Weekly Comic Review for 6/3/15
There was a lot of books this week. At least they are regular ones this time around and not all Convergence.
All-New X-Men #41 – This is a follow-up to the last issue with the mutants on Utopia. S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to the team to get them to check out the issue instead of them starting an incident with the mutants. The team meats up and of course, everyone has to fight. What kind of comic is it if they heroes don’t fight each other more than they ever do the bad guys? With Karma on the Utopian side, the X-Men keep getting taken over. Jean gets into her mind and sees everything she’d been through (even when she was 300#) so they work out a plan. The X-Men report back to S.H.I.E.L.D. that the mutants escaped but in reality, they are just staying in the same base as the young team. It’s listed to be concluded in Uncanny X-Men #600 so this is the end of the series. I’m curious what they are going to do with the young team or if they are going to let the Secret Wars solve the problem.
Archie #666 – Yes, it’s the last issue of Archie title. What better way to end things on issue 666. I guess even for a company whose characters are as pure and light as this one, there is a naughty sense of humor. In this issue, Archie gets his 666th detention (due to awkwardness, not malice) and is under threat of expulsion. All his friends come together though to support him after sharing stories of things he’s done. Archie will be getting a whole new #1 issue and if the cover shown on the last page (one of 21 different covers? That’s real overkill!) is any clue, there’s a whole new style coming. I wonder if that’s just a cover image or if the art is going away from the classic look.
Bat-Mite #1 of 6 – Bat-Mite gets his own mini-series as he gets exiled from his own dimension. He tries to fight crime like Batman but his style is anything but Batman’s. He then gets captured by Doctor Trauma who puts people’s brains in other people’s bodies. (Yikes! What a way to start your arch-nemesis collection. And who does he run into in the dungeon? Hawkman! I hope he doesn’t try to be Hawk-Mite. It’s a very cute book tho with all the bad humor you’d expect.
Batman Beyond #1 – The story definitely picks up after the preview at the end of the Convergence book. I thought that was going to be the first couple pages but that whole into when he arrives is all behind him and he’s trying to figure out the future. They know he’s not Terry now and there are sill Jokerz, but everything else is all Futures End. He ends up fighting a Superman OMAC which means that the Justice League that we know from the original Batman Beyond series isn’t around. It turns out that Barbara Gordon is tho. I fought through Futures End because I thought it was leading somewhere other than just a new Batman Beyond title. And I liked the old Batman Beyond but the fact that things existed the way they were at the start of Futures End means the version we all loved has been New 52ed. I think I need to get DVDs of the cartoon to watch while I do the rest of this to wipe the memory of this title out of my head.
Green Arrow #41 – Oliver is back and his his has grown out quite a bit. On top of needing a barber, he could really use a pal who can fly. His city has some giant flying thing that is snatching up people. He’s not even keeping them around either as we see the hand of one of them on the ground. Add in the white skinned guy pouring bleach on people and this is getting really weird.
Green Lantern #41 – It seems that Oliver isn’t the only one in need of a haircut. I’m sorta digging the new look tho. Hal is out in space and a known renegade. On top of that, he’s gotten hold of a ship with an A.I. that reminds me of the one in the 3D animated series but a lot less sweet and naive. I think this new twist is going to be interesting.
Groot #1 – It took long enough but, yes, Groot finally got his own series. It’s pretty much a humor book with Rocket Racoon in it. There are space sharks, Skrulls, and a Superman homage. It’s a fun story and a good read but not enough to make me add it as another title. Given that Starlord and Rocket Raccoon’s titles were cancelled, I’m surprised this one was started during Secrets Wars.
Justice League #41 – The Darkseid War part 1 – This is an extra sized issue so a lot is going on. The New Gods of Apokolips are trying to track down someone named Myrina Black and killing anyone with the name who isn’t the one they’re looking for. Meanwhile, we get some background on the High Father’s son, now known as Mister Miracle. The Justice League works on tracking down the killers. This becomes a little easier because Cyborg can track down Mother Boxes. One interesting thing in the issue is that Green Lantern is there mentoring Power Ring. Look up 2 reviews to see what the problem with this is. I’m not sure if they are going to explain this or just ignore it. Or maybe the editors just aren’t talking. The Leaguers take on an Amazon who is connected to Apokolips. It turns out she’s really after Power Ring’s extradimensional weapon to summon the Anti-Monitor. Meanwhile, we find out that Luthor’s sister is connected to Apokolips as well when she takes down Luthor right in front of Superman. We do finally get to meet the correct Myrina when Mister Miracle runs across her and her griffin. This is a lot of information dumped in one issue but it flows really well and was done well. I’m actually a lot more interested in this storyline than I thought I would be.
Lobo #7 – It starts off as a standard Lobo story but it looks like they are really pushing through the story of what happened in the background of Lobo destroying his world. He gets sired on to assist a head assassin who is also related to it. In the end tho, it looks like he’s going to have to deal with an Thangarian and some other aliens.
Midnighter #1 – After his appearance in Grayson, Midnighter is back. It’s good to have a gay character in comics again. It seems that Apollo is out of the picture though. It’s interesting to see Midnighter go on a date and be a regular person. He’s still got his connection to the Garden. I really want to see where this all leads to.
Secret Wars #3 of 8 – OK. Things are finally making a little more sense. It seems that Doom and Doctor Strange remember everything. We even find out what happened to Johnny Storm. The craft that Thanos and crew were in is investigated and Stephen finds the Ultimate Spider-Man. It also turns out that he had another ship, one from Earth 616 with Mr. Fantastic, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Starlord, Thor, Spider-Man, and Cyclops/Phoenix. Now I’m really confused about where things are going.
Years of Future Past #1 – We’ve got a slight twist on the original Days of Future Past. This time around, Wolverine is still alive. Kitty and Peter have a daughter named Christina and Wolverine has a son, Cameron. There are still sentinels and President Kelly wants all mutants in concentration camps. Christina’s powers activate while in battle. She seems to have metallic powers like Mercury’s. Cameron thankfully doesn’t have the stereotypical duplication of Wolverine’s powers. Instead, he has the ability to phase through whatever he touches. Mystique and Blob (who it appears Kitty had a hand in capturing) are turned on the X-Men to start a mutant war to prove they should be locked up. I’m not into most of the Secret Wars mini-series, but this one could be interesting. I wonder if other X-Men will be included though, or just the small group they are using in this issue.
There are definitely some good books for this week. It’s nice to have enough worthy stuff to pick from but it also means it’s not an easy choice. After looking over the options, I’ve narrowed it down to the following 3 books: Green Lantern, Justice League, and Midnighter. They are all definitely solid books that I plan to check out more of and look forward to.
