Not-So-New Comics: The March 28 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers #686:  The authors continue to split their (and our) focus on the Hulk and Voyager here as we get more insight into both characters.  Simon appeals to the Banner persona he believes to be buried somewhere in the Hulk, but we appear to be dealing with an entirely different Hulk here.  This Hulk seems to be intelligent in his own right as opposed to the times he was intelligent because Banner was at least partially controlling him.  The Hulk dismisses Simon as an egotistical Hollywood star who's only a pacifist because he's immune to injury.  The Hulk threatens to injure him (making him question his pacifism), and Simon seems poised to face a spiritual crisis when Rogue and her team arrive.  Simon still believes he can appeal to the Hulk, but Rogue touches the Hulk, trying to drain his power.  She somehow sees inside the Hulk to Bruce, who exhaustedly tells her it's a whole new ballgame.  Meanwhile, Voyager confesses she's the Gamemaster's daughter, but pledges her support to the Avengers after their heroism inspired her.  When Gamemaster pushes her to activate the Pyramoid, she refuses, and she confirms for everyone -- including the Challenger -- her father used her to cheat.  But, the Hulk destroys the final Pyramoid, resulting in a negative point for the Challenger (since he was his pawn) and awarding the game to the Gamemaster.  Under blistering allegations of cheating from the Challenger, the Gamemaster offers a rematch, but the Challenger appears to kill him instead.  That's one way to solve the problem.

Daredevil #600:  Ho boy.  Matt's hole-filled plan for using New York's street-level heroes to take on the Kingpin proves how off his game he is.  Matt reveals the Kingpin has invited a group of Mob bosses -- including Black Cat, Hammerhead, and the Owl -- to a restaurant to discuss mayoral appointments right before his planned rally that night.  Matt plans on eavesdropping on the conversation and then using that information to call in the cops.  (His plan is based on the Supreme Court case he won, which makes information superheroes obtain legally admissible.  I'll admit I'm not sure why Matt would think a jury wouldn't find some reasonable doubt when it came to him testifying against the Kingpin.  Like, can we not get a recording, just to be safe?)  However, the heroes are skeptical, reminding him he's now Public Enemy #1 so the cops might not be so game to act on his tip.  Daredevil swears he has it under control, and they all get in position.  Meanwhile, "the Beast" offers Blindspot the power he needs to overcome the Muse, but Blindspot draws the line at killing him.  The Muse is irate at this refusal, running into flames on his own.  (This part made no sense to me.  I get the Muse is cray-cray, but I don't get why him killing himself somehow furthers "art.")  The Beast then pledges revenge for Blindspot refusing to take the Muse's life (though, again, I'm not totally clear why).  At the restaurant, Matt's plan goes awry when it turns out the Kingpin never appears; as Cat perceptively notes, he instead assumed the bosses would eventually turn on each other in the face of such boredom, which they do.  The heroes enter the fracas to stop them from killing each other, meaning they're on hand as the cops, who Fisk sent to the restaurant, arrive.  It allows the Kingpin to throw everyone -- mobsters and heroes -- in jail.  Daredevil escapes and confronts the Kingpin on the roof of City Hall, and the Kingpin beats him with a hammer after forcing Daredevil to stop him from beating himself (since he could blame the beating on Matt).  He then has Daredevil arrested.  However, even the Kingpin can't control everything:  the Beast sends the Hand to assassinate him.  At the rally, he's riddled with arrows as they swarm Central Park, and Daredevil thinks it's because the Beast is seeking revenge on him.  (If he isn't and it's because he's seeking revenge on Blindspot for breaking their deal, I'm not sure what his plan is.  Why attack the Kingpin to get revenge on Blindspot?  Matt thinks he's going after New York because it means everything to Matt, but I'm not sure it means as much to Blindspot.  If he is getting revenge on Matt, it does make sense, though presumably we'll see some other form of revenge involving Blindspot, too.  So much revenge, so little time.)  The plot thickens when the guy who had been reading all the regulations and rules to Matt reveals to Wesley that the Public Advocate used to be next in the line of succession, but the former mayor changed it when he ran for the third time and Kingpin hadn't changed it back yet.  The guy tells Wesley Matt had this information, which means Daredevil knows he's become acting Mayor given the Kingpin's incapacitation.  However, I'm not sure if that figured into Matt's plan.  After all, I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting the Hand to incapacitate Kingpin while he was locked in a paddy wagon.  I guess we'll see.  (Also, I teared up a bit during the Foggy back-up story.)

Generation X #87:  I don't have too much to say here, other than the fact Strain does a great job maneuvering everyone into a solid place at the end.  Benjamin's love for Nathaniel is pure enough that it can survive (at least for now) his powers, and the X-Mansion seems like it now has two fewer virgins.  Quentin's powers are on the fritz, and he uses it as a justification for staying at the school.  Benji hugs him after his announcement, and it's a lovely moment, underscoring Jubilee's point that Quentin was more needed than he thought.  Quentin has always been a great character, and I'd love for someone to start teasing out his leadership potential, showing him a way to embrace the loneliness of leadership while getting past his ego to accept friendship (and love) when it's presented.  At the very least, he's gone a long way from Kid Omega.  Jubilee's resurrection doesn't feel forced, and Strain does a great job paying homage to this title by having Chamber, Husk, and Jubilee force Monet to remember who she is.  (To do so, they touch her, because Nathaniel purposefully "gave" her his powers, since he knew it meant they could use their links to her to overwhelm Emplate's link.)  Chamber gives Roxy a scarf as a sign of remembering who she is, and it's a really touching moment, the sort of non-romantic interaction we saw between Han Solo and Ubin in "Star Wars" #43.  In other words, all's well that ends well.  Like Grace on "Iceman," Strain clearly had other plans here, particularly when it came to often overlooked characters like Eye-Boy and Nature Girl.  I still find it hard to believe Marvel couldn't keep a teenage-focused mutant title running, but it is what it is, I guess.  All in all, Strain accomplished a lot in twelve issues, securing this next generation of X-Men in place after their absence since "Wolverine and the X-Men" ended.  I just wish it had been longer.

Moon Knight #193:  Although I like where Bemis takes us here, I found the fight with the Sun King concludes way too quickly.  Marc is pushed to the point where he thinks he’s going to die, and his personalities realize he has the “power of crazy,” i.e., the ability to make the truth irrelevant.  Motivated by Diatrice, Marc uses this power to beat the Sun King.  I get that part.  But, he really only gets in a few licks before he has the Sun King broken and recanting before him, claiming he now worships Marc.  At the end of last issue, Bemis seemed to be setting up Marc suffering a real crisis of faith, where he would have to reconcile his troubled relationship with Khonshu in the face of the Sun King's unwavering belief in Ra.  But, the personalities just basically have a chat, realize Diatrice is a good motivator for Marc, and send him into the ring to land a few punches.  It felt pretty anticlimactic.  That said, I like the idea of Marc taking over the Sun King's army as an advisor, teaching them how to "fight back against getting taking advantaged of like this again."  Every knight needs a few willing warriors, as he says.  We'll see how that plays.

Old Man Hawkeye #3:  Hawkeye arrives at Arcade's Murder World theme park at the start of this issue, and it's a pretty grim indictment of this reality (if you needed any more grim to make the point).  Hawkeye watches with profound dismay as some customers beat (possibly to death) the actor playing the "evil" Captain America, and it tells us everything we need to know about how Hawkeye feels about this brutal world.  But, he's there on a mission, and he achieves it:  he kills Atlas for siding with the villains.  As he makes his way to Atlas' tent, a seer -- whose identity isn't confirmed but almost seemed to be Rogue -- warns Hawkeye revenge isn't going to make him happy.  At the pivotal moment, Eric dares Hawkeye to kill him as memories of their time together as Thunderbolts race across Clint's mind.  Clint takes the shot, crying as he does so, proving the seer had a point.  Given the cover to next issue, he's going to move onto Beetle next, though Eric warned him Abner spends 18 hours a day making Doombots.  It was Eric's way of saying none of them benefited from this world.  But, Clint's got Bullseye and Venom-Madrox on his tail, so we'll see how that goes.

Peter Parker:  The Spectacular Spider-Man #302:  The thing I don't get here is that I'm pretty sure Dr. Doom said Peter and his crew can't change the past, so I'm not really sure what the stakes are.  Right now, the Peters exposing Norman's identity to the world has led to JJJ, Jr.'s death (possibly) and Norman learning Peter's identity.  It's obviously a pretty significant set of developments, so does it create a new reality?  Are we now on Earth-x or something?  If not, then will it all revert to the "normal" timeline once they depart?  I don't really see a third option.  As I've frequently said:  ugh, time-travel stories.  Right now, the biggest development seems to be proof that Mary and Richard Parker "faking" a pregnancy as part of a mission (to steal secrets related to the L.M.D. program) was just a ruse, as she was actually pregnant.  We'll see if that sticks.

Star Wars:  Doctor Aphra #18:  I spent the early part of this issue rolling my eyes as Aphra asserts the Imperials will swap the Rebel general for Triple-Zero's memories.  After all, the Imperials I know don't make deals; they'd just take the Rebel general off Aphra's hands and kill her and her team.  But, then Aphra disables the general's tracker so the Alliance can try to rescue her, bringing about the distraction she needed to slip on board Hivebase.  After all, as she says, "Imps" don't make deals.  Well played, Gillen.  Well played.

X-Men:  Blue #24:  This issue is great.  Bunn and Molina hit all the right notes, with each scene showing their grasp of the characters' histories and personalities.  Again, they're telling stories on so many levels here it's hard to remember them all.  First, Shaw initially overwhelms Magneto with his new powers, but Magneto's insistence that Mothervine's "gifts" have costs proves true when Shaw's powers start feeding off his own cells' energy.  In the Mojave desert, Miss Sinister's Marauders try to recruit Xorn, but he refuses.  Xorn is always a difficult character to read, as he's been through so many iterations.  I initially thought he was going to be a threat to Bloodstorm and Jimmy, but instead he seems to be more aligned to his iteration as a peaceful teacher.  Xorn attacks the Marauders to try to convince them to leave, but they return fire, with Mach II cracking his helmet.  Xorn is forced to focus on keeping his energy contained (as he has either a sun or black hole for the brain, depending on which Xorn we have here), and Bloodstorm and Jimmy rescue him.  Meanwhile, Malice makes short work of the Raksha (she pretty brutally breaks Norio's neck and wrists), expositing that she's an alternate universe version of Malice and part of Miss Sinister's Marauders.  Lorna eventually repels her, as this Malice is a weaker version of our Malice.  In perhaps the best sequence, Briar walks through a club in Spain to find a shirtless (and sexy as ever) Daken, handing him adamantine blades Magneto himself carved for him as an invitation to help.  Daken seems to bristle at the idea of working for Magneto, but Briar encourages him to think of it as more an excuse to employ his talent for chaos.  The issue ends with Magneto meeting Alex and his team at a secret safe house he maintained off the coast of Scotland.  He talks about it as a reflective place, though admits that reflection rarely led him to change course.  Alex asks Magneto to work with them, but Magneto brings Shaw with him to show how astray they've gone.  Alex is dismissive of the costs, and Bunn makes it pretty clear he's going to pay for that.

Also Read:  Ben Reilly:  Scarlet Spider #16

Not-So-New Comics: The December 27 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #12:  I feel like I’ve lost the plot a little here, because David is really leaning into the Slingers’ history as if I should be as familiar with it as Ben’s.  I don’t know who Black Marvel or Cyber is.  I vaguely remember the “Cyberwar” cross-over “event” when they renamed all the Spider-Man books “Scarlet Spider” in the ‘90s, but it wasn’t exactly the best era of storytelling.  After all, you probably had to buy all four books to even remotely understand the plot, as Marvel was doing back then.  It’s not impossible to enjoy this story here without recognizing these two characters; after all, the main drama of the issue is Ben wrestling with trying to be a good guy by turning himself into the police for his assault on Thorne.  But, David is assuming a level of comfort with the Slingers that I don’t have, so I find it hard to understand everyone’s motivations.  For example, why does Ricochet really care about Ben and whether he becomes a good guy?  Wasn't Prodigy working with Black Marvel?  Did he know he was dead and/or a bad guy?  If so, is he dead, too?  I'm also having trouble following some developments related to the title itself.  For example, I don’t have any memory of Kaine protecting a veterans’ shelter, as he's apparently doing in this issue.  David is a master of slowing weaving mysteries issue-to-issue.  But, when the main plot relies heavily on intimate knowledge of a 12-issue series that happened 20 years ago, it's hard not to just feel confused about everything.

Doomsday Clock #2:  OK, here we go.  

We start with security-camera footage of Marionette and the Mime breaking into an office of some sort and demanding the contents of the vault.  It's a little confusing, because these images are shown while Veidt's voice-over narration recounts how the Minutemen's appearance in 1939 caused "every wannabe gangster and low-rent thug" to seek out a woman dubbed "the Tailor's Wife" for an identity and costume.  At first, I thought the duo was robbing her shop, but I don't think it's the case; it seems more like they were robbing a bank.  But, we focus a lot on the teller here, so I'm not sure.  At any rate, Dr. Manhattan appears at the scene but doesn't kill Marionette or the Mime, possibly because they have a child.  (He repeats the word "Babum" to himself twice as he looks at the photo of the teller's child.  Yeah, I don't get it either.)  Johns reveals Veidt is telling the present-day Rorschach this story as justification for recruiting Marionette and the Mime.  He needed people who come from Jon's past.  He couldn't get Laurie to agree to help, and, even if he did, he was worried Jon would be upset to see her with Dan.  As such, he's hoping somehow Marionette and the Mime convince him to return to this Earth.  (This part seems a stretch to me.  It's not like Dr. Manhattan was buds with Marionette and the Mime.  But, as Lex Luthor says later, Veidt doesn't really have a great track record when it comes to his schemes achieving his desired goals.)  At any rate, the team assembles, and Veidt reveals every person has a "quantum fingerprint" comprised of the "four fundamental forces of nature."  They follow Dr. Manhattan's fingerprint to the universe where he fled, just in time to escape the nuclear bomb the Russians (I'm assuming) have launched at New York.  (I think they did so as part of the escalation of tensions Johns described last issue, but I'm not 100% sure, to be honest.)

Initially, it seems obvious we're all supposed to believe this new universe is either the DCU or the DCnU, but Johns calls that into question almost immediately.  We're introduced to Bruce Wayne as he's taking a Rorschach test (heh), something Wayne Enterprises' Board demanded he do for insurance purposes after he answered a test too honestly seven years earlier.  In this Gotham, people are rallying against Batman after the "Supermen Theory" has spread around the globe like wildfire.  We learn in the appendix that Markovian geneticist Dr. Helga Jace advanced the theory several weeks earlier; it claims the U.S. government created metahumans after Superman's appearance, explaining why most metahumans are concentrated in America.  The government did so by activating the "metagene" that 12 percent of the population possesses.  However, the U.S. government encouraged the subjects to claim an outside event -- such as accidental exposure to an ancient energy source or a flight-or-fight response triggered by danger -- led to them developing powers.  The theory seemed to be confirmed when leaked documents showed Rex Mason, a.k.a. Metamorpho, was a willing participant in the procedure Stagg Industries used to give him powers; they were all under contract with the U.S. government.  These documents contradict the aforementioned "accidental exposure..." origin Metamorpho previously claimed; in fact, he had criticized Stagg for the "accident."  Moreover, several of Metamorpho's "archenemies" confessed they were part of the scheme, agreeing to become super-villains in order to undergo their own transformation.  Adding fuel to the fire, Kurt Langstrom admits the "accident" that led to him becoming Man-Bat happened while he was working for the U.S. Department of Metahuman Affairs.

Bruce wants to ignore it all as noise, dismissing it as paranoia that Russia and Markovia are spreading.  However, Lucius encourages him not to do so.  He's afraid the Board is losing its faith in Bruce and will sell Wayne Enterprises to Lexcorp, exposing their "special projects."  Bruce is less concerned, because Lexcorp is facing charges of industrial espionage for trying to steal Wayne Enterprises' work on the metagene.  However, the appendix also implies Lexcorp has made better strategic decisions to acquire companies that were part of the U.S. government's program, whereas Wayne Enterprises has struggled to do so.  (I'm assuming Bruce hindered the acquisitions in part to hide his connection to the program.)  Lucius stressed he needs Bruce as Bruce, not as Batman, particularly given the "Supermen Theory" protests.  In other words, Lucius is trying to convince Bruce a sea change has happened in terms of the public perception of metahumans, while Bruce just wants everything to continue as normal.  

Returning to the travelers, Rorschach locks up Marionette and the Mime while he and Veidt go after the smartest men in the world:  Lex and Bruce.  Veidt approaches Luthor with a proposal, claiming he'll help Luthor achieve everything he's ever wanted if he helps him.  (It's not clear what he wants Luthor to do, though.)  Before Luthor can answer, a shot is fired:  Veidt dodges it, but it hits Luthor, possibly killing him.  The Comedian steps from the shadows, shocking Veidt.  Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Batman confronts Rorschach, who's been making his way through the Cave and expressing disgust at its various mementos.

I don't really have much to say here.  Johns is still setting up the story, so I'm giving him space to do so.  At this point, I'm still not feeling the forced combination of the DCU/DCnU and the "Watchmen" universe, but we'll see where we go.

Moon Knight #190:  WHOA. I did not see that coming.  I thought Bemis was going to drag out revealing what exactly it was Jake had been doing, the secret the Truth revealed to Marc Jake was keeping last issue.  I figured 15 or 20 issues from now, dun dun DUN, we’d learn Jake was actually Marc’s mysterious new nemesis.  But, no.  Bemis revealed it right away, and it makes the most sense.  I mean, what greater weakness would Marc Spector have than a child he never knew he had with Marlene?  It addresses his lack of family, something Bemis underlines in a flashback where Marc tells Marlene he used a grenade to kill his brother after he killed his girlfriend.  (Yeah.)  The only part I don’t get is the Sun King’s initial lie to Marc, that he'd been sleeping with Marlene for two years.  Given he immediately reveals Marlene’s secret to Marc, it seems unnecessary to try to rattle him in this way.  He didn’t really need to disarm Marc if he was going straight to the heart.  But, I’m also not sure if it’s the secret Bushman earlier told the Sun King's army he had on Marc.  They all seemed surprised to see the photo of the girl, so maybe Bushman just knew where Marlene lived?  I’m sure Bemis will let us know.  I also have to praise the art here:  Burrows, Ortego, and Lopes really hit a home run with the image of a demonic Marc looming over Jake and screaming, “What have you done?”  What have you done, Jake, indeed.

Phoenix Resurrection:  The Return of Jean Grey #1:  For the record, I am totally OK with Jean returning.  Marvel did the unexpected with Jean Grey, putting her almost in the same category as Uncle Ben:  everyone else seemed to return from the dead except them.  It was a wink and a nod to her past, where she seemed to die and be resurrected on an almost constant basis.  The only surprising thing left to do with her character was let her stay dead.  She's been dead for 14 years, almost a third of the time she was actually alive.  In so doing, Marvel successfully reset her character by making us believe what we had come never to believe:  she could really die.  As such, it's time for her to return.

Rosenberg makes it clear he's not going to rush the story, as we're left with more questions than answers in this issue.  First, we're introduced to two Jeans.  In Annandale-on-Hudson (the original Jean's hometown), two kids find a seemingly dead girl in the street, recalling the moment Jean's powers manifested (when her friend Annie died in her arms).  A child Jean appears on the scene, and she renders these two children in the same state as the seemingly dead girl:  they're all bleeding profusely from the head but show no wounds.  (The two kids eventually are revealed to be comatose but otherwise fine, even with the bleeding.)  The other Jean is a young-adult waitress who lives with her parents (not Elaine and John, as far as I can tell) in an existence the creative team somehow makes you feel is from the 1950s.  It includes her sweater-clad boyfriend Scott (wearing those familiar ruby-quartz glasses) arriving with flowers for dinner.

The action starts when Cerebro sends the X-Men to Annandale-on-Hudson to investigate the weird circumstances surrounding the children.  In so doing, Beast discovers three odd energy signatures that Kitty sends three teams to investigate.  Kitty's team encounters the usual blank-masked henchmen at the abandoned Hellfire Club mansion in New York, and we're treated to scenes that feel like they could be straight from the "Dark Phoenix Saga."  Rogue's team encounters Seamus Mellencamp, one of Magneto's former Acolytes, at a monastery in France, which Rogue notes is odd because Seamus is dead.  Finally, Logan's team encounters his younger self at the North Pole.  Did I mention Waitress Jean also seems to serve Sean Cassidy?  All these moments recall in their own ways Jean's past.  It makes sense because Rosenberg mentions in his letter to the readers he's trying to pay homage to that past.  That's clear in this issue, and we'll see where we go from here.

Spider-Men II #5:  The premise of this mini-series was that we were finally going to discover what Peter found when he Googled Miles’ name after they first met.  The answer is...nothing.  Despite his dramatic “Oh, my God,” comment that concluded the original "Spider-Men" mini-series, Peter reveals here he found nothing.  We learn it's because the Kingpin wiped all mention of the Earth-616 Miles from the Internet because Earth-616 Miles was his friend and simply wanted to live a nice life with his wife.  But, she died, so the Kingpin then helped transfer him to another Universe (seemingly the Ultimate universe) where she was alive.  That’s it.  It’s the whole story.  Along the way, Peter blurts out the fact he’s uncomfortable with Miles being Spider-Man, and Miles correctly deduces it’s because Peter views Spider-Man as his specific pain.  It make sense, I guess.  But, it really has nothing to do with the point of this event.  I get Bendis wasn’t obligated to reveal the Earth-616 Miles as some sort of secret bad guy, but he certainly heavily implied he was throughout the earlier issues of this series.  Moreover, Bendis had sold us on the idea that the Earth-616 Miles was "our" Universe’s analogue of "our" Miles.  But, he wasn’t — they just two dudes who shared the same name.  It’s anti-climactic to say the least, and I kinda of want my money back.

Star Wars:  The Last Jedi - The Storms of Crait #1: The problem with this issue is that Acker and Blacker treat their subjects too reverently.  Aaron and Gillen have excelled at their individuals efforts in this corner of a galaxy far, far away because they’ve treated these iconic figures as people first, foibles and all.  Sure, even they have trouble having Leia make a mistake, but they compensate for that reverence by at least explaining her motivations to us.  Acker and Blacker don’t accomplish that here:  Leia is all knowing, Luke is all whining, Han is all bluffing.  Even Han’s affection for Leia is too explicitly stated.  On top of that, the issue just doesn’t make a lot of sense.  For example, [whatever the bad guy's name is] decries Leia for being just like her father, seeing past the good in a person just to the secrets he wants to keep.  But, everyone -- including [whatever the bad guy's name is] himself -- spent the whole issue saying they’re exactly not like that, that they see the past the secrets to the good in people.  I think Acker and Blacker are implying [whatever the bad guy's name is] is ranting because he knows he’s fallen to his baser nature, failing to take the opportunity Bail and now Leia offered him to be noble.  But, they don’t actually make that argument; I’m making it for them here.  Also, I don't even know how to discuss the moment where Wedge Antilles goes on a 'roid rage.  It's like they just whacked him in there because they always dreamed of writing a comic where he appeared.  In other words, you can safely skip this one.

X-Men:  Blue #18:  The most interesting part of what Bunn is doing here is the fact the original X-Men seem to almost always be the bad guys in whatever future or past they visit.  However, he kicks it up a notch here.  When Emma Frost shows young Jean the vision of how the team turned against the rest of mutantkind, wanting to enslave them, the older Jean sees the younger Jean. Younger Jean is shocked, because her presence shouldn’t change a memory.  But, she seems to realize it’s part of a large, cross-time assault, something Hank also realizes.  At least, I think that's what it is.  I’m legitimately interested to see where this one goes.

Also Read:  Amazing Spider-Man #793, Detective Comics #971, Hawkman Found #1

Not-So-New Comics: The November 29 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman Annual #2:  King delivers another outstanding issue that delves into Bruce's relationship with Selena.  Early in their careers, Selena stole the Batmobile and repeatedly broke into Wayne Manor; each time she did so, she left behind a mouse (because the mouse, like Batman, didn't see the Cat coming).  At one point, Bruce confronts her and asks why she does it.  She tells him it's because he's still a rich boy living in the mansion on the hill; she's trying to make him stronger.  King then gives us perhaps the only vulnerable Batman we've ever seen.  When Selena breaks into a safe that contains a familiar pearl, Bruce tells her it was his mother's.  He offers she was murdered, Selena responds she knows, and Bruce remarks, "Everyone knows."  He says it like an upset boy who still hasn't come to grips with his fate.  She says she understands, because she, too, was an orphan who occasionally hated herself for feeling like she was happier alone.  At some point, he draws the charade to a close.  She discovers him at her place one night, and he reveals he's known where she lived since she left the first mouse.  (He studied the lead profile in the mouse's poop.)  He then confesses he let the game continue because, as she said, sometimes he hates himself for feeling like he's happier alone.  It's all a reminder of how unique Selena is in his life, the only lid to his pot.  Under any other author, I feel like this romance would be immediately retconned once "Rebirth" comes to its logical conclusion.  But, King is bringing out depths here in both characters - particularly Bruce - that will be hard for DC to ignore.  Batman is a better character for this relationship, and DC would be smart to keep it that way.  The fact it's happening in the main title and not a separate "Batman and Catwoman" series hopefully means DC's powers-that-be agree.

Darkhawk #51: OMG, Darkhawk!  Chris Powell brought '90s angst to a whole new level, and it was a trip seeing him here.  Did I understand the story?  Not really.  I mean, I even read "War of Kings," but a lot of it just didn't make sense to me.  I had to read it a few times to come close to following it.  Do I care?  Not really.  Darkhawk!

Chris Powell is now a police officer, trying to right the wrongs of his corrupt father.  His amulet hasn't worked in a year, and it's been giving him nightmares lately.  As such, his fiancée, Miranda, suggest he give it to the Avengers or X-Men.  He decides to give it to Project Pegasus after his shift.  However, he responds to a call of a disturbance at the abandoned Wonderland amusement park, where he first found the amulet.  A group of corrupt cops hear him respond to the call, and they meet him there, trying to force him onto their side.  (Honestly, I'm not really sure why they do so.  The ringleader mentions how Chris is smarter than his father, so I don't see what he stood to gain by risking exposing himself as a corrupt cop to a guy he seemed pretty sure wouldn't swing at that pitch.)  However, the ringleader is suddenly disintegrated by two Raptors, revealing they staged the disturbance to attract Chris.  During the fight, Chris realizes they're not really Raptors; they're just pledges wearing armor, not actually possessing Raptor suits.  We learn the pair are brothers -- Canorus and Aceptar -- and plan to turn over the amulet to Lord Talonar to win his favor.  Canorus grabs the amulet and summons the Darkhawk suit.  However, he fails to control it; instead, Chris recognizes the suit is controlled by Razor, "a murderous corner of Darkhawk programming fueled by a thirst for violence and war."  Razor took over the suit a long time ago (apparently during "War of Kings," but I don't really remember that) and committed atrocities throughout the Universe, ruining Darkhawk's reputation.  Razor puts Chris' hand on the amulet, allowing Chris to join him in the Datasong, "where the body keeps memories of you."  (The Raptors apparently call it the Perch, further complicating matters.  I'm not really sure what the difference is between the Perch, Null Space, and Datasong, but whatever.  It's the least of my worries here.)

Razor tells Chris how the Fraternity of Raptors started as a group who saw themselves as inheritors of the original order, seeking to gain control of the suits for their own dark designs.  The suits residing at the pods at the Tree of Shadows were thrilled at the prospect of getting freed.  However, inspired by Chris' heroism, Razor refused to yield and broke free of his pod, severing the link to the amulet (and Chris).  He apparently also freed other suits from their pods, reducing the number the Fraternity could possess.  However, these suits hunted him and came close to killing him, since he no longer had access to the Tree's restorative powers.  Razor wants Chris to join with him because apparently something about his DNA allows him to mimic the restorative powers of the Tree.  Chris does so and marvels at this unprecedented access to the armor, though it's a little unclear where his body is, assuming it's not in a pod at the Tree.  Aceptar returns to "the stars" and warns Talonar Chris is coming for him, prompting him to laugh.

As I said at the start, I'm not sure I understand anything happening here.  If Marvel was really committed to a possible relaunch of "Darkhawk," we probably should've gotten a three-issue series, giving Bowers more space to refresh our memories and set up stories for the future.  But, it is what it is.  It was fun to see Chris again, and I'm inspired to re-read "War of Kings:  Ascension."

Moon Knight #189:  Although Khonshu’s narration is awkward at times, Bemis delivers a really great issue here. Someone with the power to make people revel in their delusions and fears gets a subway driver to crash his train, apparently as a way to get Moon Knight’s attention.  But, it’s not Amon Ra on hand when Marc arrives like a moth drawn to the flame; it’s some huge dude called "the Truth.”  When Marc, as Moon Knight, is unable to defeat the Truth, we learn the shtick for this iteration of "Moon Knight" is Marc's ability to cycle through his personas.  For example, we saw him earlier adopting his Steve Grant persona to double his wealth and a company’s net worth all “from a yacht in the Cayman Islands, even without cell service.”  (He gave this wealth to his Lunar Lives Fund; he’s actually living in a run-down motel.)  Here, he lets the more brutal Jake take the reigns, and Moon Knight becomes Mr. Knight.  (The art throughout this issue is spectacular.  Not only does Marc have the best abs in comics, but Burrows’ visual cue of Jake pulling down Moon Knight’s hood to reveal just Mr. Knight’s mask is great.)  Jake dares the Truth to use his powers on him, and the Truth is so shaken by what Jake has done - including things Marc doesn’t know Jake has done - that Jake easily stabs him in the eyes.  Marc is worried about this revelation that Jake has acted on his own, telling Jake after he’s taken back control it’s exactly the sort of thing that isn’t supposed to happen anymore.  Bowers and Burrows don't really have us wallow in this sort of drama; he's upset with Jake, but Marc also makes the joke over the Truth's body that the truth hurts.  Khonshu and Steve Grant rolling their eyes helps emphasize how integrated these personalities now are.  Meanwhile, Amon Ra isn’t on hand for this fight because he’s busy tracking down the Bushman to get him to join his war against Moon Knight.  I just hope they don’t mess up his pretty abs.

X-Men:  Blue #16:  We're finally starting to get somewhere with this crew, but I'm not entirely sure where it is.  We learn Magneto has been communicating with Professor X about the need for the children to return to their original timeline, hence why he and Danger have been building the time platform in the basement.  Someone strikes at him, forcing him to reveal his hand to Jean before he disappears from the timeline all together, just as happened to Polaris earlier.  Complicating matters, Bobby was watching the Mojo Entertainment Channel earlier, and it ran a report on Magneto's original conflict with the X-Men as head of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  During that conflict, he apparently died, something Bobby knows isn't true.  On one had, it seems to imply Magneto disappeared in the present because he died in the past, but I don't get why Polaris would also have disappeared, since she was certainly already born when he originally confronted the X-Men.  (Also, it raises the question how someone killed him in the past and made it stick in the present, given the Marvel Universe's time-travel rules.  Doom Platform?  After all, when the team originally traveled to their past, they were still there, because older Hank created a new timeline when he removed them from the past.)  At any rate, the team tries to follow Magneto's orders to return to their past, but find themselves randomly appearing in different eras.  They stop in 2099, where they come face-to-face with the X-Men of that era.  All I have to say is:  hurrah!  Readers of this blog know I love me some 2099 stories, so I'm all about this development.  In terms of the larger story, Bunn is still playing his cards close to his chest.  Again, Hank recalls they already went to "their" past, only to discover nothing had changed and they were outside their original timeline.  However, Danger cryptically warns him not to be too sure.  Time-travel stories are generally the worst, so I can't say I'm excited about the prospect of Bunn eventually ret-conning the previous attempt to address their status.  It feels like cheating.  I guess we'll see.  In the meantime, 2099!

Also Read:  Spider-Gwen #26; U.S.Avengers #12

Not-So-New Comics: The November 8 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman:  Lost #1:  Long-time "Batman" readers will probably do a better job of picking out the meaningful nods to his history that pepper this issue.  But, Snyder manages to make his point clear even without that.  Bruce is stuck floating through his own past, and Barbatos foils his every effort to escape by telling him he's nothing special:  Barbatos has been the driving force behind his entire existence, setting up every moment in history that brought about his creation so he could serve as the doorway.  Barbatos makes Bruce doubt everything, even convincing him Barbatos has really been the detective, not Bruce. This attack at his will leaves him unable to break free of his history, doomed to constantly repeat it and face the fact Barbatos has allegedly been directing it from the start.  Snyder has been painting such a dark picture over these last few months that you almost begin to believe Barbatos, and it's this belief that makes you realize how full of despair Bruce must be for believing it as well.

Detective Comics #968:  Tynion wraps up this story well by essentially not providing us a definitive conclusion.  The tension in the issue comes from Future Tim using the suit Ulysses is holding at the Colony helicarrier to re-activate the drones, sending them after Batwoman.  He takes down the guys in the Cave in pretty quick succession and then takes Tim with him to the Belfry to finish off Batwoman himself.  But, he's misunderestimated his control through Brother Eye.  Apparently, in his world, Batwing didn't take over the Belfry, so Tim was able to run his routines through Batwing's servers, buying them a window of time.  Plus, some of the equipment in the Batcave was running off older servers, allowing the guys to fly Batplanes to take out the drones.  (Jason is needless to say thrilled, and the moment Bruce has to end his squabbling with Damian with a simple, "Boys, focus," is hilarious.)  Brother Eye knows it's defeated, so he prepares to return Future Tim to his time.  He never reveals what Batwoman does, and Tynion doesn't really give us a reason for it.  Presumably, if he really wanted to "save" Tim by removing the threat Batwoman poses, he'd tell him.  Of course, it's possible he did off-panel, and we'll learn that later.  If not, I'm not quite sure I'd buy it.  Even Nightwing at one point asks if they could all just talk, and I don't get why Future Tim doesn't go that route.  (Per pet peeve #3, I'm not giving Tynion credit for having one of his characters point out a illogical part of the script.)  At any rate, he leaves begging Tim to enjoy the time he has before everything goes wrong, and the last panel shows how upset Tim is by this entire arc.  I'm certainly excited to see where we go from him.  We still haven't really explored Tim's return, since he was so busy fighting Future Tim, so I'm hoping Tynion takes some time to do that over the next few issues.

Falcon #2:  Barnes seems to be playing Blackheart for a fool, and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that.  We learn Blackheart has decided to take over Earth as a way to earn a seat at the table where the most powerful beings in the Universe gather once a year to tell their best stories.  Apparently when he asked his father Mephisto for a seat he banished him to the seventh circle of Hell for a millennium.  Maybe take the hint, Blackheart?  But, he doesn't, and he's decided Dray is going to rule Earth once he conquers it, earning him said spot at the table.  But, Dray seems an...odd choice for a ruler, as he makes it pretty clear he's only there to get paid.  You may also be asking what anything here has to do with Falcon, and you'd be asking the right question.  The disappointing part is Barnes' script is so solid when he focuses on Sam, particularly in his interactions with Dr. Voodoo and Shaun.  The conversation flows so naturally you feel like you're actually watching the conversations.  But, these nice moments are overshadowed by Blackheart's chaos, and it leaves me still wondering how I feel about it all.

Moon Knight #188:  Whoa.  I mean, holy fucking shit.  I can't remember a series that started without the main character actually making an appearance, but that sense of anticipation just helps add to the tension of the issue.  But, it's not the only source of tension.  The story focuses on a psychiatrist, Dr. Emmett, who previously treated Marc Spector but who I don't recognize from the Lemire/Smallwood run (the only one I've read).  She's treating "the Nameless One," a patient who served in the Army but burned several soldiers to death after they tortured him (stripped him naked, forced him to drink urine, etc.).  He claims to have experience a religious awakening in doing so, and Emmett recognizes the parallels between his story and Marc's.  She decides to introduce him to Egyptian mythology as a way to help him process his trauma.  She tells him the story of Amon Ra, with the sun often representing the "sovereignty of masculinity," and Khonshu, with the moon representing femininity and the power of insubordination.  At this point, it becomes clear Bemis is creating an archenemy for Marc, and the issue becomes chilling.  Emmett visits the military hospital where the Nameless One was originally treated, and a patient there accosts her.  Before the orderlies drag him from her, he tells her he was in the same platoon as the Nameless One when the incident happened and that he managed to burn those soldiers with his hands still tied.  Emmett is called to Ravencroft for an emergency, and we learn the Nameless One attacked one of the nurses, ripping off her nose because she didn't believe he was a god.  When he asks Emmett his name, she offers Khonshu, and it's a reflection of her hope he's accepted the redemption she was offering.  Instead, in her words, he accepted Amon Ra's power as the abuser, and he sets her and the institution on fire, pleading to destroy Khonshu.

Star Wars: #38:  Something Gillen does surprisingly well here — even for someone with his considerable talents — is get the mood of the series right.  As a new author getting his shot at working with such iconic characters, I’m sure it was tempting to go balls-to-the-wall here, to tell a story reminiscent of Aaron’s opening arc.  But, he’s more subdued, because the characters are more subdued.  They’ve had all sorts of experiences in the last few months:  they destroyed the Imperial weapons factory on Cymoon 1, they’ve escaped Grakkus on Nar Shaddaa and Darth Vader on Vrogas Vas, they’ve been stalked on Sunspot Prison, they steal a Star Destroyer to rescue Tureen VII, they saved Luke (again) from the Screaming Citadel.  In this issue, they’re still trying to find a base, and you can tell they’re tired.  Leah may be indomitable, but everyone else has an edge.

Titans #17:  I haven't been a huge fan of this series for a while, but Abnett delivers one of his better issues here.  We learn future Diana Troy, calling herself Troia, has traveled to the past to kill the Titans, saving herself 80 years of heartache.  WTF, you ask?  Diana is apparently immortal; as Karen dies of natural causes in 2091, Diana loses the last of the Titans and wonders why she bothered caring in the first place.  Abnett makes it pretty clear Troia is insane here; it's a much different conversation than the one Future Tim has with his counterpart in "Detective Comics."  She goes on a murder spree after Karen's death, killing everyone from Darkseid to Wonder Woman (for telling the lie in the first place).  My only real problem with this issue is the question why it took Diana so long to get here.  Abnett has been advancing this story through Psimon's grim warnings for months, and it seems to me like Abnett had a number of more straightforward ways to go here.

The Wild Storm:  Michael Cray #2:  OK, the art is terrible, but the story is solid.  First, Michael has Trelane hire him a team of three support staff to help him with his missions; he auditions them in a steampunk VR game.  We've got Hector Morales the trap-builder, Leon Carver the strategist, and Victoria the assassin.   He then poses as a Afghanistan vet to get transported to Queen's island, where Queen immediately IDs him.  They're in hand-to-hand combat before you know it, and Michael disintegrates Queen's arm.  Queen advances on him. but Victoria has apparently followed him and takes out Queen.  It's a surprising moment; I thought this story was going to last longer.  But, when Trelane reveals Michael's next target is dirty cop Barry Allen, it appears Hill and Ellis have a bigger story planned.  Is Michael going to kill his world's versions of the Justice League?  We'll have to wait and see.  Meanwhile, throughout the issue, Michael is examined by Dr. Shahi, who reveals he's not dying of brain cancer.  Instead, he has some sort of secondary brain (a "second layer" of "normal synaptic processes") coming online, but she refuses to tell him more.  She wants to cure him; he wants to be able to use the power to take out the bad guys.  We'll see how that goes.

Also Read:  Captain Marvel #24; Generation X #8; Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #32; Uncanny Avengers #29; X-Men:  Gold #15