Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of August 12, 2015)

Reviews by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

SECRET WARS #5 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

Summary: An old Thor is giving a funeral service for Doom’s first disciple, Stephen Strange.  Strange was the only witness to the miracle of creation, besides Doom himself.  A memorial statue has been built, next to the statue of Molecule Man in Doomstadt.  Franklin vows to find who killed Strange and “mash them into little pieces.” We find out that 616 Thor has infiltrated the ranks of Doom’s Thors after Strange scattered the Life Raft Survivors all over Battleworld.

Doom has tasked Valeria with finding the survivors, claiming they were the ones who killed Strange.  Valeria doesn’t understand how they escaped Doom’s judgement.  He insists that in his current mental state, if he was to chase them, he might very well destroy all of Battleworld.  He insists that she stop asking questions and do as he orders.

Doom goes into a tunnel under the statues.  Molecule Man is down there, surrounded by a white emptiness.  Doom tells Molecule Man that Strange is dead.  He then says that Strange was “killed by his doubt.”  They talk some about the Beyonds.  The Beyonds had made Molecule Man as a bomb to destroy the Multiverse, but Doom set off that bomb early to be able to reshape reality.  They were only able to save select bits of the multiverse.  Strange couldn’t bring himself to decide who would live or die, which is why Doom ended up as God.  Now Doom has been forced to kill Strange.  Molecule Man wonders if this is going to cause all of reality to topple.

Valeria sends Future Foundation to find the survivors.  All other Future Foundations projects were cancelled for now.  The survivors were not “formed” by Doom, so they don’t have any “Doom stuff” in them.  Valeria says they should be able to trace the survivors using the “dark matter” that makes them up. We get glimpses of some of the survivors all over Battleworld.

Meanwhile, Thanos has gone to the shield wall.  He smiles.

Mike Maillaro: The main SECRET WARS title has been soooooo slow.  This was another issue with only incremental plot movement.  Especially since it’s been 6 weeks since issue 4 came out. There wasn’t a lot new that we learned here.  Most of the reveals had been heavily implied in the early issues.  The only real new detail is that Molecule Man was still alive.  But does anyone really care about Molecule Man?

Another thing that bugged me about this issue is Hickman’s obsession with pushing the Future Foundation kids.  I typically don’t mind writers doing that.  Hell, Peter David has made his career reusing the same bunch of characters over and over again, and I always love when he does it.  But the Future Foundation characters have done nothing for me.  Great idea. Terrible execution.  Pretty much how I feel about most of Hickman’s work.  I would rather have seen Doom sent the Thors after the survivors. At least that could set up some cool fight scenes.

I know it sounds like I am just hating on SECRET WARS, but if you’ve been following our Front Lines coverage, you will know that I have been pretty positive about SECRET WARS.  This crossover has been a lot of fun.  Some inconsistencies between the tie-ins, but nothing that really ruined any of the books.  There have been a lot of unique stories way outside the normal Marvel fare.  But the core title has just been so slow.

With just three issues to go, they better kick things up a notch or we’re going to have another Marvel event with a lot of build up and a rushed ending.  I tell you, if Marvel can’t stick the landing, I’m going to be bummed out.  Team Front Lines has put a lot of time and effort doing all these reviews.

Score: 3/5

A-FORCE #3 by Marguerite Bennett,  G. Willow Wilson, & Jorge Molina

Summary: After passing through the portal, She-Hulk is in a burned out version of New York.  There is an explosion nearby and she’s surrounded by Sentinels looking to detain her as a non-mutant anomaly.  She is then attacked by three Thors accusing her of breaking doom’s law by crossing into another domain.  She tries to explain that she didn’t create the portal, but they don’t seem all that inclined to listen.  She throws a Sentinel at the Thors and escapes through the portal back to Arcadia.  She realizes that the magic used to create the portal had to have come from Arcadia.  There must be a traitor in Arcadia.

The Thors follow her through the portal.  She-Hulk once more tries to tell them what’s going on, but she’s grabbed from behind by Medusa.  At first She-Hulk thinks Medusa is the traitor, but Meduse flings She-Hulk to safety telling her to find the traitor. Medusa then attacks the Thors. Medusa seems to have been killed by the Thors.  She-Hulk tells the other Arcadians, “We have to find the traitor, and we must defy Doom to do it.”  The Starchild wants to help, so she extends darkness across Arcadia to help them hide from the Thors.

Mike Maillaro: I actually am not sure what happened in the end of this issue. Starchild says “Hide” and extends her arms, but it’s not clear what she’s actually doing.

Other than that, I have really enjoyed this series.  Medusa standing up against the Thors was a powerful moment.  I did think it was odd that Doom only sent female Thors after Arcadia, but I guess they were sticking with the theme of this book.  All females, all the time.  And Namor.

Score: 4/5

GHOST RIDERS #3 by Felipe Smith and Juan Gedoen

Summary: Robbie Reyes has reappeared in the commercial district of downtown Doomstadt.  His demon (Eli) is able to disguise Robbie’s Battle Charger to look like a normal car to avoid detection by the Thors.  Robbie decides to go pick up his brother Gabe and leave Doomstadt. But the other Ghost Racers are right on his heels.  Robbie tries to convince them they are all on the same side.  Eli tries to convince Robbie to teleport away, but he refuses to run anymore.   They other Ghost Races are about to take him out, but Carter Slade realizes Robbie is telling the truth.  He’s a pure spirit, not like the other Ghost Racers. The Ghost Racers all turn to their human forms, realizing that Carter is right. They think about their lives before the Ghost Races.  They let Robbie escape.  Zadkiel summons the others back to punish them.  Arcade doesn’t seem upset by all this.  He knows Robbie has not really escaped his reach.  Arcade has taken Robbie’s brother Gabe and turned him into a Ghost Racer.

Mike Maillaro: Damn!  That ending is messed up!  Great twist should have seen it coming, but it didn’t even occur to meet.  Ghost Racers has been far better than I expected it to be far better that I would have expected from this.

Score: 3.5/5

INHUMANS - ATTILAN RISING #4 by Charles Soule and John Timms

Summary: Black Bolt has been brought to an interrogation chamber in New Attilan. He refuse to talk, so a powerful telepath named Sterilon is working on him. The other rebels have emerged from the portal beneath Battleworld’s Northern Sea.  Triton puts the others in an air bubble. They are attacked by a sea monster, but Triton fights him off.  Though he warns that there are other dangers in these waters.  They eventually reach the shores...finding themselves in Maestro’s Dystopia.

Medusa enters the interrogation chamber.  She sends Sterilon away and decides to have a conversation with Black Bolt.  She offers leniency to his people, but only if he talks.  She also reveals that he is also an Inhuman, but never underwent terrigenesis.  He explains that he didn’t want to end up under Doom’s control.  He starts to talk about the many problems the different domains on Battleworld face...problems that Doom refuses to stop.  His goal has never been to take down Doom, he just wants the citizens of Battleworld to see things more clearly.  To do that, Black Bolt intends to destroy New Attilan...there is a signal being sent out from New Attilan that makes the people of Manhattan more compliant.  There are towers like this all over Battleworld, in fact.  Medusa is reluctant to believe him, but he makes several points she is unable to refute.  

The Thors arrive to take Black Bolt.  Medusa insists she’s not done questioning him.  Doom has sentenced him to the Arena.  Medusa decides she can’t let this happen. They are about to report her insubordination.  She blows a whistle, summoning Lockjaw to her side.

Mike Maillaro: I really liked seeing Black Bolt’s view of Battleworld.  He has a lot of the same questions I have, and it was great to see them articulated by a character. It makes it clear that many of the “flaws” in SECRET WARS are because of Doom, and not because of poor editing.  I usually don’t care about the Inhumans, but Soile has made this a must read series.

Score: 4/5

KORVAC SAGA #3 by Dan Abnett and Otto Schmidt

Summary: The Avengers and Guardians are working together to figure out what is causing these spontaneous mutations in Korvac’s Domain. Captain Marvel admits that their leader Wonder Man doesn’t know about this alliance.  Captain Marvel is concerned that Wonder Man might try to manipulate these events to gain Doom’s favor.

Back in the governor’s mansion, Moondragon and Korvac are examining Starhawk’s body.  Something seems to have attacked him while he was astral projecting.  Wonder Man enters.  Korvac orders the Guardians to remove him.  Both sides seem ready for a fight.  Korvac starts to use his full powers...something he swore an oath to Doom to never do again.  Even Wonder Man is taken aback by this.  Korvac revives Starhawk.  Wonder Man tries to convince Korvac to use his powers to solve this mutation crisis, but Korvac refuses.  Captain Marvel arrives, and starts rambling about stars.  He starts to mutate like the others.

The Avengers and Defenders try to subdue him, but he’s too powerful.  Vance Astro of the Guardians has been a friend of Marvel’s for a long time, so he does not want to kill him.  He stops the Avengers from trying to put Marvel out of his misery.  He tries to help Captain Marvel fight off the mutation, but he fails and Captain Marvel takes Avengers and Guardians out easily.  

Meanwhile, Starhawk has gotten back to his feet.  He now understands the “Madness” is not a virus.  It’s contamination from a massive psychic source.  Korvac himself. Korvac uses his powers to heal Captain Marvel, but the infection seems to have take Korvac entirely.

Mike Maillaro: I actually feel bad that I don’t like this series more.  It has elements I like. I am a huge Captain Marvel fan.   I love Wonder Man.  Valentinos’ work on old school GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  And Dan Abnett co-wrote many books I love, including LEGION and ANNIHILATION.  But, somehow, it doesn’t all gel together here at all.  To be fair, I didn’t like GUARDIANS 3000 either.  Abnett just doesn’t seem to have a good handle on these characters, and the end result here is a series that just doesn’t quite work.

And besides.  Korvac has always been an awful character.  No idea why someone thought it was a good idea to bring him back.

Score: 2.5/5

MASTER OF KUNG-FU #4 by Haden Blackman and Dalibar Talajic

Summary: Shang Chi reflects on his origin.  His father claims to have used mystical means to create Shang and then every resource he had to ensure Shang Chi would be the greatest warrior ever.  By Shang admits that this is all mythology.  He was likely just a bastard child from someone Zheng Zu knocked up.  He’s now forced to fight Red Sai and Rand-Kai, but he’s already pretty worn out from fighting all the other champions.  Shang tries to convince them that they are really on the same side and should work together.  Red Sai manages to poison Shang.

Rand asks that in Shang’s dying moments he confess to killing Rand’s master.  We find out that Shang did it to help Red Sai reclaim her honor.  She had been sent to kill Iron Fist but failed.  The Emperor would have killed Red Sai, her students, and her entire village.  So Shang finished the job and was exiled to cover up the emperor’s crime.  Rand decides to burn the poison out of Shang’s system.  He understands now that Shang is the only one who can stop the Emperor.  Shang heads into the 13th Chamber for the final battle.

We find out that the Emperor had tried to get Shang to execute all the old Masters to prevent them from being a threat to his role.  The emperor tries to use a move called “The Spectral Touch” to kill Shang, but Shang phases through it.  Shang is able to use the powers of all Ten Rings to bring the Emperor down.  He asks his father to yield.  Zheng refuses.  Shang uses a “new ring” technique called the Gordon’s Eye to turn his father to stone. Kitten asks how he did this.  Sheng explains that he was looking for a way for her to turn solid again.  She teases that she would rather be a ghost than turned into stone. Shang Chi is now emperor.  He tells Kitten that he needs to rest, and then it is back to training.

Mike Maillaro: This actually is the first SECRET WAR tie-in, to reach its conclusion.  Kind of sad as it’s been one of my favorites.  We didn’t get a lot of SECRET WAR stuff in this series, I really enjoyed it anyway.  My only gripe is that this one ended a little fast.  The battles in the last two issues were great, but could have been a little longer.  Funny that I keep complaining about some of the SECRET WARS tie-ins being too long and now complaining this one was a little too short.

Score: 4.5/5

PLANET HULK #4  by Sam Humphries and Marc Laming

Summary: Steve Rogers has been captured by Savage Hulks.    They are bringing him back to the Mud Kingdom to do slave labor.  Rogers sees they are mining vibranium and wonders why this kingdom is not rich.  Doc Green arrives to rescue him and bring him to Red King’s Castle where he can rescue Bucky.  Doc tries to get Rogers to rest first, but Rogers insists on going now.  Doc Green seems to know a lot about Rogers and Bucky;s past.  Devil Dinosaur returns causing a hell of a distraction to give Rogers time to get into Red King’s castle.  He finds the Red King waiting for him.  He demands that Red King tell him where Bucky is being held.  Red King reveals that Bucky had been killed months ago and his head sent to Doom.

Mike Maillaro: Wow, I was not expecting that ending.  When Doc Green was telling stories about Bucky and Cap, I actually thought that maybe he was Bucky. While I did think it was kind of lame that this issue started basically the exact same way issue 3 started, it didn’t ruin the comic.  But if issue 5 starts with Devil Dinosaur and Doc Green arriving in the nick of time...again...Sam Humphries really needs to find some new narrative tricks.

Score: 4/5

SECRET WARS 2099 #4 by Peter David and Will Sliney

Summary: Last issue, Miguel ordered the Defenders come work for Alchemax or be arrested.  Guards try to take Submariner, but Hercules decides to protect his new friend and drinking buddy.  Captain America is pissed that Miguel broke her promise that the Defenders could leave in peace.  Cap goes to find Hercules and tells him that they are fighting back.  Hercules eagerly punches his teammate, Hawkeye.  Black Widow tries to stop Hercules and Cap, but Hercules easily takes her out too.

Meanwhile, Vision is having terrifying visions revolving around Captain America.  She tells Iron Man.

Hercules goes to rescue Silver Surfer and Hulk.  Hercules has trouble breaking through the forcefield holding them, but Captain America manages to inspire him with the idea that a God should be able to overcome anything a human can build.  The Defenders are released.  Hulk breaks a hole through the wall.  Iron Man arrives.  Captain America tells the Defenders to get out of there.  She faces off with Iron Man, managing to give him a hell of a beatdown.

Harry (Cap’s husband) arrives and tries to turn off her Captain America persona.  Strange manages to teleport her out of there, but Harry had activated a fail safe and Captain America doesn’t remember who she is.

Mike Maillaro: The opening with Hercules and Submariner talking about women was hilarious, especially with the Alchemax guards trying to arrest them.  Throughout this series, I hadn’t really been enjoying these “new” 2099 versions of the Avengers, but by the end of this issue, I was starting to really get on board with this new version of Captain America.  I hope she appears in the new Spider-Man 2099 series after SECRET WARS.  Though the letter page on this issue did seem to suggest her story ends in SECRET WARS 2099 #5.  I hope I misread that.

Score: 4/5

SECRET WARS: BATTLEWORLD #4

SILVER SURFER VS GALACTUS by James Stokoe

Summary: In Egyptia, Norrin Radd is playing bait for a large crocodile like creature.  Once he’s lured the beast far enough onto land, Juggernaut leaps in with a club. They manage to kill the beast.  Surfer takes the meat. Juggernaut takes the teeth as a trophy.  Juggernaut invites Norrin to hunt with him again another time.

Surfer returns to the temple city of Zenn-La to his captured love Shalla-Bal.  Apparently, the city is controlled by Galactus.  To prevent Galactus from consuming the city, Surfer has to keep bringing him large quantities of food.  But, this time, he finds that Galactus’s hunger grew out of control and he consumed the entire village.  He’s able to eat Shalla-Bal.  Surfer attacks Galactus.  Galactus’s hunger grows to much, he ends up consuming himself.  Surfer discovers that Shalla-Bal is already dead.  He’s free of Galactus...but his entire people are gone.

Mike Maillaro: This was a very unique take on the Silver Surfer story.  I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, even if it was a little dark and depressing.  Once again, I am not sure how Doom would allow something like this to exist.  Doom really sucks at world building.  I would hate to see him play SIM CITY.  Gina had a good question, when I mentioned this to her: “What happened to all the other Dooms in the Multiverse?  You would think that at least one other Doom would have had the same idea to stop the incursions.”

Silver Surfer Vs Maestro by Peter David And Daniel Valadez

Summary: In Dystopia, a servant comes rushing in to tell Maestro that there has been an invader spotted.  Maestro says to invite the intruder in and he can have his pick of any woman in the kingdom.  But the servant says that the intruder has assessed Maestro’s trophy room.  Maestro storms off to find him.  It turns out to be the SIlver Surfer looking to blast his way into the trophy room to recover his board (TOOMIE!)), which apparently was taken by Doom.  Surfer talks about their time together as Defenders.   Maestro sucker punches Surfer.  Surfer manages to summon his board, though it looks like someone had taken a massive bite out of it.  Surfer is able to repair it with his powers.  Maestro tries to use his thunder clap to stop the Surfer, but Surfer shrugs it off and leaves with his board.  He reveals that he is working with another Hulk on another team (presumingly the Defenders in SECRET WARS 2099).  He also warns Maestro that they should not meet again.

Mike Maillaro: Peter David seems to really miss Maestro.  Between this story, FUTURE IMPERFECT, and SPIDER-MAN 2099, we’ve seen a lot of Maestro recently.  I have always liked the dark evil future Hulk too, so I am glad to see much more of him.  He will also be appearing in CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS later in the year, though I don’t think Peter David is writing him there.  It was also cool that this book was tied into SECRET WARS 2099.  Peter David has created a real cool corner of Battleworld for himself to play with.

Score: 4.5/5

YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #4 by Marguerite Bennett and Mike Norton

Summary: The mutant rebels survive the attack at the end of last issue.  Storm has been reunited with her old friends.

Meanwhile, Cameron and Chrissie are trying to lead an escape at the last mutant internment camp.  She tries to convince them to fight back, but various members of Freedom Force attack them.  They seem to have made deals of their own with the humans to ensure their safety. Kitty arrives to help take down Freedom Force.  Human soldiers join the fight.  Magneto, Storm, and Wolverine show up riding a giant Sentinel.  The Sentinel drives the humans off.  Nightcrawler helps lead the refugee mutants to safety.  

Storm reminds them that they have to hurry.  Kelly is about to stage an attack on himself and blame it on mutantkind.  Cameron realizes that Magneto has been manipulating events and had planned to have Chrissie and Cameron die instead of Kelly.  Magneto takes out the X-Men and goes to attack Chrissie.  Cameron destroys the Sentinel, seemingly killing Magneto.  Chrissie is pretty pissed that he killed Magneto. Despite everything else, she still considered him family.  Cameron is starting to believe that Kelly is right and maybe the world would be far better off without mutants.  Chrissie attacks him, and that is where this issue ends.

Mike Maillaro: You know, the constant betrayals and twists would work better if this series wasn’t trying to throw too much at the reader at the same time.  I enjoy a lot of what this series has to offer, but it can be real consistent.  Perfect example, Kitty is wearing a collar which should inhibit her powers, but she was able to phase earlier in the book...but later on, she couldn’t when the plot dictated she couldn’t.  I hate that kind of lazy writing.

Score: 2.5/5

MRS. DEADPOOL AND THE HOWLING COMMANDOS #3 by Gerry Duggan and Salva Espin

Summary: Shiklah and the Commandos have found themselves in WeirdWorld looking for a weapon to kill Dracula.  They are heading towards the Temple of the Manticore using a map.  Back in Dracula’s lair, Dracula seems to be losing his mind. He’s being haunted by the Invisible Man, who he believed to have been killed.  He’s starting to realize that his Howling Commandos may have betrayed him.

The Commandos seem to have gotten lost despite having a map.  As they travel, Deadpool’s ghost realizes he can communicate with Frankenstein’s monster...though since Frankenstein is simple, that isn’t much help for anyone.  Man-Thing seems to know the way, so the others decide to follow since they don’t have many other options.  It takes them 3 days to get to the Temple.  They find the temple guarded by a mostly blind senile wizard.  Shiklah is able to take him down after the Minotaur slices off one of the wizard’s arms.  They find the Totem of the Manticore.  The mummy is able to cast them a teleport spell to get them back home.

Dracula lashes out and believes he killed the Invisible Man...but it turns out to be his Invisible Wife, Barbara.  Invisible Man tries to strike Dracula down, but Dracula manages to block his strike with a corpse.  The Commandos arrive back to find the city on lockdown.  Dracule has gone over the edge and killed many of his own servants and soldiers.

Gina:  I continue to enjoy this comic, although it was not what I expected.  While Deadpool continues to be a source of amusement, particularly as Frankenstein’s imaginary friend, the banter between Shiklah and the Commandos has become the beacon for this reader.  I love the dry wit and absurd discussions, which now highlights the aptly named title, as all of the characters are embodying the absurdity of Deadpool… even Dracula.  While I will miss Barbara, her noble sacrifice was not in vain.

Score: 4.5/5

STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE #2 by Sam Humphries and Alti Firmusyah

Summary: While Kitty is bringing Star-Lord back to Doom, she goes after a gang called the New Mutdroids holed up in a pizza joint.  Kitty is easily able to take them all, even handcuffed to Quill.  Quill is trying to convince her that she’s wrong about Doom being God, since Quill knows what the universe was like before Doom started messing with things.  She finishes off the New Mutdroids, leaving only Doug Ramsey, who apparently made them all.  He also works for Gambit the Collector, who Kitty is tracking down to recover the anomaly that Gambit stole.  Ramsey tells her that he’s holed up in the Guggenheim Museum looking for something.  Ramsey also realizes that Kitty seems to have gone rogue, and threatens to tell everyone.  

Kitty kills him.  Ramsey self-destructs knocking Kitty unconscious.  When she wakes up, Star-Lord has picked the handcuffs, but he is still there.  He is pretty dismayed by how different she is from her universe’s Kitty.  This Kitty gives her backstory,  She was a spy for the Kingdom of Apocalypse.  The Future Foundation caught her,  and she was ordered to work for Doom or else her entire family would be killed.    She now serves as a covert operative, even the Thors don’t know about her mission to find anomalies.  Quill agrees to help her find Gambit.

They arrive at the Museum.  They find Gambit’s case.  Quill realizes it’s a trap, but before he can warn her, they are caught by Widget!  Gambit arrives and reveals that the item he wants for his collection is Kitty herself!

Gina: Admittedly, I am not in on all of the inside jokes within this comic,  I can tell you that they are obvious, but also unobtrusive.  Definitely bonus material for loyal fans, and a draw to history for new ones… but I will leave that for Mike to explain.  That being said, even knowing that I am at a loss for most of the humor of the book, it in no way detracts from its enjoyability.  Like most things I enjoy the absurdity of the whole thing makes this book worthwhile.  I love the relationship between Starlord and Kitty, and his reactions as he is constantly reminded that this is not his Kitty, even though he wishes it was.  I sense a great deal of angst in the future, which I am absolutely looking forward to.

Mike Maillaro: I loved the weird little references here.  Widget was from EXCALIBUR.  A weird little robot head, who was later revealed to be an alternate reality version of Kitty Pryde from the future.  And Ramsey having built his own army of New Mutants out of Warlock stuff was just so cool.  This comic was a real treat for me.  On top of a very good story like my wife already pointed out.

Score: 4/5