Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/10

Batman #49
Story: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Art: Yanick Paquette & Nathan Fairbairn

Damn, I promised myself I wouldn't cry...  So, the one true Batman is back, and my heart is as broken as I expected it to be by the choices Bruce Wayne had to make, and even moreso by the choices the people who love him had to make. Snyder uses the mind download device from his short in Detective Comics #27 as the way that Bruce can reclaim his past, which makes a fun Elseworlds-type story into a very cool bit of foreshadowing. And as the attempts to download the old memories into the new Bruce's mind fail, we see visions of possible Batmen in Bruce's mind die with each failed download. These different realities all show different, unusual Batmen, some with hints of classic other versions of Batman, some completely new, and it's a credit to both Snyder and Tynion for the ideas, and artist Yanick Paquette for their execution; the centerpiece visions of Batman as Gotham's white knight is gorgeous, but a post-apocalyptic desert Batman with a similarly garbed Robin is the one that grabbed my attention the most. But as cool as the science fiction of the issue is, and all the alternate Batmen are, the thing that grounds the issue and that makes it one of the best Batman stories of Snyder's run on Batman is the interaction between Bruce and Alfred. This Bruce, the one without the trauma, is possibly an even grater hero than his old self, because he willingly makes the sacrifice of everything that makes him happy to save Gotham. And this isn't a "For the Man Who Has Everything" situation, where he's rejecting a fantasy. No, he's rejecting a better life and a better self. And Alfred, loyal Alfred, is pleading with him to not do it. Everything Alfred says, whether before he is forced to use the machine that might return Bruce's memories or might just kill him or after, are the words of someone who loves this man he is talking to like his son. And between those words and the absolute, heart-rending pain that Paquette draws on his face, you can't help but feeling your heart break too. And when Julie Madison enters the Batcave and... I don't want to spoil exactly what she has to do, but her backstory with Bruce has been really well seeded throughout the series, and her choice is just as heroic as Bruce's. The original Golden Age Julie Madison was never that memorable compared to other Batman love interests, and while Matt Wagner did some great stuff with her in Batman & The Mad Monk and Batman and the Monster Men, it's these stories that have earned her a place in my heart alongside Selina Kyle and Talia as one of the great loves of Batman and a great character in her own right. The final panel of the issue shows a Bruce Wayne, shorn of the beard he has worn in his recent life by the heat and lightning of the machine that has given birth to Batman once more, wearing a look that is pure Batman, and with two lines, "Save it for the car. Let's go to work," you know he's back, and that the evil Mr. Bloom's day in Gotham are numbered.

Harrow County #9
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Carla Speed McNeil & Jenn Manley Lee

After taking a couple months off, Dark Horse Comics' southern Gothic, Harrow County, returns with an issue focusing on one the series' principal supporting characters: the Skinless Boy, one of the "haints" that serves Emmy, the series protagonist. The issue takes place over one night, and starts out with a mysterious new character jumping from a train and entering Harrow County, catching a sparrow from the air and fashioning it into a flute, and with the music of the flute he summons the Skinless Boy. This new character is clearly a witch (wizard? sorcerer? monster?) in his own right, as he spends the night leading the Skinless Boy through a journey of discovery. What makes this story chilling is the way this new character gets into the head of the Skinless Boy, the way he taunts him about what his life was like before he became what he is, and how he leads him along this path, through the woods, to the brier patch where Emmy found his empty skin, which he carries with him, and to the house where there are answers to the question of who he was and what his name was. And when he enters the house, what he finds shows readers a new secret of Harrow County, a secret about how Hester, the witch who is both Emmy's mother and possibly Emmy herself, created all the creatures that she populated her little corner of the world with. And even as the man offers the Skinless Boy a chance to maybe reclaim something, a name and a life, we see that what appears to be a monster may be much less one. The Skinless Boy remains loyal to Emmy, but this new man, who addresses himself as, "The Boogeyman's Boogeyman," is out there, and it's clear he knows more about Emmy and Harrow County than maybe she does. This issue is a great jumping on point for this series, because even if it doesn't feature the series lead in a leading role, it gives the reader a sense of the atmosphere that Harrow County provides, and that atmosphere, of dark dread, is part of what makes this comic outstanding. Guest artist Carla Speed McNeil does a great job blending her own style with that or series regular artist Tyler Crook to make the issue feel like a seamless part of the same world that readers are familiar with. If the weather outside isn't chilly enough for you, pick up this new issue of Harrow County to get a good chill up your spine.

King's Road #1
Story: Peter Hogan
Art: Phil Winslade and Staz Johnson & Douglas Sirios

It's a testament to how much I enjoyed the King's Road serial in Dark Horse Presents that ran from April through June of 2013 that I remembered it clearly when this mini-series was solicited and was excited to see where the story went. And for those of you not reading Dark Horse Presents, this first issue reprints the three part prequel, so you're getting twice as much story for the price of one comic! King's Road is the story of Don, a man who left his home world, a fantasy type one, and through magic traveled to Earth, where he set up a normal life. But now, his brother the king is dead, and his sister the general has been transformed into a dog, and so he's now king. So Don and his wife Sophie, along with his kids, Ashley and Tyler, have to go back to his homeworld and stop the evil sorceress Malicia. Only the kids have no idea that their dad is from a fantasy world; they think he's just a boring regular dad. This first issue spends time with each member of the family, as well as Aunt Amerine, who is now a talking dog, so it feels like an ensemble book. There are monsters, sorcerers, a creepy amusement park, guardians disguised as friends, and a traitor in their midst. The charm of this issue is that it takes so many fantasy tropes and plays them straight. There's no deconstruction of the genre, just high fantasy mixed with a touch if family drama. There's something abut a well trod tale told well, and Peter Hogan knows his fantasy well enough to keep it interesting, and knows how to build likable characters. The opening chapter is by the inestimable Phil Winslade, one of those artists who has the chops to do great superhero comics, great horror, and great fantasy, all with a distinct style all his own. Staz Johnson comes in with the new material, and he's able to capture the same sense of motion and excitement as Winslade, but not lose his own work in Winslade's style; Johnson is one of those artists who did a lot of Batman adjacent work in the 90s-00s, and I have fond remembrances of his work their, and he's only gotten better. King's Road is a great comic if you're looking for a light, exciting action and fantasy comic that has touches of the best of heroic fantasy.

The Manhattan Projects: The Sun Beyond the Stars #4
Story: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Nick Pitarra & Michael Garland

After a considerable delay, the new Manhattan Projects arc/mini-series, The Sun Beyond the Stars wraps up, and it's quite an ending. When last we left Yuri Gagarin and Laika, they were on a space ship with a group of criminals, surrounded by a fleet of Sionnu Science Union ships ready to board them, and with Justice Ryleth, the insane judge whose been chasing them, waiting to board the ship as well. And things don't get better, Like, not one bit. Jonathan Hickman's creator owned books from Image don't really have much of a sentimental streak, and this is an issue that ends like a Shakespearean tragedy: there are bodies everywhere. Hickman gets to run rampant with the action, with a big fight between most of the crew and Ryleth, while Primor, the escaped Sionnu slave that has led an entire race of vile super scientists down upon their heads, prepares for his endgame. And boy it's quite an endgame. Nick Pitarra gets to really go to town this issue, drawing fighting aliens and robots, as well as giant tentacle monsters. Chekhov's (ray)gun goes off, with the spores that were the cause of much of this hunt going off at the end of the series, and leaving us with a pretty barren playing field. And with just our Manhattan Projects alums left, Laika and Yuri floating in space, you think you might get a final sweet reunion between a spaceman and his dog right? Hah, you don't know The Manhattan Projects do you? While many issues of The Manhattan Projects are full of mad science and lots of talking, it's nice to get this climax that's full of action and humor. Well humor as long as your sense of humor is warped enough, and I recommend a particularly warped one if you're going in to this comic. Now with this arc over, and Hickman's contract with Marvel complete (mostly anyway, C'mon, let's get the end of SHIELD please!), I'm hoping we'll get a new arc set back on Earth of Manhattan Projects soon, but as send offs go, this is a very good one for our astronauts.

Greetings from Battleworld: Week 37

Hey, look, it's Secret Wars! Yes, three months after its original ending date (and with one issue added), Marvel's universe changing crossover has ended, and we're here to talk about the last issue and some issues we skipped earlier on. First, Dan Grote gives a review of that big final issue...

Secret Wars #9

Story by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

Wait, so are the Richards clan effectively the Beyonders now?

Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s eight-month, nine-issue summer 2015 crossover ends with the Molecule Man and Reed and Franklin Richards re-creating the Marvel multiverse, one sphere of energy at a time. Reed, Sue, Valeria, Franklin and the rest of the Future Foundation then set off to explore all those universes, explaining away their absence from all Marvel books in perpetuity. Super-Scientist Heaven is real, you guys!

But seriously, if the FF are creating whole universes, then that effectively makes them the gods of the new multiverse, which is what the Beyonders were prior to Secret Wars. And if all things are cyclical, what’s to say the Beyonders from the previous multiverse weren’t actually Reed Richards and his brood, and that eventually, after billions of years, they will get bored and collapse their creation? Doesn’t that mean Doom really was a hero all along? Maybe that’s why Reed let Doom live again on the new Earth, restoring his face in the process, in case Reed et al get too carried away in their new role as gods.

But that’s just the end. The book opens with a Battleworld-rattling fight between God Emperor Doom and Black Panther, armed with the Infinity Gauntlet. Meanwhile, the two Reed Richardses – 616 and 1610 – pay a visit to the Molecule Man, the source of Doom’s power. 1610 Reed - aka Ultimate Reed, aka the Maker, aka Evil Reed, aka Big Baby Jesus - doublecrosses his doppelganger, surrounding him in a makeshift temporal bubble in an attempt to devolve him, but the Molecule Man slices Evil Reed apart like so many pizza toppings.

Doom realizes the Panther fight is a distraction and finds Richards with the Molecule Man, who strips Doom of his omnipotence, allowing for a fair fight with Richards, because, c’mon, like Doom’s last fight wasn’t going to be with his mortal enemy?

As the two bump egos, MM lets Battleworld blow up, leaving the be-Gauntlet-ed Panther to restore reality. After a flash of white light, he finds himself in a restored Wakanda on what is now Earth Prime, celebrating the launch of the African nation’s space program.

“And this is our very first one,” Panther tells his pupils as they watch the first rocket lift off. “Our Alpha Flight.” WINK!

Before we leave, a final question: Why did the Molecule Man help our heroes? In the end, it may have been because Miles Morales gave him a hamburger in issue #6. That either makes Molecule Man the Jughead of the Marvel multiverse or Miles Morales the Neville Longbottom of Secret Wars, the background character who actually saves the day.

As finales go, and considering how sprawling and complex Secret Wars was to begin with, I’d say issue #9 is the perfect combination of a satisfying ending and a generator of new questions that won’t be answered anytime soon, if ever, considering Hickman is now done at Marvel. If nothing else, this issue serves as a love letter to Reed and Doom and puts a bow on everything Hickman has written for the House of ideas dating to the start of his FF run in 2009.

And for more on my feelings on Neville Longbottom as the true hero of the Harry Potter franchise, let me corner you at a party sometime.

And with all that extra time, I was able to read one of the more important tie-in mini-series, and it turned out to be one of my favorites...

Siege

Story: Kieron Gillen

Art: Filipe Andrade & Rachelle Rosenberg, plus various artists on double page spreads

Many of the Secret Wars tie-ins were just fun what if sort of stories revisiting classic eras and storylines throughout Marvel history. Some of these turned out to be about as relevant to the main series as Countdown was to Infinite Crisis (see Age of Apocalypse and Future Imperfect, both which ended with their primary antagonist, Apocalypse and the Maestro, dead and caught in a permanent Black Mercy-esque fugue state respectively, despite showing up in the main series towards the end leading their armies at God Emperor Doom's request). Siege, though, interestingly enough, has no relation to the crossover for which it is named, and instead fills in some important gaps in the main series.

When I wrote about series that ended too soon, one of the series I included was S.W.O.R.D. Kieron Gillen's book starring Abigail Brand, the half alien head of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s alien threat response team. Siege is Gillen's return to Abigail Brand, who he also spent time with while he was writing Uncanny X-Men which picked up some of the plot threads from S.W.O.R.D., and I gotta tell you, he writes Brand like no one else. He took that snarky, Whedon creation, mixed in some Warren Ellis type drunkenness, and his own flair, and made Brand sing like no one else. This series's Brand in the leader of the troops guarding The Shield, the big wall that keeps out zombies, Ultron robots, and Annihilation Wave bugs from the rest of Battleworld, and she actually wanted the job, because her family was slaughtered the last time there was a breach in The Shield, and she has sworn never again. 

The rest of Gillen's cast includes Leah, an Asgardian Shield-Maiden, who serves as Brand's second at the beginning of the series; A Leonardo Da Vinci right out of Jonathan Hickman's Shield series; Miss America from A-Force and Lady Kate Bishop from Secret Wars Journal, who were banished to the Shield in their respective titles and whose story picks up here, Kang the Conqueror, who is as much a jerk as ever; Ben Grimm, the Thing, who is a physical manifestation of the wall; and not surprisingly, my favorite character in the book aside from Brand, Major Summers, the leader of a massive group of Cyclops clones called the Endless Summers that Mr. Sinister was done experimenting on so he sent them to The Shield.

There's a lot to love in this series. It reflects more connectivity across Battleworld than pretty much any book except for Secret Wars itself, which makes sense, due to the clever plot device where Doom says you can't cross domains, thus keeping people from asking, "Why are there are dozens of Wolverines?"and raising eyebrows. It's got some amazing visuals from Filipe Andrade, whose art I was unsure of early on and who really grew on me. But mostly, it's that Gillen packs a ton of character into four issues, all while working under a clock. The Guardians of the Shield find out at the end of issue one that the Shield will fall in twenty days when Thanos comes. It could have been easy to spend the next two issues having the cast make journeys beyond the wall to find Thanos, and just cram in action scene after action scene. Instead, we see Abigail deal with the possible inevitability of her failure. We see Kate and Miss America grow closer. We see Kang angle for control of the Should so he can win this battle that Brand could not. You care about these characters so that when Thanos appears, you feel bad that you know they have to lose,

Each issue also has two to three gorgeous double page spreads by different artists. These not only serve to give us Abigail Brand's War Journal narrating major battles in the history of the wall, but they allow some phenomenal artists to go to town. My favorites included James Stokoe, known for drawing Godzilla and other monsters, showing Pym-Phalanx, giant techno-organic ants, attacking the wall, and the legendary Michael Wm. Kaluta drawing Leah's triumphant return from beyond the wall with her lady love, Magik, riding a giant Colossus and temporarily breaking the momentum of the final push against The Shield. Sadly, a great two pager from Juan Jose Ryp of the Infinite Summers fighting Ultron drones and another big bad is interrupted by one of those gatefold adds that Marvel put into their books for All-New All-Different numbers ones, so it didn't have the impact I would have liked it to have in singles. It will probably look great in trade though,

In the end, if you read Secret Wars, you know The Shield fell, and Ben Grimm, now using much of its mass, went to fight Doom. But this series not only gives us more of an understanding of what Thanos did and said to make Ben choose this, and we also see a group of valiant heroes make a classic last stand. It's the Alamo with monsters, robots, and bugs, basically, which is as awesome as it sounds. Oh, and if you ever wondered why no one ever connected Nick Fury (Brand's predecessor as commander of The Shield before being lost beyond it) and Alan Moore's superhero killing monster The Fury from Captain Britain, well, your wait is over.

After a crossover has ended, especially one that takes place in a reality that no longer exists, there are often the question from readers about why they should care about those stories because they "don't matter." Well, the reason when it comes to a story like Siege is that all stories matter because they are full of rich character and great art, that they allow a creator to return to a favorite character and get in a new story of that character in a new setting, and because it's fun and exciting. And if that doesn't make a story matter, I don't know what does.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 12/3

Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire #4
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener, Anthony Clark, & Jeff Powell

Things are looking bad for Earth. An island of Biomega, this undifferentiated mass of monster that spawns kaiju, is heading to make landfall in Tokyo, and only Atomic Robo can stop it. Well, at least stop it without causing nuclear winter or a mass extinction in Tokyo. So really, it's just another day at the office for Robo. With the Biomega island getting near land, Robo makes a Hail Mary to stop it, heading to Kazakhstan to board a Russian space rocket to use a Nazi-launched space weapon to blast the island to nothingness. And that sentence is why I love Atomic Robo. It combines the real world history with crazy science ideas and conspiracy wackiness to come up with something that is more than the sum of its parts. And now that Robo has a body again and is up and about, the book is complete. It was nice to spend more time with the Action Scientists and get to know them better, but there's a reason this book is called Atomic Robo! Robo's cool under fire reactions to the possible extinction of everything on Earth is part of his charm. What also makes this issue prime Robo is the time table is ticking on two ends; not only is the Biomega threat looming, but Robo has only limited power in his system, so has only a couple of hours before he powers down again to save the world. It's a tense situation made all the tenser. And it wouldn't be an issue of Atomic Robo if even more wasn't happening. That's the beauty of Robo's comic; creators Brain Clevinger and Scott Wegener make every panel count. Robo's Chonese allies are trying to figure out exactly how Robo is powering himself, which won't bode well when they find out he's draining from their grid, and Majestic/Ultra, the international science army, are sending in their giant mechs to fight the Biomega. Wegener hits that sequence out of the park, drawing not just incredible giant robots, but equally incredible monsters. This is where comics succeed where most other visual media fail: there's no budget, no limit aside from the imagination of the people writing and drawing it, The issue ends with Phil (my favorite Action Scientist other than the maybe-late and lamented Jenkins) arriving on Hashima Island, a locale familiar to the Robo faithful, and after pulling off a pretty hilarious fake out, heading down below the surface to meet an old... let's be nice and say acquaintance of Robo's. The set-up for a climactic issue has me really excited for next issue. Before the switch to IDW, I read Atomic Robo in trade, and now I don't know how I missed out on these monthly doses of Action Science!

East of West #22
Story: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin

The silent issue is a tricky beast. It can sometimes come off as lazy, or something the creators are doing as a stunt. But when it's pulled off right? It is a sight to behold. And this month's issue of East of West? This, my friends, is a sight. East of West is often a title that spends issues building up to an explosion, with the politics and hunting boiling over into an explosion of action and violence; it's masterful slow burn. This issue is all burn in the best way, as assassins invade the palace of the house of Mao. I want to spend a whole paragraph explaining, analyzing, talking about the countdown clock that runs through the issue, but I don't want to spoil anything. Artist Nick Dragotta, who started this series as an artist I liked and has become an artist I adore, hits a homerun, scores a midcourt shot, hits a hole in one, insert your chosen sports metaphor here. His storytelling has never been better, cleaner, and without anything to distract from his art, he shines. There's a fight scene that could very easily have come across as tawdry and exploitative, but instead shows the power of a principle character in a way that is breathtaking. If you've never read East of West, this may not be the perfect jumping on point for you, but if you're a fan of comic art as a form, there's not a better comic to see a master craftsman at work than this one.

Robin War #1
Story: Tom King
Art: Rob Haynes, Khary Randolph, Alan Mauricet, Jorge Corona, Andres Guinaldo and Walden Wong, Emilio Lopez, Chris Sotomayor, Gabe Eltaeb, & Sandra Molina

This is how you start a crossover! Robin War, the event tying in all the comics featuring everyone who has, in current continuity, ever warn an "R" on their chest, is more than just a comic about teen superheroes fighting for their right to be teen superheroes. It touches on issues of policing and government, and, along with Batman #44, shows how the Batman titles are DC's best attempts to touch on some of the society's real issues, When one young Robin inadvertently shoots not just a criminal but the police officer who has arrived on the scene, This quickly spreads into "The Robin Laws," which basically make underage vigilantism, or even the possession of anything Robin related, illegal. We see limits to freedom and the abuse of power by the police. If the individual panels of the police tasing and beating kids aren't enough to make this clearly a problem, we see Duke Thomas, lead of We Are Robin, arrested not because he's out in costume, but because he's wearing red sneakers and, "Red means Robin." Duke is considerably smarter than the arresting officer and escapes, and calls a meeting of all the Robins. Meanwhile, two other factions are getting involved. Red Hood and red Robin are in communication, trying to decide what to do, especially when a certain x-factor returns to Gotham. And we see that Councilwoman Noctua, who is spearheading the anti-Robin legislation, is working with the Court of Owls to set off the Robin War, not exactly a surprise after last week's We Are Robin and the cover to this issue. The Robin gathering is broken up by the arrival of Damian, angry to see what in his mind are a crowd of posers using the name he's earned, but his beatdown of the Robins is interrupted by the arrival of Jim Gordon as Batman, who Damian is equally not impressed by and who he proceeds to take out with ease.When Damian doesn't listen to the Reds, they call in the one person left he will listen to, Dick Grayson, and all the players are in place, especially as the Talon of the Court makes sure the Robin responsible won't be able to come forward. That coming forward, that discussion of taking responsibility for one's actions, is another key theme here, as Duke believes it's what needs to be done, not just to put things right, but because it IS right, another reason to love Duke Thomas. As you can see from the list above, there are a lot of artists involved here, and these jam issues can often look like a mess, but the whole issue has breakdowns by Rob Haynes, and so there is a unity to the general look of the comic that helps keep the flow constant. With its strong characterization and fast-moving plot, Robin War has the potential to be the best Bat Family crossover of the post-Flashpoint era.



Dan Grote reviews another sterling issue of Doctor Strange this week...

Doctor Strange #3
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Chris Bachalo & Tim Townsend

A good creative team can convert a nonfan into a new fan with minimal effort. Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire turned Blue Beetle and Booster Gold into DC heads’ fave besties. Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting turned a lot of people into flag-waving Captain America devotees. Mark Waid and Fiona Staples showed naysayers the beauty in Archie Comics.

And Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo have me wondering what I’ve missed all these years in the Sorcerer Supreme.

Of the many All-New, All-Different Marvel series that have launched since October, Doctor Strange may be my favorite. Aaron and Bachalo have woven a wonderful, swirling tapestry in which there is weirdness all over the mundane to the point where, to a mystic like Strange, the weird is mundane.

Until it’s not.

Something is chasing magical beings across dimensions, leading to infestations on Earth of creatures that, while hideous and possessed of many eyes and teeth, are not so much deadly as hungry and scared. Strange has seen bits and pieces of this so far the first three issues, but when he steps into Fandazar Foo, an interdimensional nexus conveniently reachable via a doorway in his house, he discovers the full scope of what is happening. Other dimensions’ sorcerers supreme hang slaughtered from the trees. A plane that should be rife with rainbows is gray bordering on dead (Note: Bachalo’s color game is as strong as his pencils, and in fact the art is at its best when the two work in contrast). The Empirikul, like winter, are coming.

In between all this, we get giant slugs, mushrooms straight outta Wonderland, a sweet ax, a heart-shaped grenade, New Yorkers barfing en masse, unfortunate knocks on Cleveland, floating Easter Island heads with third eyes, the brutal execution of a floating space whale and a naked Stephen Strange, because why not?


I know writers and artists work in different parts of the world, communicating via pdfs and Dropbox files. But in my heart, I picture Aaron and Bachalo exchanging ideas back and forth in person, and high-fiving when they stumble on something batsh** enough to put into the book. Those imaginary high-five moments are why you should be reading this book.

Greeting from Battleword: Secret Wars Week 14

Secret Wars #5

Story by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

God Emperor Dr. Doom’s sense of control over Battleworld is starting to slip. As a result, last issue, he got murder-y, killing both a Phoenix-powered Cyclops and Sheriff Dr. Strange, heretofore his right-hand man.

Strange gets a hero’s funeral in Doomgard, a huge statue and a lovely eulogy by an elderly Thor. Then Doom sets his daughter, Valeria (actually Reed Richards’ daughter), on a quest to find The Real Killers, because you can’t spell God Emperor Doom without OJ … wait, yes you can. When Valeria questions the facts surrounding Strange’s death, Doom threatens to kill her in the guise of being a stern parent. Conversely, Franklin Von Doom (ne Richards) vows to “mash into little pieces” whoever killed his friend the sheriff. So there’s a lot of death threats hanging in the air.

Meanwhile, guess who’s not dead? The Molecule Man! Turns out the Beyonders’ multiversal bomb lives beneath the surface of Battleworld, under that memorial statue of him in Doomgard, holding it all together. And he’d really like someone to bring him some food.

Apart from being the planet’s engine, MM also serves as an exposition machine, flashing the reader back to what exactly happened when he, Doom and Strange confronted the Beyonders. All that explanation (and re-explanation of stuff that was previously explained in the last issue of New Avengers) leads the issue to be a little light on action, but don’t worry, we get a glimpse of Thanos at the end of the issue, ready to F up some S.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Strange’s choices leading to and during Secret Wars inform his journey after the event. As the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen is theoretically one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, but some of his most memorable moments come when his confidence fails to match his ability. When Doom confronts the Beyonders and takes their energy, Strange flat-out refuses to decide what can be saved and what can’t, yielding total control to Doom, who has no problem making such decisions. A confrontation between the two was inevitable, as was Stephen losing that confrontation. Of course there’s also the question of how he gets un-dead after this, but I’m less worried about that.

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde #2

Story by Sam Humphries

Art by Alti Firmansyah and Jessica Kholinne

In the multiplex of Secret Wars books, if Thors is the gritty police procedural, Giant Size Little Marvels: A vs. X is the kids film, and nearly every other book is the YA dark dystopian reality where a hero shall rise, Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde is the sassy romantic comedy where the leads banter back and forth as they fall in love. Except unlike most such movies, I actually like this.

As romantic leads, Pryde and Peter Quill are fulfilling prescribed roles. Quill is the charming, quippy, not-really-a-bad boy. So, basically, Chris Pratt. And Kitty is the smart, feisty but still vulnerable skeptic. Let’s call her the Kate Hudson. Neither of them has any real reason to dislike the other, but they’re both scared of what the other represents. Quill is living proof that Doom’s law is not infallible, which, if word got out, would likely be the end of Kitty, whose job it is to discredit anomalies found on Battleworld. And Kitty – especially after she stabs a guy through the chest with her wrist-mounted Wolverine claws – is a reminder that the 616 Kitty, Quill’s Kitty, is gone, along with almost everything else Quill ever knew or cared about.

Brian Michael Bendis brought these two crazy kids together, but Sam Humphries is giving them a chemistry that almost – ALMOST – makes me forget how much I shipped Kitty and Pete Wisdom back in the day. And Alti Firmansyah’s art just makes them all the more adorable, retractable claws and all.

But if you’ve come to ship Pryde-Lord or whatever their portmanteau is, stay for the classic X-Men jokes. Last issue gave us Quill singing Disney covers with X-Factor as his backing band, calling himself Steve Rogers and looking like Alex Summers. This issue gives us the New Mutdroids, an all-robot version of the New Mutants led by Doug Ramsey (not Age of Apocalypse Doug, to be clear) from inside his technoorganic bestie, Warlock. The Mutdroids serve Gambit the Collector and serve up Chris Claremont’s most classic catchphrases, from “Ah’m nigh invulnerable when I’m blastin’” to “the focused totality of my psychic powers.” (If references like this make you smile ear to ear, then we must again beseech you to listen the Rachel & Miles Xplain the X-Men podcast. Like Val Kilmer says in Real Genius, it’s a moral imperative.)

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 9

Red Skull #1

Story by Joshua Williamson

Art by Luca Pizzari and Rainier Beredo

I’m gonna start off this review by shaming myself. I thought I had never heard the name Joshua Williamson prior to reading Red Skull #1. Then I scrolled through this very blog and realized Matt has reviewed his work. A lot. So if you haven’t read his indie series Nailbiter (crime), Ghosted (supernatural) or Birthright (adventure/fantasy), please do so, and perhaps I need to do the same.

As for this book, the first issue sets it up to be the Secret Wars equivalent of Thunderbolts. A team of baddies - Magneto, Electro, Moonstone, Jack O’Lantern, Lady Deathstryke and the Winter Soldier - are tasked by Crossbones with confirming proof of the Red Skull’s death. The Skull apparently led an uprising against Doom and was summarily tossed over the Shield – Battleworld’s barrier against scores of zombies, Ultron robots, and Annihilus drones. If the bad guys don’t comply, they get nasty shocks from the collars around their necks, a callback to Warren Ellis’ run on the ’Bolts. Also, if they fail to find evidence of the Skull’s death within 24 hours, they’re stuck there.

There are a lot of great little moments, many of which involve Electro, who spends the book being an annoying little s--- until [spoiler, but easily my favorite panel in the book and in the top 5 for Secret Wars]. When the team’s plane lands outside the Shield, Electro is freaked out by the sight of a T-rex, which Crossbones then casually shoots through the head, not long before leaving the conscripted degenerates to die in the deadlands. Even the zombies crack wise.

By the “Come with me if you want to live” scene at the end of the issue, you get the impression this can no longer be a team book.

Artist Luca Pizzari draws a few nice cameos, including Miss America Chavez, last seen being arrested in the first issue of A-Force, and everyone’s favorite ’90s lumberjack Thor, Eric Masterson. Then we get to the Shield, and it’s a free-for-all of squinting to try to recognize zombies by bits of tattered costume in a sea of dark shading.

Parting thought: While normally I’d jump all over any T-shirt that says “(X Marvel character) was right,” I think I might have to pass on the “Red Skull was right” shirt featured in this issue.

Secret Wars #4

Story by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

If man is meant to fear God, then what does God fear?

God fears Reed Richards.

The halfway point of Secret Wars is partly a battle between the survivors of the old worlds: the heroes of Earth 616 who escaped in Reed Richards’ Raft and the villains of Earth 616 who escaped in the raft of the Reed Richards of Earth 1610. Reed 616 has been depicted as bearded, exhausted and shellshocked by the weight of learning that Dr. Doom not only saved reality from being destroyed by the Beyonders but is now the god emporer of all that remains. Even this issue he is still being carried around by the Black Panther. But when Doom discovers Reed 616 among the survivors, he responds with a true display of his power. A couple people die. Important people. Given we’ve already seen previews of what’s to come, you can take as much stock in that as you like. It’s still pretty chilling to see who and how, though.

Oh, and Doom walks right past Reed 1610, pays him no mind whatsoever. Maybe it’s that weird miner’s helmet that covers half his face.

A-Force #2

Story by Marguerite Bennett and G. Willow Wilson

Art by Jorge Molina and Laura Martin

Arcadia has a portal problem. It has also an adorable new resident who is black and sparkly, has the innocence of a child and appears to be the source of said portal problem.

Singularity, the character teased in early art of A-Force, doesn’t speak but takes on the appearance of a girl in her early teens. Perhaps that’s a by-product of the fact that the first person she encountered, at the end of last issue, was Nico Minoru. Perhaps she’s just young. Way too early to say.

Either way, she appears to be explicitly connected to the portals that have been opening up around Arcadia, which so far have led to attacks by a megalodon and a Sentinel. (P.S.: This book gets @Midnight-style POINTS for creative Sentinel death, having She-Hulk run one through with an obelisk while saying “Time we put a pin in it.”)

The portal from whence the megalodon came is a swirling mass of preview art from other Secret Wars books. Few are recognizable, though you can clearly see bits of Future Imperfect and Giant Size Little Marvels: A vs. X. The second portal, meanwhile, appears to be a gateway straight to the New York of Years of Future Past, which would explain the Sentinel.

Considering how big a deal it is that people not cross the borders of Battleworld, having someone around who can make it that easy is bound to incur the Wrath of Doom, who is extra angry after the events of Secret Wars #4. So get ready for an escalation.

Easter egg: Nico has an Iron Man statue in her bedroom. Does Arcadia have a Tony Stark? He hasn’t really been a major character in SW outside Civil War, at least not that I’ve seen.

Future Imperfect #2
Story: Peter David
Art: Greg Land

Well, that was a twist I didn't see coming. At the end of the last issue, the Thing was revealed as the leader of the resistance against the Maestro. The opening of this issue shows the origin of the Thing, who in this reality is Thunderbolt Ross. We see Ross and Glen Talbot trying to beat the Russians to space, and pretty much the FF origin plays out as expected, and we see Ross turned into the Thing. From there, the likon's share of the issue is a Hulk/Thing fight, except it's a Maestro/Ross-Thing fight, so it's considerably more brutal. Not just in how the two combatants are beating on each other, but in how they deal with collateral damage. This is equivalent to the end of Man of Steel, with buildings collapsing, and Maestro flat out saying he cares nothing for the lives of those around them, and Thing admitting if he can kill Maestro, it's worth it. Peter David has never shied away from moral relativity, and so it's not surprising his "hero" is only a shade less dark than his villain. Greg Land continues to show that his art is rebounding to something closer to his early style, with well produced carnage. He still has the problem that all his female faces look the same, and if it weren't for Janis and Ruby's distinct hair styles and skin tones, they would be hard to tell apart. But the end of the issue has two reveals, one is completely expected one that is so Peter David I should have seen it coming. The fact that the Maestro is a treacherous monster who is planning to fight god shouldn't shock anyone, but once again, Peter David drops the appearance of one of his trademark characters in (again, she's a blonde female character, so thank Doom part of her shtick is dropping her name, or I would have thought she was Sue Storm), Layla Miller, who David turned from a cipher in House of M into one of the best characters on X-Factor history. I'm looking forward to see how Layla fits into this world, and she what "stuff" she knows in this world.

Giant-Size Little Marvel: A Vs. X #2
Story and Art: Skottie Young

This is going to be a short one. Seriously, if you read and liked the first issue, you're going to like this one. It's cute, and it's great to watch Skottie Young cram in as many cameos as he can into the book (who would have thought Apocalypse could ever look cute?). For a little idea of the plot, basically the X-Men and the Avengers are competing to get the new twins at their school, Zachary and Zoe, to join their groups, with mayhem ensuing. There is possibly my favorite panels involving Arcade ever. But the highlight joke is at the end, when the two teams are having their big fight, and Zachary and Zoe are watching. As they observe Cable decked out in a Skottie Young version of his early '90s costume, they address him as "Big-Guns McShoulder-Pad" and "Pouchy McGee" which made me laugh really hard, because as much as I love Cable, and I really do, it's so accurate. That kind of level of self awareness adds the cherry to the top of this delightful series.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 5

Welcome back to Battleworld, everyone. This week, Dan Grote looks at the new issue of the core Secret Wars title, and the much anticipated return of a married Spider-Man...

Secret Wars #3

Story: Jonathan Hickman

Art: Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

Imagine you survived the end of the world. Now imagine you were supposed to survive the end with all your loved ones, but you watched them ripped away from you at the last second. NOW imagine you wake up in a new world where your sworn enemy isn’t just its ruler or its savior but its GOD. Not only that, but, as Dr. Strange puts it, “He is very, very good at playing God.” NOW imagine how Reed will react next issue or whenever he finds out his wife and daughter are Doom’s most trusted advisers, his son spends all day playing in the palm of a planet-eating giant and his brother-in-law is [spoiler].

And we were worried Marvel didn’t care about the FF anymore.

Secret Wars #3 dedicates itself primarily to answering questions, which is good because I’ve had a lot of them since this event started. As of this issue, we now know:

• What happened to Reed Richards’ Raft ™ from the 616 universe and its passengers, which if you’ll recall from issue #1 included Black Panther, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, Thor, and a Phoenixed-up Cyclops.     
• A very few select characters remember what happened before Battleworld, and we know why the rest don’t recall.
•  How much time has passed since the final incursion.
• Where Johnny Storm is, and oo-da-lolli it’s a mini gut punch that makes perfect sense.
• Why Dr. Strange is the right hand of God Emperor Doom ™, and what happened to the Molecule Man, last seen confronting the Beyonders alongside Doom and Strange in New Avengers #33.
• How many Spider-Men survived the final incursion (although if you saw some of Marvel’s post-Secret Wars teaser images, I suppose you’ve already had that spoiled).

It’s a lot to take in, and besides most readers who haven’t seen everything Jonathan Hickman’s written for Marvel since Secret Warriors, nobody’s having a harder time with this than 616 Reed Richards, whom Esad Ribic draws in a perpetual state of exhausted, bearded shellshock. But I can only imagine the moment of clarity issue #3 provides will be brief, as Battleworld has much more to reveal, and we’re not even halfway there.

Side note: As someone who’s met him at cons, I very much appreciated the full-page house ad toward the end of the issue memorializing Herb Trimpe, who was the first Marvel artist to draw Wolverine for publication, among his many other credits for the company. Trimpe died in April at 75.

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1

Story: Dan Slott

Art:  Adam Kubert, John Dell and Justin Ponsor

Some Secret Wars comics are meant to tell the complex story of Battleword (Secret Wars). Some are meant to be jumping-on points for new readers (A-Force, MODOK: Assassin). And some, unabashedly, are love letters to Comics Fans of a Certain Age. This book (and the digital-first X-Men ’92) is most certainly the latter.

Renew Your Vows takes place in what, at least to start, feels like a simpler time. Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are married and have a young daughter, Annie. He works at the Daily Bugle and brings hot-scoop photos to an always-yelling J. Jonah Jameson. He’s not an Avenger. He patrols the streets of New York with other street-level heroes like Daredevil, the Punisher and Moon Knight. Captain America wears his old wing-tipped mask. Eddie Brock is still Venom and looks like a big, slobbering black-and-white monster.

Dan Slott’s name may be on the cover, but it sure reads like David Michelinie or J.M. DeMatteis to me. And it’s all being drawn by Adam Kubert, one of Marvel’s rock-star artists in the years after the Image exodus. For Spider-fans, this book is a warm, fuzzy blanket.

At least to start.

When a supervillain named Regent starts killing off superheroes and claiming their powers as his own, and Venom escapes from prison and threatens his family, Peter is forced to make a choice that will inform the series going forward.

“That was the day I learned what trumps great power … an even greater responsibility.”

We’ve seen alternate-future takes on Spider-spawn – “Mayday” Parker swings immediately to mind – but we’ve never seen Peter actively raise a child, at least to my recollection. “Renew Your Vows” turns back the clock on basically every Spider-Man story of the past decade, but it also sets it forward, showing us the darkness of a world where “One More Day” never happened. Is this Spider-Man’s darkest timeline (and if so, is there still paintball)? It’s too early to tell, but it’s worth sticking around to see.


...While I examine the return of the evil future Hulk and the most light-hearted of any tie-in you're likely to see.

Future Imperfect #1
Story: Peter David
Art: Greg Land

Peter David has a long history with Marvel comics, and despite famed runs on Spider-Man and X-Factor, it will be his Hulk run that he is most remembered for. And of that run, Future Imperfect, the story of the Hulk going into the future to fight an evil version of himself called the Maestro, is probably the most famous, so it makes sense that if Marvel was picking and choosing great alternate history stories to make realms of Battleworld it would be one of them, and make even more sense they'd get Peter David to write it. David jumps right into the deep end, referencing the Secret Wars status quo with Maestro as this realm's Baron. Not only do we get the Maestro and Janis, Rick Jones's granddaughter introduced in the original story and who plays a role not only there but in the back end of David's original run on the ongoing Hulk series, but Ruby Summers, the daughter of Scott Summers and Emma Frost introduced in a dystopic future X-Factor story. The issue establishes what Dystopia, the city ruled by the Maestro, is like, and we see that there's a rebellion in place against it, which includes Ruby and Janis. The desert, the city, it's all classic dark future stuff, but David works with it and keeps it feeling fresh. When Ruby stumbles across a old man in an eyepatch wandering the desert claiming to be Odin, she thinks she's struck gold for the rebellion. Unfortunately, after she brings him to their base, it's clearly not Odin. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to reveal that "Odin" is in fact the Maestro reverted to human form, and a battle commences. Greg Land is an artist I can take or leave (I was a huge fan of his early work on Birds of Prey and Nightwing, but his excessive photo-referencing in recent years leaves me cold), and while in combat nearly all his characters have screaming their heads off expressions on their faces, his page layouts were solid for the fight between the rebels and the Maestro, and it came together well in the end. As with a lot of these Secret Wars tie-in first issues, the final page has a shock reveal, this time of a surviving hero who is leading the rebellion, and it's a nice reveal, one that should lead to a classic throw down in the next issue. With its nods to previous Peter David work, and his usual quick ear for witty dialogue, Future Imperfect looks to be a solid entry to the Secret Wars tie-ins, and since Marvel has said the Maestro is here to stay after the event, this would be a good place to get to know him.

Giant-Size Little Marvel: A Vs. X #1
Story and Art: Skottie Young

All these dark Secret Wars tie-ins got you down? Well, Giant Size Little Marvel is the cure for what ails you! The opening montage, which has musical notes bouncing around the narration and made me try to read them to the tune of the Tiny Toon Adventures theme song, lays out exactly what Secret Wars is about before before bringing us into the kingdom of Marville (not to be confused with the Bill Jemas series of the same name, possible the worst comic Marvel ever published), where at the intersection of Avengers Street and X-Men Way, the little heroes get into all kinds of mischief. The opening fight scene, which is perfectly tame and all ages, is a result of Iron Man melting one of Magik's toy ponies, and her summoning a monster to eat him. The main plot of the issue revolves around an escalating battle to build the best food stand at the corner, from lemonade, to hit dogs, to hamburgers, to Asgardian ribs, and so on, until it all breaks out in a brawl. Skottie Young is a master of drawing adorable little versions of Marvel characters, and the cameos fly fast and furious throughout the comic. While this isn't going to give you insight into the greater working of Battleworld and God King Doom, it's delightful fun and a good palette cleanser. Between this series, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and the new Groot ongoing from Marvel, and DC's new Bat-Mite and Bizarro series, it's a good time for all-ages superheroes from the Big 2.

Reviews of Comics for Wednesday 5/13

Abe Sapien #23
Story: Mike Mignola & Scott Allie
Art: Kevin Nowlan

The world of Hellboy has been getting exceedingly dark in recent years. This isn't a complaint; when monsters are rising all over the world and society is crumbling, that's to be expected. The B.P.R.D. is barely holding the line, Hellboy is dead, and probably hardest hit is Abe Sapien, wandering the highways of America, trying to find some indication he isn't the forerunner of a new race and encountering people who always seem to wind up hurt or worse. But this issue? This is a different thing. It's a flashback to 1992, and the world is a lighter place. Hellboy and Abe are on a mission for the B.P.R.D., investigating a death that is being attributed to Ogopogo, Canada's answer to the Loch Ness Monster. What might be a simple monster story turns into a story that has human greed at its center, as well as a worshipper of the old gods and creatures, something that's pretty standard for Hellboy and Abe. The thing that got me really excited for this issue was that it's a Hellboy and Abe story. When you look back on the publication history of the characters, you realize that they've been apart for more years than they were a team, but many of the most memorable Hellboy stories feature Abe. The two have that comfortable partnership that shows how good friends they are, and they play off each other perfectly; Hellboy is the bull in the china shop, while Abe tries to think things out more. And Kevin Nowlan's art is gorgeous as ever. While his stuff isn't as dark and foreboding as many of the other artists who work on Mignolaverse stories, he still captures the essence of the characters. If you've been away from Hellboy and his world for a while, or if you've been curious for a while to try it out, this is a great one-off to start with.


And Dan Grote hits us with a Marvel twofer this week...

Ms. Marvel 15

Story: G. Willow Wilson

Art: Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring

Let’s take a minute to talk about Bruno, because if we don’t talk about Bruno, I’m gonna go on a rant about the Inhumans supplanting mutants that’s not fit for this blog.

(But seriously, there’s a scene in this issue in which Kitty Kamala turns the Danger Room New Attilan training salle on a N’Garai demon pair of Inhuman goons on Christmas Eve Mother’s Day).

As much as I’ve had problems with the current arc of Ms. Marvel based on my own biases against the Inhumans post-Infinity, no one can deny G. Willow Wilson writes characters worth giving a damn about. And I love the friendship/partnership between Kamala and Bruno. When Kamala finds herself caught by Inhuman insurrectionists, Bruno drops everything, runs out of his chemistry class, leaps – arms flapping – over giant dinosaur bones being transported down a hallway (props to Takeshi Miyazawa for this imagery), scrambles through the streets of Jersey City yelling at his phone, charters a water taxi to New Attilan, gets accosted by guards and, finally, jumps down a garbage chute with our hero and pulls her to safety. The only power at play here is friendship, and it’s extremely affirming.

Also, if you read any other book filled with Star Wars and Star Trek references this month, make it this one. In addition to the garbage chute scene, the main Inhuman baddie, Lineage (who totally looks like someone gave the Purple Man anime horns), effectively says, “There is another,” explaining that one of Kamala’s relatives is an Inhuman. As for the Star Trek reference, well, think about what Kamala’s last name is, and extrapolate from there.

Secret Wars #2

Story: Jonathan Hickman

Art: Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

Where the first issue of Secret Wars felt like an ending, issue 2 feels like the beginning, like we’ve joined a new story in media res. At long last, the reader has arrived at Marvel’s promised destination. Behold Battleworld.

It wouldn’t be a Jonathan Hickman story if there weren’t about 616 balls in the air at once, so here’s the laundry list of what we know so far:

Doctor Doom is God. He rules Battleworld from the trunk of Yggdrasil alongside a council that includes Doctor Strange and Susan and Valeria Richards. His castle is guarded by a Galactus that stands like a giant incinerator churning flames up into the sky, Franklin Richards meditating in the palm of his hand. Strange, the Sheriff of Agamatto, acts as Doom’s voice, speaking for him and meting out punishments on Doom’s behalf unless Doom wishes otherwise.

The world is policed by Thors, plural, and in fact the POV character for this issue is a rookie Thor on his first day on the job.

Battleworld is broken up into kingdoms runs by barons, including Higher Avalon, ruled by the Braddock family, and Bar Sinister, ruled by Mr. Sinister.

Sinister is one of the book’s best characters, showing a casual disdain for the authority of others while clearly benefitting from that authority’s largesse. When the Thors come to arrest him for discord, he is splayed spread-eagle on his throne being waited on by servants who fetch him hamburgers and attach his fringed cape. Even decapitated in battle, Sinister mocks those around him.

Those who displease Doom are tossed over the Shield, a giant wall protecting the rest of the kingdom from hordes of zombies, Ultrons, and the drones of Annihilus. Among the zombies shown in this issue is a Venom.

Reed Richards’ Raft – shown fleeing Earth 616 amid the incursion in the last issue – has been discovered crash-landed on a section of Battleworld called Utopolis populated with Moloids. At issue’s end, the hatch opens, in a reveal I won’t spoil.

The mixing and matching of characters adds fun to the book’s Game of Thrones-y tone. Watching Brian Braddock and Sinister joust for Doom’s benefit while characters like Apocalypse, Madelyn Pryor, Hyperion, Roma, and the Maestro (the Hulk of Future Imperfect) look on feels like something new, even if the characters are all known quantities and the book wears its inspirations on its sleeve.

Esad Ribic’s art is straight-up beautiful. Powerful imagery strafes this entire issue, from the Doom godhead to which the Thors pay tribute, to the smoking Galactus, to Baron Sinister’s kingdom of ruby quartz, to the sight of the Raft stuck in the ruins of an old statue of what appears to be Captain America.

So if issue 1 left you doubting the readability of Secret Wars, I’d still suggest trying issue 2, as it’s far more the jumping-on point issue 1 should have been.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 5/6

Afterlife with Archie #8
Story: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art: Francesco Francavilla

A lot of the horror of Archie Comics's recent horror revival have been placing their usually peaceful characters in violent and shocking positions. The new issue of Afterlife with Archie is actually quite quiet. There is a minimum of action in any physical sense, but it is one of the more chilling comics I've read in quite some time.The remaining Riverdale refugees have settled at the Bradbury Hotel to rest for Christmas, and the issue opens with a modified quote from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. This opening pastiche is the first of many in an issue that is a love letter to classic haunted house stories. Archie narrates much of the story to Jughead, the human patient zero for the zombie outbreak, who appears as a ghostly bartender and is making ghostly sodas for Archie in the first of many homages to Stanley Kubric's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. We get caught up on the fallout from the previous issue's death of Jason Blossom, both the vote to decide whether his suspected murderer, his sister Cheryl, would stay with the group and her eventual revelation to the ladies her motives. Reggie rides through the Bradbury on a skateboard and encounters his own ghosts like Danny on his tricycle. But much of what Archie talks about is Betty and the loss of her hope and innocence, something that we starting in the previous issue which she narrated. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has crafted a great character-based horror comic here, really delving into what makes these characters tick and where they're going. There's also a tale from Archie's mom, told to her by her grandmother, that might explain a lot about Riverdale, but also one that reminds us that nothing comes without a cost. The issue ends with Archie making a decision, one that I feel can only lead to more heartache, more death, but I can't be sure exactly where this will lead, which is another quality of good horror: it keeps you guessing. And Afterlife with Archie does exactly that.

Bodie Troll: Fuzzy Memories #1
Story & Art: Jay P. Fosgitt

I was able to track down a FCBD Bodie Troll issue, which whet my appetite for the first issue of the new Bodie mini-series, Fuzzy Memories. The issue opens with a great little scene that sets up all of the principles' personalities if you've never read Bodie's adventures before: Bodie is chasing bunnies, thinking he's scary, when the bunnies in fact think he's playing. Bodie's friend Cholly is writing her latest play. And Miz Bijou, the fairy who employs Cholly at her pub (and Bodie to a lesser degree) us being sardonic and egging Bodie on. Bodie and Miz Bijou wind up making a bet that Bodie can't eat something living, and he ups the ante by saying he'll find something in the monster forest. Cholly and Bodie wander through the forest, where Bodie once again is sure he's scary when the really scary thing is Hokun of the Kooghun, a member of a monster hunting tribe, who winds up chasing Bodie home. There's some pretty complex plotting here, not confusing but layered, where things are set up early that pay off at the end of the story. Bodie eats some Butt-Truffles, mushrooms that only grow in monster poop, and what seems like a simple gross out joke winds up having an important part in the story's end. One of the fun things about Bodie Troll is the mix of poop jokes with cute characters and the other humor; it's still all ages, frankly, if my six year old niece's sense of humor is any indication of the tolerance of little kids for poop jokes. Jay P. Fosgitt's art is wonderful as ever, with his great monster designs, adorable Bodie and bunnies, and his people who have a distinct look; Bodie dressed up in his best suit, waiting to be killed joyfully because he thinks it's because he's really scary was a delightful visual. This issue serves as a great reintroduction to Bodie's world if you've been here before, and perfect jumping on point if you're new, both letting you know who these characters are and establishing a mystery or two to keep readers coming back.

Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle #2
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Jan Duursema

Ok, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Call me a rank sentimentalist, but I saw this cover and I smiled pretty damn wide. After last issue left the future of Nightwing and Oracle up in the air, both their relationship future and their lives in general as they had to fight the Flashpoint universe Hawkwoman and Hawkman, the stakes were pretty high here. But while Nightwing goes in with escrima sticks swinging, Oracle does what she does best: she thinks. With a little help from her friends, she sets off to do battle herself. The Hawks proudly boasted that they hear everything using their Thangarian robots, but when your best friend has a sonic scream, well, you can use that to your advantage. Yes, Gail Simone gets to not only bid goodbye to this version of Barbara Gordon as Oracle, but she also gets to work in some great scenes with Black Canary, and we get to see Barbara's rapport with her fellow Bird of Prey. And when the chips are down again, it's Barbara who once again saves the day. It's not that Nightwing is portrayed poorly; he's still a hero, still tough and strong, and willing to sacrifice anything to save people. But this is Barbara's show from page one. Jan Duursema once again blew me away with her Nightwing, one who moves with such perfect grace, the same kind she instilled in her Jedi in her years of Star Wars work. I ended the review of last issue saying that if this was the end of these versions of these characters, I'm happy Simone got in the last word. I don't think I have anything else to say than that. If you ever loved Barbara Gordon as Oracle, or the Bludhaven era, happy-go-lucky Nightwing, this is a perfect send off for those characters.

Convergence: The Question #2
Story: Greg Rucka
Art: Cully Hamner

Greg Rucka's last hurrah with Renee Montoya, a character he redefined entirely, is as satisfying as Gail Simone's with Oracle; Rucka turned Renee from another Gotham cop into a down on her luck drunk and then into the Question, a feat in itself. Rucka knows Renee inside and out, and after being knocked out by Two-Face last issue, she teams up with her roommate, Huntress, and her ex, Batwoman, to try to stop Harvey from committing a bizarre form of suicide, going to fight an alternate universe version of himself and letting that version kill him. While the heroes are jumping across rooftops and storming the Gotham Courthouse where Two-Face is, we get some great character bits; the awkwardness between Question and Batwoman, Batwoman being jealous of Huntress and Question, and Huntress putting Batwoman in her place since she and Question are just friends. It's never catty, never over the top, but Rucka knows his characters, and knows how to make them sing, metaphorically. He also knows Two-Face, and presents a great scene where our disfigured Harvey Dent talks to a whole version of himself, one with everything our Harvey lost. The story is naturally narrated by our title character, with Renee talking about loss and regret, and there's a one moment where she remembers Charlie, her friend, who was the original question, who died on cancer, and she gets a final moment to see her estranged father, who is also dying of cancer, and gets to have the moment where they share their love one more time. It's a touching scene, and it's nice to see Renee get her own kind of happy ending. In an interesting tonal mismatch, the preview of a new DC title in the back of this issue is for Starfire, from Harley Quinn writing team of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, a much lighter title. Starfire is trying to find a new home, and we get a view into her head as she meets with various allies and frenemies for help her in her decision. Finally, with some help from Superman, Starfire settles on a place, a place with no superheroic history to it. It's a cute eight pager, and it sets up this new series well.


After weeks of talking about everything that led to it, Dan Grote looks at the beginning of the new Marvel event...

Secret Wars #1

Story: Jonathan Hickman

Art:  Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina

In the beginning, there was Reed Richards …

… I mean, I guess if you completely ignore the Golden Age and start with the Silver Age, when Marvel Comics actually started calling itself Marvel Comics.

The first issue of Marvel’s big end-of-the-worlds event is very much a tale of two Reeds: The 616 Reed and the Reed of the so-called Ultimate Universe. One is a super-scientist and a father making a last-ditch effort to save whatever he can of his world. The other is, to quote Ultimate Nick Fury (aka MCU Nick Fury): “a thousand-year-old megalomaniacal boy genius who wiped out most of Europe on a whim.”

616 Reed has built a ship full of scientists and superheroes to flee Earth and find a way to rebuild. While our Reed is clearly depicted as the nobler of the two, it bears noting that at least half the ship’s passengers are members of his immediate family and the Future Foundation, the science enclave created during Hickman’s run on FF. The rest are random heroes not given the luxury of escaping with their loved ones.

1610 Reed, on the other hand, has isolated himself in a temporal dome called the City, from which he  manipulates his Nick Fury into attacking 616 Earth, launches a doomsday weapon and hangs out with the 616’s scariest villains, including Thanos and Maximus the Mad Inhuman.

In the end, one Reed loses everything. I mean, I guess everyone loses everything when two Earths smash into each other, but the reader only gets to see one man’s heart break.

The book boasts a large cast, but everyone who isn't named Reed Richards is basically there just to punch each other as if that would somehow save the world. How that doesn't result in a single hero meeting his or her 1610 counterpart is beyond me. Only Ultimate Iron Man gets a meeting with a 616 hero – Captain Marvel – and he dutifully hits on her.

The award for Best Scene, however, goes to the 616’s villains, who throw an end-of-the-world party at the Bar with No Name only for it to be broken up by an uninvited guest with a skull on his shirt and a desire to unload a surplus of bullets.

Fit to Be Tied In: A History of Marvel Crossovers and Events- Part 7: All-New Crossovers NOW!

Avengers Vs. X-Men brought about a mass renumbering and creator roulette known as Marvel NOW, heralding a new era in which the original five X-Men from the ’60s were pulled to the present, the Avengers expanded to deal with the just-simmering end of the universe, Dr. Octopus went gallivanting around in Peter Parker’s body, and Daredevil and Hawkeye became two of the Best Books Ever.

The first big event of the NOW era was Age of Ultron, a 10-part series by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson, Carlos Pacheco, Butch Guice, Alex Maleev, David Marquez and Joe Quesada.

Ultron opens in media res, with the killer robot already having won and platoons of Ultron Sentinels prowling the streets looking for the remaining heroes. Time-travel hijinks ensue. A common theme of the Marvel NOW era is how Earth’s heroes keep screwing up the timestream with their shenanigans, vis a vis their actions in Ultron (Wolverine and the Invisible Woman travel back in time to kill Hank Pym before he creates Ultron, creating an alternate reality in which Earth is a casualty of the Kree-Skrull War, necessitating even more time travel), Beast pulling the ’60s X-Men to Earth, Kang being himself, etc.

Among its effects, Age of Ultron brought Angela – a character Neil Gaiman created for Image – into the Marvel Universe (and made her Odin’s secret daughter from a heretofore unseen 10^th realm), Galactus was shipped to the Ultimate Universe and the company launched Avengers A.I., a book about Hank Pym and a bunch of android characters, which lasted 12 issues.

Marvel has been scheduling two events a year for most of the NOW era, so later in 2013 we got Infinity, written by Jonathan Hickman (also the architect of the upcoming Secret Wars) and drawn by Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena and Dustin Weaver.

“Infinity” at Marvel has always implied a universe-spanning cosmic adventure, and so we get the mad titan Thanos attacking Earth while the Avengers are away in space trying to fight the Builders, a race of aliens introduced in Hickman’s first Avengers arc. Part of the storyline involves Hickman’s ongoing series of incursions – the collisions of Earths across the multiverse, which is how the upcoming Secret Wars will start.

Thanos and the Inhuman king Black Bolt wail on each other pretty hard, as BB tries to prevent Thanos from finding his Inhuman-descended son, Thane. In the process, Thanos sets off a Terrigen Bomb, creating more Inhumans, including the new Ms. Marvel. Among the event’s other effects, a new volume of Mighty Avengers launched, starring Luke Cage and a group of other street-level heroes (Monica Rambeau, Blade, Spider-Man, etc.), who were left behind on Earth during Infinity.

The next event is a murder-mystery. Original Sin, by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, centers on the death of Uatu the Watcher and the theft of his eyes, which have dirt on everyone. Teams of investigators scour here, there and everywhere to determine who may have killed him. One of the eyes is in the possession of the Orb, an old Ghost Rider villain with a giant eyeball for a head. So that’s appropriate.

Along the way, the heroes also find the real Nick Fury, an old man with a seemingly limitless supply of Life Model Decoys of himself. Original-recipe Fury reveals that, in addition to running SHIELD for decades, he had a secret job protecting Earth from extradimensional threats, which jibes with his underground work during Secret Invasion. He’s also revealed to be the man who murdered Uatu, but ends up becoming his replacement. Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in turn, replaces Fury as Earth’s guardian against extra-dimensional forces, so who’s gonna have an army of LMDs now?

Sin revealed secrets about a number of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Spider-Man learned someone else had been bitten by the same radioactive spider that bit him, the character Silk, who now has her own series. Tony Stark apparently had tinkered with the gamma bomb that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Angela is revealed as Thor’s half-sister from the Tenth Realm. Dum Dum Dugan, the Howling Commando, learns he died in the 1960s and is, in fact, an LMD.

Oh, and at some point, Fury whispers something in Thor’s ear that makes him unworthy of wielding Mjolnir and being Thor. Hence, new lady Thor.

Finally, we come to Axis, an Avengers/X-Men crossover that wraps up a storyline – the Red Skull stealing Charles Xavier’s brain – that Rick Remender launched in his Uncanny Avengers title. Remender wrote Axis with art by Adam Kubert, Leinil Francis Yu, Terry Dodson and Jim Cheung.

The Red Skull has taken over Genosha – Magneto’s former mutant haven – and turned it into a concentration camp and base for broadcasting a global message of hate. Magneto is predictably pissed and confronts the Skull, who turns into a being called Red Onslaught.

Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch cast an “inversion spell,” intended to bring out the Xavier aspect of the Red Onslaught’s mind. The spell casts a wider net, however, and suddenly guys like Carnage, the Hobgoblin and Sabretooth are acting like heroes, Tony Stark is being a huge jerk (and is drinking again), Deadpool is a pacifist and the X-Men have pledged their loyalty to Apocalypse. Eventually, a reinversion spell is cast, returning most of the heroes and villains to their normal selves, with Stark among the few exceptions.

Oh, and at some point, it’s revealed that Magneto is not the biological father of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Because movie rights stuff, I assume.

Among the new series spun out of Axis were Superior Iron Man, about the new, jerkier Stark; a new volume of Uncanny Avengers starring Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and Wolverines, which features an inverted Sabretooth among other characters directly affected by the death of Wolverine.

That brings us to the present, mere days from the start of Secret Wars. But wait, there’s more! Check back later this week for a bonus installment, featuring a few of the crossovers we overlooked.

Dan Grote’s new novel, Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He has been writing for The Matt Signal since 2014. He and Matt have been friends since the days when making it to issue 25 guaranteed you a foil cover.