Front Lines - Mini-Reviews (Week of April 6) - Avengers Standoff, Super-League, Apocalypse Wars, Spider-Women

Uncanny X-Men #6 by Cullen Bunn and Ken Lashley  

Summary: Psylocke is still looking for any sign that Warren has any consciousness left.  She scans him and finds a vast wasteland in his mind. She believes she’s starting to get through to him. He appears to her as a true Angel. He says that he's here to tell her prophecy.  This wasteland was the town of Green Ridge if she can’t stop Warren.  She sees an army of archangels descending on the destroyed town. And this it is only the beginning.

She goes to find Magneto and tells him what she saw.  The Dark Angel is returning, and Psylocke is afraid she won’t be strong enough to kill him this time.  Magneto and Psylocke head to Green Ridge.  He tells her that M and Sabretooth are off on another mission.  They have gone to New York following on a mysterious call about “a danger to mutantkind.”  They find Callisto is the one who called them, but she doesn’t trust Creed.  She attacks Creed, who killed many of her Morlock friends.  She’s trying to prove that Creed is still a monster.  M finally breaks them up.  Callisto tells them that the Morlocks are dying.

Green Ridge seems to be a strange place. It seems peaceful but all the inhabitants have been conditioned to resist psychic probes.  They also have fragments of religious sermons running through their heads on a loop.  The whole town is heading towards a massive tent set up in the middle of the park.  There is a preacher talking about meeting their savior.  Who is revealed to be a human Warren who has had his wings sliced off.

Going Public by Cullen Bunn and Paco Medina

Summary: In the back up, a panel is discussing mutants on TV round table.  There is an anti-mutant Senator debating Val Cooper.  Magneto’s name keeps coming up.

Meanwhile, Magneto is talking to Xorn about his goals and the many ways Magneto has made things more difficult for mutants over the years.  Xorn is trying to help help Magneto of the scars of his past, to prevent him from making the same mistakes in the future.

Matt Graham: I was thrilled to see Ken Lashley on art. I’ve been a fan since pre-Age of Apocalypse Excalibur and his style and evolution nail the throwback 90s feel that Uncanny lures me in with.

The title continues to blend past and present without feeling like a nostalgic indulgence. Callisto and Sabertooth’s fight over the Mutant Massacre was a nice touchstone to the rich history of the X-Men while Betsy and Magneto’s investigation into Archangel’s visions kept the larger game moving.

Now that all three books are rolling, I think the X-Men have a good spread going for every tone and period that older readers may be looking for.

Mike Maillaro: I absolutely love that Apocalypse Wars is more like Fall of the Mutants than a traditional comic crossover.  The two stories we’ve seen so far have been excellent.  This issue dealt with a lot of X-Men history, going as far back as Mutant Massacre (which had a huge impact on Angel and set the stage for a lot of this story), but it kept things moving well.  

I did think the backup was kind of pointless, especially since Marvel used the story to justify tacking on an extra buck to the cost of this issue.  But, the main story was solid enough to make me really enjoy this issue and barely mind the cost.  

Matt: I didn’t even notice the price hike. Charmed by the variant cover, I guess. I hope that between Apocalypse Wars and Standoff, the Fall of the Mutants approach succeeds enough for Marvel to use it in events going forward.

While the backup didn’t offer much for X-Men fans, I hope it sets a tone with the books going forward. The “protects a world that hates and fears them” angle has been lost in recent years and only becomes relevant with gimmick events - a recent favourite was how the Red Skull and prejudice were handled in Uncanny Avengers. It was very disheartening to see the Inhumans pushed with this exact angle, and I’m glad to see the X-Men refuse to give it up. My concern during this publisher relaunch was that thanks to studio politics, Marvel would treat the X-Men franchise as a second thought, and the creative teams have shown it’s business as usual for X-Men fans.

The backup felt like a good primer for new or returning readers to understand how the stage is being set.

Grey Scherl: See, I think that Marvel did intend to go ahead and bury X-Men for studio politics, but given the popularity of the books they had to be subtle. Go big name with a flagship book (Lemire and Ramos), then use familiar names with lower level talents (Bunn paired with Land and the Uncanny name, Hopeless with Bagley and All-New), and then proceed to push those books as little as possible.

Being X-Men books, they’re going to sell. But also, being X-Men books, the quality is going to be totally inverted from what they expect. The flagship book has been rudderless, and the fan service book (complete with Greg Land prior to this issue) was what actually felt like X-Men.

The Fall of the Mutants/Fatal Attractions sort of crossover works for me.

The mystery of Archangel, however, needs to be less confusing. Uncanny X-Force had Warren completely purged of all of Apocalypse’s influence and rendered a blank slate. What was the point of any of the Celestial life and death seeds if it only lasted a few months of canon time?

Spider-Women Alpha #1 by Robbie Thompson and Vanesa Del Rey

Summary: On Earth 65, Spider-Gwen is taking down crooks with skull masks.  She’s being watched by a mysterious figure.  She has a lunch appointment and goes through a portal to Earth-616.  She finds Silk waiting for her, much to her surprise.  She had planned to see Jessica, but Jessica was running late and invited Silk to join them.  Gwen and Silk seem real awkward around each other.  Gwen suggests they eat on her world.  Gwen’s mysterious stalker spots them and decides to call for backup.

The women end up fighting the Super Adaptoid.  Silk dives in to the fight.  Spider-Woman tries to warn her that the Super Adaptoid adapts to powers.  Spider-Woman is able to coordinate their attacks, and they are able to take it down.  During the fight, the stalker stole Gwen’s dimensional travel watch, stranding Silk and Spider-Woman on this Earth.  We find out the stalker works for an organization on Earth 65 called SILK, which is run by that world’s version of Cindy Moon (Silk).  The stalker and Cindy use the portal to head to 616 Earth.

Mike: Marvel continues to have editorial issues.  The current Marvel Earth is only referred to as 616 in the Spider-Man books (Web Warriors and this one). Everywhere else it is Earth-Prime.  I know this is just a small thing, but it’s pretty symptomatic of Marvel’s terrible editorial inconsistencies.  You’d think someone would be in charge of making sure these mistakes didn’t happen.

Ignoring that, I did enjoy this issue.  Though I really don’t like Spider-Gwen all that much, so an entire crossover set on Earth-65 doesn’t quite appeal to me.  But Silk and Spider-Woman continue to be among my favorite comics, so that does give me some hope for this one.

Matt: Call me old fashioned, but Earth-Prime is a terrible designation. Like a lot of Marvel’s editorial oversight, it’s another fix aimed at something that was never broken.

I like Spider-Gwen in theory. Ultimate Gwen Stacy was one of my favourite characters in Ultimate Spider-Man, I love musician characters, her costume is slick, and I have a weakness for retellings and adaptations in comics. Where Spider-Gwen fell flat early with me is that it went from focusing on Gwen and unfolding a new journey to blitzing around establishing how different this Marvel Earth was. Rather than growing with the character, the book established it’s alternate world trick and applied it to every possible namecheck it could. I wasn’t interested in seeing where Daredevil or Punisher were or how they were twisted, I wanted to see Gwen Stacy. I felt this shotgun approach to establishing the world worked against Gwen in most cases. We also already had an equally cool Ultimate Jessica Drew in a similar world, which helped Spider-Gwen feel like a retread of Ultimate Spidey to me.

This issue continues with that, for of course Cindy has a company named SILK. Of course there’s a Super-Adaptoid that Jessica can coach them through. It needs to be different and yet very much the same. It feels safe and retreading instead of something exciting.

I say all that just because if Earth-65 and how it has been handled so far doesn’t appeal to me, I’m not sure how this will be going forward.

Vanesa Del Rey is a killer artist I enjoy, but her style felt out of place in this chapter.

I hope Julia Carpenter shows up at some point.

Grey: Earth Prime is a DC designation, and it’s all I think about when I see Marvel insist on the name.

Matt captured most of my thoughts on Spider-Gwen, which already has me one foot already out the door on this crossover. I love Jessie Drew, and have fallen behind on Silk, but Spider-Gwen does nothing for me other than fill space.

New Avengers #9 by Al Ewing and Marcus To

Summary: Months ago, Colonel Todd Ziller agreed to be a test subject for Project: Troubleshooter.  This is the US government’s latest attempt to replicate the super-soldier serum.  To plug the gaps in the formula, they have added gamma enhancement, mutant growth hormone, Pym Particles, and Curt Connor’s Lizard formula.  The result turns him into a large monster.  The General in charge of the project considers this a huge success.

Rick Jones was rescued by Sunspot’s New Avengers and brought back to Avengers Island.  But Rick doesn’t trust them, since they do call themselves AIM.

The US Military storms Avengers Island using Todd Ziller, who is now called American Koiju.  Sunspot deploys the team’s secret weapon, a giant robot called Avenger Five.  Avenger Five fights with American Koiju.

Hawkeye and Songbird are leading the evacuation of the island.  She seems to be trying to get him to betray the team and go back to work for SHIELD, though he doesn’t seem to be picking up on her hints.  SHIELD decides to use the distraction of the monster/robot battle to attack the island themselves, demanding AIM turn over Rick Jones to them.

Mike: American Koiju is just awesome.  Giant robot Vs giant monster fight?  Why the hell not?  This issue is a little strange in that it’s an Avengers Standoff story, but not really focused on Pleasant Hill in any way.  I actually think  this is the right choice as it gives the story a little more breathing room.  Also, it avoids creating more continuity confusion, which has been a huge isse for Avengers Standoff for me.  

Matt: I wouldn’t call it breathing room, I’d call it further evidence Standoff isn’t the giant checklist Marvel claims it is. One tie in last issue and back to business. Sure, Rick Jones is involved, but that entire angle seems to be an avenue for American Kaiju. I was relieved that it had no real Standoff ties, but what does that say about this crossover? No Kobik or Pleasant Hill or Hills of any kinds, thank you! Oh. That was all key to the event...Sorry.

The book reminds me of Nextwave, just having fun with its uniquely Marvel concepts and toys. It’s a fun book and I enjoy seeing Sunspot, White Tiger, and Songbird forge new directions, but it’s not a title I want to keep up with once Standoff is over.

Grey: AMERICAN KAIJU! IT LIVED UP TO THE HYPE I GAVE IT! Seriously, this issue was ungodly amounts of fun and thankfully avoided being part of Standoff. Seriously, the event is a clunker outside of the Spencer written books.

American Kaiju growls out “YUUUU” “ESSSSS” “AAYYY”. That is what we call “win”.

Uncanny Avengers #8 by Gerry Duggan and Ryan Stegman

Summary: The Uncanny Avengers have been mind wiped and placed in Pleasant Hill by Kobik.  Rogue’s training from Xavier kicks in, allowing her to break the mind control.  She tracks down Human Torch, setting him on fire to remind him who he really is.  She then takes Ms Marvel for a flight to wake her up too.  She sends Ms Marvel to wake up the rest of the All New All Different Avengers, while she wakes up the rest of the Unity Squad.  Both teams meet up at Stark’s garage.  Kobik arrives saying they aren’t supposed to be awake yet.  She seems intent on putting them back to sleep.  

Matt: At first I questioned how this runs parallel to the Pleasant Hill we’ve seen in Standoff Alpha and Captain America. It looks like the town is running as intended while Rogue goes about rescuing everyone, then the last page drops Kobik on us. This chapter is probably still catching up to where we were when Cap’s issue began, but I’ll go with alternate multiversal towns as a reasoning - the issue also mentions the Many Maria Hills without following up. Worth noting that this Kobik doesn’t seem as nice as the one seen in Captain America.

Mike: At this point, I can’t decide if there are multiple Pleasant Hills and Kobiks, or it’s just really bad editorial control. With Marvel, it really can go either way, though I do think that Matt’s point about multiple Maria Hills definitely does give it some real merit.  

Matt: I enjoy how all the superheroes are blase about the situation yet still concerned enough to make them vulnerable. They have no idea what’s happening, but Vision assessing the possibilities was a good touch. I had that old Marvel sense of people behind the costumes and names, that this was yet another adventure for them while still having stakes.

Deadpool had a nice moment going off on Stark, and it further cemented my interest in picking this series up at the start. The flashback to Rogue’s X-Men training and how she realizes the ruse is also a great bit of history and characterization.

Mike: Yeah, I really enjoyed the stuff with Rogue’s training, and her methods of waking up her teammates.  This was definitely some of the strongest characterization we’ve seen for Rogue in a long time.  I was always a fan of the character, but in recent years, she’s just kind of been there.  Duggan seems to understand the character and wants to give her some real depth.  That went a long way towards making me enjoy this issue far more than I expected.  Uncanny Avengers always seems like a book that should be much better than the execution has been, but this issue does go a long way towards making me think that might change under Duggan.

Matt: I hope so, as the reason I fell in love with Marvel and the X-Men in the first place is the strength of the characters and soap opera plotlines. A well-written Rogue is all I need to keep on with this title.

Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Shelfreeze

Summary: Black Panther has gone to Wakanda’s great Vibranium mound.  The workers have been driven to fight back against Black Panther’s rule by a woman that Black Panther calls the Deceiver.  Black Panther is able to drive them off.

In the capital, a woman called the Dora Milaje is trying to convince Black Panther’s stepmother than T’Challa is ruling from a place of weakness.  She seems to be looking to cause people to rise up against him.  Black Panther’s stepmother doesn’t join her cause, but she seems to have concerns about T’Challa too, especially when he tells her than he plans to kill The Deceiver.  She tells him that it’s not enough to be the sword, he must also be the intelligence behind the sword.

The Deceiver believes that T’Challa failed the people of Wakanda.  She wants to use Wakandans own shame to get them to rise up against T’Challa.

The Dora Milaje stages a prison break to rescue a Wakandan rebel that she loves.  The rebel had stole two prototype Midnight Angel armors.

Meanwhile, Black Panther is trying to use Wakandan science to resurrect his dead sister.

Mike: I was really torn about this one.  I think Ta-Nehisi Coates has some strong ideas here, and they seem worth exploring.  The Deceiver and Dora Milaje both seem to have legitimate grudges against T’Challa.  And we see T’Challa so driven by the losses that Wakanda suffered because of Thanos and Namor that he is willing to kill and also to try and resurrect the dead.

But at the same time, there was a lot about this issue that just felt overly confusing.  We hear a lot of names and titles out of context that kept me flipping through the issues looking for explanations that just weren’t there.  I felt like I was reading the first chapter of a new science fiction book, not the first issue of a mainstream Marvel series that has been getting a lot of press.  Grey said that he was reminded of Hickman, and that is a really good way to describe this issue. Real big ideas, but the execution makes you feel like the writer is using a lot of big words to disguise that the structure underneath may be flimsy.

I am genuinely hoping I am wrong about this, because I like Coates, and I do think this series could be awesome.  But there was definitely some questionable execution in this first issue.

Grey: I kept putting off finishing this book. I did laundry, worked out, went and watched wrestling, read a Godzilla trade, watched a bad movie...but I eventually finished it! It was confusing and lacked any real sort of hook, and with no real context for any Black Panther lore, I found myself completely lost every other page or so.

I imagine there will be payoff after a bit, but it’s Hickman esque but without the babysteps in the first arc.

Matt: The Dora Milaje are the Panther’s royal guard. Last I saw them was Infinity, where they broke their spears and disowned T’Challa due to his dealings with Namor. That and Secret Wars may be why his nation believes him weak.

You’re not wrong. There’s a lot of history here, from the Dora Milaje to vibranium to Shuri’s death. I don’t mind it, but some Cliff’s Notes would have been nice for the uninitiated.

Much like how Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run felt like a sequel to Morrison’s X-Men and the ideas it raised, this issue felt like the first Panther comic in years to even approach the Christopher Priest run. Priest nailed the Marvel formula of character drama over superhuman awe and blended it with political and social commentary. It was rarely about being a superhero, it was a book about a ruler. Later writers and stories lost sight of this and the character waned.

Coates’ Black Panther is also not a superhero comic. It reminds me of the best Conan and Red Sonja tales. It’s about a king and his kingdom at their most vulnerable. What’s most shocking about the issue is it didn’t pick up where Secret Wars left off, with a shiny and retconned Wakanda, the secretive pinnacle of Marvel technology and science. It ignores that and digs into Avengers vs X-Men and Doomwar. Coates has taken Wakanda and turned it into a lived in, functioning civilization, not a comic book set piece or deus ex machina source as its oft been used.

There was very little Panther here, and I find that a deliberate move to establish this isn’t about Black Panther the hero, but T’Challa the man and the people and nation that define him. As king, Wakanda is his purpose, as Black Panther, its his duty.

I’ve seen a lot of Hickman comparisons and I can see why. It’s a dramatic and eloquent style for the sake of writing like it, but it suits the tone of the story just as well as Stelfreeze’s stark illustration sense.

This was not the Black Panther book Marvel set up with Secret Wars (hell, has anything post-Secret Wars followed up on that promise? What was the point?), but it is a Black Panther book that promises to follow up on two decades of unused potential and untouched history. That’s a heavy order with what I presume to be a 12-issue plan. I’ll be buying it.

Justice League - Darkseid War Special #1 by Various

Summary: Jessica is trying to fight back against Volthoom’s control of her body.  Inside the Power Ring, she finds the souls of past victims the ring has taken.  They are telling her that she can fight back and save the rest of the Justice League.  Power Ring tries to talk her out of it. The other souls tell her she needs to get to the battery.

Meanwhile, Myrina is looking for her daughter, Grail.  We get some of Grail’s backstory.  She has been killing people pretty much since she was born.  Grail has captured Steve Trevor and he seems to be an important part of her plan in destroying the Anti-Monitor.  She kisses Trevor and he starts to change.

In the ring, Jessica arrives at the battery, despite Power Ring’s best efforts,.  She finds that it’s Cyborg.

Mike: Yeah, this really didn’t need to be a standalone special.  This issue also had a lot of artists on it, which suggests to me that DC was desperate to try and get this book back on schedule, which is where this issue came from.  The whole purpose of this comic seems to be to annoy collectors.  There was nothing wrong with this issue, but it really just felt like filler.  Grail and Jessica are decent characters, but the presentation here (like most of Darkseid War) continues to just be frustrating.

Grey: I get why they did this issue, but yeah, total filler. They should have just broken it into two issues and done two more one shots like they did for EVERY OTHER CHARACTER! I mean, shit, Luthor gets a special, but Grail gets buried in other material? Isn’t this whole story about her doing stuff? And then you’ve got Jessica “About to be a big deal Cruz”, and why didn’t she get her own one shot? This really should have been two books with some added pages for each story.

Matt: As a lapsed DC reader, Jessica Cruz is the most compelling thing to me about Rebirth, and I’m not even a Lantern fan. I’d like to be, and she could be mine in that new series. That said, yes, this felt like filler and wasn’t worth my time. Why didn’t we do the Harley/Suicide Squad April Fool’s Special? That was fun.

Mike: Because no one thought of it last week when we started throwing out titles.  It was actually a busy week for comic reviews.  We reviewed a lot here, and I have solo reviews written for Gold Key, The Fix, and Empress (have had no time to type them so far).

Rough Riders #1 by Adam Glass and Patrick Olliffe

Summary: The issue starts in 1898.  We see women working in a sweatshop.  A fire breaks out, and the women are trapped because the doors are chained.  Suddenly, Teddy Roosevelt arrives to rescue them.  He has high tech gear and a laser weapon.  He manages to save all of the women, but one.  That one failure seems to haunt him.

Later, Teddy is brought before four rich men (guys like Rockefeller and Carnegie) calling themselves The Four Horsemen.  They tell him that a US warship was sunk in Cuba.  It is supposedly by Spanish forces, but they believe it was something even more fantastic.  They have recruited Teddy Roosevelt to deal with this situation quietly and without causing a worldwide panic.

Teddy’s first recruit is boxer Jack Johnson.  Jack is reluctant to help a country that hates black men so much, but Teddy promises that he can get him opportunities to fight white men and make a bigger name for himself.  

The next recruit they will be going after is Harry Houdini.

Mike: I love the idea here.  League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but with historical figures.  The execution was awesome too.  Teddy Roosevelt was a total bad ass in real life, and you can’t help but think this story could have been real.  I loved the scene where Teddy is trying to recruit Jack Johnson.  It gave the series some real strong connection to the difficulties Jack Johnson experienced in his life.

I did have one complaint about this issue though.  It felt like it ended real abruptly.  I hate team books where we only have a few members of the team together by the end of the issue. We only really get to see Roosevelt and Jack Johnson in this issue.  At this rate, we may be at the end of the first trade before the team is even put together.

Matt: I’d say it’s more like The Five Fists of Science. As you say, I can’t stand team books that take forever to assemble the team. I may wait for trade going forward.

Superman #51 By Peter J. Tomasi and Mikel Janin

Summary: This issue starts with Superman announcing, “I'm dying.” A combo of Darkseid War, and his battles with Vandal Savage and Rao If start to take its toll. Superman feels terrible that he's going to die and not be able to continue helping people.   He feels he's abandoning his country and his world.   He considers his parents (both Krypton and his adopted Earth parents), and he says he needs to figure out how to fill the hole that his death will leave behind.   in China, Electric Mother and Dr. Omen are trying to hack into the Fortress of Solitude, but the system is able to keep them out. Superman tells the computer to try and trace the signal.  He heads off to do some superheroing, and goes to visit Lana.  He tells her that he's dying. They visit his parents grave. He said he'd like to be buried here.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, an escaped convict gets hit by a blast of energy.  It turns him into a fiery being with an S on his chest.  He calls himself Superman.

Superman goes to visit Lois.  He takes her flight and tells her that he wants her to tell the about the life of Clark Kent and Superman.

Mike: Kudos to Peter J. Tomasi to try and piece together the huge continuity confusion of Superman, Justice League, and Justice League of America. I also like that we got a return of the “triangle” numbering for the Superman books.  I hope they keep using that; I always really liked that.

This was just a really good issues.  The character moments were great, and we got a lot of teases and hints about what’s to come with Fiery Superman and the Chinese Hackers.  An interesting element of this story is that we really haven’t seen “New-52 Superman” in any of the DC Rebirth teases.  It actually seems real plausible that Superman could die in this story.  This recent run has been some of the best Superman stories I’ve read in a very long time.

Grey: How about the fact that he’s setting us up for the answer of “Why is only Superman Classic hanging around post Rebirth?”

Tomasi has been one of my favorite DC writers for a while, so the idea of him on Superman had me stoked, and this issue was incredibly enjoyable. Like you said, he pieced everything together, and the outcome was actual gravity for his actions.