Welcome to my comic picks of the week!
As opposed to my weekly pull lists, the pick list is made of my favorite weekly comics after having read them. Sometimes things are marketed to be one thing, and end up another, so these are the confirmed goodies! This week for my top 5, I picked Batgirl #47, Daredevil #23, Hellions #2, Wolverine #3, and the Free Comic Book Day of Horizon Zero Dawn #0! I didn't even know that last one was coming out this week, so it was a great surprise that turned out to be an even better read! As this is one of my first weeks doing pick list blog posts, I have yet to land on a format that I know will work, so please bear with me! Other than that, Continue Reading to find out more about the top picks of this comic week! (Spoilers abound!)
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HELLIONS#2
As this is my top pick of the week, it will be a more extended review than the others. When it comes to his expanding Dawn of X universe, Head of X Johnathon Hickman seems to play favorites just a tad. Which is a good thing, in this sense, because it shows he knows the Marvel writers' strengths and how to play them to the advantage of the mutants. Benjamin Percy, for example, was tapped for X-Force before Wolverine--a series that captures the character so well, it brought retired Adam Kubert back to drawing comic interiors. I'm beginning to see that Zeb Wells might be the next star Marvel writer, thanks to Hickman's strategic placement. Wells has done some celebrated series' before, including the current Ant-Man, which I very much enjoy. His first issue of Hellions knocked it out of the park, no question. By default, it is impossible for the Hellions series to be boring. In mutant society, second chances are a big deal, and integral to their society. After the founding of the island nation of Krakoa, second chances suddenly became attainable for every mutant again, but it's not so easy for some. Several historically "evil" mutants have been assigned to the new X-Men team Hellions, in an attempt to rehabilitate and direct their often destructive powers for good purpose. You get a surprising gang of mutants in this one, led under the watchful eye of Psylocke (its notable to remember Kwannon's recent split with Betsy Braddock--the two are now their own individuals again at last). It would take all day for me to type out the explanations of every Hellions character, so I'll get the hits: Grey Crow, of the original Marauders team; Havok, the brother of Cyclops; and Empath, one of Emma Frost's original Hellions. Also notable, while the Hellions team is under the day-to-day eye of Kwannon, Mister Sinister is their true benefactor, and their missions are assigned by him. The issue starts with Kwannon bringing her wards to their newest assignment: tearing down Mister Sinister's old orphanage, and adjoining cloning facility. It's clear from the beginning that something bad is bound to pop out from the shadows of the facility, and it doesn't take long to find out what. Or, rather, who. Grey Crow is shocked to find his former Marauders team members, apparently long since dead and reanimated. The undead mutants turn out to be under the control of the Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor! I LOVE Madelyne, for reasons I won't lay out here. If you're new to the character, briefly: Mister Sinister cloned Jean Grey and called her Madelyne Pryor, and made her think she was real. Scott Summers (Cyclops) fell in love with her because she looked like Jean, married her, and they had a baby she named Nathan. Just after Nathan is born, Scott leans Jean has returned from the dead and runs off to be with her. Madelyne is attacked, stolen away, and it takes 13 issues of X-Factor before Cyclops comes back to see if his wife or son are even still alive. In time, Maddie is saved by the X-Men team (minus Scott at this point), and becomes their tech girl until she discovers Scott and Jean (who is alive again) are together on X-Factor. Shortly after, she is tricked by a demon to become the Goblin Queen, and subsequently learns of her true beginnings. Girl's got a right to be mad as hell, if you ask me. Maddie died at the end of this Inferno saga, and wasn't brought back in a permanent canon way until about 2014. Upon her revealing herself, everyone is shocked, and she's asked, "Madelyne, you're back?" to which she responds, ultimately, that she's been back for a while, it's just that no one noticed. Knowing her back story and the number of times she's tried to get her revenge, this hits a lot harder. She easily has the uperhand in this fight. Goblin Queen and zombie warriors against already mentally unstable and now shocked and emotionally compromised Hellions. Remember how I mentioned Havok and Empath being important characters? When Madelyne was abandoned by his brother Scott, it was Alex Summers (Havok) who fell closest to the husband role. And so, when she first became Goblin Queen, Madelyne took Havok as her Goblin Prince and escort--with a lot of mental manipulation. Later, when Madelyne tried again to return in a 2008 run of X-Men, she used her Goblin Queen powers to manipulate Empath into doing her bidding. So you get why these two might be compromised here. The fight doesn't go well, and the issue ends with Psylocke fighting off fellow teammate Wild Child while Havok walks out with Madelyne. Not a good start for the team. But Madelyne did say something interesting before the fight began. She said that anyone who sent them to that location must really have it in for them. She's ensuing that Mister Sinister is not just using the Hellions to clean up his messes, but he potentially knew about Madelyne's existence there and did not care to warn them of her threat. it isn't exactly surprising to find out Sinister is a cold and selfish man, but in this case he may have deliberately sent his Hellions to their death. I'm really excited for the upcoming issues, and am happy so far with how Zeb Well is writing the series! I'm always rooting for Maddie to get some kind of justice for what was done to her, or at the very least get a serious apology from all parties involved. Scott, in particular, screwed carelessly and knowingly with her psyche, even after she bore him a son. While her actions following may have been extreme, they were a fair response from someone who'd been so abused by those who claimed it their mission to be a hero. Hellions #3 comes out August 26th! That's more than enough time to catch-up, and even familiarize yourself with the X-Men: Inferno saga, and others this series will be referencing!
Daredevil #23
For a while, when I thought of Chip Zdarsky, the name was synonymous with comedy. Looking back at this point, that was a ridiculous idea. Zdarsky has written Spider-Man: Life Story, Jughead, X-Men/Fantastic Four, The Thing and the Human Torch, and the recently Eisner Award Winning series Afterlift. He's also the artist on Esiner Award winning comic Sex Criminals alongside writer Matt Fraction. So I guess it REALLY should not be so surprising that Chip also writes a KILLER Daredevil. I've mentioned a few times before that I've read a good bit of Daredevil in my comics-loving life. Each run has it's ups and downs, some working out better than others. But this Zdarsky run, I have to tell you, it is really something else. At this point in the series, we've seen Matt try to come to term with accidentally directly causing the death of a small-time criminal, put down the mask, work to make up for his sins, and learned about the real wealthy and powerful elite in Hell's Kitchen. He's even teamed up with the infamous Wilson Fisk, Mayor of Hell's Kitchen, to fight back against attackers of their city. In this issue, the smoke has cleared, and Matt Murdock knows he must face his crimes. Originally he planned on simply turning himself in, as Matt Murdock. With the help of his good friend and fellow lawyer Foggy Nelson, Matt strikes a deal. He will be tried as Daredevil, the masked hero. But the judge has one amendment: he will not run a trial without knowing the identity of the man he accuses. With some trepidation, Matt reveals himself. Matt Murdock has been a lawyer in New York and California for decades and has been a part of countless court cases, big and small. He's run trials against Daredevil by utilizing other masked super-friends in disguise. He's won landmark cases, morally ambiguous cases, and cases that were so publicized, they might as well have been drama programming. When Matt Murdock reveals to this fellow lawmaker he is the one and only Daredevil, he gets the slap and shaming he deserves. He is called out on hypocrisy, foundations of lies, and willingly causing constant problems for his coworkers who are just out here trying to save the world the legal way. And yet the judge sticks by his word--the trial will continue as agreed, and he will keep his silence. But Matt can be sure, he WILL feel the full force of the justice system he once claimed to be a part of.
Batgirl #47
For starters, I don't regularly keep up with Batgirl. You can see my Spotlight on Women in Comics from last week for a short explanation as to why I haven't really found my way back to Barbara Gordon, even though she's one of my favorite characters at DC Comics. Fair warning, it brings to light some of the less fun parts of the comic industry. With that being said, I fully plan on collecting all of Cecil Castellucci's run, now that I am fully aware of it's existence. I've been following Castellucci for only a short time, since she wrote Female Furies for DC last year. That series is striking in so many ways, and in my opinion is one of the best mini-series from DC in the past decade, easily. Unfortunately, it suffers from Female Comic Syndrome: when anything in comics that is female led, female based, female driven, or female created is seen as "less than", because it it for/by/about women. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out unconscious bias against women that existed similarly in the Symphony Orchestra. There just weren't women on the orchestra, and people believed this was because women weren't as good of musicians. However, when a curtain was put between the auditioning player and judge, more women started getting accepted onto the Symphony. Similarly, female based comics are often seen subconsciously as inferior and not given a chance. If you foll of Castellucci on Twitter, you'd have heard sometime last week that Batgirl #47 is a response to the Killing Joke.I spoke about this in my Pull list from last week, if you're unsure what that means. Knowing Castellucci's history on Female Furies and how she handled the topics of violence against women in it, I knew this would NOT be an issue to miss. And, as it turns out, she was right. This issue was incredibly satisfying to read, as a fan of Batgirl and Barbara Gordon. And I can't quite explain the loosening feeling in my chest when I see her portrayed not only at an age that is appropriate for a character with her history, but to see her thriving at it. When we first see Babs, she's coming in from what must have been a sweet interaction with a new character, Jason. As I understand it, Jason had an accident that Batgirl was responsible for, and now Barbara is dating him. Don't quote me, I haven't caught up yet. She pours herself some wine and makes some mental notes of pride in personal growth before her bat-training notices the table was moved (intruder alert!), and she spins to face the Joker himself. A moment later, and he's triggered a device to disable the spinal implant allowing Babs to walk. The way this scene is written is decidedly female. There is no satisfaction given to the Joker on his arrival, in fact, when he's busy giving his villainous monologue about how he thinks she's so frail and so helpless, she's not hearing him, and neither does the reader. She's actually fighting back the raging fear and PTSD, and doing something about him. The Joker doesn't even notice her movements until she's swung her whole body at him, breaking his nose before he can defend himself. Already, Barbara is a thousand times more formidable than in their Killing Joke encounter. But being the nasty villain he is, the Joker has more plans for her, and uses her spinal implant to force her legs onto her building's balcony. He delivers is second villain monologue here, although we can hear what he's saying this time. It's mainly accusatory, calling her cruel names and assuming the worst intentions behind her actions. It took me a while to figure out why this struck home so well. This monologue the Joker is giving her is an example of the daily criticism many women face online. Especially if you look at female politicians, absolutely everything they do is scrutinized and treated as if every breath is taken with an ulterior motive. You can even see the pattern these online harassers tend to take in the Joker's attack. First comes the verbal attack, name calling, and jeering, demeaning and degrading in whatever way they can. Then, when they don't get the response desired (shown here as Babs breaking his awful nose), it turns accusatory, blaming the woman for the problems of the world, trying to turn the table on her, make her the real bad guy. But it doesn't work, and the Joker doesn't get what he wants (which, literally, is information). Instead, as he continues to monologue, Barbara does what he would least expect. When she finds a weapon, instead of trying again to attack to Joker, she takes out his power over her--she stabs it into her spinal implant. Knowing he has no power in the situation anymore, the Joke starts to run, but not before being caught by Barbara's makeshift javelin. The issue ends with them both crippled on the floor, and I can't say I'm sure what happens next. Batgirl #47 is part of the event Joker War, which spins out of the current Batman series. I'm massively NOT a fan of the current Batman series, for many reasons, and do not respect the writing of the man in charge. Because of his failure to portray women well, I worry what he will do with Batgirl going forward. But for now, thanks to Castelluci, Barbara finally has some revenge. Batgirl #48 comes out August 25th, so I hope to catch up with Castellucci's run before then!
Wolverine #3
Benjamin Percy is quickly becoming one of my favorite X-Men writers of all time. He was picked up by Johnathon Hickman for the Dawn of X X-Force title, which is easily one of my favorite of the ongoing books today. He recently got started on Wolverine, and has blown it out of the park just as much. It isn't news to learn Logan is the most tortured character in all of comics. He's lived countless lives and has been many things to many people. Through it all, he still finds the energy to keep fighting the good fight alongside his X-Men compatriots. In this series so far, Logan has been tracking down a mysterious cartel that uses Krakoan flowers to create mind bending drugs. It turns out to be a deep conspiracy, much of which is revealed to the reader in this issue. A new character known as the Pale Girl, a potentially Omega-level mutant working for this cartel as an enforcer, her psionic powers making it next to impossible to get close. Juuuuust barely not impossible, and Wolverine is going to see that made possible. Using a (honestly, super fun) team of X-Men, Wolverine manages to break into her hidden facility and get some much needed intel on what she and the cartel are planning. Something I really enjoy from these Dawn of X titles are the continued pattern of "white pages" that give extra story information through documents and other informational text. One of the recurring white pages follows a government agent in charge of following mutant activities involving their new nation, Krakoa. While there have been some really interesting developments as far as the agent of the desk themselves goes, this issue of Wolverine had the agent (now know to be one Delores Ramirez) citing some new and potentially disastrous information. It seems Russia, one of the nations refusing to sign the Krakoan trade accords (and therefore be given the medicine made from Krakoan flowers), seems to be building one of their own rival mutant nations. Additionally, Russia is behind a number of attacks targeted to make the life-saving Krakoan drugs look incredibly dangerous. This will no doubt cause a lot of issues in the long run for Krakoa, so it's good they're finding out now. Percy is just so excellent at writing Logan. He gets the balance of humor, style, and sadness that make up Wolverine, not to mention the excellent writing of his relationships. This is only issue 3, but I'm already looking forward to everything this series will have to offer.
Horizon Zero Dawn #0
I will be the first to admit I didn't know this "zero issue" was happening until I saw it on the shelves. Due to the unusual COVID-19-induced situation in the comics industry this year, the annual Free Comic Book Day did not happen. Usually taking place the first Saturday of May (as to not compete with the paid book releases on Wednesdays), it was at some point decided the free comics will be released over the course of several Wednesdays this month. Last week, Horizon Zero Dawn #0 was one of the free comics! If you're unfamiliar with the world of the Horizon Zero Dawn game this comic is based off of, don't sweat it! There's plenty of filler pages to give the reader all the pertinent information about this incredible world and it's well thought out societies. To make things better, the story is written by one of the actual HZD game story writers, Anne Toole, so we can expect a lot of the same accurate female-based plots! On the other end of things is Ann Maulina, who's clear, almost animated style art captures the characters and the world in a totally different way, but still seems to be the perfect translation for game-to-comic. Not to mention, and I don't recall if this was ever shown in the game, but our heroine's midriff-baring top is matched on her male counterparts! I love costume design equality. This zero issue follows a new character, Talanah, after Aloy saves her people from the evil machines. Talanah is the Sunhawk (equavalent maybe to a General) at the Meridian Hunter's lodge, where she follows in her father's footsteps. She is disturbed by the fact that Aloy disappeared from the city after saving the day, and the recent machine attacks make her think more trouble is brewing. The issue ends with Talanah heading off herself to find Aloy, and hopefully help stop trouble before it bothers anyone again. This issue made me want to play the game again! I'm not a massive gamer by any means, but HZD and it's expansion, the Frozen Wilds, captured me like no other. I've spent countless days running around the beautiful world Guerrilla Games built, even after completing all my missions. I definitely feel like this issue captures the spirit of the game. Horizon Zero Dawn #1 comes out August 5th with an amazing cover by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau. You really don't have to know the game at all to join the fun, and this #0 issue is free, so get it while it's still out there!
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