The Longbox Short-List - Week of March 1, 2017

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

AMERICA #1 – America Chavez is one of my favorite characters in recent years. It’s great to see she has been getting more of a spotlight, including leading the Ultimates. I know a few people have been really down on the overly ridiculous solicits for this series, but I am still looking forward to it.

UNSTOPPABLE WASP #3 and HAWKEYE #4 – Been enjoying both of these new series from Marvel. Fun comics will always go over really well with me, and Marvel has been doing some really fun comics lately.

STAR WARS #29 – Not really enjoying this extended Yoda story. I feel like if Luke had all this knowledge of Yoda before EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, it makes a lot of the Dagobah scenes make sense. But on top of that, it’s just been dragging on forever. My least favorite issues of STAR WARS are the flashback issues, and doing a whole arc of one is a terrible decision.

ROUGH RIDERS NATION #1 – ROUGH RIDERS is one of my favorite series from Aftershock. I usually get a little bored by the “sourcebook” type comics, but I am still going to check this one out. And check out ROUGH RIDERS ON THE STORM, which started a few weeks ago.

CLONE CONSPIRACY OMEGA #1 – CLONE CONSPIRACY was pretty good, though I did think the ending was a little anti-climactic. I hate when Marvel does these OMEGA books instead of finishing the story in the actual mini-series itself. I am still thinking that it may be time for Slott to move on though. I do enjoy his Spider-Man, but just getting tired of all these huge event stories. I prefer a more grounded Spider-Man story.

• Cerebus In Hell #2
• Batman #18
• Flintstones #9
• Green Arrow #18
• Green Lanterns #18
• Nightwing #16
• Super Powers #5 (Of 6)
• Superman #18
• M.A.S.K. Mobile Armored Strike Kommand #3
• Paper Girls #12
• Savage Dragon #221
• Avengers #5
• Champions #6
• Doctor Strange #18
• Monsters Unleashed #4 (Of 5)
• Moon Knight #12
• Silk #18
• Spider-Man 2099 #21
• Totally Awesome Hulk #1.MU
• Faith #9

In Case You Missed Them

Here are some noteworthy books from last week…

WARNING!  CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

Book of the week: Astro City #41 bu Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

Summary: This issue starts during the Great Depression.  Our narrator is a city council member of Romeyn Falls (the name of Astro City at that point).   He becomes friends with a aeronautics genius named Roy Virgil.  Roy starts to get into the idea of becoming a superhero and goes by the name Astro-Naut. With the support of the city, Roy is able to expand his technology and even becomes an intergalactic hero.  In space, Roy falls in love with a woman named Xalzana, but they become separated.  

The government asks Roy to help in the war against the Nazis.  This causes Roy to withdraw, and many people even consider him a traitor.  The narrator goes to see him, discovering he has a secret base on an asteroid.  The narrator asks him why he won’t help, and Roy tells him about an alien race called the Mrevani.  The Mrevani were fairly primitive, but once they got their hands on weapons stolen from a more powerful race, they became a powerful threat.  He doesn’t want the same things happening with his tech.

The world mostly forgets about Roy.  But soon after the war ends, the government is tinkering with some of his tech, and ends up summoning the Mrevani. Roy leads drone ships to help protect the city, and he is badly wounded in the process.  In honor of his service, as they are rebuilding the city, they rename it Astro City.  The narrator likes to believe that Roy survived the attack and managed to find Xalzana and live happily ever after.

Review: I have to admit up front that this probably wouldn’t even fall in my top five favorite Astro City stories, but even a good Astro City is going to be enough to claim the Book of the Week spot most of the time.  Busiek has an amazing ability to tell exactly the type of superhero story I want to read.   Like the best issues of Astro City, this is told from a more “street level” perspective with a councilman telling about his long friendship with the Astro-naut.  

It was also very appropriate to get the story of why the city is named Astro City for the 100th issue.  It has taken 22 years to get 100 issues of Astro City, but each issue tends to be something very special.  

I also thought there was some terrific social commentary here about how things were during World War II.  History paints things in a very different light, but there was still race riots and people pushing back against those that were considered “not patriotic enough.”  This should be a good warning for the modern world, but the people who need the message most are often the ones least likely to hear it.

Score (out of 5): 5

Batman Beyond #5 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang

Summary: Last issue, Batman found out that the body Terminal  had been claiming was the original Joker was really Bruce Wayne, who was still alive.  Batman  tracks Terminal to the Wayne-Powers Building.  There is a intel gathering  program named Keystone that Terminal wants Bruce Wayne to unlock for him.  Terminal had been manipulating the Jokerz to help him get in position to claim Keystone as his own.  When he unlocks the vault, Batman is waiting for him.  

As Terminal and Batman are fighting, a janitor makes his way over to Bruce Wayne and revives him, calling him “Old friend” and complimenting his Joker make-up.  As Batman is about to take out Terminal, the janitor shoves Bruce Wayne off the side of the building, forcing Batman to rescue him.  Bruce is insistent that Batman needs to get the janitor, even if it costs Bruce his life, but Batman insists on rescuing his mentor.  

In the epilogue, Terminal and the janitor have crashed in a park.  The janitor beats Terminal to death with a crowbar, revealing himself to be the real Joker all along.

Review: The return of Bruce Wayne and the Joker!  While I did enjoy the run with Tim Drake as Batman Beyond, since Rebirth, Jurgens has kicked this book up to a whole new level with the return of Terry McGinnes.

The end with Joker killing Terminal and laughing at the idea that Batman could ever kill him was actually pretty chilling.  Part of me does get annoyed at the revolving door of death in this comic (Terry, Bruce, and Joker were all declared dead, just to return), it is still one of my favorite series every month.  And next issue starts the “Rise of the Demon” arc hinting at the return of Ra’s Al Ghul.  I can’t wait to see where Jurgens takes us next!

Score (out of 5): 4

Divinity III: Stalinverse #3 by Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine

Summary: Ninjak and Harada seem to be the only ones who remember what the world was like before Myshka changed the timeline.  They decide they need to rescue Divinity, as he is the only one who could possibly fix this.  Myshka and her forces arrive to try and take out Ninjak and Harada.   Ninjak manages to escape into the sewers.  Myshka whispers to Harada that she is “powerless to save Divinity, so Harada needs to go.”  Ninjak arrives at the asylum, fighting off the Russians.  He wakes up Divinity, who remembers the truth.

Divinity takes out the Russians easily.  He confronts Myshka, only to realize that she had been possessed by the third member of their team Kazmir.  He was able to manipulate her powers to manipulate the timeline.  Kazmir rips off Divinity’s head and declares himself a god.

Review: Divinity III has been a terrific alternate reality storyline.  I have said this before, but part of me was kind of hoping it was a permanent change to the Valiant universe, or at least that we had an ongoing series set in the Stalinverse.  It is just a real unique twist.

I have been expecting the return of Kazmir since they announced Divinity III.  Book 1 was was about Albram, Book 2 was about Myshka, so I expected book 3 had to be about Kazmir in some way.  That didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed this comic.  Ninjak and Harada make a surprisingly effective team!  Hoping we get to see more of that in the near future.  That would be the best buddy cop movie ever.

Score (out of 5): 4

Occupy Avengers #4 by David Walker and Carlos Pacheco

Summary: Hawkeye, Red Wolf, Nighthawk, and Tilda find themselves facing off against Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos.  Hawkeye is able to get the Commandos to back off by using code words to reveal he is a SHIELD agent.  Hawkeye explains to them that they are not the real Commandos, but LMD’s that Fury had built.   They are operating out of a SHIELD’s weapon storage facility.

The facility is attacked by hostiles looking to claim the weapons for themselves.  The heroes and commandos go to defend the facility, and several of the Commandos are destroyed. The fight is starting to turn bad, so Tilda joins the fight, kicking some serious ass.  SHIELD arrives to secure the facility.  Fury Jr tells Hawkeye that he’s been doing good work, and he should keep doing it.  Tilda ends up joining Red Wolf and Hawkeye.

Review: This was close to my favorite comic for the week, but Astro City edged it out just a little.  And I know that is just because I’ve been reading an enjoying Astro City for 22 years now, so seeing it hit issue 100 made that comic feel extra special to me.

But Occupy Avengers continues to surprise me.  I have enjoyed David Walker’s work since I first read Shaft, but when I saw the title “Occupy” I was expecting something a little more heavy-handed.  Instead, we have gotten comics that deal with social issues while never forgetting that this is still a comic book and needs to be fun and have action.  That is a tough balance, but Walker pulls it off real well here, just like he has done in any other comic I’ve read by him.

I loved that he got the chance to really expand on Tilda’s character some.  She was a great character in Walker’s Nighthawk series, and it was great to see her getting more of a spotlight here.  If someone told be that one of my favorite comics would be starring Hawkeye, Red Wolf, and now Nightshade, I would have called them crazy, but that is exactly what Occupy Avengers is.  

My only gripe about this book is I was hoping Nighthawk would join up too, because I love how Walker writes him.  Hopefully we will get another Nighthawk series at some point.

Score (out of 5): 4.5

Spider-Woman #16 by Dennis Hopeless and Veronica Fish

Summary: Hobgoblin has taken off with Porcupine dangling from his glider.  Spider-Woman is in hot pursuit, even though she’s pretty badly beat up from her earlier battles.  Hobgoblin has his minions building a massive tire fire to throw Porcupine on.  Spider-Woman arrives on a motorcycle to save him.  Hobbie’s minions go after them.  Spider-Woman  is managing to hold her own, but she’s hurting.  ]

Porcupine jumps into the fight, without his costume.  Together, then manage to knock Hobgoblin off his glider.  Hobgoblin is still coming after them, when Captain Marvel arrives to take him out.  Carol and Jessica make up, and then Jessica and Porcupine start to make out.

Review: Hopeless is a great fit for Spider-Woman, telling compelling stories that are fun to read and still have enough drama to make the reader care about the characters.  Spider-Woman gets nowhere near enough attention.  Anytime I hear someone complaining about how much they hate Marvel, I shove a copy of Spider-Woman at them.  

This was the perfect ending for this arc.  I have loved watching the evolution of Porcupine as a character, and I am glad that Carol and Jessica are on the same page again.  Hopeless is one of the few people who writes Carol as an enjoyable character, so hopefully she’s be around more.

Score (out of 5): 4