Over Two-Year-Old Comics: The Superhero October 23 and December 11 & 18 (2019) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Now that we're current on the top-shelf series, it's time to enter superhero-comic land!

Amazing Spider-Man:  Full Circle #1 (October 23):  I don't have a lot to say about this issue because it's impossible to make sense of it.  It features seven of Marvel's top writers engaging in a round-robin approach to storytelling, and it's just a fucking mess.  Is it a fun fucking mess?  At times, yes, it is.  The problem for me, though, is that I started wondering what type of amazing (heh) story these authors could put together under less ridiculous circumstances.  I guess we'll never know.  If you like your comics Dadist and expensive, this comic is for you.  (The Bacahlo art was nice.)

Captain America #17 (December 11):  OK, so, Scourge is killing the "cops" that the Kingpin put on the force, and the Power Elite and the Watchdogs are killing the cops trying to get rid of these "cops."  In theory, it aligns the Kingpin with the Watchdogs, but he's dead, so are they now just working for Lukin and the Power Elite?  At any rate, Cap and the Daughters identify the only non-rookie cop on the anti-terrorism squad who left shortly after he started working with them.  Does he just happen to be an expert marksman?  Yes, yes, he does.

New Mutants #3 (December 11):  With Armor and Glob visiting Angel and Beak, Brisson runs into two of the inevitable challenges that the new status quo raises.  First, Angel and Beak haven't joined the other mutants on Krakoa because Beak's father is suffering from a rare disease.  Since humans can't live on Krakoa (challenge #1), they remained on his parents' farm in Nebraska.  But, Armor using Krakoa's resources to cure Beak's father leads to a group of thugs appearing on the farm to "negotiate" for the medicines (challenge #2).  It isn't clear yet how these thugs knew that it was the right time to invade the farm, with Armor and Blob there.  Brisson seems to imply that it's just coincidence, but I hope he doesn't go that route.  After all, the thugs came with power-dampening weapons, so they're not taking an unsophisticated approach to achieving their goal.

Amazing Spider-Man #36 (December 18):  I'm happy to report Pete doesn't screw up Clairvoyant!  Hurrah!

Peter successfully uses Clairvoyant to realize that the best approach to defusing the Doom situation is telling him the truth:  someone is trying to goad him into inciting a  war while the world watches.  (Sound familiar?)  Doom realizes that Spidey is right, but his Doombots destroy billions of dollars worth of cultural institutions and infrastructure as they depart New York.

In the epilogue, a gloating Countess Karkov tells a bedridden Silver Sable that the point of the assassination attempt wasn't just goading Doom into attacking New York:  Hitman used a smart bullet that allowed Karkov to infiltrate Doom's system.  She ordered the Doombots to attack New York as Doom left, and Doom had to accept the outcome since he couldn't publicly admit that someone hacked him.  Doom is now a pariah, and Karkov is lining up offers from Western powers to hold the line against Latveria.  (Again, sound familiar?)  As she mentions to Silver Sable, she's given Symkarians an enemy to unite them and they rally behind her.  Karkov criticizes Silver Sable for caring so little about Symkarian poverty while galavanting around the world as a mercenary, and it's hard to argue with her, to be honest.  Am I Team Karkov?  Maybe?

The only terrible part of this issue is that it doesn't resolve any of the loose ends from the Marvel 2099 event.  Miguel appears on a tropical island where Tempest and his baby are, though we get no information how that happens.  If I'm going to guess, both the original 2099 timeline and the new 2099 timeline (that Karkov would've created if Peter hadn't convince Doom not to destroy New York) no longer exist.  Miguel is a man outside time but happy with that fate because he finds his wife and kid.  I think?  It's a mess, but it's been so long since I read these comics that I'm just going with it.

New Mutants #4 (December 18):  Oof, this issue is fucking intense.  

It turns out the gang's ringleader is from a country called Costa Perdita.  A few years ago, the chemicals that "white men and their industry" dumped into the Perdita river created a disease that killed thousands.  Martin Shk...a pharma bro extorted the government for the cure when the infected population rose from 8,000 to 65,000.  By the time the government agreed to pay $100 million, 20,000 people had died.  This dude isn't looking for revenge; he's looking to profit, so he wants to negotiate with Krakoa directly rather than his government getting the drugs for free.  Brisson answers my question from last issue about how the gang knew about Angel and Beak, because websites - both supporting and hating mutants - keep track of mutants.  

In the end, Angel convinces one of the guards to free her so she can use her powers to digest her food.  She then uses her acid-spit power to free Manon, who turns the guards on each other.  Also, a drunk Boomer arrives, so next issue is going to be a doozy.  

Beyond the action, as a dad, Angel's panic over her children hit me hard.  I found myself almost paralyzed thinking about finding myself in this situation.  As I said, it's intense.

Also Read:  Marauders #4 (December 18)

Over-a-Year-Old Comics: The December 18 (2019) Event Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Annihilation - Scourge:  Omega #1:  This issue is fine if not formulaic.  Nova "sacrifices" himself to the Cancerverse because it now turns out the Cancerverse wasn't really interested in the Sentry but in Nova because he somehow survived it.  But, based on solicitations for "Guardians of the Galaxy," we know that Nova doesn't die so it's no surprise when Annihilus somehow heals him...despite his Cancerverse-containing body having 'sploded when the Senry eye-beamed it.  I mean, that sentence right there tells you everything you need to know about the state of superhero comics.

Marvel 2099:  Omega #1:  This issue is a mess, from the shifting art styles to the hurried narrative leaps.

Essentially, old Miguel reveals that he's some form of "our" Miguel (whatever that means anymore).  He beseeches the new Miguel to become Spider-Man to break Doom's hold on Earth.  It's still unclear to me how Doom managed to go all "Age of X-Man" here, so I guess that I have to hold out hope Spencer makes that clear in "Amazing Spider-Man" #36.  If we accept that we'll get an answer to this core question, then it's a little easier to move with the story.  

Gabe uses Miguel's biometric account to upload Miguel's experience in the Ravage to an offline database.  (I'm still not entirely sure what revealing Miguel's experience in the Ravage to the public is supposed to do.  The public has to realize the corporations aren't exactly working in their best interest.  I just assume that they know that they can't do much about it.  Moreover, as far as I can tell, the only controversial part of Miguel's trip to the Ravage was the realization that Alchemax wasn't making mutants, prolonged exposure to the Ravage was.  Is that really enough to usher in the revolution that Gabe seems to want?  It actually seems to let Alchemax off the hook...)  This unauthorized access prompts Tyler to send drones to destroy Miguel's apartment, not knowing that he's really killing Gabe.  

Although new Miguel had resisted old Miguel's efforts to get him to become Spider-Man, he accepts it in the wake of Gabe's murder, altering his DNA as he learned to do in the Ravage.  At this point, new Miguel is presumably cured of his Rapture addiction (like in the original series) and becomes Spider-Man.  Based on what old Miguel says here, his appearance should inspire new 2099 heroes to rise against Doom, presumably resetting the timeline to whatever the "normal" 2099 timeline is at this point.  

As I've (repeatedly) mentioned, the 2099 timeline is so muddled from years of contradictory storylines (i.e., poor editing) that I'd really welcome any reboot that returns us to stories featuring a recognizable Miguel and his cast of characters.  I guess all hope lies in "Amazing Spider-Man" #36.  I won't hold my breath.

Over-a-Year-Old Comics: The December 11 (2019) Event Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!

It's been a while!  We had another child so I'm now officially 15 months behind the time.  I'll address that in a subsequent post, but let's move through the posts I had sitting in my draft folder first, shall we?

Annihilation - Scourge:  Beta Ray Bill #1:  This issue is as straight-forward as they come.  Bill and Lockjaw help save a planet from a monster, and they hang around a few days to join in the celebrations.  It conveniently means that they're on hand when the Sentry bursts into the Positive Zone.  Bill is quickly overwhelmed, but he manages to use Stormbreaker to hurl the Sentry back into the Negative Zone.  With the planet saved, he and Lockjaw head into the Negative Zone to retrieve Stormbreaker, as Bill has now reverted to his mortal form.  The most interesting moment comes when the Cancerverse's Dr. Strange initially possesses the planet's inhabitants.  Bill eventually defeats Strange, and the inhabitants revert to their normal forms, implying that, at least initially, the Cancerverse's corruption isn't permanent in the Positive Zone.  We'll see how relevant that is.

Annihilation - Scourge:  Silver Surfer #1:  This issue is perhaps the most consequential of all four one-shots.  It's tough going at first as it essentially serves as a post script to "Silver Surfer:  Black," which I didn't read.  Abnett does a solid job of walking us through Norrin's new status quo:  he's now intangible, and he fears that he's somehow part of the threat that he senses approaching the Universe.  He's also on hand when another tear in reality's fabric occurs, and he follows it into the Negative Zone.  He makes relatively quick work of the Cancerverse's Captain Marvel and Ronan, though he's forced to flee as more Revengers come his way.  He's surprised when they don't follow him into a planetary debris field, but he soon discovers why:  Bob Reynolds' human self is there.  Bob explains to Norrin that Mr. Fantastic was correct:  the Negative Zone could cure him.  But, the problem is how he was correct:  when Bob absorbed the Negative Zone's energy, it split him and the Void in two.  The Sentry that we've been seeing is the Void, not Bob.  The Cancerverse then drew the Void to it, which worked well given their complementary belief systems.  Bob informs Norrin that he's dying, since he's an incomplete being.  Norrin then realizes that he was part of this event not because he was connected to some sort of death energy, as he previously expected, but because he and Bob were both incomplete beings who could help.  He then merges with Bob, and they are presumably headed to find the Void.

Doom 2099 #1:  This "event" has been less an event and more glimpses into the new version of 2099 Marvel is pushing.  We still don't really have any idea why this new version of 2099 is different than the previous versions of 2099.  But, Marvel long ago seemed to abandon any commitment to continuity when it came to the 2099 line; I spent most of the recent "Spider-Man 2099" series just trying to piece together where exactly Miguel's new history (sigh) diverged from his old history (*sob*).  I'd look past it (yet again) if I thought we'd eventually get a new 2099 line, though I doubt it, particularly with the impact coronavirus has had on the comic industry's plans. 

At any rate, this issue is the best of the lot so far.  The previous issues haven't been bad, per se, but they all felt like the one-shots that were:  origin stories for characters we're unlikely ever to see again.  The Doom that Zdarsky gives us here is less ephemeral, since he's (theoretically) the Doom that we already know.  Zdarsky shows Reed Richards in our near-future trying to convince Doom to abandon his path as the United Nations prepares to invade Latveria.  Doom refuses, and Reed frantically tries to activate a time platform to buy more time.  Doom tries to stop him and ultimately awakens in 2099.  Initially amnesiac, he eventually confronts his future self who remembers the moment of how he first came aware of his new reality.  I don't remember how the the original Doom 2099 originally came to 2099, but by showing us how this one did (if it's different) Zdarsky at least gives us a greater connection to the characters.  It's no surprise that he, of all the authors, finds a way to do so.  But, he also has a trick up his sleeve as, on the last page, he reveals that the new Doom has Mr. Fantastic's powers.  

Unfortunately, we're not told why this new Doom's trip to 2099 would result in a different outcome than the one the existing Doom 2099 remembers.  But, maybe we'll get there at some point.  I only later realized that Doom is the person forging something from "Marvel 2099:  Alpha" #1, since Doom tells Uatu that he'll send the Kingpin after him, as he does here.  Uatu predicted Doom meant this Doom, and I'm guessing new Doom is the Doom who sends back Miguel in "Marvel 2099:  Alpha"#1.  Confused?  Me, too.  But, Zdarsky gives it the ol' college try here so I'm at least willing to see where we go.

Spider-Man 2099 #1:  I honestly have no idea what story Spencer is telling here, given the way that it ends.

The first 29 pages seem to laying the groundwork for new Miguel's origin story.  We learn that anyone working for Alchemax has to agree to take Rapture.  It enhances your cognitive functions, but it means that you're addicted to it; missing a dosage is lethal.  Although coming from a different angle, it's in line with the original "Spider-Man 2099" storyline where Miguel was similarly hooked to Rapture, though I can't quite remember why.  We also learn more about the mutated spider-man that we first saw mentioned in "Marvel 2099:  Alpha" #1.  A month ago Miguel visited Alchemax's lab in the Ravage to investigate the mutants it created hoping to find some new application for the research, since he hadn't invented anything for a while.  Miguel knows little about them, expositing that they're just rumors in Nueva York.  But, he finds little to replicate; the mutations occur simply because of the time people spend in the Ravage.  One night, he hears a spider-man mumbling.  He goes to investigate, and it attacks him, screaming "ouroboros," the same word the new Doom said to the existing Doom in the hope of disabling the Doombot.

In the present, Miguel is trying to deal with his Rapture addiction by seeking it from a pusher Downtown.  In exchange, he subjects himself to Mystique, which allows the pusher to steal his social credits for a while.  However, the pusher (who Miguel at one point hallucinates as the Green Goblin) wants more than the bargain, pledging that he's going to put good use to Miguel's credits.  Gabe and a group of Vultures save Miguel.  We learn that Gabe works in the boroughs trying to save the Thorites.  He disapproves of Miguel working for Alchemax, but he admits that Miguel had to do it to provide for him and his mother after their father died.  Here, Spencer is also staying true to Miguel and Gabe's original dynamic, though I'm not displeased to see an idealistic, instead of idyll, Gabe here.  (Gabe also brings Miguel to St. Patrick's cathedral, which made me smile.)  Miguel accuses Gabe of being overly idealistic, and Gabe admits that the Thorites and Vultures are brutally violent.  Like Miguel, he doesn't feel like he has a choice, since someone has to help the people born into the boroughs.  I liked Spencer emphasizing how both O'Hara brothers were essentially stuck on their own sides in situations they don't like.  At this point, Miguel leaves.  Gabe finds Miguel's Mystique pin, and he seems ready to use it to expose Alchemax's wrongs, something he pushed (to no success) Miguel to do. Meanwhile, Miguel hallucinates Spider-Man 2099 appearing before a graffiti-ed "ouroboros," and it seems like his powers are ready to manifest. 

At this point, I'm pretty happy.  As I've laid out here, Spencer is engaged essentially in a soft reboot of Spider-Man 2099, since most of the developments are similar to the ones that we saw in the original series.  However, Spencer then goes totally off the rails.  Miguel's powers don't manifest as expected.  Instead, he begins to "remember" "our" 2099, including the iconic first moments of "Spider-Man 2099" #1 where Miguel is escaping the Public Eye.  He collapses, only to find an old man standing over him who claims to be him.  Yeah, I have no clue either. 

Given that I enjoyed the first 29 pages, I'm also willing to give Spencer a chance here, depending on where this story ultimately goes.  But, as someone for whom Spider-Man 2099 is essentially this blog's totem figure, I also admit that I'm worried that I'll once again be disappointed that Marvel just can't capture the magic that Peter David did on the original series.

Not-Even-Remotely New Comics: The November 27 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Detective Comics #1,016: Tomasi does something rare in this arc, organically replacing Norah for Victor as Mr. (now Mrs.) Freeze.  Marvel got a lot of heat when it rolled out gender changes  too quickly, shoehorning in diversity in some cases at the sacrifice of the story.  Tomasi does the opposite here.

First, he reveals that Lex Luthor gave Victor the B-Zero Serum from "Forever Evil" that created Bizarro.  We also learn that the Serum is toxic to the amygdala, the brain's emotional-processing center.  Victor admits to Batman that he thought that he could successfully limit the toxicity where Luthor failed but now realizes that he was wrong.  He agrees to work with Batman to try to heal Norah, but Norah doesn't want him to heal her.  She accuses him of not wanting to "save" her because he loves her but because he needs her "frozen in more ways than one to give [his] life meaning."  (Um, fair.)  She injects him with one of his "special syringes," which accelerates his internal temperature.  Batman is forced to put him in frozen stasis in Arkham as Norah plots in the backwoods of Canada to freeze the world.  

Rather than forcing a change in identity, Tomasi builds the story step by step here, to the point where you wonder if Batman wasn't in a better place with Victor as Mr. Freeze, given how capable Norah is throughout this issue.

The Last God #2:  Given the scope of the story that Johnson is telling, this issue is pretty to the point.

Thirty years in the past, Tyr and his brother Torma are part of a reaver party poised to raid a village.  Before they begin, Tyr realizes that it's all too quiet.  As they move through the village, Tyr and Torma discover a man and girl hiding in a barn cellar.  Tyr initially believes that they're hiding from the reavers, but the father tells Tyr that the girl's mother is still lurking around the village.  Yup, it's the thorn monsters.  (Do we have a name for them yet?)  Tyr escorts Torma, the man, and his daughter in flight through the marshes, but one of the monsters grabs Torma.  Tyr follows it underwater, but Torma speaks to Tyr telepathically as his eyes turn black, telling him to let him go because the Void is so beautiful.  Later, the girl badgers Tyr with questions, noting that Torma didn't seem like a reaver.  She earns a slap from her father and departs in a huff.  Tyr tells the father that she was right:  Torma wasn't a reaver; he just went where Tyr led him.  The father reveals that the girl is Cyanthe and tells us that she has Teymsong, an art that "folk" think is lost.  Tyr then notices the cut on the father's arm as Cyanthe encounters a young Veikko on the river banks;  Veikko warns Cyanthe to take care.

In the present, Monster-Tyr tells Cyanthe that she's hurting him with her arrows, and she tells Monster-Tyr that if he were really Tyr then he'd know that his pain would please her.  Veikko beseeches Cyanthe to run, but she refuses to abandon her kingdom.  Still, they're forced to retreat as the onslaught is too much.  Veikko cuts off a guildsman's bracelet -- clearly a magical item -- of some sort and throws it at Monster-Tyr, flagging it for Cyanthe.  Cyanthe utters a magic word and fires her arrow at it, causing Monster-Tyr to explode.  (Clearly, the Teymsong amplified her arrow, though we don't yet know that; the father doesn't reveal her powers until later in the issue.  As such, it's a great surprise.)  Meanwhile, Eyvindr continues to fight his way through the hordes of thorn monsters, and two of them allude to the Last God knowing who he was before he was born.  (One of them calls him "His Grace.")  

Preparing to depart Cyulí, Veikko orders Valko to take all the Aelvans to Tchakatla Tuo, and we learn that Veikko (I thought that she was a he last issue) is Valko's mother.  Valko is furious that his mother intends to go to the Black Stair, spitting "Ferryman King" in disgust after she uses it to justify her orders.  Eyvindr gets Cyanthe on a horse, as she's clearly weakened, and they escape the burning city.  Cyanthe insists on returning, but Veikko tells her that the city is lost and that she knows where her path leads.  Tears in her eyes, Cyanthe recites a poem about the fall of the gleaming city of Cyulí.

Eyvindr now rides with Veikko and asks her what she meant by her earlier comment that it was all a lie.  He comments that he's killed Hakkon the Shamed a thousand times on the play-yard, and he'd be lost if he learned that Tyr failed to kill Mol Uhltep.  Veikko dodges the question, telling him that they'll gather the old allies, starting with Skol and the Guild Eldritch.  When Eyvindr presses her, Veikko simply says that they did something terrible to kill Mol Uhltep because they thought that they must.  Veikko also seems to guess correctly that Cyanthe is becoming a creature of the Void, as she has a daydream where she encounters a crying Tyr along the riverbank where they met.  He ominously tells her that Mol Uhltep isn't done with them yet.

Again, Johnson does a good job of not tripping over his world building, though he does come close to it a few times.  Either way, this series is one of the most exciting new titles in recent years from me, an excellent use of DC's Black Label.  I'm in it for the long haul on this one.

New Mutants #2:  OK, this issue, this issue, I love.  The banter sounds like the appropriate banter, unlike the first issue.  Most importantly, I'm warming to the way that Hickman writes Roberto as a pampered, pompous asshole who you just can't help loving.

Hickman spends the first three pages giving us Bobby's (perhaps skewed) version of recent events, which mostly focuses on how handsome and smart he is.  He tells us that his Earth lawyers are good because they're expensive; the fact that he just signed everything they put in front of him to safeguard X-Corp while he's in space maybe calls into question the "smart" part.  After all, as the interstitial page mentions, the space lawyer that his Earth lawyers got sucked.)

Thankfully, Hickman also makes it clear that only Bobby thinks that he's going to convince Sam to leave his "space wife" and "space child" to come home; everyone else is there to see Sam and because Bobby promised to let them use his second-best house in Rio for Carnival.  (Totally understandable.)  After they're convicted and remanded into Sam and Smasher's custody, Bobby complains that Sam doesn't look a mess, winning him a punch from Smasher.  ("To say noting of the fact that we left the kid at home with someone who is not our regular babysitter to come babysit you."  I seriously feel you, Smasher.)

Beyond Smasher later telling Illyana to form a line for punching Bobby, I think my favorite moment was Sam expressing clear pride over Doug creating Krakoan and getting a seat on the Council, particularly given his sheer delight over how annoyed Bobby is that they didn't ask him.  This entire interaction is great, as they laugh over banter that clearly only the two of them find hilarious.  It makes my heart glad.  I hope we stay in space forever.

Punisher 2099 #1:  This issue is hard to follow, mostly because Nadler and Thompson really swing for the fences.  This review is longer than I expected, but this issue really breaks down the dynamics of this new 2099 timeline, particularly how a person's social score dictates the contours of his life.

The issues begins with Lt. Hector Tago and other Public Eye officers confronting a Thorite mob.  When a Thorite wielding two hammers comes close to braining a helmetless Public Eye officer, Tago opens fire, killing the Thorite.  This scene unfolds as Tago reviews his "Iris," a drone that accompanies him at all times and records everything that he sees, smells, tastes, and feels.  The Iris then uploads these memories to the Vision, creating an enormous Public Eye archive.  We learn that Tago has become a hero as a result of his actions.

Jake Gallows discovers Tago hacking into the Vision and is impressed, wondering why Tago didn't become part of Sector 14, the Public Eye's "proactionary cybercrime prevention" unit.  Tago tells Gallows that he's reviewing the Iris' files because the moment the Iris recorded doesn't match his memory of the encounter.  Gallows tells Tago that he understands; he used to review his feed constantly (particularly after Thorites murdered his family) before "they" outlawed doing so because it drags one's attention from the present.  Gallows tells Tago that his family's murder also didn't match his memory when he reviewed the footage; Gallows ascribes this discrepancy to the fact that rage no longer clouded his memory.  Perhaps most importantly, Tago reveals that his grandfather became a Thorite after his "social score," which we see displayed occasionally next to a character, tanked.

Later, Tago encounters a street-cleaning robot gone rogue, spouting anti-corporation rhetoric, particularly about how the social-scoring system is ruining everyone's lives.  Tago connects to the bot to shut down its processor, and he's stunned to discover that it possesses a human's consciousness.  The consciousness belongs to a man named Kenji Walker, a former Alchemax "UX designer" arrested for insider trading who joined the Thorites.  After Tago has disabled him, Gallows alleges the Thorites helped Walker upload his consciousness into the bot.  Tago isn't buying that, though, since the Thorites aren't tech-savvy.

As Tago tries to fix his broken Iris, Gallows later tells him that they found the guy who helped Walker:  Davis Dunn, a "high-ranking A.I. specialist" who also worked for Alchemax.  Tago expresses surprise that he'd be a Thorite, and Gallows says that a lifetime of Syn-C doses will cure that.  (We learn that Syn-C allows a "criminal" to continue working but limits his brain capacity.)  At home, Tago finally manages to download the raw footage of the initial encounter and discovers that the Thorite definitely wasn't holding two hammers; Tago shot an unarmed man trying to get the other Thorite to drop his hammer.

Tago visits his destitute grandfather in his attempt to confirm whether or not the Thorite was armed, but his grandfather notes that it wouldn't make a difference, because they carry hammers as an expression of their faith.  Tago then enters the Vision again and discovers all sorts of footage of Gallows mowing down Thorites.  Tago's social score begins to drop for his incursions into the archives.  He visits Dunn, who reveals that the Public Eye, not the Thorites, had him install Walker's consciousness into the bot, which we learn Walker only wanted so he could see his boyfriend again after getting banished to the slums (presumably for the insider trading).  In exchange, the Public Eye would up Dunn's social score and get him a new apartment.  But, the Public Eye reneged on the deal, and now he's "a workhorse by prescription."  (I don't get here why the Public Eye would want Walker to upload his consciousness into the bot or why Walker would go on a rant instead of using his new abilities to get to his boyfriend.  Dunn seems to imply someone other than the Public Eye caught him, but who else would review the security tapes to discover that he was working with Walker?)

In Brooklyn, the Thorites have created a Yggdrasil from human sacrifices, and the Public Eye arrives to save the citizens, with orders to prioritize ones with scores above 50,000.  Tago arrives as the Punisher to take on Gallows, who argues that the Vision is only "altruistically" tampering the feeds to make them more productive in saving people's lives.  ("When everything's so transitory, all we've got is efficiency.")  Tago then snaps Gallows neck, completing his transformation.  He publicly releases the unedited footage of him killing the Thorite and then visits his grandfather, explaining that Hector is dead, that he "got what he deserved."

I'm not really sure how I feel about this issue.  It isn't terrible, but Nadler and Thompson don't use the flashback scenes well, making it confusing to tell where we are in the story at times.  Also, I'm not really sure they convince us why Tago would sacrifice everything to become the Punisher.  For example, the Thorites murdered Gallows' family; his anger, we understand.  Tago just had his memories edited, which, for someone living in 2099, doesn't seem that bad by comparison.  Without a better explanation of Tago's motives, it just feels like he became the Punisher because he had to do so.  Oh, well.  You can't win them all.

Also Read:  Conan 2099 #1

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

Annihilation - Scourge:  Alpha #1:  Rosenberg does a great job here using the reader's knowledge of previous events and storylines to keep you engaged.  As a long-time fan of Marvel Cosmic, I appreciated that.

Anyone familiar with the Cancerverse recognized the squid-faced creature emerging from the survivor of the attack on Nefig.  Days later, after Annihilus and Blastaar join forces to prevent the Cancerverse from taking over the Negative Zone, Blastaar addresses his troops on Annihilus' homeworld, Arthros.  When a group of indistinct figures crashes on Arthros, a soldier asks Blastar what the explosion was.  When he answers, "Our defeat," I knew that it was the Revengers before I turned the page and saw them.  But, Rosenberg still manages to amp up the mystery when Annihilus and Blastaar express shock and horror over the Revengers' leader.  I initially thought that it was Thor from the glimpse of blond hair that we see, but Annihilus' and Blastaar's fear seemed disproportionate to "just" Thor.  Blastaar holds the line against the Revengers as Annihilus uses his portal to the Positive Zone to escape with some troops.

In the Positive Zone, Cosmo looks at a vomiting Rich Rider with dismay.  We know from "Guardians of the Galaxy" that Rich was already on stress-related leave before the Church of Universal Truth then destroyed the Nova Corps, so the fact that he's fallen so far into alcoholism is no surprise.  When Annihilus' ship almost crashes into the "second-best bar in the third-best spaceport in this sector," Nova reluctantly stops it.  However, he's so drunk that he doesn't recognize that it's Annihilus' ship until he discovers that Annihilus is the crash's sole survivor.   Annihilus tells Rich that they need the Nova Corps, and Rich informs Annihilus that they're dead.  Annihilus responds that they are as well, and we learn why he's so worried:  the Sentry is the Revengers' leader.

In other words, I loved this issue.  It's grounded so heavily in previous stories that it was particularly rewarding to read as someone who's loved all the previous Marvel Cosmic cross-over events.  Given Nova is one of the two characters mentioned in this blog's mission statement, I'm obviously a huge fan.  I've been pretty happy with Cates' treatment of him in "Guardians of the Galaxy."  Like Star-Lord, he's been through such much grief and trauma over the years, and I'm thrilled to see it addressed honestly, with him crumbling under the weight of it.  This event gives the authors the chance to really explore his struggle, and I hope they lean into it along the way.  I was apprehensive about this event, because I so wanted it to meet the same high quality of the previous Marvel Cosmic cross-over events.  I'm thrilled to say that it does.  I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Marvel 2099:  Alpha #1:  Like "Annihilation - Scourge:  Alpha" #1, I was very excited about this issue, since it involves the other character in this blog's mission statement!  That said, I'll admit that this issue was something of a miss for me.  I'm not totally disappointed, because Spencer certainly throws enough at us here to keep our interest.  But, it's also too much thrown at us really to follow.  Moreover, it becomes clear that Spencer is rebooting the entire line.  Whereas "Annihilation - Scourge:  Alpha" #1 built off years of previous stories, Spencer sweeps all previous 2099-related stories under the rug here.  It seems clear that this event will undo this new status quo at least in part.  But, I would've preferred to see Spencer follow Rosenberg's lead and build on existing stories.

At any rate, the issue starts with a young blond child finding Mjolnir in "the Ravage."  Before the child can grab it (as he or she hears someone chanting "worthy"), a pack of vaguely outlined humanoids appear and the child flees.  The humanoids appear to be some form of mutated humans, and I'm guessing the Ravage is an irradiated landscape.

In Brooklyn, Public Eye officers fight rampaging Thorites.  I only realized at the end of the issue that one of the offices is Jake Gallows (i.e., the Punisher 2099).  He's frustrated that they're just getting back-up because he's trying to complete his mission, finding some "guy from E.C.O." who works on cell therapy.  Apparently, a woman approached this guy to help her son, who suffers from "skullfire."  Realizing that he could cure it with an injection, the guy snuck into Brooklyn to help.  From the Public Eye officer's comment to Jake, it's clear that Brooklyn is total chaos all the time.  Jake informs the officer that they found the woman and child's body on "the pyres," though they were barely recognizable because the "drangs" didn't go easy.  Jake says that the E.C.O. guy was valuable to his "circle," but they find him hanging from ropes with a hammer dangling from his throat.

In Nueva York, Tyler Stone is thrilled with Miguel's progress on the Raider Initiative, and the only difference from Miguel's original origin story is that his research seems to come from studying a spider-like mutant from the Ravage.  Miguel expresses disapproval that Tyler is going to use the Initiative to steal other companies' intellectual property and not just defend Alchemax's, but Tyler brushes aside his concerns.  Miguel also stresses that he needs to do more testing, but Tyler is also unconvinced.  We all know where this story is going to go.

We then get to the heart of the matter.  Doom 2099 is holding Uatu hostage to monitor the Earth.  We learn that he is somehow responsible for this reboot, wiping the population's minds clear of their history.  Doom justifies his actions as saying that he's saving them from the "heroes," who we see fighting here in a flashback.  He is using Uatu to police this wipe, something that Nate Grey probably should've thought to do in "Age of X-Man."

We're then given glimpses of Conan 2099 and Ghost Rider 2099, a young thief who grifts people newly arriving at Transverse City, where the authorities can't arrest you so long as you keep moving on the Road That Never Ends.  

We move onto a bar full of "raiders," or mercenaries, where Venture (now a woman) prevents two raiders from destroying H.E.R.B.I.E. for parts, recognizing him as a relic from another time and possessing "unregistered processors."  H.E.R.B.I.E. is looking for his mother's friends, and he offers Venture something "better than money" that convinces her to help him.  (Apparently, money doesn't mean much here, but H.E.R.B.I.E.'s mother told him to go specifically there, which is probably why she didn't give him money.)  Doom tells Uatu that he'll leave H.E.R.B.I.E. alone in honor of his "mother," who's clearly the Invisible Woman.  Uatu warns Doom that the only thing he "sees" is something that he hears and that he knows that Doom also hears:  a bandaged man forging something, which means doom.  Doom dismisses it, saying that he'll send the Kingpin.  Uatu wonders if it's the beginning of the end of Doom, warning him that no matter how hard he tries, he can't snuff out man's very nature.

It seems hard to believe at this point that a cross-over event with so few issues is going to manage to tie up all the storylines that Spencer launches here, but we'll see where we go.  If you're not a huge fan of the 2099 line, I'm not sure this event is going to have much for you.

Amazing Spider-Man #34:  For the fact that Spencer is coordinating the Marvel 2099 event, this issue interestingly doesn't take place in 2099.  We remain in 2020 as Peter has to deal with the consequences of Dr. Doom's (alleged) assassination while Miguel desperately searches for Peter.

The only real piece of information that we get about the events in 2099 is that reality started changing in front of everyone's eyes.  Having read "Marvel 2099:  Alpha" #1, it's pretty clear that this change occurred when Doom altered history.  Interestingly, though, Miguel runs into Doom as he tries to flee the chaos emanating from the change, and Doom claims that he isn't responsible.  Doom sends him into the past to rectify the situation, as we saw last issue.

In the present, Jaime offers to make Peter a partner in Clairvoyant.  He notes that the device that he created is pretty limited in scope given its lack of access to enough power to really engage in quantum computing.  He's also afraid that giving it too much power would wind up changing the multiverse rather than scanning it.  Jamie gives Peter the device to try to figure out a way to solve that equation, saying that he trusts him.  (I think that we can all see where this plot is going.)  At that point, Spidey learns that the Hitman successfully shot Doom.  Spidey visits the body and, surprise, it's a Doombot.  Said Doombot is furious, but, before we can learn why (other than, you know, the assassination), Miguel arrives and pulls Spidey into a time-pausing dome.  Miguel explains that the future's scientists eventually figured out that our present and Miguel's present are linked.  Whereas Peter often encounters people from other futures, Miguel's future is our future, a superposition.  Miguel explains that he can't find anything to prevent his timeline's collapse, but, before he can elaborate, something explodes.  Meanwhile, an army of Doombots appears over New York and demands justice.  Ruh-roh.

All in all, it's a solid companion piece to "Marvel 2099:  Alpha" #1, as it hints at where we're going.  I'm intrigued by the duality of Doom telling Miguel in this issue that he wasn't responsible for the time change, but a Doom telling Uatu in "Marvel 2099:  Alpha" #1 that he was.  Otherwise, everything lines up decently, to the extent this issue deals with the larger event, which it admittedly doesn't do much.  We'll see if "Amazing Spider-Man" gets more involved as we progress.

Fantastic Four 2099 #1:  Holy fucking shit.  For 90 percent of this issue, you're just cruising along the road with Pacheco, maybe rolling your eyes a little at how the Fantastic Four is all lesbians until you realize the Invisible Girl is an Invisible Boy.  Sure, H.E.R.B.I.E. seems a little...unhinged, and he seems to be taking as gospel a possibly off-handed comment the Invisible Woman made years ago.  Then, suddenly, as the new Fantastic Four are putting their hands together, everything goes haywire:  the Human Torch attacks the Thing (her daughter, who seems made of ice) and then burns out entirely, and Ms. Fantastic turns herself into knots.  H.E.R.B.I.E. comments that he fixed them this time, and Venture suddenly realizes that we've got a problem.  We learn that the Invisible Boy's family was supposed to be the Fantastic Four, but the Thorites killed his family because they started to change.  (We don't get any reason why they started to change.  I think that it was H.E.R.B.I.E.'s doing, but I'm not sure.)  H.E.R.B.I.E. apparently then started exposing people to cosmic rays because his family got their powers that way.  He becomes unhinged telling Venture and the Invisible Boy this story, finally screaming "None of you are special enough!" as he unleashes a fusillade at them, killing them.  Yup.  You think you're getting clichéd "let's all put our hands together in friendship" story, but, nope, they're all dead now because H.E.R.B.I.E. is off his fucking rocker.  It isn't a perfect story, but, man, it's definitely a 2099 story.  I totally, totally didn't see that end coming.

Not-Even-Remotely New Comics: The October 23 and 30 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #32:  Given I started this blog as essentially a Miguel O'Hara tribute site, I'm obviously so fucking excited about this event.

First, let's talk about the Peter parts of this issue.  Spencer does a lot to secure Peter in his new status quo here, in important but not overly obvious ways.

We begin with Peter daydreaming during his group-exercise meeting, prompting his two partners, Kel and Derrick, to lay into him.  They both focus on the fact that Dr. Connors got him readmitted to the Ph.D. program, with Derrick calling him Connors' "pet" after T.A.ing for him "back in the eighties or something" and Kel assuming that the Lizard almost ate him.  Kel says that he was probably just bored because he's a "big shot who had his own crash-and-burn start-up."  As Derrick's laying into Peter about plagiarism, a guy named Jamie saves him.  Jamie reveals that he turned an old WebWare watch into an early-warning device for large-scale emergencies.  Jamie also lauds Peter's attempt to provide free high-speed internet to everyone worldwide, whereas he notes that Google keeps rejecting Kel and Derrick is a patent troll.  In other words, Spencer repositions Peter not as a failure but as a doer.  Jamie (and likely others) see his failure as a totally acceptable setback given what Parker Industries accomplished (or tried to accomplish).  Spencer also doesn't drop the plagiarism angle here.  But, when Peter suggests a way to solve the problem the professor assigned the group, Kel acknowledges that it's a good idea.  In other words, Spencer is setting up Peter's academic redemption since it's clear that he can get a Ph.D. on his own merits.

But, perhaps the best part of this issue is Gleason.  Teresa pulls a fire alarm to get Peter's attention, and they head to a meeting between the Chameleon and the Foreigner.  This Foreigner seems new (and hot), and the Chameleon is selling him Infiniti Formula from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "going-out-of-business" sale.  Gleason is on fire during the entire confrontation between the Foreigner and Spidey.  The Foreigner looks like an action hero in a suit, rolling up his sleeves like he's Henry Cavill in "Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol."  Spidey is lithe in contrast, prancing around the Foreigner while delivering quips.  Spidey's head tilt here somehow accentuates how happy-go-lucky he is, particularly in contrast to the Foreigner's more serious mien.  (It reminds me of "Avenging Spider-Man" #5, where Spidey looks like a gawky teenager next to Cap.)  They're small things, but they really sum up the characters (and the differences between them) perfectly.  The scene is also bathed in a red light as they're confronting each other right in front of a car shining its break lights, making the entire sequence even more arresting.

Moreover, the Miguel part of the issue is also pretty on point.  He arrives in the present falling onto a burning oil platform that Roxxon owns.  Roxxon retrieves his unconscious body, and its scientists have him under observation at their headquarters, where the suits delight in the technology that they can steal from him.  He awakens groggy but manages to break free.  However, he's still disoriented and his powers aren't working.  We only know that he's escaping the "end of everything" in his future, desperately looking for Peter.  But, he falls several stories when he forgets how to glide, landing on a taxi.  It's an inauspicious start for our man, Miguel.

All in all, it's a strong start and I'm needless to say, excited about this event.

King Thor #2:  Aaron is as good as he's ever been here, as each character plays his role perfectly.  We learn that Loki resurrected the God Butcher not to kill Thor, but to kill him.  Loki himself wanted to kill Thor, but knew that, after eons of trying, he didn't have the courage to kill himself.  He needed Gorr to do that.  Aaron even manages to inject some humor here, with Loki scoffing that he's been killing gods since Gorr was in short pants and he's offended at the implication that he needed help killing Gorr.  Aaron and Ribic pull out all the stops in showing these final moments.  Loki derides a human as he prays to Thor.  The human is confused, wondering if he's praying wrong since he never had to pray before:  Thor always provided.  Loki tells him that they're all going to die and that no eternal reward is forthcoming.  As other humans gather with him, the human simply says that he'll pray for Loki then, too.  The issue ends with Thor and Loki dying in Gorr's goo, with Thor telling Loki that he lied when he said earlier (I think in issue #1) that Freyja gave up hope for him.  He reveals that her last words were:  "Never let go of your brother.  And someday he'll save us all."  Ribic uses a different style here, with Renaissance-inspired pencils, to show the "dying of the light," as Loki's hand, initially far from Thor's, clasps it.  Earlier, Thor told Loki that -- after Gorr took his arm and eye -- they still had Thor's strength and Loki's brain.  Loki refused to tell Thor how to defeat Gorr, saying it was impossible.  But, in this last moment, does Loki give Thor what he needs?  It's amazing after all this time that Aaron can conjure these sorts of emotional moments, keeping us on the edges of our seats waiting to see who Loki really is.

Marauders #1:  This issue is spectacular.  It's everything I hoped that I could have in an X-Men comic.  I've always liked Duggan; his run on "Uncanny Avengers" was on my favorites.  But, he really outdoes himself here.

First, we start with a great premise:  Kitty Pryde can't use the Krakoa gates.  On the first page, Nightcrawler and Storm deliver a rousing speech in Central Park to a group of mutant refugees seeking to use the gates, about how they're going home and leaving behind their old life.  Telling Kurt and Ororo that she'll see them on the island, Kitty walks into the portal...and busts her nose on it.  It's particularly funny given her power:  she can phase through walls, but she's the only mutant who can't use the portal.

With few options, she steals a sailboat and makes her way to the island with Lockheed, who's having a spectacular time eating all the fish and seagulls that he can find.  (Can I just say how happy I am to see Lockheed again?  In these dark times, we need more Lockheed.)  Kitty arrives to Bobby welcoming her on the beach.  When he asks whether she still can't use the gates, she tells him that "top men" are working on it.  Bobby quips that he'd like to meet these "top men."  Duggan!  How risqué!  In the same panel as the one where Bobby makes this comment, we see a quotation bubble from an off-panel person shouting, "Did you get it?!?"  The next panel reveals that it's Logan theoretically yelling about where Kitty got the supplies that he asked her to bring (mainly BBQ and whisky).  But, Duggan really uses it to draw a line under Bobby's joke.  Moreover, Logan's note to Kitty about the supplies, presented in one of the interstitial pages, itself is hilarious, particularly his "tell no one" instructions about his "dapper dude" pomade.  This entire sequence alone made me loves this book.  But, wait, there's more!

Bobby bids Kitty adieu as he explores why no one has used a certain portal.  Kitty is then called to a telepathic meeting with Emma Frost, who calls her Kate.  Kitty is on the defensive throughout this interaction, behaving more insecure than we usually see her.  But, Duggan uses that insecurity to show the respect that Emma has for her, not only because she calls her Kate but because, as she explains:  "You've been fighting your whole life against impossible odds, and you never once gave someone an extra shot in the ribs simply because they deserved it."  I have to say that it's the perfect description of what makes Kitty special, and it's why Emma offers Kitty a job.  She wants Kitty to take command of a large ship that helps mutants who can't use the portals for a variety of reasons, mostly because they're guarded by anti-mutant nutjobs.  Kitty hilarious remarks, "Ororo said 'No,' huh?", to which Emma responds, "Before I could finish my pitch -- but darling, you will be grand!"

I read a review somewhere in which the reviewer sagely noted that some authors are going to ignore the new status quo to their detriment and some authors are going to lean into it to great success.  Duggan happily takes the latter route here.  On the very first page when I saw Kurt and Ororo leading the kids to the gates, I wondered about whether every gate would be so easy to access.  Duggan wanted me to think exactly that in order to set up where he goes here.  Moreover, Emma seems to be offering Kitty the Red Queenship, which, OMG, yes!  Duggan didn't have to make Kitty unable to use the portals, but, by doing so, we're not getting some random team whose entire roster will change by issue #6 and whose orienting mission will change by issue #8.  Kitty is front and center here as she has to be:  her inability to use the portals means that the ship is her only option.  As Emma says, she might as well use that opportunity.

Meanwhile, Bobby goes through the portal and is immediately attacked by one of the aforementioned anti-mutant nutjobs, a Russian solider wearing a power-eliminating suit of armor (proving why the Marauders are needed).  We are then treated to an underwear-clad Bobby leaping back through the portal to a whisky-swilling Kitty.  I mean, what more could you want?  Kitty recruits Storm for the boat and away we go.  On board is also the old Pyro, seemingly to Bobby's dismay, given his previous sexy time with new Pyro.  The team arrives at the portal and the solider takes out Bobby and Ororo's powers quickly.  But, they were a distraction, as Kitty uses her powers to disrupt the armor.  Bobby and Ororo go to free the imprisoned mutants, and Duggan and Lolli go to town in showing Kitty ruthlessly making her way through the attacking soldiers by her own damn self.  (Phasing the gun into the legs of two of the soldiers was...brutal.)  Pyro exults as Lockheed provides him dragonfire, and the rest of the soldiers retreat.  One of the refugees is recording the scene as they're freed, and Kitty announces to the interwebs that they're the Marauders and they'll bring any mutant who can't get to Krakoa "home."  The issue ends with the team agreeing to stay with Kitty and her asking them to call her Kate.  (Well, it really ends with the Red Diamond saying that Kate was actually Emma's third choice, but whatever.)

Elsewhere in the issue, Bishop is investigating an anti-mutant activist in Taiwan named Mrs. Zhao who claims that her husband disappeared when he touched the gate.  Bishop confronts her, informing her that they don't have any record of her husband, and she departs with an insult.  Interesting.

All in all, I just can't describe how happy I am.  First, the mission is great.  It's like X-Force without the brutality.  As Storm says, how could she turn her back on mutants who need them the most?  But, most importantly, the cast is great.  Bobby, Kate, and Storm are three of my favorite X-Men.  Seeing them galavanting around the world together on a ship with booze, guys, and quips?  Pinch me.

Star Wars #73:  Like any good "Star Wars" story, everything goes from bad to worse here.  After torturing Han, Carpo releases him to Leia and Dar's reconnaissance so the three of them can attack the regional governor.  (I now realize that Dar didn't intentionally set up Han, which sucks, because it would've been easier not to like him as much as I do.)  Leia and Dar have to explain to Han that the only reason that Carpo thinks the governor is attacking is because they changed the plan.  Of course, Han notes that, instead of Carpo dying in their plan, they will.  (He ain't wrong.)  Han realizes that they don't have any hope of breaking into an Imperial Star Destroyer, so he plans on brining them to K-43 because, "the more, the merrier."  Of course, he still thinks that Chewie and Threepio are planning to blow up K-43, taking said Star Destroyer with it.  Meanwhile, Chewie rescues Threepio from Vader's grasp after Vader catches Threepio lying that the Kakrans were under his thrall.  Chewie tells Threepio that he only managed to disable half the detonators, so Threepio calls Luke for help.  But, Luke has to protect the Rebel base, though he may actually convince Warba to help.  As Carpo says, so complicated!

Also Read:  Conan The Barbarian #10; Journey to Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #3 and #4