders are wiling to break humanity's laws (as they steal a pleasure craft in Tokyo to chase down the Black King's ship, much to Storm's nervousness) to ensure that Krakoa's drugs get to the right people.  (Kate makes a point of burning Sebastian's supply, which he redirected from the African country, where it was supposed to go, to a U.S. country club, as a reminder that the drugs aren't a scarce resource.)  This issue is the best of the reboot so far, if not the best issue of the year.  I'm really excited to see where we go from here.

Star Wars #75:  Pak wraps up this arc -- and series -- nicely, as he reminds us that Chewie and Threepio -- often the team's most overlooked members -- are the heart of this operation.

We pick up right where Pack lefts us last issue as Chewie manages to throw Vader into a lava-filled ravine.  However, Vader parts the lava and throws some at Chewie, scorching his fur.  Luke saves Chewie by using his powers to turn a single tumbling rock into an avalanche heading at Vader.  Chewie returns the favor when Luke miscalculates and sends himself and said avalanche right at Vader.  (Chewie leaping from rock to rock while carrying Luke and under fire from Stormtroopers reminds us just how committed Chewie is to his friends.)  Dar, Han, and Leia arrive just in time to save the pair (by landing on top of the Stormtroopers), and Luke informs them that the emp blast has left Vader wounded.  When everyone gets their blasters ready to take advantage of this rare opportunity to take out Vader, Dar hilariously asks Leia if all her friends are just like her.  When she flirts with him by saying that he should know because they're just like him, he joins the charge, saying that it'll be an honor to die among fellow champions.  Awww.  (Han is obviously less than amused.)

But, Vader is Vader, hurt or not.  He fends off the team long enough to set the stage for an unthinkable scene, as Stormtroopers arrive to help his injured self to his ship.  (He waves them off him, of course.)  When he arrives on the ship and an office tries to depart to save them, Vader uses the Force to strangle him.  As he uses the ship's power to reverse the emp blast, he tells the officer that "those with power do not run."  The renewed power brings Artoo and Threepio online again, but it also means the detonators are online as well.

Here, Threepio has his turn to shine.  Threepio is panicked over the impending implosion, and Leia exhorts the Kakrans to pile into the Falcon and Dar's shuttle to escape.  They refuse, instead taking Threepio with him.  K-43 begins to disintegrate, leaving Dar and Leia on one side of a ravine and the rest of the team on the other side.  (Han observes that Dar "always manages to end up right next to her," and Chewie playfully asks why Han would care.)  Threepio assures Chewie that he's safe with the Kakrans, and the Falcon and the shuttle depart.  Luke stays on K-43 and heads to his X-Wing to save Artoo, much to the Kakrans' shock.  Before the moon detonates, Luke arrives at his disabled X-Wing to depart with Artoo.  Once again, Artoo saves Luke by blasting off K-43 before Vader -- who was laying in wait, knowing that Luke would return for Artoo -- could grab him.

As K-43 explodes, the Kakrans reveal that they weren't worried about the detonators because the "moon" is really just a cocoon for their sleeping grandmother; she awakens, breaking apart the cocoon.  They tell Threepio that they helped him not for fear of their safety (they knew the detonators would only awaken their grandmother), but because of his concern for his friends and his friends' concern for him.  It's a wonderful moment.  The Elder tells Threepio that he hopes that the "flesh" remembers Threepio's heart that day.  As Threepio begins to tell him that he's an android so he doesn't have a heart, Chewie arrives in a spacesuit to collect him.  The issue ends with Threepio exulting in reuniting with his friends (and telling Chewie to stop hugging him lest he get fur in his gears).  An android with a heart indeed.

This entire series was spectacular, from start to finish.  It felt like such an honor to spend time with these characters in this way, with each arc feeling like an additional movie worth of emotions and experiences.  I love the fact that the next series will follow "Empire Strikes Back," and I can't wait to join the gang again for more adventures.

Also Read:  Guardians of the Galaxy #11

Not-Very-New Comics: The January 2 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Conan the Barbarian #1:  In all my comic-collecting life, I've only read one issue of Conan.  It was a "Savage Sword of Conan" issue that a friend of mine gave me when I was in the hospital.  I remember it blowing my twelve-year-old mind:  first, it was in black-and-white, and, second, it was adult.  It had a sensibility that I didn't see in the Marvel superhero comics that I was collecting at the time; it was closer to, but still beyond, the types of stories that DC was telling.  It was cool, but I never again dipped my toes into those waters.

When I heard Jason Aaron, of all people, was going to pen the new series, I was on board in a flash.  That excitement wasn't misplaced.  Aaron hits all the notes you expect to see in a Conan comic; it feels the way I expect a Conan comic to feel.  But, it's Aaron, so it's not just Conan slaying some soldiers, drinking some ale, and bedding some wenches.  I mean, he does bed a wench, but it turns out she's actually a witch!  She poisons him with a scratch, and he awakens to find himself bound spread-eagle (sexy!) in an underground temple.  She needs blood from the greatest warrior in the land to resurrect her demon lord, which she almost accomplishes before Conan manages to break free from his bonds and kill her.  Aaron has more surprises in store when he flashes us forward decades later, as King Conan of Aquilonia reviews a battlefield littered with bodies.  As he walks among his dead opponents, he's startled to find two children.  They're not who they seem to be at first glance; they're minions of the dead witch, and it looks like they're going to fulfill her prophecy that Conan will die on this spot (just a few decades after she thought).

I've always been disappointed that we don't have more sword-and-sorcery comics.  Comics seem to be a perfect vehicle for these sorts of stories.  However, from DC's old-school "Forgotten Realms" series to the current "Dungeons and Dragons" and "Pathfinder" comics, they've always been sort of...joke-y.  They've never brought the gravitas that I'm thrilled to see Aaron bring here.  Plus, getting a chance to read Conan feels like reading the relaunched "Miracleman" series did, connecting with comics history in a way I didn't get to experience the first time.  Color me excited.

Detective Comics #995:  I like Tomasi, but this issue is just too much.  Bruce barely sounds like himself as he tries to tell Leslie what she meant to him as he and Alfred try (and fail) to treat the Joker toxin.  I'd expect some emotion from Bruce, but he's just too over the top here.  The Bruce I know would've kept focused on the task at hand until he found the answer.  Instead, he falls to pieces, a reflection of how Snyder's and King's interpretation of him as a hot-headed brawler (and not meticulously controlled detective) casts a long shadow.  Moreover, it's hard to take Leslie's death seriously.  I mean, how many times has she died?  Tomasi even doubles down on this approach, as Leslie's body isn't even cold when someone dressed as Zorro stabs Alfred.  (In an interesting note, this person somehow tricks the computer system into identifying him as Commissioner Gordon.  It's starting to feel like an inside job.)  It's here where it's unbelievable the editors weren't like, "Wait, wait, wait, we just almost offed Dick in 'Batman,' and Alfred also gets stabbed there, too!  Maybe do something else?"  Alfred survives here (shockingly, I know), and Bruce goes to Arkham to threaten the criminals there for information.  Is he going to beat up Bane again while he's at it?  Shouldn't he analyze the Joker toxin first, since it seems like a new strain?  Maybe it would help inform the questions he asks the criminals while he beats them?  After all, beating Bane senseless in "Batman" didn't help matters.  Maybe he could even, I don't know, review security-camera footage to get a better sense of who the monster that attacked Leslie was?  But, that would make him a detective, something he no longer seems to be.  [Sigh.]  Unfortunately, I also have to resurrect my "Women in Refrigerators" label here, since the only purpose Leslie's death seems to serve is to push Bruce over the edge.  I wish I had something better to say here, after last issue seemed to be a return to form for the Bat-books.  Now, I just feel like canceling them all and being done with it.

Uncanny X-Men #8:  This issue starts off well.  We learn Legion is keeping X-Man and the young X-Men in his mind; they're not physically in the reality that hosts the Age of Apocalypse.  Bishop demands the X-Men rescue the young X-Men immediately, but a freed Kitty Pryde refuses to do so, saying they need to evaluate the situation while they have Legion and X-Man distracted.  Apocalypse agrees, something that should be Kitty's first sign that she's wrong.  Knowing first-hand how awful the world the young X-Men inhabit is, Bishop has Betsy send him into Legion's mind, Kitty be damned, where he prevents Hisako from killing X-Man just in the nick of time.  The authors do a pretty solid job of showing how the year the kids spent in the Age of Apocalypse affected them, particularly when Bishop informs them they've only been gone for five minutes in the real world.  But, everything spirals into chaos when Legion follows Bishop into his own mind, setting up a confrontation in which X-Man appears to take over Legion.  It all at least makes sense, at least from a plot perspective.  But, I'll admit I've lost track of the characters' motivations here.  It seems weird that Bishop is the one advocating saving the kids and Kitty is the one telling them they should be focused on the larger threat.  It's just starting to feel like you could swap in any character with any piece of dialogue, an unfortunate side effect of these sorts of multiple-character events.  We'll see if it gets clearer soon.

The Winter Soldier #2:  Giving Bucky a sidekick is a clever idea from the boot, but making it a kid with an even more fucked up childhood than Bucky had is brilliant.  I'm intrigued where we go from here.

Also Read:  Mr. and Mrs. X #7; Shatterstar #4