Eleven-Month-Old Comics: The February 1 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

It's been a few months - OK, almost a year - but am I going to give it the old college try and attempt to get through my backlog?  Yes, I am!

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #9:  Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what happens here.  I think Captain America and his new Invaders' attempt to free Manhattan from A.I.M.'s control is all part of a simulation that M.O.D.O.C. created to keep them busy for...reasons?  I think?  Complicating matters, someone attacked M.O.D.O.K. during an interlude, but I'm not sure what conclusion we're supposed to draw from the attack.  It maybe turned him into M.O.D.O.C.?  Maybe?  Oof, this issue.

Dark Web Finale #1:  I don't even know what to say here.  This entire event was so utterly ridiculous that it seems equally ridiculous to try to recap it.  It's my job, though, so I'll try.

Madelyne opens Limbo's embassy to the United States in New York to show the people in the dark that they're also in the light.  (We're really pushing the "bad guys are just misunderstood good guys" schtick beyond the point of reasonable disbelief here.)  She also decides to keep Ben in prison in Limbo (something all good guys would totally do).  Of all the possible outcomes for Ben, "locked in prison in Limbo" is the lowest on my preferred list.  I'd almost rather him dead.

Of my many complaints about this "event," the central one is the fact that Wells seems to have created a solution to Ben's problem that no one ever suggested.  I don't see why Jean could've shared Peter's memories with Ben the way she did with Madelyne. Before this event, Wells implied that Peter would lose his memories if he shared them with Ben (though Wells never really fleshed out that premise).  As such, Jean's abilities resolve that problem (if it was indeed a problem).  

But, again, no one even suggests that course of action.  It isn't like someone did suggest it and Peter refused because he wouldn't be special if he shared his memories with Ben.  That would've at least given us an interesting moral quandary, since Peter would definitely be the asshole in that situation.  But, again, we never even get there.

In other words, given that Ben's lack of Peter's (good) memories is allegedly what drives Chasm's darkness, he seems a pretty problem to solve with Jean's help.  (He isn't Maria.)  

To make matters worse, Peter constantly harangues Ben for his anger that he isn't really a person, as if he should just get over it.  Does Peter forget the "Shrieking" arc, where he decided that he'd never be Peter Parker again given the pain he felt losing his parents during "Lifetheft?"  Again, even if Peter isn't the asshole (in the sense that he's unaware he could use Jean's powers to solve the problem), he is here.

I could continue but I won't.  It's all a fucking mess.

Minor Threats #4:  Holy fucking shit, this issue is amazing and intense.

Patton and Blum do a phenomenal job of keeping the gang ridiculous but the story serious all at once.  I really had no idea where the story was going page to page.  

More than anything, though, it's Pigeon's narration that makes this issue, as it really amps up the emotional punch of his eventual heel turn.  

In a flashback, Pigeon breaks into a museum to steal Fabergé eggs only to find a scalped security guard with one of the eggs implanted in his exposed brain.  His horror at the scene reminds me of Riddler's iconic line from "Secret Origins Special" #1:  "Joker is killing people, for God's sake."

Returning to the present, Pigeon explicates Stickman's goals for us.  First, he decided that his relationship with Insomniac had gotten too complicated.  He wanted to go back to basics; by killing Kid Dusk, he discarded the "child-endangerment thing."  Next, Stickman set the trap at the Trophy Room to trim Insomniac's rogues' gallery.  Now, he implants bombs in the team's brainstems and sends them, via his sidekick Sideswipe, to the Dream Cave with enough C-4 to destroy it.  To Stickman's mind, he'll make Insomniac "fun again" by breaking all his toys.  Ho boy.  Not many people are playing with full decks in Twilight City.

But the team's paranoia about the traitor amongst them gets the better of them; as Stickman listens via the microphones he fitted on them, they kill each other.  After Stickman arrives, a toy distracts Sideswipe, and his portal closes while he's halfway through it, killing him.

Of course, it turns out the gang isn't dead.  That said, man, the guys had me going there for a while.  I noticed the various tanks full of fish when the gang arrived in the Dream Cave, and apparently Scalpel did as well.  Once Playtime used her powers to send in nano-sized Army soldiers to remove the bombs from their brains, Scalpel used the puffer fish's tetrodotoxin to simulate their deaths.  

Confronting Stickman, Brain Tease claims that he saw through Stickman's "ruse" about a traitor amongst them, but he's proven wrong yet again when Pigeon holds a gun behind Playtime's head.

Via another flashback, Pigeon explains that he feared not just a future that involved this new level of brutality but also that he had no role in it.  Throwing in his lot with Stickman, Pigeon decided he might escape irrelevance.  (The scene where someone sends him a drink in a lonely diner on Christmas Eve is devastating.)  

As Stickman starts attacking the gang, Pigeon begins to realize his mistake and recalls how he had no one and nothing, but putting on the mask made him somebody.  He aches for the days when "the Code" meant something and the supervillains were all thick as thieves.  To save Frankie, he drives the Dreammobile (or whatever it's called) into Stickman.  Stickman tries to kill Pigeon as he reaches through the broken windshield, but Frankie uses his hammer to kill him.

With Stickman dead, a terrified Frankie tries to find a way to escape the Dream Cave.  But Insomniac arrives, and he's fucking nuts.  He's furious they took away killing Stickman from him and attacks Frankie.  Snake Stomper saves her, telling Insomniac that his punch is for Diego Salas before Insomniac kills him, another devastating moment in this issue.  Insomniac moves to take out Frankie, but she sees Toy Queen's jack-in-the-box gun in one of Insomniac's shattered trophy cases and uses it to decapitate him.  Never has a murder felt more just, I have to say.

In a news report, we watch as the cops lead Brian Tease to prison for the murders, and he seems thrilled.  Toy Queen wakes from a nap to find the blood-splattered gun where it belonged in her trophy case, realizing (also with joy) that Frankie killed Insomniac.

Frankie goes to Pigeon's hospital room and tells him that the Continuum agreed to leave Redport if she agreed to keep Insomniac's murder quiet.  To his horror, she then exiles him from Twilight City.  We later see Frankie with her daughter, so it's clear that the Continuum also cleared Frankie's name.  (Frankie's daughter apparently made a terrifying toy pony at daycare, so that's fun.)

Later that night, Frankie enters the bar where it all began.  Based on the respectful (and fearful) looks she gets, everyone knows that she killed Insomniac and Stickman.  Someone hands her usual ("Chilled it eight minutes like you said."), and she passes a shrine to Snake Stomper to the backroom.  There, Scalpel has a superhero tied to a chair, and he starts to rant about the Continuum.  Frankie holds a gun to his head and tells him to send a message that superheros aren't welcome in Redport.  He asks what the message is, and she says, "You are."

In other words, it's all just fucking amazing.  Unlike the tonal mess that is Wells' "Amazing Spider-Man," Oswalt and Blum really manage to combine drama and humor in a wonderful blend, so you never really know what to expect panel to panel.  I cannot recommend this series enough.

Moon Knight #20:  This issue is solid.  

Someone - "the Ghost in the Telephone" - brainwashed a pair of two-bit goons who 8 Ball identifies as the Harlequin Hit Men and had them kill Marc's five of the 12 members of Marc's former "Shadow Cabinet."  Hilariously, Marc dismisses the Hit Men as D-List villains given that 8 Ball called them "a couple of jokes" and they once fought Speedball.  But Marc isn't likely to take their murder spree lightly.

The back-up story is possibly the best part.  We learn that Marc's predecessor once helped Blade, so he's willing to do Marc a favor and teach Reece how to be a vampire.  I wouldn't have put two and two together there, but I'm thrilled McKay did because it's a great pairing.  Reece showed her worth in the main story as Marc's "woman in the chair," keeping him focused and using Jake to identify the route the Hit Men were taking so he could stop them.  Under Blade's guidance, she'll be a kick-ass vampire.

Star Wars:  Sana Starros #1:  Sana has two dads!  As a gay man raising a kick-ass daughter, I have to say that I love the idea that my little girl could one day maim and murder her way across the galaxy with the flare and grumpiness of Sana Starros.  (We also learn that Sana has an estranged twin brother, Phel.)

The issue begins with Sana realizing that she needs a break after apparently ending her relationship with Aphra.  As such, she comes to her grandmother's house, where her grandmother, Grammy Thea, informs us that she always comes home after a break-up.

Of course, it turns out Sana isn't the only one who makes questionable romantic decisions in the Starros family.  Her cousin, Aryssha, is pregnant with twins whose father is an Imperial officer, Captain Cerasus Ehllo, who storms Sana's grandmother house to find Aryssha.  It turns out Aryssha wanted to give birth at her ancestral home, but Ehllo wants her to give birth on his ship.  He takes her with him and then orders his troopers to kill Aryssha's mother, Mevera, and Grammy Thea.

Of course, Sana saves them...except they pretty much save themselves.  They take her to the armory, underscoring that Sana isn't the only, um, "capable" woman in the family.  It also turns out Ehllo taking Aryssha is part of the family's plan to steal back a family heirloom.  As Sana says, you can see why she doesn't visit often.  So much for her vacation.

Four-Month-Old Comics: The January 4 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Astronaut Down #5:  We get a pretty anticlimactic ending to the series here, as Douglas does the right thing and sends the transmission to his Earth.  Before he does, he knocks up Maddie, explaining that he caught glimpses of other realities during this travels and in most of them he saw their daughter.  In the transmission, he includes a message about learning how to bridge our divides and forgive each other, which felt more saccharine than we've seen Douglas be.  To that point, we aren't really given a solid reason for Douglas' change of heart, other than maybe feeling like it was OK to die so long as he procreated?  It's unclear.  All in all, it was an interesting series, though more notable for its concept than its execution.

Batman #131:  Zdarsky shows no sign of slowing down here.  In fact, this arc seems poised to exceed his first one in excellence if this issue is any indication.

Bruce awakens in the alley that we saw at the end of last issue.  A couple of punks have stolen his equipment and, notably, don't recognize him; one of them comments that Bruce looks like a "Venomed-up freak."  Bruce realizes that he's in Crime Alley, but something about it feels different.  His proof comes in the form of a skeletal Jim Gordon with the personality of the Joker.  He calls himself "Jimbo" and tells Bruce that they fight crime together!  "Biff!  Bam!  Pow!"

Bruce realizes that he's on a different Earth, one where his brownstone lays abandoned and someone else owns Wayne Tower.  Zdarksy underscores the seriousness of the situation when Bruce says this "Gotham feels...more foreboding.  Darker."  If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.  

As Bruce quips, it's still Gotham, though, and he follows a scream to an apartment where a Judge Dredd-like "Judge Dent" is terrorizing the residents, asking if they're sane or insane.  Bruce recognizes that it's Harvey and that Harvey and his goons are on Venom.  When Firely (ever the idiot, as Bruce mentions) sets the building on fire in an attempt to get Bruce, Bruce helps a woman escape but Dent nabs him before he can follow her to safety.  Zdarskey does a great job of showing how Bruce is struggling here.  He still hasn't recovered from Failsafe, and a Venomized Dent beats him to a pulp.  He survives only when a street kid saves him via two knives she throws into Dent's face.  

At the girl's dilapidated apartment, she tells Bruce that her name is Julia but everyone calls her Jewel.  Zdarsky shifts pace here as we segue from action to characterization.  Bruce asks where Jewel's parents are and she doesn't respond, leaving the room to get more alcohol for Bruce's wounds.  Bruce realizes that she has the same look of an orphan that he and his raven-haired boys do.  Bruce realizes that he and Batman are dead in this reality, which is why Failsafe sent him here:  his version of compassion was giving Bruce another Gotham to save.

Meanwhile, Selina is running her own operation but responds to a call from the Red Mask, who sends a carrier raven with a photo of Bruce and tells her to bring Bruce to him alive.  I'm not sure who Red Mask is, but, given the torture victims behind him and his Klan-like costume, I don't think he's a nice guy.

In the back-up story, we learn that Tim recognized the gun that Failsafe used on Bruce.    Jon Kent apparently took it from Toyman after Toyman killed himself (I thought Grifter killed him?) and stored it - and all other supervillain weapons he found - in the Fortress of Solitude while his father was in space.  We know that Toyman is alive given the introduction so clearly we're going on a Toyman hunt.

Later, Tim helps Dick take down one of Joker's goons calling himself Cutup.  Dick and Tim discuss how all the low-level goons are making a play based on the rumor that Batman is dead.  (As Tim says, the Banes and the Riddlers know not to believe it.)  Dick suggests Tim let Batman save himself while they save Gotham, which Tim isn't buying.  You'd think Dick would remember how Tim found Bruce the last time he died?  Then again Dick is the pretty one so...  

At any rate, Jon calls Tim from the Fortress and suggests that Toyman may have left some clues when it comes to the gun.  Dun-dun-DUN!

Again, this issue is great, and I'm so fucking happy we're finally getting the type of stories that Batman deserves.

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #8:  This issue is dense.

Steve goes into a gas station and calls Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways, telling him to activate the Captains Network.  It took some Googling to discover that Aaron is one of the heroes introduced in "United States of Captain America." Aaron manages to collect everyone but Black Widow, who Roger says has gone dark, and Hawkeye, who is apparently still in New York.  

Honestly, this entire sequence doesn't make much sense.  Does Aaron have some sort of magical railcar?  Peggy complains about having to ride outside the car, which Nick says made sense since A.I.M. is likely looking for them.  But doesn't it make more sense to ride inside the car where they can't see them?  Also, I don't get why Aaron had to assemble everyone.  Couldn't Steve just have called them all and told them to meet him in Kansas?  To that end, we've not told where the rest of them were during these five days.

At any rate, Steve mentally calls Emma with the code she gave him:  hilariously, it's "Mommy."  Although Peggy refuses to submit to Emma, the rest of the group does and realizes that the Outer Circle used a M.O.D.O.C. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Control) to disappear them for the five days they needed to take over Lower Manhattan.  M.O.D.O.C. also apparently saw into their secrets, which could get interesting down the line.  

Again, though, this sequence has issues.  First, we're not told A.I.M. was somehow able to take down Cap, Peggy Carter, Sharon Carter, Nick Fury, and Redacted.  Sharon discovers a subdermal scar next to her ear, which implies they were attacked and A.I.M. inserted an implant M.O.D.O.C. to use.  But how did A.I.M. manage to take down this group, particularly since Black Widow and Hawkeye were also with them at the time.  Also, why not just kill them?  Also, did A.I.M. really need to take over Lower Manhattan just to get the neganite?  It seems like a lot of effort.

In other words, the authors tried to tell a larger story than this issue could contain.  Honestly, the best part of the issue is when Steve's art-class friends try to find him and run into Amari.  They've all got great chemistry together, and I'd love to see them fight A.I.M. from the inside now that they're captured.

Star Wars #30:  This issue is reminiscent of Gillen's initial run on "Star Wars (2015)," as I can hear the characters speaking in the actors' voices for the first time in a long while.  Amilyn, Lando, and Luke particularly jump off the page.  

The team finds itself in a serious pickle:  they learn that the Kezarat convoy has turned into the Kezarat colony because no one has found a way to escape No-Space in two centuries.  Uh-oh.

At this stage, my only complaint is that the story's flow remains clunky.  I think it's due to the extensive script, which I appreciate narratively but seems better suited to a movie or TV show.  I found myself almost tired of flipping pages at the issue's end, which isn't a good place to find oneself.

Hopefully now that Soule has set up the story it'll move more quickly.

X-Men Red #10:  Oof.  Like other issues this week, this issue has way too many stories happening at once, making it difficult to follow.  Moreover, Ewing leans a little too heavily into the Arakkii way of speaking in riddles, slowing down the pace even further.  If you strip out the verbiage, this issue's overarching theme is that the Arakkii are finally starting to learn how to cooperate.  

Khora uses her powers to amplify Cable's so that he can use his telekinesis to absorb the techo-organic virus Orbis Stellaris has sitting in the lab.  He creates a pretty fucking cool set of armor with it and becomes the Progenitors' focus.  As such, they take their attention off Manifold who works with Lactuca to teleport the Progenitors "all the way outside," which he hypothesizes is where they originated in the first place.

Meanwhile, Lodus Logos, Sobunar, and Wrongslide help Storm defeat Vulcan, encasing him in a mysterium suit until they can figure out his future.

Brand realizes that Roberto paid off Mentallo to relay Xandra's telepathic manipulation of Brand so Brand wouldn't realize Xandra was hiding Storm at the Autumn Palace. (I'm still not sure about this part.  Per my question last issue, I think now that Xandra also manipulated Vulcan to go there so that Storm could finish him, but Ewing doesn't make that clear.)

Roberto, Xandra, and company arrive to confront Brand, but she uses Cable's bodyslide technology to escape.  That said, she arrives at her safehouse to discover the Fisher King waiting for her.  I'm still not sure what the Fisher King's powers are, so I'm not sure what kind of threat he is to Brand.  But he uses her true name (Abigail Thanriaguiaxus, or "Born-as-Axus-Ended") and knew her safehouse's location, so it probably isn't good for her that he calls her an enemy of Arakko.

Underlining my point about how we have too much going on here, the issue ends with the revelation that Orbis Stellaris is somehow Nathan Essex, something Cable also knows after he asked Weaponless Zen (whose power is to draw the truth) to draw his identity.

I'm hoping Ewing uses the end of this arc to focus a little more next issue, because I can't keep all these plots straight much longer.

Five-Month-Old Comics: The December 7 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #7:  Lanzing and Kelly show that Bucky knew what he was doing when he sent Sharon to Steve as she gets him going again (in more ways than one).

In fact, this issue is all about Steve remembering who his friends are, which is great, because they don't necessarily tell him what he wants to hear.  For example, the issue begins with Namor finding Steve to return his shield (which he lost during his fall from the Outer Circle's headquarters).  When Steve tells Namor about Bucky, Namor tells him what he still refuses to believe, that Bucky works in the shadows so Steve doesn't have to enter them.  Namor gives Steve solid advice in telling him to find people comfortable in the shadows if he's going to save Bucky.  Enter Sharon.

Sharon then puts together a group of Steve's friends to help, and I couldn't be happier with this team:  Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Peggy Carter, and Roger Aubrey.  (When Steve previously mentioned Roger during his conversation with Namor, Namor was thrilled to find out Roger was still alive.  He told Steve to send Roger his regards, which Steve does.  An overjoyed Roger tells Steve to put it on his tombstone.  Roger is very much a breath of fresh air here.)

Steve passes on information that Roger found to the team, namely that A.I.M. technology is unavailable on the black market right now.  Natasha says that fits with three of her A.I.M. contacts going missing, and the team assumes A.I.M. is cleaning house before something big.  

The team then considers the piece of neganite that Bucky and Steve collected from the Destroyer and that Bucky left as a clue for Steve in his emptied-out apartment.  Nick notes that it's usually used only in zero gravity, and the team concludes that Arnim Zola is the likely the person who put it in play (which we know, given the Circle last issue identified him as a Starpoint).  

Hawkeye tells the team that the Thunderbolts are currently cleaning out a Zola facility.  The team prepares to set a trap for the Circle, assuming they'll make a move on the facility.  The problem is that Steve wakes up four days later in Kansas with no idea how he got there and A.I.M. seems to have sealed off New York City.  D'oh!

Lanzing and Kelly do a great job of making all these developments flow from one moment to the next.  Despite a lot of exposition in the team's conversation, it felt like an organic dialogue between the characters, a rarity in comics.  

Moreover, the authors stay focused on the pain that Steve feels over what he sees as Bucky's betrayal.  I could find fault with this series over Steve's refusal to believe Bucky is doing the right thing, but Lanzing and Kelly make it clear that they're intentionally making Steve feel this way.  They're feelings, not logic.  They're totally right that Steve would feel depressed both by confronting a situation where he isn't in charge and where he's trying not to face the sacrifices Bucky makes for him.  Moreover, Lanzing and Kelly make it clear that Steve's friends are aware of this blindspot, again a rarity in comics.

As I've previously said, Lanzing and Kelly are seriously overcoming my doubts about this story and delivering what I think is going to become a classic Captain America tale.  It's great stuff.

Dark Web #1:  OK, "Dark Web."  Here we go.

As a Spider-Man and X-Men fan, I'm more excited about the Spider-Man side of this event than the X-Men one.  

On the Spider-Man side, I totally get Ben's motivations.  In order to regain his memories (and sanity), Ben needs Peter's memories.  It isn't that complicated.  Madelyne gives him a means to that end.

I still don't get Madelyne's part, though.  Magik turned over Limbo to her in "New Mutants" in recognition of her desire to belong somewhere.  As we saw in "Amazing Spider-Man" #14, Madelyne has doubts that Magik had her best interests at heart.  I get that.  But I feel like Madelyne had many more options than diving into "Inferno Part Deux" just because a hot blond dude appeared on her doorstep.  (She does like her hot blond dudes, though...)

At any rate, shenanigans will ensure. Madelyne and Hallow's Eve (the Summers Eve jokes really make themselves, so I won't belabor the point) are on some sort of mission with Venom (whose son Madelyne has kidnapped and who Madelyne magically lobotomized) while Ben takes the fight to Norman, the guy who engineered his (first) death.  We'll see where we go from here.

Star Wars:  Hidden Empire #2:  This issue is refreshingly direct.  The Archivist and the woman helping her, Kho Phon Farrus, manage to turn on the Fermata Cage.  But it attracts Darth Sidious' and Darth Vader's attention, and Sidioius dispatches Vader to get the Cage.  While Qi'ra regroups at a hidden safehouse, she dispatches Chanath Cha and her team to help the Archivist.  But I'm pretty sure Vader is just going to kill them all, so I'm not really sure what Soule is going to do with the last three issues.

X-Men Red #9:  Roberto's ongoing role as Sol's underestimated kingmaker kicks up a notch here as Brand is surprised when it turns out he, and not Xandra, sat on the Diplomatic Zone's throne when Vulcan tried to assassinate Xandra.  Poor Abby.

Meanwhile, Ewing shows us how Brand manipulated Xavier into resurrecting Gabriel.  She convinced him that Magneto's death left an Omega-level hole in the mutants' defenses, and Charles ego did the rest:  he decides that he can "cure" Vulcan before he hatches.  As expected, it didn't work, and Vulcan tears through the Galactic Council before trying to assassinate Xandra here.  

But the revelation that Roberto was using a Shi'ar image inducer to act as Xandra sends off Vulcan to find her.  For some reason he decides that she's in the Autumn Palace, Magneto's former residence, which I don't totally understand.  But he does find Storm, so I'm not complaining because I'm here for that fight.

Five-Month-Old Comics: The November 9 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

A.X.E.:  Judgment Day - Omega #1:  This issue is almost exclusively focused on the Eternals, so if you're not particularly interested in how they're handling the Judgment Day fall-out you can safely skip it.  

That said, although I don't really follow the Eternals, I was still plenty interested in what Gillen does here.  Zuras declares that Ajak's followers - Ikaris, Kingo, Makkari, Phastos, Sprite, and Thena - are heretics for supporting her reinterpretation of the principles, which puts the Eternals in humanity's service.  He warns that he will Exclude them if their actions go against the principles, so things should get interesting in that corner of the House of Ideas.  Also, the Machine's narration ends with an emoticon, a sign that its personality might still be there, so that's nice.  

Again, I felt this event was one of the better ones in recent memory, and this epilogue doesn't do anything to change that.

Amazing Spider-Man #13:  Oof, this series is just not going well.  

As excited as I was about the Hobgoblin arc when it first started, it ends in a total mess.  It turns out the Goblin Queen was the one using the "Winkler device" on Ned and Roderick in order to manipulate Norman into "becoming his true self again."  She certainly gets him on that road when a still hospital-bound Norman is forced to use an Iron Man-like suit to save Peter.  (He's been watching on the laptop his assistant provided last issue.)

My problem with this issue is that no one seems particularly concerned with the consequences of these events (other than Norman's potential first step on the road back to Goblinhood).  

First things first, Peter is unmasked in front of Ned and Roderick.  I assume that the Winkler device's impact on their memories means that they don't remember that Peter is Spider-Man.  But Peter doesn't know that Goblin Queen mindwipes them after every excursion, so shouldn't he be worried about the fact they both saw him without his mask?

To that point, Wells never explains why Goblin Queen mindwipes them.  Sure, it explains why Roderick was confused in issue #11 when Norman said that he was present when Hobgoblin attacked them.  But why wouldn't the Goblin Queen want him to remember his time as Hogbolin?  Why risk exposing herself to Norman by getting directly involved and not just manipulating Roderick from the shadows?  Along those lines, Norman learns that his assistant didn't bring the laptop to him.  We're clearly supposed to believe that it was Goblin Queen but, again, it was pretty easy for Norman to learn that his staff didn't bring it to him so why risk it?

Also, even if Roderick is mindwiped, Ned isn't.  He's in jail, so it isn't like Goblin Queen can get him into the device.  Shouldn't Peter at least worry that Ned now knows?  Again, we're left to assume that the Winkler device affects his memory enough that he wouldn't remember but stilll.

[Sigh.]  Once again, I'm finding myself on the "obligation," and not "enjoyment," end of the reading "Amazing Spider-Man" spectrum.

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #6:  Honestly, I'm Team Bucky on this one.  

Bucky makes a pretty compelling case that entities like the Outer Circle are only defeated by people on the inside, which is why he needs to take the Revolution's place.  But, as always, Steve decides that he knows what's best and they come to blows.  

Of course, part of Steve's objection comes from his disapproval that Bucky killed someone (i.e., the Revolution).  Lanzing and Kelly use Steve's tantrum to underscore his blindspot when it comes to what Bucky is trying to tell him, that he's always been the one to do the dirty work so he understands the Circle better than Steve does.  

Hopefully Sharon will take some sense into Steve next issue.

WildC.A.Ts #1:  I'm pretty stoked about the WildC.A.Ts' relaunch even if it isn't part of Ellis' amazing "The Wild Storm" series from a few years ago.

Rosenberg throws us right into the action as Grifter, Deathblow (i.e., Michael Cray), and Zealot invade a H.I.V.E. lab to try to recruit a scientist named Tremont for Marlowe.  (We don't really establish why Marlowe can't just, like, ask him to send a resume.)  We begin in media res as (a chattier and more charming than usual) Grifter explains the Dhaemonite-Kherubim war to a security guard.  He's trying to convince the guard that he's unknowingly working for the Dhemonites, but Zealot just kills the guard instead, telling Grifter that his stories are "getting stranger" (thus implying that, in this iteration, the Dhaemonite-Kherubim war didn't happen).

But Grifter fucks up the mission when he shoots Tremont because he (Tremont) killed a chimpanzee that he's using as a lab animal just to prove how useful he can be.  Shortly before Nightwing and Cassandra Cain arrive, the team departs the lab for the still under construction Halo Building in Star City.  Marlowe informs Cray and Zealot that he's adding Fairchild to the team due to their recent failures.  When they balk, he brings them to Adrianna who confirms that she wants Fairchild on the roster.  Based on this exchange and another one later in the issue, it appears Adrianna is more in charge than Marlowe.

At a bar, Grifter tells a fellow patron about how the Anti-Life Equation took over his Earth and he and his companions fled through the Multiverse to this Earth.  (Did that happen?)  It turns out the patron is a scientist at Althea Labs, and Grifter swipes his badge before two heavies try to kill him for his role in killing Mrs. Freeze and Toyman.  (Really?  Did that happen?)  Grifter spends a night in jail, and Marlowe springs him the next morning with his hulking blond bodyguard Jack Colt, who some Googling made me realize is Spartan.

Of course, the mission at Althea also goes badly, and we learn Cray's death is his third one this month.  Also, all the scientists are dead for reasons that aren't clear, as we begin this segment in media res as well.  Maxine - the team's coordinator - has Grifter use Fairchild to escape, though they eventually find themselves in a sub-basement surrounded by the Court of Owls.  That'll go well.

Beyond just the joy of seeing the WildC.A.Ts in action, Rosenberg underlines how integrated the team now is in the DC Universe.  I'm not sure how I feel of that, to be honest.  I don't know if I really want Grifter fighting Green Arrow, as he does here, but I could be persuaded otherwise.  We'll see.

Also Read:  Minor Threats #3; Moon Knight #17

Six-Month-Old Comics: The October 5 Non-Event Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #5:  My main issue right now with this arc is that I'm totally fine with the idea that a shadowy organization has manipulated Steve, Bucky, and the world for Bucky's entire life.  I'm just not sure I buy that it was this shadowy organization.

Assuming for the time being that I do, this issue is fine.  Steve, Bucky, and Redacted invade the Circle's secret base and learn that the world's real Powers That Be tithe equipment, money, and soldiers to the Circle.  While Steve and Bucky play for time, Redacted destroys the machine that controls the soldiers.  By the time Steve and Bucky arrive at the Circle's conference room, only the Revolution remains.

We know from the issue's preamble that the Revolution is bored of the game and wants to die, going so far as leaving an encrypted flash drive for his lover (the Love).  Bucky is ready to fulfill the Revolution's wish, and  Steve tries to stop him.  Bucky isn't having it, though.  He tells Steve that the Circle had his father killed so the Army could adopt him and he could serve as the Circle's way to control Steve.  When Steve went off the map at the end of the war, the Circle turned him into the Winter Soldier.  Eventually, Bucky shoots through Steve to kill the Revolution, whose place I'm guessing he'll wind up taking.

Returning to the Circle itself, the Love made it sound during the Circle's expository lecture to Steve and Bucky that like the Century Game emerged from the First World War's ruins.  The Love implies the Circle is actively working with the Powers That Be to mitigate the world's chaos and, presumably, direct the chaos that exists to benefit the Powers That Be.  I guess I could kinda buy that.  But the Power makes it sound like they were all bored when the last century's game ended in a tie.  Wasn't that the point, though?  

I'm also not entirely sure how exactly they've been controlling Bucky.  I'm going to assume Bucky wasn't getting message his whole life on how he should manipulate Steve.  If he wasn't, we probably need more clarity on how the Circle got Bucky to do what it wanted.

Again, I'm not totally rolling my eyes at this plot, but I'd like some strong answers.

Miracelman (2022) #0:  There was a time when I'd lean into the various stories that the authors tell here and try to figure out how they fit into the reality we saw at the end of "Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham (2015)" #6.  Had we ever previously seen Big Ben, Jakksa Gun, or Wednesday?  Am I supposed to know what the Ikai Key or the Whisper is?  After seven years, I can't even remember the difference between the Qys and the Warpsmiths.  This issue mainly serves as a way to whet our appetites for the upcoming "Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham:  The Silver Age" series.  If you don't need your appetite whet (whetted?) for that, you can probably skip this one.

Spider-Man #1:  Oof.  Nick Lowe writes in his letter at the issue's end that he and Dan Slott agreed that the Spider-Verse saga needed a concluding chapter.  I guess they didn't see it as finished until they resorted to the oldest cliché in the book, the hero working with his arch-enemy against a greater threat.  Of course, Peter is already working with his actual arch-enemy, Norman Osborn, in "Amazing Spider-Man," so his surprise team-up with Morlun in this issue feels pretty redundant.  It doesn't help that the "greater threat" is Shathra, whose name alone makes it hard for me to take her seriously.  I'll hang in here because I feel obligated, but Slott doesn't do anything here that makes me excited about this series.

Six-Month-Old Comics: The August 10 Big Two Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

A.X.E.:  Judgment Day #2:  OK, we have a lot going on here.  

I'll say upfront that you probably need to read this event's tie-in issues to enjoy it fully.  Gillen is really just hitting the main developments in this issue, leaving the details and drama to the tie-in issues.  As such, it reads almost like a bulleted presentation rather than a complete story.

The new "god" Ajak and her team are trying to create narrates the issue, starting with six humans living around the world and their thoughts as the war between the Eternals and X-Men begins.  It seems random, but the "god" exhorts us to remember that "everyone is important."

Meanwhile, the Hex - six separate Eternals, as the introduction page informs us - attack Krakoa, and the Avengers arrive to help.   Exodus wants them removed from Krakoa but thankfully Cyclops and Magik aren't insane and welcome them.  Cap informs Scott that Iron Man is working on a "peaceful" solution, which, honestly, would probably worry me if I were Scott given Tony's track record.  Scott sends him after the Hex while he and the other mutants protect the resurrection protocols.  Cap takes a shot at Scott here, criticizing him for keeping secrets "after everything we've been through."  Scott gives exactly the response I would:  "After everything?  How could we [not]?"

The Hex's assault on Krakoa takes its toll on Earth's mantle and causes disasters throughout the world.  Cyclops dispatches the Avengers to deal with the fallout.  Exodus interprets their departure as the Avengers abandoning them, and Destiny cryptically notes that it's an accurate portrayal, because she's seen the future and remembers the past.  (The "god" muses:  "Do we stand alone?  We will see.")

Meanwhile, we get a dense splash page of all the efforts Ajak and her team are putting into creating the "god."  Along the way, Gillen refers to a series of past events that I had to Google to appreciate.  First, Tony excavates Arishem the Judge's "thumbprint of justice" from London where Arishem fell after the Dark Celestials killed him in Aaron's run on "Avengers (2018)," which I remembered not at all.  I also didn't remember Sinister turning the Dreaming Celestial into a version of himself in "Uncanny X-Men (2012)," though he sifts through the debris and finds "a shattered fragment of the heart of a dream."  Odin apparently fought a war against the Celestials, which I'm pretty sure I didn't read, and Makarri combs through the body of the Destroyer, which Odin forged as his weapon, to scavenge "tiny fragments of this absolute power."  Sersei gathers the Eternals who oppose Druig and head to Lemur to perform a séance in order to gather stories from Deviants who the Celestials previously murdered.  Finally, in a move that I'm sure will make Tony insufferable, they use his body as a template for the "god," because his body remembers when "he piloted a dead Celestial when a king wreathed in black ruled the Earth."

Back on Krakoa, Exodus sacrifices himself to take out Syne the Memotaur, leaving five Hex left.  The (Krakoa) Five are working overtime in Arbor Magna to bring back warriors (for the moment putting aside the 15 million Arakkii killed who aren't warriors), and Exodus re-joins the fray.  Syne does as well, resulting in one of the humans we saw on the first page dying since it's the way that the Eternals resurrect themselves.  Syne hurls herself at Krakoa, intending to destroy the island.  The mutants realize that they can't evacuate everyone quickly enough and, if they move to stop Syne, the other five Hex members are free to go after Arbor Magna.

Deliverance comes in the form of the "god" who awakens and calls off the Eternals.  However, it goes a little differently than Ajax planned, as the "god" decrees that he will judge everyone on Earth and -paging the first page - "if there is more that is just than wicked" he'll spare Earth.  If not?  It isn't great, folks.

Amazing Spider-Man #7:  For all last issue's billing that this issue is the biggest change in Spidery's status quo ever, nothing happens here.  Seriously.

Sure, it looks like Peter's going to accept Norman's offer to work for him.  After all, he could use Norman's tech after the Vulture exploits Spidey's most obvious weakness:  attacking him mid-air and destroying his Web-Shooters so that he can't stop his freefall.  (I can't remember anyone ever doing that, surprisingly.  How is the Vulture the first one to think of it?)  But Peter doesn't actually take the offer here.

In fact, Peter storms from Norman's office after he sets up an "accidental" meeting between MJ and Peter.  It sounds like MJ is the step-mom to the kids who we've previously seen, though Wells doesn't confirm that.  If you're wondering, MJ is at Oscorp to have Norman run tests on the Krakoa medicines (smart) after she agreed to help the mutants as a brand ambassador.  Weirdly Paul is there as well.  Does he accompany her on all her work meetings?  That's starting to feel creepy.

I should mention that the Vulture attacks Peter because he's convinced that Spidey told his granddaughter about all his murders, even though she could've just, you know, Googled it.  (Weirdly, someone did tell her, but I still don't get why we're supposed to believe that she never knew her grandfather - the Vulture - killed people.)

[Sigh.]  I've loved Wells work on Spidey, but this run is starting to feel like another Spencer run, where the signs are there early that it isn't going well.  I hope I'm wrong.

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #3:  I'm intrigued by where Lanzing and Kelly are going here.  Right now, they're walking the fine line between conspiracy and ridiculous, and we'll see if they manage to stay on the beam.

The Outer Circle sends a creature called Redacted after Steve to wipe him from history. The fact that the Outer Circle believes that it could wipe Steve Rogers from history shows how powerful its members think they are.  Steve defeats the creature but strikes a pipe that spews lava along the way.  Realizing that the Forge isn't just a green-power plant, he travels through the complex, discovering an "honest-to-God volcano lair."  (He hilariously remarks to himself that Bucky will be mad he missed it.)

In the lair, he sees an imprint of his shield and puts the shield into it, unveiling a recording.  The man on the recording informs Steve that he built his shield at this vibranium-alloy forge.  In order to get the Outer Circle's secret symbol into the public domain, he put fit on the shield - an outer circle, two inner circles "that obey," and the star for their super-soldier (i.e., Steve).  The man doesn't explain why the Outer Circle built the shield for the United States (and thus Steve), but I'm sure we'll get there.  A holographic woman with tentacles emerging from her back named the Machine appears and detonates the Forge, which Steve survives by amazingly using the shield to surf the lava.  (It could've been hokey, but Carnero really sells it.)

Meanwhile, in Madripoor, Peggy takes offense at Bucky implying that she's been part of a shadowy conspiracy for a long time.  He notes several missions that she led that, mission by mission, resulted in the consolidation of power in an increasingly smaller circle.  For example, she and Bucky rescued two men in 1944, one of whom created V.X. nerve gas.  The United States later traded nukes to the U.K. for the gas, altering the global balance of power.  In 1972, Peggy apparently took down the Darkstar oil cartel in Yemen, allowing OPEC to impose the 1973 oil embargo and plunge the world into a three-year recession.  As we've seen, she and the Daughters of Liberty just took down the Power Elite, leading to a series of shell companies securing all their assets.  Peggy refuses to admit that she's either a patsy or working for them, though it's got to be one or the other. 

I loved this entire exchange between Bucky and Peggy.  Peggy is so often portrayed as possessing Mary Sue levels of superhumanly brilliant and capable.  I loved watching her either panicking at the idea that she's been played or at the idea that Bucky - who she clearly doesn't respect - caught her lie.

As I said, we're close to ridiculous, but we're not there.  So long as Lanzing and Kelly stay on this side of ridiculous, this story is a quintessentially Cap one.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #26:  Oof, this issue is tough.

Sacks addresses a question that I've had since T'onga functionally took over this series, namely why she thought Cadeliah would trust her when she found her.  T'onga comes face to face with Cadeliah here and Cadeliah tells T'onga that she trusts no one.  After all, Nakano Lash died, Valence ditched her at the first opportunity, and the Empire killed Valance's ex-girlfriend and her husband:  she doesn't have a great record of caretakers.  Cadeliah points out she first met T'onga when T'onga came to kill Lash, and you would've thought after all this time T'onga had workshopped a better response than, "I've grown since then."

T'onga and her crew have impressed Qi'ra, though, by getting so far into her citadel so Qi'ra offers her a contract.  But it isn't exactly a happy ending.  An animal-loving Vukorah is appalled when she has to kill Furball, explaining to Losha that her surrogate father killed her tooka cat in front of her to stress that she couldn't afford attachments.  A devastated Losha threatens to kill Vukorah the next time they meet.  It goes from bad to worse for Vukorah as she overhears Qi'ra's plan to install Cadeliah at the head of the Mourner's Wail and the Unbroken Clan, despite her promise that Vukorah would head the Clan.  Vukorah flees in anguish, a scene matched in its sadness on Tonga's ship when T'onga finds a devastated Losha weeping over Fireball's body asking whether it was all for nothing.

Along the way, Tasu thrashes Dengar and tells him that he's going to kill him one day, and Haydenn makes a pass at Valance who rejects her.  In other words, the bounty hunters aren't doing so well, y'all.

Star Wars:  Han Solo & Chewbacca #5:  Not all that surprisingly, it turns out Han's "dad" isn't his dad but a criminal named Corpus Tyra.  (Or maybe his dad became Tyra?)  Tyra learned that Jabba hired Han to retrieve the MacGuffin...I mean, urn...from a "Kajain'sa'nikto" named Vizam.  Marshal Vancto learned about Vizam from Bib Fortuna and successfully finds Tyra at some sort of Imperial base on Iakar.  (Notably, Tyra doesn't obviously have the urn here.)  

Meanwhile, Chewie and Han are saved on Mollo Tanka by Khel Tanna and her crew and Greedo.  Han informs them that he wasn't sold that his "dad" was his dad, so he put a tracker on him.  They follow it to Paqualis III, where the Benelux Marshal Service Headquarters is located.  They manage to grab Tyra but leave behind Chewie after Greedo shoots Han while he fights Tanna to go after Chewie.  But Chewie finds himself in prison with Maz Kanata, so next issue should be a good time.

Three-Month-Old Comics: The July 6 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #5:  This issue is surprisingly uneventful, given the events of this series' first four issues.  

Peter gets revenge on Tombstone by sending Digger to break up one of Tombstone's shipments.  Digger is jobless after he failed to arrive when the Rose was frantically calling for help last issue; we learn in this issue that he went for ice cream.  Peter convinced Digger that taking on Tombstone might get him back into the Rose's good graces.  To ensure Tombstone knows that Spidey is fucking with him, Peter is at Tombstone's mansion when Tombstone hears about Digger's rampage.  Peter indirectly threatens to confirm the other dons' suspicion (as seen earlier in the issue) that Tombstone is working with Spidey by going to stop Digger.

In that way, all's well that ends well:  Spidey gets even with Tombstone by ruining his shipment (which involved "a lotta capital," according to Tombstone), Tombstone has to take it on the chin so that he doesn't inadvertently confirm an alliance that doesn't exist (though he still benefits from the Rose's incarceration), and Digger gets to show everyone that he's still reliable(-ish).

Between scenes, Felicia visits Peter to express concern about the crazy stories that she's hearing on the street.  She wants to make sure that things "aren't...bad again."  She tells Peter that she knows that he's been playing hurt since the "accident with Ben," which I think means what happened six months earlier and not what happened at the end of the last series.  Peter admits that he doesn't know what to do, and Felicia tells him that he does:  he needs to stop playing hurt, because he's at his best when he's having fun.  We end the issue with him visiting Aunt May, which seems like a good start.

Beyond the big mystery (or maybe connected to it), Digger is the other mystery.  He mentions twice in this issue that he has "thirteen people" in him, which makes me wonder if Ben's accident didn't involve him becoming some sort of gestalt.  I really wouldn't mind getting to the bottom of this one soon.  I get Wells wants to keep up the suspense, but I can only handle it for so long.  I hope Wells gets that we all have PTSD from Kindred.

Also, I have to say that JR JR's pencils just keep getting worse.  I get that he wanted to portray Peter as hurt in his conversation with Felicia, but his cheekbone looks completely disconnected from the rest of his face.  We're well past the point where it's believable he's even alive if that's true.

Astronaut Down #2:  This issue gets directly to the point.  

Douglas discovers that this reality tackled the quantum cancer early, as it developed more effective approaches to communicate across beliefs and differences (thereby overcoming the "Don't Look Up" crowd's opposition).  As a result, they not only cured the mutation but developed a process through which they could transmit a consciousness and allow it to return.  (I'm still not sure why they're exploring this possibility, unless they're trying to prevent the cancer from happening in the first place.)  Douglas is paralyzed by the prospect of getting to return to his body and not having to die in this reality. 

Mission Control, however, is panicked that Douglas hasn't transmitted the "equation" (i.e., the cure) so they send Vernon to see what Douglas' situation is.  Vernon is enraged when he realizes that Douglas is having a picnic with his wife and attacks.  He dies but not before rattling Douglas.  Meanwhile, the situation goes from bad to worse in Douglas' reality when the cancer overtakes Florida City, where Mission Control is located.

Batman #125:  If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I stopped reading "Batman" when I just couldn't handle Tom King anymore.  Given my love of Chip Zdarsky, I decided to take a leap of faith here, and I'm glad that I did.

All but the last two pages of this issue takes place in "Another Time" when:  1) Tim is Robin; 2) Bruce has lost all his money; 3) Clayface is a villain, and 4) Barbara is Oracle.  A little Googling reveals that Bruce lost his fortune during "Joker War" (I vaguely remember that), and Barbara and Tim moved to their new/old status quos as part of DC's (ridiculous sounding) "Infinite Frontier" relaunch.  I still don't have an answer for Clayface, though it could be that he wasn't the one from "Detective Comics."  (There are a lot of Clayfaces after all.)

At any rate, Bruce awakens after a dream involving the three Jokers perched a top a mountain of dead Batfamily members.  Jimenez gives us gays some great fan service as he's only in a pair of briefs and, might I say, is pitching a tent.  He calls Selina, and they seem to be on good terms, though she has to go when "Valmont" appears with coffee.  Meanwhile, Bruce looks into the recent murders of wealthy people.  

The mystery is quickly resolved when the Penguin reveals publicly that he's killing everyone in Gotham who inherited more than five million dollars.  Bruce isn't moved by the Penguin's claim that he's doing it for people like him who had to struggle to get where they are, since it isn't true:  Cobblepot also inherited it.  It's here when Tim appears as Robin and mentions that Bruce is worrying everyone since he's spending so much time as Batman since he lost all his money.

Bruce agrees with Tim, though it isn't why Tim thinks:  it's because Bruce Wayne is a useful tool.  For example, Bruce gets him invited to the Flugelheim Gala, where all Gotham's rich people will be in one place.  (Tim expresses surprise that they didn't cancel it, and Bruce hilariously quips that, "No.  It's the hardest part of this job -- this city wants to die.")  As expected, Cobblepot tries to use gas to kill everyone, and Bruce swings into action after retrieving his utility belt from where Tim stashed it in a bathroom and pulling on his mask.

Bruce quickly takes out Cobblepot, which surprises him given how easy it was to do so.  He then realizes that Clayface is acting as Cobblepot.  Clayface tells Bruce that the building is rigged to explode if the gas didn't work, and Tim tries to get the doors open so everyone can leave.  While he's doing so, a goon gets in a lucky shot through Tim's throat.  The explosives he planted on the door before he's shot blasts open the door, and Bruce rushes him to the hospital since the goon hit an artery.  Tim exhorts him to take off his clothes so that they don't know that Robin is Tim Drake, and Bruce grimly remembers doing so with Jason Todd's body.

Later, Bruce arrives in Cobblepot's hospital room, where we learn that he's dying.  (Clayface gave up his location.)  Bruce expresses surprise that Oswald went this far, and Oswald tells him that he's dying of mercury poisoning and wants to kill the elites who refused to accept him.  Bruce argues that he killed good men like Colin Fitzroy, but Oswald laughs, saying Fitzoy was a boar who'd insult and pawn his staff at the Iceberg Lounge.  Knowing Batman under the mask is one of them, Oswald tells Bruce that he only ever sees his friends while they're wearing their masks; Oswald and everyone else see them as they really are.  It's a compelling argument, and Bruce seems to take it on board.

At any rate, Oswald announces that Batman was last on his list.  He reveals that he's called the police and, as he pushes the call button to summon a nurse, takes a cyanide pill.  Bruce tries to save him, but he can't.  Instead, a nurse enters as he's perched over Oswald's body, making it seem like he killed Oswald, which the cops therefore also witness.  Well played, Oswald.  Later, a distracted Bruce admits (to himself only, natch) that he's lost, facing a mystery "just out of reach."  Most intriguingly, "Now," a Batman-looking robot activates in the Batcave, announcing "Failsafe online."

In the back-up story, a robot dubbed the Executor (who works for the Underbroker) hires Catwoman (for $500,000!) to track down Oswald's ten (!) children to inform them of the contents of his will, which the Executor will read in seven days' time.  (We learn the latter piece of information when Finbar Sullivan and the Yakuza try to take over the Iceberg Lounge.)

All in all, it's a good start.  I feel like I have the continuity answers that I need from Googling, and I hope that Zdarsky doesn't lean too much on that right now.  This issue was emotional and fun, and it's been so long since we've had a Batman story like that that I don't want the dream to end.

Captain America:  Sentinel of Liberty #2:  This issue is WAY too talky, but I'm hoping that we go somewhere now that we've got the exposition on the table. 

It turns out the shadowy organization has five leaders (just like the five points on the star on Steve's shield):  the Machine, the Money, the Power, Love, and the Revolution (who's the figure we saw at the end of last issue talking about getting Steve on the board).  Radio Company has been following their broadcasts, and it seems like they don't know that Steve has cracked their code (unlike what I thought last issue).  Why are they broadcasting codes openly over the radio?  God only knows.

The latest message sends Steve to the Forge, a new German power station just brought online that'll power half of Europe.  He's surprised when he runs into silver armored soldiers with Hydra symbology, Hand techniques, and AIM technology.  He's even more surprised when he discovered one of the soldiers is actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who informs Steve that he and the rest of the soldiers are all acting on orders.

Relatedly, a very handsome looking Bucky arrives at a card game in Madripoor to interrogate the dealer who's apparently one of the five soldiers fighting for a mysterious cause (as we saw at the end of last issue).  It turns out the dealer is Peggy Carter, so it's going to get interesting soon I hope.

That said, again, this issue gets mostly lost in the worst kind of Steve monologue, as we have to slog through a fairly maudlin rumination over how he isn't in the loop.  Hopefully we'll spend the next issue or two punching Nazis.

Dark Beach #4:  Hoo boy.

Ruíz-Unger lifts the lid off the mystery here.  In a flashback, Schultz informs the Sun Freaks that the Center for Science and Tech assigned him to Project Daydream.  He learned that it plans on returning Earth to its original orbit, though he can't access information beyond that, since it's classified.  He doesn't know if the Center has already built the machine but did learn that Stanley didn't originate it:  Marie Clara proposed it 16 years earlier.  (I think that explains the time discrepancy.  The Center didn't move Earth to the outer solar system 16 years ago; they started planning to return it then.)  Then, we get to the connection with Gordo:  Clara, who I'm guessing is Gordo's mother, was found dead of an apparent suicide.

The Freaks have Roman develop a way for Schultz to get around the Center's security protocols, but, once they all leave, Roman immediately calls a "doctor" and asks about Project Daydream.  Shortly thereafter, we see someone calling Julyus to hire him.  Julyus murders Ket as she and Eve are having sex, and Raz finds Schultz dead at his desk.  If I'm not mistaken, we don't see Roman's fate, so I'm not actually sure that he's dead like we thought.

In the postlude, fourteen years ago, Stanley's creature warns Clara that it came to Earth because Earth has to return to the Sun before the "Realignment" and the "Correction."  Clara exposits that she created Project Daydream to protect Earth from the Sun's "violent outbursts," allowing them to return to the Sun.  Stanley, though, is adamant that they're not returning.  Clara is just as adamant that they are, but Stanley says that her Dyson sphere will allow humanity to travel between planets, though they seem to need the creature's intelligence to do that.  But I'm confused here since haven't we already traveled between planets if we're in the outer solar system?  At any rate, Clara says that it isn't the future that she wanted for her son (making it clear that her son is Gordo), and Stanley threatens her.

I'd still like a clearer timeline of events at some point, but I feel like that we have enough clarity now that we can really focus on the story itself in these last two issues.  Hopefully Gordo gets some revenge.

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.