Five-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero November 10, 17, and 24 (2021) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 10):  I'm happy to say that I loved everything about this issue.  I loved Felicia and MJ's conversation, I loved Colleen and Misty's banter, I loved Maxine's evilness and Ben's hotness:  I loved it all.

Amazing Spider-Man #78.BEY (November 17):  I loved this issue, too!  Avengers Murder Mansion!  How good is that!

The Beyond Board more or less answers my initial question of what Beyond gets from hiring superheroes:  namely, they get research.  For example, Martine initially refused to let Ben's doctor inject him with the Mobius anti-toxin last issue because she wanted to consider what sort of powers a vampire Spider-Man would have.  She notably wants to consider that not just to power up Ben but because they might be able to replicate the powers for sale.  

In this issue, she sends Colleen and Misty after an extraterrestrial Telletubby-like creature whom she calls Obsidian Star.  She's furious when they return from battle without its power source, and Colleen and Misty "remind" her that the point was to help people.  In reality, they give it to Monica Rambeau, who appeared last issue asking them for information about Beyond.

In other words, stuff is afoot.

Dark Ages #3 (November 17):  This issue continues a great run so far.  Laura identifies Apocalypse as Tony's kidnapper, and the team sends Pietro to see what Apocalypse is doing with him.  But, Pietro is distracted when he sees his father in chains.  Apocalypse also has Dr. Octopus working for him, and Otto's defenses take out Pietro in his moment of weakness.  

Under Killraven's control, Pietro returns to the team and murders Johnny Storm and Okoye before Jean can free his mind.  When he reveals that Reed is alive and working with the other subservient heroes, the team prepares to deploy.  Knowing they will, Apocalypse readies Carnage-nom (Ve-nage?) to attack.  

So far, Taylor is passing my main test for these "What If...?" series, namely whether the sequence of events feel logical to me.  I wonder what other terrible things Apocalypse has planned...

Moon Knight #5 (November 17):  Holy shit, this issue is fucking intense.  

First, you have Marc's therapy session, where Dr. Sterman pushes Marc to admit that he's so invested in Moon Knight because it's cost him everything:  if he isn't Moon Knight, he has nothing left.  (He suggests that he developed D.I.D. because he'd rather be anyone other than Marc Spector.  Oof.)  

But, the shit hits the fan when it turns out Terry is the one watching Marc.  Terry initially tells Marc that it's Soldier, whom we learn is an ex-HYDRA soldier.  Terry uses Soldier as bait, though, forcing Marc either to leave the rigged room without saving Terry - proving himself a fraud, in Terry's eyes - or to die in the ensuing explosion.  Marc being Marc, he has a plasma torch on hand and manages to save them both only to encounter Terry on the street, who puts on a mask and tells Marc to call him Zodiac.  

McKay makes it clear that Zodiac is a formidable challenge for Marc, a change from the last few issue where Marc has mostly waltzed through his challengers.  I'm excited to see what Marc can do if he lets loose.

Hawkeye:  Kate Bishop #1 (November 24):  This issue isn't terrible, but something about the delivery is odd.  Nijkamp does a decent job of getting down Kate's voice, but she certainly doesn't shine the way that she did under Fraction or Thompson.  Moreover, the plot is bizarre, with Kate's estranged sister engaging in some pretty ridiculous subterfuge to trick Kate into helping her.  I mean, I'll read pretty much anything with Kate Bishop, but it's hard not to wish that this mini-series didn't involve Thompson revisiting the West Coast Avengers (RIP).

Also Read:  Darkhawk #3 (November 3); Winter Guard #3 (November 3); Amazing Spider-Man #79 (November 24); X-Men #5 (November 24)

Six-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero October 6, 13, 20, and 27 (2021) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #75 (October 6):  If I'm being honest, I have to admit that Spencer's run gave me PTSD just like Peter.  I opened this issue with a certain amount of dread, expecting to end it as frustrated as I often was after a Spencer issue.  The good news is that it's a pretty solid start for this new chapter.  The bad news, to the extent that it's "bad," is that I still don't feel ready for full optimism.

As mentioned, Peter is struggling with the events of the last few weeks, most notably Harry's death.  Ben Reilly's return represents another hit after Ben reveals that Beyond bought the rights to the Spider-Man name after Parker Industries (i.e., Otto) trademarked it.  Peter takes it reasonably well after Ben tells him that he's not asking for permission, stressing that he has the same compulsion to do good as Peter has.  (I'm sure that it didn't really help Ben's case, though, when he paid for lunch mentioning the "stupid" amounts of money Beyond is paying him.)  Ben never explains why Beyond wants a Spider-Man other than it wants to get into the "superhero game."  I'm sure they're just totally altruistic.

Later, when the U-Foes attack Empire State University for...some reason, both Ben and Peter respond.  These scenes play to Wells' strengths, as Ben and Peter's banter leaps off the page; they're more than the sum of their parts.  Wells and Zdarsky are probably my favorite Spider-Man writers, and I'm thrilled that he's serving as the Beyond Board chair, if you will.  

Wells makes the wise decision to take Peter off the board for a few issues.  After X-Ray explodes to take out both Spideys, Ben is left standing given his suit's "radiation-shielding and air-scrubbing micro-mesh," but Peter lapses quickly develops radiation poisoning.

Again, I'm excited to see where we go here.  The Beyond Board clearly has a vision, and I'm excited where that vision is going.  But, Spencer also had a vision, and it went some...not great places.  That said, this Spider-Man looks and sounds more like the Spider-Man I know, so I'm going to take the win, temporary though it may be.

Dark Ages #2 (October 6):  It's weird reading this issue six months further into the pandemic than when it was released.  Peter describes a world that lost billions of people to the natural disasters and power struggles that came after electricity disappeared from Earth.  Given COVID-19 has killed 6,000,000+ people and Russia invaded Ukraine a few weeks ago, it isn't that hard to connect with this situation.  The action-forcing event here is Apocalypse kidnapping Iron Man to help Reed Richards and RiRi Williams reawaken the Unmaker so Apocalypse can steal his power.  He reveals that they're using Magneto to block the Earth's electromagnetic field enough to build a Faraday cage and that he's using the Purple Man to force the hero geniuses to work for him.  Given Apocalypse has established a brutal dictatorship in Europe, it isn't hard to see what his goals are.

Amazing Spider-Man #76 (October 13):  As I recover from my PTSD, I'm happy to say that I enjoyed this issue.  I mean, "enjoy" is probably the wrong word, since Peter eventually slips into a coma from his radiation exposure.  

But, I feel like the Beyond Board walks us through a pretty logical series of consequences stemming from X-Ray's attack.  First, Peter is in a bad way.  It's pretty clear that he's only alive due to his Spider-Powers, but he's barely alive.  Second, Ben is struggling with his loyalty to Peter and his desire to embrace his life as Beyond's Spider-Man.  In violation of his contract, he takes off his uniform to bring Peter to the hospital and calls Aunt May and MJ to meet him there.

Later, Ben again defies his handler, Marcus, when he refuses to go after the U-Foes immediately and instead goes to the hospital to seek Peter's blessing to be Spider-Man.  Here, Wells does the reverse of what Spencer did during his run.  Instead of showing Peter's good heart by having him wallow in guilt, Wells has Peter understand that if he feels like Ben is asking him to share his life with him then it has to be even harder for Ben.  Peter gives Ben his blessing and beseeches him to "be amazing."

As usual with Wells, we get great character moments along the way.  Peter remains funny as he weakly jokes about his situation, and Aunt May is a force of nature when it comes to berating the doctors for not helping Peter.  I particularly enjoyed Colleen and Misty telling Marcus to have some respect after he says that, in Beyond's eyes, Ben is the only Spider-Man.

Do I dare to hope that I'll look forward to reading "Amazing Spider-Man" every month?  Maybe!

X-Men:  The Trial of Magneto #3 (TPB) (October 20):  This issue is beyond odd.  As we saw last issue, someone resurrected the Scarlet Witch.  However, she seems to have almost no memories of herself.  Jean and Rachel provide her with her "greatest hits," as Rachel calls them.  

But, before they can help Wanda process them, three kaiju suddenly attack Krakoa.  The Avengers and X-Men assemble to fight them, but they seem nearly unstoppable.  Meanwhile, Wanda somehow re-enters the astral space that we've previously seen her occupy and discovers her older self, who - based on her white costume - seems like the person who killed her?  

It's fine to drag out the mystery so you can hit four issues, but the kaiju attack is such a random way to do that that it feels like Williams (or, probably more to the point, the editorial staff) just picked it from a hat labeled "obstacles."

Amazing Spider-Man #77 (October 27):  I've dreamt of Kelly Thompson writing "Amazing Spider-Man," so I'm thrilled to see her here.  Ben has functionally taken over the title at this point as Peter remains in a coma.  But, as usual, everything isn't wine and roses for Ben.  I mean, not only does Morbius bite him, but he also forgets how one of his memories about Uncle Ben ends as he's recounting for Dr. Kafka.  Ruh-Roh.  Given the long line of clones who suffered degeneration syndrome, I'm worried where the Beyond Board is going with this one.  Ben also meets Maxine, the head of Beyond's superhero program, and she's...intense.  It's also a reminder that we know very little about Beyond or its goals.  I'm sure they have Ben's best interests in heart.

Inferno #2 (October 27):  We have a lot to cover here, as Hickman is telling essentially five separate, though connected, stories.

First, Hickman walks us through how Mystique used her powers to trick the Five into resurrecting Destiny.  It's pretty straight-forward:  she was the Magneto whom we saw last issue grabbing Cerebro from Island M (is it a duplicate?) and the Professor X whom we saw getting Destiny's DNA from Mr. Sinister.  Posing as Professor X, she then has the Five resurrect a younger version of Destiny, at the age she was when they first met, a gift to both of them.

Second, we have the Council machinations.  Mystique is able to assemble a coalition of Exodus (the believer), Mr. Sinister (the spoiler), Nightcrawler (the son), and Shaw (the cynic) to vote with her.  The surprise is Emma, for whom she obtains a special object in exchange.  We'll return to this point later.

Third, we have the Orchis drama.  First, Omega Sentinel reveals herself as a mutant (I think) to Nimrod, though it's unclear right now where that story is going.  The main development is that Orchis has managed to create a translocator from Earth to the Forge.  However, I'm not totally clear how they plan to use that.  The monkey doctor tells Mystique disguised as Sage (I think) - who found the Orchis HQ after discovering the X-Force mission log about the Paris gate - that they want to unleash the Sun through the portal.  I initially thought that he meant on Earth, but I'm now guessing that he means Arakko?  A lot relating to this thread isn't clear.   (One question I have is how Mystique knew to look for the security log?)

Most importantly, we have Moira.  She seems pretty damn near crazy, yes?  At this point, the main question to me is still why Moira is so afraid of Destiny.  She's right that Destiny is onto her:  she tells Mystique that she sees a "hole" in the future, and we all know what (or who) that means.  But, if Charles, Erik, and Moira are really committed to building a paradise for mutantkind, why would Destiny care?  Isn't that essentially what she told Moire to do when the Brotherhood killed her in issue #1?  

Moira also mentions that Destiny will see through Charles and Erik.  If I'm reading between the lines correctly, it implies that Destiny discovering that Moira is lying and scheming to destroy mutantkind wouldn't the only spoiled plot:  Charles, Erik, and Moira are clearly planning something that Destiny wouldn't see as in mutantkind's best interests.  Charles himself mentions how willing Moira is to spill blood.  Then again, Erik refuses to kill Destiny simply because Moira finds it expedient, so maybe Charles and Erik are comfortable with the risk of mutantkind learning of their (likely not as heinous as Moira's) plans.

Returning to the Council machinations, Charles and Erik suggest to Moira that they bring Emma into their scheme because they can trust her.  In exchange for the truth, she would then support their choice for the final Council seat.  (Moira is skeptical that a Council seat alone would get them the support that they need.)  At the Louvre, Emma meets Moira with Charles and Erik and reads her mind, learning "the truth."  But, the plan backfires:  Emma is appalled at how long and how much Charles and Erik have manipulated her.  Emma apparently sees the threat that a precog represents, though it's clear yet that she's willing to play ball.  After Emma leaves in a huff, Moira acknowledges that their best bet at this point is putting someone on the Council they can trust, who they decide is Colossus.  The literal glint in his eye as he appears before the Council makes it unclear whether they're right or not.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with where we're going here.  Charles and Erik seems finally to be getting some form of comeuppance, and I hope that Emma is the one to serve it.

Marauders #25 (October 27):  OMG, this issue couldn't have been better.  I rolled my eyes at the end of last issue when Rixlo spaced the Marauders, but Duggan and Noto are spectacular as we watch the team work together to survive.  Bobby creating the ice bubble, Bobby and Pyro creating water that scientist Kate could electrify to create oxygen, and Bishop and Shaw serving as the "dude-thrusters" were all just great.  (I only had to stretch my ability to suspend my disbelief at the idea of Bobby "catching" some oxygen in the ice bubble right after they were spaced.)  As Emma said, Kate then ghosting into the ship and kicking Rixlo's difficult-to-kick ass was quite exciting.  It's exactly the sort of story that I was hoping that we'd see again in this title.  Boo yah.

Moon Knight #4 (October 27):  I think I've mentioned on this blog that "West Coast Avengers" was my jam when I was a teenager.  I've always been a sidekick person - Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Sam Wilson - and "West Coast Avengers" was the greatest assembly of sidekicks ever.  As such, I was thrilled when Tigra walked through that door.  As Tigra's rooftop conversation with Marc reveals, Marc could really use a friend in his life right now, isolated as he is.  (I'm going to have to read this Avengers' arc where he fights them on Khonshu's behalf.)  Moreover, McKay is putting together a rogue's gallery that really fits with Moon Knight's commitment to protecting the night.  All in all, I continue to be happy where we're going here.

Also Read:  New Mutants #22 (October 6); X-Men #4 (October 13)

Seven-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero September 1 and 8 (2021) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Dark Ages #1 (September 1):  This issue is pretty solid, to be honest.  I loved Taylor's work on "Earth 2," so I was happy to see that he was the one penning this "What If...?" story.  This series picks up a popular science-fiction theme over the past few years, namely what happens if Earth lost electricity.  

In this version of Earth, it all begins at the start of the Universe, when its creator(s) also created the Unmaker to stop entropy and consume black holes.  Eventually, this mission to police the new Universe corrupted him, and the Living Tribunal was forced to stop him.  Instead of destroying him, he buried the Unmaker's body in Earth's core just as the planet was forming.  (I'm not really sure what the Tribunal's long-term plan was there.)  

At any rate, he starts to awaken, shaking apart the Earth.  Dr. Strange and Sue Storm go to the center of the Earth, and Dr. Strange manages to open up a portal to a dimension where electricity doesn't exist before the Unmaker kills him.  Although Dr. Strange's plan worked, the anti-electricity field eventually grew to encompass all of Earth since he was unable to stop it.  To make matters worse, when the Unmaker awakened, he somehow connected with Apocalypse, and it seems that Apocalypse is ready to take advantage of Earth's weakness to do...something.  

Again, all in all, it's a pretty solid premise, and Taylor makes a good call using Peter as a narrator to keep it light when appropriate.

The Last Annihilation:  Wiccan & Hulkling #1 (September 1):  This issue is just lovely.  From start to finish, it's a testament to both characters as individuals and to both characters as a couple.  It walks us through their fears and insecurities, only for each one of them to move past them when they realize that they're never alone.  As they remind themselves and each other, it's what marriage means.  

But, their marriage goes a step farther.  Teddy had their wedding rings forged from the ruins of Captain Marvel's Nega-Bands, allowing Billy and Teddy to switch places and address threats more suitable to their power sets.  Teddy discovers that Billy reforged his sword using Dormammu's "Flames of Faltine," which he uses to disrupt Dormammu.  Meanwhile, Billy arrives on Throneworld II in time to redirect the energy that the Supreme Intelligence was using to destroy the planet to take out the Mindless One fleet.  

Along the way, Oliveira reminds us of how they first found one another, using the concept of quantum entanglement as a metaphor for whom they are now.  Once linked, they remain linked.  It's hard to write about love, but Oliverira does it well.  The art team helps him enormously as they somehow manage to show how much these two boys love one another.  It just so happens to be a love that'll save the galaxy.

New Mutants #21 (September 1):  OK, now we're getting somewhere.  

Although it's still pretty unclear the extent to which the Shadow King is manipulating the Lost Club, it's exceedingly clear that he manipulated Rahne, given that it seems like she killed Gabby.  The Five agreed to resurrect Gabby (and basically tell the Council to go fuck itself and its "no clones" policy), and she recounts her final moments to the Five, the Lost Club, and Rahne.  Rahne then tells Dani, Illyana, and Xi'an, and they're ready to beat down the Shadow King.  

This issue's second plot is a lot harder to follow.  Jimmy takes some of the other kids to the Moon for a little housekeeping around the Krakoa sphere, but it's hard to follow because we've never really met these kids before.  Given they're all wearing spacesuits, it's basically just a bunch of faceless mutants doing things.  

I'm fine with splitting the narrative between various groupings, but we need to spend more time getting to know the extended cast lest we spend every issue going, "Wait, who did what?"

Sinister War #4 (September 1):  The Sinister War ends in a fairly believable way.  Otto uses Black Ant's helmet to create a device that destroys the centipedes in everyone's heads, knocking out everyone.  He tells Peter that he didn't do it to save him but because Kindred reneged on their deal.  It's all very Otto.  Along the way, though, Boomerang sacrificed himself to save Spidey.  He had already risked his life last issue to help Peter flee, so his sacrifice here completes as much of a redemption arc as possible for Boomerang.  Now, all we have left is Peter taking on Kindred.  Did this event turn out better than I thought?  Definitely.  Am I ready for the Kindred story to end?  OMFG, yes.

Amazing Spider-Man #73 (September 8):  Oh, God, make it end, please, please, please, make it end.  Am I thrilled that Spencer undoes "Sins Past?"  OMG, yes!  I'm beyond thrilled.  It never made sense.  

Spencer even does it well:  Harry used Mysterio acting as Mary Jane's therapist to plant the conversation where Gwen "admitted" to Mary Jane that she and Norman had children.  In the end, the Harry AI tells Norman that Gabriel and Sarah were LMDs whom he created to torture Norman, his version of the trauma that Harry inflicted on Peter with Mary and Richard Parker.  

The unclear part is that Kindred seems to be both Harry and Sarah Osborn.  It seems like Harry kept resurrecting Gabriel and Sarah each time they suffered advanced aging syndrome, driving them insane in the same way that the Jackal eventually drove Ben insane.  But, Sarah keeps referring to this process as something that she, Sarah, did, when she couldn't possibly have been the one to do it?  I guess we'll finally, finally see.