Weekly Comic Review for 11/27/13

This is a week of comics on their way out, one of which I expected and another I didn’t.

All-New X-Men #19 – Kitty and her X-Men head out to investigate the appearance of a mutant. (Magik teleports them to the site so I wonder if she’s sticking with this team or teleporting the older Scott’s team as well.) The Purifiers also show up, spouting their religious garbage about trying to destroy mutants because they are an abomination against God. (It makes me wonder what they think of Northstar, a gay mutant.) This twist really throws the young X-Men for a loop. They are used to being feared and hated, but not for a religious reason. There’s still the batter of the mutant whom Kitty seems to recognize after catching up with her. The reason for this is that it’s X-23. I’m not sure how this is related to her release from Avengers Arena. I guess we’ll find out next month. It’s interesting how Marvel has gone from the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills to the severe religious persecution and vigor matching that of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Avengers Arena #18 – After a year and a half, the series is finally ending. While there were some interesting parts, especially the one centering around Arcade prior to the abductions, the whole concept of this and the actions of the known characters left a bad taste in my mouth. While Nara, Kid Britton, and Red Raven (at least this one) were new and throw-away characters, losing Juston and Mettle really sucked. Apex is ready to get rid of the rest this issue by turning everything the island had against the heroes but Death Locket had different plans. When Tim takes over and lets her know the only option is to kill him and his sister, she reluctantly takes care of things at least as far as appearances go. The rest of the cast makes it out ok with S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain Britain, and the Avengers showing up to save them. I was really happy to see that Chris got the Darkhawk gem back. I really hope his appearance here means we’ll see more of him. In the end, Arcade ends up releasing video of what happened on the island and we see the views go up as more people view it. With this title cancelled, some of the characters will lead into Avengers Undercover in March. It should be interesting to see what they do with that title.

Damian, Son of Batman #2 of 4 – Well, it turns out that the Batman who died was actually Dick Grayson. That’s why Bruce is still around to confront Damian. The only problem is that mid-battle he has a heart attack. In the hosoital, some creepy nurse that reminds me of the Joker (tho she was hired by Alfred) is taking care of Bruce. When he’s alone, Damian shows up in a new Batman costume despite Bruce saying he is not ready to take up the mantle. The new costume is like a coat with the utility belt on the outside. It looks really awkward, like if Batman but his belt on the outside of the cape but had his arms free. He does some searching and goes off after Pyg (whomever that is) and gets thrown out a window by a bunch of little kids. Guess he wasn’t ready after all. Even a bit more grown up, he’s still annoying.

Justice League Dark #25 – Forever Evil: Blight tie-in – In some other books, we’ve seen the Trinity of Sin get abducted and see Swamp Thing sitting with Constantine and Nightmare Nurse. When last we left those two, they had some bizarre version of Swamp Thing that the Nurse grew. We finally get to see what happened. The corrupt swamp creature “gives birth” to the Swamp Thing who is pissed at the pair for even trying and attacks them. The House saves them and John finds out that he could have just asked for help, a whole “enemy of my enemy” thing. They try taking on Blight, a source of evil they think might trip the balance if defeated. To say the least, it doesn’t go well. The next solution they try is kidnapping the Trinity of Sin as seen in their titles. Also, we see the Earth 3 Aquaman return but he doesn’t seem to have his memories any more. I wonder which side he will be on in all of this. If he switches to Earth 1’s side, he might hold the answer to sending the Crime Syndicate back. Some interesting stuff may be coming along here.

Red Lanterns #25 – The Red Lanterns party like there’s no end as they head to their new sector. The sector number? 2814. Yes, they are now in control of Earth’s sector. Where does that leave John, Hal, Kyle, and Carol (as well as any others that may be part of that sector)? I guess we’ll find out eventually. The team goes off on their first mission in their sector to try to take down one of the big bad guys at the behest of Ratchet (the brain with tentacles) who seems to be having other issues. Something weird is going on and it’s probably not good for the red team.

Scarlet Spider #24 – Kaine tries to deal with that happened to Donald and his other friends. He’s taking it really rough. He even tried to burn his costume, but the material won’t burn. Meanwhile, Wally is ready to take out all his pain on his costumed friend. He shows up in the apartment with a gun, interrupting the sex Kaine was having with Annabelle. Only it’s really some dark shapeshifter which we find out when the real Annabelle shows up along with Zoe who decides to blow up the whole penthouse. This sounds like a bad soap opera. All this is leading into the last issue of this title next month. Despite the cheesiness sometimes, I’ve really liked this title and am sad to see it end. The book is being replaced by a new New Warriors title which will have the Scarlet Spider and Hummingbird as members.

Teen Titans #25 – Kid Flash and Solstice are joined by the rest of the team in his future. We start learning more about Bar Torr and him being under witness protection even though it seems he was pretty evil. Superboy (Superman’s son) is still unconscious and the team is unaware that he isn’t Kon (who it is pointed out in a comment has died over in Superman #25). Not sure what is going to happen with that and if the son of Superman is taking over as Superboy or what. He’s not starting off on a good foot tho since he wakes up and attacks Wonder Girl. (And, of course, you need to pick up Superboy #26 to find out what happens with that. Really? You can’t keep it in this title?

We’ve got our usual mix of good and not so good here. The ones that rose to the top though are All-New X-Men, Avengers Academy, and Justice League Dark. Nothing overly spectacular but all solid books.

OK. So, there’s going to be a new New Warriors book, huh? I really hope they do a lot better this time. The first series was great. The next wasn’t bad. That mini-series sucked. (Debrii? Really???) And then the one with all the de-powered mutants using tech from former villains? That one made no sense at all. This time around, Justice and Speedball are back. (So is Sun Girl who joined in between series somewhere.) There are the almost returns of Scarlet Spider and Nova, but they aren’t the same guys (Peter Parker and Rich Rider) who were members before. We get Aracely/Hummingbird (They really should have picked a better name if it’s going to stick around!) along for the ride too as well as an Inhuman and an Atlantean. I guess we’ll have to see what happens with this.

Speaking of relaunched groups, All-New Invaders will be joining the New Warriors in January with a first issue. The book is starting off with former team members Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, and the Winder Soldier (a.k.a. Bucky back when they were all together). Earlier modern revamps haven’t done too well (I loved the old WWII incarnation of them!) but James Robinson of Starman fame is doing this book so it should be good. Although not in the starting arc, it seems one of my favorites will also return… Union Jack. (I always hoped he’d get his own title after his mini series.) Robinson is known for using older and obscure characters and the Invaders have been full of those who I hope he pulls out some good tricks with this title. I’d love to see it go for a long run and bring back a lot of the stuff that I used to love about the group.

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