Front Lines - Week of December 2, 2015

ALL-NEW X-MEN #1 by Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley

Summary: Wolverine and Young Angel are skiing in Vail, Colorado.  They are both competitive, cheating in an effort to beat the other down the mountain. Wolverine ends up hitting a rock, and Angel catches her.

Meanwhile, Young Beast and Kid Apocalypse are in Florida.  They are going to pick up Iceman and meet up with Wolverine and Angel in about a week.  They have been trying to reach out to Young Cyclops, but he’s been refusing their calls and laying low since Old Cyclops died as “the world’s most hated mutant.”

We find out that Young Cyclops has been tracking a mutant terrorist group who call themselves the Ghost of Cyclops.  He’s currently in Chicago.  Suddenly, the streets are flooded.  The Ghosts have arrived.  Young Cyclops manages to take a few of them out without using his powers.  The police arrive, and the Ghosts run off.  One of the ghosts drops his wallet.

Young Beast and Kid Apocalypse arrive in Austin to pick up Young Bobby and Idie.  Despite being told to lay low, Iceman is showing off his powers.  Austin seems to be a mutant-friendly town.

Young Cyclops tracks the Ghost to Algar University.  The Ghosts spot him and attack.  He ends up using his optic blasts, revealing himself.  This causes him to blip on Young Beast’s Cerebro.  Young Beast has a Bamf teleport the RV to Chicago.  Young Cyclops powers cause him to collapse.  The Ghosts are about to kidnap him, but the rest of the All-New X-Men have arrived.

Grey Scherl: This issue did more for me than the first three of Extraordinary put together.

Mike Maillaro: I mentioned this to you via text, but the biggest problem with Extraordinary X-Men to me is how slow it’s moving.  It seems like we keep getting one sentence of story progress about the Cyclops situation in each issue.  

I have said before that I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to keep the “young” X-Men around, but I did like the creative team on this book, so I was hopeful. And everything about this book worked real well.  I especially love the cast, especially since they added Wolverine, Idie, and Kid Apocalypse to the mix.   The Ghosts of Cyclops kind of remind me of the Magneto worshippers from Morrison’s run.  

Grey: Laura was already around, but given that she was also in that awful Wolverines weekly (how did that even end?), she kept getting buried. Without Jean around to monopolize the book, she should really get to blossom.

I was talking to a buddy of mine about it, and my best comparison was Ultimate Spider-Man...at which point I realized that Bagley was the artist here.

Mike: Yeah, Ultimate Spider-Man is a great analog for this book.  Fun and light, but still with some big story ideas.  Hopeless and Bagley are a great team, and I can’t wait to see what they can do here.  This could be the exact jolt the X-Men franchise needed.

Grey: I really loved that Iceman is a local hero in Houston now, especially after their trip to the Ultimate Universe where everyone in Houston tried to kill him and he did nothing but complain about hating the city.

Mike: Yeah, they have actually done some fun things with Texas in the Marvel universe, between Scarlet Spider and now All-New X-Men.  My jaded East Coast ass wants to say that 616 Texas is much cooler than real Texas, but I know that is probably just my own ignorance.  

Grey: Still waiting for something to happen in St. Louis. Well, save for Secret Wars: Civil War where they blew up the country with STL as ground zero.

Score: 4.5/5

BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #9 by James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Roge Antonio

Summary: Red Hood and Red Robin are heading to Santa Prisca, tracking the Order of St. Dumas who have set up a base where Santa Prisca’s prison used to be.  There are legends about St. Dumas’ angelic hitman with a flaming sword.  Tim and Jason both think that must be Mother’s operative, Orphan.  Bane attacks them from behind, assuming they have come to Santa Prisca looking for him.  Bane no longer uses Venom or any tech, but he’s still able to take down Red Hood.  Tim pulls a gun on him, and says they are all on the same side.  Time says that Santa Prisca rightfully belongs to Bane.

Back in Prague, Grayson and Harper have lost Mother’s trail.  Harper wants to be out in the streets trying to find Cassandra, but Grayson insists they need to do the research first.  Harper reluctantly agrees.

In the past, Batman manages to track down Mother.  He enters as Bruce Wayne, but she sees through this.  Orphan and Mother take him down easily.  She offers to build him a better Robin. Batman escapes.  Orphan is about to chase after him, but Mother decides to let Bruce deal with the weight of his failure.

In the present, Bane and the Robins slip into the church of St Dumas.  They are using a toxin to turn former soldiers into bioweapons.  A voice comes booming out, claiming to know everything about the Robins and Bane.  It’s Azrael.

Mike: One of the biggest frustrations for me when reading the New 52 is that I’m never sure what parts of continuity (especially for Batman and Green Lantern) actually happened. I started reading Batman around Knightfall, so I have a great love for Bane and Azrael.  But this issue definitely suggests that none of the Bat-characters know much about the Order of St Dumas or Azrael.  All that said, it was pretty awesome to see Azrael in the end of this one.  As soon as I heard “Order of St Dumas” I was hoping we’d get to see him.

Grey: I didn’t realize until this issue that Azrael hadn’t been around in the New 52.

So, predictions! Tim is a Mother creation, Harper is a failed Mother creation, and Scarecrow is a LOT more important that he’s been played up as. I mean, yes, he’s been pretty major, but he’s been the major patsy. I predict something bigger.

Also, giving Bane his own island for helping them? I like it.

Mike: I am still thinking that Dick managed to get Mother to change him in some way to make him the Robin that he always wanted to be. That seems to be a major underlying theme in this story.

Grey: See, that’s where I think Crane fits in. I think Dick is still under the effects of the fear gas from years ago.

Mike: I really liked that as a potential twist!

Score: 4/5

Daredevil #1 by Charles Soule and Ron Garney

Summary: Daredevil is back in New York.  He leaps into the East River to rescue a low level criminal named Billy Li.  Billy Li is supposed to testify against a crime boss named Tenfingers.  Daredevil rescues Billy and goes after Tenfingers goons.  These goons seems to be surprisingly well trained.  Daredevil is assisted by a new hero from Chinatown named Blindspot.  Blindspot’s costume allows him to turn invisible.  Daredevil seems to be his mentor.

Daredevil brings Billy to Foggy’s apartment.  Daredevil somehow made everyone forget his identity except for Foggy.  Foggy is pretty pissed about this burden and for Matt’s decisions since he’s returned to New York.  

Matt is now working as an assistant district attorney.  In this capacity, he’s trying to prepare Billy Li to testify against Tenfingers. Billy is afraid, but Matt persuades him to testify or else he will be thrown back in jail where he will likely be killed.  Tenfingers sends his men to kill Billy and Matt right in the court.

Mike: One of my biggest issues with Daredevil has always been that each writer is so determined to leave their own mark on the character, they always seem to reset him to the status quo.  I really liked Waid’s run on Daredevil...so seeing Matt’s identity secret again, him back in New York, and seemingly back on the dark and dreary path is a little disappointing.  That said, I still enjoyed this issue for what it was, another new take on Daredevil.

Grey: I really liked the issue, and I enjoy the new status quo, but the most interesting thing about Daredevil was the fact that his secret was out.

Mike: I guess he made a deal with Mephisto…  I am only half joking….

Grey: Ancient Hand magic since he was their Parallax.

Score: 4/5

Doctor Strange #3 by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo

Summary: Doctor Strange is naked and New York City is under attack by magic draining slugs, which seem to be draining all the color from the city.  He manages to lure them back to his Sanctum Sanctorum, where they eat so much majot they go into a “food coma.”  The slugs seem to basically be harmless. Doctor Strange accidentally allowed them into our world when he opened a door to the magical realm of Fandazar Foo.  Doctor Strange was looking for some advice on all mystical strangeness that he’s been experiencing lately.  Doctor Strange discovers that Fansazar Foo has been drained of it’s magic and several sorcerer supremes have been executed.

This is all been driven by the Empirikul, a being determined to wipe out magic.

Mike: As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help like Jason Aaron was reusing some of the ideas from his awesome God Butcher arc from Thor.  But they are giving enough of a new twist that this story still stands alone as a very good comic on it’s own.  

Grey: Isn’t Chris Bachalo just awesome?

Mike: This comic (and Daredevil) did a lot of cool things with the art and coloring.  I’ve always enjoyed Bachalo’s art, but he is just a perfect fit for a Dr Strange book.  This creative team on Doctor Strange was the book we always needed but never knew we wanted.

Grey: I know! I’ve got love for Dr. Strange, and I’ve enjoyed some stories over the years (The Oath), but I never had interest in an ongoing….until I saw this creative team.

Score: 5/5

ROBIN WAR #1 by Various

Summary: In recent months, a group of Gotham youth have started a Robin Movement.  One of the Robins is stopping a liquor store robbery.  A police officer bursts in.  In the confusion, the Robin is shoved into a display case.  Shots are fired, and the cop and crook both end up dead.  Gotham freaks out.  With public support, Councilwoman Noctua enacts “The Robin Laws.”  Police are authorized to use every means to find and arrest anyone involved in the Robin Movement.  All Robin paraphernalia is now banned.  Robins are being arrested all over the city.

Duke Thomas, one of the leaders of the Robin Movement is arrested because he’s wearing red sneakers.  He escapes, calling the other Robins for a meeting.

We find out that Councilwoman Noctua has ties to the Court of Owls.  She’s looking to join, but they don’t like “outsiders.”  She offers to bring them war in exchange for allowing them to join.

Jason Todd and Tim Drake have found out about the meeting...but they know that Damian Wayne has heard about it too.

Duke tries to rally the Robins, but Damian arrives.  He’s pretty pissed that someone is using his name.  He tells them to go home and stop pretending to be Robin.  They refuse, so Damien starts to beat them up, but he is way outnumbered.  James Gordon is sent in as Batman to check out what’s going on.  He’s not happy about being sent to arrest children, but he realizes other cops might harm them, so he reluctantly agrees.  

When Gordon bursts into the gym, this just further upsets Damian seeing someone using his dad’s name.  Gordon tries to arrest Damian, but Damian tricks Gordon into electrocuting himself.  The other Robins scatter.  Jason and Tim arrive, but he dismisses them.  Jason says there is someone that Damian listens to, and they decide to call him.

Grayson ditches Spyral because first and foremost, “I am a Robin.” He answers Jason and Tim’s call.

Duke finds Travis, the Robin responsible for the shootings. Duke convinces Travis to turn himself in.  But he’s murdered by own of the Owls as he heads to the police.  It seems the Owls plan all along it to get Grayson’s attention and bring him back to Gotham.  The Nightwing will rise again.

Mike: I will admit, I wasn’t expecting much from this one when I first saw the solicits.  When they had announced it, I hadn’t read We are Robin yet.  But over the last few weeks, I finally caught up on that book.  It’s a little slow moving, but it’s got a lot of great characters.  This story brought together a lot of different series and plot threads at the same time.  We finally get Damian back in Gotham to react to someone taking his father’s name.  We get to see how the “real Robins” react to the Robin Movement.  And The Court of Owls are brought back in a major, and real interesting story.  

Grey: My first reaction, less than ten pages in, was “Oh goody, this schmuck kid is Speedball in Civil War”. And then they went ahead and chased it with the DKR style “every news station doing coverage”. Of course, then Duke gets arrested for being a kid wearing too much red. I mean, I get putting the whole “No Robin’s” law into effect, but a cop roughed him up for walking around wearing a red hoodie and shoes. Just try and tell me that it wasn’t done as a slam on current police issues.

Damian versus an army of Robins. Brilliance. Total brilliance. Damian kicking the crap out of Gordon? Even better.

Mike: Yeah, these was definitely some social commentary here, but I don’t think it ever overwhelmed the story, fortunately.  It was just enough to ground the story and give it some context.  No where near as heavy handed as something like DKR.  We even got a random appearance from John Oliver, which was just kind of weird.