Anyone reading this issue has already had the ending spoiled for them as a result of "Amazing Spider-Man" #13. As a result, it obviously dampens the impact of the moment -- of Ben Reilly sacrificing himself to destroy the Inheritors' ability to clone themselves -- when it comes.
That said, even if you didn't know it was coming, it's hard to know how we're supposed to feel about it when it does come. Ben Reilly already died on "our" Earth. This Ben Reilly wasn't particularly recognizable as our Ben Reilly, given his overly sunny disposition. (Our Ben, after years of wandering, was a bit of a downer.) Moreover, we didn't particularly get to know him that well, because he's just one of the multitude of Spiders participating in this event. As such, it's hard to summon the emotional response that Costa clearly wants us to have. One of the seemingly millions of Spider-Men died. [Yawn.] Can't we just go to a world where he took a different subway the day that he got recruited and bring him into the mix?
In other words, this issue really lays bare the problem at the heart of this event, that it's still unclear what sort of repercussions we're supposed to believe that it's going to have. After all, we already know that Otto somehow appears right where he left. Does everything wind up getting ret-conned and everyone gets sent to the moment before everything went crazy? Does anything matter? Even if it matters in terms of "Spider-Verse," does it matter in terms of "Secret Wars?"
Ugh. Everything about this issue made me feel like it was the '90s again, and I can't think of a worse thing to say. It's not Costa's fault; he does the best with the material that he's given. But, the editorial interference feels strong here, and I'm worried what that means for the next few months.
** (two of five stars)
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Amazing Spider-Man #13 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I'm conflicted about this issue.
On a positive side, everything flows more or less logically, even if Slott pushes the boundaries of our willful suspension of disbelief at certain points. Anya's connection to some sort of mystical cult enables her to read the scrolls that Jessica sent to Peter; the prophecy is that the Spiders will defeat the Inheritors in a thousand years unless they sacrifice the Bride, Other, and Scion to wipe out all the Spiders, now and forever. Fortunately for the Inheritors, Silk has decided to go to Loomworld to save Jessica, given her guilt over abandoning her there, and an enraged Kaine decides to avenge Ben's death by taking out the Inheritors on his own. (The fact that Marvel clearly puts "Scarlet Spiders" #3 after this issue on its checklist knocked off a full star in my book. It's a careless mistake that unnecessarily spoils the ending of that mini-series.) With all the pieces in place on Loomworld for the Inheritors to complete the ceremony, the Spiders are left little option but to get there to try to prevent them from doing so.
My problem, though, is that we are really, really rushing at this point. Slott has been building to this event for the better part of a year, ever since we got our first peek at Cindy in "Amazing Spider-Man" #1. But, with only one issues left, we still have an incredible number of questions on the table. Who are the Inheritors? Why do they only feed off Spider Totems? What happened to Karn? He was a big deal in the "Edge of Spider-Verse" issues of this event, but we haven't seen him for a while. Also, I thought the female Inheritor that isn't Bora was Solus' wife, not daughter. If she's a daughter, does that mean that the mother really did die in in "Superior Spider-Man" #33? If so, does that mean that they only invented cloning after that incident? Turning to the prophecy, why did the Bride, Other, and Scion manifest now? Or, if they always exist in some form or another, why are the Inheritors trying to conduct the ceremony now? Moreover, why did Ezekiel send Uncle Ben to a bunker? It makes sense why he would want to send the Bride to the bunker, given her connection to the prophecy, but does this version of Uncle Ben also have some sort of connection to it? I know that Ezekiel invited our Peter to go to the bunker as well, but are we really supposed to believe that some form of Ezekiel tried to get every Spider-Man to go into a bunker? Moreover, how did Ezekiel know so much about the Inheritors in the first place? In other words, I feel like we're missing really basic information about the Inheritors, their goals, and their history, and it seems unlikely that just one issue is going to answer all of them.
Moreover, Slott barely has time to incorporate the events from the tie-in series into this issue. Ben's death is mentioned in passing, and we never learn what Miguel and May were trying to invent in 2099. Moreover, Solus barely acknowledges Jennix revealing that they can no longer clone themselves, a fairly major development given that he himself dies at the end of this issue. I get arrogance, but you'd think, at some point, he'd acknowledge that they have to be a little more cautious than they normally would be. But, we move right past it, despite it being possibly the most relevant development of this entire event.
I'm hopeful that the four tie-in issues remaining before issue #14 will help answer at least some of these questions. But, at this point, it's hard to describe this event as "fun." I'm mostly just looking for Slott to check these remaining boxes, since I've given up hope of seeing meaningful interaction between all the Spiders. Let's just wrap up this event so that we can move onto..."Secret Wars." [Sigh.]
** (two of five stars)
On a positive side, everything flows more or less logically, even if Slott pushes the boundaries of our willful suspension of disbelief at certain points. Anya's connection to some sort of mystical cult enables her to read the scrolls that Jessica sent to Peter; the prophecy is that the Spiders will defeat the Inheritors in a thousand years unless they sacrifice the Bride, Other, and Scion to wipe out all the Spiders, now and forever. Fortunately for the Inheritors, Silk has decided to go to Loomworld to save Jessica, given her guilt over abandoning her there, and an enraged Kaine decides to avenge Ben's death by taking out the Inheritors on his own. (The fact that Marvel clearly puts "Scarlet Spiders" #3 after this issue on its checklist knocked off a full star in my book. It's a careless mistake that unnecessarily spoils the ending of that mini-series.) With all the pieces in place on Loomworld for the Inheritors to complete the ceremony, the Spiders are left little option but to get there to try to prevent them from doing so.
My problem, though, is that we are really, really rushing at this point. Slott has been building to this event for the better part of a year, ever since we got our first peek at Cindy in "Amazing Spider-Man" #1. But, with only one issues left, we still have an incredible number of questions on the table. Who are the Inheritors? Why do they only feed off Spider Totems? What happened to Karn? He was a big deal in the "Edge of Spider-Verse" issues of this event, but we haven't seen him for a while. Also, I thought the female Inheritor that isn't Bora was Solus' wife, not daughter. If she's a daughter, does that mean that the mother really did die in in "Superior Spider-Man" #33? If so, does that mean that they only invented cloning after that incident? Turning to the prophecy, why did the Bride, Other, and Scion manifest now? Or, if they always exist in some form or another, why are the Inheritors trying to conduct the ceremony now? Moreover, why did Ezekiel send Uncle Ben to a bunker? It makes sense why he would want to send the Bride to the bunker, given her connection to the prophecy, but does this version of Uncle Ben also have some sort of connection to it? I know that Ezekiel invited our Peter to go to the bunker as well, but are we really supposed to believe that some form of Ezekiel tried to get every Spider-Man to go into a bunker? Moreover, how did Ezekiel know so much about the Inheritors in the first place? In other words, I feel like we're missing really basic information about the Inheritors, their goals, and their history, and it seems unlikely that just one issue is going to answer all of them.
Moreover, Slott barely has time to incorporate the events from the tie-in series into this issue. Ben's death is mentioned in passing, and we never learn what Miguel and May were trying to invent in 2099. Moreover, Solus barely acknowledges Jennix revealing that they can no longer clone themselves, a fairly major development given that he himself dies at the end of this issue. I get arrogance, but you'd think, at some point, he'd acknowledge that they have to be a little more cautious than they normally would be. But, we move right past it, despite it being possibly the most relevant development of this entire event.
I'm hopeful that the four tie-in issues remaining before issue #14 will help answer at least some of these questions. But, at this point, it's hard to describe this event as "fun." I'm mostly just looking for Slott to check these remaining boxes, since I've given up hope of seeing meaningful interaction between all the Spiders. Let's just wrap up this event so that we can move onto..."Secret Wars." [Sigh.]
** (two of five stars)
The Valiant #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
As evidence of the solid job that Lemire and Kindt are doing here, I saw the new "Ninjak" series advertised before I read this issue and, after reading it, am likely to get it. That's totally a win, from the perspective of Valiant's hopes for this series.
At this point, the biggest question that we still have on the table is why the Immortal Enemy strikes when he does. It seems like he hasn't necessarily come after every Geomancer, otherwise Gilad's face would likely have more scars. But, he does make a comment about reacting every time a Geomancer rises, so it's still not entirely clear how this dance works.
For the time being, the important part is that the dance has started. Rivera does a spectacular job showing the fear that the Enemy inspires, from Kay's frantic flight from him to Ninjak's unexpected paralyzation. One challenge that the author of any team book faces is that you have to make sure that the threats are believable, given that you're dealing with a number of incredibly powerful people. Rivera really conveys that here. I'm even freaking scared of the Enemy. After all, Lemire and Kindt are telling us that fiction can become real, as the Enemy takes the shape of a creepy villain from one of Kay's childhood books. (Who the hell would read that story to his kid?) So long as Carnage doesn't appear in my bedroom tonight, we should be good.
In showing how fearsome the Enemy is, the creative team also makes it clear why his arrival inspires the team to come together. (I'm not sure how Gilad and Ninjak got from the Arctic to Colorado so quickly, but I probably need to stop asking those questions about comics at this point.) We may not yet know why they're the heroes, but we know now that they are.
Again, all in all, the creative team is definitely delivering on the goal of introducing us to the Valiant universe while, at the same time, giving us an enjoyable story. Can't ask for much more than that without getting called greedy.
*** (three of five stars)
Star Wars #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I'm tempted not to review this series, just to enjoy it. I mean, it's "Star Wars." How do you critique "Star Wars?" Part of me wants to read it just so that it can be fun, approaching it with the same uncritical joy that I had for the franchise in 1983, when "Return of the Jedi" was the first movie that I ever saw in a movie theater. But, honestly, after Jar-Jar Binks, it's been clear for a while that we're not in 1983 anymore.
Except, maybe we are.
I don't know how Jason Aaron does it, but he manages to make you feel like you're watching the same characters on screen. It was obviously a wise choice to stage the series between the first and second movies, since the characters retain some of the innocent charm that they lose with the setbacks that "The Empire Strikes Back" hands them. Han Solo sounds like Han Solo. Threepio sounds like Threepio. Somehow, even Artoo sounds like Artoo. It's not just limited to the good guys. Darth Vader is sufficiently evil, using Storm Troopers to block Chewie's shots at him. In other words, it's not a struggle to engage with these characters in a new setting, even after all these years; it's like slipping into a warm bath.
Moreover, it's not just the characterization that Aaron gets perfect. Everything goes wrong for the team exactly the way that it always goes wrong. Of course Luke wanders from Han and Leia to stumble upon some slaves and, then, Vader. Of course Vader is the "negotiator." Of course scavengers have been quietly dismantling the Falcon so that it's not ready when the team needs to escape. Again, it all goes exactly how you'd expect it.
I don't know how long Aaron will be able to keep up this level of perfection, but, for this moment, at least, I am remarkably excited to essentially get a new "Star Wars" movie, in comic form. I can't think of higher praise to heap on Aaron than that.
***** (five of five stars)
Except, maybe we are.
I don't know how Jason Aaron does it, but he manages to make you feel like you're watching the same characters on screen. It was obviously a wise choice to stage the series between the first and second movies, since the characters retain some of the innocent charm that they lose with the setbacks that "The Empire Strikes Back" hands them. Han Solo sounds like Han Solo. Threepio sounds like Threepio. Somehow, even Artoo sounds like Artoo. It's not just limited to the good guys. Darth Vader is sufficiently evil, using Storm Troopers to block Chewie's shots at him. In other words, it's not a struggle to engage with these characters in a new setting, even after all these years; it's like slipping into a warm bath.
Moreover, it's not just the characterization that Aaron gets perfect. Everything goes wrong for the team exactly the way that it always goes wrong. Of course Luke wanders from Han and Leia to stumble upon some slaves and, then, Vader. Of course Vader is the "negotiator." Of course scavengers have been quietly dismantling the Falcon so that it's not ready when the team needs to escape. Again, it all goes exactly how you'd expect it.
I don't know how long Aaron will be able to keep up this level of perfection, but, for this moment, at least, I am remarkably excited to essentially get a new "Star Wars" movie, in comic form. I can't think of higher praise to heap on Aaron than that.
***** (five of five stars)
Captain Marvel #11 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I'm not really certain what happens here. Let's walk through it.
Last issue, Carol got a letter from her friends, describing how they worked together to defeat Grace Valentine. (Yay!) As a result, she got homesick (or her Spidey-Sense tingled, one or the other), so she had Lila Cheney return her to Earth to see her friends. (She's allegedly been gone the better part of a year, even though 12 issues in comic time is really just a few months. Whatevs. I have enough problems here.) However, instead of seeing her friends, she simply visits a comatose Tracy. (Kit doesn't appear to this issue, in a great example of pet peeve #2.) Grace Valentine is somehow no longer in prison and knew that Carol would be there, because she figured that Carol would've returned to Earth once she heard about Grace's misadventures. (Given that Carol and Grace have only confronted each other once, Grace knows a lot about Carol.) She and some woman named June apparently plan to steal Carol's powers, even though the whole reason that Grace hates Carol is that she didn't earn her powers in the same way that Grace earned her success. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess.) They've kidnapped a mall Santa Claus (because Christmas!) to use as a guinea pig, but Carol refuses to go down without a fight. Mall Santa Claus helps free her from June's power-dampening cuffs, because he winds up being the real Santa Claus! (In the world of gods and mutants, it really shouldn't be that big of a stretch that the Marvel Universe has a Santa, to be honest.) But, Grace and June have apparently also stashed explosions at the Fed, just to be extra dastardly, I guess. (After all, we're not given any reason why they're upset with the monetary authorities. Do they want interest rates to get even lower to help with their Christmas bills?) Carol uses Santa's bag and collections all the explosions in time to save the Fed. Hurrah!
In other words, this issue felt like DeConnick had her intern write it. It's a really rare miss for her, but I guess everyone has to have one.
* (one of five stars)
Last issue, Carol got a letter from her friends, describing how they worked together to defeat Grace Valentine. (Yay!) As a result, she got homesick (or her Spidey-Sense tingled, one or the other), so she had Lila Cheney return her to Earth to see her friends. (She's allegedly been gone the better part of a year, even though 12 issues in comic time is really just a few months. Whatevs. I have enough problems here.) However, instead of seeing her friends, she simply visits a comatose Tracy. (Kit doesn't appear to this issue, in a great example of pet peeve #2.) Grace Valentine is somehow no longer in prison and knew that Carol would be there, because she figured that Carol would've returned to Earth once she heard about Grace's misadventures. (Given that Carol and Grace have only confronted each other once, Grace knows a lot about Carol.) She and some woman named June apparently plan to steal Carol's powers, even though the whole reason that Grace hates Carol is that she didn't earn her powers in the same way that Grace earned her success. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess.) They've kidnapped a mall Santa Claus (because Christmas!) to use as a guinea pig, but Carol refuses to go down without a fight. Mall Santa Claus helps free her from June's power-dampening cuffs, because he winds up being the real Santa Claus! (In the world of gods and mutants, it really shouldn't be that big of a stretch that the Marvel Universe has a Santa, to be honest.) But, Grace and June have apparently also stashed explosions at the Fed, just to be extra dastardly, I guess. (After all, we're not given any reason why they're upset with the monetary authorities. Do they want interest rates to get even lower to help with their Christmas bills?) Carol uses Santa's bag and collections all the explosions in time to save the Fed. Hurrah!
In other words, this issue felt like DeConnick had her intern write it. It's a really rare miss for her, but I guess everyone has to have one.
* (one of five stars)
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Amazing X-Men #15 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
One of the best parts of this series, for me, is the fact that we finally get to see the original "all-new" X-Men in action together. Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm are part of the X-Men of my childhood, right up there with Dazzler, Havok, Longshot, Psylocke, Rogue, and (unfortunately) Wolverine. I'd love to see Dazzler and Havok leave Cyclops at some point and join this team, giving us pretty much the entire Outback team on one roster again. But, I'm patient. At this point, I'm quite happy with Firestar and Iceman taking their places (and generally tolerate Nightcrawler and Rockslide).
So far, this series has been a sort of "X-Men-lite," mostly because it hasn't focused too much on the soap opera that every X-Men title must have at its core. The characters have certainly interacted with each other, but we haven't really delved into their feelings for one another. Yost changed that with this issue, putting Colossus and Storm at odds as she tries to protect him from the influence of Cyttorak. Although I initially found Storm telling Peter that he's the "strongest and yet somehow weakest" of them to be harsh, I have to say that I eventually saw her point. She lists the people that have exerted influence over him in the past, and it's not a short one: Cyclops, Cable, Magic, Cyttorak, Phoenix. It's clear that this arc is going to be about Peter seeking redemption, and I, for one, am excited to read that story.
By finally adding in the soap-opera elements, Yost is really elevating this series as a valid counterpoint to Bendis' series about the Brotherhood, telling the story of the School-based team without the burden of following all the students. Now all we need is Dazzler and Havok...
**** (four of five stars)
So far, this series has been a sort of "X-Men-lite," mostly because it hasn't focused too much on the soap opera that every X-Men title must have at its core. The characters have certainly interacted with each other, but we haven't really delved into their feelings for one another. Yost changed that with this issue, putting Colossus and Storm at odds as she tries to protect him from the influence of Cyttorak. Although I initially found Storm telling Peter that he's the "strongest and yet somehow weakest" of them to be harsh, I have to say that I eventually saw her point. She lists the people that have exerted influence over him in the past, and it's not a short one: Cyclops, Cable, Magic, Cyttorak, Phoenix. It's clear that this arc is going to be about Peter seeking redemption, and I, for one, am excited to read that story.
By finally adding in the soap-opera elements, Yost is really elevating this series as a valid counterpoint to Bendis' series about the Brotherhood, telling the story of the School-based team without the burden of following all the students. Now all we need is Dazzler and Havok...
**** (four of five stars)
All-New Captain America #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
With "Axis" done, it's nice to return to a world where I get to marvel at how much I love Rick Remender every month.
Remender is admittedly forced to use a little more exposition than we should probably see in this issue, but he does his best to justify it. Sin recounts the story of "Snap" Wilson for Sam, reminding him of the Red Skull's claim that he used the Cosmic Cube to change Sam's past from drug dealer to noble hero. She does so not only to convey this (alleged) part of Sam's history to the reader, but also because she's trying to rile up Sam. She needs to break him so that she can us his destruction later to break Steve. I have to give Remender credit for making this effort to justify the cliché of the super-villain not immediately killing the hero, instead delivering a monologue that gives him time to escape. From Sin's perspective, it's the realization of her father's plan, to re-write Sam's history to make him so noble that Steve would be inspired to trust him. Sin claims that her father then used Sam to spy on Steve, though Remender doesn't spend too much time trying to explore that. Instead, he wisely moves the goal to creating a confidante whose destruction would bring down Steve with him. She, of course, fails, and Sam manages to emerge from this lie all the stronger.
The obvious goal of this issue is to ret-con the ret-con. I don't know much about Sam's history, since I only started reading "Captain America" in the mid-1980s and he had ceased to be a huge player by then. Remender has been using these first few issues of the series to introduce readers like me to Sam's history, just as he used the first few issues of his run on "Captain America" to explore Steve's past. As a result, we learn of this incredibly racist ret-con that happened at some point. The best moment of this issue is when Remender addresses that racism head on, with Sam declaring that the idea of "Snap" Wilson haunts him not because he believed it, but because they did. They chose that story because it's what they believed that Sam should be. In that way, Remender's accurately saying that it haunts all of us, and he thankfully dismisses it here. Sam is Captain fucking America, as he declares (without swearing) at the end of the issue, and we can all move forward from here.
**** (four of five stars)
Remender is admittedly forced to use a little more exposition than we should probably see in this issue, but he does his best to justify it. Sin recounts the story of "Snap" Wilson for Sam, reminding him of the Red Skull's claim that he used the Cosmic Cube to change Sam's past from drug dealer to noble hero. She does so not only to convey this (alleged) part of Sam's history to the reader, but also because she's trying to rile up Sam. She needs to break him so that she can us his destruction later to break Steve. I have to give Remender credit for making this effort to justify the cliché of the super-villain not immediately killing the hero, instead delivering a monologue that gives him time to escape. From Sin's perspective, it's the realization of her father's plan, to re-write Sam's history to make him so noble that Steve would be inspired to trust him. Sin claims that her father then used Sam to spy on Steve, though Remender doesn't spend too much time trying to explore that. Instead, he wisely moves the goal to creating a confidante whose destruction would bring down Steve with him. She, of course, fails, and Sam manages to emerge from this lie all the stronger.
The obvious goal of this issue is to ret-con the ret-con. I don't know much about Sam's history, since I only started reading "Captain America" in the mid-1980s and he had ceased to be a huge player by then. Remender has been using these first few issues of the series to introduce readers like me to Sam's history, just as he used the first few issues of his run on "Captain America" to explore Steve's past. As a result, we learn of this incredibly racist ret-con that happened at some point. The best moment of this issue is when Remender addresses that racism head on, with Sam declaring that the idea of "Snap" Wilson haunts him not because he believed it, but because they did. They chose that story because it's what they believed that Sam should be. In that way, Remender's accurately saying that it haunts all of us, and he thankfully dismisses it here. Sam is Captain fucking America, as he declares (without swearing) at the end of the issue, and we can all move forward from here.
**** (four of five stars)
Friday, February 6, 2015
Spider-Verse #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Ho boy. I wish I could say that this issue was high/low, but it's really more mediocre/low.
The Anansi story is the nadir, because it doesn't make a lick of sense. I read it twice and still have no idea what Immonen was trying to say. How did Anansi pretending that the tiger stole Mr. Mighty's sheep get him to learn how to take care of them by himself? How did that lesson (even if it did make sense) serve as a metaphor for Spider-UK and his request that Anansi help him? What the hell happened at the end with all the baa-ing sheep and the jug? No idea.
The Mexican Spider-Man story was OK, but it's really only remarkable for the fact that it's in Spanish. This version of Spider-Man watches his luchador father get killed by another luchador, though we never get any explanation of why he'd want him dead (or how he somehow escaped going to prison for murder). He rescues a girl here, but, again, we never really learn why she was kidnapped. Maybe we do, but my Spanish isn't good enough to understand the explanation. The art is pretty great, but, given how many times we've seen alternate Spidey origin-stories at this point, you've got to do something more than nice art to justify taking up space.
Similarly, the Punk Spider-Man story is OK, but not great. It's not exactly the Spider-Gwen issue of "Edge of Spider-Verse," where Latour managed to create an entire world in just a few pages. I'm not saying that it's not creative in its own way. For example, I liked Mackay re-imaging the Venom symbiote as a type of armor that "President" Osborn created to empower his soldiers to keep order. Spidey doesn't even actually use his powers in this story; he simply uses his guitar (and a lot of amps) to save the day. But, it's a fairly contained story that doesn't really hint all that much at a complicated world; we all know a fascist empire when we see one.
Finally, Slott gives us a story involving banter between two Spider-Men, but it's unclear how important it is. They try to figure out the difference between them, can't, and decide that it's probably a small one. It seems rife with portent, but, if it is, it's too subtle for me to get. Instead, it got me thinking about how Slott is pretty much defining "every Spider-Man ever" as every second of every Spider-Man's life creating a different Spider-Man, and it's just too much thinking for a Thursday night.
** (two of five stars)
Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 and All-New X-Men Annual #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
OK, many thoughts.
Overall, these two issues are really well done. (In all honesty, they're essentially one long issue, so I'm going to refer to them that way here.) Bendis loves a time-travel story; at this point, he knows not to get too lost in the physics questions and focus instead on the emotional aspects. Throughout the first part of the issue, he shows us Eva's struggle just to confirm what year it is, confirming how desperately lost she really is. In the second part, he makes clear her panic as she worries that she might never see her family again, setting up the devastating moment when she has to accept that. Moreover, he conveys these emotions through a series of small moments, such as the Rawhide Kid pretending to threaten Eva's life to get her to jump to safety (and then quietly wishing her good luck) or Eva suffering a truly horrifying dream as her subconscious acknowledges the loss of her daughter before she does. Bendis also keeps you engaged by dropping hints at the near future of the Marvel Universe, with a dying Magic insisting that Eva make sure that the Beast stands trial for his crimes and Tony Stark (now Sorcerer Supreme) telling her that he's going to soon face an existential crisis. Throughout the issue, Sorrentino's unique visual approach manages to capture these small moments just as beautifully as the big ones (like fleeing dinosaurs or fighting Morgana Le Fey). In the end, the pair delivers a detailed character study of the best new character to come from the re-launch of "Uncanny X-Men."
But...
...I'll admit that I found it hard to entirely disregard that physics questions. Maybe if this story was the only time-travel story on the shelves this month from Marvel, I would've been able to shrug my shoulders and go with it. But, we've got a whole event -- "Spider-Verse" -- that involves multiple characters moving through time. In fact, "Spider-Man 2099" is based on Miguel O'Hara getting thrown into the past and trying to return to his own future. He successfully managed to do that in issue #6 and, so far, as far as we know, everything is the same. Gabe, the Punisher, and Tyler Stone all knew who he was. As a result, you have to wonder why Eva's 2099 disappeared entirely once she returned to the past. Miguel had even spent a few weeks in 2014, and his world is, again, as far as we know, the same as it was when he left; Eva was only gone for a few minutes, and it disappeared completely. Even within other time-travel stories that Bendis has told, the future hasn't completely crumbled when someone gets sent into the past. The Brotherhood of the future that we saw in "X-Men: Battle of the Atom" makes sure that it sends word of its failures to its future self so that it can alter its strategy. That wouldn't work if its future self ceased to exist the minute that its members jumped into the past.
Unfortunately, these questions aren't just abstract musings on the nature of the space/time continuum. The entire story revolves around the idea that Eva's future crumbles the minute that she leaves it. Despite Bendis and Sorrentino doing a great job of getting us to feel Eva's plight deeply, I'm only giving this issue three stars because the time-travel inconsistencies can't simply be ignored.
*** (three of five stars)
Overall, these two issues are really well done. (In all honesty, they're essentially one long issue, so I'm going to refer to them that way here.) Bendis loves a time-travel story; at this point, he knows not to get too lost in the physics questions and focus instead on the emotional aspects. Throughout the first part of the issue, he shows us Eva's struggle just to confirm what year it is, confirming how desperately lost she really is. In the second part, he makes clear her panic as she worries that she might never see her family again, setting up the devastating moment when she has to accept that. Moreover, he conveys these emotions through a series of small moments, such as the Rawhide Kid pretending to threaten Eva's life to get her to jump to safety (and then quietly wishing her good luck) or Eva suffering a truly horrifying dream as her subconscious acknowledges the loss of her daughter before she does. Bendis also keeps you engaged by dropping hints at the near future of the Marvel Universe, with a dying Magic insisting that Eva make sure that the Beast stands trial for his crimes and Tony Stark (now Sorcerer Supreme) telling her that he's going to soon face an existential crisis. Throughout the issue, Sorrentino's unique visual approach manages to capture these small moments just as beautifully as the big ones (like fleeing dinosaurs or fighting Morgana Le Fey). In the end, the pair delivers a detailed character study of the best new character to come from the re-launch of "Uncanny X-Men."
But...
...I'll admit that I found it hard to entirely disregard that physics questions. Maybe if this story was the only time-travel story on the shelves this month from Marvel, I would've been able to shrug my shoulders and go with it. But, we've got a whole event -- "Spider-Verse" -- that involves multiple characters moving through time. In fact, "Spider-Man 2099" is based on Miguel O'Hara getting thrown into the past and trying to return to his own future. He successfully managed to do that in issue #6 and, so far, as far as we know, everything is the same. Gabe, the Punisher, and Tyler Stone all knew who he was. As a result, you have to wonder why Eva's 2099 disappeared entirely once she returned to the past. Miguel had even spent a few weeks in 2014, and his world is, again, as far as we know, the same as it was when he left; Eva was only gone for a few minutes, and it disappeared completely. Even within other time-travel stories that Bendis has told, the future hasn't completely crumbled when someone gets sent into the past. The Brotherhood of the future that we saw in "X-Men: Battle of the Atom" makes sure that it sends word of its failures to its future self so that it can alter its strategy. That wouldn't work if its future self ceased to exist the minute that its members jumped into the past.
Unfortunately, these questions aren't just abstract musings on the nature of the space/time continuum. The entire story revolves around the idea that Eva's future crumbles the minute that she leaves it. Despite Bendis and Sorrentino doing a great job of getting us to feel Eva's plight deeply, I'm only giving this issue three stars because the time-travel inconsistencies can't simply be ignored.
*** (three of five stars)
Thursday, February 5, 2015
The Valiant #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I've never read a Valiant comic. I remember all the cool kids at the comic-book shop in the '90s were reading "X-O Manowar," but, alas, I wasn't a cool kid, so I wasn't. As such, this series is meant exactly for me, the collector who feels intimidated jumping into an entirely new universe. The good news is that Lemire and Kindt do a great job making it an easy introduction.
By the end of the issue, we know the back stories of a few characters that I recognize just from being a denizen of comic-book shops, such as Bloodshot, Armstrong (of Archer and Armstrong), and X-O Manowar. We're also introduced to Gilad the Eternal Warrior (Armstrong's brother) and the Geomancer, and Lemire does it in a way that similarly gives you a good sense of who they are and what their goals are. We've even identified the Big Bad, the Immortal Enemy. It's still not clear why the Immortal Enemy is charged with killing Geomancers or why Gilad is charged with saving them, but I assume that we'll get there. We've also got some spy stuff happening on the margins, with Bloodshot collecting some sort of mysterious pacakage for MI-6, that I assume will be important later.
In other words, if you were tempted to get this issue, follow that hunch and get it. It's not only a great introduction to Valiant, but it's actually, most importantly, an interesting story, and God knows we need as many as those as we can get in comics.
*** (three of five stars)
By the end of the issue, we know the back stories of a few characters that I recognize just from being a denizen of comic-book shops, such as Bloodshot, Armstrong (of Archer and Armstrong), and X-O Manowar. We're also introduced to Gilad the Eternal Warrior (Armstrong's brother) and the Geomancer, and Lemire does it in a way that similarly gives you a good sense of who they are and what their goals are. We've even identified the Big Bad, the Immortal Enemy. It's still not clear why the Immortal Enemy is charged with killing Geomancers or why Gilad is charged with saving them, but I assume that we'll get there. We've also got some spy stuff happening on the margins, with Bloodshot collecting some sort of mysterious pacakage for MI-6, that I assume will be important later.
In other words, if you were tempted to get this issue, follow that hunch and get it. It's not only a great introduction to Valiant, but it's actually, most importantly, an interesting story, and God knows we need as many as those as we can get in comics.
*** (three of five stars)
Miracleman #14 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
When I did some research on "Miracleman" before getting the first issue, it was clear that issues #15 and #16 were going to be particularly brutal. At first, that didn't seem to be too high of a bar. It wasn't like the first few issues were tame exactly; after all, Miracleman spends most of issue #2 with a burnt-off face as a result of his confrontation with Kid Miracleman. But, they all seemed within the bounds of the adult-oriented comics that an independent publisher in the 1980s would be producing. The violence steadily increased over the next few issues, with Cream's decapitated head narrating issue #7 and Moore describing Gargunza serially raping Miraclewoman in issue #13. The art also got more graphic, such as the scenes showing Liz giving birth in issue #9.
This issue is clearly a prelude of the heightened level of violence to come. Johnny Bates is raped by a sadist in the home where he's lodged, and it forces him to release Kid Miracleman to protect himself. I'm not a fan of rape as a plot device, but Moore at least doesn't make this one as gratuitous as Miraclewoman's. (Just writing that sentence makes me feel dirty, in a moral-relativism kind of way.) Moore makes it clear how Johnny's Dickensian existence over the last few issues finally pushed him over the brink. In fact, the scene is made all the worse by the fact that Johnny seems to understand just how terrible what he's doing is; he keenly feels it as a failure on his part. Moreover, the returned Bates' rampage through the home is a level of brutality that I'm not sure I've seen in comics; his cruel murder of the nurse reminds us that he has become evil incarnate.
On Johnny, I'll say that I'm interested to learn more about him. Moore's thesis when it comes to him is that absolute power corrupted him absolutely. It's a valid thesis, but I'm not sure if it explains his actions. Losing his grip on humanity after spending so much time as Kid Miracleman is one thing. But, why would he feel the need to murder indiscriminately, as he does here? On some level, wouldn't the nurse be beneath his notice? If you really view yourself as a god, why bother with the little people? I feel like we're missing the explanation for why he decided to use his power in the way that he does, to damage humanity, since ignoring (or helping) them remained a completely valid option. I feel like Moore is going to get there in these next issues, so it's not a complaint so much as a question.
Looking at the rest of the issue, we continue to get future Miracleman's weird narration as he dances some sort of dance, presumably in his fortress. But, more importantly, we witness the "death" of Mike Moran in this issue. Liz has been driven to leave Miracleman since she can't take the pressure of existing as a lesser being to her husband and daughter, and Winter, freed from her concern for her mother, departs to find the Qys and learn more about her powers. Having lost everything connecting him to his past life, Mike hikes into the mountains and turns into Miracleman for the last time. It's a profoundly sad moment raises all sorts of questions about whether he's now on the same path as the one that Johnny took. But, again, it goes to this question about motivations: what turned Johnny bad but what might keep Mike good?
Finally, we get some more insight into the mythos of this world, learning that a "firedrake" is the first person on a planet to create fire. We meet an ancestor of Earth's firedrake here, learning that the Qys originally came to Earth to find him. (Their crash provides the impetus for the creation of Miracleman.) We're also reminded of the other "extraordinary" being on Earth: "Big Ben." He appeared briefly in issue #4, a failed post-Gargunza experiment driven insane. It'll be interesting to see if he appears again. We also watch Miracleman construct his subterranean lair, "Silence," a reflection of the loneliness that he feels now that he's lost his family (and, in a way, himself). In other words, a lot of hints about the future that we've seen previously in this series are starting to come together.
Finally, we get some more insight into the mythos of this world, learning that a "firedrake" is the first person on a planet to create fire. We meet an ancestor of Earth's firedrake here, learning that the Qys originally came to Earth to find him. (Their crash provides the impetus for the creation of Miracleman.) We're also reminded of the other "extraordinary" being on Earth: "Big Ben." He appeared briefly in issue #4, a failed post-Gargunza experiment driven insane. It'll be interesting to see if he appears again. We also watch Miracleman construct his subterranean lair, "Silence," a reflection of the loneliness that he feels now that he's lost his family (and, in a way, himself). In other words, a lot of hints about the future that we've seen previously in this series are starting to come together.
*** (three of five stars)
Legendary Star-Lord #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
First, Williams is a solid substitute for Medina. The flying fortress looks...fortress-y. I'd also like to thank him for giving Peter chest hair. It's nice that not all the men of the Marvel Universe look like 15-year-olds. (OK, Peter's eyes do occasionally look a little animé glittery, but I'm willing to look past it.)
First things first: who the hell is Lydia? I mean, I get that she's Peter's spaceship's computer, but am I really supposed to recognize her? Humphries implies that I should, but I spent the first two pages of this issue wondering just who the hell she was. I also don't get how she knew to look for Kitty. I get how she found Kitty, triangulating off the phone that she used to call Peter. But, how did she know that Kitty needed to be found?
Anyway, other than those small (well, not really all that small) problems, I enjoyed this issue. I loved when Peter is so angry at his father that he just starts shouting crimes. "Fraud!" "Extortion!" "Stealing!" I also love how deliciously evil J'Son has become. We're a long way from the dashing young pilot that romanced Peter's mom after crashing on Earth. I didn't actually buy this transition at first, when Bendis was writing about it. But, Humphries actually seems to argue here that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that the crown has been on J'Son's head too long. His tirade about people only caring about the person on the end of the gun -- regardless of whether he's a criminal or a king -- is a great example of how much he craves any sort of power. Humphries really sells this transition to me for the first time.
Moreover, Kitty is straight-up bad-ass here. Getting Lydia to practically crash the ship into the fortress so that Kitty could phase at rapid speed to where Peter was? Straight-up. Bad-ass. Also, punching out J'Son? What a way to meet the in-laws! I love that the women in Peter's life frequently have to save him, and he has no problem being the damsel in distress. His charm is essentially his mutant power at this point.
Hopefully the two of them get to...ahem...enjoy their time together before everything goes to hell...you know, next issue.
*** (three of five stars)
First things first: who the hell is Lydia? I mean, I get that she's Peter's spaceship's computer, but am I really supposed to recognize her? Humphries implies that I should, but I spent the first two pages of this issue wondering just who the hell she was. I also don't get how she knew to look for Kitty. I get how she found Kitty, triangulating off the phone that she used to call Peter. But, how did she know that Kitty needed to be found?
Anyway, other than those small (well, not really all that small) problems, I enjoyed this issue. I loved when Peter is so angry at his father that he just starts shouting crimes. "Fraud!" "Extortion!" "Stealing!" I also love how deliciously evil J'Son has become. We're a long way from the dashing young pilot that romanced Peter's mom after crashing on Earth. I didn't actually buy this transition at first, when Bendis was writing about it. But, Humphries actually seems to argue here that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that the crown has been on J'Son's head too long. His tirade about people only caring about the person on the end of the gun -- regardless of whether he's a criminal or a king -- is a great example of how much he craves any sort of power. Humphries really sells this transition to me for the first time.
Moreover, Kitty is straight-up bad-ass here. Getting Lydia to practically crash the ship into the fortress so that Kitty could phase at rapid speed to where Peter was? Straight-up. Bad-ass. Also, punching out J'Son? What a way to meet the in-laws! I love that the women in Peter's life frequently have to save him, and he has no problem being the damsel in distress. His charm is essentially his mutant power at this point.
Hopefully the two of them get to...ahem...enjoy their time together before everything goes to hell...you know, next issue.
*** (three of five stars)
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Spider-Man 2099 #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Spider-Man! Spider-Lady! I have an offer to make you!" "That's 'Lady Spider.'" "You may want to think about changing it." -- Daemos, "Lady Spider," and Miguel
Summary
Miguel and May watch as Daemos struggles against his bonds. May asks if he could escape, and Miguel assures her that the energy levels increase according to the pressure that he exerts against them; in other words, he'd have to take out the Eastern Seaboard's power grid just to make a dent in it. He then escorts May to see Tyler. He demands a lab from Tyler to inspect Daemos' body and orders him to send someone to collect it from where they hid it. Tyler asks why he should do it, and Miguel basically threatens his life if he doesn't; Tyler concedes the point and orders Winston on it.
Miguel and May are dissecting Daemos' body while Daemos hurls abuse at them through the monitors. Daemos asks Miguel if he really thinks that he can't escape, and Miguel says that the field would kill him before he could. Daemos makes fun of Miguel for believing that he can stop the Inheritors, but Miguel stops paying attention to him. He tells May that he'll continue working on the body, but orders her to work on the bracelet that he got off the arm of another Spider-Man that warned him about the Inheritors. (He's referring to the other Spider-Man 2099 that appeared before him at the end of issue #5.) Miguel hypothesizes that it controls interdimensional jumps, but, since it's not his field of expertise, he wants her to look at it, with the help of Alchemax' "analytic machinery." May remarks on the amazing powers of the computer, and Miguel tells her that she could learn a lot if she sticks with him. Tyler is watching from his office and remarks, "Indeed. We all will."
Daemos calls to Miguel and May again, this time telling them that he and his siblings will spare their lives if they release him. May discovers the controls for the armband, and Miguel laments that he can't find an alternate food source other than Spiders that the Inheritors could digest. Daemos demands an answer to his offer, and Miguel declines, since Daemos is "evil" and he's not going to sacrifice the other Spiders so that he can live. (May concurs.) Daemos accepts the answer and begins some sort of meditation as Miguel heads to another lab, telling May to keep an eye on Daemos. In said lab, a technician confirms to Miguel that they cured something in the 2040s and tells Miguel that he can synthesize a cure in two minutes. Miguel tells him to do it, but he's distracted by Lady Spider telling him that the silent Daemos is worrying her. She then tells him to get there immediately, and he arrives in time to see Daemos intentionally kill himself on the field so that he can re-spawn in a new body. Miguel orders May to the lab and tells her that he hopes that she's fixed the device. She tells him not to worry about it and asks about Daemos. He figures that Daemos is probably on the way to them but tells her that he has a "good acquaintance" on call to slow down Daemos.
On cue, Daemos is blown off a flybike by a plasma blast, fired by the Punisher. (Hurrah!) Daemos charges him, but the Punisher blasts him again. Daemos manages to get under the next shot, separating Jake from the weapon. Jake pulls out a baseball bat; Daemos expresses disbelief that Jake thinks that it can hurt him, until Jake reveals that it's titanium and starts whaling on him with it. Daemos tells him that he'll need more than that to stop him, and Jake immolates him with a plasma-gas cannon. Daemos asks if he thinks that it'll hurt him; Jake says that he doesn't, but that he doubts "it will do the ground beneath [him] much good." Daemos then plummets into Downtown, and Jake tells Miguel that he's bought him some time, but they should flee. At Alchemax, May asks where they want to go, and Miguel tells her the Safe Zone. They arrive, only to be stunned by the dead bodies littering the field.
The Review
This issue has some obvious plot holes, as I detail in the "Bad" section, but I'm giving it three stars because the banter between Miguel and May is particularly fun. But, it's a weak three.
The Good
1) I was somewhat disbelieving that Tyler was so afraid of Miguel that he caved when threatened by him. But, it makes much more sense that he's allowing Miguel to run his experiments so that he can observe and learn from them. Crafty!
2) OMG, yay, the Punisher! Although I've enjoyed Miguel's time in 2014, I've been waiting somewhat impatiently for us to return to 2099 to see where all my favorite characters from that era are. (I was going to try to get through an entire post about this series without talking about continuity, but it looks like I'm going to fail that pledge here. I'll try to keep it short: since it's unclear where in Miguel's original history we are, it's also unclear which characters are still alive. I'm glad to see the Punisher is one of them.) This sequence was worth the wait. Jake doesn't exactly have the same...um...reservations that the Spiders have when it comes to killing, so it's fun to see one of the Inheritors face someone who never even wore kid gloves in the first place.
3) Also, the splash page of the Punisher made me happy. It really made you feel like you were witnessing a Moment. Nice job, Sliney!
The Unknown
My gut tells me that Spidey has the technician whip up a cure for some sort of ailment that he discovered that Lady Spider has. If not, I'm curious to see what disease he needs to cure and why he needs to cure it.
The Bad
1) Throughout the start of the issue, I was annoyed because it was so obvious that Daemos should just kill himself to re-spawn in a new body. Thankfully, he thought the same thing, so I don't have to go on a tirade. But, a lot of the activity surrounding that fact doesn't make a ton of sense. First, why would Miguel admit to Daemos that the field would kill him if he pressed too much against it? Sure, he had the Punisher waiting in the wings, but he wouldn't have even needed him if he hadn't tipped his hand to Daemos. I guess Daemos would've eventually figure out that he could kill himself on it, but, given that time was off the essence, it seemed a colossal (and uncharacteristic) mistake on the part of Miguel to give him that information for free. Second, once Daemos knew that the field could kill him, why bother negotiating with Miguel and May in the first place? Why not just kill himself immediately? I mean, I don't think anyone believed that he'd spare them, but I don't understand why he even wasted time bothering to pretend.
2) In the end, the dissection of Daemos doesn't really seem to have netted us much. Sure, it was fun to be in 2099. But, Miguel didn't really learn anything, since he couldn't figure out an alternate food source. I get that not every line of inquiry needs to yield useful information, since that's actually much more realistic. But, given how many separate stories we have running in the background of "Spider-Verse," I'm not sure why Slott spun off one that wasn't going to accomplish anything.
Favorite Quote: "Spider-Man! Spider-Lady! I have an offer to make you!" "That's 'Lady Spider.'" "You may want to think about changing it." -- Daemos, "Lady Spider," and Miguel
Summary
Miguel and May watch as Daemos struggles against his bonds. May asks if he could escape, and Miguel assures her that the energy levels increase according to the pressure that he exerts against them; in other words, he'd have to take out the Eastern Seaboard's power grid just to make a dent in it. He then escorts May to see Tyler. He demands a lab from Tyler to inspect Daemos' body and orders him to send someone to collect it from where they hid it. Tyler asks why he should do it, and Miguel basically threatens his life if he doesn't; Tyler concedes the point and orders Winston on it.
Miguel and May are dissecting Daemos' body while Daemos hurls abuse at them through the monitors. Daemos asks Miguel if he really thinks that he can't escape, and Miguel says that the field would kill him before he could. Daemos makes fun of Miguel for believing that he can stop the Inheritors, but Miguel stops paying attention to him. He tells May that he'll continue working on the body, but orders her to work on the bracelet that he got off the arm of another Spider-Man that warned him about the Inheritors. (He's referring to the other Spider-Man 2099 that appeared before him at the end of issue #5.) Miguel hypothesizes that it controls interdimensional jumps, but, since it's not his field of expertise, he wants her to look at it, with the help of Alchemax' "analytic machinery." May remarks on the amazing powers of the computer, and Miguel tells her that she could learn a lot if she sticks with him. Tyler is watching from his office and remarks, "Indeed. We all will."
Daemos calls to Miguel and May again, this time telling them that he and his siblings will spare their lives if they release him. May discovers the controls for the armband, and Miguel laments that he can't find an alternate food source other than Spiders that the Inheritors could digest. Daemos demands an answer to his offer, and Miguel declines, since Daemos is "evil" and he's not going to sacrifice the other Spiders so that he can live. (May concurs.) Daemos accepts the answer and begins some sort of meditation as Miguel heads to another lab, telling May to keep an eye on Daemos. In said lab, a technician confirms to Miguel that they cured something in the 2040s and tells Miguel that he can synthesize a cure in two minutes. Miguel tells him to do it, but he's distracted by Lady Spider telling him that the silent Daemos is worrying her. She then tells him to get there immediately, and he arrives in time to see Daemos intentionally kill himself on the field so that he can re-spawn in a new body. Miguel orders May to the lab and tells her that he hopes that she's fixed the device. She tells him not to worry about it and asks about Daemos. He figures that Daemos is probably on the way to them but tells her that he has a "good acquaintance" on call to slow down Daemos.
On cue, Daemos is blown off a flybike by a plasma blast, fired by the Punisher. (Hurrah!) Daemos charges him, but the Punisher blasts him again. Daemos manages to get under the next shot, separating Jake from the weapon. Jake pulls out a baseball bat; Daemos expresses disbelief that Jake thinks that it can hurt him, until Jake reveals that it's titanium and starts whaling on him with it. Daemos tells him that he'll need more than that to stop him, and Jake immolates him with a plasma-gas cannon. Daemos asks if he thinks that it'll hurt him; Jake says that he doesn't, but that he doubts "it will do the ground beneath [him] much good." Daemos then plummets into Downtown, and Jake tells Miguel that he's bought him some time, but they should flee. At Alchemax, May asks where they want to go, and Miguel tells her the Safe Zone. They arrive, only to be stunned by the dead bodies littering the field.
The Review
This issue has some obvious plot holes, as I detail in the "Bad" section, but I'm giving it three stars because the banter between Miguel and May is particularly fun. But, it's a weak three.
The Good
1) I was somewhat disbelieving that Tyler was so afraid of Miguel that he caved when threatened by him. But, it makes much more sense that he's allowing Miguel to run his experiments so that he can observe and learn from them. Crafty!
2) OMG, yay, the Punisher! Although I've enjoyed Miguel's time in 2014, I've been waiting somewhat impatiently for us to return to 2099 to see where all my favorite characters from that era are. (I was going to try to get through an entire post about this series without talking about continuity, but it looks like I'm going to fail that pledge here. I'll try to keep it short: since it's unclear where in Miguel's original history we are, it's also unclear which characters are still alive. I'm glad to see the Punisher is one of them.) This sequence was worth the wait. Jake doesn't exactly have the same...um...reservations that the Spiders have when it comes to killing, so it's fun to see one of the Inheritors face someone who never even wore kid gloves in the first place.
3) Also, the splash page of the Punisher made me happy. It really made you feel like you were witnessing a Moment. Nice job, Sliney!
The Unknown
My gut tells me that Spidey has the technician whip up a cure for some sort of ailment that he discovered that Lady Spider has. If not, I'm curious to see what disease he needs to cure and why he needs to cure it.
The Bad
1) Throughout the start of the issue, I was annoyed because it was so obvious that Daemos should just kill himself to re-spawn in a new body. Thankfully, he thought the same thing, so I don't have to go on a tirade. But, a lot of the activity surrounding that fact doesn't make a ton of sense. First, why would Miguel admit to Daemos that the field would kill him if he pressed too much against it? Sure, he had the Punisher waiting in the wings, but he wouldn't have even needed him if he hadn't tipped his hand to Daemos. I guess Daemos would've eventually figure out that he could kill himself on it, but, given that time was off the essence, it seemed a colossal (and uncharacteristic) mistake on the part of Miguel to give him that information for free. Second, once Daemos knew that the field could kill him, why bother negotiating with Miguel and May in the first place? Why not just kill himself immediately? I mean, I don't think anyone believed that he'd spare them, but I don't understand why he even wasted time bothering to pretend.
2) In the end, the dissection of Daemos doesn't really seem to have netted us much. Sure, it was fun to be in 2099. But, Miguel didn't really learn anything, since he couldn't figure out an alternate food source. I get that not every line of inquiry needs to yield useful information, since that's actually much more realistic. But, given how many separate stories we have running in the background of "Spider-Verse," I'm not sure why Slott spun off one that wasn't going to accomplish anything.
Amazing Spider-Man #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
OK, the wheels are starting to come off the bus a bit at this point.
Slott is doing his best, but it's clearly becoming a struggle coordinating all the various tie-in issues in a way that not only stays consistent with the stories that they're telling but also the characterizations of the characters that appear in them. For example, Morlun in portrayed as "Jessica's" loving boyfriend in "Spider-Woman," but he treats her as little better than the help in this issue. We also see Peter return with Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen with three new Japanese Spider-Men, despite the fact that we never actually saw that mission. It seems weird at this point that we've got an entire mini-series dedicated to following the Clone Club (Kaine would hate that name), but we're barely following Peter's story. Moreover, we're just introducing Spider-Totems willy-nilly now, with no attempt to identify their Earth or their personalities.
Slott tries to address this chaos by making it clear that Peter feels equally overwhelmed by it as well. I'll admit that it more or less works (even though it doesn't account for the varying characterizations). Slott also tries to sell us on the idea that some of the coincidences and lucky breaks that we've seen throughout this event (like Jessica's counterpart on Loomworld being a member of their household staff) are a direct result of the Weaver's interference. It's the sort of argument that works if you don't think about it too hard. If you do think about it, then it sort of unravels. I mean, it took the Weaver millennia to get Spider-Woman to the Loomworld, but then he managed just to whip up two prophesy scrolls? Again, it's better not to think about these questions.
Slott hints at a larger plan afoot, implying that the Inheritors want to do more than just kill the Totems. In so doing, he seems to clarify why the Inheritors have started their crusade now, since their goal appears to be forestalling the prophesy that seems to be in play. But, we're going to have to wait to get more information.
In other words, this issue isn't as carefully constructed as Slott's issues normally are. Now, I have to admit that he sets a usually high bar, so I don't want to be too hard on him. Plus, every event has an issue where everything gets a little hard to follow. But, I think it's time to start giving us some answer so that we can drop the tie-in stories and focus on the main event. Let's kick some Inheritor ass, shall we?
** (two of five stars)
Justice League #38 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Johns has been steadily building this story over the last few issues, but he really steps on the gas here.
As a result of getting infected last issue, Batman awesomely displays the powers of a bat. As a result, the Trinity realize that the powers that humans are developing upon exposure to the virus aren't random; at the very least, the victim's subconscious is molding them somehow. Lex admits to Superman that he created the virus to rob him of his powers, but that it failed. However, it's pretty clear that Lex isn't telling the whole truth, since the virus not only turns the infected into zombies connected to some sort of hive mind, but said hive mind seems to consider itself a sentient being. (Is it Lex's Ultron?)
Johns does a great job using the events themselves -- and not awkward exposition -- to provide us with the information that we get this issue. It's probably the first time since "Forever Evil" that I've really enjoyed this title this much, since I can't wait to see a bat-powered Batman whale on Superman. Also, I'm glad to see Jason Fabok here. I still think his run with Layman on "Detective Comics" was just as good as -- if not better than-- Snyder and Jock's run, and I'm glad to see him excelling on the big stage. (That two-page splash of Batman knocking out Patient Zero made this issue.)
Even if you haven't been reading this title, this event is the perfect place to start.
As a result of getting infected last issue, Batman awesomely displays the powers of a bat. As a result, the Trinity realize that the powers that humans are developing upon exposure to the virus aren't random; at the very least, the victim's subconscious is molding them somehow. Lex admits to Superman that he created the virus to rob him of his powers, but that it failed. However, it's pretty clear that Lex isn't telling the whole truth, since the virus not only turns the infected into zombies connected to some sort of hive mind, but said hive mind seems to consider itself a sentient being. (Is it Lex's Ultron?)
Johns does a great job using the events themselves -- and not awkward exposition -- to provide us with the information that we get this issue. It's probably the first time since "Forever Evil" that I've really enjoyed this title this much, since I can't wait to see a bat-powered Batman whale on Superman. Also, I'm glad to see Jason Fabok here. I still think his run with Layman on "Detective Comics" was just as good as -- if not better than-- Snyder and Jock's run, and I'm glad to see him excelling on the big stage. (That two-page splash of Batman knocking out Patient Zero made this issue.)
Even if you haven't been reading this title, this event is the perfect place to start.
**** (four of five stars)
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Earth 2: World's End #16 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
We're only had a few moments in the Earth 2 stories where a significant number of heroes assembled together to form something akin to the Justice League or Society. For example, "Earth 2" #16 had the Atom, Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Red Arrow, and Sandman fighting Brutaal and issue #20 saw Aquawoman, Batman, Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, Red Arrow, Red Tornado, and Val come together in the abandoned Batcave. I think the most that we had together at any one time was issue #26, when all the healthy Wonders -- Aquawoman, Batman, Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Jimmy Olsen, Red Tornado, Sandman, and Val -- are in action to defeat Brutaal. (By this point, the Atom has lost his arm in issue #21, Red Arrow has been killed in issue #23, and a so-far solo Steel was wounded facing the Red Lantern in issue #13.)
I mention all that because this issue sets the foundation for another issue #26, as it becomes more likely a full gathering of Wonders will come together. The Geneva-based team, thanks to Superman's sacrifice (that I still don't understand), free the aforementioned Red Lantern. She no longer fuels the firepits and, apparently, the parademons; as a result, the team is able to follow her to join Green Lantern and the Avatars in their fight against the Furies. At this stage, we've coalesced into three teams: Dr. Fate, Flash, Hawkgirl, and Steel are supporting Sato in securing the remains of humanity; Batman, Green Lantern, Power Girl, Red Tornado, and Val are fighting the Furies; and Fury, Jimmy Olsen, Mr. Miracle, Mr. Terrific, and Sandman are working on the Apokolips problem. (Aquawoman is presumably still with her people, and Dick Grayson is doing whatever it is that Dick Grayson is doing.) It seems likely that, when the three teams come together into one, it'll be to face Darkseid himself. I'm still not sure how that's going to come about happening, but it seems to be the clear goal at this point, something that wasn't as clear even last issue. As a result, this series suddenly became more enjoyable, since we're not longer just guessing about the endgame.
Turning to some minor notes, I was confused when the Green seemed to refer to the firepits as the "Tower of Fate; she mentions that the heroes freed the Red Lantern from the Tower of Fate, when they actually freed her from the firepits. That's weird, right? The last time that we saw the Tower of Fate, it was literally a tower in another dimension (if I'm not mistaken). I might've missed a quick reference to it in previous issue, but I feel like the authors just throw it out there without clarifying it. Also, I have to stay that I loved the Superman insignia closing up Power Girl's boob window. That right there is some funny stuff.
*** (three of five stars)
Batman Eternal #42 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
[Sigh.] All right, let's just get this one finished as quickly as possible, shall we?
We first learned about the nano-virus in issue #5. That means that this story has been building for 38 issues. 38. As a result, I think that it's reasonable that I was a little stunned when the reason for the virus wound up being so...uncomplicated. Apparently, it all was driven by the mastermind wanting the Mad Hatter to get everyone in Gotham to hate Batman. Really? It wasn't more nefarious than that? He wanted to gain total control over the population -- essentially an army -- simply to get people to dislike Batman? Plus, Jervis spontaneously decided to make everyone love him? Why would he do that? Doesn't he only care if Alice (whoever she is at the moment) loves him? Also, isn't he a good enough engineer to do both: have them hate Batman and love him? Plus, whatever happened to the guy that invented the nano-virus? Didn't Tim bring him from Japan to Gotham? (I could be mistaken on that front, but I'm not sure that I enough to look through 38 back issues to research it.) Also, why was it just children and teenagers? Why did the mastermind and/or Jervis only want them to hate Batman and/or love Jervis? Why not adults? Of all the ridiculous sub-plots that we've seen throughout this series, this one is that one that feels the most like the authors had no plan from the start of what it was going to turn out being. It just feels like they kept kicking the can down the road and now, with only 10 issues left, they had to resolve it in some way.
Similarly, it turns out Spoiler's mom was the one to hire Deadshot to kidnap her last issue, not Catwoman. This revelation could've actually been an interesting twist; Higgins certainly winks at us that Stephanie's mom is just as nefarious as her father and pulling a fast one on her. After all, if she really meant it when she said that they were going to flee Gotham together, why let Stephanie get a good night's sleep? Why not just get the FUCK OUT OF GOTHAM? It definitely seemed to confirm that her mom had an ulterior motive. But, we never learn that motive, since Catwoman appears her to...kidnap Stephanie. The whole interlude with her mom becomes completely pointless, with us winding up where we all likely thought we were at the end of last issue. It's just another potential development dropped with little explanation.
Finally, I know that Harper's "DON'T MANSPLAIN ME!" speech to Tim was supposed to be all "FEMINISM, ROAR!" but it fell completely flat, collapsing under the weight of bad narration. Let's just focus on her being a strong woman and not telling everyone that she is. It's perfectly reasonable for Tim, who lost everything due to becoming a superhero, wanted to protect her from that as long as possible. Also, we're also starting to push the boundaries of disbelief on how good she is. Sure, she has some difficulties with the physical aspects of superheroing here that the authors intend to show what a newbie she is. But, if she's going to be an interesting character, she has to have some struggles related to her real talent, namely her intellect and hacking skills. Every plan she has can't work perfectly. That said, she doesn't have to become a complete fucking idiot like Batman and now, apparently, Red Robin. (He absolutely should've anticipated the possibility of getting infected by the nano-virus if he's the character that we've always known him to be.) Both Bluebird and Red Robin need to be facing challenges that test their wits, but make it clear that they still have them; they shouldn't be reduced to the bumbling idiot like Tim is here.
Man, this series just has to end.
* (one of five stars)
Grayson #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Throughout this series so far, it's been pretty clear that things were going to get profoundly weird. I mean, it's been weird from the start, since we've been following Matron and Dick trying to assemble organs of a former meta-human (I think) named Paragon so that Spyral can create its own meta-human. This issue is where we start to learn how weird it truly is.
First, I have to say that I (heart) Midnighter. His comment about knowing Dick's ass anywhere is hilarious, and it's fun to see his arrogance get him in trouble time and time again. Although he was created as an analogue to Batman, Seeley doesn't play him that way; it only occasionally feels like Dick is whaling on Bruce instead of him (and, to be honest, those moments feel pretty therapeutic). Moreover, he serves the role of Jimminy Cricket to Dick, challenging his assertions that Spyral is the good guy in this hunt for the meta-human's body parts. Seeley hasn't really made it clear what Dick believes at this point, whether he's just playing along with the story that Spyral has sold him to accomplish his real mission (to eliminate its knowledge of superheroes' identities) or if he's really deluding himself into thinking that Spyral is doing the right thing. But, if it's the latter, Midnight isn't letting him pretend that he wasn't warned about it.
But, things get really weird when we learn that Midnighter is working on behalf of the Gardner of the "God Garden," some sort of satellite orbiting Earth. Apparently, Paragon was created to destroy her, though it's unclear if Spyral is trying to re-create him to do the same thing. Either way, the Gardner recruits Dick to help her save the garden. This whole sequence obviously just hints at a larger story, but it's actually a nice reminder that King and Seeley really have a clear vision for where we're going. Moreover, we unexpectedly get some insight into Mr. Minos, learning that he has some sort of pain-filled connection to this mission to re-assemble Paragon. I really have no idea what it could be, but color me intrigued.
I did have a question about Midnighter stealing Dick's hypnos, because I have no idea how that happened. Did he do it through touch? How is that possible?
Also, I just have to add in here that I have no idea how we're supposed to believe that no one knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne if the whole world knows that Robin/Nightwing was Dick Grayson. I actually thought that the world only knew that Dick was Nightwing, something that would sort of explain it, since Nightwing isn't necessarily obviously connected to Robin. But, I was surprised that Dick admitted that he was Robin to Midnighter. It's just ridiculous, and it'll never stop be ridiculous. But, it wasn't Seeley's idea, so I'm not going to hold it against him.
Again, this series is really solid. It's all cloak and dagger, but it's really clear where we are each issue, even if the larger story is being slowly revealed. That's hard to do, and I hope Seeley keeps doing it, because it's a great read when it happens.
**** (four of five stars)
Earth 2: World's End #15 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue is pretty straight-forward. Clark sacrifices himself to poison the clones (even though we still don't really have a great sense why his blood is poison to them), freeing the Avatar of the Red just in time, I'm guessing, to help the other Avatars hold the line (and maybe turn the tide) against the Furies next issue. Meanwhile, the Avatars get some support from Flash, since he and Kendra managed to get the secrets of the Furies from Famine. (Famine asked them if they're willing to pay the cost for that information, though we don't learn the cost that they've paid this issue.) The Apokolips team failed to destroy Apokolips, but the arrival of Mother Box inspires Mr. Terrific in a way that isn't yet clear. However, we also learn that Khan has let Jimmy know about a ship hiding in space that can hold millions of people, holding out the possibility that the heroes will fail and Earth 2 will, in fact, be destroyed (the premise of "The New 52: Futures End"). It's a lot happening (Dick Grayson continues the search for his son as well), but I have to say that it's coming together better than it has been in previous issues.
*** (three of five stars)
Batgirl #38 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
You know an issue is thought-provoking if I'm arguing about it with myself on a train while I'm reading it.
The authors serve up a really insight meditation on the Facebook era here, using Barbara as a lens to examine the pros and cons of living your life in the public eye. We learn that Babs has been cultivating a strong social-media presence in the wake of last issue's events (where she took back control over her image from Dagger Type) and that she's been basking in the glow of Burnside's affection as its residents tag her in selfies and tweets when she helps them. But, Stewart and Fletcher quickly delve into the darker side of this affection, particularly the inflated view of herself that it gives Barbara. One of the problems of social media is that it becomes easy to create your own world, where you're only surrounded by information and people that support your beliefs (i.e., Pariser's "filter bubble"). Stewart and Fletcher make it clear that Barbara falls victim to that problem here and they remind us of the trouble that said bubble bursting can cause.
During a debate over vigilantes with Office Liam on their second date, Babs justifies Batgirl skirting the lay by arguing that she's popular. It's clear that this sense of popularity is making it difficult for her to see reality, since she believes that it means that she's justified in doing whatever it is that she needs to do. She storms into a bar to confront a reality-TV star with a penchant for drag racing, filled with righteous indignation over the attention (and pass) that he gets as a low-grade celebrity. (Qadir even questions why she's wasting her time on him.) In the end, she winds up provoking the type of dangerous incident that she thinks that she's preventing; she essentially proves Liam's point about the danger that vigilantes pose. In fact, by the end of this issue, it's hard not to side with Liam. Moreover, she loses the affection of her public just as quickly as she got it, as her fight with the reality-TV star destroyed a diner that served as a local landmark. Suddenly, the security that she felt from the affection that the community had is denied her; Stewart and Fletcher are making a pretty clear call for everyone to be careful how much self-esteem we derive from a fickle public that we don't really know and who don't really know us.
During a debate over vigilantes with Office Liam on their second date, Babs justifies Batgirl skirting the lay by arguing that she's popular. It's clear that this sense of popularity is making it difficult for her to see reality, since she believes that it means that she's justified in doing whatever it is that she needs to do. She storms into a bar to confront a reality-TV star with a penchant for drag racing, filled with righteous indignation over the attention (and pass) that he gets as a low-grade celebrity. (Qadir even questions why she's wasting her time on him.) In the end, she winds up provoking the type of dangerous incident that she thinks that she's preventing; she essentially proves Liam's point about the danger that vigilantes pose. In fact, by the end of this issue, it's hard not to side with Liam. Moreover, she loses the affection of her public just as quickly as she got it, as her fight with the reality-TV star destroyed a diner that served as a local landmark. Suddenly, the security that she felt from the affection that the community had is denied her; Stewart and Fletcher are making a pretty clear call for everyone to be careful how much self-esteem we derive from a fickle public that we don't really know and who don't really know us.
But, it's not all philosophical meditations on the human condition. Babs' advisor is coming to town, and we learn that she's nowhere near close to resurrecting her thesis research. We also learn that the person imitating her has been having chats with Liam, and the authors really up the creepiness factor with that revelation. Stewart and Fletcher even imply that it was this mysterious figure that manipulated Hooq to make sure that Babs and Liam got together in the first place. I'm starting to wonder if it's Dinah looking for some low-grade revenge, but I think I'm actually hoping that's the case, because she likely wouldn't cause too much damage. Otherwise, Babs is in some real trouble.
**** (four of five stars)
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Earth 2: World's End #14 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue isn't terrible. It's not great, but it's not terrible. That's pretty much good enough at this point in the land of DC weekly series, though.
Unlike the Atom's confusing death last issue, Khan dies in a way befitting the character, trying to use the Shackleton Assault Craft to take out Darkseid. He fails when Darkseid destroys the craft with his Omega Beams, but it's at least a noble (if abrupt) death.
Moreover, we learn that the Avatar of the Red isn't actually fighting the Geneva team, as she seemed to be doing last issue; she's been trapped by Desaad, and he's using her to create the clones fighting the team (and to fuel the Firepits). This revelation makes total sense, since it seemed bizarre that Yolanda hadn't found her way to the Avatars yet. The problem is that we learn all this information from Val, without any insight into how he knows it. After all, it's not like he had been a prisoner of Desaad; he had been kept in a USG facility.
Continuing on the issue of the clones, Superman reveals that his blood was somehow used in the cloning process ("they used my blood...in the pipes of this place...trying to pump it into their creations"). However, he also reveals that his blood is poison to the clones. So, it's unclear if they tried to use his blood to create the clones, failed, and then found Yolanda, or if his blood somehow interacts with Yolanda's in an important way for creating the clones, but, in and of itself, would be poison to them. The only clear part about it is that it's the deus ex machina that Batman needs to defeat the clones and free the Red.
I will say that we're clearly building to the finale here, given that the Red joining the Avatars is likely to help reverse the tide against the Furies. Hawkgirl and Jay tracking down the body of Famine will likely help contribute to that, so at least these two stories, combined, gives us the sense that we're going to get somewhere soon.
But, it also seems possible that the whole matter will be resolved before then, given that Mister Miracle and his team seem to have successfully blown up Apokolips. It can't possibly be true (because, again, I think we have ten more issues left in this series), so I'm intrigued to see what actually happened.
Also, Dick learns how to be a superhero in three hours under Ted's tutelage, but, at this point, I feel like the less said about that sub-plot, the better.
*** (three of five stars)
Unlike the Atom's confusing death last issue, Khan dies in a way befitting the character, trying to use the Shackleton Assault Craft to take out Darkseid. He fails when Darkseid destroys the craft with his Omega Beams, but it's at least a noble (if abrupt) death.
Moreover, we learn that the Avatar of the Red isn't actually fighting the Geneva team, as she seemed to be doing last issue; she's been trapped by Desaad, and he's using her to create the clones fighting the team (and to fuel the Firepits). This revelation makes total sense, since it seemed bizarre that Yolanda hadn't found her way to the Avatars yet. The problem is that we learn all this information from Val, without any insight into how he knows it. After all, it's not like he had been a prisoner of Desaad; he had been kept in a USG facility.
Continuing on the issue of the clones, Superman reveals that his blood was somehow used in the cloning process ("they used my blood...in the pipes of this place...trying to pump it into their creations"). However, he also reveals that his blood is poison to the clones. So, it's unclear if they tried to use his blood to create the clones, failed, and then found Yolanda, or if his blood somehow interacts with Yolanda's in an important way for creating the clones, but, in and of itself, would be poison to them. The only clear part about it is that it's the deus ex machina that Batman needs to defeat the clones and free the Red.
I will say that we're clearly building to the finale here, given that the Red joining the Avatars is likely to help reverse the tide against the Furies. Hawkgirl and Jay tracking down the body of Famine will likely help contribute to that, so at least these two stories, combined, gives us the sense that we're going to get somewhere soon.
But, it also seems possible that the whole matter will be resolved before then, given that Mister Miracle and his team seem to have successfully blown up Apokolips. It can't possibly be true (because, again, I think we have ten more issues left in this series), so I'm intrigued to see what actually happened.
Also, Dick learns how to be a superhero in three hours under Ted's tutelage, but, at this point, I feel like the less said about that sub-plot, the better.
*** (three of five stars)
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Earth 2 #30 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Bennett and Johnson again do a solid job of using this series to delve into the background of some of this event's otherwise faceless background characters, as they initially did with the Furies in issue #28. I was particularly surprised by how well they handled the White (Sam's) and the Red's (Yolanda's) stories.
You can feel Sam's heartbreak in just the six pages that we see him, since he's dealing with the aftermath of his death and, more profoundly, his loss of Alan. Bennett and Johnson also indirectly address some mysteries about Sam. We're told that his soul is of unmatched purity, answering a long ago question (from issue #13) of whether he was engaged in shady weapons dealings with Apokolips' forces. (Likely no.) I'm not sure if we'll ever pick up that story, so the revelation that Terry Sloan likely killed him for leaking information about the Boom Tubes to Jimmy Olsen is probably going to be the final word on his death. Moreover, the authors confirm that Sam, in theory, doesn't remember who he is; his utterance of Alan's name in "Earth 2: World's End" #8 implies that his love for Alan is sufficiently strong to keep him connected to Alan despite his role as the Avatar. It actually helps amplify the impact of the sequence here, because Sam is true to his word that he'll always remember Alan. By the end of these six pages, we have Sam as a full-fledged character for the first time since this series began, and I'm a happy camper for it.
Similarly, Yolanda goes from a faceless brute to a real person, accepting a blood curse in place of her primo hermano. I definitely found myself wanting to know more, like why Yolanda and her cousin have essentially been left to their own devices. Yolanda exposits that she thought that their university's work/study program would be the answer to their problems, but we don't learn why we have those problems in the first place. It's also unclear why she feels so compelled to protect him. My guess is that these two questions have the same answer, and I would love to see that story explored more. Again, it's impressive that the authors got us to feel that way about her in just seven pages.
Unfortunately, the story about the Avatar of the Blue made little sense to me, feeling just like a jumble of words and images. But, they can't all be winners. If you're enjoying "Earth 2: World's End," this issue is a solid contribution. If not, well, you probably should just skip reading this series for a few months.
*** (three of five stars)
You can feel Sam's heartbreak in just the six pages that we see him, since he's dealing with the aftermath of his death and, more profoundly, his loss of Alan. Bennett and Johnson also indirectly address some mysteries about Sam. We're told that his soul is of unmatched purity, answering a long ago question (from issue #13) of whether he was engaged in shady weapons dealings with Apokolips' forces. (Likely no.) I'm not sure if we'll ever pick up that story, so the revelation that Terry Sloan likely killed him for leaking information about the Boom Tubes to Jimmy Olsen is probably going to be the final word on his death. Moreover, the authors confirm that Sam, in theory, doesn't remember who he is; his utterance of Alan's name in "Earth 2: World's End" #8 implies that his love for Alan is sufficiently strong to keep him connected to Alan despite his role as the Avatar. It actually helps amplify the impact of the sequence here, because Sam is true to his word that he'll always remember Alan. By the end of these six pages, we have Sam as a full-fledged character for the first time since this series began, and I'm a happy camper for it.
Similarly, Yolanda goes from a faceless brute to a real person, accepting a blood curse in place of her primo hermano. I definitely found myself wanting to know more, like why Yolanda and her cousin have essentially been left to their own devices. Yolanda exposits that she thought that their university's work/study program would be the answer to their problems, but we don't learn why we have those problems in the first place. It's also unclear why she feels so compelled to protect him. My guess is that these two questions have the same answer, and I would love to see that story explored more. Again, it's impressive that the authors got us to feel that way about her in just seven pages.
Unfortunately, the story about the Avatar of the Blue made little sense to me, feeling just like a jumble of words and images. But, they can't all be winners. If you're enjoying "Earth 2: World's End," this issue is a solid contribution. If not, well, you probably should just skip reading this series for a few months.
*** (three of five stars)
Detective Comics #38 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Manalatto continues to blow off my socks with this one, folks. It's great stuff, from start to finish.
First, my only exposure to Anarky/Lonnie/Moneyspider came from Lonnie/Moneyspider's appearance in "Red Robin." He was paralyzed at that time (for reasons that I don't recall ever learning) and used some sort of cybernetic connection between his brain and the Internet to help Tim. I can't exactly remember the details of the case(s) where he helped Tim, but I don't think it's all that relevant, given that the DCnU obviously retconned away those stories. However, Manalatto seems to be setting up a similar dynamic here, since we end this issue with the DCnU Lonnie shot and likely dying (if not already dead). Having learned that Lonnie is the only person ever to hack into Wayne Enterprises' systems earlier in this issue, it stands to reason that we're going to see him survive, but be similarly paralyzed and connected to the Internet like the DCU's Lonnie. (The first off-note of this issue was Lonnie's weird conversation with Matches Malone, who talks to him more like a ninth-grade algebra teacher trying to inspire him than the mobster that he is.)
However, since we seem to rule out the possibility that Lonnie is Anarky, we therefore don't know who he is. Manalatto throws suspicion on Sam Young, but I'm somewhat doubtful that it's going to prove to be true. (The second off-note of this issue is that Young seems to have been demoted from a Congressman to a City Councilman. Either he's changed jobs or someone goofed, but we should probably clarify that at some point.) At this stage, we know that Young worked for Falcone and that he ordered Lester to falsify the records of containers entering the port. Harvey knows that, too (as seen in issue #33, where Lester spills the beans). However, Young doesn't necessarily know that Harvey knows. If he is Anarky, it would make sense that he'd want to tie up that loose end, though I'd like to know why he decided to do so now. Was he just waiting for the dust to settle on the Kings of the Sun debacle? As I said, I'm doubtful that Young is Anarky, not because it doesn't fit, but because it seems too obvious. However, if Young is going to continue to play a role in this series, we're also going to need to get an explanation of where his loyalties lie as a result of Falcone (his previous ally) having left town.
Overall, again, I really adored this issue. You have to overlook certain parts, like the off-notes that I mentioned or how Anarky managed to get a mask on the doorstep of every person in Gotham in one night without anyone noticing. But, as I think I've mentioned in previous reviews, I'm happy to be forgiving of such bobbles if the story is good, and this one is. The mystery so far is easier to follow than the Icarus arc. It's a little unclear if Jervis' murder of the kids is going to tie into the larger Anarky story, but it adds to the sense that we're dealing with a lot of stuff happening in the background. So far, it's pretty easy to follow, since it involves mostly Batman just trying to ID the kids so that their families can have some peace. But, it's the identity of Anarky and the connection to Lester that'll really fuel these next few issues.
I didn't even mention the art. I'm clearly starting to take for granted how beautiful Manalatto's issues are. I'll try not to do that, because they really, really are amazing.
**** (four of five stars)
First, my only exposure to Anarky/Lonnie/Moneyspider came from Lonnie/Moneyspider's appearance in "Red Robin." He was paralyzed at that time (for reasons that I don't recall ever learning) and used some sort of cybernetic connection between his brain and the Internet to help Tim. I can't exactly remember the details of the case(s) where he helped Tim, but I don't think it's all that relevant, given that the DCnU obviously retconned away those stories. However, Manalatto seems to be setting up a similar dynamic here, since we end this issue with the DCnU Lonnie shot and likely dying (if not already dead). Having learned that Lonnie is the only person ever to hack into Wayne Enterprises' systems earlier in this issue, it stands to reason that we're going to see him survive, but be similarly paralyzed and connected to the Internet like the DCU's Lonnie. (The first off-note of this issue was Lonnie's weird conversation with Matches Malone, who talks to him more like a ninth-grade algebra teacher trying to inspire him than the mobster that he is.)
However, since we seem to rule out the possibility that Lonnie is Anarky, we therefore don't know who he is. Manalatto throws suspicion on Sam Young, but I'm somewhat doubtful that it's going to prove to be true. (The second off-note of this issue is that Young seems to have been demoted from a Congressman to a City Councilman. Either he's changed jobs or someone goofed, but we should probably clarify that at some point.) At this stage, we know that Young worked for Falcone and that he ordered Lester to falsify the records of containers entering the port. Harvey knows that, too (as seen in issue #33, where Lester spills the beans). However, Young doesn't necessarily know that Harvey knows. If he is Anarky, it would make sense that he'd want to tie up that loose end, though I'd like to know why he decided to do so now. Was he just waiting for the dust to settle on the Kings of the Sun debacle? As I said, I'm doubtful that Young is Anarky, not because it doesn't fit, but because it seems too obvious. However, if Young is going to continue to play a role in this series, we're also going to need to get an explanation of where his loyalties lie as a result of Falcone (his previous ally) having left town.
Overall, again, I really adored this issue. You have to overlook certain parts, like the off-notes that I mentioned or how Anarky managed to get a mask on the doorstep of every person in Gotham in one night without anyone noticing. But, as I think I've mentioned in previous reviews, I'm happy to be forgiving of such bobbles if the story is good, and this one is. The mystery so far is easier to follow than the Icarus arc. It's a little unclear if Jervis' murder of the kids is going to tie into the larger Anarky story, but it adds to the sense that we're dealing with a lot of stuff happening in the background. So far, it's pretty easy to follow, since it involves mostly Batman just trying to ID the kids so that their families can have some peace. But, it's the identity of Anarky and the connection to Lester that'll really fuel these next few issues.
I didn't even mention the art. I'm clearly starting to take for granted how beautiful Manalatto's issues are. I'll try not to do that, because they really, really are amazing.
**** (four of five stars)
Batman Eternal #41 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I'm thrilled to see Harper debut as Bluebird in this issue, because, OMFG, she and Spoiler seem to be the only ones who aren't idiots in the Bat-family.
To be fair, I didn't anticipate the Mad Hatter infesting Batgirl, Red Hood, and Red Robin with the nano-virus. But, I'm not the all-knowing and all-seeing Red Robin. He's dealing with a nano-virus that seems to spread easily, but he waltzes into the place where the children with said virus are all concentrated without a protocol to defend against infection? Moreover, he takes Batgirl and Red Hood with him? In issue #36, Batman dispatches the three of them not just to solve the nano-virus mystery, but also discover who destroyed Arkham and who hired Falsairo to frame Jim Gordon. Although we discover how Falsairo did it (by swiping Tetch's technology) in this issue, we're still not any closer to an answer on those questions. Should the three of them really be assembled together researching just one of them? The answer, as we learn in this issue, is clearly not.
[Sigh.] We do take one more step closer to getting to the preview that we saw in "Batman" #25, as one of Catwoman's agents kidnaps Spoiler for her own safety. But, that also raises the possibility that no one will figure out anything between now and the time that we actually hit that issue, and the denouement of this series will be when Batman eventually learns the identity of the mastermind and his plans from Spoiler. If that happens, so help me, I will not be a happy camper.
** (two of five stars)
To be fair, I didn't anticipate the Mad Hatter infesting Batgirl, Red Hood, and Red Robin with the nano-virus. But, I'm not the all-knowing and all-seeing Red Robin. He's dealing with a nano-virus that seems to spread easily, but he waltzes into the place where the children with said virus are all concentrated without a protocol to defend against infection? Moreover, he takes Batgirl and Red Hood with him? In issue #36, Batman dispatches the three of them not just to solve the nano-virus mystery, but also discover who destroyed Arkham and who hired Falsairo to frame Jim Gordon. Although we discover how Falsairo did it (by swiping Tetch's technology) in this issue, we're still not any closer to an answer on those questions. Should the three of them really be assembled together researching just one of them? The answer, as we learn in this issue, is clearly not.
[Sigh.] We do take one more step closer to getting to the preview that we saw in "Batman" #25, as one of Catwoman's agents kidnaps Spoiler for her own safety. But, that also raises the possibility that no one will figure out anything between now and the time that we actually hit that issue, and the denouement of this series will be when Batman eventually learns the identity of the mastermind and his plans from Spoiler. If that happens, so help me, I will not be a happy camper.
** (two of five stars)
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Batman Eternal #40 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Nothing really happens in this issue, and, in a lesson the authors hopefully learn, it's actually one of the strongest issues of late for it.
This strength comes mostly from the fact that the issue doesn't veer randomly into other plots (for the most part), instead building on the developments from last issue. Batman manages to trap the Riddler and return him to Gotham, and Vicky outmaneuvers her mysterious attacker and get her editor to the hospital. The most notable event is Catwoman refusing the mastermind's offer to join his side and deciding to get to the bottom of his identity. Is it maybe a little overly convenient that Catwoman suddenly (and correctly) decides that the answer will come by scrubbing the hit list to identify the most disproportionate bounty on the list? Yes. But, to be honest, I'm not going to push on this one, because it's the first time in ages that someone seems to be doing something that makes sense. In fact, if we started calling this series "Catwoman Eternal," it might stop sucking.
All that said, we also seem close to getting to the bottom of the nano-virus, reminding me that this series will actually come to an end at some point. For that reminder alone, I'll give it three stars.
*** (three of five stars)
This strength comes mostly from the fact that the issue doesn't veer randomly into other plots (for the most part), instead building on the developments from last issue. Batman manages to trap the Riddler and return him to Gotham, and Vicky outmaneuvers her mysterious attacker and get her editor to the hospital. The most notable event is Catwoman refusing the mastermind's offer to join his side and deciding to get to the bottom of his identity. Is it maybe a little overly convenient that Catwoman suddenly (and correctly) decides that the answer will come by scrubbing the hit list to identify the most disproportionate bounty on the list? Yes. But, to be honest, I'm not going to push on this one, because it's the first time in ages that someone seems to be doing something that makes sense. In fact, if we started calling this series "Catwoman Eternal," it might stop sucking.
All that said, we also seem close to getting to the bottom of the nano-virus, reminding me that this series will actually come to an end at some point. For that reminder alone, I'll give it three stars.
*** (three of five stars)
All-New Miracleman Annual #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I'll be upfront and say that I'm not sure that this annual is really worth the $4.99 price tag.
We're clearly paying for the Morrison story that they've unearthed, written in 1984 but unpublished. It's an interesting look into (presumably) the moment that Johnny Bates crossed into villain territory, killing a Catholic priest who saw him fall to the ground the night that the Miracleman Family was purportedly killed. I'm assuming that he did it to cover his tracks, to make sure his identity remained a secret, but Morrison doesn't really make that clear. After all, Bates never used his powers in public after that night, so I'm not sure why he would need to be worried that someone would know that a super-human was out there somewhere. But, as usual with Morrison, we're left to draw those conclusion on our own.
The second story features another moment where Miracleman came close to realizing that he was in a dream, after a week of fighting "death rays, evil dolphins, and amnesia vapors" resulted in no one getting seriously hurt. It's a clever story, but it is something that we've already seen in the main title, so it's not particularly entrancing here. That said, I'm not usually a fan of the Allreds' work, but they are the perfect people to depict the retro Miracleman Family stories.
In other words, it's a solid regular issue, but don't expect anything groundbreaking in this first annual outing.
*** (three of five stars)
We're clearly paying for the Morrison story that they've unearthed, written in 1984 but unpublished. It's an interesting look into (presumably) the moment that Johnny Bates crossed into villain territory, killing a Catholic priest who saw him fall to the ground the night that the Miracleman Family was purportedly killed. I'm assuming that he did it to cover his tracks, to make sure his identity remained a secret, but Morrison doesn't really make that clear. After all, Bates never used his powers in public after that night, so I'm not sure why he would need to be worried that someone would know that a super-human was out there somewhere. But, as usual with Morrison, we're left to draw those conclusion on our own.
The second story features another moment where Miracleman came close to realizing that he was in a dream, after a week of fighting "death rays, evil dolphins, and amnesia vapors" resulted in no one getting seriously hurt. It's a clever story, but it is something that we've already seen in the main title, so it's not particularly entrancing here. That said, I'm not usually a fan of the Allreds' work, but they are the perfect people to depict the retro Miracleman Family stories.
In other words, it's a solid regular issue, but don't expect anything groundbreaking in this first annual outing.
*** (three of five stars)
Earth 2: World's End #13 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue is a jumble of events with little by way of explanation for most of them.
For example, Flash left Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, and Jimmy Olsen to help evacuate people last issue so that he could scout for any trouble in the tunnels. He encounters some sort of robots (though I don't think we ever learn why they're hostile to him), and Hawkgirl is on hand at the start of this issue to help him fight them. That's all fine. However, they're also randomly joined by Captain Steel. I had no memory of seeing him since "Earth 2" #13, where he announced the terror of the Red Lantern. I checked online, and the DC Wikia page led me to two blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances in this series: in a flashback in issue #1 and a brief appearance in a hospital bed next to the Atom in issue #8. That's it. But, suddenly, he appears totally fine and part of the team in this issue. Similarly, the Atom appeared to be in a medically induced coma last issue (and, again, we saw him lying next to Steel in issue #8), but he's in costume and totally healthy in this issue, with no explanation. On the flip side, we also get no explanation of why he dies at the end of this issue creating the subterranean haven. Is it stress on his heart from growing to the size of ten cities? Is it the fact that he appears to be lying in a lava bed while doing it? No clue.
Continuing the theme of random appearances, Ted Grant suddenly appears in time to save Dick from himself. He knows that Barbara has been killed, though I'm not sure how. Has he been lurking in the shadows this entire time? Maybe he could've lent a hand? Moreover, I continue to be totally confused by Dick's motives. He seems to be embracing suicide-by-wave here, but, as I've previously mentioned, he's also stressed the need to track down his son (who he gave to strangers) in past issues. I get that he's emotionally unstable right now due to his grief over losing Barbara, but it's hard to keep track of where we are with him from panel to panel.
We also have an odd sequence in the fight between the Avatars and the Furies that seems to make no sense to me. Alan begs Helena not to kill Sam. She agrees, but she says that he's sacrificed the Earth to save Sam. But, it's not really clear why that would be true. Alan seems just as capable of fighting as he was before he begged her not to kill Sam, and it's not like he made an explicit deal with her. The authors seem to think that he made an implicit deal, since he threatens to destroy her if she doesn't give him Sam, implying that her giving Sam to him would mean he wouldn't do so. But, it really isn't at all clear that's the case, and it makes Helena declaration of victory all the odder. (Plus, it's no like Solomon Grundy or the Avatar of the Blue are bound by any such deal.)
Anyway, I could continue, but I won't. I'm still enjoying this series, but we're starting to reach "Batman Eternal" levels of confusion here. The authors really need to start pulling some of these groups together to make it easier to follow the stories that they're trying to tell.
* (one of five stars)
For example, Flash left Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, and Jimmy Olsen to help evacuate people last issue so that he could scout for any trouble in the tunnels. He encounters some sort of robots (though I don't think we ever learn why they're hostile to him), and Hawkgirl is on hand at the start of this issue to help him fight them. That's all fine. However, they're also randomly joined by Captain Steel. I had no memory of seeing him since "Earth 2" #13, where he announced the terror of the Red Lantern. I checked online, and the DC Wikia page led me to two blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances in this series: in a flashback in issue #1 and a brief appearance in a hospital bed next to the Atom in issue #8. That's it. But, suddenly, he appears totally fine and part of the team in this issue. Similarly, the Atom appeared to be in a medically induced coma last issue (and, again, we saw him lying next to Steel in issue #8), but he's in costume and totally healthy in this issue, with no explanation. On the flip side, we also get no explanation of why he dies at the end of this issue creating the subterranean haven. Is it stress on his heart from growing to the size of ten cities? Is it the fact that he appears to be lying in a lava bed while doing it? No clue.
Continuing the theme of random appearances, Ted Grant suddenly appears in time to save Dick from himself. He knows that Barbara has been killed, though I'm not sure how. Has he been lurking in the shadows this entire time? Maybe he could've lent a hand? Moreover, I continue to be totally confused by Dick's motives. He seems to be embracing suicide-by-wave here, but, as I've previously mentioned, he's also stressed the need to track down his son (who he gave to strangers) in past issues. I get that he's emotionally unstable right now due to his grief over losing Barbara, but it's hard to keep track of where we are with him from panel to panel.
We also have an odd sequence in the fight between the Avatars and the Furies that seems to make no sense to me. Alan begs Helena not to kill Sam. She agrees, but she says that he's sacrificed the Earth to save Sam. But, it's not really clear why that would be true. Alan seems just as capable of fighting as he was before he begged her not to kill Sam, and it's not like he made an explicit deal with her. The authors seem to think that he made an implicit deal, since he threatens to destroy her if she doesn't give him Sam, implying that her giving Sam to him would mean he wouldn't do so. But, it really isn't at all clear that's the case, and it makes Helena declaration of victory all the odder. (Plus, it's no like Solomon Grundy or the Avatar of the Blue are bound by any such deal.)
Anyway, I could continue, but I won't. I'm still enjoying this series, but we're starting to reach "Batman Eternal" levels of confusion here. The authors really need to start pulling some of these groups together to make it easier to follow the stories that they're trying to tell.
* (one of five stars)
Batman Eternal #39 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I don't know why I'm still reading this series. I converted to getting it digitally so at least it wasn't taking up space in my boxes, but, at this point, I just feel like I'm torturing myself.
This issue is yet another in a long line of issues where Snyder proves that Batman is an idiot. He's so desperate to discover the identity of the perpetrator that he plays the Riddler's games, hoping that he'll tell reveal it to him. Really? He's suddenly become such a terrible detective that he has to rely on the Riddler? Jesus, I mean, Vicky Vale and her boss even seem poised to figure out the plan before their duplicitous intern tries to kill them. Are we really supposed to believe that Bruce is so incapable of solving this mystery? Apparently, yes, we are. We're also supposed to believe that Bruce is half-exhausted from the events of all these issues, but, honestly, I just don't buy it. He's spent most of his time in the Batcave. Sure, he's had a few fisticuffs here and there, but he's been so inert throughout this series that it's hard to believe he isn't even getting a good night's sleep, let alone that he's close to some sort of breakdown.
We're also apparently supposed to believe that he's so focused on the identity of the mastermind that he has totally abdicated his responsibility to Gotham. He apparently doesn't care -- at all -- that the weapons that Hush stole from his caches are still out there, evidenced by the fact that the mastermind just gave them to pretty much every costumed villain in the city. When we dispatched Batgirl, Red Hood, and Red Robin a few issues ago to play catch-up, no one was given orders to find the weapons? Doesn't Harper need something to do? She's pretty good at this stuff. Does it matter if he solves the mystery of the mastermind's identity if everyone in Gotham is already dead?
I hope reading this series is building up my karma for the afterlife, because, man, I have no idea why I keep doing it to myself.
* (one of five stars)
This issue is yet another in a long line of issues where Snyder proves that Batman is an idiot. He's so desperate to discover the identity of the perpetrator that he plays the Riddler's games, hoping that he'll tell reveal it to him. Really? He's suddenly become such a terrible detective that he has to rely on the Riddler? Jesus, I mean, Vicky Vale and her boss even seem poised to figure out the plan before their duplicitous intern tries to kill them. Are we really supposed to believe that Bruce is so incapable of solving this mystery? Apparently, yes, we are. We're also supposed to believe that Bruce is half-exhausted from the events of all these issues, but, honestly, I just don't buy it. He's spent most of his time in the Batcave. Sure, he's had a few fisticuffs here and there, but he's been so inert throughout this series that it's hard to believe he isn't even getting a good night's sleep, let alone that he's close to some sort of breakdown.
We're also apparently supposed to believe that he's so focused on the identity of the mastermind that he has totally abdicated his responsibility to Gotham. He apparently doesn't care -- at all -- that the weapons that Hush stole from his caches are still out there, evidenced by the fact that the mastermind just gave them to pretty much every costumed villain in the city. When we dispatched Batgirl, Red Hood, and Red Robin a few issues ago to play catch-up, no one was given orders to find the weapons? Doesn't Harper need something to do? She's pretty good at this stuff. Does it matter if he solves the mystery of the mastermind's identity if everyone in Gotham is already dead?
I hope reading this series is building up my karma for the afterlife, because, man, I have no idea why I keep doing it to myself.
* (one of five stars)
Uncanny X-Men #29 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Just once -- just once -- I would like the answer to a problem that someone created himself or herself in the Marvel Universe not to be time travel.
To make matters worse, we have twice the time travel here. We've got Illyana consulting her mentor, the past version of Dr. Strange, to find a way to control Matthew and we've got Eva traveling in the past to warn Prof. X that his attempt to build walls in Matthew's mind will ultimately fail. Moreover, we know that Eva's gambit works, since it's unlikely that the shock ending of this issue -- Cyclops', Magik's, and Matthew's deaths at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- will stand.
So, we're left with the usual problem of time-travel stories, where the entire story that we've spent months following becomes irrelevant. We don't even really learn anything interesting about the characters. In theory, time-travel stories are supposed to give authors the ability to break the world and see how the characters react, knowing that they can reconstruct the world in the end. However, no one's back is really to the wall like "Days of Future Past" or "Age of Ultron" here: Matthew may become a threat, but he isn't really one here. It just feels sloppy, like the X-Men are going to start returning to the past to make sure that they drink all the milk before it expires.
I really hope that Bendis wraps up this story soon, because I can't say that I'm really all that interested. In an example of pet peeve #1, we were promised on the cover the possibility that we'd learn what Charles' will said, but we don't even get that. Instead, we're still wrapping up a story from two events ago. [Sigh.] I can't think of anything better to sum up the sorry state of affairs at Marvel lately.
** (two of five stars)
To make matters worse, we have twice the time travel here. We've got Illyana consulting her mentor, the past version of Dr. Strange, to find a way to control Matthew and we've got Eva traveling in the past to warn Prof. X that his attempt to build walls in Matthew's mind will ultimately fail. Moreover, we know that Eva's gambit works, since it's unlikely that the shock ending of this issue -- Cyclops', Magik's, and Matthew's deaths at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- will stand.
So, we're left with the usual problem of time-travel stories, where the entire story that we've spent months following becomes irrelevant. We don't even really learn anything interesting about the characters. In theory, time-travel stories are supposed to give authors the ability to break the world and see how the characters react, knowing that they can reconstruct the world in the end. However, no one's back is really to the wall like "Days of Future Past" or "Age of Ultron" here: Matthew may become a threat, but he isn't really one here. It just feels sloppy, like the X-Men are going to start returning to the past to make sure that they drink all the milk before it expires.
I really hope that Bendis wraps up this story soon, because I can't say that I'm really all that interested. In an example of pet peeve #1, we were promised on the cover the possibility that we'd learn what Charles' will said, but we don't even get that. Instead, we're still wrapping up a story from two events ago. [Sigh.] I can't think of anything better to sum up the sorry state of affairs at Marvel lately.
** (two of five stars)
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