Matt Graham
- Animosity #12
- All-New Wolverine #30
- Spider-Gwen #28
- JLA Doom Patrol Special #1 – I was worried Young Animal was cancelled until the Mother Panic and Shade the Changing Woman updates hit late last year. While those get a second season, Doom Patrol hasn’t even wrapped it’s first. That hasn’t stopped The Milk Wars from happening, where the JLA meets the Doom Patrol to spark an imprint crossover. It’s not reality shattering, as Batwoman and Batman featured in Mother Panic to cement it as Gotham’s mature reader title.
Keeping things in the weird part of the Doom Patrol corner, another final son of Krypton named Milkman Man, raised by evil dairy farmers, appears to help an interdimensional evil corporation to control the Justice League.
I haven’t seen a checklist on this, so I hope I don’t have to get spread too thin following it. I got into Young Animal to avoid these events.
- Jean Grey #11 – Dennis Hopeless said his Jean Grey run would be a dragon slaying hero’s journey, and this is it. Young Jean vs. The Phoenix. I’m not sure if the solicit is a redirect, and I’m not sure where this all fits in given X-Men Blue’s near future plans for Jean and Emma Frost, but here we go.
- Phoenix Resurrection #5 – .The Return of Jean Grey should have been a big deal. A founding member of the X-Men, founding member of X-Factor, the host of Phoenix, who has been dead for almost 20 years (an eternity in comic books), and one of the most beloved characters. Through the Phoenix she has earned the adjective Iconic where the X-Men are concerned.
Yet her return has no weight or drama to it, it’s just one more underwhelming event in a stable of titles that seems to crank underwhelming events out. I wonder how it could’ve been pared down to one of those old 64 pagers. Decompressed storylines and pacing for trade have dulled the skill of working within constraints and utilizing the space given.
This series has been like The Last Jedi. It invokes the power words and imagery, it postures like it has something important and new to say while trading on nostalgia, but in truth it’s just treading water around a handful of worthy ideas. It took three issues for the X-Men to realize Jean is back, as if that’s the one incredulous thing in their lives. The character stand around dropping exposition (telling, not showing) and cracking wise, which may have been tolerable if it was a closer knit cast with ties to Jean, instead of having every active roster on the chase.
I also haven’t been a fan of the rotating artists. Artists can pick up the slack if a script stumbling around, but #4 had some awkward shots weighed down by forcing in that active roster in every panel.
I wish this event unfolded in X-Men Gold in 2 or 3 issues that would coincided with Jean Grey’s monthly solo book schedule. Better yet, a book just called The Uncanny X-Men where all of this could have played out as part of series.
Instead we get a rushed while drawn out $4.99 weekly series that lacks significance or emotional impact for this Jean Grey devotee, while the other X-Men books prepare for their own crossovers (Poison-X!) or storylines independent of this event. Yeah, that sounds like modern Marvel.
James Fulton
Another nice small week – my pull list just keeps getting shorter these days…
- Deathstroke Annual #1 – It looks like this is just another issue of the regular story, and I’m fine with that, because Priest’s writing on this title has been incredible. And the art? Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz!
- Phoenix Resurrection #5 – This title has been a disappointment, but I’m curious to see how it’s all going to end, and how it’s going to set up X-Men Red, which I have some (probably misplaced) excitement for.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi – DJ – When I preordered this book, I didn’t realize that the character DJ would be a) completely inconsequential to the film b) would have an annoying speech affectation. Now I’m a little unsure what to expect from this comic, but I do like Kev Walker’s art.
Other titles I’m looking forward to this week include Outcast, Doctor Aphra, Tales of Suspense, and the conclusions to Space Riders: Galaxy of Brutality (finally) and Eternity.
Mike Maillaro
- ASTRO CITY #50 – Just got word that they are ending the ASTRO CITY ongoing series with issue 52. Though it’s not the end of ASTRO CITY as they said there will be graphic novels and more down the road. Issue 50 starts off an arc picking up where ASTRO CITY 1/2 started many many moons ago.
- SILENCER #1 – Another of DC’s new line of heroes. To be honest, DAMAGE didn’t really grab me all that much, and I feel like these characters should have been featured in METAL before they got their own books. I am hoping DC proves me long, but right now I am not sure any of these books cna have any legs.
- STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI : DJ #1 – I am not sure he was even named in the movie, but DJ is Benicio del Toro’s character who betrayed Finn and Rose. I am real curious to know more about him. Definitely seemed like there was a lot more to this character than we got to see on screen.
- PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY #5 and JEAN GREY #11 – Even though it’s only been five issues, PHOENIX RESURRECTION has felt like it was dragging at times. I am real curious how this all works continuity wise, since young Jean Grey is still featured in POISON X, but that is not all that unusual.
- STAR TREK BOLDLY GO #16 – This has been a real fun “all universes collide” arc. Last issue, we found out that Q was involved in all the trouble the various Enterprises have been going through. This actually reminds me of an overly caffeinated version of my favorite Star Trek book “Q-SQUARED.”
- AVENGERS #678 – NO SURRENDER PART 4! In terms of pacing and action, this has been the exact opposite of PHOENIX RESURRECTION. I am really enjoying this one so far. This is the massive Marvel hero gathering we haven’t gotten in way too long.
- DARK NIGHTS METAL #5 – With the gaps between issues (planned and unplanned), it’s been real hard to maintain the same level of interest in DARK NIGHTS METAL I had when the series started. It has been very good, but I am just not sure it can have any real lasting impact since it just feels like DC has already moved passed METAL for DOOMSDAY CLOCK and the upcoming NO JUSTICE. That is the problem with stacking so many events around each other.
- SPAWN #282 – The hype on this issue is that it will be debuting a new hero who will be getting its own Image book moving forward. I keep thinking that it will end up being Cyan Fitzgerald, though she isn’t a new character. They have been teasing her superpowers a lot the last few months. I think that could be a great change up to SPAWN.
- Animosity #12
- Dark Ark #5
- Detective Comics Annual #1
- Flash Annual #1
- Mystik U #2 (Of 3)
- Powerpuff Girls The Bureau Of Bad #3 (Of 3)
- Star Trek Boldly Go #16
- Walt Disney’s Comics And Stories #741
- All-New Wolverine #30
- Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows #15
- Ben Reilly The Scarlet Spider #13
- Captain Marvel #128
- Defenders #9
- Despicable Deadpool #293
- Falcon #4
- Incredible Hulk #712
- Invincible Iron Man #596
- Jessica Jones #16
- Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #27
- Moon Knight #191
- Old Man Logan #34
- Punisher The Platoon #5 (Of 6)
- Star Wars Doctor Aphra #16
- Tales Of Suspense #101
- Eternity #4 (Of 4)
- Quantum And Woody #2
