Front Lines - Mini-Reviews (Week of June 1) - DC Rebirth, Civil War II, Spider-Woman, Punisher, Paper Girls, and more

Civil War II #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez

Summary: In New York, several heroes have gathered to stop a Celestial from bursting into our reality.  The heroes plan (which was developed by the Inhumans) is flawless and they are able to stop the Celestial with no problem.  Several of the heroes are curious about how the Inhumans came up with such a perfect plan.  Medusa introduces them to Ulysses, a new Inhuman who can see the future (and is immune to telepathy).  Stark is very concerned by the implications of what this could lead to, but Carol Danvers sees this as a way to stop all the bad things that can happen.

A few weeks later, Stark is working in his lab.  Mary Jane comes in to tell him Rhodey has been killed.   Starks demands Carol tell him what happened.  Carol says that the Inhumans warned the Ultimates about Thanos attacking Earth.  Carol and several heroes set up to stop him.  They took down Thanos, but Rhodey was killed and She-Hulk is on death’s door.  Before she dies, She-Hulk tells Carol that the future is worth fighting for. Stark heads up to “make sure none of you play god again.”

Mike Maillaro: Like Civil War, my biggest problem here is the fight between the heroes seem so contrived.  Actually, even more so here.  Carol Danvers finds out Thanos is coming to Earth, what are they supposed to do?  Sit on their hands and let everyone die.  By being ready for the fight, there were losses, but they took down Thanos as cleanly as possible.  Who in their right mind could possibly argue against this?   I get that Stark is upset about losing Rhodey...but it still seems like a stretch that this is all to blame on Ulysses and the Inhumans.

Also, does Bendis have to have Young Jean use her telepathy on everyone without permission?  It makes the character damn skeezy if you ask me.

It may sound like I hated this comic, but I actually didn’t.  It was very well written, with some great character moments.  I especially loved Spider-Man’s comments about wanting to see a movie about “Hulk making out with UItron, and a baby popped out, and the baby was a reincarnated Hitler.”  And Stark saying upfront that he never wanted to argue morality again with Steve Rogers, because that never ends well.  

Matt Graham: I missed any event that took out all the future diviners, but even without Destiny, Madame Web, Blindfold, or any of the others, the premise for this comic just falls flat for me because they have existed. Aside from some X-Men plots with Destiny, seeing the future has never been a crisis point for the Marvel Universe so it feels awkward that it now is. Then again, I suppose these same criticisms can apply to the first Civil War and how the world reacted to Stamford like they never have before.

Contrived is the right word for it. Everyone seems slightly out of character for it to work. The base mechanics are there: Carol is the leader of a heavy hitting cosmic strike force, Tony should be upset about losing his best friend, but the characterizations don’t flow with how I’ve read them in other books, such as their own titles. Why wouldn’t Carol call for all hands on deck when Thanos is involved? Why is Tony upset with the Inhumans and their precog over Carol’s decision? What about Rhodey being a superhero? His job is suiting up and stopping bad guys, how is that Carol or the Inhumans’ fault?

Also, big talk from Tony about “playing god” when they cloned Thor just to scare the registration dissenters.

I’m all about a big superhero smackdown with depth, but while all the ingredients are here for a summer event, the proportions seem off.

Batman Rebirth #1 by Scott Snyder, Tom King, and Mikel Janin

Summary: Duke Thomas goes to Wayne Manor, telling Alfred he’s there to accept the job offer.  Batman doesn’t want him to be Robin, he wants him to be something else (he shows Duke a yellow Batman-like costume).  Over the course of a week, Batman works with Lucius Fox to regain control of Wayne Enterprises and to stop a plan by Calendar Man to speed up seasons to set off some spores that Calendar Man put in the air.  Duke and Batman work together and stop the plan.

Mike: In New-52, I am not sure any character’s status quo has been more of a moving target than Batman.  While Batman Rebirth does set a clear status quo moving forward, I was real surprised it didn’t deal with some of the big issues that popped up in DC Rebirth.  Batman was surprised to find there were three Jokers.  And a new hero named Gotham was preparing to make his move to depose Batman.  Neither of these issues are dealt with here.  Instead, we get a Calendar Man story, that isn’t all that clear.  

Don’t get me wrong, as a stand alone Batman story, I did enjoy this comic a lot, but I was expecting a little more from this Rebirth special.  I am also not too sure about Duke Thomas as Batman Beyond.  The character just hasn’t done much to grab my attention so far.  I don’t hate him, but I would rather read about Damian, Cassie, Harper, Batwoman, or Batwing.  

Grey Scherl: Well, most of them are going to be in Tec. I don’t mind Duke, but I’d much rather see him in the Future’s End Robin gear than this weird neon yellow thing.

This wasn’t a bad issue, but as far as the Rebirth one shots this week, it was easily the weakest. It didn’t feel like the new books being set up, rather it was just a Batman story by a new writer...who will be writing the core book. Yes, this argument is getting weaker as I say it.

Superman Rebirth #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Doug Mahnke, and Jaime Mendoza

Summary: Pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lana Lang both happen to visit Superman’s tomb at the same time. PF Superman is waiting for Superman to resurrect.  Lana is looking to keep her promise to move him to the Kent family plot.  PF Superman tells Lana the story about his own death at the hands of Doomsday, and how he was brought back to life by technology his Fortress of Solitude.  Lana takes him to this world’s Fortress, but the same tech doesn’t exist here, so there is no way to bring Superman back. They head to Smallville to bury Superman with his parents.  

Later, PF Superman builds a statue of this world’s Superman in the Fortress to stand with statues of his Kryptonian and Earth parents.

Mike: Best part of this issue for me was Pre-Flashpoint Superman telling what happened when he met Doomsday.  I just thought it was a nice way to help ground the character in Superman’s history.  The interactions between this Superman and Lana were terrific too.   Maybe it would have been nice for more to happen in this one, but I really did enjoy what was here.  Definitely lays the groundwork for major changes in the Superman line, which was often weak during New-52.

Green Lanterns Rebirth #1 by Geoff Johns, Sam Humphries, Ethan Van Sciver, and Ed Benes

Summary: Out in space, a secret Guardian guards a mysterious ring representing something new.  He is attacked by Dominators, since he was hiding in their system.  He unleashes the power to escape, which seems to be rainbow colored.

Back on Earth, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz are both summoned to deal with a Manhunter robot attacking Earth.  It turns out to be a training simulation by Hal Jordan.  Hal insists they need to learn to work together, and fuses their batteries together.   Hal has to go out into space to deal with Sinestro, and tells them the Justice League will be around to help train them.

Meanwhile, the Red Lanterns are preparing to attack Earth.

Mike: The two new Green Lanterns have basically been the two best characters created for New-52.  I am glad to see them featured in this book together.  You should have a really cool dynamic here between these two, and this comic started that off strongly.  I had kind of lost interest in the Green Lantern books for a while because it’s always “some big secret of the Guardians past is about to destroy all of reality.”  And unfortunately, this comic seemed to start the same way.  But, I like Baz and Jessica enough to at least give Green Lanterns a fair shot.

Green Arrow Rebirth #1 by Benjamin Percy and Otto Schmidt

Summary: There have been several kidnappings of homeless people in Green Arrow’s hometown of Seattle.  While investigating, Arrow runs across Black Canary.  They reluctantly agree to work together to help a kid find his mother, who was one of the kidnap victims.  Ollie even brings them back to his place and reveals his identity to them.

They go to find the kid’s father in an area outside Seattle called The Jungle, where they are attacked by creatures called Underground Men.  Arrow and Canary easily take them down, and get them to reveal that the kidnap victims are being auctioned off.  Arrow and Canary break up the auction.  Afterwards, Arrow and Canary end up kissing.

Mike: A nice done-in-one.  Actually, this was probably my favorite of this week’s Rebirth books, but I pretty much enjoyed them all.  I have been a Green Arrow fan for as long as I can remember, and I am glad they are finally getting him back together with Canary.  I also like that he’s looking a lot more like his old school self again.  It was fun to see Canary and Arrow verbally sparring throughout this issue, and I smiled when they teased the kiss in the end.  

Matt: The most I’ve enjoyed a Green Arrow comic since Kevin Smith and Judd Winnick’s runs. This is the most satisfying of the Rebirth titles so far, netting you a full story and laying out the status quo you should expect. While I enjoy the darker Green Arrow stories like Longbow Hunters, this issue felt like Quiver by injecting just the right amount of fun to cleanse the palate: Ollie and Dinah back together, the dialogue, and the action all smoothed out the inner monologue and grit. It’s everything I’d want from Green Arrow, and ensures I’m down for the ongoing. I wasn’t until this.

Mike: Even Grell’s run had a lot of fun to it.  I totally agree.  Green Arrow needs to be balanced or it’s just not right.  And it’s nice to see Arrow in all his “liberal” glory in this one.  Arrow has been very inconsistent since New-52, and this is a nice step in the right direction.  

Spider-Women Omega by Dennis Hopeless, Jason Latour, Robbie Thompson, and Nico Leon

Summary: On Earth-65, Jesse Drew and his family go into hiding, free from SILK’s control. SILK’s Cindy Moon has stolen tech from Earth-616 that lets her use a variety of superpowers.  616 Jessica Drew arrives to stop her once and for all.  Spider-Gwen is there looking to back up Spider-Woman, but she still hasn’t recovered her powers yet.  

Spider-Gwen uses some weaponry she finds in SILK’s base to join the fight.  Silk also jumps in using the Super-Adaptoid that attacked they earlier in the series. Cindy Moon-65 uses an EM pulse to take out everyone’s tech, and it ends with a fist fight between Spider-Gwen and Evil Cindy.  Cindy is a much better trained fighter, but Gwen’s powers kick back in, allowing her to take down Cindy once and for all.  Evil Cindy has been locked away by Earth-65’s SHIELD.  Spider-Gwen isn’t sure what she will do, when her “power serum” runs out...and that is pretty much how it ends.

Mike: Well, at least this series sort of ended strong.  I was real disappointed by this crossover, especially with how much I normally love Silk and Spider-Woman.  This mini just didn’t have much of the charm of either of those series.  Granted, it doesn’t help that I just can’t get into Spider-Gwen, and having so much of this series set in her world did nothing for me.  Evil Cindy seems to suggest that she will be coming back.  Well, if so, hopefully they find a much better story for her, because this one just didn’t cut it for me.

Deadpool #13 by Gerry Duggan, Jacopi Camagni, Charles Soule, Guillmero Sanna, David Walker, Elmo Bondoc, and Paco Diaz

This issue is actually a four part crossover all in one comic.  Deadpool 13, Daredevil 7.1, Power Man and Iron Fist 4.1 and Deadpool 13.1, all in one $10 book.

Summary: Marvin Shirkley is a Wall Street banker who deals with a lot of people in organized crime.  Some of his investments goes bust, and several bad guys come after him, looking to recoup their money, including Typhoid Mary.  Marvin goes to Deadpool to hire him to protect him.  Deadpool has a pretty sorted past with Typhoid Mary (who once tricked him into thinking she was Siryn), so he takes the case.  Marvin pays Deadpool with some stolen diamonds, and gives Deadpool a laptop with all his financial dealings with the crime families.  Deadpool can’t fit it in his safe, so tosses it in the trash can.

Dodging criminals, Deadpool gets Marvin to the DA’s office, where he tries to get Matt Murdock to put him in protective custody.  But Matt says they will need the laptop as evidence.  Matt’s friend Daredevil escorts them back to Marvin’s place, where they are attacked again.  They discover that the laptop has been  thrown out by the cleaning people.  

Deadpool hires Power Man and Iron Fist to go to the dump with him to recover the laptop.  The criminals manage to follow them there, because Deadpool posted their location on Twitter.   After digging through garbage all day, and fighting the bad guys again, the laptop is recovered by one of the workers.

Mary recovers, and steals the laptop and a garbage truck. Deadpool pursues her.  Daredevil arrives to help, but is forced to give up the chase to rescue Marvin.  Deadpoool takes down Mart, and gets Preston to try and help get her treatment for her mental illness.  In the end, Deadpool is forced to surrender the diamonds to Matt Murdock because it is evidence.  

Mike: I don’t know how to judge this one.  It was a fun story, and you could see Duggan, Soule and Walker really enjoyed being able to cut loose and write a crazy story.  And I love obscure characters like Typhoid Mary, so it was nice to see her dealt with her.  

But that $10 cover price keeps making me cringe.  I know, I know, I got four full comics, but when you spread that out over 4 separate comics over a few weeks, it’s not such a huge hit on the wallet.  

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pink #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Kelly Thompson, and Daniele Di Nicuolo

Summary: This issue takes place soon after Kimberly stopped being the Pink Ranger.  She is in Amsterdam for the last day of the Pan Global Games Gymnastics Competition.  She is surprised that her mother and stepdad didn’t show up to see her.  She heads to their home in St Moineu, France.  The entire town seems deserted.  She finds a local named Serge (back home visiting from university) being attacked by lizard people.  Even without her powers, she’s able to save him.  Kimberly calls Zordon for help.  The other Rangers are off planet fighting Lord Zedd, but Zordon is able to use the Sword of Light to temporarily reactivate her powers.   Serge is able to point her to caves outside the town where weird stuff is going down.  She checks it out and finds Goldar and more of the lizard people.  While she watches, Goldar turns her mother into a lizard person.

Mike: First of all, I loved the new Pink Ranger uniform.  That splash of black takes a costume I already liked and makes it pretty awesome.

I also really liked the story here.  It’s great to see what the Power Rangers were up to after their “retirement.”  Boom continues to do an excellent job with their Power Ranger comics.  Everything feels true to the original, but updated for a modern audience.  Can’t ask for much more than that!

Grey: I love that they found a way to get Kim off on her own, I love that they gave her a cool new look, but alas, I still have one giant problem, and it’s the same one I had at this point in the show, too.

Kim is 17-18, right? And she’s going off to be a world class gymnast? I was always under the impression that girls peaked at puberty in that sport.

Mike: Yeah, typically they are pretty much washed up doing the exhibition circuit by the time they reach Kim’s age.  You definitely can’t look too hard at the details when it comes to Power Rangers or it all starts to fall apart…

Grey: Billy’s flying car.

Mike:  LOL!  Stop it!!  You are ruining the magic!!  How about how much damage was done to poor Ernie’s over the years?  I don’t wanna know who paid for all the wasted food and clean up.  That is enough to ruin any small business owner...

Punisher #2 by Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon

Summary: Using the folder he took from Condor’s operations in the first issue, Punisher is able to ambush a meet-up between Face and some of his distributors.  Face has a powerful new drug that turns men into killing machines.  Punisher kills several of the men, but Face uses the drugs on himself and is able to overpower Punisher and escapes.  

Punisher gets a lead on a drug cooker in Vermont, but the cooker is waiting to ambush Punisher, including using his own daughter as a suicide bomber.  

Mike: It completely slipped under my radar that Steve Dillon was drawing this series.  I always loved his work, and he did an excellent job here.  Honestly, I haven’t cared too much about Punisher in a long time, but I did enjoy this comic quite a bit.  I was kind of expecting they would try to shoehorn it to be more like the version of the character we saw in Daredevil season 2, but for the most part, this was the comic version (though the bad guy in this comic is an old Marine buddy of Frank’s).  I had no plans to buy this series, but I did like the first two issues enough to give it a look.

This comic even reads a little like Preacher, so kudos to Becky Coonan on that.  This isn’t exactly breaking new ground for a Punisher comic, but it was still a very good read and worth checking out if you are a fan of the character.

Matt: I’m enjoying it. It doesn’t have Becky Cloonan’s usual touch, coming off of Southern Cross and her Wolves trilogy. Maybe the Steve Dillon art is too iconic for me and overrides the writing. It’s Punisher as usual and violent enough that Marvel has a warning on the cover, and that’s better than no Punisher. Well, no. That’s better than Punisher as an avenging angel. Still early and I’ll need to wrap the arc to truly judge the book, but for now the combo of Cloonan’s name and love of Punisher are the personal draws.

Paper Girls #6 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Summary: After being blown up at the end of the last issue, the girls have found themselves pushed thirty years forward in time to June 2016.  Erin and her friends end up running across forty-year old Erin from the future.  Erin, Tiffany, and Mac are determined to kind KJ, who they got separated from.  Future Erin tells them they need to come back to her place so they can figure all this out.  Future Erin has no memories of the events that sent the kids to the future in the first place. They see a news report with bright lights appearing in the sky, just like they did back in 1986.  The girls insist that Future Erin take them downtown.  Erin still has the future device with the Apple logo. The device suddenly asks “Do you want to connect to this device?”  The girls agree, and that is where this one ends.

Meanwhile, an alternate version of Erin in red armor is blasting people and speaking in the strange alien future language.

Mike: While I enjoyed the first 5 issues of Paper Girls, it often felt like there were some parts that were intentional hard-to-follow just for the sense of keeping the reader off balance.  I loved all the stuff with the girls, but the future aliens with their tortured version of the English language did annoy me at times.  I actually thought this issue was far better.  It focused on the things I wanted to read, and kept the hard-to-follow to a minimum.  I love a good mystery, but it still needs to be digestible.

Future Erin was definitely a nice twist that really helped move this book more in the right direction.

Matt: The future patois does take getting used to. More’s the mystery as to why the leader (God?) doesn’t converse in it. The first five issues had a slow unveiling, and I agree that it wasn’t until the last page that the plot really ramped up, even if you understood where it the rest of the book had been going. Issue six goes all in on that promise, with satisfying payoffs and even better teases now that the rules (for now) have been established.

The comic acknowledges its influences with cute meta dialogue (“We’ve been Back to the Futured!”) that plays well with me since my age and life aligns just so with the girls and creators. Flipping the “future” visit around so that the protagonists’ future is our modern day lead to some great commentary on smart cars, brand awareness and worship, and even where technology trends from our day are going. We knew the Apple logo was significant, but Future Erin’s ties with it help those developments along on two fronts: the kids who treat it as the out of this world alien tech smartphones were back in the 80s, and Future Erin, who could be preordering that device next year.

What makes this book work is that it now plays across the timelines and is able to cater to readers of all ages (though it is for older readers, given the language) and experiences. You can thrill to the girls’ archaic tastes or be nostalgic because you grew up with it and remember those things. You’re in awe with the girls that technology has come this far, or it’s humorous on a different level because the things that amaze them are so run of the mill these days. I think technology and respect for it are going to be key things going forward, as the pieces we have now indicate that the future time travelers handle their toys with a dismissive casualness.

I love everything about this book, and this issue only reinforces that.