Ten-Month-Old Comics! The June 14 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #35:  I stopped reading "Doctor Aphra" because I find the schtick of Aphra always finding a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat tiresome, so I can't say I'm thrilled to see her here.  That said, I'll admit that it makes sense that Vader sought out Aphra for help with his particular problem since she apparently once tried to neutralize his powers with a "kyberite confessional," which I don't remember and don't care enough to research.  

Aphra leads Vader and Ochi to a planet named Ringo Vinda, where she presents Vader with a kyberite shield.  She explains that kyber grows in kyberite due to their oppositional properties, so kyberite can channel and guide the Force.  (I'll be honest, this part makes no sense.  I thought Pak was setting up that kyberite negates the Force due to the "oppositional properties" bit, so I don't get why it "channels and guides" it instead.)  Vader tries to use the shield to kill Aphra, but she's somehow uploaded a program that protects her from it.  (Why does a kyberite shield have software in it?  By now, we should know not to ask questions.) 

At any rate, droids appear to take out Vader, so Aphra is probably going to escape again.  Whatever.  At least this issue didn't have Sabé in it.

Star Wars:  Sana Starros #5:  I guess this issue is OK?  It's a little too busy but Ireland does a solid job making all the component parts clear enough to provide a satisfying ending.  The most interesting part is Phel not remembering that Sana came to Lothal to try to spring him from the Imperial Academy, though Ireland leaves what happened to Phel's memory a mystery.  It opens the door to Sana and Phel reconciling one day, which is nice.  All in all, it feels like Ireland had a much larger story planned and was forced to cram it into five issues.  Given how long the editors gave the Sabé drama in "Star Wars:  Darth Vader," Sana deserved more time, which we'll hopefully get in the future.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The May 31 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Local Man #4:  Man, our dude just can't keep himself from trouble.

Jack stands in front of a closed quarry and exposits (via a conversation with Pepper) that Inga's husband, Brian, mentioned he saw lights in the sky above the quarry and Frightside mentioned Hodag was obsessed with it (the quarry).  Jack initially pinned Hodag's death on interrupting a drug deal there since, in Jack's days, dealers used to work from the quarry.  Brian interrupts Jack's reverie when he arrives to inform him that someone drowned Frightside.  Brian notes the coincidence of Jack visiting her at the community center and her winding up dead.  Before Brian can arrest him, Jack flees over the fence and jumps into the quarry, following some underwater lights into a cave.

In said cave, Jack discovers human sized tubes and the Mercy Seat, the "literal lid that contained all the wisdom and power of God," which only the most devout can touch.  Camo Crusader appears from the shadows and Jack hugs him, telling him that "something cosmic-level fucked" is happening in the town.  Jack then realizes the Crusader isn't wet, meaning he didn't arrive via the quarry, and the Crusader begins beating Jack to a pulp.

As he kicks Jack's ass, the Crusader exposits that he'd never thought Jack would return to his home town, figuring instead that he'd "end up doing cheap carnival tricks at the Hall of Heroes like the others."  Showing how nuts he is, the Crusader asks why Jack suddenly decided to make something of himself, concluding that he wanted to ruin the Crusader's life by ensuring he didn't "leave anything behind on Earth."  (Um, OK.). The Crusader continues to rant, saying Erica did things for Jack that she'd never did for him.  (Um, OK.)  He then tells him that Jack stole "a child from my wife's womb."  (Um, did Erica have Jack's baby?)  The Crusader tells him that he now has no one with whom to share his immorality, and Jack realizes the Crusader opened the Mercy Seat.

Before the Crusader can kill Jack, Brian arrives and tells the Crusader he's under arrest for assault and trespassing.  (Um, sure, dude.  Like, you thought the gun would work on this guy?)  Before the Crusader can kill Brian, Jack mortally wounds the Crusader with an arrow through the eye. (He was shooting for his hand.  Apparently, he never mastered the bow and arrow.  Heh.)  Jack exposits that he thinks the Crusader was going to make himself a god by attaching the Mercy Seat to the Aphek Engine.  Jack accuses the Crusader of killing Hodag and Frightside for stumbling upon his secret, but the Crusader cryptically says before he dies that, "All my children must now do for themselves."

Later, Jack awakens in the police HQ, which is in the same building as the community center and is apparently the former 4th Gen training facility.  Jack finds some files of his fellow former 4th Gen recruits and connects the recruits to the Crusader, either as his "children" themselves or as victims of his children because they stole the 4th Genners' powers via the Aphek Engine.  Outside, some guy with a mullet who I think we're supposed to recognize arrives and stabs Brian and makes his way to Jack.

Meanwhile, the back-up story confirms that Erica did seemingly have Jack's baby.  The Crusader, Neon (a.k.a. Erica), and Jack wind up stranded on a strange planet.  After Jack confesses that his failure to kill a deer while hunting with his dad led to their estrangement (and his inability to shoot a bow and arrow), the Crusader helps Jack aim his bow and arrow.  Later, the Crusader asks Jack to impregnate Erica, since the tonic that gave him his powers also means that he can't feel (or, presumably, you know).  It seems like the Crusader thought that Erica and Jack would just have sex the one time, but they definitely didn't stop.

Pathfinder:  Wake the Dead #1:  Van Lente spends a lot of time telling us the characters' histories and motivations here, which makes me long for the days when everything wasn't mini-series that required constant exposition.

At any rate, six adventurers find themselves in Ecanus, a Nexian city on the border with the "undead nation of Geb."  More specifically, they're in "the Awful," a former garden district "reduced to viscera thanks to the explosion of a massive flesh forge" that Nex's battlemages used to churn "out Nexian horrors to battle Geb's lifeless hordes."  Fun place!

Sajan Gadadvara and Lem (!) are an Irorian monk and Chelaxian minstrel, respectively, working for the Firebrands for their first brand, though Sajan is also trying to get the Brands to tell him something about his sister (of course).  Quinn, a "consulting investigator," is our insufferable expositor who provides this information to us.  Seelah is an Iomedaean paladin working on behalf of the Knights of Lastwall, and Harsk (!) rounds out the group as a Pathfinder agent.  They're all after Gabsalia Venris, an advisor to Geb's spymaster.  She clearly put out word to every group in Golarion that she wanted to escape Geb.

The adventures becomes a team when two Nexian deathsealers, Hazan and Jawar, arrive to make sure that Nex gets Gabsalia.  Before either side can gain the upper hand, three Gebian undead arrive.  They inform the group they were Gabsalia's mother, husband, and daughter, who the Gebians tortured to death and rose to chase Gabsalia.  Nice.  The zombies hurl their skins at the team, revealing themselves as shredskins.  Seelah exposits that her parents left Geb due to the undead legions, and she makes quick work of Gabsalia's family to send their bodies to rest.  Moving from the pan to the fire, the team discovers the deathsealers' bodies just as some other Nexian figures arrive to blame them for Hazan and Jawar's deaths.

Again, the exposition sucks, but I like the premise enough that I'm hoping Van Lente is able to dive into the story next issue, with the table now set.  The "Pathfinder" comics really excel when they're showing how awful Golarion can be, and this series promises to be no different.

Star Wars:  Sana Starros #4:  I like Sana Starros, and she deserves better than this series.  After so much promise, it's devolved into an unceasing series of aphorisms about family to the point where a Real Housewife of New Jersey would cringe.  The plot, such as it is, involves a data cube onboard the King's Ransom, a Starros possibly dealing with the Soikans (which is apparently bad), and Mevera needing a stockpile of gherlian fur.  Yeah, I don't know either.  At any rate, if Phel is right and the family abandoned him after the Empire arrested him, it isn't easy to empathize with the Starros women as they keep trying to make him the bad guy.  In fact, it seems like the Starros women all make terrible decisions and disown anyone who calls them on it.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The April 19 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The Forged #2:  Honestly, 13 pages of back matter in the second issue is probably a sign that a series maybe isn't worth the time.

Like many other science-fiction series, the problem here is that the idea is great but the execution isn't.  In a way, this series is sort of like a companion to "A Memory Called Empire," except focused on the front line not imperial ballrooms.

Rucka and Trautmann spend the first dozen pages or so throwing around a lot of almost incomprehensible jargon as Victory and Hap devise a way to save the team from the crashing Her Endless Radiant Triumph.  The main problem is that the Triumph's T-space engines will crack upon crashing, creating an emp blast that'll knock out their communications.  For reasons that aren't clear to me, Victory decides rebooting the suits will somehow protect them from the blast (which I'm not sure is how emp blasts work) but directs E.V.I.L. to flood the suits with kinetic energy-absorption gel before it goes off-line.

After surviving the impact, the team reassambles itself.  Rucka and Trautmann engage in Hickmanesque behavior here, equating "confusion" with "interesting."  For example, Hap investigates some sort of goo, which, if I had to guess, came from the Triumph.  Her assessment that the "heat-tolerance before dissolution is off" clearly means it's going to matter later.  It took me reading the Gamma entry in the back matter to realize that Hap shares some sort of symbiotic relationship with the drone, Spot, which is why Victory trusts Spot when it answers on Hap's behalf.

At any rate, the team arrives at a lifeboat, where they realize the mission isn't a black box but a person.  Harpo and Pusher argue over which way they should go until Jo finds a literal arrow built from the lifeboat's crash debris. Something then bites off her arm, and we then enter into a tedious mash-up of "Dune" and "Starship Troopers."

After defeating round after round of bugs, the team finds the abandoned al-Ashanti Terraforming installation.  The team is surprised when the doors open for them and the installation is still powered.  They're able to take off their helmets due to the artificial atmosphere, and Victory has a memory appear from her conversation with the Cassandra and tells another Cassandra she can stop hiding.

The Cassandra's presence shocks the team, and she's pissed they're behind schedule.  That said, she's confident they can rearm for the "initial attack."  Victory tries to tell her that they're safe from the bugs, but the Cassandra interrupts, telling her that she isn't worried about them.  She reveals that they're there to protect her because, after 10,000 years, they've made first contact and "they mean to kill every last one of us."

In other words, meh.  It isn't terrible, but I can't say it's particularly interesting.  If I didn't have a 300+ issue backlog, I'd consider hanging in there, but I think I'm done.

No/One #2:  This issue flows a little better than the first one, as Higgins and Buccellato lean into “The Wire” vibe and make it a journalism and police procedural.

Chief Mixon arrives at Ben’s house to take him to work on his first day back in the office, though it isn’t as friendly as you’d expect, as he’s doing so to encourage Ben to retire.  Ben refuses, since he’s committed to finding Michael’s murderer.   Mixon points out Ben is the assistant chief for ops, so it isn’t even his job to do that.  Their conversation is interrupted, though, when Mixon is notified that Richard Roe struck again.  

Walt leads the Detectives Singh and Harper to a parking garage where Three Rivers University’s football coach, Nathan Cade, lies dead, with four shots to the chest and an extra casing on the floor.  Singh complains about Julia’s podcast getting out word about Roe’s modus operandi, and Walt notes that Roe left another note, this time saying just, “Clarity.” 
 
Outside the scene, Walt refuses to give Julia any more information, since the brass (particularly Mixon) is pissed that she’s out there putting them on blast.  Julia calls Teddy, who celebrates the fact Julia can’t get the scoop because it means the Powers That Be are paying attention.  But Julia is pissed when Teddy suggests that they’ll start having Alejandro do the reporting, reducing Julia to playing the role of the public face of the paper's coverage of the No/One story.  

As Walt returns from his smoke break, he spots No/One lurking in the garage and engages in a chase.  A helicopter quickly arrives to assist, and No/One uses some sort of taser device to take out one cop before successfully fleeing.  It’s all very Batman.
 
Later, Ben visits Aaron, who is truly as asshole.  Aaron declines to confirm if Cade was on his list but claims he wasn’t responsible for Cade's murder.  He notes that he thought Roe might go after Cade, though, after someone sent him Three Rivers’ football schedule with what Aaron thought was Cade’s autograph.  When he saw Roe’s note from last issue, though, he realized the same person wrote Cade’s name, since it had the same weird E.  He informs Ben that he told Alejandro from the Ledger about it when he visited because Ben was in the hospital.  Ben asks Aaron how No/One knew to save him, and Aaron says simply that he doesn’t know who No/One is because he would’ve been there for Michael had he known.  (I don’t believe that for a minute.)  Like last time, Aaron wants his dad to beg for his help, and Ben blames the situation on Aaron, who tries to blame Ben for it, unbelievably, since he was with Michael on the day he was killed.  (“I was wondering how long it would take to blame me for this.”  JFC, dude.)
 
At Teddy’s office, Ben and Teddy call in Alejandro, and Teddy is furious that he didn’t tell him about Cade.  (I can’t believe Alejandro didn’t run to him immediately when he found out Roe killed Cade.  Is Alejandro No/One or Roe maybe?)  Alejandro explains that he had spoken with a former player, Chuck Tate, who accused Cade of a “pay to play” scheme, though Alejandro notes it didn’t seem on the level of the four people No/One doxxed.  Alejandro tells them that he thought Tate had more he wanted to say but wasn’t ready yet.  Ben is clearly going to pay Tate a visit.
 
Later, at police headquarters, Mixon is for some reason forcing Ben to attend the press conference to discuss Cade's murder.   In the mens’ room, Ben runs into Senator Kemp, the victim who survived No/One's attack.  Kemp wants Ben to plead guilty to…something so he can then work with Kemp to go after No/One.  Kemp grandstands at the press conference, where, for some reason, Ben announces his retirement.

P.S.:  I listened to the first podcast.  I applaud the creators for trying something new.  That said, the acting is a little awkward if you listen to a lot of podcasts, since it's too expository.  Rachel Maddow doesn't give us her life story when she starts a podcast.  (Actually, she kind of does, now that I think about it, so maybe I'm too harsh here.)  

At any rate, it's relevant for two pieces of information that we get that I don't think we've gotten in the comic.  

First, we learn that the fifth "bullet" in Roe's gun is a blank, explaining why the cops find five casings at each crime scene.  Teddy (played by Patton Oswalt) explains that it's an homage to the random blank that firing squads often use.  He also explains that Roe had to pop out the casings physically given the nature of his .38 Special.  Singh alludes to this conversation in the issue, when he complains that everyone now knows Roe's modus operandi due to the podcast.  

Second, the tip that led the cops to Roe at the Carrie Blast Furnace also revealed to the cops that Roe uses a blank.  It means that, unless Roe outted himself to the cops, someone who knew Roe's modus operandi provided the tip.  

In addition to this new information, the authors may have mentioned it in passing in the series, but the podcast underscores more clearly the fact that the district attorney suspiciously never brought charges against anyone No/One doxxed.  It's clear that we have some sort of story there.

Star Wars:  Sana Starros #3:  Oof, a lot happens in this issue.
 
First, we learn that Deva Lompop is Grammy Thel’s auntie because she made a promise a long time ago to protect the Starros family as if it were her own.  (Given Deva looks about 20, I’m guessing she’s older than she looks if Grammy Thel is calling her auntie.)  Sana is outraged to learn that her brother, Phel, swiped a set of journals when he visited Grammy Thel.  We also learn that Phel is an Imp, which explains why he and Sana aren’t on speaking terms.  Sana storms to the bar to order a drink, where she meets a hot blue-skinned dish named Lanitra who invites her to her ship.  Deva appears and informs the pair that they leave for Hon-Tallos in three hours, apparently to steal a rancor.

 

At Wild Wollina’s Animal Adventures park, Grammy Thel and Mevera try to talk to Sana, but she isn’t having it:  she informs them that she’s leaving once they get Aryssha back because they once again chose Phel (because they allowed him to visit, I think).  To clear the park, Lanitra frees a three-headed monster called a hragscythe; Sana saves a kid from getting crushed in its stampede, and Deva uses her poison to put it to sleep.  Deva hilariously has Sana douse herself in juvenile rancor urine so the rancor thinks that she’s its cub.  (When Sana asks why Deva isn’t doused in urine, she remarks that rancors can sense predators.  God, I love her.) 

 

Wollina arrives along with a bounty hunter named Marl Jibs who’s apparently looking for Mevera, which is confusing because I initially thought he was there helping Wollina instead of them coincidentally arriving at the same spot at the same time, as I think happened.  (I don't know if we know why Jibs wants Mevera but details at the this point.)  Deva takes on Wollina as Jibs chases Sana, who eventually realizes she’s riding a rancor and has it attack him.  

Deva re-appears after her “productive chat” with Wollina, and they board the rancor into a crate.  Deva apparently helped Wollina build the park years ago, and we learn Lanitra is part of the Genetian Collective, a syndicate with a heart of gold because it wanted Deva’s help in shutting down the park.  (Lanitra declares, “Down with tyranny!” as they discuss the park’s closing.)  But Sana puts two and two together and realizes the Collective now owes Deva a favor, which she’ll use to get back Aryssha. 

 

Unfortunately, Jibs apparently swiped Grammy Thel in the chaos, which is impressive given the fact a rancor smacked him moments earlier.  He’s threatening to kill her if Mevera doesn’t surrender in 24 hours.  Also Ehllo and Phel discover Aryssha eavesdropping on people trying to open one of the aforementioned journals.  Ruh-roh!

 

It’s a fun issue, but, honestly, it’s a little too much.  After only two issues, it’s really hard to keep everyone and all the intersecting plots straight.  Hopefully we won't add any more characters or plots in the next few issues.

Star Wars:  Yoda #6:  As I've mentioned, my main complaint about the way Yoda is treated in the prequel era is that no one acknowledges that he had a Sith Lord (or two) sitting right next to him for many years.  Houser does a better job than pretty much anyone else of presenting that reality, as Yoda is forced to acknowledge that he failed young Gheyr when she leaves the Temple to prevent Krrsish's vision from becoming a reality.  Yoda chastises Dooku when he discovers Dooku knew about Krrsish's vision, but Dooku correctly points out the Order is often harsh on seers, such as it was with his friend Sifo-Dyas (i.e., the clones' creator).  In the end, Yoda is left with Krrsish - the one who acted from a place of anger and fear - as he watches the thoughtful Dooku and promising Gheyr leave Coruscant.  Yoda knows that he was wrong in the future that serves as this issue's framing device - as he waits for Luke on Dagobah - but I wonder if he knew he was wrong then.

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.