Three-Month-Old Comics: The June 15 Edition - Part One (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ben Reilly:  Spider-Man #5:  I liked this series, but this ending is awful.  

It's supposed to serve as Spidercide's redemption, as he sacrifices himself to save Ben before the convicts kill him.  (Of course, Spidercide released the convicts in the first place, so...)  But Spidercide saves Ben through the same endlessly new powers that he exhibited throughout this series.  In addition to producing his "duplicides" and activating Whelan's "dormant DNA" to turn him into Vermin, Spidercide saves Ben by his ability to fill him with his "life force" (heh).  Moreover, this change of heart comes at a particularly convenient time, drama-wise, given he dismissed Dr. Kafka's previous effort to get him to see his hatred of Ben as the other side of love.  

The only positive thing I have to say about Spidercide is that his new suit is awesome, but he's dead now so I guess it doesn't matter.  

I might have liked this issue more had it appeared before "Amazing Spider-Man" #93, when we still had hope that Ben Reilly was back for good.  Given Ben's conversion into Chasm, though, the hope that this issue is selling falls flat.

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #1:  Kelly and Lanzing take us down the shadowy conspiracy route once again.  We've gone down that road plenty of times with Captain America, though they make a good show of it so far.

Steve is offended when someone dressed as Destroyer - previously, the identity of a former war buddy - plans on attacking New York's Fourth of July parade.  Steve and Bucky manage to defeat him, and his mysterious benefactor kills him remotely to punish him for his failure.  Before he dies, "Destroyer" tells Cap that the shield belongs to "them."  Feeling the truth behind the kid's words, Cap is intent on exploring his legacy.  

Meanwhile, Bucky takes the glowing crystal that he and Cap found in "Destroyer's" mask and announces that he has four enemies left.  I'm assuming that it has to do with "Devil's Reign:  Winter Solider" #1, where Bucky starts hunting down the men who used him outside the Winter Soldier program.  To this end, in the epilogue, a shadowy figure informs similarly shadowy figures that he's put Captain America on the board again for the "century game."  Declaring the last century a draw, the figure makes it clear that he plans on winning this "game."

Kelly and Lanzing make it clear that a central theme of this story will revolve around Cap needing to get past his age.  For example, he's taking art classes at a local community college and befriends some youngsters who make fun of his lack of tech savviness.  In addition, he finds out the Destroyer is going to attack the parade by following a series of numbers that he hears will chatting with his former war buddies over a two-way radio.  (They call themselves Radio Company.)  The Destroyer himself is a young man who derides him as a neofascist, which Cap hardly seems to understand.  

Cap has been due for this reckoning for some time, so I'm intrigued to see where the authors go with it.  So far, they've made the "century game" a believable villain to bring out this change, even with only a few panels dedicated to them.  They seem to exist outside ideology, which makes it more believable that they've been able to manipulate people with ideology behind the scenes.  A post-ideology villain seems very 21st century.

Hulkling & Wiccan #1:  If I have one complaint about this story, it's that everyone is too emotionally actualized.  Eidolon and Goebig exist only as perfect reflections of Billy and Teddy, making it no small wonder they both suspect something is wrong from the minute Billy unconsciously summons them.   

Although it wasn't like I was expecting Trujillo to undermine Billy and Teddy's relationship in a one-shot, the stakes might have felt more real if Eidolon and Goebig themselves felt more real.  

That said, Trujillo could do great stuff with Billy  characters if given a chance.  I think he made the right decision to frame their relationship in the sort of transitional phase that comes with marriage.  It extracts them from the"will they/won't they" cliché that these characters are well past.  But it doesn't mean that the road isn't going to have bumps (and not just sexy purple alien ones).  With less pressure to wrap up the story as neatly, I'd be intrigued where that discussion goes.

Also, it's always fun to see a handsome, shirtless Teddy.  Nishijima might go a little bit too kawaii at times for my liking, but I'm not complaining. 

Moon Knight:  Black, White & Blood #2:  I'm not really sure why I'm still reading this series, after I disliked the first issue so much.  This issue is only marginally better.  The last story is the best one, as Marc tracks down a mercenary who betrayed him years earlier.  It forces Marc not only to address his past amorality taking advantage of African civil wars for profit but also his present white-savior complex when his impulse is to stay in Africa to "help."  The first story is visually interesting though yet another story about whether Marc's mental illness or Khonshu's influence is driving the narrative.  Moreover, it seems to exist outside continuity, which is fine, I guess, but the low stakes makes an already clichéd story all the less interesting.  The middle story is the type of story that makes you roll your eyes at the abuse the hero suffers.  In other words, I'm still a pass on this one, even though I am still reading it.

Two-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero March 23 and 30 (2022) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ben Reilly:  Spider-Man #3 (March 23):  OMG, talk about a deep cut!  Spidercide!  I mean, he was the worst, but I'm totally game to see where DeMatteis goes with him.  I also have to complement DeMatteis on not dragging out Ben's mysterious nemesis for too long.  It was clear that it was Díaz from the beginning, and a lot of authors would've burned through a few issues to hold the reveal until the end.  Now, I feel like we're going to get some real tension as we see if Ben can handle yet another angry clone brother coming after him.

X Deaths of Wolverine #5 (March 23):  Enh.  This issue isn't terrible and does what it's supposed to do, namely bring back Moira for her eleventh life as a cyborg.  I'm down with that, though, again, I feel like the ten-issue "X Lives and Deaths of Wolverine" saga probably could've been a three-issue mini-series.  

The most interesting part of this event, for me, was Beast admitting to Sage that they only succeed - Krakoa only succeeds - because Wolverine is a savage killer willing to get his hands dirty.  For all the diplomacy of the Quiet Council, it's Wolverine who preserves mutantkind.  It's a rough pill for Beast to swallow, but it's also the closest that I've seen any long-term X-Men come to acknowledging their debt to him, even if it comes with disdain, as it does with Beast here.

Amazing Spider-Man #93 (March 30):  Holy fuck balls, you guys.

For the fact that this issue ends the "Beyond" saga, it doesn't really wrap up any loose ends.  In fact, it leaves us with more questions than it answers.  How future authors answer those questions will determine what "Beyond's" long-term legacy is.  It's short-term legacy is a much-needed shot in the arm for the Spider-Man franchise.

First things first, Maxine's escape plan largely drives the story.  Ben makes quick work of the Slingers and reaches her office only for her to give him a device that'll allegedly transfer Peter's memories - the ones that Ben is missing - to him.  Although Wells never fully addresses whether Maxine is lying or not, her gambit works:  Ben leaves her to go after Peter.  She then orders a kill team to take out Marcus, telling him that she's given him a respectable death story in recognition of his service.  Janine manages to save Marcus (with the "Infantalizer," which turns the kill team into babies), and Ben finds Peter.

Wells excels in scripting this fight, as Ben's rage is so abundantly clear.  Peter can't reason with him, failing to convince him that maybe - just maybe - Maxine wasn't really telling the truth about the device that she gave him.  Speaking of Maxine, the Beyond Board authorizes the liquidation of the building's lower levels and attempts to assassinate her, only to discover that she's using a holographic decoy.  (The Board is outraged that she uses something that the Board reserves the right to use.)  I have to say that the only good news to this issue is that the Board somehow didn't promote Maxine.

Peter manages to destroy the device, which breaks Ben.  As Maxine's "quantum-shifting polymers in a psycho-reactive medium" begin to rewrite the matter in the lower floors, Ben falls into the goo.  Gleason is spectacular here.  Peter's face so clearly conveys the anguish that he feels as he watches the goo consume Ben, and Ben's face is angelically resigned to his defeat when he tells Peter:  "You have it all, Peter.  All the parts I'm missing.  I just wanted them back."  Marcus manages to save Peter as Beyond HQ becomes several floors shorter.

In the epilogue, Janine traipses through the goo to find Ben; she's started when his arm - full with some sort of psychic-energy tentacle - emerges from the rubble.  Weeks later, Mary Jane asks Peter to move into her apartment with her, only for a glowing mysterious figure to appear at the window, saying "A road of blood led to you...come with me."  Months later, Ben continues to see his face as that familiar void in the mirror.  Janine hears a crash from the other room and enters the bathroom to find him gone.  In the most spectacular splash page I've ever seen, Ben appears in a purple costume with a green psychic-energy aura exuding from him, announcing, "There is only a Chasm."  

Seriously, people, I got chills.

In terms of the overall "Beyond" saga, I have to say that I'm thrilled.  After Nick Spencer's ridiculously prolonged Kindred story, it was awesome to have such a compelling and detailed story presented in just 19 issues.  

On one hand, I'm devastated to see Ben end up this way.  I've been pulling for him for so long.  But, the Beyond Board honestly made a compelling argument that Ben was inevitably going to become Peter's archenemy:  he's gone through too much, been broken too many times, had his dreams ruined too frequently.  It's Spider-Man, so redemption is clearly on the table for him, when he has people like Janine, Marcus, and Peter all willing to help.  But, his appearance in the final page is so terrifying that it's hard to see how someone could redeem him.  He just seems too far gone.

As they say, I guess we'll have to tune in next month.

Immortal X-Men #1 (March 30):  Meh.  This issue is fine, I guess, though Gillen's use of Mr. Sinister as our narrator means that it's way too obtuse.  As always, he has schemes.

Two of said schemes are relevant here.  First, in 1919, Destiny told him...something, and he expects it to manifest at the Quiet Council meeting where Magneto announces his retirement.  That said, he doesn't think that Destiny knows that he knows, so maybe I'm wrong about that?  After all, didn't she tell him the "something?"  Second, he appears to have cloned Moira, and I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that he's been willy-nilly resetting the timeline with her?  

I like the idea of this series in theory, of Gillen walking us through all the Council members' various schemes.  But, this issue shows how hard it is to do that in practice in a way that doesn't seem tedious.  It doesn't help that the main players are all incredibly unlikeable.  We'll see where we go, I guess.

Also Read:  Marauders Annual #1 (January 26); Devil's Reign:  X-Men #3 (March 23); Dark Ages #6 (March 30); Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #21 (March 30)

Four-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero January 19 (2022) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #86 (January 19):  Holy fucking shit.  This issue is beyond (heh) intense, and I totally didn't see it coming.  

I mean, I should've seen it coming.  The blond hair, the old girlfriend:  it felt like the Beyond Board was ret-conning away the events of "The Clone Conspiracy" and "Scarlet Spider" to give us a "Clone Saga" era Ben.  

But, no, it turns out Beyond scrubbed away those memories at Ben's request, because he wanted a fresh start.  Dr. Kafka reveals that she's been helping him recover those memories against Maxine's orders given how dangerous she felt the "memo-surgery" was.  Of course, Maxine lied to Kafka about not monitoring their sessions, so she interrupts when Ben tells Dr. Kafka about the drive.  However, the memo-surgery to remove his memories of the drive goes badly; instead of just cutting away the memories that Maxine doesn't want Ben to have, Ben's entire mind collapses.  

Meanwhile, Janine uses her prison skills to take Marcus hostage and leave Beyond with the drive.  How does she have the drive?  It turns out Ben didn't lie to her last issue.  Instead, when he slipped her the mask to clean (itself a weird moment), he also slipped her the drive and told her that Beyond was lying to them.

As I said, it was fucking intense.  I honestly have no idea where we go from here.

Ben Reilly:  Spider-Man #1 (January 19):  For anyone who didn't read the Clone Saga, this series is a pretty essential companion piece to the Beyond story in "Amazing Spider-Man" as it really underlines the differences between Ben and Peter.  The edge that Ben occasionally displays in "Amazing Spider-Man" is on full display here given Ben only just returned from his "wilderness" years.  I had been feeling like the Beyond Board was overplaying that angst in the main title, but, after reading this issue, I realized that they're not.  Moreover, Ben's time as Spider-Man was pretty limited in reality, so it's fun to see him in action again.  Without all the Clone Saga baggage, it's a great read.

Devil's Reign:  X-Men #1 (January 19):  Oof, I do not like where we're gong here, and I mean that in the best possible way.  

Duggan wrote this issue, so it seamlessly fits with the ongoing "X-Men" title.  It focuses on the days when Elektra and Emma were, as Emma puts it, Kingpin's bad and good witches.  (I believe that "Marauders" #22 is the first time that we see Emma working for him, when she tries to convince him to develop a new identity for Lourdes Chantel.)  

Whereas Emma uses her powers to get people to do what Kingpin wants, Elektra obviously assassinates his enemies.  In the opening sequence, a young girl in her room spots Elektra crawling onto a balcony after killing someone.  In the present, Kingpin is enraged when Emma gets the United Nations to recognize Krakoa as a consulate, so he has Wesley tell the NYPD to open a cold murder case...of the young girl.

Kingpin seems set to pin the murder on Emma, and I do not imagine that Emma will let this provocation go without a fight.  As tie-in series go, this one is top-flight.

Moon Knight #7 (January 19):  First, I love Ben Grimm sending Marc Spector a Hanukkah card every year.  Moving onto the plot, holy shit, y'all.

Moon Knight is on a single-minded crusade to take out Zodiac, but Zodiac is one step ahead of Marc (so far) every time.  Eight-Ball sends Marc to Manslaughter Marsdale who won't snitch on Zodiac because he apparently saved his life.  (I'd love to hear that story.)  Before Moon Knight can shake down Clown, Zodiac cuts off his head, which he brings to Dr. Sterman's office.  (I'm not sure how Moon Knight made his way to Clown, but I'm just going to go with Eight-Ball squealing on him, too.)  Marc isn't going to take that well.  

Meanwhile, it turns out Tigra is watching Moon Knight for Black Panther, who's worried that he's too unstable to be left alone.  To Tigra's mind, she's clearly there to protect Marc from himself, though I'm not sure that Marc is going to see it that way.