Batman: White Knight Presents Von Freeze #1: It's hard to critique a comic that the author says resulted in him crying hysterically over his estranged relationship with his parents at brunch with an artist who he idolized. In other words, I'll try to be gentle.
This issue isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it confuses me. First, we learn that it fits between "Batman: Curse of the White Knight" issues #6 and #7, even though DC hadn't yet published issue #5 at this point. I'm left to assume that Dr. Fries will become more relevant and, presumably, tragic by issue #8. I only vaguely remember him from the first series, making this issue feel all the more unmoored from the main story that Murphy is telling.
But, even if I read it in the proper sequence, I'm not sure that it would improve my understanding of why it exists. Virtually the entire issue is exposition, as Fries describes his family's past to Thomas Wayne. It doesn't help that the reason they're in this situation is ridiculous. Martha is pregnant with Bruce, and Thomas brought her to see Fries' lab, which he's funding. Martha has a complication with the pregnancy, forcing Fries to use his cryogenic equipment to freeze her until such a point when they can address the problem. Fries is telling Wayne his story to keep his mind off Martha and the baby. Sure, OK. A good Holocaust story always cheers up a man worried his wife and child are going to die.
It's also hard to tell what Murphy wants us to feel about Victor's father, Baron von Fries. He joins the SS as a way to continue his research, even though he's hiding his Jewish partner and his partner's extended family in their joint lab. At several points throughout the story it seems clear that the Baron doesn't have his partner's best interests at heart, but Victor's recollections often portray him as always trying to do right by his partner. I get that it might just be a son's skewed memories, but Murphy doesn't do anything to convey that. I'm just connecting the dots that Murphy himself left unconnected.
Honestly, given the struggle that I'm already having with the main series, I feel like Murphy might have been better served spending more time tightening up that story rather than taking us on this journey that we didn't really ask to take.
The Weatherman, Vol. 2 #5: Christ on the cross, Kathleen. This issue is insane, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's actually very straightforward for how significant it is. But it's one of the wildest rides that I've ever taken in a comic.
It turns out Nathan didn't become a biophagus construct. At the last minute, he decided not to sacrifice himself to the biophagus mob. Instead, he stole the soldiers' ship at Syngen Station and flew to Dr. Argus' lab to pick up his lab assistant, Regi. (Before they left, they apparently had milk and cookies, which excited Nathan greatly). Regi then assumed Nathan's form upon arriving at Skyborough and starts taking down Skyborough's soldiers.
In the present, Kestrel's assistant/lover Vager wants to evacuate her, but she refuses. She tells him to exterminate the construct (i.e., Regi) since they've only survived this long through keeping the biophagus on the surface; if it comes to Skyborough, they're all dead. Speaking of the surface, the rest of the team gets loaded onto the next transport to feed the biophagus before Nathan can board. Nathan wonders what Cross would do when he notices their ship in Skyborough's hanger.
On Mars, the president had a director stage the terrorist attack, using already dead bodies (presumably of people they didn't kill explicitly for the attack...) instead of living people. They've captured Jenner's agent, Djinn, and she confirms that Jenner has a psychic, explaining why Jenner has successfully rooted out Arcadia's attempts to infiltrate his operation. Unfortunately, Djinn has resisted their probes; they just learned that Jenner is somewhere on Venus. The President is discouraged and tells Councilman Cyrus that they can resume thermal drops but she first asks a favor as she looks at Cross' image.
On Earth, the team lands and starts to run from the biophagus, but it looks grim. However, Nathan hits a bunch of buttons on the ship and it turns out the ship is a Transformer. He's now basically Voltron and saves the day! Woot! White Light takes the controls as Nathan explains to Cross how he got there, as described above. (Earlier, he commented to himself as he struggled to fly the ship that it's much harder than it looks and he now understands why White Light acts like she's surrounded by idiots.) White Light destroys a few large constructs only for the kid from last issue to unleash his bomb aboard one of the transport ships, sending it straight at Voltron.
On Skyborough, Kestrel realizes that the biophagus will attack the station given the kid's action have destroyed half its food. She tells Vager to evacuate the city because it's over and they share a kiss. The biophagus forms essentially an enormous Mothra and starts tearing through Skyborough. White Light docks with a burning Skyborough, and Cross attempts to depart the ship to retrieve Ian Black's memory drive. Oddly, Nathan is the voice of reason, convincing her that it's hopeless. He promises her that they'll find Jenner another way. Tellingly, Cross listens to him, a sign that Nathan is becoming less of a jester as the story advances.
On Skyborough, Kestrel straps on a bunch of guns to fight the biophagus, telling it that she's been waiting for this moment her whole life. She then sees Mero in the construct, and she's frozen in grief as the construct crashes over her. Dr. Argus emerges from the crowds fleeing to the escape transports, and Cross pulls him onto their ship. Argus offers his hand to Regi, telling him that he could save humanity. Regi simply comments, "'I know this hurts'" (echoing Dr. Argus from issue #2), and Regi explodes with Skyborough as Argus screams in fury. The ship then closes its doors and departs.
Whoa. I assume that we're going to Venus in volume 3 to get Jenner, since Cross no longer needs Black's memory drive to find him. But, man, I'm going to need a few months before I can handle that story. I'm just afraid what LeHeup is going to do to us next issue!
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Monday, May 4, 2020
Not-Very-New Comics: The November 13 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Detective Comics #1,015: I enjoy the idea of a revived Nora Fries turning on Victor, deciding that she wants to be her own woman and to exert power over other people for a change. No one ever thought Victor's dream would, to use the cliché, become his nightmare, but here we are. Tomasi also does a good job of keeping the focus on Victor's commitment to Nora; throughout the issue, Fries says that he regrets his life of crime, seeing it solely as a means to an end (i.e., resurrecting Nora). Nora's refusal to travel to Alaska with him as he researches how to heal them fully is all the more of a blow. The serum that Lex gave Fries is clearly altering not just her physiology but her psychology. It helps make Nora's actions more believable, though it was already pretty believable that she'd be disoriented after so long on ice. My only problem with this issue is that Bruce and Fries' confrontation on the GCPD rooftop feels rushed. If Tomasi had taken more time, we could've really dug into Fries' psyche, with Batman pushing against his assertion that it was all for Nora. Instead, we have to take that assertion for granted so they can move through the trust exercises necessary to establish their temporary partnership. Again, it isn't terrible, it just feels like a somewhat wasted opportunity.
Invaders #11: I'll forgive Zdarsky for putting Roxxon's research compound on the same island where Namor and Steve are stranded, since it makes sense that the Roxxon ship that they attacked last issue would be coming from said island. The real question is whether Steve's almost childish devotion to Namor is merited. After all, Namor lets the scientists' experiments kill them here. Steve is enraged, but he's still trying to convince Namor not to be the kind of man who they've always fought, who thinks that he can impose his will on other people. (Has he met Namor?) Steve tries to convince Namor that, if he accepts that Machan didn't do anything that he wouldn't do, he has a responsibility, as a king, to correct his mistake. Zdarsky has Steve throw a minor tantrum when Namor (like everyone else) accuses him of only seeing black-and-white. Steve insists that he sees grey, but I feel like maybe here he's seeing too much grey? It's getting harder and harder to see Namor as redeemable here, as his actions in the lab prove, as he himself says in this issue, that Machan didn't do anything that he wouldn't have done. I don't see how Cap accepts anything other than Namor standing trial if he's going to uphold his ideals, black-and-white they may be.
Star Wars #74: This issue is great. I've rolled my eyes for most of Luke's story as his dedication to Warba seemed like yet another example of his child-like naïveté. But, Warba does arrive in the nick of time to save Luke after previously abandoning him, allowing him to fend off the Stormtroopers intent on attacking the Rebel base. (The "desert mangler-mounted" Stormtrooper patrol is definitely one of the most unexpectedly cool moments in this run. It's hilarious and deadly all at once, to see Stormtroopers on top of basically desert Tauntauns.)
As Luke prepares to depart Sergia, he asks the Rebels to take Warba to the next safe planet. Warba tells Luke that she isn't a Jedi: she just repeated whatever she heard the believers on Jedha say. Luke buys it for a moment, but then he tells her that she's more than she thinks. Earlier, he compared her to Han Solo (who also keeps insisting that he's leaving once the job is done), and his belief in the truth of that comparison shines in his eyes. Warba is the lone figure left standing on Sergia's desert as the Rebels and Luke go their separate ways, and something about the way Noto portrays it -- with the wistful desert sky beyond her - makes you wonder if she doesn't believe Luke a little.
Meanwhile, Threepio confesses to the Kakrans that Chewie and he set bombs on the planet before they realized that intelligent life lived there. The elder Kakran tells Threepio that they can disable "the flesh's" machines, and Threepio realizes that they can generate electricity. When the elder Kakran notes that they'll take out "Brother Ore" as well, Threepio tells "Brother Stone" to do it, so he can be helpful. Threepio, man. Luke arrives on K-43 just in time for the emp blast to disable Artoo and his ship. It sets up one of the best scenes of this series, as Vader emerges from the rubble and makes his way toward Luke, his plan realized. However, he hadn't planned on Chewie knocking him over the head with a boulder. Chewie vs. Vader, next issue! I can't wait!
Star Wars: Target Vader #5: I'm not quite sure I follow what Vader wants here. As Beilert notes, Vader tortures him for no real reason, since Vader just shows him a holomap of Hidden Hand outposts that both he and Beilert know that Vader has already destroyed. So why show him them?
Anyway, the journey into Beilert's history is much more interesting, and the art for certain segments is less bracing (in a good way), making Beilert less grotesque than he's appeared on the covers. We learn that Beilert is from a mining planet named Chorin, which he leaves for a better future. After the events of "Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet," he became a grunt (as we knew). The rest of his body (beyond his eye, which he lost in "Imperial Cadet") was burned in a battle where he lead his soldiers to safety after the Empire refused them air support. A former commander intervened to make sure that the Empire didn't just let him die, pulling strings to have him built into a cyborg. Upon returning home to Chorin, he discovered that his father and fellow minters were dead. He learns from his lost love, Yura, that they died after the Empire withdrew once the mines ran dry. "Raiders" then overtook Chorin, and Beilert leaves Yura to find them.
In the present, Beilert breaks off his arm to escape the Imperials, but it's a trap that Vader set for him. Vader brings him to Chorin where he tells Beilert that the "raiders" who overtook Chorin became the Hidden Hand. Vader then welcomes Beilert back to the Empire, threatening the rest of Chorin if he doesn't cooperate. (Couldn't he just revealed this plan from the start and save everyone time? Why the torture charade? Isn't Vader busy?) Beilert then finds his Rebel contacts, telling them that they need weapons and he needs the Hidden Hand. But, isn't the Rebellion the Hidden Hand? I don't get that part either. Vamos a ver.
X-Men #2: Whereas Hickman's emotionless and stilted dialogue was a poor fit for the New Mutants, it works quite well for the Summers family. Even Scott's attempts at bonding with his children sound like someone delivering a PowerPoint presentation, which is totally in line with Scott's personality. It also fits Nate's personality, as his arrogance on display as he frequently refuses to spend too many words discussing his mistakes. Hickman needs to turn over "New Mutants" to Kelly Thompson and focus exclusively on the Summers family.
The premise of this issue is that Arakko is apparently on Earth now. This surprise, combined with the revelation that someone assassinated Xavier in "X-Force" #1, leaves me feeling somewhat confused from the start. At this point, I'm getting half the new series: "Marauders," "New Mutants," and "X-Men." I'm not getting "Excalibur," "Fallen Angels," or "X-Force," and it obviously means that I'm getting an incomplete view of the "Dawn of X." But, I don't really plan on changing my subscriptions, so I'm going to have to roll with these punches. At any rate, we learn that Arakko appeared 100 miles off Krakoa and Krakoa is heading toward it quickly. Scott takes Rachel and Nate within him on a recon mission after Aurora and Northstar observed some pretty large monsters on "the other place we don't normally speak of" (i.e., Arakko).
Meanwhile, at the heart of a volcano called the Arak Maw (it has glowing white tentacles emerging from it, just to make it extra creepy), we learn more about Arakko. We're introduced to a shock white boy with bleeding black eyes (similar to the girl we encountered last issue) conversing with his mother, War. We learn that the boy and his siblings were raised constantly engaged in some sort of war, presumably the one that Apocalypse left War and the other Horsemen to fight. An interstitial page tells us that Arakko has a legion of Summoners who've protected Arakko from the "land beyond the wild borders of Otherworld" through summoning demons. It's all pretty grim.
After the Summers family defeat a carnivorous squid (and Rachel and Nate enjoy some banter), the team encounters the boy. However, they don't speak the same language; he hears the Summers speaking in grunts, and they hear him as singing. Nate gives him a thermal grenade as a gift, and the boy accidentally detonates it, leading him to interpret (understandably) that the Summers mean him harm. He then summons three demons (making him a High Summoner, based on what the interstitial page showed us). The fact that these demons all have names (which the boy uses when "introducing" them to the Summers), implies to me that we're going to learn a lot about whatever corner of Hell (or maybe the Otherworld) the Arakkans control. Scott eventually suggests that Rachel download Krakoan into the boy's brain, allowing them to converse. Nate apologizes to the boy ("Can we agree that I've made some poor choices today and just move on?"), and Scott asks why Krakoa is headed to Arakko. Hilariously, the boy asks Scott if he loves someone, and he responds, "Complicated question," with a hilarious tight smile. (All the funnier? He adds, "But for the sake of expedience let's just say yes. I love a single someone." Oh, Scott. Who knew you, of all people, would get the ladies?) We then witness Krakoa and Arakko "merging." The boy comments that he lives "here" now because "he" lives here. War encouraged the boy to find "him" earlier in the issue, and it seems clear that it's the same person: Apocalypse. The boy tells Apocalypse that Arakko will soon fall, though his children do their best to hold off the enemies. Apocalypse embraces him, telling him that he saves all his children. Dun-dun-DUN!
Again, Scott has all sorts of bon mots here, from telling Rachel to throw the book at him because he's a guilty man (for letting Cypher go to the Shi'ar Imperium, denying the X-Men the only person who can communicate with Krakoa) to covering up Nate's eyes while the islands "merge" and telling him, "Well, son, I think that's how all my best mistakes happened." I also enjoyed him telling Nate that he's spent more time in the cockpit than in therapy and that he has "done the work." I am totally here for this Scott Summers, and I hope Jonathan Hickman continues writing him this way for a long, long time.
Also Read: The Batman's Grave #2
Invaders #11: I'll forgive Zdarsky for putting Roxxon's research compound on the same island where Namor and Steve are stranded, since it makes sense that the Roxxon ship that they attacked last issue would be coming from said island. The real question is whether Steve's almost childish devotion to Namor is merited. After all, Namor lets the scientists' experiments kill them here. Steve is enraged, but he's still trying to convince Namor not to be the kind of man who they've always fought, who thinks that he can impose his will on other people. (Has he met Namor?) Steve tries to convince Namor that, if he accepts that Machan didn't do anything that he wouldn't do, he has a responsibility, as a king, to correct his mistake. Zdarsky has Steve throw a minor tantrum when Namor (like everyone else) accuses him of only seeing black-and-white. Steve insists that he sees grey, but I feel like maybe here he's seeing too much grey? It's getting harder and harder to see Namor as redeemable here, as his actions in the lab prove, as he himself says in this issue, that Machan didn't do anything that he wouldn't have done. I don't see how Cap accepts anything other than Namor standing trial if he's going to uphold his ideals, black-and-white they may be.
Star Wars #74: This issue is great. I've rolled my eyes for most of Luke's story as his dedication to Warba seemed like yet another example of his child-like naïveté. But, Warba does arrive in the nick of time to save Luke after previously abandoning him, allowing him to fend off the Stormtroopers intent on attacking the Rebel base. (The "desert mangler-mounted" Stormtrooper patrol is definitely one of the most unexpectedly cool moments in this run. It's hilarious and deadly all at once, to see Stormtroopers on top of basically desert Tauntauns.)
As Luke prepares to depart Sergia, he asks the Rebels to take Warba to the next safe planet. Warba tells Luke that she isn't a Jedi: she just repeated whatever she heard the believers on Jedha say. Luke buys it for a moment, but then he tells her that she's more than she thinks. Earlier, he compared her to Han Solo (who also keeps insisting that he's leaving once the job is done), and his belief in the truth of that comparison shines in his eyes. Warba is the lone figure left standing on Sergia's desert as the Rebels and Luke go their separate ways, and something about the way Noto portrays it -- with the wistful desert sky beyond her - makes you wonder if she doesn't believe Luke a little.
Meanwhile, Threepio confesses to the Kakrans that Chewie and he set bombs on the planet before they realized that intelligent life lived there. The elder Kakran tells Threepio that they can disable "the flesh's" machines, and Threepio realizes that they can generate electricity. When the elder Kakran notes that they'll take out "Brother Ore" as well, Threepio tells "Brother Stone" to do it, so he can be helpful. Threepio, man. Luke arrives on K-43 just in time for the emp blast to disable Artoo and his ship. It sets up one of the best scenes of this series, as Vader emerges from the rubble and makes his way toward Luke, his plan realized. However, he hadn't planned on Chewie knocking him over the head with a boulder. Chewie vs. Vader, next issue! I can't wait!
Star Wars: Target Vader #5: I'm not quite sure I follow what Vader wants here. As Beilert notes, Vader tortures him for no real reason, since Vader just shows him a holomap of Hidden Hand outposts that both he and Beilert know that Vader has already destroyed. So why show him them?
Anyway, the journey into Beilert's history is much more interesting, and the art for certain segments is less bracing (in a good way), making Beilert less grotesque than he's appeared on the covers. We learn that Beilert is from a mining planet named Chorin, which he leaves for a better future. After the events of "Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet," he became a grunt (as we knew). The rest of his body (beyond his eye, which he lost in "Imperial Cadet") was burned in a battle where he lead his soldiers to safety after the Empire refused them air support. A former commander intervened to make sure that the Empire didn't just let him die, pulling strings to have him built into a cyborg. Upon returning home to Chorin, he discovered that his father and fellow minters were dead. He learns from his lost love, Yura, that they died after the Empire withdrew once the mines ran dry. "Raiders" then overtook Chorin, and Beilert leaves Yura to find them.
In the present, Beilert breaks off his arm to escape the Imperials, but it's a trap that Vader set for him. Vader brings him to Chorin where he tells Beilert that the "raiders" who overtook Chorin became the Hidden Hand. Vader then welcomes Beilert back to the Empire, threatening the rest of Chorin if he doesn't cooperate. (Couldn't he just revealed this plan from the start and save everyone time? Why the torture charade? Isn't Vader busy?) Beilert then finds his Rebel contacts, telling them that they need weapons and he needs the Hidden Hand. But, isn't the Rebellion the Hidden Hand? I don't get that part either. Vamos a ver.
X-Men #2: Whereas Hickman's emotionless and stilted dialogue was a poor fit for the New Mutants, it works quite well for the Summers family. Even Scott's attempts at bonding with his children sound like someone delivering a PowerPoint presentation, which is totally in line with Scott's personality. It also fits Nate's personality, as his arrogance on display as he frequently refuses to spend too many words discussing his mistakes. Hickman needs to turn over "New Mutants" to Kelly Thompson and focus exclusively on the Summers family.
The premise of this issue is that Arakko is apparently on Earth now. This surprise, combined with the revelation that someone assassinated Xavier in "X-Force" #1, leaves me feeling somewhat confused from the start. At this point, I'm getting half the new series: "Marauders," "New Mutants," and "X-Men." I'm not getting "Excalibur," "Fallen Angels," or "X-Force," and it obviously means that I'm getting an incomplete view of the "Dawn of X." But, I don't really plan on changing my subscriptions, so I'm going to have to roll with these punches. At any rate, we learn that Arakko appeared 100 miles off Krakoa and Krakoa is heading toward it quickly. Scott takes Rachel and Nate within him on a recon mission after Aurora and Northstar observed some pretty large monsters on "the other place we don't normally speak of" (i.e., Arakko).
Meanwhile, at the heart of a volcano called the Arak Maw (it has glowing white tentacles emerging from it, just to make it extra creepy), we learn more about Arakko. We're introduced to a shock white boy with bleeding black eyes (similar to the girl we encountered last issue) conversing with his mother, War. We learn that the boy and his siblings were raised constantly engaged in some sort of war, presumably the one that Apocalypse left War and the other Horsemen to fight. An interstitial page tells us that Arakko has a legion of Summoners who've protected Arakko from the "land beyond the wild borders of Otherworld" through summoning demons. It's all pretty grim.
After the Summers family defeat a carnivorous squid (and Rachel and Nate enjoy some banter), the team encounters the boy. However, they don't speak the same language; he hears the Summers speaking in grunts, and they hear him as singing. Nate gives him a thermal grenade as a gift, and the boy accidentally detonates it, leading him to interpret (understandably) that the Summers mean him harm. He then summons three demons (making him a High Summoner, based on what the interstitial page showed us). The fact that these demons all have names (which the boy uses when "introducing" them to the Summers), implies to me that we're going to learn a lot about whatever corner of Hell (or maybe the Otherworld) the Arakkans control. Scott eventually suggests that Rachel download Krakoan into the boy's brain, allowing them to converse. Nate apologizes to the boy ("Can we agree that I've made some poor choices today and just move on?"), and Scott asks why Krakoa is headed to Arakko. Hilariously, the boy asks Scott if he loves someone, and he responds, "Complicated question," with a hilarious tight smile. (All the funnier? He adds, "But for the sake of expedience let's just say yes. I love a single someone." Oh, Scott. Who knew you, of all people, would get the ladies?) We then witness Krakoa and Arakko "merging." The boy comments that he lives "here" now because "he" lives here. War encouraged the boy to find "him" earlier in the issue, and it seems clear that it's the same person: Apocalypse. The boy tells Apocalypse that Arakko will soon fall, though his children do their best to hold off the enemies. Apocalypse embraces him, telling him that he saves all his children. Dun-dun-DUN!
Again, Scott has all sorts of bon mots here, from telling Rachel to throw the book at him because he's a guilty man (for letting Cypher go to the Shi'ar Imperium, denying the X-Men the only person who can communicate with Krakoa) to covering up Nate's eyes while the islands "merge" and telling him, "Well, son, I think that's how all my best mistakes happened." I also enjoyed him telling Nate that he's spent more time in the cockpit than in therapy and that he has "done the work." I am totally here for this Scott Summers, and I hope Jonathan Hickman continues writing him this way for a long, long time.
Also Read: The Batman's Grave #2
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The November 6 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Die #9: This issue is reminiscent of the journey through 1914 of issue #3. Instead of J.R.R. Tolkien, we learn that Angria's master is Charlotte Brontë. It's less crazy than it sounds.
We begin the issue with everyone in dangling glass cages, presumably because Isabelle announced to the assembled Angrians last issue that they destroyed Glass Town. Chuck didn't come with Isabelle and the Angrians took Matt's sword and gagged Ash, so they're in a bit of a pickle. As they're dangling there, Isabelle realizes that Sol is Fallen, and Angela explains that they learned that the Fallen are people who die on Die. Except...Isabelle calls bullshit, because they were the first people to come to Die and the Fallen were already here.
I love this part. I honestly can't recall the last time that someone questions an assertion that the author originally presented to us, the reader, as fact. It isn't even meta commentary. It's just someone bringing up evidence that questions an assertion. Even though it happens all the time in the real world, it rarely happens in comics, mostly because authors don't really have time for it. I love that Gillen does it here, making this completely unreal situation feel all the more real.
Sol acknowledges the disconnect, and their jailor says that she knows the answer. Isabelle then recognizes her as Brontë. Gillen informs us non-English majors that Charlotte and her siblings created Angria, Glass Town, and Gondol after their father gave her brother a dozen toy soldiers after their two elder sisters died. The Brontë siblings became obsessed with the soldiers and created stories related to a shared world throughout their adolescence. But, when Charlotte sees her Zamorna one day in a vision, she is spooked. Later, she tries to summon her Angrian visions, and she's left almost literally petrified. Remembering her sister's chilled bodies, she realizes that the stories are consuming them. Branwell refuses to stop writing the stories and descends into alcoholism. Emily said that she had given up her Gondol stories, but Charlotte found new stories she wrote right before she died. Anne died later and, when Charlotte died, she awoke as a Fallen in Die.
Once again, Isabelle points out this story makes no sense. Charlotte claims that Die had to consume all six children to become real, but Isabelle observes that her two eldest sisters died before the rest of the siblings created Angria and Gondol. Isabelle wonders if it's a trick, and Charlotte says that it's all a trick: she's "a person made of a person," a literary concept. Although she's a master, she doesn't think that Die really has masters, but she protects who she can. At this point, Zamorna arrives in mist form, and Isabelle announces that they need to take over Angria to save Die. Zamorna frees Ash from her gag, and she commands Charlotte to free her. Ash asks Isabelle if she really trusts Zamorna, but she correctly asserts that they don't really have a choice: after all, an angry crowd took away Augustus as they arrested Ash and company. Angela begs Ash not to help, and Ash leaves her and Matt in jail so they can't stop them. Ash repeats something she said at the start of the issue, about how Isabelle defeated them not through weaponry but through guile: "This is how you fight in Angria." Indeed.
New Mutants #1: It took me a while to read this issue, because I was so excited about it that I was worried that I would be disappointed. Unfortunately, I was right.
I love the New Mutants. "Amazing Spider-Man" and "New Mutants" were my gateway drugs into comics as a kid, and I've followed them ever since. The problem is that we get old Hickman here; everyone sounds like robots reciting a script instead of people engaging in conversation. For example, Hickman starts the issue with Dani and Roberto reciting mutant history to each other as they walk through the Sextant, the area of Krakoa where the younger mutants live. Dani literally says things like, "And then came those like Xavier and Magneto -- elders of a more modern time -- and after that came the first wide-scale emergence of mutants" and "And then after that the mutant population exploded. Both exponentially and globally." People don't talk this way, particularly to life-long friends with the same shared experience.
It isn't just a dialogue problem, but a characterization problem. For example, Corsair and Hepzibah seem annoyed that Cyclops asked them to take the New Mutants to see Cannonball, because it brings them near the Shi'ar space. But, Roberto notes that Corsair told Cyclops that they were headed that way anyway. Corsair confirms that they were, that they're pirates who laugh at danger. So, he isn't annoyed then? When the team arrives at a space station called Benevolence, Corsair lies to the team about the Starjammer's plans. Moreover, he expects them to stay on board the ship despite telling them all about the innocent and tortured people who live under a religious cult's thumb on the station. Has he not met his son and his friends? Even more unbelievably, when the team comes under fire from Shi'ar troops as they try to free the prisoners, Corsair abandons them. I'm sure that'll ingratiate him to Cyclops next times he goes for a barbecue. Moreover, Hickman ignores the maturity that Sunspot has exhibited in other series, reducing him to the carefree playboy who he was at 13 years old. I originally thought that Bobby was taking everyone to see Sam just to visit and let him know that mutantdom is (allegedly) safe now. Instead, he seems to want to convince him to leave his wife and child. It doesn't say a lot about Bobby as a man.
The only interesting parts of this issue relate to Krakoa. First, Cypher has Mondo try to bond with Krakoa to learn more about him, but he infuriates Krakoa in so doing. Second, on board the Starjammer, the Krakoa flower that Cyclops gave Corsair is slowing killing the plants that Ch'od has planted, raising interesting questions about what Krakoa is doing to the Earth. It sets up the dropping shoe that we all know is coming as a result of Krakoa's sudden manifestations on Earth. But, I'm not sure if it's interesting enough to outweigh the other problems. If everyone is going to sound like exposition robots at worst or their teenage selves at best, I can't find a lot of reason to hang in here. These characters might in theory be the ones that I love, but until they start acting like the characters I know they're just lines on a page.
Also Read: Amazing Spider-Man #33
We begin the issue with everyone in dangling glass cages, presumably because Isabelle announced to the assembled Angrians last issue that they destroyed Glass Town. Chuck didn't come with Isabelle and the Angrians took Matt's sword and gagged Ash, so they're in a bit of a pickle. As they're dangling there, Isabelle realizes that Sol is Fallen, and Angela explains that they learned that the Fallen are people who die on Die. Except...Isabelle calls bullshit, because they were the first people to come to Die and the Fallen were already here.
I love this part. I honestly can't recall the last time that someone questions an assertion that the author originally presented to us, the reader, as fact. It isn't even meta commentary. It's just someone bringing up evidence that questions an assertion. Even though it happens all the time in the real world, it rarely happens in comics, mostly because authors don't really have time for it. I love that Gillen does it here, making this completely unreal situation feel all the more real.
Sol acknowledges the disconnect, and their jailor says that she knows the answer. Isabelle then recognizes her as Brontë. Gillen informs us non-English majors that Charlotte and her siblings created Angria, Glass Town, and Gondol after their father gave her brother a dozen toy soldiers after their two elder sisters died. The Brontë siblings became obsessed with the soldiers and created stories related to a shared world throughout their adolescence. But, when Charlotte sees her Zamorna one day in a vision, she is spooked. Later, she tries to summon her Angrian visions, and she's left almost literally petrified. Remembering her sister's chilled bodies, she realizes that the stories are consuming them. Branwell refuses to stop writing the stories and descends into alcoholism. Emily said that she had given up her Gondol stories, but Charlotte found new stories she wrote right before she died. Anne died later and, when Charlotte died, she awoke as a Fallen in Die.
Once again, Isabelle points out this story makes no sense. Charlotte claims that Die had to consume all six children to become real, but Isabelle observes that her two eldest sisters died before the rest of the siblings created Angria and Gondol. Isabelle wonders if it's a trick, and Charlotte says that it's all a trick: she's "a person made of a person," a literary concept. Although she's a master, she doesn't think that Die really has masters, but she protects who she can. At this point, Zamorna arrives in mist form, and Isabelle announces that they need to take over Angria to save Die. Zamorna frees Ash from her gag, and she commands Charlotte to free her. Ash asks Isabelle if she really trusts Zamorna, but she correctly asserts that they don't really have a choice: after all, an angry crowd took away Augustus as they arrested Ash and company. Angela begs Ash not to help, and Ash leaves her and Matt in jail so they can't stop them. Ash repeats something she said at the start of the issue, about how Isabelle defeated them not through weaponry but through guile: "This is how you fight in Angria." Indeed.
New Mutants #1: It took me a while to read this issue, because I was so excited about it that I was worried that I would be disappointed. Unfortunately, I was right.
I love the New Mutants. "Amazing Spider-Man" and "New Mutants" were my gateway drugs into comics as a kid, and I've followed them ever since. The problem is that we get old Hickman here; everyone sounds like robots reciting a script instead of people engaging in conversation. For example, Hickman starts the issue with Dani and Roberto reciting mutant history to each other as they walk through the Sextant, the area of Krakoa where the younger mutants live. Dani literally says things like, "And then came those like Xavier and Magneto -- elders of a more modern time -- and after that came the first wide-scale emergence of mutants" and "And then after that the mutant population exploded. Both exponentially and globally." People don't talk this way, particularly to life-long friends with the same shared experience.
It isn't just a dialogue problem, but a characterization problem. For example, Corsair and Hepzibah seem annoyed that Cyclops asked them to take the New Mutants to see Cannonball, because it brings them near the Shi'ar space. But, Roberto notes that Corsair told Cyclops that they were headed that way anyway. Corsair confirms that they were, that they're pirates who laugh at danger. So, he isn't annoyed then? When the team arrives at a space station called Benevolence, Corsair lies to the team about the Starjammer's plans. Moreover, he expects them to stay on board the ship despite telling them all about the innocent and tortured people who live under a religious cult's thumb on the station. Has he not met his son and his friends? Even more unbelievably, when the team comes under fire from Shi'ar troops as they try to free the prisoners, Corsair abandons them. I'm sure that'll ingratiate him to Cyclops next times he goes for a barbecue. Moreover, Hickman ignores the maturity that Sunspot has exhibited in other series, reducing him to the carefree playboy who he was at 13 years old. I originally thought that Bobby was taking everyone to see Sam just to visit and let him know that mutantdom is (allegedly) safe now. Instead, he seems to want to convince him to leave his wife and child. It doesn't say a lot about Bobby as a man.
The only interesting parts of this issue relate to Krakoa. First, Cypher has Mondo try to bond with Krakoa to learn more about him, but he infuriates Krakoa in so doing. Second, on board the Starjammer, the Krakoa flower that Cyclops gave Corsair is slowing killing the plants that Ch'od has planted, raising interesting questions about what Krakoa is doing to the Earth. It sets up the dropping shoe that we all know is coming as a result of Krakoa's sudden manifestations on Earth. But, I'm not sure if it's interesting enough to outweigh the other problems. If everyone is going to sound like exposition robots at worst or their teenage selves at best, I can't find a lot of reason to hang in here. These characters might in theory be the ones that I love, but until they start acting like the characters I know they're just lines on a page.
Also Read: Amazing Spider-Man #33
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Undiscovered Country #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
I could write pages and pages about this issue, but I'll try to keep it short(-ish). Snyder and Soule uses two premises ripped from the headlines as this series' backbone. Over the past few months since this issue was published, I have to say that both scenarios unbelievably became more likely.
The first premise is somewhat obvious. We learn from an information page at the back of the issue that the United States began declining when China called in its outstanding U.S.-currency debt, pushing the United States into a recession. Eight years later, the United States suddenly closed off itself from the rest of the world, using "Air Wall" force-shield technology that DARPA developed. In the ensuing 30 years, no one has heard from America at all. This premise is obviously an extrapolation of the Trump administration's policies, from building the infamous wall with Mexico to the trade war with China. It also isn't that much of a stretch. It injects the series with some serious energy as you're reading about something that could possibly happen in some form in your lifetime (regardless of how unlikely).
But, it's the second premise that went from probably feeling like a remote likelihood in November 2019 when this issue was published to feeling like cinéma vérité in May 2020. The issue opens with a team in a helicopter approaching America's famous Air Wall. Although America has allegedly invited the team to come (more on that later), they're still nervous, since, after all, no one has gotten into America in 30 years. The team is there because the United States offered the Alliance Euro-Afrique and the Pan Asiatic Prosperity Zone a cure for the Sky Plague, which is ravaging both areas. I'm reading this issue under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. This part of the plot obviously takes on more urgency.
We learn more about the Sky Plague in a flashback where someone named Colonel Bukowski recruits a doctor named Claire Graves to join the eventual team. At the time, she's working at a refugee camp in Athens delivering, as Bukowski calls it, highly impressive but highly illegal palliative care. Claire is in the process of trying to save a patient when helicopters spray vapor on the camp, allegedly to help the residents though they all assume (probably rightly so) that it's poison meant to kill everyone before they spread the disease. Claire is annoyed at Bukowksi's interruption and wonders if Bukowski is really there for her brother, though we don't yet know why he would be. But, her patient dies, and she agrees to follow Bukowski after he tells her that America has contacted them about a cure.
In a command center somewhere, the Alliance and Zone are hosting a meeting to show Claire and others experts America's message, from a man calling himself Dr. Samuel Elgin. He says that America is ready to serve as a shining beacon again, and he offers the cure. He offers that the Plague will wipe out everyone in six months, and Claire tells the meeting's participants that she agrees with that timeline. Claire also vaguely recognizes the man, saying that he seems like someone who came to their house a few times when she was a child. She asks her also-present brother, handsome Major Daniel Graves, if he remembers, but he can't remember any more details either. Daniel is there because he's the only person who's ever come close to infiltrating America. We learn that he and Claire's parents sent them outside America when they were children.
The Alliance and the Zone plan to send a joint team to negotiate with the Americans for a care. Joining Bukowski, Claire, and Daniel at the table and on the mission are: Ace Kenyatta, an expert on American society to serve as a cultural translator; Valentina Sandoval, a journalist to record the mission; and Chang Enlou and Janet Worthington, senior diplomats from the Zone and the Alliance. (We learn that the two groupings hate each other so much that Janet notes the fact that she and Enlou hadn't poisoned the other rone within minutes is a sign how seriously they're treating the issue.)
It's this team on the helicopter that approaches America in the first few pages...and promptly gets shot down. Claire convinces an always-skeptical Daniel to take the group to a flashing light that Valentina's drone saw while Bukowski tries to fix the helicopter. The group finds the light is coming from an old TV, and Daniel isn't sure if it's a lure or a warning. Either way, we start to get the real story when they look over the cliff and see...chaos. It's a Mad Max-esque gathering of possibly mutated humans wrapped in thermal-shielding bandages accompanied by definitely mutated animals. The team watches in horror as some mutants drag Bukowski before their leader, who looks like a mummy riding a mutated bison. He orders the bison to bite off Bukowski's feet as, in an inverse black-and-white speech bubble, he declares, "no foreign boots shall ever set foot on American soil." The team flees to the other side of the ridge, only to discover an even larger flotilla of mutants coming their way. (The flotilla flies the same flag Ace noted when they first saw the mutants on the other side of the ridge, a red-and-blue "X.")
Someone dressed in an outfit reminiscent of the Young Avengers' Patriot then appears and offers to lead them to safety. Daniel is skeptical until the guy shows a patch of the real American flag. He informs the team that the Destiny Man is behind the flotilla; his lieutenant was the mummy who ordered Bukowski's feet eaten. The team follows him into his underground bunker where they see other humans like him. The man knows who Claire and Daniel are and brings them into a smaller cave alone. He jokingly calls it his Oval Office and shows them a map of America. He says they'll go on the "Spiral Walk" and reveals that he knows their names because the prophecy told him about them. (Uh-oh.) When they ask about the message that America sent, he says that he doesn't know anything about it, which is troubling because he reveals that he's Sam Elgin and he wants you (them) to save America.
Snyder and Soule are obviously engaged in a serious world-building experiment here, so I'm going to give them a lot of time to do it. But, they also engage in a lot of character establishment as well, a sign of Soule's presence on this team, to my mind. In terms of America's decision to close its borders, I'd say the only real question is how the President (assuming that it was the President) got the government's other senior leaders, particularly in the Congress, to agree. But, the fact that Ellis' map shows America divided into zones makes it clear that it might not exactly have been a consensus decision. It's also interesting that no one knows: when the team is discussing the fact that they don't even know if America has a President anymore, Snyder and Soule are making it clear that America was really that isolated. I am definitely intrigued to see where we go from here. At the very least, this series has Netflix series written all over it.
The first premise is somewhat obvious. We learn from an information page at the back of the issue that the United States began declining when China called in its outstanding U.S.-currency debt, pushing the United States into a recession. Eight years later, the United States suddenly closed off itself from the rest of the world, using "Air Wall" force-shield technology that DARPA developed. In the ensuing 30 years, no one has heard from America at all. This premise is obviously an extrapolation of the Trump administration's policies, from building the infamous wall with Mexico to the trade war with China. It also isn't that much of a stretch. It injects the series with some serious energy as you're reading about something that could possibly happen in some form in your lifetime (regardless of how unlikely).
But, it's the second premise that went from probably feeling like a remote likelihood in November 2019 when this issue was published to feeling like cinéma vérité in May 2020. The issue opens with a team in a helicopter approaching America's famous Air Wall. Although America has allegedly invited the team to come (more on that later), they're still nervous, since, after all, no one has gotten into America in 30 years. The team is there because the United States offered the Alliance Euro-Afrique and the Pan Asiatic Prosperity Zone a cure for the Sky Plague, which is ravaging both areas. I'm reading this issue under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. This part of the plot obviously takes on more urgency.
We learn more about the Sky Plague in a flashback where someone named Colonel Bukowski recruits a doctor named Claire Graves to join the eventual team. At the time, she's working at a refugee camp in Athens delivering, as Bukowski calls it, highly impressive but highly illegal palliative care. Claire is in the process of trying to save a patient when helicopters spray vapor on the camp, allegedly to help the residents though they all assume (probably rightly so) that it's poison meant to kill everyone before they spread the disease. Claire is annoyed at Bukowksi's interruption and wonders if Bukowski is really there for her brother, though we don't yet know why he would be. But, her patient dies, and she agrees to follow Bukowski after he tells her that America has contacted them about a cure.
In a command center somewhere, the Alliance and Zone are hosting a meeting to show Claire and others experts America's message, from a man calling himself Dr. Samuel Elgin. He says that America is ready to serve as a shining beacon again, and he offers the cure. He offers that the Plague will wipe out everyone in six months, and Claire tells the meeting's participants that she agrees with that timeline. Claire also vaguely recognizes the man, saying that he seems like someone who came to their house a few times when she was a child. She asks her also-present brother, handsome Major Daniel Graves, if he remembers, but he can't remember any more details either. Daniel is there because he's the only person who's ever come close to infiltrating America. We learn that he and Claire's parents sent them outside America when they were children.
The Alliance and the Zone plan to send a joint team to negotiate with the Americans for a care. Joining Bukowski, Claire, and Daniel at the table and on the mission are: Ace Kenyatta, an expert on American society to serve as a cultural translator; Valentina Sandoval, a journalist to record the mission; and Chang Enlou and Janet Worthington, senior diplomats from the Zone and the Alliance. (We learn that the two groupings hate each other so much that Janet notes the fact that she and Enlou hadn't poisoned the other rone within minutes is a sign how seriously they're treating the issue.)
It's this team on the helicopter that approaches America in the first few pages...and promptly gets shot down. Claire convinces an always-skeptical Daniel to take the group to a flashing light that Valentina's drone saw while Bukowski tries to fix the helicopter. The group finds the light is coming from an old TV, and Daniel isn't sure if it's a lure or a warning. Either way, we start to get the real story when they look over the cliff and see...chaos. It's a Mad Max-esque gathering of possibly mutated humans wrapped in thermal-shielding bandages accompanied by definitely mutated animals. The team watches in horror as some mutants drag Bukowski before their leader, who looks like a mummy riding a mutated bison. He orders the bison to bite off Bukowski's feet as, in an inverse black-and-white speech bubble, he declares, "no foreign boots shall ever set foot on American soil." The team flees to the other side of the ridge, only to discover an even larger flotilla of mutants coming their way. (The flotilla flies the same flag Ace noted when they first saw the mutants on the other side of the ridge, a red-and-blue "X.")
Someone dressed in an outfit reminiscent of the Young Avengers' Patriot then appears and offers to lead them to safety. Daniel is skeptical until the guy shows a patch of the real American flag. He informs the team that the Destiny Man is behind the flotilla; his lieutenant was the mummy who ordered Bukowski's feet eaten. The team follows him into his underground bunker where they see other humans like him. The man knows who Claire and Daniel are and brings them into a smaller cave alone. He jokingly calls it his Oval Office and shows them a map of America. He says they'll go on the "Spiral Walk" and reveals that he knows their names because the prophecy told him about them. (Uh-oh.) When they ask about the message that America sent, he says that he doesn't know anything about it, which is troubling because he reveals that he's Sam Elgin and he wants you (them) to save America.
Snyder and Soule are obviously engaged in a serious world-building experiment here, so I'm going to give them a lot of time to do it. But, they also engage in a lot of character establishment as well, a sign of Soule's presence on this team, to my mind. In terms of America's decision to close its borders, I'd say the only real question is how the President (assuming that it was the President) got the government's other senior leaders, particularly in the Congress, to agree. But, the fact that Ellis' map shows America divided into zones makes it clear that it might not exactly have been a consensus decision. It's also interesting that no one knows: when the team is discussing the fact that they don't even know if America has a President anymore, Snyder and Soule are making it clear that America was really that isolated. I am definitely intrigued to see where we go from here. At the very least, this series has Netflix series written all over it.
Friday, May 1, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely New Comics: The October 23 and 30 Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Amazing Spider-Man #32: Given I started this blog as essentially a Miguel O'Hara tribute site, I'm obviously so fucking excited about this event.
First, let's talk about the Peter parts of this issue. Spencer does a lot to secure Peter in his new status quo here, in important but not overly obvious ways.
We begin with Peter daydreaming during his group-exercise meeting, prompting his two partners, Kel and Derrick, to lay into him. They both focus on the fact that Dr. Connors got him readmitted to the Ph.D. program, with Derrick calling him Connors' "pet" after T.A.ing for him "back in the eighties or something" and Kel assuming that the Lizard almost ate him. Kel says that he was probably just bored because he's a "big shot who had his own crash-and-burn start-up." As Derrick's laying into Peter about plagiarism, a guy named Jamie saves him. Jamie reveals that he turned an old WebWare watch into an early-warning device for large-scale emergencies. Jamie also lauds Peter's attempt to provide free high-speed internet to everyone worldwide, whereas he notes that Google keeps rejecting Kel and Derrick is a patent troll. In other words, Spencer repositions Peter not as a failure but as a doer. Jamie (and likely others) see his failure as a totally acceptable setback given what Parker Industries accomplished (or tried to accomplish). Spencer also doesn't drop the plagiarism angle here. But, when Peter suggests a way to solve the problem the professor assigned the group, Kel acknowledges that it's a good idea. In other words, Spencer is setting up Peter's academic redemption since it's clear that he can get a Ph.D. on his own merits.
But, perhaps the best part of this issue is Gleason. Teresa pulls a fire alarm to get Peter's attention, and they head to a meeting between the Chameleon and the Foreigner. This Foreigner seems new (and hot), and the Chameleon is selling him Infiniti Formula from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "going-out-of-business" sale. Gleason is on fire during the entire confrontation between the Foreigner and Spidey. The Foreigner looks like an action hero in a suit, rolling up his sleeves like he's Henry Cavill in "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." Spidey is lithe in contrast, prancing around the Foreigner while delivering quips. Spidey's head tilt here somehow accentuates how happy-go-lucky he is, particularly in contrast to the Foreigner's more serious mien. (It reminds me of "Avenging Spider-Man" #5, where Spidey looks like a gawky teenager next to Cap.) They're small things, but they really sum up the characters (and the differences between them) perfectly. The scene is also bathed in a red light as they're confronting each other right in front of a car shining its break lights, making the entire sequence even more arresting.
Moreover, the Miguel part of the issue is also pretty on point. He arrives in the present falling onto a burning oil platform that Roxxon owns. Roxxon retrieves his unconscious body, and its scientists have him under observation at their headquarters, where the suits delight in the technology that they can steal from him. He awakens groggy but manages to break free. However, he's still disoriented and his powers aren't working. We only know that he's escaping the "end of everything" in his future, desperately looking for Peter. But, he falls several stories when he forgets how to glide, landing on a taxi. It's an inauspicious start for our man, Miguel.
All in all, it's a strong start and I'm needless to say, excited about this event.
King Thor #2: Aaron is as good as he's ever been here, as each character plays his role perfectly. We learn that Loki resurrected the God Butcher not to kill Thor, but to kill him. Loki himself wanted to kill Thor, but knew that, after eons of trying, he didn't have the courage to kill himself. He needed Gorr to do that. Aaron even manages to inject some humor here, with Loki scoffing that he's been killing gods since Gorr was in short pants and he's offended at the implication that he needed help killing Gorr. Aaron and Ribic pull out all the stops in showing these final moments. Loki derides a human as he prays to Thor. The human is confused, wondering if he's praying wrong since he never had to pray before: Thor always provided. Loki tells him that they're all going to die and that no eternal reward is forthcoming. As other humans gather with him, the human simply says that he'll pray for Loki then, too. The issue ends with Thor and Loki dying in Gorr's goo, with Thor telling Loki that he lied when he said earlier (I think in issue #1) that Freyja gave up hope for him. He reveals that her last words were: "Never let go of your brother. And someday he'll save us all." Ribic uses a different style here, with Renaissance-inspired pencils, to show the "dying of the light," as Loki's hand, initially far from Thor's, clasps it. Earlier, Thor told Loki that -- after Gorr took his arm and eye -- they still had Thor's strength and Loki's brain. Loki refused to tell Thor how to defeat Gorr, saying it was impossible. But, in this last moment, does Loki give Thor what he needs? It's amazing after all this time that Aaron can conjure these sorts of emotional moments, keeping us on the edges of our seats waiting to see who Loki really is.
Marauders #1: This issue is spectacular. It's everything I hoped that I could have in an X-Men comic. I've always liked Duggan; his run on "Uncanny Avengers" was on my favorites. But, he really outdoes himself here.
First, we start with a great premise: Kitty Pryde can't use the Krakoa gates. On the first page, Nightcrawler and Storm deliver a rousing speech in Central Park to a group of mutant refugees seeking to use the gates, about how they're going home and leaving behind their old life. Telling Kurt and Ororo that she'll see them on the island, Kitty walks into the portal...and busts her nose on it. It's particularly funny given her power: she can phase through walls, but she's the only mutant who can't use the portal.
With few options, she steals a sailboat and makes her way to the island with Lockheed, who's having a spectacular time eating all the fish and seagulls that he can find. (Can I just say how happy I am to see Lockheed again? In these dark times, we need more Lockheed.) Kitty arrives to Bobby welcoming her on the beach. When he asks whether she still can't use the gates, she tells him that "top men" are working on it. Bobby quips that he'd like to meet these "top men." Duggan! How risqué! In the same panel as the one where Bobby makes this comment, we see a quotation bubble from an off-panel person shouting, "Did you get it?!?" The next panel reveals that it's Logan theoretically yelling about where Kitty got the supplies that he asked her to bring (mainly BBQ and whisky). But, Duggan really uses it to draw a line under Bobby's joke. Moreover, Logan's note to Kitty about the supplies, presented in one of the interstitial pages, itself is hilarious, particularly his "tell no one" instructions about his "dapper dude" pomade. This entire sequence alone made me loves this book. But, wait, there's more!
Bobby bids Kitty adieu as he explores why no one has used a certain portal. Kitty is then called to a telepathic meeting with Emma Frost, who calls her Kate. Kitty is on the defensive throughout this interaction, behaving more insecure than we usually see her. But, Duggan uses that insecurity to show the respect that Emma has for her, not only because she calls her Kate but because, as she explains: "You've been fighting your whole life against impossible odds, and you never once gave someone an extra shot in the ribs simply because they deserved it." I have to say that it's the perfect description of what makes Kitty special, and it's why Emma offers Kitty a job. She wants Kitty to take command of a large ship that helps mutants who can't use the portals for a variety of reasons, mostly because they're guarded by anti-mutant nutjobs. Kitty hilarious remarks, "Ororo said 'No,' huh?", to which Emma responds, "Before I could finish my pitch -- but darling, you will be grand!"
I read a review somewhere in which the reviewer sagely noted that some authors are going to ignore the new status quo to their detriment and some authors are going to lean into it to great success. Duggan happily takes the latter route here. On the very first page when I saw Kurt and Ororo leading the kids to the gates, I wondered about whether every gate would be so easy to access. Duggan wanted me to think exactly that in order to set up where he goes here. Moreover, Emma seems to be offering Kitty the Red Queenship, which, OMG, yes! Duggan didn't have to make Kitty unable to use the portals, but, by doing so, we're not getting some random team whose entire roster will change by issue #6 and whose orienting mission will change by issue #8. Kitty is front and center here as she has to be: her inability to use the portals means that the ship is her only option. As Emma says, she might as well use that opportunity.
Meanwhile, Bobby goes through the portal and is immediately attacked by one of the aforementioned anti-mutant nutjobs, a Russian solider wearing a power-eliminating suit of armor (proving why the Marauders are needed). We are then treated to an underwear-clad Bobby leaping back through the portal to a whisky-swilling Kitty. I mean, what more could you want? Kitty recruits Storm for the boat and away we go. On board is also the old Pyro, seemingly to Bobby's dismay, given his previous sexy time with new Pyro. The team arrives at the portal and the solider takes out Bobby and Ororo's powers quickly. But, they were a distraction, as Kitty uses her powers to disrupt the armor. Bobby and Ororo go to free the imprisoned mutants, and Duggan and Lolli go to town in showing Kitty ruthlessly making her way through the attacking soldiers by her own damn self. (Phasing the gun into the legs of two of the soldiers was...brutal.) Pyro exults as Lockheed provides him dragonfire, and the rest of the soldiers retreat. One of the refugees is recording the scene as they're freed, and Kitty announces to the interwebs that they're the Marauders and they'll bring any mutant who can't get to Krakoa "home." The issue ends with the team agreeing to stay with Kitty and her asking them to call her Kate. (Well, it really ends with the Red Diamond saying that Kate was actually Emma's third choice, but whatever.)
Elsewhere in the issue, Bishop is investigating an anti-mutant activist in Taiwan named Mrs. Zhao who claims that her husband disappeared when he touched the gate. Bishop confronts her, informing her that they don't have any record of her husband, and she departs with an insult. Interesting.
All in all, I just can't describe how happy I am. First, the mission is great. It's like X-Force without the brutality. As Storm says, how could she turn her back on mutants who need them the most? But, most importantly, the cast is great. Bobby, Kate, and Storm are three of my favorite X-Men. Seeing them galavanting around the world together on a ship with booze, guys, and quips? Pinch me.
Star Wars #73: Like any good "Star Wars" story, everything goes from bad to worse here. After torturing Han, Carpo releases him to Leia and Dar's reconnaissance so the three of them can attack the regional governor. (I now realize that Dar didn't intentionally set up Han, which sucks, because it would've been easier not to like him as much as I do.) Leia and Dar have to explain to Han that the only reason that Carpo thinks the governor is attacking is because they changed the plan. Of course, Han notes that, instead of Carpo dying in their plan, they will. (He ain't wrong.) Han realizes that they don't have any hope of breaking into an Imperial Star Destroyer, so he plans on brining them to K-43 because, "the more, the merrier." Of course, he still thinks that Chewie and Threepio are planning to blow up K-43, taking said Star Destroyer with it. Meanwhile, Chewie rescues Threepio from Vader's grasp after Vader catches Threepio lying that the Kakrans were under his thrall. Chewie tells Threepio that he only managed to disable half the detonators, so Threepio calls Luke for help. But, Luke has to protect the Rebel base, though he may actually convince Warba to help. As Carpo says, so complicated!
Also Read: Conan The Barbarian #10; Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #3 and #4
First, let's talk about the Peter parts of this issue. Spencer does a lot to secure Peter in his new status quo here, in important but not overly obvious ways.
We begin with Peter daydreaming during his group-exercise meeting, prompting his two partners, Kel and Derrick, to lay into him. They both focus on the fact that Dr. Connors got him readmitted to the Ph.D. program, with Derrick calling him Connors' "pet" after T.A.ing for him "back in the eighties or something" and Kel assuming that the Lizard almost ate him. Kel says that he was probably just bored because he's a "big shot who had his own crash-and-burn start-up." As Derrick's laying into Peter about plagiarism, a guy named Jamie saves him. Jamie reveals that he turned an old WebWare watch into an early-warning device for large-scale emergencies. Jamie also lauds Peter's attempt to provide free high-speed internet to everyone worldwide, whereas he notes that Google keeps rejecting Kel and Derrick is a patent troll. In other words, Spencer repositions Peter not as a failure but as a doer. Jamie (and likely others) see his failure as a totally acceptable setback given what Parker Industries accomplished (or tried to accomplish). Spencer also doesn't drop the plagiarism angle here. But, when Peter suggests a way to solve the problem the professor assigned the group, Kel acknowledges that it's a good idea. In other words, Spencer is setting up Peter's academic redemption since it's clear that he can get a Ph.D. on his own merits.
But, perhaps the best part of this issue is Gleason. Teresa pulls a fire alarm to get Peter's attention, and they head to a meeting between the Chameleon and the Foreigner. This Foreigner seems new (and hot), and the Chameleon is selling him Infiniti Formula from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "going-out-of-business" sale. Gleason is on fire during the entire confrontation between the Foreigner and Spidey. The Foreigner looks like an action hero in a suit, rolling up his sleeves like he's Henry Cavill in "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." Spidey is lithe in contrast, prancing around the Foreigner while delivering quips. Spidey's head tilt here somehow accentuates how happy-go-lucky he is, particularly in contrast to the Foreigner's more serious mien. (It reminds me of "Avenging Spider-Man" #5, where Spidey looks like a gawky teenager next to Cap.) They're small things, but they really sum up the characters (and the differences between them) perfectly. The scene is also bathed in a red light as they're confronting each other right in front of a car shining its break lights, making the entire sequence even more arresting.
Moreover, the Miguel part of the issue is also pretty on point. He arrives in the present falling onto a burning oil platform that Roxxon owns. Roxxon retrieves his unconscious body, and its scientists have him under observation at their headquarters, where the suits delight in the technology that they can steal from him. He awakens groggy but manages to break free. However, he's still disoriented and his powers aren't working. We only know that he's escaping the "end of everything" in his future, desperately looking for Peter. But, he falls several stories when he forgets how to glide, landing on a taxi. It's an inauspicious start for our man, Miguel.
All in all, it's a strong start and I'm needless to say, excited about this event.
King Thor #2: Aaron is as good as he's ever been here, as each character plays his role perfectly. We learn that Loki resurrected the God Butcher not to kill Thor, but to kill him. Loki himself wanted to kill Thor, but knew that, after eons of trying, he didn't have the courage to kill himself. He needed Gorr to do that. Aaron even manages to inject some humor here, with Loki scoffing that he's been killing gods since Gorr was in short pants and he's offended at the implication that he needed help killing Gorr. Aaron and Ribic pull out all the stops in showing these final moments. Loki derides a human as he prays to Thor. The human is confused, wondering if he's praying wrong since he never had to pray before: Thor always provided. Loki tells him that they're all going to die and that no eternal reward is forthcoming. As other humans gather with him, the human simply says that he'll pray for Loki then, too. The issue ends with Thor and Loki dying in Gorr's goo, with Thor telling Loki that he lied when he said earlier (I think in issue #1) that Freyja gave up hope for him. He reveals that her last words were: "Never let go of your brother. And someday he'll save us all." Ribic uses a different style here, with Renaissance-inspired pencils, to show the "dying of the light," as Loki's hand, initially far from Thor's, clasps it. Earlier, Thor told Loki that -- after Gorr took his arm and eye -- they still had Thor's strength and Loki's brain. Loki refused to tell Thor how to defeat Gorr, saying it was impossible. But, in this last moment, does Loki give Thor what he needs? It's amazing after all this time that Aaron can conjure these sorts of emotional moments, keeping us on the edges of our seats waiting to see who Loki really is.
Marauders #1: This issue is spectacular. It's everything I hoped that I could have in an X-Men comic. I've always liked Duggan; his run on "Uncanny Avengers" was on my favorites. But, he really outdoes himself here.
First, we start with a great premise: Kitty Pryde can't use the Krakoa gates. On the first page, Nightcrawler and Storm deliver a rousing speech in Central Park to a group of mutant refugees seeking to use the gates, about how they're going home and leaving behind their old life. Telling Kurt and Ororo that she'll see them on the island, Kitty walks into the portal...and busts her nose on it. It's particularly funny given her power: she can phase through walls, but she's the only mutant who can't use the portal.
With few options, she steals a sailboat and makes her way to the island with Lockheed, who's having a spectacular time eating all the fish and seagulls that he can find. (Can I just say how happy I am to see Lockheed again? In these dark times, we need more Lockheed.) Kitty arrives to Bobby welcoming her on the beach. When he asks whether she still can't use the gates, she tells him that "top men" are working on it. Bobby quips that he'd like to meet these "top men." Duggan! How risqué! In the same panel as the one where Bobby makes this comment, we see a quotation bubble from an off-panel person shouting, "Did you get it?!?" The next panel reveals that it's Logan theoretically yelling about where Kitty got the supplies that he asked her to bring (mainly BBQ and whisky). But, Duggan really uses it to draw a line under Bobby's joke. Moreover, Logan's note to Kitty about the supplies, presented in one of the interstitial pages, itself is hilarious, particularly his "tell no one" instructions about his "dapper dude" pomade. This entire sequence alone made me loves this book. But, wait, there's more!
Bobby bids Kitty adieu as he explores why no one has used a certain portal. Kitty is then called to a telepathic meeting with Emma Frost, who calls her Kate. Kitty is on the defensive throughout this interaction, behaving more insecure than we usually see her. But, Duggan uses that insecurity to show the respect that Emma has for her, not only because she calls her Kate but because, as she explains: "You've been fighting your whole life against impossible odds, and you never once gave someone an extra shot in the ribs simply because they deserved it." I have to say that it's the perfect description of what makes Kitty special, and it's why Emma offers Kitty a job. She wants Kitty to take command of a large ship that helps mutants who can't use the portals for a variety of reasons, mostly because they're guarded by anti-mutant nutjobs. Kitty hilarious remarks, "Ororo said 'No,' huh?", to which Emma responds, "Before I could finish my pitch -- but darling, you will be grand!"
I read a review somewhere in which the reviewer sagely noted that some authors are going to ignore the new status quo to their detriment and some authors are going to lean into it to great success. Duggan happily takes the latter route here. On the very first page when I saw Kurt and Ororo leading the kids to the gates, I wondered about whether every gate would be so easy to access. Duggan wanted me to think exactly that in order to set up where he goes here. Moreover, Emma seems to be offering Kitty the Red Queenship, which, OMG, yes! Duggan didn't have to make Kitty unable to use the portals, but, by doing so, we're not getting some random team whose entire roster will change by issue #6 and whose orienting mission will change by issue #8. Kitty is front and center here as she has to be: her inability to use the portals means that the ship is her only option. As Emma says, she might as well use that opportunity.
Meanwhile, Bobby goes through the portal and is immediately attacked by one of the aforementioned anti-mutant nutjobs, a Russian solider wearing a power-eliminating suit of armor (proving why the Marauders are needed). We are then treated to an underwear-clad Bobby leaping back through the portal to a whisky-swilling Kitty. I mean, what more could you want? Kitty recruits Storm for the boat and away we go. On board is also the old Pyro, seemingly to Bobby's dismay, given his previous sexy time with new Pyro. The team arrives at the portal and the solider takes out Bobby and Ororo's powers quickly. But, they were a distraction, as Kitty uses her powers to disrupt the armor. Bobby and Ororo go to free the imprisoned mutants, and Duggan and Lolli go to town in showing Kitty ruthlessly making her way through the attacking soldiers by her own damn self. (Phasing the gun into the legs of two of the soldiers was...brutal.) Pyro exults as Lockheed provides him dragonfire, and the rest of the soldiers retreat. One of the refugees is recording the scene as they're freed, and Kitty announces to the interwebs that they're the Marauders and they'll bring any mutant who can't get to Krakoa "home." The issue ends with the team agreeing to stay with Kitty and her asking them to call her Kate. (Well, it really ends with the Red Diamond saying that Kate was actually Emma's third choice, but whatever.)
Elsewhere in the issue, Bishop is investigating an anti-mutant activist in Taiwan named Mrs. Zhao who claims that her husband disappeared when he touched the gate. Bishop confronts her, informing her that they don't have any record of her husband, and she departs with an insult. Interesting.
All in all, I just can't describe how happy I am. First, the mission is great. It's like X-Force without the brutality. As Storm says, how could she turn her back on mutants who need them the most? But, most importantly, the cast is great. Bobby, Kate, and Storm are three of my favorite X-Men. Seeing them galavanting around the world together on a ship with booze, guys, and quips? Pinch me.
Star Wars #73: Like any good "Star Wars" story, everything goes from bad to worse here. After torturing Han, Carpo releases him to Leia and Dar's reconnaissance so the three of them can attack the regional governor. (I now realize that Dar didn't intentionally set up Han, which sucks, because it would've been easier not to like him as much as I do.) Leia and Dar have to explain to Han that the only reason that Carpo thinks the governor is attacking is because they changed the plan. Of course, Han notes that, instead of Carpo dying in their plan, they will. (He ain't wrong.) Han realizes that they don't have any hope of breaking into an Imperial Star Destroyer, so he plans on brining them to K-43 because, "the more, the merrier." Of course, he still thinks that Chewie and Threepio are planning to blow up K-43, taking said Star Destroyer with it. Meanwhile, Chewie rescues Threepio from Vader's grasp after Vader catches Threepio lying that the Kakrans were under his thrall. Chewie tells Threepio that he only managed to disable half the detonators, so Threepio calls Luke for help. But, Luke has to protect the Rebel base, though he may actually convince Warba to help. As Carpo says, so complicated!
Also Read: Conan The Barbarian #10; Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #3 and #4
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely New Comics: The October 23 and 30 DC Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Batman: Curse of the White Knight #4: Ehn. I don't know if I'm going to keep reading this one. I loved the first series, but Murphy is just wallowing in maudlinness now. We open the issue with a devastated Barbara watching doctors unsuccessfully try to save her father. Dick tries to comfort her later but she refuses his help. In fact, she tells him that he was right when he said that they weren't a family. Of course, he now says that he was wrong, and she asserts that they all know that Bruce ruined their lives. After Dick leaves, Bullock joins Barbara in going to go kill Azrael. Meanwhile, Bruce visits Leslie Thompkins, who's taking care of a recovering Harley and the twins. She informs Bruce that she, too, knew about the journal. Years ago, she and Alfred met a mysterious figure claiming to be a member of the Order of St. Dumas. He gave the journal to Alfred after he allegedly took it from the Joker. (Alfred brings a sword to this meeting, which is just fucking ridiculous.) Dick warns Bruce about Barbara going rogue, correctly assuming that Bruce has installed trackers on their vehicles despite claiming that he didn't. They arrive in time to stop Barbara from killing Azrael but not to stop Azrael from breaking her back. [Sigh.] Then, Bruce confronts Azrael, shouting that the Waynes are the rightful protectors of Gotham. Weirdly enough, Azrael agrees. I don't know. It's all just melodrama at this point.
Detective Comics #1,014: I like where Tomasi is going here, resurrecting Nora Fries. It's like Brubaker bringing back Bucky, transforming Mr. Freeze from a sad-sack character into an entirely new one. My only complaint is that Tomasi doesn't explain how Nora suddenly becomes OK with Victor's life of crime. She seems confused when they encounter Bruce Wayne at the WayneTech Cryogenics Lab where Victor used to work. She says that she has no ill will towards him, making it clear that she isn't on the same vendetta crusade that Victor is. (He's there to recover samples he purposefully mislabeled when he worked there to replace the samples that he lost when Batman broke into his HQ and that he needs to complete Nora's transformation.) But, in the next sequence, she's dancing in a theater full of people whom Victor has frozen and then in the next sequence she's dressed to kill -- literally -- just like he is. I'm assuming that her somewhat flawed resurrection has left her addled, but Tomasi doesn't draw that line for us or show how she goes from outraged that Victor defied her wishes and froze her to serving as his somewhat mindless accomplice. I'm guessing that we'll see those dots connected in a subsequent issue, because Tomasi clearly seems to be building to something. But, we better get there soon.
The Last God #1: Man, this issue is intense right from the gate.
The series begins with the phrase: "Every culture in Cain Anuun has its story of how the world began." We learn that each of those stories has a common element: the Black Stair in the land called Fellspyre that reaches, allegedly, beyond the end of creation and into the Void itself. We learn that a zombie-esque Apocalypse called the Plague of Shadows occurred 30 years earlier, when thorn-looking creatures converted the living into "vine, rot, ash, and defiled flesh." Johnson then takes us on a tour of Cain Anuun's lands, as each one falls to the Plague: Olvargolad, the land of humans; the Aelvan Nations, the land of elves; the Pinnacle of the Guild Eldritch, the realm of wizards; the "frozen strongholds of the mighty Rivermen," Cain Anuun's barbarians; and the Dwarrows, the land of dwarves. A team called the Godslayers, representing each land -- Veikko al Man of the Aelvan, Skol of the Guild Eldritch, Jorunn of the Dwarrows, Hakkon of the Rivermen, and Tyr and Cyanthe of the humans -- climbed the Stairs to end the Plague, resulting in Tyr slaying the Last God.
We're given this information through a gladiatorial "play" occurring at a festival celebrating that day. Olvargolad has been renamed Tyrgolad, as Tyr is now king and overlord of all the lands. Through the "play," we learn that Hakkon came under the sway of the Last God, turning on the group until Tyr defeated him. King Tyr and Queen Cyanthe are watching the play on a dais with a group of dignitaries. One of them asks Queen Cyanthe where Tyr was really so fearsome. Cyanthe instantly recalls a memory of Tyr attacking an infant with a knife, with two women trying to restrain him. Later, Cyanthe is furious that Jorunn, Skol, and Veikko al Man all ignored Tyr's summons, sending representatives in their place. Tyr interrupts this discussion, asking about the gladiator playing him in the "play." He is Eyvindr, a product of the "slave cradles." We're told that he doesn't murder his opponents and if he wins today, his 60th win, custom dictates that Tyr should free him. When he does win, he's presented to Tyr and removes his helmet, prompting Tyr to mutter, "No..." and stumble from the dais. As Tyr stumbles to a monument erected in honor of the heroes, we see a flashback to Tyr's conversation with the Last God. The Last God informs Tyr that a false crown of gold will hide the "true crown" until Tyr sees his sins made flesh. At the monument, Tyr mutters, "Not yet," as his eyes turn black.
It's pretty clear from both his and her flashbacks that Eyvindr is Tyr and Cyanthe's son. That idea is further cemented when Cyanthe sees Eyvindr's nicked ear -- possibly from Tyr's attack that night -- and refuses to free him. (Of note, she had just told Veikko al Man's representative that she would slaughter a thousand Aelvan slaves after he failed to recite the same pledge of fealty that everyone else had, instead calling Tyrgolad a "nation of thieves" and referring to the Aelvan as the true stewards of the land. Cyanthe isn't scared of a little bloodshed, in other words.) Recalling the same words Tyr did about "sins made flesh," Cyanthe returns Eyvindr to the slave pits.
Later that night, we see people singing a disturbing nursery rhyme about the Plague when a familiar tree-looking creature attacks them. Meanwhile, Eyvindr and his friend Kono are selected by a noblewoman, because, as we learn later, they're both gladiators and sex slaves. Kono is appalled that the Queen refused to free Eyvindr, but Eyvindr is mostly unperturbed, showing high levels of respect for the King and Queen. Kono goes on a rant about how the Godslayer story is bullshit meant to keep them in line, and Eyvindr threatens to kill him (despite telling him that he loves him) if he doesn't stop disrespecting the King and Queen. Kono agrees to stop, but says that he plans on fleeing since he won't fight for someone who doesn't respect the agreement and tells Eyvindr that he should do the same. They're then offered -- in a truly disturbing scene -- a disease-ridden puppy from a homeless woman as the puppy's also disease-ridden mother eats the other puppies.
A great fire suddenly distracts them from the scene, and they rush to discover the palace ablaze. The guards offer money to anyone who can help, and everyone assumes that it's an Aelvan attack. But, the scale of the massacre in the palace makes it clear that it isn't the Aelvan, who are more ninjas than barbarians. On cue, Veikko al Man arrives, saying that he's here to protect Cyanthe since he clearly knows what Tyr has become. The thorn monsters arrive and kill Kono, and Eyvindr follows Veikko al Man, who tells him not only that Tyr isn't a hero but also that the Last God isn't dead. They come upon a sword-wielding Cyanthe facing an enormous tree-ized Tyr as Veikko al Man declares they have to return to the Black Stair. Dun-dun-DUN! Man, I am on board for this story!
Detective Comics #1,014: I like where Tomasi is going here, resurrecting Nora Fries. It's like Brubaker bringing back Bucky, transforming Mr. Freeze from a sad-sack character into an entirely new one. My only complaint is that Tomasi doesn't explain how Nora suddenly becomes OK with Victor's life of crime. She seems confused when they encounter Bruce Wayne at the WayneTech Cryogenics Lab where Victor used to work. She says that she has no ill will towards him, making it clear that she isn't on the same vendetta crusade that Victor is. (He's there to recover samples he purposefully mislabeled when he worked there to replace the samples that he lost when Batman broke into his HQ and that he needs to complete Nora's transformation.) But, in the next sequence, she's dancing in a theater full of people whom Victor has frozen and then in the next sequence she's dressed to kill -- literally -- just like he is. I'm assuming that her somewhat flawed resurrection has left her addled, but Tomasi doesn't draw that line for us or show how she goes from outraged that Victor defied her wishes and froze her to serving as his somewhat mindless accomplice. I'm guessing that we'll see those dots connected in a subsequent issue, because Tomasi clearly seems to be building to something. But, we better get there soon.
The Last God #1: Man, this issue is intense right from the gate.
The series begins with the phrase: "Every culture in Cain Anuun has its story of how the world began." We learn that each of those stories has a common element: the Black Stair in the land called Fellspyre that reaches, allegedly, beyond the end of creation and into the Void itself. We learn that a zombie-esque Apocalypse called the Plague of Shadows occurred 30 years earlier, when thorn-looking creatures converted the living into "vine, rot, ash, and defiled flesh." Johnson then takes us on a tour of Cain Anuun's lands, as each one falls to the Plague: Olvargolad, the land of humans; the Aelvan Nations, the land of elves; the Pinnacle of the Guild Eldritch, the realm of wizards; the "frozen strongholds of the mighty Rivermen," Cain Anuun's barbarians; and the Dwarrows, the land of dwarves. A team called the Godslayers, representing each land -- Veikko al Man of the Aelvan, Skol of the Guild Eldritch, Jorunn of the Dwarrows, Hakkon of the Rivermen, and Tyr and Cyanthe of the humans -- climbed the Stairs to end the Plague, resulting in Tyr slaying the Last God.
We're given this information through a gladiatorial "play" occurring at a festival celebrating that day. Olvargolad has been renamed Tyrgolad, as Tyr is now king and overlord of all the lands. Through the "play," we learn that Hakkon came under the sway of the Last God, turning on the group until Tyr defeated him. King Tyr and Queen Cyanthe are watching the play on a dais with a group of dignitaries. One of them asks Queen Cyanthe where Tyr was really so fearsome. Cyanthe instantly recalls a memory of Tyr attacking an infant with a knife, with two women trying to restrain him. Later, Cyanthe is furious that Jorunn, Skol, and Veikko al Man all ignored Tyr's summons, sending representatives in their place. Tyr interrupts this discussion, asking about the gladiator playing him in the "play." He is Eyvindr, a product of the "slave cradles." We're told that he doesn't murder his opponents and if he wins today, his 60th win, custom dictates that Tyr should free him. When he does win, he's presented to Tyr and removes his helmet, prompting Tyr to mutter, "No..." and stumble from the dais. As Tyr stumbles to a monument erected in honor of the heroes, we see a flashback to Tyr's conversation with the Last God. The Last God informs Tyr that a false crown of gold will hide the "true crown" until Tyr sees his sins made flesh. At the monument, Tyr mutters, "Not yet," as his eyes turn black.
It's pretty clear from both his and her flashbacks that Eyvindr is Tyr and Cyanthe's son. That idea is further cemented when Cyanthe sees Eyvindr's nicked ear -- possibly from Tyr's attack that night -- and refuses to free him. (Of note, she had just told Veikko al Man's representative that she would slaughter a thousand Aelvan slaves after he failed to recite the same pledge of fealty that everyone else had, instead calling Tyrgolad a "nation of thieves" and referring to the Aelvan as the true stewards of the land. Cyanthe isn't scared of a little bloodshed, in other words.) Recalling the same words Tyr did about "sins made flesh," Cyanthe returns Eyvindr to the slave pits.
Later that night, we see people singing a disturbing nursery rhyme about the Plague when a familiar tree-looking creature attacks them. Meanwhile, Eyvindr and his friend Kono are selected by a noblewoman, because, as we learn later, they're both gladiators and sex slaves. Kono is appalled that the Queen refused to free Eyvindr, but Eyvindr is mostly unperturbed, showing high levels of respect for the King and Queen. Kono goes on a rant about how the Godslayer story is bullshit meant to keep them in line, and Eyvindr threatens to kill him (despite telling him that he loves him) if he doesn't stop disrespecting the King and Queen. Kono agrees to stop, but says that he plans on fleeing since he won't fight for someone who doesn't respect the agreement and tells Eyvindr that he should do the same. They're then offered -- in a truly disturbing scene -- a disease-ridden puppy from a homeless woman as the puppy's also disease-ridden mother eats the other puppies.
A great fire suddenly distracts them from the scene, and they rush to discover the palace ablaze. The guards offer money to anyone who can help, and everyone assumes that it's an Aelvan attack. But, the scale of the massacre in the palace makes it clear that it isn't the Aelvan, who are more ninjas than barbarians. On cue, Veikko al Man arrives, saying that he's here to protect Cyanthe since he clearly knows what Tyr has become. The thorn monsters arrive and kill Kono, and Eyvindr follows Veikko al Man, who tells him not only that Tyr isn't a hero but also that the Last God isn't dead. They come upon a sword-wielding Cyanthe facing an enormous tree-ized Tyr as Veikko al Man declares they have to return to the Black Stair. Dun-dun-DUN! Man, I am on board for this story!
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The October 16 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Captain America #15: Coates really isn't making it easy for Steve. After the Watchdogs raid last issue, Steve and the Daughters of Liberty are reviewing what they know, and Steve recognizes Alexa Lukin as one of the Power Elite members. Steve asks who the Daughters have tracking Alexa, and the Daughters respond that they have their best agent on it...but they won't tell Steve who it is. Steve then takes Sharon to a separate room, and he's furious at her for keeping secrets. But, she rightly throws that argument right back at him, noting that he's always kept secrets and she's always the one waiting. Steve leaves in a huff to go meet Bernie after she contacts him about a cop who asked for Steve's help before someone killed him. As Steve leaves to take the case, Bernie warns him that New York isn't the same place that it used to be. She isn't just talking about the Kingpin as mayor, but about New York as part of the larger "something ugly" happening in the entire country. When he goes to the address that the dead cop provided to Bernie, Steve discovers that Misty and Spider-Woman already there, fighting Watchdogs. After helping them win the fight, he comments that their friends in the police department would love to get a shot at the Watchdogs, and Misty responds that she doesn't have many friends left in the Department. Steve takes her point later as they review the video that the dead cop left, of a bunch cops entering a warehouse and Scourge killing all of them. Scourge working with the Watchdogs who themselves are working for the Power Elite: Coates is definitely telling a story here. My only complaint is that it's starting to feel like we've taken a lot of turns down alleys and I'm not quite sure how we find the boulevard again. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but we may want to head back that way soon.
Guardians of the Galaxy #10: Cates explains how Kid Magus exists in this reality, and he does a pretty solid job of keeping it entertaining. Kid Magus explains that he was originally entrusted to Gamora but he needed someone to deal with his "darker impulses" better. So, Gamora went to take care of Rocket as he "lay dying in [his] hovel," and the Order of the Healing Truth, a bunch of ex-Universal Church of Truth followers seeking to right the Church's wrongs, took in Magus. Of course, they came to see him as one of those wrong and intended to kill him, resulting in him killing all of them and becoming the monster that they feared that he'd become. He eventually became friends with a group of sandworm-esque monsters who lived near the Order's HQ. (They hilariously act like dogs, with Groot rubbing one's belly as Kid Magus tells his story.) Rocket recruits Magus to freak out the Church long enough for him, Groot, and Moondragon to rescue their friends, and Magus agrees because he's "bored." Although this issue mostly just sets up the slugfest to come, what a slugfest it seems like it's going to be!
Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #2: I enjoyed this issue because Leia is forced to confront a lot of uncomfortable truths. First, the team's raid on Mon Cala in the main "Star Wars" series was one of the highlights of that run. But, Sacks reminds us here of the price that the Mon Calan residents paid for their mutiny, as many of the king's advisors loathe Leia for the pain and torture that their families suffered in the mutiny's wake. Moreover, one of the Mon Calans points out that Leia's father (i.e., Darth Vader) is the one who engaged in said torture, something you definitely don't see mentioned often. At some point, you start to side with the angry Mon Calans: Leia really does have some nerve asking for more help from them. But, I'm guessing that Leia will remind them that none of them really has much of a choice if they don't want to live under the First Order's thumb. The Finn and Poe story is a fun distraction, though I'll admit that I find the Rey and Rose story tedious. Sacks portrays Rey as little more than a female Luke Skywalker from the first film, whining about how bored she is, and his Rose is so nervous that I wonder if they don't have anti-anxiety medicine in space.
The Realm #15: This issue is great. It's a wordless romp as Shirtless Bear Fighter -- I mean, Ben -- escapes from the goblins' clutches and tries to escape Johnny's cathedral of evil. He makes it to the exit, even past Johnny (thanks to some well timed grenades), only to utter "Fuck me" -- the issue's only words -- when he realizes that he has to go through the dragon stables. Ha! I'm totally bummed that the guys haven't published another issue in almost six months, but I guess that I'm current at least? Still, we've got a lot of pieces on the board at this point...
X-Men #1: This issue is more Hickmanesque than we've seen so far, but I'm still OK with it.
He begins with Magneto, Polaris, Scott, and Storm striking at Orchis' last outpost on Earth and in so doing freeing a group of mutant children who Orchis was holding in stasis. Scott and Storm's conversation as they make their way through the base is particularly Hickmanesque as he also entirely forgoes any attempt to make it sound conversational. For example, Scott says to Storm: "For years we've endured small wins. We've called incremental change 'progress' when what we've really needed was a giant leap forward. Well, this is it." It's particularly striking that he takes the time to mansplain recent mutant history to her as they fight their way through the base.
At any rate, the team is surprised when they come upon a posthuman girl from the future in one of the stasis tubes. She looks like a photograph negative, with stark black skin and stark white hair. She initially commands Storm not to see her, which fails. She seems to have some sort of powers, but they're not working the way that they presumably would because she emerged before she was "fully cooked." But, she says that "wild gods" are loose in the world, so she says that she had no choice. She disappears, and the team returns with the rescued mutants to Krakoa.
While Dr. Reyes examines the new arrivals, throngs of children greet Magneto, eager to hear his stories. Polaris and Scott share a moment over it, with Scott reminding her how long they've all waited for him to find this sort of redemption. Scott then talks about how scared he was when he had Nathan because he knew that he'd suffer for his heritage. Scott was right, but he says that he's so happy that he held in there because he now has his family. He isn't just speaking idly, either. The resurrection team has brought back Vulcan, and the extended Summers clan -- Scott, Alex, Vulcan, Nathan, Rachel -- as well as Jean and Logan now live on the Moon, since Scott wanted a view. (Heh.) We're treated to these family dynamics because Corsair has come for a visit. Hickman essentially reinvents Vulcan here, as we've only ever seen him as a totally unhinged experiment gone insane. Hickman's Vulcan is all self-conscious teenager, as he has no idea how he's supposed to act in social situations. But, we see flashes of humor from him, like when he's barbecuing steaks with Logan, and I'm excited in particular to watch him develop. We also have Nate calling Jean "Mom" as he asks if he can trade guns with Raza when he learns that Raza's guns have antimatter rounds, and Alex and Scott giving Corsair a Krakoan gate so he can always visit. As Scott said to Polaris, they've all waited a long time for this moment.
But, the main conversation is the one that Scott has with Corsair. Scott is bouncing on his toes throughout this issue, so happy to be in the place that he is. Corsair expresses his concern that this whole endeavor puts a target on them, but Scott convincingly (to me, anyway) argues that history proves that they've always had a target on their backs, so he's decided to focus on what makes him want to live with said target. It's a nice moment. I mean, it's obviously not going to last, but if I'm glad for anything about Hickman's reboot it's getting a happy Scott for, like, the first time ever.
The other main story here is that we're introduced to a new Orchis leader, Director Devo. We learn that he was in transit to the Forge when the X-Men destroyed Mother Mold. He's surprised that Dr. Gregor didn't attend her husband's funeral, but she explains that his legacy is in her work. Plus, she reveals that her work has led her to the point where she believes that she can resurrect him. Dun-dun-DUN! If humans have the same resurrection technology as the mutants, it obviously changes the game significantly, particularly in terms of the mutants' "no killing humans because they can't be resurrected" policy.
Hickman plants some other seeds of future storylines here. One theme throughout the issue is how tired Storm is, though Hickman initially portrays it as exhaustion from working so hard. But, it's possible that something else is afoot. Magneto allegedly took out the Orchis scientists (who turned themselves into apes to fight the X-Men) by asserting his dominance so they turned on each other, but I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that he didn't kill them. Finally, I feel like Vulcan's return highlights how liberally we're taking the amnesty. After all, I imagine he killed thousands of people when he was the mad Shi'ar Emperor. Won't someone object to his and other mutants' crimes at some point, especially once the kumbaya feelings start to fade?
All in all, it's a solid start to the story that Hickman is actually telling. We'll see how the other series build on this one, but I was glad to see Hickman leaning on the structure that he built in "House of X" and "Powers of X" but also not dwelling on it too much. I think that this reboot has the best chance of sticking if it becomes less about the world-building and more about the stories that Hickman and the other authors want to tell in this world. This issue shows that Hickman believes that, too, so I think that we're in a good place.
Guardians of the Galaxy #10: Cates explains how Kid Magus exists in this reality, and he does a pretty solid job of keeping it entertaining. Kid Magus explains that he was originally entrusted to Gamora but he needed someone to deal with his "darker impulses" better. So, Gamora went to take care of Rocket as he "lay dying in [his] hovel," and the Order of the Healing Truth, a bunch of ex-Universal Church of Truth followers seeking to right the Church's wrongs, took in Magus. Of course, they came to see him as one of those wrong and intended to kill him, resulting in him killing all of them and becoming the monster that they feared that he'd become. He eventually became friends with a group of sandworm-esque monsters who lived near the Order's HQ. (They hilariously act like dogs, with Groot rubbing one's belly as Kid Magus tells his story.) Rocket recruits Magus to freak out the Church long enough for him, Groot, and Moondragon to rescue their friends, and Magus agrees because he's "bored." Although this issue mostly just sets up the slugfest to come, what a slugfest it seems like it's going to be!
Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #2: I enjoyed this issue because Leia is forced to confront a lot of uncomfortable truths. First, the team's raid on Mon Cala in the main "Star Wars" series was one of the highlights of that run. But, Sacks reminds us here of the price that the Mon Calan residents paid for their mutiny, as many of the king's advisors loathe Leia for the pain and torture that their families suffered in the mutiny's wake. Moreover, one of the Mon Calans points out that Leia's father (i.e., Darth Vader) is the one who engaged in said torture, something you definitely don't see mentioned often. At some point, you start to side with the angry Mon Calans: Leia really does have some nerve asking for more help from them. But, I'm guessing that Leia will remind them that none of them really has much of a choice if they don't want to live under the First Order's thumb. The Finn and Poe story is a fun distraction, though I'll admit that I find the Rey and Rose story tedious. Sacks portrays Rey as little more than a female Luke Skywalker from the first film, whining about how bored she is, and his Rose is so nervous that I wonder if they don't have anti-anxiety medicine in space.
The Realm #15: This issue is great. It's a wordless romp as Shirtless Bear Fighter -- I mean, Ben -- escapes from the goblins' clutches and tries to escape Johnny's cathedral of evil. He makes it to the exit, even past Johnny (thanks to some well timed grenades), only to utter "Fuck me" -- the issue's only words -- when he realizes that he has to go through the dragon stables. Ha! I'm totally bummed that the guys haven't published another issue in almost six months, but I guess that I'm current at least? Still, we've got a lot of pieces on the board at this point...
X-Men #1: This issue is more Hickmanesque than we've seen so far, but I'm still OK with it.
He begins with Magneto, Polaris, Scott, and Storm striking at Orchis' last outpost on Earth and in so doing freeing a group of mutant children who Orchis was holding in stasis. Scott and Storm's conversation as they make their way through the base is particularly Hickmanesque as he also entirely forgoes any attempt to make it sound conversational. For example, Scott says to Storm: "For years we've endured small wins. We've called incremental change 'progress' when what we've really needed was a giant leap forward. Well, this is it." It's particularly striking that he takes the time to mansplain recent mutant history to her as they fight their way through the base.
At any rate, the team is surprised when they come upon a posthuman girl from the future in one of the stasis tubes. She looks like a photograph negative, with stark black skin and stark white hair. She initially commands Storm not to see her, which fails. She seems to have some sort of powers, but they're not working the way that they presumably would because she emerged before she was "fully cooked." But, she says that "wild gods" are loose in the world, so she says that she had no choice. She disappears, and the team returns with the rescued mutants to Krakoa.
While Dr. Reyes examines the new arrivals, throngs of children greet Magneto, eager to hear his stories. Polaris and Scott share a moment over it, with Scott reminding her how long they've all waited for him to find this sort of redemption. Scott then talks about how scared he was when he had Nathan because he knew that he'd suffer for his heritage. Scott was right, but he says that he's so happy that he held in there because he now has his family. He isn't just speaking idly, either. The resurrection team has brought back Vulcan, and the extended Summers clan -- Scott, Alex, Vulcan, Nathan, Rachel -- as well as Jean and Logan now live on the Moon, since Scott wanted a view. (Heh.) We're treated to these family dynamics because Corsair has come for a visit. Hickman essentially reinvents Vulcan here, as we've only ever seen him as a totally unhinged experiment gone insane. Hickman's Vulcan is all self-conscious teenager, as he has no idea how he's supposed to act in social situations. But, we see flashes of humor from him, like when he's barbecuing steaks with Logan, and I'm excited in particular to watch him develop. We also have Nate calling Jean "Mom" as he asks if he can trade guns with Raza when he learns that Raza's guns have antimatter rounds, and Alex and Scott giving Corsair a Krakoan gate so he can always visit. As Scott said to Polaris, they've all waited a long time for this moment.
But, the main conversation is the one that Scott has with Corsair. Scott is bouncing on his toes throughout this issue, so happy to be in the place that he is. Corsair expresses his concern that this whole endeavor puts a target on them, but Scott convincingly (to me, anyway) argues that history proves that they've always had a target on their backs, so he's decided to focus on what makes him want to live with said target. It's a nice moment. I mean, it's obviously not going to last, but if I'm glad for anything about Hickman's reboot it's getting a happy Scott for, like, the first time ever.
The other main story here is that we're introduced to a new Orchis leader, Director Devo. We learn that he was in transit to the Forge when the X-Men destroyed Mother Mold. He's surprised that Dr. Gregor didn't attend her husband's funeral, but she explains that his legacy is in her work. Plus, she reveals that her work has led her to the point where she believes that she can resurrect him. Dun-dun-DUN! If humans have the same resurrection technology as the mutants, it obviously changes the game significantly, particularly in terms of the mutants' "no killing humans because they can't be resurrected" policy.
Hickman plants some other seeds of future storylines here. One theme throughout the issue is how tired Storm is, though Hickman initially portrays it as exhaustion from working so hard. But, it's possible that something else is afoot. Magneto allegedly took out the Orchis scientists (who turned themselves into apes to fight the X-Men) by asserting his dominance so they turned on each other, but I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that he didn't kill them. Finally, I feel like Vulcan's return highlights how liberally we're taking the amnesty. After all, I imagine he killed thousands of people when he was the mad Shi'ar Emperor. Won't someone object to his and other mutants' crimes at some point, especially once the kumbaya feelings start to fade?
All in all, it's a solid start to the story that Hickman is actually telling. We'll see how the other series build on this one, but I was glad to see Hickman leaning on the structure that he built in "House of X" and "Powers of X" but also not dwelling on it too much. I think that this reboot has the best chance of sticking if it becomes less about the world-building and more about the stories that Hickman and the other authors want to tell in this world. This issue shows that Hickman believes that, too, so I think that we're in a good place.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The October 9 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Amazing Spider-Man #31: So...much...talking. This issue is just like last one, with Kindred rambling on endlessly at Norman's cell about how much he hates Norman and Peter. Spencer uses said diatribe to review Norman and Peter's relationship, with Kindred wondering why Norman was so obsessed with Peter. He congratulates Norman for bringing down Peter in ways that no one else has accomplished but then threatens to destroy Norman once he remembers who he is. In other words, Spencer is obviously setting the stage for a three-way confrontation at the end of the Kindred story. But, it's starting to feel like Spencer is dragging out this story way too much. I hope he isn't vamping to get to issue #50 or something. Also, this issue doesn't help, as it's a confusing jumble of moments. Spencer uses two flashback sequences -- Kindred speaking to Norman before he becomes Carnage and a variety of scenes depicting Harry's struggles with drugs -- while also juggling the present-day sequence of Carnage trying to get at Dylan and Normie. It's difficult to follow, to say the least. In the end, the only significant development in this two-issue arc is that Kindred injects one of his bugs into Norman's brain, which will eventually cure him of his delusion that he's Cletus Kasady. Although Spencer uses the tie-in requirement as an opportunity to further the story that he's already telling in this title, I could've definitely done without it. I'm excited to move onto 2099 next issue.
The Batman's Grave #1: I love Ellis and Hitch, so I'm excited about this series. That said, it isn't the strongest debut as I'm not entirely sure where we're going here. Batman doesn't really do anything more complicated than solve a murder in this issue. Moreover, the murder itself isn't particularly complicated. The only item of note in this entire issue is Bruce creating a holographic copy of the crime scene that allows him to examine clues from the Batcave. It's cool, but introducing new gadgets clearly isn't the point of this series. The title refers to the fact the Waynes had Bruce's grave (including headstone) created at the same time as they had their graves created. The issue opens with Alfred tending to the graves, knowing that he will live to see Bruce's filled. Bruce returns home to find Alfred drinking, and Alfred confesses that he sometimes thinks that it would be easier for Bruce to buy Gotham than simply to beat on poor people driven to crime to survive. Bruce is unsympathetic to this argument; he comments that they had choices, though he doesn't seem to grasp that, you know, maybe they didn't. Teaching Bruce a lesson to make him examine his lack of compassion seems to be where Ellis is going here, but I guess we'll see.
Detective Comics #1,013: Tomasi is telling a great story here. First, he shows Freeze as a serious match for Batman. After shaking down Freeze's goons to find out his location, Batman arrives in a fancy new suit of armor that includes a fire-spewing gun. But, Freeze is ready for him. He awakens his previous experiments as frozen zombies who quickly overwhelm Bruce, allowing Freeze to escape with Nora. When Bruce battles his way through the zombie horde and makes his way onto Freeze's fancy vehicle, Freeze electrocutes him, sending him spiraling into the frozen lake. Going one better, he launches a depth charge that freezes Bruce in the lake, allowing Freeze (and Nora) to escape. You don't often see Bruce so outmatched by someone else's gadgets, which makes this issue all the more exciting. In the end, Bruce is able to rescue the women who Freeze kidnapped, but Freeze has what he needs: he resurrects Nora. That said, the last page is chilling (heh) as she awakens, screaming, "No, Victor, don't!"
Powers of X #6: This issue is fine, though it feels like Hickman is vamping a little. He repeats the full seven pages of Moira meeting Charles from issue #1 and two full pages of the celebration from House of X #6. In a 38-page issue, it means that we've already seen almost 25 percent of this issue.
The reason Hickman does so is that Moira has allegedly learned her final lesson in X3. As the Man-Machine Supremacy prepares to ascend and become part of the Phalanx, the Librarian visits the Preserve. We learn that Logan and Moira have been living in the Preserve with other mutants for millennia, waiting to find out what the Supremacy was planning. Hickman is particularly Hickmanesque here, as I don't really understand how he connects the following dots. As best as I can tell, the Librarian is sending Logan and Moira off-world so that they don't die, because if they die before the Phalanx makes it to the nearest black hole with the uploaded Supremacy, according to the Librarian, "then all that I know will not become part of the Dominion." I think he means that, if Moira dies, she will reincarnate and try to stop this timeline from happening. As such, the Librarian wouldn't achieve his goal of merging with the Dominion. If he doesn't mean that, I have no idea what he means.
However, Logan asks why the Librarian is giving them this information, and it sounds like the answer is that he's worried that life as part of the Phalanx will be a fake existence. As such, he wants Moira to tell him how he could avoid losing his post-humanity in surrendering to the machines. Again, I'm not sure what the Librarian means here. Does he want Moira to return in a different life and, at that moment, inform him if he's making the right decision? As part of this discussion, he allegedly reveals the final clue: mutantkind always loses, because humanity always ascends to post-humanity through genetic engineering. As the Librarian says, what good is one mutant if humanity can build supermen? The Librarian calls post-humans Homo novissima, and I admit that I love that name. Magneto was always touting mutantkind as homo superior. I never saw coming that a different form of humanity would trump that.
We learn through Moira's journals that the change she makes in her relationship with Charles in her current (tenth) life is that she breaks him of his belief in the people's goodness. I think this revelation finally forces a reckoning over whether Moira is creating new timelines (i.e., the multiverse theory, which DC tends to favor) or replacing the existing one with each new life. After all, if she isn't changing the timeline, Charles in this timeline did believe in people's goodness. Are we supposed to believe that Charles pretended to believe, to fool the X-Men into following him? If so, why bother? Why not just agree with Magneto that humans are untrustworthy assholes? Do they all have specific information that it has to unfold this way, with Charles and Magneto in some form of opposition? If we're to believe that everything that we've seen happen in X-Men comics over the years has happened (i.e., Moira isn't changing the timeline and all of X-Men history has been part of Charles, Erik, and Moira's "long game"), then it's the only possible explanation.
In other words, Hickman has to explain at some point the fits and starts that led Charles, Erik, and Moira to this point. We need to know if Charles and Erik fighting over the years was simply them playing the parts that Moira needed them to play to get to this moment. Or, were they fighting as a result of legitimate disagreements about how best to achieve victory on their way to this point? Did Charles really fake his belief in humanity because he felt that it was the best way to develop a group of mutants like the X-Men? Or, were they simply moving pieces across the board? In her journals, Moira provides a clue, noting that she implanted the idea of an island Utopia in Erik's mind through her experiences. As such, did Erik create Asteroid M and Genosha thinking that he had achieved Moira's vision, with or without her or Charles? In other words, Hickman has so far done a good job of avoiding the implications of Moira functionally time traveling, but I feel like this issue is where that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
At any rate, Charles and Magneto meet with Moira the night before the first Quiet Council meeting and she's troubled to learn that they convinced Mystique to join the Council on the promise of resurrecting Destiny. Moira insists that they can't do so because Destiny has ways of seeing Moira (as we've seen). She's afraid that her resurrection means that she'll see the truth: that they always lose. She worries that Destiny will then tell everyone, and Charles and Erik say that they'll delay the moment, but also that one day mutantkind deserves to know the truth. To them, it's that they always used to lose, but this time is different, something that Moira clearly doesn't believe. They then exit into the celebrations of "House of X" #6.
I guess that I get why Moira would be concerned if mutantkind knew that they always lose. But, if we're talking about millennia as the time scale, is it really that upsetting? Like, sure, if Orchis Forge brought Nimrod online next year (in the case where the X-Men didn't act on Moira's knowledge), I could see Moira's concern. But, if we're talking about mutantkind ceasing to exist because machines run Earth at some point 1,000 years from now in X3, is that so bad? Like, the Universe is eventually going to die, but I can still find a reason to wake up every morning. I'm pretty sure that Hickman has more up his sleeve here. That said, I'm hoping the new titles take a step back a bit and focus on the characters. We have so much possibility for good ol' X-Men drama given how many people we've resurrected here, I'd love to just marinate in that for a while. I also want to make it clear that the disappointment that I felt in this issue didn't in anyway dim how I feel about this reboot. I am so excited to see where we go, and I just really tip my cap to the amazing accomplishment that Hickman has delivered here. Thank you, Jonathan! Onwards and upwards!
Also Read: Invaders #10; Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1; Star Wars: Target Vader #4
The Batman's Grave #1: I love Ellis and Hitch, so I'm excited about this series. That said, it isn't the strongest debut as I'm not entirely sure where we're going here. Batman doesn't really do anything more complicated than solve a murder in this issue. Moreover, the murder itself isn't particularly complicated. The only item of note in this entire issue is Bruce creating a holographic copy of the crime scene that allows him to examine clues from the Batcave. It's cool, but introducing new gadgets clearly isn't the point of this series. The title refers to the fact the Waynes had Bruce's grave (including headstone) created at the same time as they had their graves created. The issue opens with Alfred tending to the graves, knowing that he will live to see Bruce's filled. Bruce returns home to find Alfred drinking, and Alfred confesses that he sometimes thinks that it would be easier for Bruce to buy Gotham than simply to beat on poor people driven to crime to survive. Bruce is unsympathetic to this argument; he comments that they had choices, though he doesn't seem to grasp that, you know, maybe they didn't. Teaching Bruce a lesson to make him examine his lack of compassion seems to be where Ellis is going here, but I guess we'll see.
Detective Comics #1,013: Tomasi is telling a great story here. First, he shows Freeze as a serious match for Batman. After shaking down Freeze's goons to find out his location, Batman arrives in a fancy new suit of armor that includes a fire-spewing gun. But, Freeze is ready for him. He awakens his previous experiments as frozen zombies who quickly overwhelm Bruce, allowing Freeze to escape with Nora. When Bruce battles his way through the zombie horde and makes his way onto Freeze's fancy vehicle, Freeze electrocutes him, sending him spiraling into the frozen lake. Going one better, he launches a depth charge that freezes Bruce in the lake, allowing Freeze (and Nora) to escape. You don't often see Bruce so outmatched by someone else's gadgets, which makes this issue all the more exciting. In the end, Bruce is able to rescue the women who Freeze kidnapped, but Freeze has what he needs: he resurrects Nora. That said, the last page is chilling (heh) as she awakens, screaming, "No, Victor, don't!"
Powers of X #6: This issue is fine, though it feels like Hickman is vamping a little. He repeats the full seven pages of Moira meeting Charles from issue #1 and two full pages of the celebration from House of X #6. In a 38-page issue, it means that we've already seen almost 25 percent of this issue.
The reason Hickman does so is that Moira has allegedly learned her final lesson in X3. As the Man-Machine Supremacy prepares to ascend and become part of the Phalanx, the Librarian visits the Preserve. We learn that Logan and Moira have been living in the Preserve with other mutants for millennia, waiting to find out what the Supremacy was planning. Hickman is particularly Hickmanesque here, as I don't really understand how he connects the following dots. As best as I can tell, the Librarian is sending Logan and Moira off-world so that they don't die, because if they die before the Phalanx makes it to the nearest black hole with the uploaded Supremacy, according to the Librarian, "then all that I know will not become part of the Dominion." I think he means that, if Moira dies, she will reincarnate and try to stop this timeline from happening. As such, the Librarian wouldn't achieve his goal of merging with the Dominion. If he doesn't mean that, I have no idea what he means.
However, Logan asks why the Librarian is giving them this information, and it sounds like the answer is that he's worried that life as part of the Phalanx will be a fake existence. As such, he wants Moira to tell him how he could avoid losing his post-humanity in surrendering to the machines. Again, I'm not sure what the Librarian means here. Does he want Moira to return in a different life and, at that moment, inform him if he's making the right decision? As part of this discussion, he allegedly reveals the final clue: mutantkind always loses, because humanity always ascends to post-humanity through genetic engineering. As the Librarian says, what good is one mutant if humanity can build supermen? The Librarian calls post-humans Homo novissima, and I admit that I love that name. Magneto was always touting mutantkind as homo superior. I never saw coming that a different form of humanity would trump that.
We learn through Moira's journals that the change she makes in her relationship with Charles in her current (tenth) life is that she breaks him of his belief in the people's goodness. I think this revelation finally forces a reckoning over whether Moira is creating new timelines (i.e., the multiverse theory, which DC tends to favor) or replacing the existing one with each new life. After all, if she isn't changing the timeline, Charles in this timeline did believe in people's goodness. Are we supposed to believe that Charles pretended to believe, to fool the X-Men into following him? If so, why bother? Why not just agree with Magneto that humans are untrustworthy assholes? Do they all have specific information that it has to unfold this way, with Charles and Magneto in some form of opposition? If we're to believe that everything that we've seen happen in X-Men comics over the years has happened (i.e., Moira isn't changing the timeline and all of X-Men history has been part of Charles, Erik, and Moira's "long game"), then it's the only possible explanation.
In other words, Hickman has to explain at some point the fits and starts that led Charles, Erik, and Moira to this point. We need to know if Charles and Erik fighting over the years was simply them playing the parts that Moira needed them to play to get to this moment. Or, were they fighting as a result of legitimate disagreements about how best to achieve victory on their way to this point? Did Charles really fake his belief in humanity because he felt that it was the best way to develop a group of mutants like the X-Men? Or, were they simply moving pieces across the board? In her journals, Moira provides a clue, noting that she implanted the idea of an island Utopia in Erik's mind through her experiences. As such, did Erik create Asteroid M and Genosha thinking that he had achieved Moira's vision, with or without her or Charles? In other words, Hickman has so far done a good job of avoiding the implications of Moira functionally time traveling, but I feel like this issue is where that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
At any rate, Charles and Magneto meet with Moira the night before the first Quiet Council meeting and she's troubled to learn that they convinced Mystique to join the Council on the promise of resurrecting Destiny. Moira insists that they can't do so because Destiny has ways of seeing Moira (as we've seen). She's afraid that her resurrection means that she'll see the truth: that they always lose. She worries that Destiny will then tell everyone, and Charles and Erik say that they'll delay the moment, but also that one day mutantkind deserves to know the truth. To them, it's that they always used to lose, but this time is different, something that Moira clearly doesn't believe. They then exit into the celebrations of "House of X" #6.
I guess that I get why Moira would be concerned if mutantkind knew that they always lose. But, if we're talking about millennia as the time scale, is it really that upsetting? Like, sure, if Orchis Forge brought Nimrod online next year (in the case where the X-Men didn't act on Moira's knowledge), I could see Moira's concern. But, if we're talking about mutantkind ceasing to exist because machines run Earth at some point 1,000 years from now in X3, is that so bad? Like, the Universe is eventually going to die, but I can still find a reason to wake up every morning. I'm pretty sure that Hickman has more up his sleeve here. That said, I'm hoping the new titles take a step back a bit and focus on the characters. We have so much possibility for good ol' X-Men drama given how many people we've resurrected here, I'd love to just marinate in that for a while. I also want to make it clear that the disappointment that I felt in this issue didn't in anyway dim how I feel about this reboot. I am so excited to see where we go, and I just really tip my cap to the amazing accomplishment that Hickman has delivered here. Thank you, Jonathan! Onwards and upwards!
Also Read: Invaders #10; Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1; Star Wars: Target Vader #4
Monday, April 27, 2020
Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics: The October 2 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Die #8: The problem with such a dense issue is that it's easy to get lost in one particular narrative and lose track -- or, at least, your emotional connection -- to the other ones.
Do you follow the story of Ash and her struggle with Sol? She's trying to get Sol to explain what the Eternal Prussians are building in Glass Town in the hope that the Angrians will in turn help him find Chuck and Isabelle. To do so, Ash almost immediately ditched her vow not to use the Voice on Sol, revealing yet again that Ash is a lot less principled than she hoped that she is. For obvious reasons, Angria apparently keeps Dictators on a short leash, so they distrust Ash; she's assigned a minder. But, Sol is obstinate as ever, forcing Angela to sneak into Glass Town to get the information. Matt exposits for us that they've learned that Sol escaped the Grandmaster five years ago and rallied an alliance that overthrew him two years ago, but then he turned on his allies. But, Ash still can't get Sol to answer the most important question: how did he create Die?
Or do you follow the story of Ash and her son, Augustus? We know from last issue that Isabelle had an unconsummated love affair with Zamorna, and we now learn Zamorna is the father of Ash's child, explaining all the implications of tension between Ash and Isabelle. We learn that Isabelle transferred the child to the Mourner to carry Augustus to term before they left Die last time. As the son of a paragon and vampire with a god as a surrogate mother, Augustus is some form of a demi-god, and the Ruling Party of Angria sees him as a threat, particularly since they exiled his father. (You can't really blame them, I'd have to say.)
Instead, do you follow the story of Matt? Ash has been trying to convince the Knightly Orders to help discover what's happening in Glass Town, but they've so far refused. But, a group of Joy Knights gets a message to Matt to meet them in the Eightfold Temple. We learn that original eight knights "stood beside the genie-touched ones" and founded Angria. We also learn that Matt initially came close to choosing anger instead of grief, and we watch him reconsider his choice here, enraging his sword. Earlier Matt told the sword that he was happy for 20 years, and the sword tells him that grief is the price of joy. He explains that Matt is grieving his family because he knows that he can never return to the way that it was with them. Matt has enough and makes quick work of the Joy Knights, since grief is something that you'd give anything to lose (giving Matt an edge) whereas joy is something that you're frightened to lose (making the Knights hold back a little). (That makes a weird amount of sense.) Matt later admits that he always feels cleansed after a fight.
In the end, the stories converge as Angela returns from Glass Town and reveals that the Prussians are building a Forge that asks the question, in binary, "What am I for?" Ash asks the Angrian Queen to help find Chuck and Isabelle, but she demurs. It doesn't matter, though, because Isabelle arrives, saying that they all destroyed Glass Town and should all be punished for it. OK, then!
House of X #6: This issue spends most of its time covering ground that we've already covered, but in more detail.
We now see the entirety of Xavier's speech about mutant emancipation that he projected to the world, about how humans killed his dream of peaceful coexistence so he's killing their dream that they would forever control the world.
We then move into the first meeting of the Quiet Council as it considers Krakoa's first laws. Professor X, Magneto, and Apocalypse form Autumn; Mister Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique form Winter; Sebastian Shaw (Black King), Emma Frost (White Queen), and an absent chair (Red King) form Spring; Storm, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler form Summer; and Cypher represents Krakoa. We also learn the four "great [war] captains" are Cyclops, Gorgon, Bishop, and Magik.
This section is tedious in the way that governing is. Exodus threatens Sinister when he speaks to him, and Sinister jokingly suggests that killing a mutant should be against the law. But, Apocalypse notes that it isn't a challenge to kill someone who isn't unkillable, and Jean sort of agrees; she argues that it should be against the law to kill a human since they can't return. Everyone else agrees, even Apocalypse since, as he notes, it's a point that means nothing to him, like humanity. (So, he's going to break that one soon, right?). Shaw then wants to discuss basics about the economy, and Cypher warns them on the property-rights issue, reminding them that Krakoa is a living being. Exodus agrees, nothing that the land is sacrosanct. Mystique thinks that she's getting to Nightcrawler when she asks what his God's wisdom is, but he then quotes "And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and then subdue it..." as justification for creating more mutants. As such, this conversation yields the three initial laws: 1) make more mutants; 2) murder no man; and 3) respect this sacred land.
With the laws formed, they turn to judging Sabretooth for defying Magneto's orders not to kill human security guards in a previous issue. They all find him guilty, since Magneto specifically ordered him not to kill. This next part is chilling: since they won't submit a mutant to human authorities and, for some reason, they "tolerate no prisons" on Krakoa, he's put into conscious stasis deep inside Krakoa. Larraz is spectacular here, watching even Sabretooth panic as he realizes what they're doing to him. It's brutal.
That said, the issue ends on a happy note. Larraz does a great job showing the independence celebrations as Xavier and the Council leave their meeting and join them. Xavier notes that they carry a heavy burden now, like a parent with a child; they will lose sleep so their children can sleep. But, the most spectacular sequence happens as Logan hands Cyclops a six pack. Logan takes a beer to Gorgon, and Scott hands two beers to Jean, who sits down next to Emma. Jean passes one wordlessly over her shoulder to Emma, who accepts it, equally without looking at her. It's two small panels, but it's a spectacular moment that made me grin ear to ear. We then watch Havoc hug Scott, and you realize exactly what Hickman has done here. It's like he took the best parts of every other storyline -- Revolution, Utopia, Necrosha, Second Coming -- and perfected it. It's in these last wordless moments that you realize the magnitude of this accomplishment, how perfectly he's weaved this story to tweak what needed tweaking and ret-con what needed ret-conning. It didn't require a deal with the Devil, like in Spider-Man. Hickman did the hard work of identifying the problems and fixing them. You can imagine him standing next to Charles and Magneto in the last panel as they look upon Dazzler's Siryn-amplified fireworks display and nodding to Magneto's words: "Just look at what we have made."
Star Wars #72: Han's suspicions about Dar are proven correct here, though not necessarily for the right reasons. Dar has Boss Carpo's thugs grab Han as he leads Leia from the dance floor, explaining his plan to convince Carpo to use his floating military fortress (or "panop") to attack the Empire. Since Han will conveniently be on said panop, he kills two birds with one stone, quite literally: getting rid of Boss Carpo and his rival for Leia's affections. Meanwhile, the most meaningful sequence in the issue is when Threepio manages to inform Chewie that Vader is on K43. Chewie contemplates sacrificing the planet to take out Vader, but a young rock creature approaches him quizzically. Chewie pats him on the head and disables the detonators. Awww, Chewie. Vader then decides to use Chewie as his own trap for Luke, turning the tables on the Rebels. Oh, Darth. Always with the traps.
Do you follow the story of Ash and her struggle with Sol? She's trying to get Sol to explain what the Eternal Prussians are building in Glass Town in the hope that the Angrians will in turn help him find Chuck and Isabelle. To do so, Ash almost immediately ditched her vow not to use the Voice on Sol, revealing yet again that Ash is a lot less principled than she hoped that she is. For obvious reasons, Angria apparently keeps Dictators on a short leash, so they distrust Ash; she's assigned a minder. But, Sol is obstinate as ever, forcing Angela to sneak into Glass Town to get the information. Matt exposits for us that they've learned that Sol escaped the Grandmaster five years ago and rallied an alliance that overthrew him two years ago, but then he turned on his allies. But, Ash still can't get Sol to answer the most important question: how did he create Die?
Or do you follow the story of Ash and her son, Augustus? We know from last issue that Isabelle had an unconsummated love affair with Zamorna, and we now learn Zamorna is the father of Ash's child, explaining all the implications of tension between Ash and Isabelle. We learn that Isabelle transferred the child to the Mourner to carry Augustus to term before they left Die last time. As the son of a paragon and vampire with a god as a surrogate mother, Augustus is some form of a demi-god, and the Ruling Party of Angria sees him as a threat, particularly since they exiled his father. (You can't really blame them, I'd have to say.)
Instead, do you follow the story of Matt? Ash has been trying to convince the Knightly Orders to help discover what's happening in Glass Town, but they've so far refused. But, a group of Joy Knights gets a message to Matt to meet them in the Eightfold Temple. We learn that original eight knights "stood beside the genie-touched ones" and founded Angria. We also learn that Matt initially came close to choosing anger instead of grief, and we watch him reconsider his choice here, enraging his sword. Earlier Matt told the sword that he was happy for 20 years, and the sword tells him that grief is the price of joy. He explains that Matt is grieving his family because he knows that he can never return to the way that it was with them. Matt has enough and makes quick work of the Joy Knights, since grief is something that you'd give anything to lose (giving Matt an edge) whereas joy is something that you're frightened to lose (making the Knights hold back a little). (That makes a weird amount of sense.) Matt later admits that he always feels cleansed after a fight.
In the end, the stories converge as Angela returns from Glass Town and reveals that the Prussians are building a Forge that asks the question, in binary, "What am I for?" Ash asks the Angrian Queen to help find Chuck and Isabelle, but she demurs. It doesn't matter, though, because Isabelle arrives, saying that they all destroyed Glass Town and should all be punished for it. OK, then!
House of X #6: This issue spends most of its time covering ground that we've already covered, but in more detail.
We now see the entirety of Xavier's speech about mutant emancipation that he projected to the world, about how humans killed his dream of peaceful coexistence so he's killing their dream that they would forever control the world.
We then move into the first meeting of the Quiet Council as it considers Krakoa's first laws. Professor X, Magneto, and Apocalypse form Autumn; Mister Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique form Winter; Sebastian Shaw (Black King), Emma Frost (White Queen), and an absent chair (Red King) form Spring; Storm, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler form Summer; and Cypher represents Krakoa. We also learn the four "great [war] captains" are Cyclops, Gorgon, Bishop, and Magik.
This section is tedious in the way that governing is. Exodus threatens Sinister when he speaks to him, and Sinister jokingly suggests that killing a mutant should be against the law. But, Apocalypse notes that it isn't a challenge to kill someone who isn't unkillable, and Jean sort of agrees; she argues that it should be against the law to kill a human since they can't return. Everyone else agrees, even Apocalypse since, as he notes, it's a point that means nothing to him, like humanity. (So, he's going to break that one soon, right?). Shaw then wants to discuss basics about the economy, and Cypher warns them on the property-rights issue, reminding them that Krakoa is a living being. Exodus agrees, nothing that the land is sacrosanct. Mystique thinks that she's getting to Nightcrawler when she asks what his God's wisdom is, but he then quotes "And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and then subdue it..." as justification for creating more mutants. As such, this conversation yields the three initial laws: 1) make more mutants; 2) murder no man; and 3) respect this sacred land.
With the laws formed, they turn to judging Sabretooth for defying Magneto's orders not to kill human security guards in a previous issue. They all find him guilty, since Magneto specifically ordered him not to kill. This next part is chilling: since they won't submit a mutant to human authorities and, for some reason, they "tolerate no prisons" on Krakoa, he's put into conscious stasis deep inside Krakoa. Larraz is spectacular here, watching even Sabretooth panic as he realizes what they're doing to him. It's brutal.
That said, the issue ends on a happy note. Larraz does a great job showing the independence celebrations as Xavier and the Council leave their meeting and join them. Xavier notes that they carry a heavy burden now, like a parent with a child; they will lose sleep so their children can sleep. But, the most spectacular sequence happens as Logan hands Cyclops a six pack. Logan takes a beer to Gorgon, and Scott hands two beers to Jean, who sits down next to Emma. Jean passes one wordlessly over her shoulder to Emma, who accepts it, equally without looking at her. It's two small panels, but it's a spectacular moment that made me grin ear to ear. We then watch Havoc hug Scott, and you realize exactly what Hickman has done here. It's like he took the best parts of every other storyline -- Revolution, Utopia, Necrosha, Second Coming -- and perfected it. It's in these last wordless moments that you realize the magnitude of this accomplishment, how perfectly he's weaved this story to tweak what needed tweaking and ret-con what needed ret-conning. It didn't require a deal with the Devil, like in Spider-Man. Hickman did the hard work of identifying the problems and fixing them. You can imagine him standing next to Charles and Magneto in the last panel as they look upon Dazzler's Siryn-amplified fireworks display and nodding to Magneto's words: "Just look at what we have made."
Star Wars #72: Han's suspicions about Dar are proven correct here, though not necessarily for the right reasons. Dar has Boss Carpo's thugs grab Han as he leads Leia from the dance floor, explaining his plan to convince Carpo to use his floating military fortress (or "panop") to attack the Empire. Since Han will conveniently be on said panop, he kills two birds with one stone, quite literally: getting rid of Boss Carpo and his rival for Leia's affections. Meanwhile, the most meaningful sequence in the issue is when Threepio manages to inform Chewie that Vader is on K43. Chewie contemplates sacrificing the planet to take out Vader, but a young rock creature approaches him quizzically. Chewie pats him on the head and disables the detonators. Awww, Chewie. Vader then decides to use Chewie as his own trap for Luke, turning the tables on the Rebels. Oh, Darth. Always with the traps.
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