Review of Comics from Wednesday 4/13

Gotham Academy #17
Story (Framing Sequence): Brenden Fletcher
Art (Framing Sequence): Adam Archer & Sandra Hope

The "Yearbook" anthology arc continues in Gotham Academy this issue with three more stories of time's past at Gotham Central, some within the year, and one thirty years ago. The framing sequence sees Oliver and Maps searching for Maps's stolen "yearbook," her homemade scrapbook of events of the past year, that was stolen by Robin last issue for reasons unknown, and while the frame does have a lot of fun interactions between the two, the draw for this issue is the stories by various creators within it. "This One's For You," comes from series writer Brenden Fletcher, but features characters and artists from one of his other books. Annie Wu and Serge LaPointe join Fletcher to tell the story of Black Canary filming a video on the grounds of the Academy. But the story isn't really about the band, but instead their road manager, Heathcliff, who started out as a cast member in Gotham Academy, and his relationship with the girl he left behind, Pomeline, the Academy's resident expert on all things magic. The story address the relationship, which hasn't been mentioned much since Heathcliff went off with the band, and is a sweet story of teen romance. "A Familiar Story," written and illustrated by Michael Dialynas, sees Maps and Olives on another night when they were wandering the hallways of the Academy after hours, and what happens when they run into a giant cat monster, who is, ahem, familiar to readers of DC's magical line, It's a fun story, and I like when these other DCU characters interact with the Academy kids. The final story, "What Became of the Gilkey Warlocks...?" comes from Mouse Guard creator David Petersen, and tells the story of a group of students in 1984 playing Serpents & Spells, an RPG that Maps still plays in the present stories, and the unfortunate thing that happens when they try to play in one of the Academy's hidden rooms. Whether or not it's an urban legend Maps is telling or something that really happened is left up to the reader. As the New York Times published an article today about the D&D scares of the 70s, this has a resonance as those parents worst nightmare. It's also interesting to see Pederson drawing people, as I'm so used to him drawing animals, but the art, no matter the subject, is as gorgeous as ever. Add in a pin-up from the always wonderful Colleen Coover, and you have a great issue for fans old and new from some amazing creators.

Princeless Book 5: Make Yourself #1
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Emily Martin & Brett Grunig

It's always a good week when Princeless comes back for a new series! Before we get started with this issue, there was a zero issue which you really should track down, as it was a beautiful story about our lead, Princess Adrienne accepting herself, but I missed reviewing it the week it came out as I didn't get it for a couple weeks after it came out thanks to a shipping error, but it was one of the most moving comics I can remember reading in years.

Now, as for this issue, we have two distinct plots running in this issue. One deals with Devin, Princess Adrienne's brother, and his werewolf guide, Kira, encountering some characters who have appeared in the Princeless anthology minis, Tempest the elf and Prince Wilcome. The other plot sees the dwarfs of the dwarf mountain homeland preparing for a dragon attack, and we meet the Dragon Slayers, and I think anyone who knows Princeless knows exactly who the dragon is (and who's riding it), and so we get a very different experience than the Dragon Slayers expected. The plot with Devin and his party is interesting, as werewolves and elves are natural enemies, and Kira seems right on the edge of killing Tempest at any moment, even as Devin gets to know and like Tempest more and more. And Wilcome is a scheming little git who's counting on helping find the "missing" queen so he can earn himself a princess; he's everything the sweet and sensitive Devin isn't, and is one of the character types that Princeless so readily and ably lampoons.

Speaking of the kind of thing Princeless lampoons, the opening scene in the dwarf kingdom sees dwarf guards basically equating femininity to weakness, and when the dragon is sighted and the Dragon Slayers are called, who are the Dragon Slayers? All women. And they kick some serious butt. What follows is a sequence involving climbing, ballistas, and flying suits maneuvering through the snow. It's a tour de Force for both penciller Emily Martin and colorist Brett Grunig. Dragons are fantasy's mightiest killers, but you can absolutely see that these dwarfs could take them. I was kind of surprised when I saw this cover and saw two dwarfs who looked like Bedelia, Adrienne's dwarven best friends, since all the characters are usually so distinct, but I should have trusted artist Emily Martin more than that: they look like Bedelia because they're related to Bedelia. And boy howdy, but Bedelia's family are huggers.

Princeless is always a joy to read, and this new series looks to be no exception, with new friends, new enemies, and some badass dwarfs,

Thanos: The Infinity Finale
Story: Jim Starlin
Art: Ron Lim, Andy Smith, & Guru-eFX

Jim Starlin's most recent set of Thanos related stories comes to a satisfying conclusion in the aptly titled Infinity Finale. The second volume ended with the now godlike Adam Warlock imprisoned by Annihilus and Thanos committing suicide while trapped in a dimension between dimensions. The final volume begins with Thanos awakening in the halls of  Death, having been revived by Mistress Death, but unfortunately it took three months, and Annihilus has run roughshod over the galaxy. The few remaining heroes are hidden on Earth's Moon, preparing for a last ditch attack, while Pip the Troll hides in Annihilus's capital, attempting to free Warlock. There's wild action as the heroes fight the bug army, aided by Thanos who has a plan to stop Annihilus from wiping out the universe entirely. It's cool to see that Starlin either had everything planned out from the beginning, or at least went and made sure to pull in eeleemnts from the previous two volumes, plus the Thanos Vs. Hulk mini-series, the Infinity Entity mini-series, and last year's Thanos Annual. Starlin's Thanos is  a much different character than he is under anyone else's pen; more thoughtful, less hand wringingly evil; he's a protagonist you can root for, at least some of the time. Starlin also plays with the idea of "Above-All-Others," what DC calls The Presence and what most religions call God. Interestingly, while Starlin has always stood firmly against organized religion in his work, his God isn't such a negative figure; they are removed from the existence of the universe, but not against it. the god-like Warlock also gets his time to shine, as he must make amends for what Annihilus used him to do. I don't want to give away too much, as there are some very cool twists and turns at the end of the book, but a major gap in the Marvel Universe cosmology left by the run-up to Secret Wars is filled, and Starlin puts the original Adam Warlock back in play for whatever plans Marvel might have for him in the future. While the previous two volumes featured story and art by Jim Starlin, this volume sees the return of Starlin's old collaborator, Ron Lim, who drew half of Infinity Gauntlet, as well as all of Infinity War and Infinity Crusade. While I'm a fan of Starlin's own pencils, Lim is the guy who I associate most heavily with Marvel's cosmic universe, and his Thanos and Warlock (as well as Pip and other Infinity Watch related characters) are my definitive versions. It was cool to see him drawing Thanos and Thor fighting side-by-side, the armies of the dead versus the armies of the bugs, and the ironic punishment of the true mastermind behind all these events. While I can only hope we will see more Marvel cosmic work from him in the future, this is the last story from Jim Starlin, creator of Thanos and definer of Warlock, for the foreseeable future, and while he knows that he can't write a true ending for these characters, this is a fitting resting place for his versions of them.

Thursdays With Wade: Revisiting Joe Kelly's Deadpool Part 20

Today’s reading: Deadpool #26-29, March-June 1999

Story by Joe Kelly

Art by Pete Woods (#26, 28 & 29) and Walter McDaniel (#27)

You just saved the world, and your book’s been spared from cancellation. Now what?

This is the question Joe Kelly is left to wrestle with as he continues writing a series that was supposed to end with issue #25.

Fortunately, there’s one big mystery left over from the previous 25 issues: Why does T-Ray hate Deadpool so much?

The answer to that question is one big retcon that has since been unretconned, reretconned and contraretconned, in what can only be described as the Continuity Curse of the Kelly Run.

But first, a cast reshuffle, a Howard the Duck villain, and a pointless fight with Wolverine!

Deadpool has pulled up stakes from San Francisco and moved into the Bolivian fortress he raided in issue #1. And he’s got a new roommate. Blind Al is, inexplicably, out, and Montgomery, the former Landau Luckman & Lake precog, is in. You may recall from the end of issue #25 that Monty kissed his true love and co-worker, Zoe Culloden, who upon promotion to overboss had him decommissioned and thrown out of the company because she couldn’t handle having a skinless, wheelchair-bound boyfriend.

Wade also has a new pilot: Ilaney Bruckner, whom you may remember from the Ajax story. Turns out she didn’t die after all!

(Writer’s aside: This seems like something I should’ve known and pointed out in writing about Ilaney earlier, right? Yes. If I’m being completely honest, the eight issues that make up Kelly’s Deadpool denouement kind of faded from my memory, save for the big T-Ray reveal at the end and the fight with Wolverine.)

Sadly, much like before, Ilaney is the butt of a number of fat jokes that I still maintain were wholly unnecessary.

Despite having saved the world, Wade is still a miserable sack of stuffing. Part of him believes all he did was curse the human race to remain unhappy as a result of getting to keep its free will. He’s no longer on the LL&L payroll, and so he’s gone back to mercenary work, though this time for a Moroccan gentleman named Alestaire Grunch who tortures cats and used to be the business (and life?) partner of Patch, the diminutive old curmudgeon who runs Hellhouse.

Wade’s also going a bit nuts … OK, nutser. He’s begun hallucinating a beautiful, raven-haired woman who hangs out with bunnies and pours liquor into milk jugs. And so he’s started seeing a shrink. Or rather, he’s started seeing Howard the Duck villain Doctor Bong. His prescription, or Deadpool’s interpretation of it, at least: Go fight Wolverine.

Logan just so happens to be in San Francisco’s Chinatown district, visiting a generic old friend. And he’s brought fellow X-Man Kitty Pryde along with him. Kelly does a great job of mocking Wolverine’s narration boxes from the time period, that mix of violent 1970s antihero appropriating Eastern zen wisdom:

“Smell is the sense that most closely links us to memory. A breath of half stale air in a district like Chinatown unlocks a glut of images. Old friends, lovers, dead goat on a beach, my tricycle, Ginger, the spice and the castaway, chopsticks jutting out of a guy’s eyeballs like cockroach antennae. Sometimes, I wish that when I smelled an egg roll, it just smelled like an egg roll.”

Deadpool disguises himself as an old-lady street merchant but drops the ruse once Wolverine’s sniffer susses him out. He then proceeds to provoke Logan, who doesn’t appear to be in a fighting mood until Wade hits Kitty with an uppercut straight outta Street Fighter. As Wade and Wolvie exchange blows, Wade comes to the realization that he knows the woman in his hallucinations.

“She’s just the broad who stole my heart a long time ago, then got dead,” he tells Doctor Bong. Issue #27 closes with the actual woman of Deadpool’s hallucinations running from some unseen terror in Atlanta. She drops a locket, inside which is a picture of her with a man, and the inscription reads, “Love always, Wade.”

Issue #28 opens with some creepy looking narration boxes we haven’t seen in a while, familiar green flames and a fella in a cloak plotting to make Wade Wilson’s life miserable from afar. We’ll get back to him.

In the meantime, Alestaire’s got a new assignment for Deadpool, in Atlanta of all places, a job that came on magic paper that turns into green flames (SEE?!). The target, the raven-haired woman from Wade’s hallucinations. But he’s not the only merc on the job.

Enter Bullseye. How long has it been since these two crazy kids hung out?

“Issue sixteen. Greece,” Wade replies, a mere hint of the fourth-wall breaking that will become far more pervasive under the next writer, Christopher Priest.

Deadpool sees this familiar woman as the key to his sanity and tries to talk his old friend out of making the hit. Bullseye responds by stabbing Deadpool in the side and bounds off to do his anything-can-be-a-deadly-projectile schtick. They have a pretty sweet fight that ends with Bullseye taking a boomerang-shaped spoiler to the chest. Despite the mask – and the face covered in scars beneath it – the woman, Mercedes, believes Deadpool to be Wade Wilson, her long lost husband. And Deadpool believes Mercedes should be dead.

But wait, when was Wade ever married? Was this before or after Weapon X? How come this wasn’t mentioned in the Flashback Month issue? And what does T-Ray have to do with any of this?

Patience, my friends. We’re getting there.

Issue #29 opens with Deadpool forcing Latverian scientists to run DNA tests to prove Mercedes isn’t a clone, by threatening their prized collection of Star Trek memorabilia.

Monty, meanwhile, wants to know who this woman is who’s sleeping in Wade’s bed and why he’s never heard of her, despite spending years researching his life in preparation for him to become the Mithras.

Deadpool doesn’t get very far in explaining when a horde of zombies comes crashing into his Bolivian pad, led by none other than Black Talon.

For those who did not read this past fall’s Deadpool vs. Thanos miniseries. Black Talon is a voodoo priest who wears a rooster costume and practices necromancy. He comes seeking Mercedes because as a resurrected dead woman she is a near-perfect construct and he wants to learn her secrets.

This fight scene is played nearly entirely for laughs, including Deadpool’s own. Assisting in the hilarity is Monty, who, given his physical appearance, attempts to blend in with the zombies, grunting things like “Brains is good food” and “Eep op ork ahh ahh.”

Eventually, though, the old ultraviolence kicks in, and Mercedes screams for Wade to stop mercilessly wailing on Black Talon, who by now has lost control of his zombie horde, which has turned to dust. Wade responds in sadly characteristic Wade fashion:

“Maybe you didn’t notice, but this chicken McNugget impaled me with a ten-inch steak knife! Healing factor or not, I’d say I’m entitled to a little payback! So get off my hump before I forget my life has gone ape snot since you breezed back into it and wish I’d never saved you in the first place!”

Mercedes runs off, and Deadpool lets slip to Monty this key bit of backstory to close out the issue:

“Years ago, in the snow, “Crazy” (the Patsy Cline song, later featured in the Deadpool video game) playing in the house behind us, my wife was murdered, and all I could do was watch.”

The story of Mercedes’ death, and how Deadpool and T-Ray play into it, will be revealed across the final four issues of the Kelly run, which we’ll cover in next week’s final Thursdays with Wade before the Deadpool movie premiere. See ya then!

In addition to writing for The Matt Signal, Dan Grote is now the official comics blogger for The Press of Atlantic City. New posts appear Wednesday mornings at PressofAC.com/Life. His new novel, Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He and Matt have been friends since the days when Onslaught was just a glimmer in Charles Xavier's eye. Follow @danielpgrote on Twitter.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 10/28

Batgirl #45
Story: Cameron Stewart & Brenden Fletcher
Art: Babs Tarr & Serge LaPointe

I love an October wedding, probably because I had one myself. This month's issue of Batgirl features the wedding of Barbara's best friend and former roommate Alysia, and her fiancée, Jo. And fortunately, since neither of them are actual super people, there is no supervillain attack. That's not to say everything goes off without a hitch, because Barbara is maid of honor and has brought her new boyfriend, Luke Fox, formerly he superhero Batwing and son of Batman's ally Lucius Fox, as her date just as Dick Grayson shows up unexpectadly to have a talk with Barbara. Dick's return to Gotham and "from the dead" has been handled very deftly in Grayson and Batman & Robin Eternal, and this issue takes a different, but no less important and emotionally resonant, turn with it. Because Dick has come back to woo Barbara, and Barbara will have none of it, so Dick lifts Alysia's wedding ring pre-ceremony, and has Barbara chase him. And when they stop, he gives a very heartfelt speech about how she's the rock that's kept him going while he was embedded in the spy organization Spyral, goes in for a kiss, and... Barbara shoots him down. I love Barbara and Dick, they're one of my favorite comic book couples, and I'm happy Gail Simone gave the pre-Flashpoint versions a happy wedding in Convergence, since in this case, Barbara is completely in the right. Dick's actions are selfish, and are making a day that should be about Alysia and Jo about him, and this is not at all out of character for Dick, who loves grand gestures and big moments, but has never been too good in the day-to-day of a relationship. And I'll be honest, as much as I want to dislike Luke Fox for getting between them, Stewart and Fletcher have made him incredibly likeable and a good match for Barbara. And so the two make peace as friends and part ways, with Barbara having outgrown Dick as he is now. The art from regular series artist Babs Tarr is even more astounding than usual this issue, not just in the chase between Barbara and Dick, which she draws beautifully (and can we get her to draw some more Grayson? She has such a great sense of motion she's made for Dick's acrobatic style), but the actual wedding sequences are gorgeous. Alysia is a lovely bride, and the designs for all the dresses and outfits are perfect. I've always been a fan of quiet, character based issues breaking up the action in between big superhero battles, and Batgirl #45 is one of the best I've read in years.

Black Magick #1
Story: Greg Rucka
Art: Nicola Scott & Chiara Arena

Greg Rucka is one of my favorite writers period; his comics thrill me every month, and his novels are some of the ones I look forward to the most each year. And so a new creator owned Rucka series from Image, with art from Secret Six artist Nicola Scott, was high on my list of new series I was looking forward to this year. And the first issue of Black Magick did not disappoint. Rucka is a writer best known for writing in the crime, spy, and thriller genres, bringing touches of these even into his superhero work, and like his other creator owned series for Image, Lazarus, a near-future dytopian political thriller, Black Magick is a genre bender, a mix of police procedural and occult thriller. The first issue is all about mood, atmosphere, and establishing our protagonist, Rowan Black. The issue starts out at a witches' ceremony, with chanting and a circle, drawn in black and white, timeless and all sorts of creepy until a cell phone goes off, breaking not just the ritual, but the sense that this could be any time, firmly rooting it in the now. The phone belongs to Rowan, and she is being called away for work; Rowan is a police detective, and a hostage taker is demanding to talk to her and only her. The book moves immediately from the supernatural atmosphere seamlessly into a police stand off, as Rowan and the hostage negotiators talk to the nameless man who is holding four people hostage, demanding Rowan come in and talk to him privately. It's not a scenario unique to this comic, it's something that anyone who's a fan of crime drama has scene many times before, but Rucka handles it well, letting the reader get to know Rowan through how she interacts with the other officers and the criminal. And once she gets in, and the hostages get out, things get supernatural again, as the man, who refuses to let Rowan have his name, knows that she is a witch, and has been sent by someone or something, something that is in his head, to kill her. Rowan is able to cast a spell to stop her own death and turn it on him, but there are a lot of questions left, about who sent him and what Rowan means when she calls someone at the end of the issue to tell him that it's starting again. Nicola Scott's art is even better than I remember from Secret Six, and only helped by the "black and white with just the occasional hint of color" coloring she did along with color assists from Chiara Arena. And as with Lazarus there is extensive backmatter that aids in the world building that Rucka is starting. Oh, and as an aside, there was also a new issue of Stumptown, Rucka's private eye comic, from Oni this week that is also definitely worth a look. There are few writers who do crime comics like Greg Rucka, and Black Magick's blend of supernatural and crime is a nice twist on his crime work that's fresh and innovative.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953-  The Phantom Hand and The Kelpie
Story: Mike Mignola
Art: Ben Stenbeck & Dave Stewart

The current realities of the world of Hellboy and his allies are pretty grim: Hellboy is dead and in Hell, the B.P.R.D. is fighting the Black Flame and the giant monsters that ravage the world, and Abe Sapien is still on his walkabout, unsure of what he truly is. Those of us who have ben long time fans of Hellboy and his friends remember a time when things were a little more whimsical, when we regularly got stories like "The Corpse" and "Pancakes" (this isn't a condemnation of the current era of Hellboy stories, just a statement about their evolution). This new one-shot, going back to Hellboy's earliest days with the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, hearkens back to some of those earlier stories, as in "The Phantom Hand," where Hellboy heads off to England with his mentor and father figure, Prof. Trevor Bruttenholm, and Bruttenholm's friend, paranormal researcher Harry Middleton, to investigate the case of a hand that roams the night on its own. The story of the hand's origin is a dark one, as few Hellboy stories are that light, but when Hellboy and the hand start to fight, it becomes a big brawl when what has been animating the hand comes out. It's fun to see Hellboy just punching the crap out of something, and equally fun to see Bruttenholm's frustration with Hellboy's, shall we say, hands on approach to paranormal investigation. The second story in the issue, "The Kelpie," is a tale of Bruttenholm and Middleton as young men, heading out of their first paranormal investigation with a third man, Billy Connolly, and how this ties in to the Celtic myth of the Kelpie, a horse that lives beneath the sea. It's darker than "The Phantom Hand" but does what a lot of great Hellboy stories do, which is tie classic myths into the modern world of Hellboy. Kudos also must go to artist Ben Stenbeck, who worked with Mignola on many of his Baltimore comics (stories of Lord Baltimore, the vampire hunter, not the city of Poe and bird themed sports teams), who draws a great Hellboy, some excellent demons, and one creepy horse monster. If you enjoy Hellboy stories, but have shied away from the epic stories running through the current titles, this is a great one-shot to get some old school Hellboy action.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1
Story: Ryan North
Art: Erica Henderson & Rico Renzi

After a short hiatus, Squirrel Girl is back in her second ongoing of this very year, a point both the cover and the narration in the bottom gutter, Ryan North's answer to rollover text in web comics, make. There's a lot to love about Squirrel Girl, both the comic and the character, and one of the great things is how self-aware it is. There's this joke about number one churn, and another about how Squirrel Girl is not biologically or LEGALLY a mutant, which some have taken as a decree from Marvel on high, and I take as North having some fun with his readers; he knows that fans are aware if the world of comics, and lets us in on the joke. The issue itself is more than just a string of inside baseball jokes, and while it doesn't pick up directly from where the previous volume left off, it's not a book where the time gap is full of mysteries. We open with Squirrel Girl and her animal themed super friends, Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi, helping rescue people from a fire, so we get a glimpse at the superhero cast of the title before the main plot of the issue kicks off, as Squirrel Girl and her roommate, Nancy, move into a new apartment and meet Squirrel Girl's mom, Maureen, for lunch. Maureen is a great addition to the cast, funny and so deeply proud of her daughter; she's the mom with the baby pictures and the stories ready to go at a moment's notice, to Nancy's delight and Squirrel Girl's chagrin. And upon returning to their apartment from lunch, they are seemingly attacked by Brain Drain, a z-list villain with ties to Hydra, who they find wrestling with Tippy Toe, Squirrel Girl's right hand squirrel, and Mew, Nancy's cat. But as things have proven often when Squirrel Girl has fought a supervillain in her own title, there's way more going on here, and the fight itself is resolved in a way that isn't about the punching, but instead with talking and computer literacy, since Squirrel Girl and Nancy are studying computer science at Marvel's famous Empire State University. That sort of non-traditional dynamic is a key element and a real charm for this title; Squirrel Girl really wants to make everyone's life better, wants to do the right thing, and this means the villain often winds up being befriended by Squirrel Girl (not always, but she never fails to try). This makes for probably the most all-ages friendly superhero book coming out from any publisher right now. It is also, far and away, the most densely written and drawn comic I picked up last week (and believe me, that's saying something; I only review about a fifth of what I pick up week in and week out). And that's not a dig. You sit down with Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and you're due for at least two to three times the normal read time of a mainstream comic, when you factor in the full script and the narration text in the gutter, and even more time if you pour over every one of Erica Henderson's panels for all the jokes she has going on in them, this issue's highlight being the food court on Avengers Island, home of the New Avengers, the team Squirrel Girl has joined post-Secret Wars. With a  new number one, there's no better time to check out the adventures of Squirrel Girl and her friends, both human and animal.


Dan Grote comes back for the finale of he mini-series about Death's two paramours, Deadpool Vs. Thanos...

Deadpool vs. Thanos #4

Story: Tim Seeley

Art: Elmo Bondoc and Ruth Redmond

Deadpool and Thanos’ quest to rescue the living embodiment of Death and restore order to the universe has gotten bigger with each issue, from a visit to the chicken-hooded voodoo priest Black Talon, to a fight with the Guardians of the Galaxy, to a war among the lords of Hell, to, finally, a place outside time and space, where giant characters like Eternity and the In-Betweener stand in a ceiling-paint-white void being everything.

On the one hand, it makes fans of old-school cosmic Marvel want to go running for their old Jim Starlin comics. On the other, Tim Seeley and Elmo Bondoc also found room to pepper in Easter eggs from the most arcane parts of Deadpool’s continuity, from Sluggo to Slayback to Ajax.

In issue #4, we learn that Eternity, the living embodiment of all that is, is keeping his sister, Death, locked in a cage beyond existence, despite a plea from the In-Betweener, who represents the balance between order and chaos, to maybe chillax a bit. Fresh from the underworld, DP, Thanos, and Black Talon teleport into the void and spring Death from her prison, at which point she sets her two thralls against her brother, in a grand bid to kill everything.

When Deadpool realizes his on-again, off-again girlfriend (Worry not, Thursdays with Wade fans, we’ll be getting to this soon) has lost it, he turns on Thanos, who throws him into Eternity, at which point a floating space monkey turns him into Captain Universe.

Altogether now: COMICS, EVERYBODY!

Deadpool uses his newfound Uni-Power to defeat Thanos, restore the peace between Eternity and Death (discover Eternity is ticklish), teach everyone a lesson about the beauty of a finite life, and consider the merchandising rights to a Captain Uni-Pool action figure variant.

In the end, Deadpool is mortal once more, Black Talon gives up death worship, and Thanos is sent away by Death, “until she has further use for him, in some Secret War yet to come” (capitalization mine).

Like most Deadpool minis of the modern era, you don’t need to read Deadpool vs. Thanos for any sort of important continuity moments, but, also like most Deadpool minis of the modern era, it’s hyperviolent, a lot of fun, and contains many a gift for longtime fans. If you love Wade, or even cosmic Marvel, and you one day stumble upon the trade in a cheap-o bin, definitely pick it up.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/23

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 #19
Story: Christos Gage & Nicholas Brendon
Art: Rebekah Isaacs & Dan Jackson

The last time I wrote about an issue of Buffy Season 10, it was an issue about my least favorite Whedon character, Andrew Wells. This issue is pretty much the opposite, featuring one of my top three Whedon characters of all time, Rupert Giles. Giles was resurrected at the end of the previous season of Angel & Faith, but has since been trapped in the body of a pre-teen. This issue, Willow finds a way to get Giles back to closer to his own age, if only for one day. And like any redblooded man, the first thing he does is go for a booty call to his on-again/off-again lady friend, Olivia. But after that, when Olivia has to go to work, we get to see exactly what Giles will do with thr rest of his day, which is... not much. Remembering back to the TV series, Giles was always most comfortable when he was a Watcher, when he had someone to look out for. He never built his own life. And so he tries to (unsuccessfully) offer Buffy advice, and goes drinking with Xander. Gage has been giving Giles a fascinating journey this season, being a middle aged man in the hormonal body of a twelve year old, and it's great to see him realize how much he can/wants to change his life. The issue ends with one of those scenes between Buddy and Giles that always touches me, with him clearly as the surrogate father to take the place of the biological one that abandoned her. And speaking of Hank Summers; king of the jerkbags, he returns this issue, to take Buffy and Dawn out to lunch, tell them he's getting married again, and tell Buffy she's not invited to the wedding, since she's a Slayer and people die around her and he has step-kids to consider. You think that's harsh, right? Well, he doesn't sugar coat it much beyond that. And while Dawn is deeply offended for Buffy, Buffy seems to understand where he's coming from. But even though this season has been about really growing up and finding your place in an adult world, it's clear how much it hurts Buffy, and how it's the perfect time to have one big hug with her grown-up mentor. And for those of you who like your conflict a little more physical, have no fear; there's a hellhound that tries to kill Giles and Xander too. It's an issue that mixes all the pathos, humor, character, and action fans expect from a Joss Whedon related story perfectly, and as we enter the last ten issues of Season 10, I can't wait to see what Gage, Brendon, and master artist Rebekah Isaacs has in store for us.

Grayson #12
Story: Tom King & Tim Seeley
Art: Mikel Janin, Hugo Petrus, Juan Castro, & Jeromy Cox

And then there was the day Dick Grayson came home. After deciding to leave Spyral after the disastrous missions he's undertaken recently and with the mission he was sent to perform by Batman complete, Dick finds Gotham a changed place. And by Gotham, I mean Bruce, who has forgotten much of his life. But while Dick is done with Spyral, Spyral is not done with Dick, as Agent Zero comes to tell him he has a day to say goodbye to his loved ones before he comes back into the fold. So we see Dick meet up with the better part of the Bat family, with varied reactions. The red duo, Red Hood and Red Robin, are angry and Jason, unsurprisingly, throws a punch. Batgirl simply turns and swings away, not willing to listen initially. And the warm reunion between Dick and Damian, as each thought the other was dead, is heartwarming. I had forgotten how much I loved the dynamic between those two from when they were Batman and Robin together, Each meeting is started with a splash page full of quotes from Dick's relationship with the character, many of which a sharp eyed Bat fan will remember. But it's really an issue about family. Each person, Alfred, Bruce, Jason, Tim, Barbara, and Damian, mean something different to Dick, and we get to see him tell them how he feels. But hidden in that is a clever code, something from earlier in the series, as Dick begins his own plans to get out from under Spyral. I love it when the Batman family acts like that, a family, so seeing them reunited here is a great turn. Add in Mikal Janin's stellar pencils, and you get a comic any Batfan should check out. I love the different flavors we get from each Bat title currently, but it's also nice to step away from the high spy action of Grayson for an issue, to get a treat that gives us this insight into how Dick Grayson ticks.


And Dan Grote returns to the team-up between the Merc with a Mouth and the Mad Titan...

Deadpool vs. Thanos #2

Story: Tim Seeley

Art: Elmo Bondoc and Ruth Redmond

Spoilers for my Thursdays with Wade column for roughly 10 weeks from now.

When the living embodiment of Death went missing last issue, it brought all kinds of people back from the dead, which, if this story took place prior to the Marvel NOW relaunch in 2013 as the recap page says, means this was the third such resurrection incident in the Marvel Universe in a fairly short period, if you remember the Necrosha (2009) and Chaos War (2010) stories.

This time around, the reversal of Death, or Great Undeathening, whatever you care to call it, has brought back an extremely important character to Deadpool’s past, the tormentor known as Ajax. Or Francis. Or the Attending. Or the A-Man. Or the Abyss Man. Or Big Baby Jesus.

Ajax was Dr. Killebrew’s assistant during Wade Wilson’s time in the Weapon X program. He got his jollies by torturing the rejects. He was created by Joe Kelly and Walter McDaniel and first appeared in 1998’s Deadpool #14, and was killed by DP five issues later. He is expected to be the main bad guy in next year’s Deadpool movie, played by Ed Skrein, who most recently starred in the “Refueling” of the Transporter franchise.

So that’s why he’s back from the dead.

Ajax doesn’t show up until the end, though. The bulk of this issue shows Deadpool and Thanos traipsing around an abandoned Shi’ar platinum-mining operation based on a logic leap made by old Chin-Riblets, which is my new nickname for Thanos forever and ever. There they fight an anthropomorphic death cult led by Bucky O’Hare (not really), followed by the pre-movie Guardians of the Galaxy. This leads to some musing by Thanos about how even when Death was a going concern, it still was a mutable power, given how many times Thanos and the various Guardians have come back from the dead over the years. Or, as Deadpool puts it, “Someone has to die for real! I mean, what is this, a Marvel comic?!”

Now, let me ask a no-prize question. Both issues of this series to date have identified Deadpool as a mutant. And while I self-identify as a big DP fan, I feel like I’m missing a retcon here, as to my knowledge, he was never been a mutant. His healing factor is a copy of Wolverine’s that was grafted onto him, for lack of a better term. His ability to teleport is technology-based. Granted, it’s become canon that his memories are fluid, leaving his past open to all manner of revision, such as that time he fought in the original Secret Wars or helped Tony Stark overcome his alcoholism, but if somebody could help me see the light on this one, I’d very much appreciate it.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/2

Beyond Belief #2
Story: Ben Acker & Ben Blacker
Art: Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, & Mauricio Wallace

Now that the live stage show and podcast of The Thrilling Adventure Hour have ceased on a regular basis, it's great to have the comics return to help give me my fix of all my favorite characters. After helping their friend Donna get her house clear of ghosts, mediums Frank and Sadie Doyle head across the street to help a little girl named joy and her imaginary friend Mr. Fuzzypants deal with a monster problem of their own. The story is a perfect Beyond Belief, with clever plots and wheels within wheels storytelling; there are the imaginary friends of imaginary friends, monsters born of monster hunters. And the Doyles are as ever brave, not afraid of anything (the fact that they're gleefully drunk as ever doesn't hurt). AS with the other TAH comics, the story takes advantage of the visual medium in a way the podcast cannot, with Frank fighting creatures instead of simply talking them into defeat like the monster hunter he was before he met Sadie and settled down. Artist Phil Hester is one of comics best, an artist who brings his A game to anything he does, be it superheroes or monsters, but this issue he stretches his artistic legs. Some of the pages of the story are told by joy and Mr. Fuzzypants, and for that narrative, the backgrounds shift to a childlike crayon design, which gives it the perfect feeling of childlike imagination. While the Doyles are dealing with all this, we find out a little more about the neighborhood Donna has moved into, as we see a party going on down the block, attended by Joy's parents, among others, and well, I don't go to a lot of parties, but I didn't think human sacrifice was a part of most get togethers, and when things don't go as planned, well, let's just say it looks like the Doyles will be coming to the rescue again. As always, these horror tinged precedings are told with the usual TAH tongue planted firmly in cheek, balancing the scary with Doyles usual dry and urbane wit. I will happily read anything Thrilling Adventure related, and fortunately, Bne Acker and Ben Blacker continue to give their fans quality stories of walks in realms Beyond Belief.

Daredevil #18
Story: Mark Waid
Art: Chris Samnee & Matthew Wilson

All good things must come to an end, and so ends Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's impressive run on Daredevil. After over four years, Waid bows out this issue, having written two volumes of the series, of which Samnee drew the majority. Waid has done an impressive job of balancing the brooding with the funny, moving Daredevil away from the character that Frank Miller crafted, the tormented Catholic who loses everyone he loves, and into a character who looks on his life with a bit more of a smile. It's not to say that Daredevil's life is easy or the comic is a comedy. Going into this issue, Matt Murdock, Daredevil has rarely been in more dire straits: his whole life laid bare by the Shroud and the Owl, his reputation ruined, and the two people he loves most, his best friend Foggy Nelson and his girlfriend Kirsten McDuffie, in the hands of his archfoe, the Kingpin. The story spotlights everything about Daredevil that makes him a great character: he uses his mind to set up Kingpin's downfall, and then he uses his fists to aid in it. And Waid gives Matt a big win as well as the losses here, keeping the balance just right. A lot of this series has been about Matt discovering things about himself and dealing with all the issues that years of being beaten down by his enemies and fate have given him, and at the end, before he has to go out and talk to the reporters and explain exactly what happened to him during his time in San Francisco, he breaks down. Not nervous breakdown collapse breaks down, but talks to Foggy and Kirsten about what being a man without fear means, and it's not all for the good. But he perseveres and pushes through, We get to see Matt in his traditional costume again, and Chris Samnee gets to draw not just the impressive fight scenes that have been his trademark on Daredevil,  but also some of the personal, quieter scenes that show off a different set of skills, with strong acting from the faces and body language that flow in a different way than combat. Chris Samnee was an artist whose work I enjoyed before this run, but after it he's become an artist I will follow wherever he goes. I'm looking forward to seeing what Charles Soule and Ron Garney are going to be doing on their new run on Daredevil, but they have very big shoes to fill; this run is as definitive to Daredevil as Waid's run on Flash as to Wally West. It was a swashbuckling story of crime, the law, superheroics, and a man trying to make the world and his life better. If you never tried it, or are curious about Daredevil after you saw his Netflix TV series, it's really something worth checking out. It's not like any Daredevil of the twenty years before it, and I think it will be the standard the next twenty years are measured against.


And Dan Grote reviews this week's battle between two of our favorite characters...

Deadpool vs. Thanos #1

Story: Tim Seeley

Art: Elmo Bondoc & Ruth Redmond

A long time ago (2002) on a space throne far, far away, Thanos, the Mad Titan, killer of stuff, cursed Wade Wilson with immortality, on account of Wade was getting too cozy with Thanos’ main squeeze, the living embodiment of Death.

The splash page on which this happened was the final page of writer Frank Tieri’s run on Deadpool, which cleared the way for Gail Simone and Udon Studios to take over the character. Thirteen years later, that coda is being explored in greater detail in a four-issue miniseries by writer Tim Seeley (Grayson) and artist Elmo Bondoc (the Loki issue of Ms. Marvel).

In Deadpool vs. Thanos, Death has gone missing. Not just taken a holiday, but completely disappeared. As a result, not only can no one be killed, but the dead are coming back to life (Yeah, I know, more zombies; let’s not dwell on it). Which totally messes with Deadpool’s assassination of Dr. Doom, who attempts to return the favor. While Wade heals from the more successful attempts on his life, he visits a place between life and death where he gets, let’s say, conjugal visits with Mistress Death (and a sweet, outside-the-mask mustache). This time, though, Death is trapped behind a mirror and begging for Wade’s help.

When he comes to, Deadpool seeks the expertise of Black Talon, a voodoo practitioner and rooster-headdress aficionado, who turns DP on to the idea of tracking down Thanos. After a fun montage featuring the Avengers, Cable, a poop joke and a Muppets reference, Deadpool shows up at Thanos’ space-doorstep, and tall, purple and rock-chinned commences straight up mega-murdering our anti-hero, having rescinded his decade-old curse.

Except it doesn’t take. Whoever took Death out of the picture, it’s not Thanos. And so the two realize they must team up to set the balance of life and death aright. Hope you like zany antics on a cosmic scale, because they’re gonna ensue.

For continuity geeks, a recap page lets readers know this story takes place before Deadpool’s Marvel NOW! relaunch of just a couple years ago. So don’t look for talk of Battleworld, incursions, the ghost of Benjamin Franklin or SHIELD agents who look like Pete Hornberger from 30 Rock. But if you’re a fan of DP’s retconned misadventures, such as the just-ended Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars, you’ll no doubt enjoy this, too.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 4

Hello all, Matt here, and welcome to our first official Greetings from Battleworld, weekly Secret Wars reviews. Dan wanted to focus on Secret Wars reviews for a while, and so we figured, instead of cramming them in with Monday's reviews, we'd give you two days of reviews a week for a while. Each week, Dan and I will hit the highlights from Battleworld. This week, we start with two from Dan, MODOK: Assassin and Inferno, and then two from me, Infinity Gauntlet and Where Monsters Dwell. This isn't going to be comprehensive, since Marvel is releasing six to ten Secret Wars titles a week, and will probably range from two to five a week of the best books Marvel will be doing. Enjoy!

MODOK: Assassin #1

Story: Christopher Yost

Art: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallot and Rachelle Rosenberg

The gleeful assassin is by no means a new character type – see the Joker, Bullseye, Deadpool, et al – but the gleeful assassin who’s part robot and can transform the chair that supports his giant noggin into a sweet purple roadster, well, that’s certainly one way to turn a convention on its, um, giant noggin.

MODOK: Assassin is part-noir, part spiritual fill-in for the dearly departed Deadpool. Our hero, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, cruises the streets of the Battleworld domain of Killville, taking out targets on the orders of the Assassins Guild and largely anyone else he feels like, occasionally running afoul of the domain’s ruler, the Dr. Strange villain Baron Mordo.

As is a running theme of many of the Secret Wars books, characters concern themselves with cross-border breaches that could earn the wrath of God Emporer Doom (GED for short), and the issue ends with the appearance of a thing that’s familiar to the reader but not to the protagonist, specifically a Thor that appears to be Angela.

Writer Chris Yost starts the body count ticking early in this series, killing off three major Marvel characters – one on orders, one out of spite, and one just for funsies. Yost also does a great job drawing a map for the reader, as MODOK narrates his way across Killville and describes the surrounding territories, including the Monarchy of M, 2099 (“a city drowning in temporal stupidity”), and a territory lousy with Sentinels. Oh, MODOK kills some of those, too.

Amilcar Pinna gets MODOK’s proportions perfectly, from the enormity of his head to the dangliness of his arms and legs to the cartoonlike assortment of bladed and missile-launching weapons protruding from his body. It’s a violent book, but it’s a fun book. And while it doesn’t feel like required reading for Secret Wars, it’s a great palate-cleanser for the weight of Hickman and Ribic’s main book.

Inferno #1

Story: Dennis Hopeless

Art: Javier Garron

Inferno feels less like a Secret Wars book and more like a What If or one of DC’s Convergence titles. It’s one of a few books that visit classic X-Men storylines (See also X-Tinction Agenda, Old Man Logan, Years of Future Past, Age of Apocalypse, House of M) and show geezers like me the X-Men as we remember them, with a little twisting of the timeline for good measure.

In this story, Manhattan fell to the demons of Limbo, despite the X-Men’s best efforts. Once a year, Cyclops – the domain’s baron – permits Colossus to lead a raid on the Empire State Building in an attempt to retrieve his sister, Illyana, who has been fully consumed by her demon Darkchild persona. Once a year, he fails, and any X-Men who go with him die or are crippled.

It’s a pretty grimdark premise, but what makes this book work is watching the X-Men interact like the world isn’t burning all around them. Colossus finds love and support in Domino and friendship in characters like Nightcrawler and Boom-Boom. They quip (Kurt, to a demon: “My name is Kurt Wagner. You remind me of my father. Prepare to die”). They take out lesser X-villains like Pyro and Omega Red. We even get to see a variation on the old X-Club science team, with Beast, Forge and Dr. Nemesis.

And yeah, then there’s some more injuries and deaths and stuff, but it’s an alternate-reality X-story, so is that really a surprise?

Where Monsters Dwell #1
Story: Garth Ennis
Art: Russel Braun

I didn't expect to see a comic from the team that brought us most of the back half of The Boys doing a crossover comic for Marvel at any point, well, ever. Garth Ennis has in the past shown little but contempt for the tropes of mainstream superheroes in general, and his crossover issues of titles he's written have shown their share of irreverence. That's why it should surprise no one that this comic has absolutely nothing to do with Secret Wars. Other than being set on Battleworld, which isn't mentioned or referenced in anything but the text page at the beginning of the issue, this could be a post World War I monster/weird war comic that takes place in the regular Marvel Universe or be creator owned if Ennis wanted to change some names. That's not a dig; it's a statement of fact. As a matter of fact, the comic is a lot of fun.

The opening scene is there not for plot but for pure character, to establish just what kind of a sleaze our lead, Karl Kaufmann (The Phantom Eagle, a pre-existing, if obscure, Marvel character), is; he has gotten the princess of a tribe pregnant and, after swearing he'll talk to her father, flies off. When he arrives back at his airfield, it's even more clear as he is not only broke and clearly running out of credit with people who he's friendly with, but he has a guy called, "No-Balls" (A Garth Ennis character if I've ever heard one), after him because he's responsible for his nominative condition. And when he's seemingly able to con the seemingly naive Clementine Franklin-Cox into paying him to fly her to meet the ship she needs to make, well, it's a way to escape No-Balls and his men. Only Clementine is nowhere near as naive as she seems, and pretty soon there are pterosaurs flying by, machine guns being fired, planes crashing, and more dinosaurs.

Russell Braun draws the heck out of both the WWI era planes and the dinosaurs, and my only complaint is that there weren't more dinosaurs, something I think will be remedied in upcoming issues.

Garth Ennis writes in a couple of different modes, and while this starts out of the gate as pure fun Ennis, like his Marvel Knights Punisher and some of the more off-the-wall issues of Hitman or The Boys, never get too complacent in that; Ennis can turn on a dime and bring the emotional resonance. And that would be great, but I just want more dinosaurs.

Infinity Gauntlet #1
Story: Dustin Weaver and Gerry Duggan
Art: Dustin Weaver

If you're going into the first issue of The Infinity Gauntlet expecting god-like characters and the main cosmic heroes of the original epic, which I have written about a time or two, I'd suggest you reset your expectations before you read this issue. While Thanos has a couple cameos in here, this is not a comic that follows up the original series. As a matter of fact, it seems to follow up Annihilation more than Infinity Gauntlet, as this region of Battleworld is overrun by the bugs of the Annihilation Wave. We don't have a lot of details about what happened, but it's clear the Nova Corps called Earth for backup against the Wave and lost. Now, our lead are a family trying to survive in a world where man is no longer the alpha predator. The issue, narrated by a young woman named Anwen, follows her, her father, her sister, and her grandfather, as well as their dog, as they make their way through this world. We find out her mother was a Nova recruit who never made it back from the battle with the bugs. It's great character work, as we get to know each of these characters in a few short pages, and care about them when the bugs find them. Weaver's art is astounding; I liked his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but he's grown in leaps and bound between then and now. The issue ends with a reunion and a tease of exactly what the Infinity Gauntlet and gens have to do with the story. While this is clearly a first issue with a good amount of set-up, it's handled well, and any comic that can introduce that many new characters and get you invested is one worth checking out.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 8/6

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: War Cry #3
Story: Jim Butcher & Mark Powers
Art: Carlos Gomez

The Dresden Files has always been a mix of action, character, and comedy. This issue is very much an action piece, as Harry Dresden's small band of wizards, stranded in a small house in the woods, meet the vampires of the Red Court head on. It's by far the best action sequence in any of the Dresden Files comics so far. Writer Mark Powers, working from a plot by Dresden creator Jim Butcher, does a great job delineating the powers of each of the wizards. It would be easy to have the three junior Wardens (magic police, for those of you not in the Dresden know) fighting the same way as Harry, but each has their own style, focusing on a different kind of magic. Artist Carlos Gomez draws some horrifying vampires, and there is an air of menace to them as they charge the drastically outnumbered Wardens. It's a smart choice to have the Duke Bravosa, leader of the vampires, remain in his human form, as it feels like it's building to the big reveal of what exactly he will look like when he finally changes his shape. One of the things that has struck me about reading the Dresden Files comics versus the novels is the shift in perspective. All the prose Dresden stories are written from first person point of view, usually Harry, but occasionally some of his supporting cast. While there is still Harry's first person narrative in the comics, the events can shift away from Harry, showing the history of the mysterious force that the Wardens are trying to keep out of the Red Court's hands, the invasion of the house it rests in by the Court's human servitor and the desperate fight by the Venatori Umborum, the human scholars, to keep him from taking it, and the cloaked mystery man fighting his way through the woods. While I had seen the cover of issue four already and had a pretty good idea who that character was going to be, his last page reveal was one of those moments that makes me smile, not just because it means the good guys have a chance, but because this bold pronouncement is well within character for a major Dresden Files player making his first appearance in the comics.

She-Hulk #7
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Javier Pulido

After a couple issues investigating the mysterious Blue File, series artist Javier Pulido returns to She-Hulk for a delightful one-off that I can't help but think of as, "Honey, I Shrunk the She-Hulk."  An inventor whose partner has disappeared comes to She-Hulk for help in finding him and settling their dispute. The only problem? This isn't a normal legal dispute; their invention is shrink technology, and the partner has shrunk himself and is hiding somewhere in his own backyard. So She-Hulk goes to Hank Pym, Marvel's expert on shrinking, and She-Hulk, Pym, and Hellcat, who serves as investigator for She-Hulk's law firm, shrink down and go searching. As writer Charles Soule has done before, he tosses the usual tropes of this kind of story on its head. He has Pym make it clear just how dangerous being that small is; everything can now kill you. And when Hank is stolen away by a bird, She-Hulk and Hellcat are on their own. We've seen from the beginning of their relationship in this book how their personalities can clash, but the argument here works well to flesh out these characters; She-Hulk is kind of a control freak, and Hellcat feels like she needs more freedom and trust. The argument ends with She-Hulk proving how much she does trust Hellcat, and everything works out. Soule built in the limitations of the new shrink tech, and the end of the issue uses those limitations cleverly. I had figured out the big reveal as to who the buyer was the two inventors were arguing over selling to was, but the scene where they have to sit down together and She-Hulk does her lawyer thing was put together by Pulido perfectly; The body language on that page alone should be taught to young artists on how to get across character without words. The final page of the issue sets up the next story, one I'm excited to see. Soule continues to balance superhero action with legal drama in a way I haven't seen done in a long time, and each issue just gets better.

Swamp Thing #34
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Javier Pina

Charles Soule writes another of this week's highlights, wrapping up many of the plot threads that he has been building throughout his run on Swamp Thing. I feel bad, realizing I haven't talked about this book since Soule took over from Scott Snyder, as it has been consistently entertaining. Soule has really changed the status quo, removing many of the elements of the traditional Swamp Thing mythos and introducing his own characters. And so, of course, I'm reviewing the issue where he drastically changes his own status quo by removing most of those characters. This issue finds Swamp Thing finally facing down his former allies, The Wolf and The Lady Weeds, former Avatars of the Green that he returned to human form. They have been trying to find a way to return to their previous forms pretty much since they were made human again, and this issue the Lady Weeds, never the most well balanced entity in any form, takes her stab at it. Soule does a good job balancing the two aspects of Swamp Thing, the super hero and the horror hero, in this issue, by having Swamp Thing fight a big, hideous monster (very much in the mold of the horror hero), but still valuing the life of the innocent and the guilty (something in the superhero mold). Javier Pina's design for the monster is hideous, and perfectly suited to this horror tinged comic. But as with She-Hulk, Soule never lets the character work fall by the wayside. The final disposition of The Wolf is not something I saw coming, which is something I find happens all too rarely in superhero comics for me. And the fate of the Lady Weeds, well, let's just say wronging Capucine, Swamp Thing's warrior woman ally, is something you do at your peril. Capucine is an excellent addition to Swamp Thing's cast, and is a character with so many levels. It would be easy to play her as the typical badass warrior, but Soule has built a character with heart as well as muscles. And the transition of Brother Jonah, the third of the former Avatars to a new life, is not what I expected. I'm glad the character, who has been a wise adviser to Swamp Thiing since his introduction, will still be a presence in the comic. I am looking forward to seeing where Soule goes with the story with so much of the deck cleared, although the cliffhanger for this issue indicates things aren't getting any easier for our mossy hero, with the introduction of a new character who looks to be an avatar of a new parliament. Building onto an existing mythology is a challenge, sometimes falling very flat, but I'm happy to say Soule has done a great job so far, and I hope he keeps doing it for quite some time.

Thanos: The Infinity Revelation OGN
Story & Art: Jim Starlin

Jim Starlin, the creator of Thanos and so many of the major cosmic Marvel characters, returns to Marvel for an original graphic novel featuring his greatest creation, Thanos, and the character he redefined, Adam Warlock. It is... well, a story I'm still trying to process. Starlin writes stories about big themes, cosmic themes that somehow turn into these deeply personal journeys for these characters. The story opens with Thanos going on a quest to determine why everything has felt off since his most recent resurrection. Upon visiting Drax the Destroyer, to see if he feels the same way, we see Drax shift from modern Drax to classic Drax from one panel to the next. While I thought this was something in Thanos's head, showing how fragmented his view is, it is actually a clue to exactly what is going on in the book. Pretty soon, Warlock is back from the dead too and he and Thanos are investigating why the universe seems off. We get to see Thanos fight a bunch of Badoon, throw down with the team of cosmic superpowers, the Annihilators (and maybe see why they don't hang out too much anymore; Thanos and Warlock make pretty quick work of them), and then have a conversation with another version of himself. There's even a stoned alien comic relief, which feels like the gravedigger from Hamlet or the porter from Macbeth, the common man in a world of great beings who is just there for a chuckle. By the end, Thanos has his answers and Warlock is a different man.

One of the elements that struck me in the book was the use of the embodiments of the forces of the galaxy, Eternity, Infinity, Death, and the Living Tribunal. These characters are the things that divide Starlin's cosmic Marvel Universe from the one of Abnett, Lanning, and Bendis. Starlin likes to use these characters to investigate these grand themes and write great, Shakespearean tragedies. By moving away from those concepts and using characters who are more gritty and planetbound, like Rocket and Groot, the current Marvel cosmic world is more relateable in some ways.

Trying to talk about this book without spoiling anything is challenging, since so much of it works so much better on a second read when you know exactly what Starlin is up to throughout. Still, Thanos written by Starlin is not like Thanos written by anyone else. Not only is he cunning and regal, but other writers tend to forget that Thanos has a sense of humor; a biting and dark one, but a sense of humor nonetheless. He isn't all serious and dark pronouncements. And no one does introspective and haunted like Adam Warlock.  There is also a segment where we literally see the world as created by Warlock or Thanos, and neither is particularly appealing.

But I will say this: keep an eye on Warlock's gloves. Trust me, they're there for a reason

This is a book that is well worth the read, especially if you are a fan of the classic Marvel cosmic stories. Expect to have your mind screwed with, though, and if that ins't your thing, well, this isn't a book for you. I hope that Starlin and Marvel have reached the accord it seems they have, as Starlin has created a springboard for all sorts of interesting new Warlock stories that I hope he gets a chance to tell.

I AM GROOT! And You Are?: A Guardians of the Galaxy Primer

Today, Guardians of the Galaxy opens in theaters. Two years ago, pretty much no one outside a small group of fans knew who the Guardians were. I'm lucky to be someone who has followed the exploits of this incarnation of the team since its inception. I'm not saying this out of a sense of hipster, "I was a fan before it was cool." No, I'm saying it because I feel that, having followed these exploits for a number of years, it gives me a good perspective to give a rundown of the team's recent history to those of you less familiar with them, either to get you ready to see the movie, or to give you some more background if you were one people who went to see it last night (I'm going after work, so there will be something posted in the way of a review either this weekend or Monday).

The original Guardians of the Galaxy were a team of freedom fighters introduced in 1969, whose adventures took place in the distant future. There, a group of aliens fought against the evil Badoon, who had conquered our solar system. That team came back in the 90s for a successful run, originally drawn by Image founder Jim Valentino, but when that series ended, the Guardians fell into limbo, only making an occassional appearance.

Marvel's outer space characters were all pretty much moribund in the late 90s into the early 00s. Since the end of Infinity Trilogy (Infinity Gauntlet, War, and Crusade) and the cancellation of Silver Surfer and Warlock and the Infinity Watch, attempts had been made, with new series featuring such characters as Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, and Thanos, but none had really caught on. But in 2006, writer Keith Giffen took that little corner of the Marvel Universe and exploded it. After doing six issues of a Thanos series, and then a four issue Drax the Destroyer mini-series, he wrote Annihilation, a six issue event mini-series with various tie-in mini-series, featuring an attack from the Negative Zone (an alternate universe) by the forces of Annihilus, a classic Fantastic Four villain, and his army, called the Annihilation Wave. This series returned the original Nova, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, and various others to the forefront of the Marvel Universe.

The following year, Marvel followed the series up with Annihilation: Conquest, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who would shepherd the team for the next few years. This was the story of when the empire of the Kree, a race of warlike aliens, was conquered by The Phalanx, a race of techno-organic beings (basically, shapeshifting robots things that possess people), under the control of the Avengers villains, Ultron, who you might have heard of connected to another upcoming Marvel film. Not only was the cast of the original Annihilation back, but added were Adam Warlock, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot.

With Ultron defeated, things might have settled down. But Warlock, who I've written about before, knew that the cosmos was threatened. These wars had weakened the walls of the universe, and someone needed to, well, guard the galaxy, hopefully stopping another war that might bring further damage. So Warlock went to Peter Quill, the hero known as Star-Lord, and Quill gathered the various beings who had fought with him during the Phalanx war, creating the new Guardians of the Galaxy.

It was a big team, not just featuring the five members of the current/movie team (all of whom I'll get into detail about shortly) and Warlock, but various other unusual characters. These included Mantis (the celestial madonna and psychic), Quasar (Phyla-Vell who was the daughter of legendary cosmic hero Captain Marvel), Bug (an insectoid alien warrior), Moondragon (daughter of Drax and lover of Quasar), Major Victory (one of the original future Guardians who was displaced in time and gave the team it's name), and Jack Flag (a human hero fleeing trouble on Earth).

The Guardians might not have been the lovable losers the TV commercials make their movie counterparts out to be, but they certainly were a ragtag group. The cosmic heroes of the Marvel Universe had always been A-List powerhouses who could go toe-to-toe with the likes of Thor without blinking. But most of these Guardians were low on the power scale, and were saving the universe with little more than wit, gumption, and a whole lot of luck.

Over the course of a series that ran two years, the Guardians faced many of Marvel's great cosmic threats. They fought the Universal Church of Truth, who sought to convert the entire galaxy to their religion. They were caught up in a war between two of the great alien empires, the Kree and the Shi'ar. They briefly disbanded when it was revealed that Star-Lord manipulated many of the more reticent members to join, only be to regathered by the unlikely Rocket Raccoon to save Star-Lord, who had been sent to the Negative Zone.

But their greatest foe came from within. To stop the universe from ripping itself apart, Adam Warlock was once more transformed into his darker self, The Magus. He manipulated many of the team to be his servants as he took over the Universal Church of Truth, and opened the Fault, a crack between universes, to allow a malignant universe entrance to his own. He died in the process, but the Guardians now had to face down a team of dark Avengers who were the champions of that universe. Allying with Nova, the Guardians traveled to the heart of the Cancerverse, the name given to this new dark universe, with the one being who could stop it: Thanos, worshiper of Death and cosmic warlord, the greatest threat our universe had ever faced. In the end, they succeeded, but at a great cost; to allow the others to escape, Nova and Star-Lord stayed behind, to keep the mad Thanos in the Cancerverse as it collapsed. And that was the end of the Guardians of the Galaxy...

... or so it seemed. The Guardians returned, with Star-Lord again in the lead and no explanation, in the pages of Avengers Assemble to do battle with a similarly mysteriously returned Thanos. The Guardians have gone on to headline their own series, where they do their best to protect the helpless, standing up to great cosmic empires like the Spartax, Shi'ar, and Badoon, being joined by the mysterious Angela, and Avengers like Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Venom.

Since the team began to really form in Annihilation: Conquest, there have been five members who have been around pretty much consistently, and they form the backbone of the movie team. Here's a quick rundown on who each of them are.

Star Lord, Peter Jason Quill, has one of those convoluted comic book histories that make your head spin. His origin has been tinkered with many times over the years, which is better explained over on this column from Comic Book Resources, but what you really need to know is that he is the son of a human woman and a prince of the Spartax Empire, and has a bad habit of getting himself into trouble. When he first appeared in the modern comics, he was in prison. Freed to help fight the Annihilation Wave, he was again imprisoned when his attempt to network all security of the Kree Empire allowed the Phalanx to invade their system. Sent on a suicide mission to redeem himself, Quill met his fellow future Guardians, Rocket, Groot, Mantis, and Bug. Quill continued to seek personal redemption for his past crimes by leading the Guardians of the Galaxy and protecting the universe. Since returning from the Cancerverse, he has become more of a rogue, a sly trickster who enjoys the ladies and thumbing his nose at his father, J'Son of Spartax, who is now the king of the Spartax Empire, but is no less a champion of the little guy. A skilled marksman and tactician, Star-Lord often looks before he leaps. The upcoming story beginning in the August issue of Guardians of the Galaxy, will reveal how Star-Lord and Thanos escaped the Cancerverse, and the fate of Richard Rider, the Nova who was lost. He also headlines his own series, Legendary Star-Lord.

Gamora is known as the Deadliest Woman in the Universe, and that reputation has been earned. After her people were wiped out by the warlike Badoon, Gamora was taken in by Thanos, who trained her to be his own personal assassin. Gamora eventually betrayed Thanos to aid Adam Warlock, and she used her skills for the betterment of the universe. Meeting Star-Lord during the Annihilation War, Gamora was one of his first recruits for the new Guardians. Cold and deadly, Gamora is possibly the toughest member of the team, unmatched in the use of sword, blaster, and her hands. Her gruff exterior hides a good heart, though she does take time off from the Guardians to take on the occasional mercenary job.

Drax the Destroyer has a complex backstory, one intrinsically tied to Thanos. Drax was once human Arthur Douglas, who saw a space ship while driving along a desert road with his wife and daughter. The spaceship, not wanting any witnesses, fired on Douglas's car, killing him and his wife, and leaving their daughter to be taken in and raised by other aliens, to become the heroine Moondragon. When cosmic forces wanted a champion to stand against Thanos, whose ship had killed him, Douglas was resurrected in a powerful new body, that of Drax the Destroyer. Drax has died and returned many times, each time slightly different. Originally a cosmic juggernaut, then a childlike giant, now he is smaller but more clever (at least in the sense he's smaller than let's say the Hulk, but bigger than pretty much anyone else you'll meet), and deadlier than many beings with his knives and knowledge of hand to hand combat. Drax's return to life is almost always tied with the return of the being he was created to destroy, and while he aids the Guardians in their noble goals, Drax always has one eye open for Thanos.

Since they met during the war with the Phalanx, Rocket Raccoon and Groot have been inseparable. Both imprisoned by the Kree, Rocket and Groot were sent on a mission with Star-Lord. They have been a pair of the most earnest Guardians, doing their best to save the galaxy because it's the right thing to do and its fun. Rocket comes from Halfworld, a planet of anthropomorphic animals. He is not just a crack shot, but an expert tactician and star pilot. He has a thing for large firearms. Groot is from Planet X, and aside from his giant size and strength, he can regrow himself from the smallest of fragments. All he can say is, "I am Groot!" although those who understand him know that there is nuance in exactly what that means. Interesting fact, he is actually one of the oldest characters currently in use in Marvel comics, having been introduced in Tales to Astonish when it was a sci-fi comic in 1960, predating nearly all Marvel superheroes. Rocket Raccoon has his own ongoing series, with Groot as his buddy and supporting cast.

So, those are the Guardians of the Galaxy. Every indication is that the movie will be packed with appearances and cameos by a legion of cosmic Marvel characters, and I might write up a little something about those characters after I've seen the movie. If you want to check out more Guardians, there is the monthly comic series for the team, Rocket, and Star-Lord, and this past week saw the release of the first of two volumes collecting the entire 2008 series that introduced the team.