Front Lines - Mini-Reviews (Week of April 27 and May 4) - Avengers Standoff, Super-League, Apocalypse Wars, Spider-Women, Darkseid War

Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1 (Avengers Standoff) by Nick Spencer, Daniel Acuna, and Angel Unzueta

Summary: Kraven’s plan worked, and they are able to capture Kobik in a containment field that turns her back into a Cosmic Cube.

Meanwhile, Agent Kincaid finds out the that curator is really Wendell Vaughn, and the weapon he is hiding are his quantum bands.

Steve Rogers rallies all the heroes together.  They are able to rescue the hostages.  Zemo and the villains are hiding behind a forcefield, but Kincaid arrives as the new Quasar to break the field, restoring Kobik.  Kobik hurls Bucky out of the building and teleports Zemo and Dr Selvig to the Himalayan Mountains.  The Avengers and SHIELD manage to arrest all the other villains, with no civilian casualties.  During the battle, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson decide they will both use the name Captain America moving forward.

Hill is called before the World Security Council.  They are basically removing her power as Director of SHIELD.  Steve Rogers tracks down RIck Jones and offers him a job working for SHIELD.  Wendall will be training Kincaid as the new Quasar.  Kobik finds Bucky and gathers up other “friends” including Mach VII, Moonstone, and Fixer.  They will be appearing in the new Thunderbolts series.

Meanwhile, Sin and Red Skull are working on building a new Hydra.

Mike Maillaro: A little too clean and neat an ending.  No civilian casualties?  I don’t see how that is remotely possible, since it was shown in several of the tie-ins that at least some of the villains made it out of Pleasant Hill.  

I do think this book opened up some great new storytelling possibilities moving forward, but it still felt a little contrived at points to get us there.  The lead-in to Civil War 2 was way too heavy handed, “It was a memory we’d all cling tightly to - the thing that would help get us through the darkest days ahead.  Once it all started to go wrong--once the war began.”

And does anyone care that much about Quasar?  Is his return and passing the torch is going to excite too many people?  

Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed Avengers Standoff for the most part, it just felt at times like a crossover for the sake of having a crossover.  I enjoyed the setup and the characterizations, but it could have definitely used a little more action.

Matt Graham: Once again, the tie-ins and pacing broke what should have been a solid story. I agree the ending was too clean when you consider the overall event. Had it just been a Captain(s) and Unity Squad story, that ending would have landed better for me. We knew Steve was coming back and the Thunderbolts had a title pending and unfortunately the crossover read like an editorial checklist to get these things to happen.

I’m not sure if Marvel events have always been like this or if it’s an editorial shift the past decade, but I with the spoiled endings being handed out in press releases and the sloppy banner tie-ins, I feel less and less invested in the story and more like I’m following instructions on how to support the status quo. A status quo that always reverts, as nothing can ever change.

I put the book down and laughed at the Civil War foreshadowing line.

Quasar was the surprise of the event for me, if only because I wasn’t anticipating a new Quasar. She seems cool. Quasar is a character name I like to type. Quasar. Also, Quasar is a character I always hear about from fans but have never experienced aside from a few guest appearances, so I’m interested enough to see what Marvel intends to do with Wendell and Avril.

Justice League #49 (Darkseid War) by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabouk

Summary: Superwoman is about to give birth.  Apparently this child is the messiah that will help defeat Anti-Monitor once and for all. Lex and his army of parademons arrive to fight Moebius.   Inside the Power Ring, Jessica and Cyborg work together to try and regain control of Jessica’s body.

During the fight, Big Barda realizes that with all the distractions, she could free all the slaves on Apokolips, so she abandons the heroes and her husband, Mister Miracle, to head home.  

Superman burns off the Apokolips solar energy that was corrupting his body.  Flash arrives and warns that death is coming.  Grail and her mother return to the battle, with Steve Trevor who is evil and has all kind of power now.  He kills Moebius, and Grail says he will kill the Justice League next.  And the baby is born!

Mike: While I have enjoyed Darkseid War, it has felt VERY drawn out.  Between the lengthy run in Justice League and all the specials, it just feels like this story is taking forever to tell.  And like Secret Wars, I hate when we get to read the follow-up to a story arc before the arc itself it finished.  Super-League deals with the ramifications of Darkseid War, which makes this even more frustrating to me.

Spider-Woman #6 (Spider-Women) by Dennis Hopeless and Joelle Jones

Summary: Jessica Drew has gone to look for her counterpart on Earth-65, who has stolen Gwen’s dimensional watch.  She finds out that it’s actual a guy named Jesse Drew, who is married and has children.  Jesse’s wife tries to fight her off, but Jessica is able to find some common ground with her.

Gwen and Silk managed to escape SILK HQ.  They reunite with Jessica.  The Reed Richards of this world is able to build them a portal to get home (out of Legos).  Silk is hesitant to return to her world, because she still wants to get to know her family here, but Jessica manages to trick her to go home.   Jessica sends Gwen and Silk after the bad guys and heads home to check on her baby.

Mike: While I loved the stuff with Jessica and her counterpart’s family, it didn’t seem like much happened here.  The characters have basically just been along for the ride throughout this entire story.  They didn’t even find a way home, unless you count “Find Reed Richards” as doing something of real effort.  This is probably the most understated crossover in the history of comics, which is crazy when you consider it involves alternate realities and “evil” versions of Spider-Woman and Silk.  

Matt: I remember when my favourite heroes teaming up was exciting. This crossover didn’t bring that feeling back. Spider-Woman is my favourite non-X-Men title. I’ve gone over why I make an effort to like Gwen in the first installment of our coverage. Silk is also a title I put above other Marvel books. What happened?

This crossover took the worst aspect of The Radioactive Spider-Gwen, the world building and lack of focus on the heroine, and scraped it even thinner. The counter versions of Jessica and Cindy can be exchanged for anybody while the real heroes just tag along through Gwen-Earth without contributing.  It’s uninteresting and forgettable and I’m irritated it interrupted all three titles.

Superman/ Wonder Woman #28 (Super-League) by Peter J. Tomasi and Ed Benes

Summary: Wonder Woman arrives at the Fortress of Solitude to confront Superman about his impending death.  He admits that he was having a difficult time to find the words to say to her.  She asks if he loves her; they kiss.  Both get calls from ARGUS about “Fire Superman,” who is being held in Stryker’s Island.  They head to Metropolis to see what’s going on.

“Fire Superman” seems pretty determined that he is the real Superman.  Superman recognizes his energy signature as being similar to his own “solar flare” which he first used in his battle with Ulysses.  While Wonder Woman tries to talk to Fire Superman, Superman goes to see Ulysses.   Both Fire Superman and Ulysses break out of their containment cells.   Fire Superman escapes.  Ulysses is about to kill Superman, but he realizes that Superman is already dying.  Ulysses allows himself to be recaptured, since his revenge is unnecessary now.

Mike: Opening scene with Superman and Wonder Woman was really sweet.  I was glad to see Ulysses again.  That was one of the first arcs I read when I got back into Superman, and I thought it was really well done.  Too often, interesting characters only appear for one arc never to be heard from again.  Hopefully, Ulysses will be around throughout DC Rebirth; he seems like he could fit in real well with this mix of “Super men/women.”

Superman seems to have a theory about Fire Superman being created by one of Superman’s solar flares.  He’s been using that thing all over the place, so that seems to explain where the Super League might have come from.  Super League continues to be a real strong storyline, and I’m glad I got back to reading Superman after some rough points in the early days of New 52.

Batman - Superman #32 (Super-League) by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke

Summary: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have gone to China in pursuit of “Fire Superman.”  They end up fighting the Chinese supergroup The Great Ten, who are defending their country’s borders.  They quickly realize they are all on the same side.  They track down the stolen solar flare energy to Dr Omen, who is building her own Superman.  Dr Omen allows this Superman to escape.

Meanwhile, Fire Superman goes to visit Lois.

Mike: I really never get tired of hero vs hero fights.  I know they are so cliche at this point, but they are always a lot of fun for me.  The Great Ten kind of vanished in recent years, so it’s great to see them getting a high profile appearance like this.  Everything is building up towards some huge changes in the status quo for Superman.  I still have no idea where this story is taking us, but I am definitely along for the ride.

Spider-Gwen #8 (Spider-Women) by Jason Latour and Bengal

Summary: Silk and Spider-Gwen return to Marvel-616 and find that Silk-65 has been ruining Silk’s good name, by running around acting like a super-villain.  The city (and JJJ) have lost faith in Silk.  Silk-65 leaves them a note to meet them at the Baxter Building.  Silk-65 ambushes them.  They try to fight her, but she easily overpowers them.  Silk-65 reveals that she is responsible for Spider-Gwen’s origin.  She invites them to help her rule the world.  They refuse.  Silk-65 uses Pym particles to shrink them down and has mechanicals spiders attack Silk and Spider-Gwen.  By the time they recover, Mockingbird and SHIELD have arrived to arrest them.

Mike: I want to point out that Silk-65 is not my designation for the character.  She actually signed the note to Silk and Gwen as “Silk-65.”  The fact she would refer to herself that way is just one of the many frustrating things about this comic and this crossover.  Silk-65’s master plan doesn’t even make much coherent sense.  Ruin Silk’s name…and then beat her up…and then shrink her, but allow her to recover in time for SHIELD to arrest them.

I also thought it was pretty absurd that Silk-65 found the 616-universe to be “easy pickins.’ She comes from a world with far less superheroes and villains…you’d think she would have a much harder time adjusting to our world where she would basically be just a drop in the bucket.  But that would require actual logic in this story, and there seemed to be very little of that.

I also don’t quite get how Silk-65 is connected to Spider-Gwen’s origin.  That seemed like it should be a big deal, but it was presented in such a vague and dull manner that I just couldn’t bring myself to care all that much.

Uncanny X-Men #7 (Apocalypse Wars) by Cullen Bunn and Ken Lashley

Summary: We find out that six months ago, Magneto found a mindless Warren Worthington.  This is actually what inspired Magneto to form his “X-Men” team in the first place.

Today, Psylocke and Magneto have found another Warren who seems to be a preacher in Green Ridge, Colorado.  Warren recognizes them and approaches.  Psylocke senses there is something wrong with him.  He retreats to the woods.  They follow him and find one of Apocalypse’s ships hidden in the woods.  Genocide and Clan Akkaba are waiting for them.  It seems like this Warren lured them into trap.

Meanwhile, Sabretooth and M have gone to help Callisto at her New Morlocks community, made of humans and mutants fleeing from the Terrigen Mists.  They are dealing with an Emplate infestation.

Mike: I loved Generation X back in the day, so I was far more interested in the subplot than the main story.  I love Emplate and I have always thought they could do far more with that character and his real unique powers.  Hell, why make Jubilee a vampire when an Emplate would have made far more sense.

Warren’s story has become so convoluted over the years, and instead of simplifying it, each new writer seems determined to make it more and more confusing.  This wasn’t a bad issue at all, just not a storyline I care about all that much, unfortunately.  At this point, they should either just kill off Warren or clean up his backstory into one streamlined story.  I can’t bring myself to care about one Warren these days, much less two of them.