Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The July 17 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Age of X-Man Omega #1:  Like many events, this one ends without any real consequences.  The problem with that resolution is Thompson came close to making it interesting at the end here.

As the X-Men confront X-Man, they discover that they will functionally murder everyone born in this world to return to their world.  As some of the X-Men push to do so, X-Man wryly notes how mad they were in their world when someone made life and death decisions for them but how easily they're willing to make them for everyone else here.  Nevertheless, Nate tells the X-Men that they just have to plunge the Life Seed into his chest and they can return home.  Just as Magneto seems ready to do that, suddenly we have another options.  The X-Men are simply sent home through Nate.

Thompson even then seemed to be going somewhere interesting, as people like Colossus and Nature Girl express the desire to stay.  But, Nate insists that everyone has to go, without explaining why.  In fact, he later breaks that rule when he somehow splits Magneto into two, allowing one version of him to return and another version of him to stay in this world where his dreams were realized.  In the end, it's simply done.  At some point, Thompson quickly explains Dani's presence in both this world and in the "real" world as happening because a part of Dani will always living inside Nate.

But, again, before we can really explore that idea, we move onto the next issue at hand that Thompson has to resolve.  If you thought this experience would've made Nate realize relationships have value, you'd be wrong.  In fact, Thompson really sidesteps that issue entirely.  Nate and Magneto decide to reinvent this world without the secret police or the relationship ban, but it means we never really learn why Nate decided he needed those things in the first place.  Nate is basically accusing the X-Men of denying themselves Utopia, but he never acknowledges that a Utopia with brainwashing and secret police probably isn't one, as this experience shows.  After all, it isn't like the secret police were just there to make sure the X-Men didn't remember their pasts; the pregnant woman who bore a child in the "X-Tremists" mini-series pretty clearly wasn't someone from "our" world.

In other words, this event was clearly conceived as a placeholder to give Hickman time to build his world, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it.  I'm just sad I spent so much money on it.

Batman #75:  [Sigh.]  I don't even know what to say here, to be honest.  King leaps about 30 steps at the start of this issue when it begins simply with the word, "Later..."  Honestly, I'm fine with that, if only because I hate this run and can't wait for it to end.  You know you're in a bad place when the people who love this run will be disappointed that we won't see the outcome of Bruce and Thomas' fight in the desert while the people who hate this run will be thrilled just to be closer to the end. 

Anyway, all we know is that Thomas is now the Batman of Gotham and Bruce is wandering some snow-laden, wind-swept mountain looking for yet another guru.  All the villains in Gotham as well as Gotham Girl and Thomas are working for Bane, with most if not all of them under Psycho-Pirate's influence.  King tries to make this development interesting by leaning into the ridiculousness, such as making Joker and Riddler detectives working a beat.  They're tracking down villains, like Two-Face here, who resist Bane's rule.  When they find them, the rebels are subject to Psycho-Pirate's ministrations.

Meanwhile, Bruce is looking for the aforementioned guru.  I mean, seriously, does he have a guru on every mountaintop?  The "guru" turns out being some kid who easily slices his neck; the kid and his friend strip Bruce to his underwear and bolt.  (They're working for someone apparently connected to Bane, but I don't care enough to re-read that part.)  Catwoman appears from nowhere to save him, with no explanation for why she's there.  But, Batman can also be almost murdered by small children now, so why do we need explanations?

Even giving King the mulligan on the time jump, he leaves all sorts of questions unanswered and seems unlikely to answer them.  We learn that Gotham Girl is somehow keeping all of Bruce's "fancy friends" (to use Thomas' term for them) from entering Gotham, and it seems preposterous that the Justice League would be so afraid of Claire (or protective of Alfred, as Thomas alleges) that they'd just give up Gotham.  Moreover, as a forced-seeming part of the "Year of the Villains" event, Bane asks Luthor to arrange for the U.S. government to surrender Gotham to him.  Along with Hugo Strange's presence as the commissioner, this development makes it feel like King had no ideas left but replayed "Arkham City" a few too many times.

At some point, Thomas asserts Bruce is "broken," but, honestly, I don't know why.  He seemed fine in the desert.  He's certainly faced more difficult circumstances, and I don't understand why he's searching for a guru when he could just go to one of his safehouses, have the Bat-family meet him there, and mount an attack on Bane.  Whatever.  I'm done. I just can't do it anymore.

Transformers #9:  I wanted to love this series, but I'm done now.  (Man, it's a bad week for comics.)  It's just too effing slow. Ruckley is definitely building to something, but we seem many, many issues away from learning what it is, and I don't have the patience for that right now.

Uncanny X-Men #22:  This series wasn't perfect, but it's still one of the most solid runs on the X-Men since Lemire's short-lived "Extraordinary X-Men."  The X-Men are always at their best with their backs against the wall, and Rosenberg continued to deliver realistic challenges and setbacks for the X-Men as we progressed through the series.

By the time the rest of the X-Men return, it's really just Scott and Logan facing down the Sentinels with Dr. Nemesis, Emma, Hope, Moonstar, and Mystique on the sidelines.  In this issue alone, Fabian Cortez, Havok, and Multiple Man die.  Of course, Hickman's imminent arrival on the scene has made it pretty clear that these deaths are temporary.  After all, the relaunched "New Mutants" series has Chamber, Magik, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane, and they're all dead or missing at this point.

But, Rosenberg wisely keeps the focus on that proverbial wall, as the X-Men decide to undo what Emma did:  they'll fight not hide.  If I had one complaint about Rosenberg's writing, it's that his plots were strong but he sometimes struggled to convey emotional connections between the characters.  For example, Cyclops and Danielle are just monologuing here, where they're really having an important discussion about how Dani (and likely others) see the X-Men as being all about Scott, Jean, and Logan, with the rest of them serving merely as disposable red shirts.  Reading this series, it's hard to argue with her.

My biggest complaint is with the simply awful art, which gets even worse somehow when Messina handles the action sequences after the X-Men return.  Although I'm not a fan of Hickman, I do feel like it's time for a stable creative team to take the reigns of the X-books.  We'll see how that goes shortly.  All in all, though, I tip my hat to Rosenberg here for taking a pretty difficult situation and delivering a solid run that asked some core, existential questions about who the X-Men are.  Were that we got more of those stories.

X-Force #10:  This issue is incredibly rushed, spoiling the momentum that Brisson had built to this point.  First, we have Rachel as phoenix ex machina.  She takes down Stryfe fairly quickly and frees the mutants under his influence; the freed mutants and X-Force then make short work of the MLF.  But, the issue then devolves into time-travel nonsense.  Nate is committed to using his and Rachel's powers to wipe Stryfe's mind of these events, for reasons that aren't entirely clear to me.  But, even if they are valid reasons, they would also presumably mean that Rachel should also wipe Nate's memories of this event as well, if the goal is to keep their memories from messing with the future.  Rachel tries to convince Nate to let her kill Stryfe given the...ahem...strife that he causes Nate in the future.  But, Nate says that he has to go through the strife to become the man who so inspired X-Force.  I get that, but, if true, it implies that elder Cable knew younger Cable was going to kill him, because Nate is essentially saying they're in a time loop.  In other words, if Stryfe's future actions turn younger Nate into older Nate, then we're in the same timeline.  But, I though the whole point of younger Nate going into the past was that older Nate wasn't doing what he was supposed to do, because younger Nate's timeline changed when older Nate allowed the original X-Men to stay in the present.  Their return to the past might've saved younger Nate's original timeline as is, but I still feel like Nate would be at least partly outside of it, because Rachel doesn't wipe his memories here.  After all, the whole problem with the original X-Men in the present was the fact that they couldn't go home with the memories that they had.  Brisson might've had time to explain away that part in another issue or two, but instead we're just supposed to roll with it.  Cable, amirite?  It's a shame, too, because I really liked this series, even as other people soured on it.  Oh, well.

Sorry for this depressing review.  At least with the mutant decks cleared, hopefully we've got brighter days ahead of us.

Also Read:  Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #5; Invaders #7; Nightwing #62; Star Wars:  Tie Fighter #4

Not-Even-Remotely New Comics: The June 26 and July 3 Non-Event Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #24:  This issue is really solid.  Spencer uses a session between Mysterio and his new Ravencroft therapist to tease out details about the mysterious goblin that we've seen lurking in the background these last few issues.  We learn that Quentin thinks that he went to Hell after he committed suicide in his battle with Daredevil.  (Wha?)  In Hell, we learn that this goblin endlessly tortured Mysterio and that the goblin is possibly a condemned soul who rose through Hell's ranks to devil.  He was also an enemy of Spider-Man, and he sent back Mysterio to enact his plan against Peter.  Spencer throws us off the trail here by having the therapist walk us through a theory that Quentin invented his death and condemnation as a way to deal with his terminal-cancer diagnosis.  The therapist provides a number of examples to support his claim, and you almost believe him at the end.  Of course, the goblin arrives, throwing that theory out the window and prompting the therapist to flee.  The goblin then unexpectedly murders Mysterio because he's somehow arranged Peter to see this moment in his dreams.  He taunts Peter by telling him that he won't appear to face him until he guesses who he is.  It seems clichéd, but Spencer really sells it.  This entire issue feels like "Faust," with all the bargains and side deals with devils.  It also explains why Peter's vision of Mary Jane during "Hunted" seemed so real, since we learn the goblin can (somehow) directly affect Peter's thinking through dreams and visions.  The goblin then provides a hint to his identity, calling himself "Kindred."  At first, I thought we were dealing with Harry Osborn, and we still may be.  But, now I wonder if it isn't someone like Ben Reilly or some other clone with a soul.  I'm just glad that we're getting some information at this point.

Mr. and Mrs. X #12:  Marvel seems insane to cancel this series.  But, it looks like sales fell in almost half from issue #3 to issue #12, so it did what it had to do, I guess.  Given "West Coast Avengers'" cancelation as well, I worry that readers aren't appreciating the kind of emotional yet hilarious stories that Thompson is telling.  Or maybe people just got tired of stories involving power-inhibitor collars?  I don't know.  Whatever the reason, I definitely feel like comics telling these stories aren't finding their footing lately, particularly since I see "Invaders" near this series on the sales lists.  At any rate, Thompson does her best here.  She gets to wrap up this series in less of a rush than "West Coast Avengers," and I'm glad that we at least got to walk down this road with her.  It's unbelievable that after so many years she's really the first author to explore the root of Rogue's problems with her powers, and I'm glad that she at least had time to do that.  Hopefully Marvel gets to a point where she can return to telling these sorts of stories soon.  I would love for her to take over "Amazing Spider-Man" one day.  Here's hoping.

Spider-Gwen:  Ghost Spider #10:  This issue ends the same way every other Spider-Gwen series has ended, with Gwen committing to live her life despite the challenges in doing so.  The problem is, the challenges never really change and she never really accomplishes this goal.  At first, we had Matt Murdoch as the shadowy figure and Rhino as the powerful enforcer; now, we have Miles Warren and Man-Wolf.  We had Gwen dealing with her Spider powers not working after she lost them and replaced them with shots; now we have her  Venom powers not working.  After fifty issues, it's hard to see such a great character just spinning her wheels.  It's like each successive creative team is nervous about doing anything that could impact the story that the next creative team will tell, so they just change the names and keep telling the same story.  We even return her to the Multiverse here despite her seemingly abandoning it in this volume, undoing the one step toward progress that we've had.  In other words, I sadly don't think that I'm following her into the next series.  Fare ye well, Gwen.  See you in the next inevitable "Spider-Verse" event.

Star Wars:  Target Vader #1:  I'll admit that my first thought was that I'd be more interested in this series if they didn't decide to make the protagonist a cut-rate Han Solo cyborg, down to (sort of) recreating the Greedo cantina scene and everything.  But, it was clear that I was supposed to recognize him, and some Googling revealed that he's the asshole from Han's squad in "Star Wars:  Han Solo - Imperial Cadet."  I feel like Thompson could've done a little bit more to help make that connection clearer.  Without it, it all feels derivative and rushed. Thompson also wants us to be surprised when it turns out the Hidden Hand isn't just a smuggler outfit running guns for the Rebellion, but actually part of the Rebellion itself.  I mean, is it that surprising?  They're a pretty scrappy group, the rebels, by definition.  At any rate, I feel like I shouldn't complain, because this premise is the sort of "edge of the Empire" story that I keep saying I want to see.  I just wish this one was a little more interesting at the start.

Transformers #8:  Ruckey is trying here, but, OMG, this series is moving at a glacial pace.  Even Megatron's conversation with Termagax is boring, despite Ruckey using it to hint at the larger story that he's telling.  Termagax implies that she's only willing to return from her exile if a series of events occur, such as the Ascenticons securing a quarter of the Senate seats or someone finding some unnamed artifacts.  (She also asks if the Autobots released so-and-so.  I'm assuming that so-and-so is the one prisoner who Orion Pax won't allow released, as mentioned a few issues ago.)  We learn later that Megatron wasn't there to convince Termagax to leave her exile, but to confirm that she doesn't plan to do so, so she won't interfere with his plans.  But, again, we're still just getting hints about plans.  At some point, someone is going to have to do something to put one of these many, many plans into action.  But, I'm pretty sure that I won't be here to see it.

Uncanny X-Men #21:  This issue is solid.  Rosenberg does an excellent job of staying in control of the chaos, as Emma sends the X-Men on a rescue mission to implement her plan of wiping away humanity's memories of mutants.  Although she succeeds in her mission, the cost is high:  Banshee is killed, Callahan strips Illyana of her mutant powers and thus brings back Darkchilde, Darkchilde tears out the Gem of Cyttorak and sends Cain...somewhere, and Hope and Logan are injured.  Earlier, Callahan also stripped Triage of his mutant abilities, and Logan mercy killed a dying Velocidad after Callahan used his powers to manufacture new Warlocks, who Rosenberg turns into the new Sentinels.  In the end, we're left only with Cyclops, Havoc, Mirage, and Multiple Man.  In other words, Rosenberg brings the X-Men to a moment of triumph, but one with few X-Men left to celebrate.  As usual, Marvel has ruined this moment with its relentless advertising of the upcoming Hickman era:  we already know that pretty much everyone is returning.  But, Rosenberg does what he can with the constraints that he's been given, and I applaud him for that.

The Weatherman, Vol. 2 #1:  If the first volume of this series was a breakneck tour of the galaxy's precarious status quo, LeHeup goes in the opposite direction here.  Rather than spreading his focus across several groups of actors as he did in the first volume, we have one team with one mission:  find Dr. Nyseth and, hopefully, Ian Black's mind somewhere on Earth.

After keeping Earth a mystery for the first volume, LeHeup somehow met all my expectations when we first arrive.  First, he starts off the issue with two soldiers' banter about how boring it is guarding Earth.  It's here that we first get the sense that everything isn't as it seems.  I think LeHeup had alluded to the fact that some people on Earth might be alive, but I had no idea that it was as many as we see here.  LeHeup makes it clear that entire cities of people are still alive, and you immediately begin to wonder if people off-Earth know that.  In a conversation the Martian president has with a lobbyist eager to kill the remaining population to cut up the spoils, LeHeup hints at just one reason the galaxy's leaders might want that information to remain hidden.

But LeHeup also shows that it isn't like life as normal is continuing down there.  We're introduced to one of the outposts, where people are sent on suicide missions by lottery, presumably as a form of population control.  We also learn that the remaining population is expected to succumb to the virus within three months.  LeHeup goes one step even further, as the team arrives in New York and is unaware a group of zombie-like humans are following them.  Now you begin to see the chaos in store for them.

But this series avoids sliding just into simple sci-fi conjecture with LeHeup's laser focus on Nathan.  He's his usual idiot self here, though he has moments of reflection, like when they stumble upon the skyscraper-sized pile of skeletons in New York.  But the most heart-breaking moment is when Nathan is left to eat alone after all his companions leave.  He's left simply with an image of his now-dead dog as company.  LeHeup and Fox turn it into a meditation on not just what Nathan has lost, but what everyone has lost.   It's hard to see any happy ending for Nathan, but the glimmer of one is one of the many things that keeps me returning.

The Wild Storm #24:  It's almost impossible to sum up this issue, coming at the end of Ellis' two-year journey in this world.  In a lesser author's hands, the denouement would feel rushed.  Craven kills Cray!  Jackie kills Craven!  Jackie takes over IO!  But, in Ellis' hands, it feels more like the dominoes all falling into place.  That said, Ellis leaves some dominoes still standing, leaving you at the end of this issue feeling like we've just gotten a glimpse of the complicated dynamics at play.

First, Ellis presents the hypothesis that we're at this point because Craven was an incompetent leader.  Slayton mentions how crappy of a manager of Earth Craven was right  before Clay kills Slayton and saves Craven.  Jackie refers to him as a "scared little emperor."  I accept this hypothesis at face value; you don't get to the point where Skywatch is willing to destroy New York in its war with IO and not believe that Craven didn't play a role in that escalation.  But, I wish Ellis had taken the time to go into a little more detail about why Craven sucked at managing the planet so badly.  Ellis hints at a larger reason as his eyes glow red with rage right before he decides to kill Cray.  Was he a Kheran?  Right now we don't know.

After the Authority takes out the Skywatch sleeper agents, Angie goes after Skywatch itself to stop the diamond spike that Bendix dropped.  Jackie agrees to help her.  The surprise comes when Craven tries to stop Jackie, believing that she's a traitor.  He's totally unhinged in this conversation, and Jackie fries him with some sort of electric blast from her head.  She then buys Angie time to synthesize all her powers.  Apollo flies Angie to the rapidly descending spike and then Shen sends a door through her telepathic link with Angie, allowing Angie to send the spike right at Skywatch.  Boom.

At IO, Baiul think she's going to take over IO, believing that she's rid of Jackie because she saw her kill Craven.  She gloats that she planned everything so perfectly and that she's surprised in the end that it was so easy because Jackie just vaporized Craven.  But, Jackie then reveals that she planted an "unauthorized" weapon on Baiul and security takes her into custody.  Jackie King:  IO chief.  Meanwhile, Skywatch now stands revealed and we learn someone (Angie?) dumped a bunch of IO-related documents on the internet.

Ellis includes all sorts of Easter eggs along the way here, like Voodoo seemingly using her power to save Angie (or Miles' husband, it's unclear to me).  He also recalls previous attacks on Skywatch:  Angie first has Jackie run her bot attack on Skywatch so they can get an image of the station, even though I though the Wild C.A.T.s did that first?  Isn't that the bot attack that started the war, with Bendix thinking it was IO but it was actually the Wild C.A.T.s?  Or did the Wild C.A.T.s just take advantage of IO's attack?  I can't remember.

Anyway, it's all complicated, right?  If I re-read this series from the start, I feel like it would be clearer to me just how many loose ends Ellis leaves here.  Voodoo never really materialized as anyone important.  Zealot initially seemed like she was going to play a major role but then faded into the background.  Ditto Michael Cray, and he even had his own series.  Most importantly, I can't remember the last time we saw the Wild C.A.T.s, as the last six or seven issues have mostly focused on the Authority.  The Comicbook Database tells me that we haven't seen Grifter since issue #16, which Ellis explains by the fact that he's in hiding because IO now knows that he's alive.  That makes sense, but would Marlowe really sit out this war?  Ellis wants us to believe that he would (as he does so here), but it's hard to believe that Ellis doesn't even bother to tell us what Marlowe and his team are doing right now.  They've got to be scheming somewhere, right?

What was it all about then?  In the end, Jenny Sparks says it was all about Angie learning how to use her powers so she could help people, not the secret history of the world.  But, that feels...unrealistic.  Angie spent most of the series in the background.  Sure, she saved New York, but that really just puts her in the same category as everyone else here, doesn't it?  In other words, I'm not disappointed, but I also can't say I'm totally satisfied.  I think it makes the most sense to look at this series as the first arc of a larger story, with Ellis setting the groundwork for the series and stories that will follow.  If so, I might find myself more satisfied as the loose ends that Ellis leaves here later get addressed.  I hope that's the case, given how exciting it was to read this series at the start.

Also Read:  Conan the Barbarian #7; Detective Comics #1,006; Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #8; Marvel Comics Presents #6

Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The June 19 Rest of Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Captain America #11:  I've really enjoyed Coates run so far, but I'll admit that I've lost the plot somewhat.  Like, I get the overall plot, but I don't remember why Cap agreed to flee the Myrmidon.  I think it's because Cap realizes that von Strucker wants him dead, so he has to flee when the opportunity presents itself.  But, I'm not entirely sure.  As Cap himself says here, it doesn't feel like Cap.  But, Nomad, here we come.  (Note:  When I first read this issue, I totally missed the fact that the Invisible Woman and Misty Knight had taken von Strucker with them after the Invisible Woman knocked him unconscious.  I guess that it's the Plan B to kidnapping the Foreigner, which Dryad fails to do after Crossbones and Sin (allegedly) assassinate him mid-fight, presumably on Lukin's orders.)

Guardians of the Galaxy #6:  I guess this arc ends OK.  The Guardians and Dark Guardians merge into one team to try to stop Hela from resurrecting Thanos, using Lockjaw as transport.  The battle sequences here are well done, and Cates does a solid job in making sure that no one gets lost in the shuffle of so many characters.  Peter tries, and fails, to stop Gamora from killing Eros when it's revealed that he's Thanos' host.  Peter says that he just spent days trying to prevent the Dark Guardians from killing her, so her killing Eros would make her like them.  She then (truthfully) tells him that she is like them and stabs Eros through the heart.  But, because Peter is a love-sick puppy, he confesses to Gamora that he loves her and he needs her to know that because they almost die a lot.  It's a solid note of characterization, to be honest, one that shows how weary both Gamora and Peter are after "Infinity Wars" and its aftermath.  Peter tries to reassemble the Guardians, but it doesn't go great, as Gladiator, Nebula, and Nova all bail.  On the plus side, Beta Ray Bill, Lockjaw, Moondragon, and Phyla-Vell stay (along with Gamora and Groot, presumably).  Phyla-Vell then asks the question on every one's mind:  what about Rocket?  I'm excited at the very least to see the answer to that question.  I'm also hoping Shaw stops drawing Peter like a homeless person, so we'll see how the next few issues go.

Star Wars #67:  Killen ends his run here, and I'm hard pressed to remember someone wrapping up so many loose ends so well.  Moreover, he not only neatly wraps up his own run but starts setting the stage for the Rebellion's move to Hoth.  The amazing role that this series has played in bridging the gap between "Star Wars" and "Empire Strikes Back" can't be understated.  I'm tempted to reread all the issues in a row, as I feel like they form a trilogy's worth of developments in and of themselves.  In terms of this arc, the only two remaining loose ends were how the team was going to stop Benthic and the Partisans from destroying Shu-Torun and then how the team was going to escape the Imperials.  Gillen accomplishes both tasks in great fashion.

On the first item of business, Tunga decides to play hero, drawing off the Tie Fighters so Chewie can save the rest of the team from the Retreat before Kanchar destroys it.  Arriving at the Spike, Leia convinces Benthic that destroying Shu-Torun would make them no different from the Imperials.  Benthic had appealed to their shared tragedy -- her loss of Alderaan, his loss of Jedha -- and it's exactly this shared loss that enables her to convince him to change his course.  In so doing, Gillen draws a clear contrast between Leia and Luke in Benthic's eyes:  Luke's bumbling and whining pleas fell on Benthic's deaf ears.  (As Tunga says as he tries to imitate Leia earlier in the issue, it's all in her "nasal 'I-know-best' diction.")

It's then Han's turn to save the day.  As the Spike implodes, Han flies them through its collapsing remains, since, after all, it's essentially just a tunnel that bisects the planet.  It's pretty spectacular, and one of the few times that I've felt something here would be even better depicted on screen, because Unzueta struggles to convey the true ballsiness of the gambit.  Then, all's well that ends well.  We learn Tunga survived (the Cult of the Central Isotoper saved him and declared him -- possibly against his will -- a new member) and Kanchar didn't (Vader killed him for his dogged pursuit of the team, for reasons that Gillen doesn't make exactly clear).

Most importantly, Gillen also gives Han a rare moment of emotion -- a portrayal more believable after seeing "Solo:  A Star Wars Story," to be honest.  After the team drops off the Partisans on a new planet, Han tells Benthic that they don't have to be who they don't want to be.  Leia rushes the moment, telling Han to "stop yapping," which is perfect in its own way, as Han then puts back on the mask he normally wears.  But, in just those two or three panels, we get the best explanation that I've seen for why Han came roaring back in "Star Wars" and continued to stay with the Rebellion.  When Han asked him why he stopped being a hero, Benthic told him that the galaxy changed.  Han dared him to change, too, as he had, even if he didn't want to admit it.  I can't think for a better ending for this crowd as we launch into "Empire Strikes Back."

Star Wars:  Tie Fighter #3:  I was just phoning in this series, to be honest, but holy fucking crap Houser kicks it up a notch here.  Lyttan and Zin are killed in a few short minutes as Shadow Wing escapes the mining facility and head for the Celerity, which Imperial forces loyal to the Empire free from Admiral Gratloe.  (Gratloe planned on selling the Celerity to the Rebellion, and Lyttan and Zin are killed as the Rebels arrive to complete the sale.)  In killing off Lyttan, we unexpectedly lose a character who we first met in "Star Wars:  Han Solo - Imperial Cadet," and it ramps up the tension in this issue.  (The back-up story last issue certainly helped, as it made all the more present in our minds the devastation that Lyttan's twin brother will feel when he learns of his death.)  Zin's death is also unexpected, as issue #1 seemed to establish her as a Rebel spy.  In fact, Shadow Wing's three remaining members are perhaps the least connected to each other.  Is Ganem really going to hang in there with Zin dead?  Is Jeela going to turn in Ganem, believing him to be the Rebel spy?  The back-up story in this issue also reminds us that Teso has a reputation for surviving engagements that kill off members of his crew.  His surprise at Lyttan's death seemed genuine, but Houser definitely has us guessing at this point.  I'm totally buying "Alphabet Squadron" now.

Uncanny X-Men #20:  This issue is better than previous ones, but it still has its weaknesses.  On the plus side, it's fun to watch oft-overruled Alex and Madrox be right about the insanity of trusting Dark Beast, particularly after he reveals that he worked with Sinister to perfect his "cure to the cure."  Also, I loved the twist that the X-Men have never been working with Captain America.  As Dark Beast says, it's time for the X-Men to get a telepath, because a lot of people are in their heads right now.  (Sinister apparently implanted "subconscious suggestions" in the minds of the X-Men to support his plan, something I wasn't aware that he could do.)  These developments make it clear that Rosenberg does actually have a plan, something that hasn't really felt evident in the last few issues.  But, again, it's not perfect.  I really don't understand why the Upstarts murder the Nasty Boys to attract the X-Men's attention, since they seemed to have a lot of other options, like maybe even teaming with them?  I also definitely don't believe that Shinobi Shaw would commit suicide, particularly not because he allegedly thought the X-Men were working for Emma and she would come after him.  Also, Rosenberg never explains why Dr. Nemesis is with Captain America, particularly if Captain America hasn't been working with the X-Men.  Is it another trick?  Do I care?  Meh.

Also Read:  Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #4

Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The May 15 X-Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Age of X-Man:  The Marvelous X-Men #4:  I admit, I lost the plot here, though I can't really say that I care.  I feel like I've read the same issue of this series four times:  everyone marvels (heh) at how amazing Nate is, someone remembers a past love and tries to defect, Moneta is an asshole, and Nate tries to close the fractures in this reality.  Rinse and repeat.  The only dramatic tension in each issue is whether someone is going to remember the past, but we all know that they will, because again the cycle repeats.  We also still don't really have any idea how or why Nate created this reality despite arriving at the event's end.  What a mess.

Uncanny X-Men #18:  Honesty, this series is getting hard to read.  It might be easier if we didn't know that Jonathan Hickman was going to disregard the X-Men's history when he takes over the line, making everything happening here irrelevant.  (Yes, I know Marvel insists that he isn't going to do that.  But, Marvel also insisted that Peter Parker was dead and Otto Octavius was Spider-Man, so whatever.)

However, with that knowledge, it's impossible to take Rosenberg's cavalcade of death here seriously.  Chamber kills the Marauders despite them swearing that they didn't murder the Morlocks and then Harpoon murders Chamber.  [Yawn.]  Moreover, Rosenberg is screwing with everyone's powers in a way that the deaths overshadow.  Dani seems to have regained her mutant abilities, as she displays her previous ability to summon a psionically charged bow and arrow.  Alex also pushes himself to the limit in the fight with Sinister, phasing outside reality for reasons that no one understands.

The only positive development in this issue, to my mind, is Logan and Xi'an leaving the team because, in Xi'an words, they're just throwing themselves against walls hoping they fall.  Of course, the problem is that neither Logan nor Xi'an has any better ideas about how they can try to prevent the X-Men's old enemies from taking advantage of X-Man whisking away almost all the X-Men.  Oh, well.  It won't matter soon anyway.

Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The May 1 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Age of X-Man:  Prisoner X #3:  One of the major questions -- actually, the major question -- running through this event is who, exactly, is pulling the strings behind the scenes.  Who dispatches Fred and the X-Tremists on missions?  Who gives orders to Force and the Danger Room?  We've always assumed that it was X-Man, but, given Bishop's conversation with Legion in this issue, maybe it's Legion?  Wouldn't that be a twist?  At the very least, this series has kept this mystery at its core unlike the other series, which continue to get lost in attempts to make it seem like it's all really the new status quo and isn't going to be undone in a month or so.

Batman #70:  I feel like I'm waiting for someone to give me permission to stop reading this series.  I mean, I just cannot fucking take another non sequitur poem.  Amazingly, King plummets even lower here, employing the most boring cliché of all Batman stories:  the assault on Arkham.  Bruce finally awakens here, and he makes a mad dash through Arkham, laughing at Bane thinking his nightmare experience has broken him.  King uses an off-panel conversation between Bane and the Ventriloquist to show that Bruce is doing exactly what Bane wants him to do, and the hysterical tinge of Bruce's voice implies that he might not be as with it as he thinks that he is.  But, it still doesn't mean that it isn't ridiculous that Bruce is able to defeat the Riddler, Killer Croc, Hush, Zsazz, Man-Bat, the Flamingo, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Amygdala, Solomon Grundy, Two-Face, and several other characters whom I didn't recognize in one fell run.  It's clear that he barely even works up a sweat.  Why read a Batman comic if he's so powerful?  He's essentially Superman here.  The worst part is that we're nowhere near close to the final confrontation with Bane and Thomas Wayne, making you wonder just how long King is going to leave us hanging here.  [Sigh.]  This whole experience feels like penance, though I'm not sure what my sin was.

Star Wars #65:  The exciting part of this arc is that Gillen continues to surprise us with how badly Leia's plan is going.  At the start, it seemed like she and the guys were just going to waltz through Shu-Torun with ease.  Sure, the SCAR Squadron guys might get off Hubin and arrive at the last minute to make matters interesting, but it seemed beyond a doubt that Leia was going to get her revenge (no matter how much she claimed that she wasn't trying to get revenge).  But, Gillen is making it a lot more difficult than it usually is for heroes.  Trios decides to jeopardize the lives of everyone stuck in the auditorium with her in order to allow her and her elite guard to break free.  Sure, she possibly condemned Shu-Torun's nobility to a fiery, painful death, but she understands that Leia is playing for keeps.  (In fact, she intuitively understands it better than Leia does, since the Partisans' attempt to destroy Shu-Torun is something Leia missed entirely as a possibility.)  Moreover, SCAR Squadron gets in touch with the Empire more quickly than I thought it would, resulting in Commander Kanchar bringing his ship to Shu-Torun for his version of fun.  I can actually see a scenario where Leia and Trios have to work together to save Shu-Torun from the Partisans, a possibility that just shows how complex of a tale Gillen is weaving here.

Uncanny X-Men #17:  I don't understand how this issue goes so completely off the rails so quickly.  Sure, this series has occasionally had some dips in the quality of its dialogue, but Rosenberg has generally been pretty good about the consistency of his characterization.  But, everything goes out the window here.

First, we're supposed to believe that four frat boys beat Rahne to death because Rahne didn't fight back.  I'm sorry, what?  Rosenberg portrays Rahne as suicidal in her refusal to use her powers after she initially attacks one of the boys in a rage.  Rosenberg seems to want us to ignore the fact that Rahne has been in this game since she was a pre-teen.  We're supposed to believe that she can't control her powers enough to safely put down four frat boys?  Also, these frat boys are clearly sociopaths because when Wolverine finds them (with the help of Kwannon) they're just playing video games.  Really?  They just blithely kill a girl and decide, cool, let's go play "Fortnite?"

Then, we've got Karma reciting this ridiculous list of dead X-Men at Rahne's funeral, as if anyone really believes they're dead?  Given the X-Men's history, almost all of the X-Men inexplicably disappeared and no one even paused to consider if there is more than meets the eye here?  We're really just supposed to believe that they all believe all their friends are dead?  Shouldn't they be a little more despondent?  Shouldn't they just be drinking whiskey and crying all the time?  

Then, we've got Scott so mad at Logan for skipping Rahne's funeral that he unilaterally evicts him from the team even though, as Logan himself notes, he's not the team leader anymore.  They're a democracy.  Also, it's not like Scott was really "there" for the team as he claims that Logan should've been.  He starts the service by announcing that the doesn't know what he should say and just turns over the podium to anyone who wants to say something.  Inspiring leadership, Scotty.  

Then, we've got Logan being all inexplicably emotional, saying that he and Scott keep sending kids to die.  Again, Rahne was a grown-ass woman.  If anything, Logan not stopping her from leaving the team was probably a good decision in terms of her safety, since she had a better chance of surviving when she wasn't getting hunted as a member of an outcast mutant outfit.  How was he to know she'd go all suicidal?

Honestly, this issue is just the fucking worst.

Also Read:  Amazing Spider-Man #20.HU; Marvel Team-Up #2; Spider-Gwen:  Ghost Spider #8; Star Wars:  Age of Rebellion - Han Solo #1; Transformers #4; War of the Realms #3; War of the Realms:  Strikeforce - The Dark Elf Realm #1

Not-Very-New Comics: The April 17 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Tie Fighter #1:  One of the challenges that I've noticed "Star Wars" authors face is that they quickly need to make large casts of new characters into recognizable individuals.  Pretty much every title except the main one -- with its cast of instantly recognizable characters -- suffers from this problem to some extent.  Some authors eventually manage to develop the new characters into great ones:  Triple-Zero form "Doctor Aphra" is as much a part of the "Star Wars" mythos as Threepio in my mind.  Some authors don't:  I stopped getting "Poe Dameron" because I couldn't keep any members of Poe's squadron straight.  

Houser and her art team do a solid job here of identifying everyone right from the start.  By the end of the issue, I more or less recognized the main characters and knew how they fit into the larger story.  Houser's principal challenge is that they're interacting with a large set of other characters that comprise the Imperial forces.  (Thompson on "Star Wars:  Han Solo - Imperial Cadet" faced a similar problem.)  Every once in a while I was like, "Wait, who's that guy?  Is he one of the main characters?"

Houser is at her best when she's using the characters to tease out the culture of fear that permeates -- and, in fact, fuels -- the Empire.  Ganem has an academic bent, and he often notes that the Republic's representative system and subsequent political weaknesses led to the Rebellion.  But, his comrades -- particularly his girlfriend Zin -- warn him that even this sort of historical reflection is verboten in the Empire.  After all, nothing justifies the Rebellion.  Houser is really giving us one of our most in-depth explorations of this Imperial culture of fear, and I'm excited to see where she goes with it.

Uncanny X-Men #16:  Hopefully this issue is just a blip and not a sign of this series going off the rails.  But, Rosenberg is all over the place here.

The issue starts well, with Scott turning in MLF members Dragoness, Forearm, Samurai, and Strobe to Captain America.  But, Steve knows that he hasn't turned over Banshee, Dark Beast, and Hope, and Scott blithely lies to him that he didn't have them as prisoners.  But, Scott also makes a pretty compelling argument that Steve's version of "trust" feels like a one-way street, and Steve seems to agree, as he gives Scott a tip that later leads the team to Magneto.

In the meantime, Alex expresses frustration that Scott not only lied to Captain America but seems to be listening to Logan to the exclusion of everyone else.  Scott claims he's doing so because he knows Alex will always have his back, whereas Logan will always challenge him when he thinks that he's wrong.  Alex points out Scott may be overestimating his faith in him.  But, he also points out the hard truth -- that all the X-Men's leaders, including Scott, have made terrible decisions.  The dream is dead, and the School is gone.  

Scott takes this advice to heart, and it's here where it gets weird.  He spontaneously resigns from the leadership.  It's fine that Alex's argument so sways him, but it's...abrupt. Moreover, given that practically everyone on the team at this point has led another team, Dani convinces everyone to embrace direct democracy -- everyone gets a vote on what they do.  Given the history of in-fighting in the X-Men, everyone seems very optimistic this approach is going to work.  But, they go one step further when Magik, off panel, convinces everyone to invite Banshee and Hope to join the team.  I get why the X-Men would want Hope to be on their side, but I don't get why Hope would suddenly decide to join forces with the X-Men.  Isn't she a terrorist now?  Is she really OK with Scott just blithely turning over four members of her squad to the U.S. government, regardless of Scott telling Steve that he was responsible for anything that happened to them?  Didn't she, like, shoot Scott two issues ago?

To make matters worse, Rahne spontaneously leaves the team to live a normal life.  Shouldn't she have known by now that X-Men-ing isn't for her?  Moreover, she's going to quit at their lowest moment?  Shouldn't she have done so during the era when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an X-Man?  I get her point that it's all hopeless so she might as well try now, but that doesn't feel like Rahne.  It seems like throwing away her life's work just when it became all the more relevant.

Anyway, it gets more and more random.  The X-Men confront Magneto and his new Brotherhood (consisting of Avalanche, Juggernaut, Pyro, Random, and Toad), but it turns out Magneto is Joseph.  Then, Juggernaut turns on Joseph because he wants to help mutants and doesn't like that Joseph lied to him.  (In a great example of pet peeve #3, Jamie reminds Juggernaut that he's not a mutant, but Juggernaut quotes the "First they came for the [x]..." speech, which, again, doesn't really feel on brand for him.)  Then, Kwannon appears from nowhere and decapitates Joseph.  Then, Dani collapses in pain and announces that Rahne is dead. 

It's all...a lot.  Everyone's personalities just seem totally random.  I get that Rosenberg is trying to portray Scott as changed, but he's never been this interested in everyone else's opinions.  He's certainly not someone who thinks the battlefield should be a democracy.  Then, we have Joseph spouting a long, involved Magneto-esque rant about...something?  Honestly, I didn't quite follow it, other than "humans = bad."  Then, we have Alex whining that Scott isn't taking him seriously, which feels like Rosenberg is leaning way too heavily into Alex as a younger brother and not Alex as the leader that he was, of X-Factor and then the Avengers' Unity Squad.  Then, just as the chips are down, Rahne decides she wants to have a life?  And Hope just wordlessly embraces of the team's offer of forgiveness.  It all just doesn't make sense.

Also, when did Salvador Larocca get this bad?  I remember in the 1990s when everything he did had a certain energy.  But, now, it's like he's paying Greg Land to finish his panels for him, which...isn't a complement.

Anyway, here's to hoping we return to form next issue.

Also Read:  Amazing Spider-Man #19.HU; Guardians of the Galaxy #4; Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #2

Not-Very-New Comics: The April 3 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

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Not-Very-New Comics: The March 20 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers #17:  This issue is OK, though it felt rushed, to be honest.  Aaron is trying to fit in a lot of plot here, so he resorts to having important sequences, like the Legion of the Unliving taking on the Winter Guard right before the Avengers arrive, occur off-panel.  The battle itself between the Avengers and the Legion is fine, though Aaron again hurries the battle between Blade and Colonel, with Blade defeating him too easily.  He also rushes to the conclusion that Dracula planned the entire "civil war."  The Colonel is revealed to be his son, Xarus, and Dracula's goal all along was to get the Russians to imprison him in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, apparently because the radiation somehow heals him.  (I'd love to see the physics of that.)  But, this revelation doesn't explain why Dracula was willing to sacrifice all his subjects in Transylvania just to move his kingdom to Chernobyl.  Couldn't he have just...snuck into the Exclusion Zone?  Did he have to be invited to an entire geographic space?  It isn't like Chernobyl is a house.  Overall, it was still a strong arc, but I feel like an extra issue would've made it all the better.

Avengers:  No Road Home #6:  Although I know the authors are stoked about getting to use Conan and I'm loving Aaron's run on "Conan the Barbarian" itself, this issue was a dud to me.  Even with the expanded length, they cover too much ground, literally and narratively.  Conan and Wanda seem to cover the entire Thurian continent in search of the thieves who stole the shard.  Some of the individual moments are great, but the authors move off them too quickly to advance to the next location.  The arrival at Shadizar is a great moment, but it would've been even more impactful if I still hadn't been trying to figure out where they had been before they got there.  Moreover, this specific flaw exacerbates the problem that I have with the regular series, where Aaron (and now the trio here) are telling stories across Conan's lifespan.  Here, he loves Bêlit, but we haven't even met her in the regular series yet.  I get that Conan fans will recognize all these various timeframes and characters, but it's a challenge for a newbie like me.  As such, it feels like too much of the authors playing with a toy, particularly given the fact that Conan's presence here is a stretch from the start.  I initially thought that they were going to connect Nyx with the Night-God whose worshipers Conan and Wanda encounter on the way to Shadizar.  How cool would it have been if they had gone to all this trouble to shield Wanda's eyes so Nyx wouldn't know that they found the shard, only for the "Night-God's" worshipers to successfully open a portal to her?  These missed opportunities are what make me feel like the authors are rushing through this mini-series just like Aaron is rushing through "Avengers."  

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4-#5:  For the fact that these issues involve Peter learning Aunt May has cancer, they're not as devastating as you'd expect them to be.  But, it isn't necessarily a bad thing, to be honest.

In issue #4, Tayor wraps up the Underworld storyline in a fantastic way.  The villain arrives demanding Spider-Man and the Rumor turn over his daughter and grandchildren, and they refuse.  Fighting ensues.  But, before we get there, Juann Cabal provides one of the greatest panels I've ever seen, akin to the famous Hawkeye mask covering Hawkeye's hawkeye.  As Peter tells Johnny the story of saving Leilani from her father from the top of an alternate Empire State Building, Cabal given us a Super Mario Bros. background to underline the point.  It is...mind-blowing.  Moreover, during the aforementioned above-ground fight, he delivers an amazingly (heh) kinetic panel showing Peter dodging the thugs' bullets while also saving a cat and setting up the fight's denouement when Peter manages to web every gun and pull them towards him.  The emotional denouement comes when a crowd gathers around Spidey to stand with him, eventually forcing the Kingpin -- who arrived on the scene to force Spider-Man and the Rumor to surrender Leilani and the kids -- to break his deal with the villain.  This entire arc has been great from start to finish, focusing on Peter's New York as promised.

Even after Aunt May arrives in Peter's apartment in issue #5 to tell him she has cancer, Taylor keeps up said focus, when Peter catches one of the homeless kids from the neighborhood stealing a car.  When it turns out he's running from his mother's abusive boyfriend, Spidey -- feeling a little guilty that he got distracted and broke the kid's wrist -- actually helps him steal said car to prevent from getting arrested.  (I guess Peter learned how to drive at some point...)  Peter winds up webbing the car above an alley to allow them to escape the ensuing police, a sequence you kind of have to see to appreciate.  Peter brings the kid to see Dr. Strange, who (somewhat reluctantly) sets the arm.  Peter confesses he broke the wrist because he's distracted by May's illness, and Dr. Strange jokingly refers to making a deal with an interdimensional demon to help her, though suggests that it could bring an eternity of torment.  (Ha!)  Peter wisely passes, and Dr. Strange tells him that some things are beyond magic and medicine.  After originally telling Aunt May he has "a lot going on right now" when she asked if he'd go to chemo with her, he's there when she arrives, with the nurse touchingly referring to him as her "son."  I always love the moments when May and Peter acknowledge their mother-son relationship directly, and this one is no different.  Did I roll my eyes at Peter's initial response of saying that he was too busy to be at her appointment?  Yes, because Peter probably wouldn't have responded that way.  But, Taylor is killing it so much in this series, I can look past it.  Also, Cinar and Woodard's art is so impressive here (including a beautiful Peter) that they convey emotions that Taylor's script alone doesn't necessarily convey.  

In other words, just like "Peter Parker:  The Spectacular Spider-Man," this series is increasingly my go-to Spider-Man series, no matter how much I like what Nick Spencer is doing in the main title.

Nightwing #58:  This issue is a little heavy handed with the narrative, from Hutch's extended meditation on why he's not "cut out for this vigilante crap" to Joker's Daughter's eyeroll-inducing diatribe about the elites to Bab's earnestness in telling "Ric" that Dick would be proud of him.  But, Lobdell and Kaplan still do a solid job of showing how Ric's membership in the Nightwings happens organically, to the point where this new status quo starts feeling more and more familiar.  But, it's really Moore and Bonvillain who shine here; Hutch is so beautifully rendered in the first few panels that he looks almost lifelike.

Uncanny X-Men #14:  Rosenberg continues doing a solid job here.  By the end of the issue, you get the sense that Scott is going to find himself with his hands full of mutants, and Rosenberg implies then it'll really start to get interesting.  After all, he added Logan in issue #11, Havok, Magik, and Wolfsbane in issue #12, Dark Beast and Multiple Man in issue #13, and now Chamber in this issue.  (I don't really count Karma and Mirage from issue #12 since they've unfortunately been non-entities.)  In other words, this issue really gets Scott's little war going.  So far, he's really just struck against O.N.E. for holding Havok, Multiple Man, and the New Mutants and then Dark Beast.  In this issue, we have the team chase down Reaper (only to learn he's depowered and not working with the MLF) and help the remaining Morlocks relocate to Chernaya after eliminating the fascist opposition forces left after X-Force's sojourn there.  (I think they're the same place?  If not, Marvel is really pushing the limits of credulity to make two made-up Eastern European countries into mutant havens with fascist uprisings.)  Why do they need to relocate the "remaining" Morlocks, you ask?  Because the Marauders killed the rest of them...again.  (I'm imaging the Marauders are moving up Scott's hit list.)  Also, the move to Chernaya killed a few too birds with one stone, as Scott and Logan got Valerie Cooper to agree to do them favors if they do her favors (like eliminating said fascist opposition forces).  In other words, Scott's got a lot of irons in the fire.  But, the team takes a well advised moment to celebrate the "small victories" only to have Captain America crash the party.  Again, Rosenberg is doing a great job of making each issue complicate Scott's life even further, but I'm also glad he's giving the team some time to bond as well.  As Jono himself implies, no one on this team has enjoyed a good run over the last few years.  Most of them really need these wins, even if it's clear whatever limited roll that they're enjoying now is going to come to an end.

West Coast Avengers #9:  This issue is great.  It's like Thompson hit full speed as we got to the top of the mountain and she's just letting us enjoy the free fall as we make our way down the other side.  Ramone and Johnny are children of a Dora Milaje?  Ramone's powers allow her to fuse permanently with vibranium?  Johnny and Marvel Boy might forget Katie and get together themselves?  Katie's mom is a vampire?  Each new development builds off previous developments, so it doesn't all sounds as random as it does here.  Plus, we get the usual adorable crazy moments, like discovering Jeff the Shark loves Quentin and likes to sit in his lap.  (The panel where Jeff is actually sitting in Quentin's lap should win Gang Hyuk Lim some sort of award.  That, and the panel where Gwenpool, Quentin, and Ramone all put their hands to their chest in faux outrage, like they're grabbing their Southern ladies grabbing their pearls, after Kate's mom reveals that they're dealing with vampires, not Skrulls.)  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  as Quentin's t-shirt says, West Coast, Best Coast!

The Wild Storm #21:  As we approach the end, each issue seems much more focused now.  Jenny Sparks' trip through Skywatch's computer system allowed her to discover the existence of Midnighter and Apollo.  Wisely, she realizes their defense of the village meant not only that they were preventing Skywatch from making more people like them and the Mayor but also that they were probably good recruits for the still-forming Authority.  Meanwhile, Miles orders Ivana to start creating a narrative that an "extranational terrorist network" is ramping up its activities in nuclear-armed countries, and it leads her to call someone to report that they "may have a situation."  Bendix seems to believe IO shot down some Skywatch ships, but I can't tell if he's confusing Midnighter and Apollo's attack with IO or if he's referring to that fight at Skywatch's ground base a few issues ago.  Bendix is ready to burn down the world, but Lauren warns him that he should focus on IO specifically to prevent them from having "supply issues."  To help the Doctor recognize Skywatch ships when they enter orbit, Angie provides her with a device that allows them to communicate telepathically, projecting to her images of a Skywatch ship.  (Interestingly, Angie is super aggro all issue, and it takes the Doctor confronting her to make her admit the events of the last few weeks are weighing on her.)  Elsewhere, Jackie finds some sort of device in the IO equipment room, and the guy that Miles hired to kill her is on her tail.  Later, Jenny confirms that the bot attack IO launched on Skywatch (though I think it was really the Wild C.A.T.s) allowed them to see the Skywatch space station.  Jenny then observes that everything that's happened since Cray tried to kill Marlowe has meant that "the most powerful people in the world are terrified of everything and everyone," putting the world on the brink of annihilation.  I'm not sure if Ellis is describing their world or our world, but there we are.

(NB:  I tagged this post "Nova" because Richard appears in "Guardians of the Galaxy" #3, but I didn't review it.  It's a fine issue; it just didn't seem to merit much discussion at this phase of the story.)

Also Read:  Batman #67; Dungeons & Dragons:  A Darkened Wish #1; Guardians of the Galaxy #3; Marvel's Spider-Man:  City at War #1; Star Wars #63; Thor #11

Not-Very-New Comics: The March 6 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #16.HU:  Of all the crimes that Dan Slott committed while writing "Amazing Spider-Man," turning Felicia Hardy into a villain was second on my list (after the Octo-Spider bullshit).  As Nick Spencer carefully undoes Slott's legacy, I was thrilled when Peter revealed his identity to Felicia.  He righted a great wrong by putting them back on good footing.  Spencer even goes further here, treating Felicia, of all things, as a person with feelings.  First, we now know that Felicia's heel turn was at least partly inspired by the sudden loss of her memories of Peter, a pretty unveiled swipe at how casually Marvel erased everyone's memories of Peter's secret identity.  Then, Spencer explores what it's like for someone to experience a decade of those memories suddenly rushing back at them.  Along the way, Spencer treats us to the greatest hits of Felicia and Peter's relationship, from Peter's wide-eyed amazement at how forward Felicia is to Felicia's ongoing surprise at how charming she finds Peter.  The story culminates in Peter giving her the Spider-Tracer that we saw last issue, presenting it in a jewelry box that she understandably mistakes for something else.  The fact that Felicia mistook it for an engagement ring tells us just how deeply she loved Peter, and it makes me mad all over again at how callously Slott treated that.  But, it also means that I couldn't be happier with how Spencer is handling her.  I highly recommend this issue for any Felicia fan.

Avengers #16:  This issue is another solid installment of Aaron's vampire civil-war arc.  First, the Shadow Colonel's motivations actually make sense.  The first phase of the war involved purging vampiredom of the bloated old guard.  The second phase is turning some of Russian's worst criminals into vampires to strengthen the ranks.  To accomplish this second task, the Colonel sends the Rat Bombers' rats into the prison where the Winter Guard is holding Dracula, and their blood bombs usher in the transformations.  Meanwhile, Red Widow shows her brutality by slaughtering Dracula's consorts into front of him, forcing him to give up his secrets.  (For his part, Dracula thought he'd extract his own dacha from her for his secrets.  I guess not.)  Meanwhile, Blade somehow uses his vampiric powers to suck the poison from Robbie, allowing him to regain control of himself.  He's incredibly shaken, crying on Cap's shoulder that he didn't meant to hurt them.  He doesn't tell them he's also shaken because he ran across Johnny Blaze in Hell.  Figuring he's an even worse monster than Blaze, Robbie isn't exactly optimistic about his future.  Carol then voices what I'm sure most everyone is thinking as she wonders why they're involved into this civil war in the first place.  Blade not incorrectly reminds her that they'll all come after the Avengers sooner or later, but you have to wonder if that isn't a bet worth taking, given the damage this fight has already done.

Batman #66:  In reading this issue, I think Tom King doesn't understand Batman or Bruce at all, but he understands Selina perfectly.  It's why the best issues of his run on "Batman" have involved her.  Here, her conversation with the Question as he seeks the answer (heh) to why she left Bruce at the altar is the only thing selling me on "Knightmares."  Bruce is unprepared for this assault, and he sends the Question to interview Selina.  Selina insists that she left Bruce to make him stronger, but the Question rightfully points out her plan has left him captured, so maybe her plan isn't working.  She then admits she lied.  I think the real question is if I still care at this point.  (Spoiler alert:  I don't.)

Die #4:  Gillen gives the party a rest as they arrive in Glass Town, the first town established in Die.  An impenetrable, d20-shaped translucent barrier exists around it, and it sits on the edge of Eternal Prussia and Little England.  The townspeople throw open the doors to the party, declaring them the Paragons that prophecy says will save them from the "Devil Boy."  Realizing the townspeople are on their side, the party members settle into a night of drinking.

Before she can join them, Isabella makes peace with one of her gods, the Mourner, so she can heal her.  As part of the deal, Isabelle is forced to read to the Mourner's followers from the diaries that she kept during their first time in Die, along the way discovering that they've become holy texts.  (Mistress Woe, one of her other gods, apparently told Isabelle that she'll "pay [her] back in [Isabelle's] own time."  Ruh-roh.)  

Later, Chuck and Isabelle both press Ash to talk about why he chose to become a woman in Die, something for which Isabelle notes they didn't have the words to discuss when they were there the first time.  Angela intervenes on Ash's behalf, but starts to bawl.  Like Matthew, she worries about what her absence means to her children.  She laments her terrible choice in partners, and here we learn that Chuck was her first boyfriend.  But, she later confesses that her tears are about the spell that she's dying to cast, because it means she'll need to find Fair gold every day lest "he" dies.  Conveniently, the dwarven drinking companion they've accumulated just happens to have Fair.  As the issue's cover shows, Angela uses it to cast the aforementioned spell and summons her dog, Case.  Her joy is clear, and Gillen does a good job of showing just how much Angela has to lose -- her arm, her dog -- in transiting to the real world again.  Sure, she'll see her children again, but Case's arrival on the scene in Die ups the stakes.

Later, the town's leader (or, possibly, chief diviner) arrives, informing the party the road to Sol's fortress is blocked.  To enter it, they'll have to get three keys, found in the depths of three dungeons guarded by 12 "perils."  The party members are enraged, as it's clear that Sol is fucking with them with such an obvious quest.  Isabelle wonder if they could even successfully destroy him at Twenty, since masters are the most powerful in their homes.  However, Ash's idea for solving the problem shows how Sol might not be ready for the adult versions of his friends:  Ash suggests they destroy Glass Town, which Sol has molded in his image, to bring him to them.  That should go well.

Doomsday Clock #9:  OK, we've officially moved past the careful storytelling phase of this event and entered the ass-kicking phase.  The Justice League -- namely the Green Lanterns and Constantine -- examine the blast site in Moscow.  They realize that someone was trying to kill Superman and pin the blame on Firestorm.  They trace the energy to Mars and take virtually every hero on Earth with them to confront Dr. Manhattan.  Meanwhile, Bruce awakens from his coma and tries to send a message to the Justice League, saying they're being played.  Alfred reminds Bruce that he himself told Clark that Firestorm wasn't the culprit, but Bruce simply looks at Rorschach's journal and says he should've listened.  Clark remains in a coma, and Lois is surprised when Lex comes to "visit."  He tells her that he sent her the footage of the Justice Society heroes and that a "force" is undermining all existence.  He then cryptically asks her if she's ever heard of Wally West.  On Mars, Dr. Manhattan reveals to Firestorm that the Professor purposefully created the accident that merged them to examine metahumans from the inside.  (Later, we learn that the Professor was the head of the Department of Metahuman Affairs and likely the creator of the metahumans revealed as part of the Superman Theory.)  Wonder Woman addresses the United Nations, and President Trump renounces Superman (hilariously saying in his tweet that he'd done more for the world anyway).  It all comes to a head as Batman's message fails to arrive with the League in time and Dr. Manhattan destroys all the heroes on Mars.  Meanwhile, on Earth, Black Adam arrives with Giganta and the Creeper to break into the United Nations, announcing he's "making a move."  Indeed.

Star Wars #62:  "I hate to sound like your dad, kid, but what the hell are you doing hanging around with death cults?"  Ha ha ha.  Well played, Gillen, well played.  Other than that line, the best part of this issue is Leia having to deny that it's a revenge mission as she gathers former allies and colleagues to destroy Shu-Torun.

Uncanny X-Men #13:  I’m surprised to say it, but this series may be the most exciting one on the stands right now.  For the first time in a long time, Rosenberg gives the X-Men a purpose, as Scott puts together a target list of the X-Men’s greatest threats and thorniest problems.  (Logan calls it a kill list.  Magik calls it a suicide pack.  Probably most accurately, Alex calls it the invite list to the worst party ever.)  First on their list is Dark Beast, who they capture only after learning he’s been torturing Jamie Madrox in an underground bunker.  (My only complaint with this issue is this part.  Not only has Marvel still not told us how Jamie allegedly survived yet another brush with death in "Death of X," when everyone was clear that Jamie Prime was dead even in the "Multiple Man" miniseries, but we have yet another villain torturing him.  Can we please put this plotline to rest so we can get back the Jamie that we “X-Factor” fans know and love?)  Rosenberg is at his best when he focuses on the team’s dynamic.  Alex is the same disgruntled mess that we last saw in the promising “Astonishing X-Men.”  In fact, by making the team live in the back of Harry’s Bar, Rosenberg seems to be (wisely) treating this series as an extension of that one.  But, that said, Alex has pulled himself together a bit, as he threatens Scott here by telling him that he won’t let Scott become the man that he was (or the X-Men become the team that they were before they died).  Rosenberg is underlining Alex as the moral center of the team, which makes sense on a team where the only other members in full charge of their faculties are Scott, Logan, and Illyana.  Next issue, Rosenberg picks up where “X-Men Disassembled” ended, with the MLF hitting pharmacies that are distributing the mutant vaccine.  The X-Men hiding in the shadows while trying to make the world a better place is exactly where they should be.

Also Read:  Age of X-Man:  Prisoner X #1; Avengers:  No Road Home #4; Conan the Barbarian #4; Star Wars:  Vader - Dark Visions #1