Over Year-Old Comics: The Superhero November 4, 11, and 18 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #51.LR (November 4):  Jesus Christ, Morlun is back?  It's really old-home week for Spidey in the worst possible way.

Guardians of the Galaxy #8 (November 4):  The only thing that I don't get here is why the Profiteer was selling guns to the Kree that she rigged to kill anyone turning said gun on a Kree.  Wouldn't the Kree delight in said guns?  Why would she need to rig them that way against their knowledge?

X-Men #14 (November 4):  This issue repeats much of "X of Swords - Creation" #1, though this time it gives us Genesis' perspective on Arakkii history.  

Hickman confirms here that Genesis defeated Annihilation in their confrontation in "X of Swords - Creation" #1.  In so doing, she won the Golden Helm of Amenth.  Since only it can control Amenth's demon horde, her initial refusal to wear it (and thus become Annihilation) meant that she was responsible for Arakko's fall at the rampaging horde's hands.  At some point, we also learn that the tenth of Arakkii mutants who went mad and fled Arakko shortly after arriving in Amenth were bred with demons to create the Summoners.  I'm not sure how it's relevant to the ongoing story, but I guess we'll see.

Genesis eventually accepts her role as Annihilation when she learns that, while she was fighting Annihilation, the remaining Arakkii mutants sent Summoner and part of Arakko to Earth.  Seeing their decision to do so as surrender, she put on the Helm.  

Hickman is really leaning into Arakko here.  I don't mind, really, since I enjoy world-building as much as the next guy.  But, if I were paying full price for these issues, I think that I'd at least be vaguely annoyed at how much territory we keep covering over and over again.  Unless you're really into "X of Swords," you can easily skip this issue, particularly since I'd bet we'll see this story repeated somewhere else.

Amazing Spider-Man #52 (November 11):  [Sigh.]  I guess this issue is OK.  I still feel like we're going to find out Kindred is Ben Reilly and not Harry Osborn, mostly because I'm writing these issues a year after they happened and I know that Ben is back.  Maybe Peter saves Ben somehow by letting Kindred kill him?  [Shrug.]  Spencer has drawn out this confrontation for so long that it's hard to believe that we'll ever really know who Kindred is.  I feel like Spencer is going to reveal that Kindred is [Person X] at the end of "Last Remains" with [Person Y] cackling in the background about how s/he successfully tricked Peter.  It isn't a good feeling.  Spencer at least does a better job selling Peter's wallowing in responsibility here, given that Kindred forces him to confront the corpses of people's whose deaths weigh on him and Gwen throws Miles off the Brooklyn Bridge.  It's hard to imagine him just shouldering his way under that PTSD

Amazing Spider-Man #53 (November 18):  [Sigh.]  (Notice a pattern?)  I mean, I guess that I'm glad that it's Harry, though, as I said in my review of issue #52, I still don't trust that it isn't actually someone else.  But, for now, let's just accept that it's Harry.  As MJ said in issue #52.LR, how could it be Harry?  Harry is fine.  In that issue, Norman implies that he might have done something to push Harry over the edge again, which isn't difficult to believe.  Of course, Spencer is going to have to show us how Harry got power over life and death; he resurrects Peter here (after killing him at the end of last issue) just like he did Sin-Eater.  But, do I care?  I'm not really sure that I do.

Captain America #25 (November 18):  I'll admit that I'm not exactly sure what Alexa's goals are here.  She and the Red Skull have captured Black Widow, Peggy Carter, Misty Knight, and Thunderbolt Ross.  But, I'm not really sure why they have.  In Sharon's narration, she mentions that Ross was a part of her Power Elite, though I don't remember that.  I'm assuming that he was tyring to lure in Lukin.  I get that she wants revenge, but it seems risky to pull three Daughters of Liberty into your scheme.

Also Read:  Marauders #14 (November 4) and #15 (November 11); Amazing Spider-Man #52.LR (November 11)

Over Year-Old Comics: The Superhero September 2 and 9 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Hawkeye:  Freefall #6 (September 2):  Holy fucking shit.  I did not see this issue coming.

When Bryce survived Bullseye's attack last issue, I assumed that he'd survive period.  Like, of course he would.  Rosenberg wouldn't kill the breakdancing Skrull and hipster hacker.  But, he does.  Of course, Bryce doesn't just die; he dies after Clint agrees not to take him to a hospital (because cops) and instead take him to Linda's.  Linda berates him for this decision, and you have to agree with her.  It's one of those moments where Clint just can't be the adult.  He can't say to a teenage boy, "Dude, it doesn't matter if you have warrants against you, you're going to die if I don't get you to a hospital."  

It's an excellent example of his fucked-up optimism that he can fix everything when all his experience shows that he cannot.  It's like when the Clown kills Grills in "Hawkeye" #9.  Clint just pulls people into his vortex without understanding the responsibility that he has to them.  He's like the anti-Peter Parker.  You can't have your teenage assistant hang in your barely secured basement while you're fighting an increasingly personal war against a demon-powered supervillain and expect that he'll be safe.

Of course, instead of asking for help, Clint doubles down.  He almost kills Bullseye, he robs Parker's legitimate bank of the money that Parker has stashed in safety deposit boxes, he has Count Nefaria summon a demon to steal Parker's hood, and he maybe kills Parker.  As Fancy Dan says to Ox at the issue's end, Clint's become one of them even if he doesn't realize it.  At some point, Parker wonders if Clint isn't suicidal, and it's hard to argue with him.  I mean, he always seems too willing just to set his life on fire, but he goes totally over the edge here.

In other words, Rosenberg and Schmidt have really delivered one of the best Hawkeye stories that I've ever read, which is a high fucking bar.  I can't recommend this series enough.

Empyre #6 (September 2):  Calling this issue a dumpster fire feels unfair to dumpster fires.  After ignoring the tie-in mini-series for the first five issues, the main title's resolution turns entirely on events that apparently happened in said tie-in issues.  Cap learned the value of friends, Thor learned a lesson about family, and Tony reaffirmed a truth about...I don't know, something.  In the end, the heroes win because the heroes win.  I can't really explain it better than that.  The event ends where we began, with Hulkling as Emperor of the Kree-Skrull Alliance.  I think we're supposed to believe that his defeat of R'Kill (whose survival of Throneworld's destruction I'm pretty sure Ewing never explained) means that the Kree and Skrulls will rally to his leadership now that they've been reminded of how futile war is by...some device that the two kids the Fantastic Four rescued used...despite it actually holding them hostage?  Anyway, we're done here.

Guardians of the Galaxy #6 (September 2):  I'll be honest that I wanted this issue to end with a sobbing Richard admitting that it wasn't his fault like "Good Will Hunting."  But, we don't get that here.  Instead, we get a Richard maybe starting to get comfortable with the idea that he needs help, which is admittedly truer to his character.

The most telling part isn't his discussion with his therapist, but the flashback with Gamora.  I've often wondered why we've glossed over the fact that Gamora and Richard were a couple, and Ewing at least does a great job here explaining why they aren't any longer.  Richard runs into her at Gosnell's Bar, which offers Annihilation War veterans half-priced beer.  Gamora confesses that she loved Richard after Peter told her what he said to Peter in the Cancerverse, about how he hoped that he could convince her just to be happy.  But, Gamora tells Richard that she ultimately chose Peter over him because Peter isn't like Richard:  he came home from the war.  To Gamora, Richard is more like her:  they didn't, and Richard never will.  It's sad because it's true.  Gamora leaves, telling Richard that they'll never see each other again.  Before she goes, Richard tells her that he loved Peter, too.  When the therapist asks why, he tells her that it's because he was the only loyal friend that he had, and, as Richard says, it's what got him killed.

Ewing ends this issue on two hopeful notes.  First, Richard agrees to return to therapy next week.  Second, he learns about the Kree-Skrull Alliance and contemplates a lesson violent galaxy.  I mean, it clearly won't be, but at least he gets some hope that it'll be for a minute.

New Mutants #12 (September 2):  This issue is spectacular.  This series has been middling for a while, but Brisson really summarizes the need for Krakoa in this issue.

Magik has Trinary track Dox activity, and she confirms that its "reporting" has led to numerou attacks on mutants.  (In one of the interstitial pages, we learn that Dox has been publishing gate-related activity.)  Magik decides to take the fight to Dox.  With Glob and Mirage, she goes to Dox's headquarters.  Dani tells the employees the story of three mutants who Dox's reporting injured.  But, the editor interrupts, saying that mutantkind "escalated the war" when it started using human lives as bargaining chips.  He uses the standard cable TV line that they can't blame the actions of a few lunatics on them.  But, Magik goes one step further:  Dani informs them that Trinary has developed an algorithm that publishes the author's full name and address when they dox a mutant.  When the editor starts screaming at them as they leave, Glob attacks him.  (As Magik said, she never thought Glob would be the one to lose his shit.)  He tells the editor that he'll kill him if another mutant dies.  Dox subsequently is, um, "down for temporary maintenance."

But, it's Magik's conversation with Glob on Krakoa that takes the cake.  With his chickens feeding at his feet, Glob tells Magik about how his father was an anti-mutant nutjob.  It took over his entire life.  He'd drag Glob to protests with him.  When Glob mutated, he beat him for any trespass.  It only ended when his mother snuck him to Westchester in the middle of the night.  In a heartbreaking sentence, Glob says, "She gave me a kiss on the forehead and told me not to call home."  Glob says that he's really felt happy on Krakoa, and the editor reminded him of his father and the people who want to take that from him.  He tells Magik that he needs to be better, but Magik hugs him and tells him that a little anger is good for the soul so long as it doesn't consume you.

Glob's story is why I've realized that Krakoa really is necessary.  As Charles and Erik tell Reed in "X-Men/Fantastic Four" #4, it really is about survival.  It's also about fighting on the same level as the humans fight, as Magik does here.  It's hard not to worry that it'll end in tears, but for now I'm glad that people like Glob get to have their anger in a safe space.  As Magik said, it's good for the soul.

Amazing Spider-Man #48 (September 9):  Ugh.  As a long-time Spider-Man fan, I have to say that I've read so many version of this issue - of a navel-gazing Peter wondering what he's going to do about Norman Osborn - that I just can't.  First, I find the idea that Norman somehow managed to get himself appointed the head of Ravencroft to be a hard sell, even with Kingpin as Mayor.  But, even if I accept that, it's hard to get excited about a Norman Osborn story.  He's like Spider-Man's Joker; he's going to make him feel all the hurts and then he's going to inspire him to rise above it because he's a hero.  The only interesting twist here is this idea that Peter is still working off the premise that Sin-Easter cleansing him of sin is a bad thing.  The rest of Team Spider isn't convinced, and they've pledged to stop Peter from saving Norman.  It's definitely as interesting as a twist as I could imagine for a Norman story, but it doesn't mean I care all that much.

Also Read:  Empyre:  Aftermath - Avengers #1 (September 9); Marauders #12 (September 9)

Almost Two-Year-Old Comics: The Superhero August 5 and 26 (2020) "Empyre" Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Empyre #4 (August 5):  As a Hulkling and Wiccan fan, this issue's main value is the revelation that Hulkling and Wiccan got married in Vegas with the Young Avengers in attendance.  I know that Marvel will address that fully at some point.  In the meantime, the main development in terms of "Empyre" follows on last issue's revelation that Hulkling's grandmother, R'Kill, has all this time been posing as Kree hero Tanalth the Pursuer.  With Hulkling's sudden decision to use the Pyre to destroy Earth if necessary, it seems likely that R'Kill has adopted another persona.  After "Hulkling" orders Mur-G'nn to send away Carol Danvers and Johnny Storm before they can stop "Hulkling," Mur-G'nn wisely sends them to Wiccan, who confirms that "Hulkling" isn't Hulkling.  Oh, Skrulls.

Lords of Empyre:  Emperor Hulking #1 (June 22):  "Oh, M.O.D.O.K., your gown is so pretty!  The prince is sure to dance with..." is possibly the best line that I've ever read in a comic.  (It's a dreaming Billy talking in his sleep, and it's exactly what I imagine Billy dreams.) "Protect the hot twunk with the enormous arms!" (spoken by Krystal M'Kraan the drag queen about Teddy) is a close second best line.

I somehow missed this issue in my pull list, so I just read it.  Beyond anything in the main title, this issue makes it clear how dangerous and precarious Teddy's position is.  Although we now know that "Tanalth" is R'Kill, she isn't the only threat that Teddy faces.  Seconds after Bel-Dann and Raksor approach Teddy about taking the throne,  the Children of Lost Tarnax - a Skrull fundamentalist group dedicated to Teddy's grandfather's purity doctrine - attempt to assassinate him.  Later, "Tanalth" arranges for Kree zealots - who Teddy's peace overture to the Utopian Kree infuriated - to attack his flagship.  In so doing, she underscores how Teddy's commitment to peace resulted in the deaths of his "own" subjects aboard the flagship.  Captain Glory, Kl'rt, Mur-G'nn, and Tanalth then all insist he ends his relationship with Billy.  He does so in public, though he and Billy know that he doesn't actually do so.  But, it's still a lot.  Billy later visits Teddy in secret, and Teddy stresses how scared he is to take on all this responsibility without Billy.

The only criticism that I have is that it's weird that Marvel shunted Teddy's story, which is the story's core, to a tie-in issue.  If Ewing and Slott had incorporated this level of emotion and intrigue into the main title, I think that I'd enjoy it more.  This issue is also helped due to all the sexy Teddy time.  Twunk indeed!

X-Men #11 (August 26):  Given Hickman's penchant for jumping from story to story, this "Empyre" tie-in issue fits into the story that he's telling fairly seamlessly.  Just as Rockslide and Summoner are prepared to play a game that definitely isn't what it seems, the Cotati strike.  Magneto puts into effect a protocol that Cyclops and the other captains developed that creates offensive and defensive groupings of X-Men whose powers fit well together, like the Five's.  To that end, Magma delivers lava to Iceman who freezes it into metal for Magneto to use against the invaders.  Needless to say, Magneto wins.  I'm guessing that "Empyre:  X-Men" deals with Cyclops and his team's fight against the Cotati on the Moon, but given that the main title hasn't mentioned that fight at all and we only have one issue left in it, I'm not bothering with that mini-series.  But, this issue works well enough to see how the mutants are involved in "Empyre."

Also Read:  Empyre #5 (August 12)

Almost Two-Year-Old Comics: The Superhero July 15, 22, and 29 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #44 (July 15):  Man, this issue is fucking intense.  Kindred uses his ability to control Peter's dreams to show Sin-Eater tracking down Overdrive and the Inner Demons.  It's a lot, like, "I want to hug my kids" a lot.  Sin-Eater appears as a demon chasing Overdrive wherever he tries to run, and it seems pretty clear that he kills him in the end.  But, Peter "awakens" to a new dream where he calls MJ and tells her that he feels like Spider-Man is swallowing him whole.  He acknowledges that Jonah had a point in issue #39 that Peter pushes away everyone.  Peter plays with the engagement ring that he bought MJ as he finishes telling her that he wants to ask her something when she returns.  But, it isn't hopeful.  Spencer does an amazing job showing how he does really seems broken and completely isolated from everyone he loves.  It feels like he's asking MJ to marry him more because he needs someone to love him.  But, maybe it's just Kindred's spin:  at the end of the issue, Kindred makes it sound like MJ was having this dream, not Peter.  Peter wanting to marry MJ solely to feel grounded is certainly her nightmare.

Incoming! #1 (December 26, 2019):  Oof.  This issue is rough.  It entails authors handing off their character-specific vignettes to one another to solve a locked-room murder.  Instead of focusing on laying the groundwork for the Empyre cross-over, though, Marvel tries to update us on virtually every character's current status quo.  The only real development is Hulkling becoming the Kree-Skrull emperor and taking on a Cotati threat that a Kree agent and his Skrull partner discovered on Earth.

Empyre #1 (July 15):  This issue is as solid as a first issue of a cross-over event can be.  Tony Stark is confident that his side - the Celestial Messiah known as Quoi and his Cotati followers - is right and the other side - the Kree/Skrull Alliance - is wrong.  He's condescending to Hulkling and doesn't even bother trying to listen to him.  When Hulkling orders a non-lethal attack on the Avengers, Tony has Thor use Mjolnir to deliver a virus into the Alliance's ships, disabling them.  With the Alliance incapacitated, Quoi then reveals his hand:  he and the Cotati transform into more war-like versions of themselves, take out the Avengers, and set their sights on Earth.  Well played as always, Tony.

Empyre #2 (July 22):  It's hard to believe that Marvel thought this plot could sustain as sprawling of a cross-over event as they originally planned.  It's just hard to take the Cotati seriously.  Can't Iceman just freeze them?  At any rate, this issue moves along the narrative at a brisk enough pace.  While the Avengers (particularly Tony) are left reeling at Quoi's betrayal, Carol uses her powers to amplify Hulkling's sword's ability to disrupt the Cotati, saving the remains of the Kree/Skrull Alliance's armada.  (Her argument to Captain Glory and the Super-Skrull that they've made mistakes, too, so the Avengers' mistake is fine is so very Avengers logic that they should probably make her Chairwoman.)  Now, we're heading to Earth where I wonder if the good guys are going to win...

New Mutants #11 (July 22):  Due to Magik's last-minute save, the New Mutants are able to escape Carnelia before its prime minister can have its forces fire on them.  As Boomer notes in her journal, it's yet another situation that could've gone better.  The team seems focused on getting to the bottom of whoever is running the Dox website, which seems like a solid use of their time.  But, it's probably time to winnow down the roster if they plan on not constantly bumping into each other.

X-Men/Fantastic Four #4 (July 22):  Oof.  I was going to write how heart-warming this issue is.  After Franklin ends the experiment to prevent Doom's Latviathans from killing everyone, both the Fantastic Four and X-Men promptly tell Doom to go fuck himself.  

Like an adult, Sue then apologizes to Charles for treating him as a threat, noting that he's dedicated his life to teaching young mutants like her son how to use their powers.  Also like an adult (I know, shocker), Charles apologizes to Sue for seeming to ignore her concerns about Krakoa isolating itself from humanity, stressing that they also share them.  

Later, Valeria tells Doom that she knows that he tried to siphon off some power and sending a microprobe through the conduit that he opened to repower Franklin.  Doom acknowledges that he's trying to find a way to get humanity to evolve its intelligence in response to mutantkind.  Valeria tells Doom that he needs to move to the acceptance phase of his grief over humanity's end.  On Krakoa, Beast is unable to pinpoint why Franklin's powers are failing but notes that Franklin's powers are less drained when he uses them on Krakoa.  Then Franklin goes home for dinner.  All's well that end's well, right?

Wrong.  Charles and Erik accompany Franklin to Yancy St. to speak with Reed.  It turns out his device to cloak the mutant gene can also turn off the gene.  Bam, smack to the face.  On one hand, it raises the question whether he really is behind fucking with Franklin's powers.  On the other hand, it's also a man essentially willing to commit genocide.  Charles erases Reed's ability to reconstruct it and notes that, in the past, he'd erase Reed's memory of him doing so.  Instead, Charles tells Reed that he wants Reed to remember.  To quote Charles, "This is not a game.  This is our right to survive."  Erik then destroys the device and tells Reed that he can't do whatever he wants anymore.

As I said, oof.  Needless to say, Reed doesn't come off well here.  He's surprised when Charles and Erik confront him, because he's so used to keeping secrets and he's so clearly rarely called on it.  The entire sequence definitely leaves me firmly in Team X-Men here, even if I think Charles and Erik fucked up the entire situation.

Amazing Spider-Man #45 (July 29):  Holy shit.  This issue is intense.  After so many issues of Spencer hinting at plots to come, he finally throws himself into one here.

After Mary Jane canceled her trip home at the last minute, Peter mopily goes through the motions of the date where he'd planned to propose.  Along the way, he stumbles upon a manic Overdrive and realizes that his dream - where Overdrive has driven for three straight days to run from Sin-Eater - was true.  The confrontation goes how you expect, as conflicting feelings overwhelm Peter as he tries to save Overdrive.  Sin-Eater appears on the scene and opens fire on Overdrive, but Spidey jumps in front of the bullet.  It goes through Spidey without wounding him but kills Overdrive instead.  

At last, it seemed like it did.  When Carlie Cooper examines the body later, she realizes that the wound has disappeared, and Overdrive suddenly awakens!  

Going forward, the big challenge for Peter is that he seems unable to shake off the presumably Kindred-induced fog and realize that someone (i.e., Kindred) is behind his recent troubles.  Sin-Eater even tells him that someone returned him to Earth to cause Peter pain, and Peter can't put two and two together.  It doesn't bode well.

X-Men #10 (July 29):  Hickman uses this "Empyre" cross-over issue to give us a little more background on Vulcan.  That said, he doesn't totally answer all my questions.  

At some point after Black Bolt and Vulcan went boom in "War of Kings," a triad of nefarious entities examined Vulcan.  They decided that he had a flaw - an inherent goodness - that complicated their plans for him.  For reasons that don't necessarily make sense to me if a "good" Vulcan was the problem, they decide to resurrect him with a "false" good persona on the outside and his "real" broken self on the inside.  Shouldn't that be the other way?  Shouldn't his good persona be "real" and his broken persona be "false?"

This revelation comes when Vulcan takes a walk on the Moon and encounters the Cotati.  For reasons that are also unclear, the Cotati don't immediately kill him.  They use a seed to bring his secrets to the fore, which results in him exploding, presumably as they peeled off his false outer shell.  Afterwards, Petra and Sway come to collect him, and he tells them that he doesn't want to be this way anymore.   

In other words, it's a very Hickman issue, where we get more questions than answers and even some of the questions don't make sense.

Also Read:  New Mutants #10 (June 10); Free Comic Book Day:  X-Men (2020) #1 (July 15); Giant-Size X-Men:  Magneto #1 (July 15); Guardians of the Galaxy #4 (July 15); Amazing Spider-Man:  Sins Rising - Prelude #1 (July 22); Empyre #3 (July 29)