Five-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero December 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 (2021) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #80 (December 1):  Ziglar hits all the right notes in this issue, from Aunt May brining in Dr. Octopus to consult on Peter's condition to Maxine siccing her lawyers (and hopefully just her lawyers) on "Brooklyn Spider-Man," a.k.a. Miles Morales.  Ben's psychedelics-induced banter with the other captured Beyond employees was a real highlight.  It's nice to have some fun again in a Spider-Man comic.

Darkhawk #4 (December 1):  I initially rolled my eyes at Captain America's appearance here until I realized that "Mr. Colt" was the AIM recruiter from "Winter Soldier (2019)," which was one of the best and most devastating mini-series that I've ever read.  Given how blithely Colt used RJ in that series, Colt's experiments on Shawn probably aren't going to end well for him.

New Mutants #23 (December 1):  OMG.  SO.  MUCH.  TALKING.  I mean, I like the idea that the Lost Club gets the adults (i.e., the New Mutants) to realize that Amahl is just as much the Shadow King's hostage as they were.  But, Ayala has the Lost Club repeat those points over and over and over again.  I was basically skimming at the end.  I hope the new story arc that they're teasing for next issue isn't as boring and chaotic as this one has been.

Winter Guard #4 (December 1):  This mini-series wraps up fairly unsatisfyingly if you're not planning on reading "Avengers" indefinitely to get the necessary answers.  

It isn't at all surprising that Red Widow disabled Crimson Dynamo for fear that he would side with Red Guardian.  But, I still don't understand what Red Guardian gained from betraying White Widow at the end of last issue.  After all, she's forced to provide Red Widow and Vanguard his location in order to secure her freedom.  

Moreover, it seems hard to believe that Red Guardian would keep the Operation:  Snowblind drives in a briefcase that a kinetically driven shield could destroy since he had to know that a guy with a kinetically driven shield was coming after him.  I'm also not sure what White Widow gains by seemingly controlling one of the drives, since I though that the user had to use them all together to access the information.  

At any rate, I enjoyed spending time with these characters, but if you were expecting a self-contained story you'll be disappointed.

X-Men:  Trial of Magneto #4 (December 1) and #5 (December 22) (TPB):  Overall, I'm OK with the story that Williams told here.  She manages to thread the needle in probably the only way possible to turn Wanda from the Pretender to the Redeemer.  

To atone for her sins, Wanda creates a pocket dimension where all mutants souls - including the ones who died before Cerebro came online or before their X-gene manifested - go to wait for resurrection.  It's sufficiently grand to, well, redeem her.  After all, it advances Krakoa's first law:  make more mutants.

But, Williams seriously, leaves out some pretty important details.  Bullet points!

• I don't think that we're ever shown how Wanda recruited Hope and Toad to implement her plan.  Toad's participation is particularly important as he accepts exile as his punishment for "killing" Wanda.  Did he agree to sacrifice himself or did Wanda manipulate him without his knowledge for the greater good?

• We're never told why Wanda had to go through the Resurrection Protocols to create the pocket dimension.  It makes a certain amount of sense, but I would've liked it spelled out a little more clearly, particularly since the idea that she could go through them itself is dodgy, since she's allegedly not a mutant.  

• I don't buy that it was necessary for Wanda to act in secret lest people suspect that she was colluding with Magneto.  I get the Council would be distrustful of Wanda, but I feel like they've got enough powers between them that they could've vetted her scheme.  It seems like Magneto could at least have brought Lorna and Pietro into the plan.  After all, Pietro's rage almost jeopardizes the outcome.

• Eye-Boy can see magical enchantments but not uru?  What?

• I don't understand how the Waiting Room, as Hope dubs it, replaces the Crucible as a way for mutants to opt into resurrection.  The Crucible was only necessary for mutants who lost their powers in M-Day; every other Cerebro-era mutant was automatically opted into the Protocols.  Presumably they could've just put themselves on a "do not resurrect" list if they didn't want to go through the Protocols.

In terms of the characters, everything wraps up way too neatly.  Magneto somehow reconciles with Lorna, though I don't buy that she would simply forgive him for the awful things that he said to her over the course of this series.  He could've pretended that he was the villain without saying what he did.

[Sigh.]

In all honesty, it feels like, going into issue #4, Williams had one outcome in mind and editorial made her change it.  I would say that you really don't need to read this series unless you're a dedicated Wanda fan.  Wanda is redeemed, and Thunderbird is resurrected.  I'm going to guess that all this mini-series' other developments will fade into obscurity.

Amazing Spider-Man #80.BEY (December 8):  You guys, this issue may be the worst one that I've ever read.  Ziglar renders May and Otto into ridiculous caricatures of themselves.  Their innuendo-filled dialogue is just painful to read.  I skimmed most of the issue, and I'll save you the trouble.  

Otto realizes that the U-Foes were the ones who were fighting the Spider-Men when Peter got hurt, and he and May break into a super-villain holding facility to get samples of Vapor and X-Ray's powers.  (May's conversation with Vapor is this issue's highlight.)  In the process, Otto discovers that Beyond runs the holding facility, and May is furious that his search for more information on Beyond distracts him.  She leaves, though Otto later provides Peter's doctors with his findings, allowing them to heal him.  

Later, Otto attacks some guards on a rooftop to hack into a terminal that seemingly holds all Beyond's secrets because why wouldn't every random terminal provide the user access to all a corporation's secrets?  He discovers that Beyond purchased Parker Industries and [sigh] swears vengeance.

In other words, a Google search could've resolved Otto's questions about both who attacked Peter and who owned Parker Industries.  I don't understand how an editor decided that this story needed 33 pages, but someone should demote them.

Devil's Reign #1 (December 8):  I have to give Marvel credit for waiting so long to get to this point, of Fisk declaring war on superheroes.  They could've rushed it and foregone all the interesting moments that Fisk's mayoralty has brought.  Instead, they bided their time, which is hard to do in comics.

This series is clearly an outgrowth from Zdarsky's "Daredevil," and Zdarsky does a decent job of presenting that series' status quo for the rest of us.  Most relevantly, Fisk has apparently appointed his other son, Butch, as Kingpin, and Matt's "brother" Mike is apparently helping him.  I rolled my eyes at these long-lost relatives, but I'm not reading "Daredevil" so it isn't my problem.

The catalyzing event that kicks off this story is that Kingpin loses his shit when he realizes that he no longer remembers Daredevil's secret identity; in fact, even the file on Daredevil that he keeps in his safe no longer contains it.  Enraged, he announces a ban on unsanctioned superhuman activity, following a federal ban on unsanctioned superhuman activity by people under the age of 21 years old.  (I'm assuming that happened in "Champions?")

Kingpin has clearly been planning this move for a while, because he deploys his shock troops - in the form of mixed superhuman and human Thunderbolt units - quickly.  Darkhawk and Moon Knight are almost immediately taken off the table.  

A Thunderbolt unit grabs Miles Morales as he's saving people from a burning building, but Captain America saves Miles before they unmask him.  (This issue comes on the heel of Cap and Miles' appearance in "Darkhawk" #4, and I'm really digging that team-up.)  Daredevil, Elektra, and Spider-Man arrive to help, and, in a safehouse later, Daredevil admits that he provoked Kingpin into action.  But, in a great moment, Cap tells him that sacrificing himself won't stop Fisk. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Octopus and federal troops storms Four Freedom Plaza.  If you read "X-Men/Fantastic Four," you'll appreciate the Schadenfreude of Otto using a power-dampening collar on Reed and Sue.  Sue manages to alert Ben and Johnny who escape with the kids.  Chechetto is on fire throughout this issue, but the look on Ben's face when the Thunderbolt unit opens fires on him and the kids (who he blocks with his body) is worth the price of admission.  Otto is keen to access a specific Reed invention, seemingly one of his multiverse portals.  I'm sure it's for totally benign reasons.

Later, Shocker and his Thunderbolt unit come after Luke Cage and Jessica Jones as they're trying to help victims of a bus crash, and Luke delivers a Cap-like speech telling people that Fisk is coming for them once the superheroes are gone.  

The issue ends with one revelation coming right after another:  Wilson murders the Purple Man whose powers he seems intent on taking the Power Group that installed Kingpin as mayor plans on running him for President, and Tony tells a fleeing Jessica and Luke that he plans on running against Fisk for mayor.

Honestly, I'm pretty thrilled with this issue.  It feels like how the inevitable confrontation between the heroes and Kingpin would go, and it's clear that Zdarsky has a bunch of tricks up his sleeve.  I can't wait to see what they are.

 

Inferno #3 (December 8):  Hickman is unusually concise in this issue, despite its 44 pages.  We have three major developments.

First, we learn that Cypher initially prepared Krakoa to host mutantkind by having Warlock consume part of Krakoa and then Krakoa consume the new parts of Warlock.  In so doing, Warlock essentially became Krakoa's nervous system.  Since he and Warlock didn't trust Professor X, it meant that he maintained knowledge of the No-Space that Krakoa created for Magneto and Professor X.  As such, he knows all their secrets.

Second, Emma informs Destiny and Mystique of Moira's existence.  They all agree that Moira represents a threat to everything that they've built since at any moment she can start a new life and change this particular present.  Emma declines to throw her support clearly behind Destiny and Mystique but makes it clear them that she's no longer in Charles and Erik's camp.  Destiny and Mystique engineer Orchis kidnapping Moira at her Paris gate and bringing her to Terra Nova.  When Charles and Erik arrive to save her, Nimrod arrives through the translocator (whose existence Mystique discovered last issue), ready to take out Charles and Erik.

Finally, we learn that the "Trickster Titan" sent back Omega Sentinel's consciousness so that she could bring Nimrod online earlier than in her timeline.  She informs Nimrod that Apocalypse will return to defeat the Children of the Vault and eventually humankind and the machines.  Only through the Trickster Titan separating himself from his sibling does he survive long enough to send back Omega Sentinel's consciousness.  She then uses this knowledge to find Devo and convince him that he also experienced her future.  Together, they create Orchis.

In other words, man, shit goes down here.  It's hard to see how Krakoa even remotely functions as it has after this event.

Amazing Spider-Man #81 (December 15):  The Beyond Board is doing an excellent job of slowly but surely making Ben's position at Beyond more and more untenable given Maxine's goals conflicting too often with his own goals.

In this issue, she disciplines Marcus when Ben fails to confront Miles Morales during their team-up over his "use" of Beyond's trademark.  When Ben suggests that he wasn't going to beat up a teenager, Maxine makes it clear that it's exactly what she wanted him to do.  

Ahmed does some nice character work throughout this issue, as Ben admits to Janine that he's not as impulsive as he was thanks to his work in therapy.  It means that he doesn't get mad at Janine when she asks if he's ready to fight Rhizome with Miles right after his fight with Kraven.  Ahmed also connects the dots that Ben's patience with Maxine comes from this work.  That said, it's pretty clear that said patience is going to end.  

Meanwhile, as Kaeden says in their note in the back, the art team is on fire here.  If you're a Miles fan, you definitely want to check out this issue.

Devil's Reign #2 (December 29):  As I expected, Kingpin moves to the next stage as Crossbones and his Thunderbolt unit break into Danny Rand's apartment to arrest him even though he's no longer Iron Fist.  

In an example of pet peeve #2, we learn form the intro page that Kingpin didn't kill Purple Man; he cut off his finger and put it in his staff, somehow giving him his power.  (Yeah, it's a stretch.)  Meanwhile, Otto creates a device that harnesses the rest of Purple Man's powers, allowing Wilson to coerce, though not control, New York's population.  It ends Otto's part of his bargain with Kingpin.  That said, he uses Reed's multidimensional gate to bring Ghost Rider, Hulk, and Wolverine to "our" Earth, so he's clearly got something up his sleeve.  

Meanwhile, the heroes aren't doing so well.  Kingpin assigned Taskmaster to find out Spider-Man's secret identity, and Taskmaster somehow manages to block Ben's powers in their ensuing fight.  Where's Beyond when you need them?  Also, the reformed New Avengers convince Tony that Luke should run (since rich guy vs. rich guy might not read well with the public), and Tony doesn't seem happy about it.

My only criticism of this issue is that it's a little hard to follow the status quos of the various heroes.  In addition to finding out Danny isn't Iron Fist, for example, Elektra is panicked because she realizes that Fisk knows that she betrayed Matt, though I have no idea what she did.  But, every event stuffers from a similar problem, so it's small potatoes give how much I'm enjoying the event overall.

Also Read:  Marauders #26 (December 1); Nightwing Annual 2021 #1 (December 1); Amazing Spider-Man #82 (December 22) and #83 (December 29); Hawkeye:  Kate Bishop #2 (December 22); Moon Knight #6 (December 22)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eight-Month-Old Comics: The Superhero August 18 (2021) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Guardians of the Galaxy #17 (August 18):  This issue trips a bit over the ever-confusing Cosmic Marvel continuity, as the issue's big reveal - that Ego and Galactus at some point bonded, meaning that the Dormammu-dominated Ego is now the Dormammu-dominated Galactus - comes after a lot of exposition.  Do I understand?  No, not really.

For me, the most relevant part of the story is Rich trying to convince everyone that they're trusting Doom way too much.  Ewing makes it seem like Rich is just immature as always, and everyone but Gamora ignores him.  (Remember those sparks?)  But, as Doom takes advantage of Dormammu conquering Chitauri Prime to colonize it for his Rigellian allies, the rest of the team reconsiders Rich's position.  I'm always thrilled when we treat Rich like an adult.  

All that said, this issue does reveal Dormammu's plan:  he's invading five ancestral worlds that form a pentagram to bring our dimension into his dimension.  In other words, it's pretty low stakes.  :)

Marauders #23 (August 18):  This issue starts poorly, as I had to Google a bit to discover what the fuck happened to the Marauder.  It's a poor showing to have the fate of the series' titular ship determined in a different series with nary an editor's note to tell us what the fuck happened.  The rest of this issue is fine, though, as Emma, Jumbo Carnation, Kate, and Tempo help Banshee stop rivals mobs from stealing Krakoa's medications from an Irish warehouse.  I'll be honest that I wish we'd stop focusing so much on Emma at the expense of characters like Bishop, Iceman, and Shadowcat.  But, we'll see where we go as the dust from the Hellfire Gala continues to settle.

Moon Knight #2 (August 18):  Cappuccio is spectacular in depicting this issue's villain lost in the sea of Marc's god-touched mind.  He builds the tension panel by panel to the moment when an enormous and monstrous Moon Knight appears in the villain's mindscape to destroy his mind.  In terms of the plot, the unnamed spectator hired the villain to confront Moon Knight.  We also start rounding out Marc's supporting cast here, as I'm pretty sure Soldier is going to appear again after Marc saved him and his mother from the villain and his mind-controlling sweat.  I mean, how could you not?

Sinister War #3 (August 18):  I mean, Spencer is really drawing out this story, but he does a better job making this issue fill less like the filler that last one was.  At some point, you start to wonder if Spidey really has a hope of surviving.  Usually, he manages to swing to safety, but so many villains are after him that he never gets that break.  It's hard to believe that we only have one more issue.

X-Men:  Trial of Magneto #1 (TPB) (August 18):  This issue is spectacular and as such difficult to review.  The summary doesn't quite do the emotions justice.  

X-Force and the X-Men watch as X-Factor investigates Wanda's murder, discovering that a supernatural magnetized object strangulated her to death.  Suspicion obviously falls onto Magneto, who loses his fucking mind when the Quiet Council refuses to resurrect her.  He almost kills Professor X with Cerebro and sermonizes about the Council's "hopelessly antediluvian human concept[s]."  It's just like the old days.  

X-Factor tries to arrest him after he storms from the Grove; to put it mildly, he resists arrest.  Polaris arrives to try to stop him, and he's brutal, calling her "unhinged and inconsistent at [her] best."  Lorna is withering in her response, asking:  "How many women is it now you once claimed to love who all perished during your brief window of affection and attention?"  

Before X-Factor and the X-Men can stop him, Quicksilver arrives and almost beats him to death.  Northstar stops him, and Quicksilver breaks into sobs on his shoulder.  (In one of the best "Dawn/Reign of X" scenes, Pietro arrives at the Blob's bar and has a drink with him, Mastermind, and Toad.)  Logan asks Jean if she can read Magneto's mind, but she says that his subconscious is just a nightmare of grief.  The issue ends with Wanda on some other plane of existence revealing that she's dead but also not dead at the same time.

This issue is a tense procedural until Lorna's and Pietro's grief leap off the page.  Although the Krakoan mutants should have known that grief drove Magneto's actions in the Grove, Jean reading his mind makes it clear that he's just as hysterical as Lorna and Pietro are.  It seems pretty clear that he didn't do it, and I'm a little surprised how quickly all the Krakoan mutants accept that he did.

Going forward, we have a number of unanswered questions.  Professor X says that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were able to trick Cerebro into thinking that they were mutants, so back-up versions of them do exist.  But, I don't get how they did so.  Did Wanda do it?  In "Uncanny Avengers" #4, we learned that the High Evolutionary gave them their powers.  Why would Cerebro ever read them as mutants if they don't have the X-gene?  Are we preparing to re-ret-con this development?  Also, the obvious question is:  if Magneto didn't kill her, who did?  Virtually every mutant wanted her dead, as the celebrations after her death show.  It's part of the reason that I'm surprised everyone jumped to the conclusion that Magneto did it.

All I know is that once Billy learns that she's dead, someone is going to have Hell to pay.