I refuse to hide in shame when I admit that three of my top-five picks this week are technically Dawn of X books. What can I say? Johnathon Hickman knows how to put together a universe.
X-Force, Marauders, and Empyre: X-Men are mt three mutant-based picks, leaving the other slots to this week's Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel. It also doesn't escape me how four fifths of this list are Marvel properties, but that is also easy to explain. Marvel's theory of "the more, the merrier" that they've had in recent years has excellent payoff, as far as I can see. There's something for everyone, no doubt about that. But let's not get too caught up in which publisher may or may not be better than others. When it comes down to it, Marvel and DC are both massive conglomerates that care only about their bottom dollar and give very little effort in terms of creator benefits. Dark sides of the industry aside, this was a pretty good week for comics! I'll admit that many of the other issues faltered for me, and many felt unimportant or like filler. These five, however, were the obvious choices that stood out for me in story, art, and overall quality, Continue Reading to find out more about my top picks from the week! WARNING: SPOILERS!
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Wonder Woman #760 by Mariko Tamaki, art by Mikel Janin, colors by Jordie Bellaire
It feels a little repetitive to review every aspect of the phenomenal new Wonder Woman run. I did quite an extended review on issue #759, and this issue held the same reputation in visuals of the comic. In this second issue of the Tamaki run, we see more of the story being set up for the rest of the series. We drop into Wonder Woman #760 exactly where we left off in the last issue--in a prison with Max Lord. I've already written a lot about Max and Diana's very complicated and ugly history, so I won't repeat myself so much here. The way the two of them speak to one another is, in a word, hostile. Lord with his passive aggressive threats and hints at knowing something important; Diana and her stubborn insistence that Lord is at fault for all of this. "This" being the recent plague of mind-control over her city's inhabitants. Every one of them, after the fact, swear they thought something else entirely was going on, not them driving crazy, demolishing the wrong building, etc, etc. Max Lord WOULD be Diana's obvious first guess in who's at fault. They have a history, so she's probably been waiting for him to act up, and most definitely is going to be the first person to suggest his guilt. Back in her apartment, the neighborly young girl from across the hall has broken in to build her couch! Remember, this is the young girl who is about the be revealed (in issue #762) as being the new villain, Liar Liar. We don't have any motives for why she's causing havoc, yet, but we did get a little backstory. Like many fictional problem kids, Liar Liar claims her parents were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Time will tell if this is the truth or a lie, which seems to be her specialty. At the end of the issue, we get Wonder Woman herself as a victim of the same mind-control as the others. When she should have been asleep in bed, she wakes from an apparent attack, on Apokalips. The reader can easily tell whats up as soon as this starts happening, which makes it just the more crushing as we see Diana hack and slash her way through parademons--only able to guess what the actual victims are. After a few calls of her name, Etta Candy seems to be able to snap Diana back to reality. She's in the street, surrounded by the bodies of dozens of soldiers. While this is clearly super bad for Wonder Woman, I'm loving where this is going. One way or another, Diana is going to have to face up that it's not only weak people who fall under mind control, and it's not always so black and white when they do. The public isn't all-in on Wonder Woman, never has been, and this incident will onyl make matters harder for her. I'm still sticking with my theory that Liar Liar is causing all these mind control incidents. She was with Diana at the furniture store when the first case happened to a mother in the parking lot, and she was in Diana's apartment the night of her own attack. What is it that's driving this young girl to trick people into doing horrific things? There's always the chance that she's been doing it with full awareness that Wonder Woman would be the one to save the day, although I couldn't guess as to why, still. It's possible she has a vendetta, and maybe thinks the drunk driver who killed her parents could have been stopped by Diana. A bit of a Holllywood trope, but I'll wait and see how Tamaki plays this one. Wonder Woman #761 comes out in two week son August 25th! Tune in to find out what Max Lord has to do with anything, and to no doubt see more Liar Liar chaos!
Captain Marvel #19 by Kelly Thompson, with Cory Smith, Adriano Di Benedetto, & Tamra Bonvillain art
This is where Kelly Thompson shines on Captain Marvel. Issue #19 follows shortly behind #18, which saw Carol rescue her Kree half-sister from execution after she supposedly leveled an entire Kree/Skrull alliance city. The sister, Lauri-Ell, claims herself to be innocent, and there is little evidence in either direction. Carol has left Lauri-ell in her apartment on Earth while she takes care of Space Boss businesses. I've said it more than once before, but Kelly Thompson writes brilliant buddy-comedy scenes. Usually, in her Captain Marvel run, these are when Carol's super-friends meet up for wine and popcorn, stress-relief fights, and/or poker. This time, it's a gigantic, baby blue, white haired Kree soldier literally shouldering her way through Carol's apartment and New York City. Lauri-ell meets Chewie, and Chewie's Flerkin appetite, and they all seem to agree that dinner is only going to be found outside of the apartment. After a few tries, Lauri-ell manages to squeeze into a tank top and Capri pants from her human sister's closet. But this is New York in the Marvel Universe, and it doesn't take long for trouble to find them. As this is an Empyre event tie-in issue, it makes sense the trouble is the invading Cotati. Lauri-ell gets some light assistance from a hungry Chewie, but it isn't until Captain Marvel arrives on the scene that the real fighting starts. While Carol is known to throw the occasional quip in a fight, Thompson writes this fight wordless, focusing instead on the two women's actions. They've never fought together, but their actions support each other's, as if their shared maternal DNA is what drives their fighting style. It's a nice thought, since it was Carol's mother's heritage that triggered her transformation into a superhero of Earth. In any case, they throw down the Cotati together, and by the end, both women can see the similarities in the other. In the end of the issue, Carol makes an important decision about her role as Kree Supreme Accuser. With the help of one Doctor Stephen Strange, the power of the Accuser All-Weapon is split off into three more parts--taken up by Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman, Rhodey's Iron Patriot, and Jennifer Takeda's Hazmat. Together with Carol, the four of them share the power of the All-Weapon(s), and some killer matching green-and-black outfit variants. No matter how cool this new step was to take, it's a step the Kree/Skrull Alliance will probably not take lightly. As it is, their new Accuser is only half Kree--same as their new Emperor, but her other half is human, and you know what they say about being only human. This also makes me question what amount of the Captain Marvel book is going to be referenced in Empyre, if any. As it stands now, Carol has already betrayed the Empire by not following through on her orders to execute Lauri-ell, which has not been addressed in Empyre, either. My theory stands that based on the main cover for issue #21 (the end of this arc), the general populace on Earth will either think Carol is dead, or her sister will be the one to die. I'm really not fond of either option, but the ol' dead-or-missing-superhero-mystery is a trope that goes way, way back, so I can't be surprised it still gets used. I'm looking forward to the coming changes in Captain Marvel, and hoping that I'm right in suspecting they'll be for the better. Captain Marvel #20 comes out just a week after this, August 19th. The subsequent #21 on September 9th claims to include a choice for Carol that will "change everything, for good." If you've been around the comics block a time or two, you definitely will know that this is something publisher LOVE to put in solicitations and advertisements, no matter if it's true or not. Only time will tell who's actions will matter and what will be affected by Empyre, so hang in there!
X-Force #11 by Benjamin Percy, art by Oscar Bazaldua, colors by Guru eFX
Benjamin Percy is proving himself to be one of the most consistent Dawn of X writers on Hickman's team. His ability to balance plot with horror elements and keeping the lighthearted Marvel style in check is phenomenal, making all aspects of the puzzle work. X-Force is one of two Dawn of X books Percy writes, the other being Wolverine. This issue starts in the healing gardens of Krakoa, where Beast, Sage, and Cecilia are still trying to find the secrets behind the new Russian Super-Soldiers they discovered. In a moment out of Alien, the body they're inspecting bursts open at the chest, and a smaller solider, just as skinless and horrifying as the original, leaps out and begins to fight. They give the soldiers the nickname Russian Nesting Dolls, which is hilariously fitting. While Beast easily snapped the neck of this one, every single body of the Russian soldiers they brought to Krakoa soon has the same miniaturized version of itself burst forth with murderous intent. Each time one of the creatures is killed, a smaller version of it pops out of the torso and begins the reign of terror all over again. The chaos is only just beginning, too. It doesn't take long for the creatures to find Sage's tech office to take control of the Krakoan defense systems, using it against the mutants. Between Domino and Beast, X-Force figures out that the main attacking force of the little creatures is nothing but a distraction, meaning they're hiding their true intentions. Deep in the forest of Krakoa, Professor Xavier is confronted by Black Tom Cassidy, and brought to the safety of Krakoa's deep, muddy center. They call it his "panic room", another jovial nickname for a stark and morbid reality. But still, the truth behind the intentions of these Russian nesting soldiers is still hidden, only to be discovered by the least suspecting. In a picturesque clearing somewhere on Krakoa, Kid Omega and Phoebe Cuckoo climb out of the bushes (one of the big laws of Krakoa is to reproduce, and boy do the mutants take that to heart). This in itself is a bit of an ongoing joke in Dawn of X. In a previous issue of Wolverine, Logan had the Cuckoos flirt with Kid Omega, taking advantage of his crush on them to get him to help Logan out. In return, they got Logan to set them up with Cable, which we saw followed up on in Cable #2 the following week. It seems that during their "fake" flirtation, Phoebe learned she actually likes Kid Omega, and wants him for herself. She says the Cuckoos share everything, even boyfriends, as seen in Cable. Kid Omega's moment of glory isn't to last, though. As soon as Phoebe leaves, one of those pesky Russian nesting soldiers stabs him with the stolen Cerebro sword (Kid Omega's many deaths is another running joke), and shoves him through the nearest Krakoan gateway. Unfortunately, but most definitely according to plan, the gateway was to Russia. On the other side is none other than Mikhail Rasputin--older brother to Colossus and Magik! If you're unfamiliar with Mikhael, here's a brief run-down based on my own knowledge. Mikhael, the first born Rasputin sibling, became a Russian Cosmonaut before Illyana was ever even born. Sometime in the Uncanny X-Men 280's, he encounters the X-Men in space, and by #293, he was the one who flooded the Morlock's tunnels and killed them all. While presumed dead, Storm finds out otherwise in her 1996 mini-series, and battles him over the masses of death he caused. To make matters worse, in the 1997 mini-series Truth or Death, he brings a past version of the New Mutants team to the present to try and save Illyana from the Legacy Virus that kills her. In the end of this story, it is found out that Mikhael was the infected one, and in reality he gives Illyana the virus to save himself. At the point he transported her to in the future, Magik had already been de-aged and killed by the virus. What all this surmounts to is Mikhael Rasputin is some serious bad news, and now he has the Cerebro sword. I'm looking forward to finding out his role in the new Russian mutant island, and how this connects to X of Swords. X-Factor issue #13 comes out September 9th, and by issue #13, X of Swords will be in full swing.
Marauders #11 by Gerry Duggan, art by Stefano Caselli and colors by Edgar Delgado
The satisfaction I felt at the end of Marauders #11 has been a long time coming. Some time back at the beginning of the series, so something like a year ago now, Kate Pryde, Red Queen and Captain of the Marauders team, was killed by Sebastian Shaw. I've never liked Shaw as a character, but that's beside the point here. Only a few issues ago, her murder was discovered, but still not the means, and when they tried to resurrect Kate the way the mutants do these days, they seemed to have no luck. It was really starting to look gloomy for the Marauders book and team. This week, all of that finally changes. The issue starts with the funeral of Kate Pryde, where they send her body out to sea and light it on fire, viking style. The funeral is touching, with mutant of all kinds showing their support for Kate and her legacy. For a traditionally young character, Kate Pryde left quite a legacy in her life. She left her home to live with Professor Xavier and the X-Men as a young child. She was a small, dark and curly haired Jewish girl who also happened to be a mutant, so there was a lot for people to like about her. She's been around since 1980, and premiered the same issue as Emma Frost. This made it especially touching when it is Emma whom presumed-dead Lockheed goes to when he finally arrives on Krakoa; it's Emma who discovers the truth about Shaw; it's Emma who goes to Charles to plea for the Five to try to resurrect Kate one last time. And try again they do. The mutant resurrection team known as The Five have tried almost two dozen times, unsuccessfully, to return Kate to life. This time, with Emma's help, they try something different. Emma has a nice psychic speech about how Kate has never been like the rest of them. When there are walls to break down, she simply goes through them. With this in mind, Emma psychically reaches into the egg, and into Kate's unborn mind. She calls her to reach out, use her powers, move past the egg, and into the world. It turns out, none of Kate's resurrections were failures. The team just wasn't going about the right way to get her out of the shell. This also answers thee question as to why Kate wasn't able to use the Krakoan gates--she has to phase through the gate, as she phased through the egg. Now that she's back, Kate will be able to help Emma take their revenge on Sebastian Shaw, and oh, what a sweet revenge that will be! I couldn't possibly finish this Marauders issue review without mentioning one other important story detail. Throughout the series so far, we've been following "white pages" with correspondence from a government agent tasked in keeping an eye on mutant and Krakoan activities. Over time, through these emails and memos we've learned the name of the agent is Delores Ramirez, and her mother was recently saved through the new Krakoan pharmaceuticals. This issue, we get to take a step further into Delores' life when Storm meets her on a train. The Cuckoos have made the area private for them to talk, and we see for the first time that Delores is wheelchair bound. She has found Delores in person to thank her for key information that enabled the mutants to stop a tainted delivery of their medicine from making it's way into public hands (see: bits and pieces of Maruaders, X-Force, and Wolverine leading up to this point). Before she leaves, Delores thanks Storm, as well. She says she appreciates the lengths mutants are going to make sure the life-saving drugs get everywhere they are needed, and not just the wealthy. It's a short comment, but it says a lot about the state of the American healthcare system. At the end of the issue, Delores reports her encounter with Storm to her superiors by way of another white page memo. She declares there was no coercion, but recounts the meeting accurately. She ends her report wondering why such a formidable woman leader such as Ororo would not be among the voices of Krakoa. I'm taking this small line as hope that maybe Storm will get her own role or series, once she is healthy again (Storm's ongoing health mystery is a background plot thread, but one that I've been watching get closer and bigger with each issue). If I have one major critique of the issue, it's that the artist somehow got away with drawing Magik in her old Uncanny X-Men suit from the Bendis era, when the creators wanted to show how she'd mattered, so they gave her underwear for bottoms and a boob window. The appearance of this outfit wouldn't have mattered at all, except Magik was a key participant in Kate's funeral, so the error was glaring. Hopefully the costumes and looks of the characters will be more consistent and updated moving forward. Marauders #12 is on shelves September 9th, and I can't wait! There's so much going on int he world of the X-Men, things are finally slowing down? That felt backward to say, but I think it holds true. This has been a wild roller-coaster, I'm not angry at a short reprieve. In any case, check out the cover for Marauders #12--spoiler alert, Kate's "hold fast" knuckle tattoo has been changed to "KILL SHAW" and I am SO here for it!
Empyre: X-Men #3 by Zeb Wells, Vita Ayala, & Ed Brisson. Art by Andrea Broccardo, colors by Andrea Broccardo
I've actually already written a pretty extensive review of issue #3 of this mini-series, which you can find with parts one and two here! It includes pictures and in-text links that can take you to the corresponding review of choice. If you're after more of a "TL;DR" version, I've got you covered here: As the mutant zombies kill the Cotati, those Cotati become zombies, too. Magik takes one of the old ladies to help Beast find a way to kill the Cotati pod, then saves a Cuckoo from being eaten alive. Explodey Boy, who's still kicking, explodes the remaining Cotati, and the zombies feast on the bodies of the many Multiple Men. When the killer serum for the pod is finished, Nightcrawler BAMFs it to Genosha and honestly kind of barely does anything with it. Meanwhile, Magik and that Cuckoo find the source of the zombies, Wanda's staff from issue #1. When Illyana picks it up, she immediately reverts to her Darkchilde form, fully aware of her new abilities to control the dead. Just in time, too, because that Cotati pod was getting munched on by Zombies, so it turned Zombie and hatched a gigantic zombie Cotati monster! Structurally, I have issues with the art and the pacing, but it isn't anything so bad as to remove the issue from this list. You can check out the full review for more on those critiques. This mini-series wraps up in issue #4, just next week August 19th!
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