Front Lines - Weeks of December 9 and December 16

SECRET WARS 8 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

Summary: It’s all out war as everyone seems to be coming together to take on Doom. The two Reed Richards arrive on the scene in a ship piloted by Starlord. They are hit by a Hulk and their ship crashes into Doom’s palace.  The Reeds head off to disrupt Doom’s power, leaving Starlord to repair the ship.

Meanwhile, the giant Ben Grimm arrives.  He takes down Maestro’s ship.  Franklin arrives riding Galactus to try and stop Grimm.  Ben is stunned to realize Franklin is Sue’s son.  This allows Franklin to destroy Grimm.

Thanos leads the Annihilation Wave in an attack against Doom.  Doom confronts Thanos. Doom easily kills him and gets Annihilus to help him turn back the attackers.

Valeria leads Sue away from the fight, deciding to show her the secrets Doom has been keeping.  As they head towards the statues, they end up coming across the Reeds.  

Black  Swan tries to kill Starlord, but Starlord has a piece of Groot to protect him.

A portal appears, bringing Black Panther, Namor, and their zombie army into the fight.  To be concluded.

Mike Maillaro: It is odd that pretty much everyone turned against Doom at the exact same time.  I guess it’s because of the events of Attilan Rising, although we are never told this explicitly.  

This issue has some funny moments...though I am not 100% sure they were meant to be funny.  Sinister getting killed by Maestro’s crashing ship.  Terrax pledging allegiance to Galactus, just for Galactus to crush him.  And Doom just beating Thanos like a chump, same way he did Phoenix-force Cyclops.

I was kind of bummed out that with all the lead up, Grimm was easily defeated too.  This issue was okay, but like all of Hickman’s stuff, it moved slow and the characters all felt pretty interchangeable.  

Grey Scherl: I don’t think I’ve ever seen an event fall apart this fast at the end. It’s like, oh look, epic battle! Only it doesn’t matter! Look, Franklin killed Ben! But Ben is in Guardians, so he obviously is just fine. Then you’ve got Thanos dieing, but who thinks that will last?

This issue felt like a Michael Bay movie without appropriate art.

Mike: Yeah, this book wasn’t helped by the delays.  Like you said, it’s hard to get emotional over Ben Grimm’s death, since we know he’s just fine.  Even Doom has shown up fine in Invincible Iron Man, so it’s pretty clear he makes it through Secret Wars alive.  

Grey: The Groot reveal could have used a more explosive artist.

Mike: Yeah, I have no idea who looked at Esid Rubic and thought he was a good fit for a massive, big budget action movie.  His art looks so washed out and flat throughout this.  And I still find it odd that you can never tell if he’s drawing Valerie or Sue...even when they are in the exact same panel!!

Mike: Twin sisters.  

Score: 3/5

ULTIMATE END #5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

Summary: Miles Morales arrives to stop the fight about to break out between the 616 and Ultimate heroes. He says the entire world needs their help.  Enough people trust him enough to get Fury to order a cease fire.

Emma, Jean, and Rachel all peak in his head and are shocked at the truth.  Emma projects the truth about Battleworld into everyone’s mind.  Doom created this Manhattan as revenge for the heroes who constantly beat him in the past.  He was basically hoping they would murder each other.

The heroes have a wide variety of reactions.  Miles says that the heroes have a plan and tries to convince them to go along with it.  Ultimate Hulk attacks Miles, calling him a liar.  Punisher shoots Hulk to get his attention and tells him to let the kid talk.  Old Man Logan shows up to confirm everything Miles said.

The Thors arrive, but Cyclops gets Magik to teleport everyone away.  Punisher stays behind and starts to shoot the Thors.  The heroes decide to fight.  Some of them call their loved loves to say goodbyes.

Later, Miles wakes up in his bed.  He’s on 616 Earth with all of his supporting cast, including his mother who is alive again.

Mike: I am not sure what they were going for in this series.  It was billed as helping to say goodbye to the Ultimate Universe, but that really didn’t happen here. It was tied way too closely into 616 Marvel, and in the end, Doom created all these characters as a pretty revenge.  We don’t even know how Miles ends up in the “real” Marvel universe with his entire supporting cast.   While I guess we will never find out why Peter Parker was so surprised when he looked up 616 Miles Morales...since now Ultimate Miles IS 616 Miles.  This was just a real mess for me.  I have read most of Ultimate Marvel, and it seemed like Marvel should have let it die a lot more gracefully than this.

BATMAN / TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1 by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II

Summary: In a Power Industrial lab in Gotham, several Foot ninjas arrives to steal a new energy source.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrives. The lights go out.  When they come back on, the generator is long gone.  A scientist tells the story to Batman, painting the turtles as the bad guys here.  He vows to stop them.  Because he’s Batman.

We find out there there have been a series of attacks on Gotham research facilities.  We also find out that it’s close to the anniversary of the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents.  Every year around this time, Batman gets obsessed with projects.  This year, it’s a new “intimidator” suit.”  He refuses help from his closest friends, much to Alfred’s annoyance.  Batman believes that a Waynetech facility is the next target.

Meanwhile, Killer Croc is in the sewers, plotting to steal the Batmobile.  As he is about to come out of the sewers, he ends up in the Turtle’s lair.  The Turtles attack Killer Croc and his crew.  We find out that the Turtles are from a different Earth.  Back home, there is no Gotham City.

Ninjas attack the Waynetech facility.  Batman already had the staff evacuate.  He emerges from the shadows, demanding the Foot tell him what’s going on. Apparently, they got stuck on this Earth too and they are trying to get home.  Shredder kills the Foot who try to talk.  He warns Batman to back off, of he will burn Gotham.

The Turtles defeat Killer Croc, but their home has been compromised.  Splinter suggests that they need go someplace else.  They leave the sewers, finding the Batmobile.  And Batman!

Mike: I did think there was some real odd quirks to this one (like why were the Turtles just sitting around playing video games instead of trying to get someone to help them get home), but it was still just about as fun as I was expecting it to be.

Grey: I can get it, I mean, they’re not exactly going to be hanging around in public, and they need somewhere for Donnie to figure out what’s going on. Why not set up a lair and let Mikey play video games? My real question is how did all four turtles, Splinter, Shredder, and an army of Foot Clan all get transported? I want to see that battle!

Mike:  Yeah, they didn’t give us all that much to go with here.  I actually think they might handwave it a bit.  Too often, the mentality is “the characters are here, don’t worry too much about how they got here.”  I did enjoy this issue, but I just had a bunch of nitpicky complaints with it.  The Turtles sitting around.  Killer Croc’s epic plan to steal the hubcaps from the Batmobile.

Grey: Did Jason Todd become Croc?

Mike: I had the exact same question!  The best part was Croc saying this crime showed that he had brains to go with his brawn.  Uhm, this is Batman.  The guy puts alarms on his sandwiches in the Justice League fridge (according to Teen Titans Go.  Which is totally canon for me), I suspect his theft prevention system is pretty hardcore.

Score: 4/5

BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #10 by Various

Summary: Bane, Red Robine, and Red Hood face off against of Azrael and the priests of St Dumas.  Bane goes after Azrael.  Red Hood and Red Robin fight the priests.  Azrael is giving Bane a serious beatdown.  The priests all seem to be souped up.  Red Robin believes they are bio-engineered.

Azrael places his hand on Bane’s head, and Bane falls into a trance.  Red Hood suggests they attack Azrael while he’s distracted, but Red Robin insists they should just recover the info they came here for and get out.  They head deeper into the facility, finding the main frame.  Red Robin fights off the priests while walking Red Hood through hacking the system.  They find a money trail leading back to Mother.  They find files about something called Project Ichthys and info on Azrael...Jean Paul Valley who is one of Mother’s creations.

In a flashback, Dick Grayson tracked down one of Scarecrow’s operations in Prague.  He hurt his hand taking it down.  Batman chastised him for being overzealous.  He orders Robin to take off his mask.  Robin storms off suggesting their partnership is over.  Batman decides to go back to Mother and hear what she has to say.

In the present. Azrael arrives to attack Red Robin and Red Hood.  Red Robin tries talk him down,  Azrael touches Red Robin and tries to put in in a trance. Red Hood rescues him, and they escape.

Grayson and Harper find a lead on Orphan, whose real name is David Cain.  They end up in British Columbia.  There is a woman there named Sculptor, who seems to know everything about Harper.

Mike: My only real problem with Batman and Robin Eternal is they keep introducing new characters with vague names.  Mother, Orphan, Sculptor.  I like how this story has been coming together, but it makes it a little weird at times.  

Grey: So I’m either going with Tim being the Mother creation (still), or Azrael being someone Bruce ordered up and then changed his mind.

Mike: Just in case someone broke his back and he needed a replacement.  WINK WINK

Grey: Bane has totally been around….

Mike: I know, I know.  We just have no idea what his history with Batman is. We assume he broke Batman’s back, but they have never filled in the blanks. I guess we have to assume Grayson filled in?  Of course, that further complicates things as Bruce met his Doctor just because she was already taking care of Tim’s dad...who was never crippled himself.  I’ve gone cross-eyed…

Grey: Just remember that Tim’s parents are in witness protection and that makes the headache worse.

Score: 4.5/5

JUSTICE LEAGUE - THE DARKSEID WAR - LEX LUTHOR #1 by Francis Manapul and Bond Dazo

Summary: Now that Darkseid is dead, Luthor managed to absorb his power.  Ardora shows Luthor the sad shape of Apocalips.  She believes Luthor is the hero that can bring hope here.  Ardora tells him that he needs to learn to control the Omega energy or he will die.  She says she can help him, but he needs to have the strength to ask for help.  Luthor seems like he would rather died than ask for help.  But Ardora is determined to help him.  She believes in hope. Luthor ends up embracing the power, and there is an army of parademons ready to serve him.

Mike: The Darkseid War one-shots have been a mixed bag, but I really did enjoy this one.   The main story is wrapped around flashbacks, showing Luthor’s past, especially in regards to his own father and Superman.  I think when done well Luthor is a deep and complex character, and he’s been one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about New-52.    This is a Luthor who sort of does have a place on the Justice League, even if he can’t be trusted.  Now I can’t wait to get back to the main Justice League series and see how this story goes forward.

Grey: The best issues so far have been the ones to really get into the core of the character, like this, Shazam, and Green Lantern. My biggest problem is that for all this set up, how much payoff will there actually be? Where does this book fit into the canon? Does it stay canon? Does Lex stay a good guy? Because he sure as hell isn’t staying Darkseid.

Mike: Yeah, that has been the biggest problem with Darkseid War.  It can’t possibly make sense with what’s going on in other DC comics.  I sort of like DC’s new loose continuity mindset, but you really can’t get away with that on your flagship title.

Score: 4/5

SPIDER-MAN 2099 #4 by Peter David and Will Sliney

Summary: In 2099, a hunter named Kweeg sits waiting for Miguel to open the portal again.

In the present, Miguel works for Parker Industries. In an elevator, he crosses path with Roberta Mendez (in Secret Wars 2099, she is Captain America). Mendez gets suspicious about Miguel’s private lab and decides to check it out.  Mendez’s subconscious seems to be Captain America.

Miguel is still investigating the Fist, a group who are responsible for the bombings that killed his girlfriend Tempest. He also finds out that Alchemax is still building their supervillain prison, which he believes will destroy his future.

Mendez finds Miguel’s vault.  It’s protected by a palm reader.  She touches it.  The vault door opens, and Kweeg enters the portal arriving in our time.  Mendez allows her Captain America persona to take over, which enables her to fight back.

Lyla tells Miguel that Roberta opened the vault.  She had keyed the portal to open for anyone from 2099.  Miguel is shocked to find someone else from his time here.  He rushes down to the vault as Spider-Man 2099.  They need to put Kweeg back through the portal.  Spider-Man realizes that Kweeg is actually Venture, though Kweeg seems to have no memory of that.  In the chaos, Kweeg manages to escape.

Grey: Captain America 2099 was the best part about the Secret Wars mini, so I am REALLY happy that she’s hanging around.

Mike: Yeah, this is the first “created for Secret Wars” character that I was really happy to see show up.   I ended up dropping Guardians because of Bendis’s lame attempt to make his Secret Wars characters relevant after Secret Wars.  But Captain America 2099 was a real clever take on the character.  

And Venture is back!  Well...kind of..

Grey: I’m still reading Guardians, but yeah, Yotat is ruining that book quickly.

Mike: To add Scarlet Witch, I dropped Guardians and Contest of Champions.

Grey: I have no idea why I’m still buying Contest. Like, I honestly have no damn clue.

Score: 4.5/5