Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The August 31 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #17:  This series is a lot better now that we have an actual plot and not constant shenanigans related to Peter trying to balance his role as Spider-Man with his responsibilities at Parker Industries.  Slott imbues this issue with legitimate suspense as Peter has Hobie spy on the Jackal and his crew.  (Can I just say how thrilled I am to see Hobie every time he appears?)  Plus, Slott adds intrigue as he fills in another piece of the puzzle:  the people he resurrects need to take a pill every day only he can provide.  It explains why anyone he's resurrected (or anyone whose loved one he resurrected) is beholden to him.  But, Slott doesn't make it that simple.  The Jackal keeps insisting he's the good guy here.  It's not his usual paranoid schemes of destruction.  He resurrects Hobie after the new Electro accidentally kills him, and Hobie is seemingly convinced of the Jackal's bona fides after the Jackal shows him his grand plan.  Is Hobie really convinced the Jackal is building a better world?  Or, does he have to say he is to keep the pills coming?  Only time will tell, I guess.  At any rate, for the first time in a while, I'm legitimately intrigued where Slott is going with this series.  It feels like a Spider-Man story and not a reductive Iron Man one.  Color me a happy camper (for now).

Ms. Marvel #10:  Given the backlog I'm currently trying to address, I've trying to identify books I can drop.  Since "Ms. Marvel" is one of my newer series, it's always on the list, since we don't have as much of a history.  Then, I read an issue like this one, where Bruno's injuries provide Kamala her Uncle Ben moment, and I realize this series isn't going anywhere.  The best moment of the issue is when Kamala realizes everything before Bruno getting hurt felt like make-believe, as if she was just playing hero.  It's a sentiment to which we can all relate.  We've all had the moment when it's time to put on our big-boy pants.  It's particularly profound when it happens because you can no longer listen to a person you admired or trusted (as Kamala experiences with Carol here).  At some point, you have to find your own way, and Wilson does an amazing job of showing us Kamala getting to that point here.

Spider-Gwen #11:  The problem with this series right now is we're still dealing with the hangover of "Spider-Women."  Despite having read this series from the beginning, I have no idea who some of the characters we see here are.  Reed Richards knows Gwen's secret identity and designs her tech, but we're not given any insight into how she met him.  Did they go to high school together?  It seems that way, but it's unclear.  We also have Jesse Drew the spy.  I vaguely recognize him from previous issues, but I don't really care enough to research it.  The unfortunate part is that these questions distract from the larger story, namely Frank Castle's pursuit of Spider-Woman.  Latour has infused this plot with all sorts of drama, from the fact that Castle isn't wrong about his suspicions about Spider-Woman and Captain Stacy to the difficult position Jeanne DeWolff faces as a result of Castle's dogged pursuit of Gwen and her father.  But, "Spider-Women" keeps getting in the way, and I hope we can put behind the "powerless" shtick and resume the great story Latour was telling.

Spider-Man 2099 #14:  During his long run on "X-Factor," David proved to me over and over again to trust him.  Every time we seemed to get far from where I thought we were going, we wound up getting there brilliantly.  This issue is no different.  Since Marvel brought back Miguel, I've wondered whether an already complicated timeline would be further complicated to the point of absurdity.  However, David has made it clear that we're beyond that concern now.  I can't count how many timelines we've already seen since Miguel has returned -- I think we're on our fourth, after the "original" one, the Maestro one, the "Secret Wars 2099" one, and the current reality.  But, David seems to be ready to use "Civil War II" to create a definitive one.  Similar to what DC did with "Flashpoint," it's not going to matter what came before.  He'll be able to take the better parts of the previous series -- like bringing back great supporting characters we haven't seen in a while  -- and ditch the worse parts -- like ignoring the disastrous developments of "2099:  World of Tomorrow" and "Manifest Destiny."  For example, great characters like Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, and Punisher 2099 are returned to us (after, I believe, they were all killed in "2099:  World of Tomorrow").  In other words, David is using the unintended consequences of time travel to correct the editorial mistakes of the past.  Moreover, the story at hand is just as interesting -- if not more -- than the larger continuity developments.  Alchemax and its fellow corporations have used an Anti-Powers Act to neuter the heroes, an homage to the original "Civil War" event.  In a way, I can see these tie-in issues feeling more genuinely like the continuation of "Civil War" than "Civil War II" does.  Leave it to Peter David to accomplish that.

Tokyo Ghost #10:  This series has been, without a doubt, one of the best I've ever read.  It's the one I keep telling people who don't read comics to read.  I've been struggling with its core message of unplugging -- from the Internet, from negativity -- since the election, and I'm glad I wound up reading this issue after it.  I really do wonder if it'll take someone like Debbie to save us, to unplug us forcibly, because no matter how much I say I want to get off Facebook or stop obsessively reading the news I just can't do it.  Davey Trauma is always there, lurking.  Debbie is the hero we need, but, as someone mentions in the letters page, we may never really get her.

Also Read:  Bloodshot Reborn #17; Han Solo #3; Spider-Man #7; Uncanny Avengers #13

Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The July 6 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #15:  This issue is better than the last few installments, since Slott puts aside the ridiculous fight between Iron Man and Spider-Man and focuses on Regent.  Mary Jane putting on the Iron Spider costume is a great moment, and it reminds me how much I miss MJ in these pages.  Unfortunately, Slott doubles-down on the current hostility between her and Peter.  Although they have a nice moment at one point during the battle, Peter doesn't invite MJ to the party that he throws for his family and friends to apologize for his absence over the previous few months.  (He's inspired to throw said party after realizing how important family is from Regent.  I'm not sure that's the lesson that I'd draw from Regent, but there you go.)  Putting aside the MJ situation, I also have to say that I don't understand why we're pretending that Peter can somehow be Spider-Man, run Parker Industries, and have a personal life.  He shouldn't "apologize" for his absence so much as accept that his status quo makes it difficult to spend time with his loved ones.  If he did that, Slott would be telling a story that a lot of readers could find relatable.  But, Slott seems to think that Peter should be trying to balance all those things, so I guess we're stuck with Peter's inevitable failure to do that.  At any rate, Aunt May's mysterious cough from last issue has jumped to Jay, and he collapses here in dramatic fashion.  I'm really trying to care, but I can't say that I do, to be honest.

Batman #2:  King doesn't reveal too much here.  Batman helps Gotham and Gotham Girl stop a rampaging Solomon Grundy, a mysterious man warns Gordon about the "Monster Men" coming to Gotham before killing himself, and Bruce decides to bring in Gotham and Gotham Girl on the case.  King still plays his cards close to the chest when it comes to the two new heroes' origins as well as any possible connection between the Monster Men and Kobra (the terrorist organization from last issue).  But, I'm perfectly happy to wait since we'll clearly get that information at some point.  The best part of this issue is the interactions between Alfred and Bruce.  After literally years now of Bruce dying, Alfred mourning, and the cycle beginning anew, we're finally returning to a somewhat normal relationship between them.  In fact, when I saw Bruce dancing with a socialite in this issue -- after Alfred forced him to make an appearance at the fund raiser he was (purportedly) hosting -- I knew that we were finally returning to our pre-"Final Crisis" roots.  They're at their most banterific in front of Duke, and it begins to make Duke feel like part of the family.  In other words, I'm really happy with the direction that King is taking and hope to see more of this old-school feel.

Poe Dameron #4:  Soule probably kept some people on the fence about this series on board for another issue or two with this issue.  Using a post-mission celebration as the vehicle, he finally delves into the lives of Black Squadron.  I think I mentioned in a previous review that I only realized that "Snap" is the teenage protagonist from "Aftermath" after reading a comment in the letters page, and I still find it a little jarring to see him as an adult here.  That said, it's even more jarring to see him suddenly beginning a relationship with one of his colleagues, after he blurted out his love for her last issue.  Soule really seems to be rushing the season here, and I wonder how many issues Marvel really has planned for this series.  We also learn more about Jess as she talks to her tech about the new engines that they installed on her fighter.  However, Soule also more or less immediately identifies the tech as the First Order mole that put the tracker on Poe's fighter, since we go from him asking Jess for more information about the next mission to Poe talking to BB-8 about said mole.  It's these awkward moments -- Snap's sudden sexiness, the tech's obvious spying -- that weigh down this series.  On the plus side, Soule injects some energy into the series by making it clear that we're in a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" kind of story, when Poe unexpectedly finds Terex at the next location on his hunt for Lor San Tekka.  We still don't know why Terex wants to find Tekka (or how he found his way to the prison holding Grakkus), but it'll be fun to watch him toy with Poe over the next few issues.

Spider-Man 2099 #12:  I've been waiting for this issue since Miguel came to the present, and it reminds us that no one can tell a long story like Peter David.  First, if I'm following the clues correctly, the story is as follows in the next few sentences.  As we know, Kweeg followed Miguel to the present after Miguel's first jaunt to the future brought him to a world that the Maestro ran.  After Miguel and Captain America tried to stop Kweeg, Aisa managed to help him escape.  In this issue, we learn that Aisa -- and thus the Fist -- is actually working for Tyler Stone, meaning that he has somehow arrived in the present.  In the future where Miguel is now, Venture (as we know him) approaches the Sinister Six; under orders from Stone (in the present), he will bring them to the present.  Once they arrive, the Fist will remove their memories of Stone, and they'll then work for him.  It seems that they are the ones that destroy New York, creating the timeline that Miguel has encountered in these last few issues.  In other words, we get a lot of answers in this issue.

But, we still have a lot of questions.  First and foremost, we have the question of how, when, and why Stone came to the present.  Although the former 2099 timeline is fuzzy (more on that in a minute), Stone still seemed to be in charge of Alchemax in the "new" Miguel timeline that David has been using in this run.  (By "new," I mean the timeline that David introduced starting in issue #1 of series #2.  I'll call that the "standard" timeline.  The "former" timeline is the one that we saw in series #1.)  As such, why would Tyler want to change the past to change the future when he was already in control?  After all, the Sinister Six run Nueva York, not him.  Do they report to Alchemax, which he still runs?  We don't know.  Second, if I'm connecting the dots correctly, it seems that Venture was never from the standard or former 2099 timeline:  he's always been a displaced person from the Maestro timeline (as a result of him following Miguel into our present).  It would be nice, though not necessary, for David to confirm that.

Returning to the timeline issue, we do get more clarity on how the standard timeline differs from the former one.  Here, we learn that Father Jennifer, and not Gabe, was likely the Green Goblin in the standard timeline.  Based on my previous guess, we could be in issue #43 of series #1, with some notable deviations (like Tyler Stone not being confined to a wheelchair, as he was once he was shot in issue #34).  But, we definitely can't be past issue #44, because Gabe reveals that he's the Green Goblin in issue #45.  Beyond this continuity issue, I'd be interested in exploring why Father Jennifer took up the Goblin persona, something David doesn't clarify here.  Given that Dr. Octopus kills her in the end of this issue, it seems unlikely that we're going to get that answer until Miguel returns to the future.  But, David seems to have put us on the road to some answers.  Although I've enjoyed the road getting us to this point, I'm excited that the end might be in sight.

Tokyo Ghost #8:  Remender has created such a compelling and fascinating world in "Tokyo Ghost" that it's hard to appreciate all of it at the same time.  He brilliantly predicts where our ambivalent approach to environmental degradation and Internet addiction will get us as a society.  But, at the end of the day, he's also telling a relationship story, and it's this story that takes center stage here.  He's done an amazing job of getting us to care about Debbie and Teddy as individuals and as a couple.  But, it's in this issue where this affection that we feel for them makes us realize that maybe they really are too codependent.  Instead of their love helping them defeat the enemy, it prevents them from doing so here.  They're too tied into each other to see straight.  Teddy doesn't get to free himself from his addiction, because he has to rely on Debbie to inspire him to do so.  Debbie can't fully be the Tokyo Ghost and avenge Tokyo, because she becomes distracted by Teddy's self-imposed plight.  You begin to realize that this series should end with them departing separately to fight their demons and become the people that they're meant to be.  It's a sad realization, but the obvious one.  It's particularly remarkable, because it's rare in comics for love not to save the day.  But, it's that fact that makes this series so special.

Also Read:  Civil War:  X-Men #2; Han Solo #2; Justice League:  Rebirth #1; Spidey #8

Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The Rest of January 20 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Tokyo Ghost #5:  Talk about a cliffhanger.  With Teddy gone and Led Dent fully in charge (and under the influence of Davey Trauma), it seemed like Debbie was going to inject herself with the formula that Kazumi used to control the emp field.  In so doing, she would've been able to prevent Davey Trauma from taking advantage of the downed field to destroy the Garden.  However, the issue ends with the Garden destroyed, and we're not given a clear answer on how that happened.  Before injecting herself, Debbie had realized that she would never be able to be with Teddy again if she became the embodiment of the emp field.  As such, the question is whether she decided that she couldn't live without Teddy and let the detonation happen.  I guess we'll see.

Also Read:  Captain Marvel #1; Ms. Marvel #3; New Avengers #5; Pathfinder:  Hollow Mountain #3; Star Wars #15

Tokyo Ghost #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Somehow, it's even worse than I thought it would be.  Given the tone of this series so far, that's obviously saying a lot.

As expected, the one-eyed guy from last issue, Mash, comes after Debbie and Teddy for revenge.  We learn that he's not just some random guy that Constable Dent attacked:  he and his friends were the original gang that embarrassed Teddy on film and forced him into becoming Dent.  Debbie and Teddy go on the offensive, and, as we watch them fight, Mash recounts how Dent brutally murdered or maimed most of the gang when he eventually found them.  For example, he ripped off Mash's brother's arm, set it on fire, and used it to burn Mash's face.  (Creative.)  Throughout the fight, Mash tries to justify the gang's actions as kids as innocent fun.  In fact, he claims the high ground here, saying that he's trying to purge someone as violent as Dent from the Garden.  Thankfully, Teddy is having none of it, reminding Mash that he was also just a kid and that they beat him into a pulp in front of his girl and filmed it for fame and profit.  In his words, too fucking bad that he didn't like getting burnt with his brother's arm.

The fight ends as Mash faces Teddy in solo combat, with Mash claiming that he's the fist of judgment and Teddy saying that he's just engaged in petty revenge.  However, Kazumi arrives before Mash can deliver the killing blow, exiling him from the Garden for turning his back on his pledge of non-violence.  She attempts to heal Teddy, but Mash stabs her with his spear instead.  Enraged, Teddy kills him, just as the rest of the Garden's residents arrive.  They believe that Teddy has killed Kazumi, and Teddy flees as they fire arrows at him.  Debbie arrives on the scene, and everyone tells her that her man killed Kazumi.  However, Debbie tells them that they were ambushed, and Kazumi mutters her name.  Debbie has the crowd bring Kazumi to town; the fact that Kazumi's pet fox alights on her shoulder may imply that she'll be the one to succeed Kazumi.  Meanwhile, Teddy returns to their ship.  He decides to get one more fix to heal his wounds, and it activates the computers in the ship.  (I thought that it was still within the emp field, but maybe the field isn't as strong with Kazumi injured?)  Davey Trauma appears on the screen, telling Dent that he's late for work.

When I started this issue, I was just afraid that Teddy would be expelled from the Garden when he was forced to defend himself from Mash.  When Kazumi blamed Mash, I was elated.  I should've known better.  Now, we get to the crux of the matter:  Davey Trauma and Flak have been manipulating events to bring Dent to consciousness within the emp field.  Again, we still don't know how they did it.  In fact, again, it's unclear if the emp field is even active at all.  Did they manipulate Mash and his buddies into attacking Teddy as a distraction to give Mash time to kill Kazumi?  Was it always the plan?  I guess we'll see, though I'm scared of the answer.

*** (three of five stars)

Tokyo Ghost #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Remender lays out a world here that makes you want to quit coffee, swear off booze, and cancel your Netflix subscription.  Consider yourself forewarned!

As Debbie realizes that she has finally found the place where she belongs, Teddy struggles with the legacy of his years connected to the Internet.  He initially rejects Kazumi's (the Gardener's) description of the Garden, where everyone lives in harmony with nature and each other.  But, Remender cleverly uses Teddy's skepticism to call into question whether the Garden really is the Utopia that it appears to be.  Kazumi heals Debbie's arm at the start of the issue, and Teddy doesn't buy into Debbie's wonderment, postulating (possibly correctly) that she has access to technology that the emp field doesn't restrict.  However, slowly but surely, he becomes the man that he was meant to be, had he not become Led Dent.

The problem for him is that he now has to deal with the emotions that he buried for all those years as well as the fact that he's now as weak as he was when he decided to become Dent in the first place.  Moreover, one of the other refugees, Mash, recognizes him as Constable Dent, and it's pretty clear that it was Dent who amputated his leg.  (I'm guessing anesthesia wasn't involved.)  Mash's need for vengeance not only makes it clear that Teddy isn't going to be able to leave Dent easily in his past, but also, again, that the Garden might not be the Utopia that we're led to believe.

As a result, Remender is actually, for the first time, making it clear that it might not be as easy as unplugging to save our souls.  We might be too far gone.  Maybe we really are where we should be as humans.  Maybe our greed and lust and pride has brought us to the only society we could ever have, and it really is just fantasy to think that it could be different.  The fact that I'm even thinking these thoughts while worrying about Teddy shows how brilliant this story is on so many different levels.

**** (four of five stars)

Tokyo Ghost #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

After the narrative and artistic maelstrom that we got last issue, Remender and Murphy stick to a much more linear story in this one.  Although they're both still wonderfully imaginative in the process, the tighter focus gives us a clearer vision of the larger story that they're telling.

First, we get a pretty straight-forward hook:  the head of Flak Corp., Mr. Flak, wants Led and Debbie to go to Tokyo.  Apparently, Davey Trauma was part of some sort of super-secret Japanese experiment run by someone named Dr. Akata during "the Big Melt."  (Remender makes it pretty clear throughout the issue that climate change, and not some sort of nuclear catastrophe, caused the post-apocalyptic setting of the series - hence why Los Angeles is now a series of islands.)  Akata was ordered either to find a way to grow new farmlands or to create "weapons to help plunder resources from other nations."  Davey was part of the latter initiative, given his ability to interact with machines.  Flak got this information after torturing Davey; he also revealed that Tokyo is now a garden that has enough food and clean water to supply Los Angeles for decades.  As such, Flak sends in Led and Debbie, promising them this time to end their contracts if they succeed.  But, Debbie is willing to go with his plan, since it gets them to Tokyo, where she hopes they'll remain indefinitely.

Along the way, we get Led and Debbie's origin story.  Debbie made friends with Led after her father died, leaving her the only other unplugged person in Los Angeles.  Led (then Teddy) was a sensitive boy abandoned by his parents and fully embraced her anti-tech ethos.  They're all set to live happily ever after, until Teddy tries to chase off a gang that makes its fortune by taping the crimes that they commit.  They beat Teddy almost to death -- "all the while reading from a script" -- until Debbie used the moves that her father taught her to save him.  Teddy was humiliated when the video of her saving him became the second-most watched clip of the year.  (His teacher calls him a pussy as he and the rest of his class watch the video.)  To regain his honor, he joined the Constable program and became Led Dent.

In Tokyo, Led is trying to shake off his loss of access to the web, given the emp field that surrounds Tokyo.  Meanwhile, Debbie is ecstatic to be there, since she believes that they'll never return to Los Angeles.  Led wanders to a pond and pukes up some of the nanites that the Constable program injected into him to turn him into Led.  There, he encounters a samurai who immediately flees, and Led gives chase so that the samurai doesn't tell anyone that they're there.  However, he falls off a cliff en route (whereas the samurai manages essentially to float to the ground).  Debbie continues the chase, as the scenes of a totally overgrown Tokyo flash before us.  But, they find themselves face-to-face with a woman that seems in charge of Tokyo, calling them "weeds" in her garden.

Remender makes it clear that he's telling a story focused on the long game here.  First, we're going to be watching Teddy go through a fairly extreme version of detox, and it'll be interesting to see the commentary on modern society that Remender delivers in the process.  (Can we even live without our phones today?)  Second, Debbie and Teddy are supposed to basically conquer Japan:  it's not exactly a smash-and-grab mission. 

Moreover, even if the story is more linear than it was in the first issue, Remender and Murphy don't skimp on using their imagination to make the horrors of this future clear.  The conversation with Mr. Flak happens as he's graphically naked; equally graphically, we watch people frantically drink his bathwater after he exits the bath.  Given the connection to climate change that Remender draws in this issue, he's making it very clear the stakes involved, to his mind, in the current discussion.  When you consider where California is in the present, it seems hard to argue with him.

But, the four stars that I'm giving this issue isn't just because it gives us a better view into the amazingly clear vision that Remender and Murphy seem to share as they build this world.  It's also because they do a great job of getting us to care about the characters.  We got to know Debbie a little last issue, but Remender deepens the sense of isolation that she feels as he delves into her back story.  But, it's Teddy's fate that pulls the most at my heart strings, as it probably does for every other (formerly or presently) sensitive teenage boy out there.  He surrenders himself to become the man that everyone wants him to be, and Remender makes it clear that Tokyo may offer him some form of redemption.  However, the question is whether he actually wants it.

**** (four of five stars)

Tokyo Ghost #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

By the time I was halfway through this issue, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to make it to the end.  By the time I did get to the end of it, I was pretty sure that I was definitely going to be there for the second issue.

Part of my initial response to the issue was revulsion, and it becomes clear that Remender and Murphy actually try really hard to make you feel that way.  The point of this series is to explore a world where unplugging from the Internet is essentially no longer an option, and, as you'd expect, it's not a pretty scene.

First, let's lay down the plot.  Debbie Decay is the only person left in "the Isles of Los Angeles" that isn't connected to the Internet virtually all the time.  She works as a "constable" for Flak Corp, an entertainment conglomerate.  Her boyfriend, Led Dent, is her net-addicted enforcer.  Flak has sent them to find Davey Trauma, a terrorist that uses the "nanopacs" that everyone (except Debbie) has embedded into their bodies to hijack people.  He then uses them as weapons.  (He essentially views life as a game of "Grand Theft Auto.")  Flak obviously views the death of this many customers as bad for business, and they promise Debbie that she and Led can walk if they defeat him.  (Conversely, they threaten to cut off Led entirely if they don't succeed.)  They eventually do succeed, though Debbie is forced to inject so many chemicals into Led that he briefly becomes Bane-ified.  She uses sex to try to make him remember who he was before his addiction:  a guy named Teddy (and the person that Debbie has addressed in her monologue throughout the issue).  But, he can't.  The issue ends with him wanting to return to his "stories," and Debbie realizes that they can't retreat to Tokyo (where tech was banned after the war):  her deal with Flak was that Led to relinquish the Internet on his own.

Now, let's get to the revulsion part.  Murphy doesn't shy from showing the horror of this world.  At one point, Led drags the body of an informant along a wall and a road until his face is completely ripped off his head.  All this time, Led is still focused only on the virtual console showing a ton of porn in front of him.  Once the informant is no longer useful, Led throws his body to a pack of cannibals.  The combination of sex and violence continues throughout the issue; its apex is Debbie essentially raping Led in the middle of the street in an attempt to make him remember that he's Teddy.  It's a lot to handle.

But, Remender got me because he really has a story in there.  Debbie's longing for Led to shake off his addiction is haunting.  It's particularly devastating when it's revealed that Teddy is Led.  We learn that she had to take care of her "dishonorably discharged dad the dud detective" in her childhood, and she's repeating that codependent relationship with Teddy.  In fact, Davey accuses of her of facilitating Led's addiction so that she's needed.  But, it is the future, and Remender lets us know that it's gone beyond just addiction.  The nanopacs deliver a plethora of chemicals and hormones to accentuate the experience, to really make you addicted.  It's horrifying in part because it seems 100 percent possible that we could really be somewhere like that by 2089, the setting for this story.

In other words, the sex and violence is really a necessary component of the plot, to get us to realize how awful this world has gotten given our inability to unplug.  Remender says in the letters column that he intended it exactly for this purpose, contemplating that we can't even get through lunch without checking our phones.  (I'm sitting here with a laptop, smart phone, and tablet next to me, and I suddenly feel ill.)  I may need this series to inspire me to actually live my life.  So, I'll be here for issue #2.

**** (four of five stars)