The Weekly Round-Up #689 With What’s the Furthest Place From Here? #11, Mosely #2, Danger Street #3, Fantastic Four #4, Star Wars #31 & More Plus The Week In Music!

Columns, Top Story

Best Comic of the Week:

What’s the Furthest Place From Here? #11 – As the Academy has fallen apart, so has the more focused narrative of this series.  We’ve been getting a lot of one-off issues lately that help to fill in some of the backstory of the weird world that Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss have created for this series.  This one focuses on Oberon, who has gone his separate way from everyone, and is living in the woods, where he seems to be tolerated by the kids that run around wearing animal heads and silently killing interlopers.  He works to earn their trust and a place in their family, but he really doesn’t understand their ways.  I had to check a few times that this issue was drawn by Boss, as the style of the art seems looser than what I’ve come to expect from him.  I also noticed that the chapter headings that turn up every page or two in most issues are missing from this issue, and I’m not sure what that suggests.  I love this title, in all its quirkiness, and am happy that we’re getting back to where things were left when the Academy was broken up.

Quick Takes:

Batman Incorporated #5 – The first arc of this series comes to its close as way too many characters in vaguely Bat-themed outfits fight one another.  Ghost-Maker and Phantom One have their showdown, and we learn the truth around the former’s abandonment of his protegé.  I’m enjoying this series, and hope that going forward, writer Ed Brisson will take a little more time in establishing some of the newer and more obscure characters that fill it.  

Captain Marvel #46 – I haven’t been reading this book at all, but after reading the first issue of Black Cloak a couple of weeks ago, I started questioning why I’m not paying more attention to Kelly Thompson’s comics.  Then this issue kind of tied in with this week’s issue of X-Men, and it gave me an excuse to grab it.  I didn’t realize that Carol’s interactions with the Brood have been happening for a while, and that she’s led a squad of X-Men, alongside a pair of ex-Avengers, into their nest.  Thompson puts a lot of light moments into her series, and I’m not always sure how I feel about that, but I did enjoy this issue, and want to know a lot more about the new Binary character.  I also enjoyed Javier Pina’s art a lot.

Danger Street #3 – This is such an odd series, given that Tom King is linking together a number of characters that don’t have a lot of business being in the same comic series.  The thing is, this little thought exercise seems to be working, as the various characters circle one another.  The kids of Danger Street plot to kill Starman and Warlord for causing their friend’s death, while Lady Cop and now Orion also search for these heroes, who are themselves getting involved with the Green Team as a way of trying to restore Good Looks to life.  I think a lesser artist would really harm this book, but Jorge Fornés is the right person for the job.

Fantastic Four #4 – We finally learn what happened that caused the FF to be on the outs with the city of New York, and separate from one another.  It’s a bit of a surprise, although I guess it’s not a surprise that a split second decision Reed made ended up having massive consequences for the team and their families.  I’m enjoying Ryan North’s writing on this book a lot.  He’s got a more character-driven approach to the FF than I’ve seen in a while, and I’m intrigued about how the team is going to function with these resentments and other considerations affecting their relationships.  It makes the book feel fresh again.

Invincible Iron Man #3 – Gerry Duggan’s new Iron Man run swings into full gear with this issue, as he finally figures out where this latest threat against him is coming from, and we’re treated to some deleted scenes from the original Armor Wars storyline.  I feel like everyone who has written Tony Stark since Matt Fraction’s run is just trying to repeat story beats from previous runs, and while Duggan seems to be doing the same thing, it feels like he’s spent more time doing his research at least.  I’m interested in this story, and how it might intersect with some of the work that Duggan and the other X-writers have been doing.

Kaya #5 – Wes Craig’s excellent new series reaches the end of its first arc, with a pretty big cliffhanger.  Kaya is set in an intriguing fantasy world that I feel we are just starting to learn about, and features a wide variety of interesting characters.  Craig’s art has undergone a bit of a transformation since his Deadly Class run, with a more expansive approach that works really well.  The colours in this issue, by Jason Wordie, are gorgeous.  

Marauders #11 – Kate has some ideas about restoring Threshold on Genosha, and I’m left wondering if the Marvel Universe needs another group of potentially millions of mutants establishing their own country on Earth, so soon after Arakko.  I just feel like this is an idea that no one will ever engage with again after Steve Orlando moves on, and I’m not sure it’s all that compelling, seeing as I feel like we’ve read this same story recently.  There’s a lot of chaos to Orlando’s approach to this book, and I feel it’s amplified by Eleonora Carlini’s art.  Sometimes that’s a good thing, but at other times, I find it hard to follow.  I noticed there wasn’t an issue of Marauders listed in the latest Previews, and I’m wondering what that might mean.

Monica Rambeau: Photon #3 – Monica believes she’s in an alternate reality that keeps shifting around her, and she can’t quite figure out how to get home.  She has good intuition, and a journey into space has her meeting and helping a race that might be able to help her out, but she also has to confront the possibility that she’s somehow responsible for breaking all of reality.  Eve Ewing is having fun writing this, and the book looks good.  My hope for this book is that it will help return Monica to a place of some prominence in the Marvel Universe; I’d love to see her back in the Avengers.

Mosely #2 – Rob Guillory’s cautionary tale about AI feels pretty timely, but he takes things to pretty extreme ends, as Mosely tests out his new abilities in a fight against one of the AI ‘Gods’ that have transformed human existence.  I was happy to see that Guillory is drawing his own backup story too, which helps to flesh out some of the characters’ backstory.  This is another excellent new series from Boom!

Nightcrawlers #1 – The Sins of Sinister event is turning out to be pretty enjoyable.  This series, Nightcrawlers, builds on recent events of the Legion of X title, as writer Simon Spurrier extends elements of that story ten years into the future.  Mother Righteous’s true identity is revealed, as she has Vox Ignis (Banshee and the Spirit of Variance) work at resisting Sinister’s rule.  They recruit some of Sinister’s Nightcrawler-based chimera to their side, thus tying it to Hickman’s Powers of X series that launched the Krakoan era.  The coordination between Kieron Gillen and Spurrier seems pretty good here.

Resident Alien: The Book of Love #4 – The latest Resident Alien miniseries comes to its close, with resolutions in the storylines about Download and the nursing home manager who appeared to be enriching herself when residents died.  This story arc barely made use of Harry’s appeal as a character, showing that the town has kind of taken over as the main character of this book.  The issue ends with a revelation that will change Harry and Astra’s life a great deal in the coming months, and I’m looking forward to Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse returning with more Resident Alien soon.

Star Wars #31 – Luke, Leia, and their main cast have found themselves lost in a nowhere dimension after a hyperspace oddity, and now they are guests of the Kezarat Colony.  Most of this issue is given over to introducing this No-Space and its history, and I do find it kind of odd that Charles Soule is taking the main Star Wars characters out of the big fight between Crimson Dawn and the Empire with this story arc.  I’m enjoying it, and the art of Andrés Genolet, which is decidedly non-Star Wars in tone and style.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #31 – Valance and Darth Vader go at it in this issue, as Valance has learned the depths of how his memories were exploited and he was betrayed.  This series has really been clicking in recent months, after long stretches of feeling like filler on the schedule.  I’ve come to like these characters a lot more, and have enjoyed watching Ethan Sacks grow as a writer.  I’m curious to see where this book is headed, and how Beilert is going to deal with his grief.

WildCATS #4 – Grifter is trapped in a foreign country where just about everyone is looking for him, and the efforts being made by Zealot and Fairchild to get Marlowe to allow them to go get him are going nowhere.  This issue is useful in that it starts to really break down how these characters interact with one another, and further establish this iteration of the Wildstorm universe in the modern DCU.  I’m enjoying this book more than I expected to, and am glad I decided to keep getting it.

Wolverine #30 – Now that Logan’s back in his right mind, he wants revenge on Beast.  Sage, however, wants to handle things properly and have the Quiet Council decide his fate, but after Beast attacks Jeff Bannister’s daughter, and then Bannister himself, Logan is pretty angry.  This book, and X-Force, it’s sister title, is finally working for me, for the first time in a long time.  I’m happy with Juan José Ryp’s art, and am looking forward to getting some resolution on Beast’s story.

X-Men #19 – I’m really enjoying this series right now.  Most of the team head into space to try to rescue Corsair from the Brood, while Forge and Monet try to access the gate Forge planted in Knowhere.  I’m not sure how this issue is tieing into Captain Marvel, as advertised (I know I discussed it above, but I read this issue first).  I’m enjoying the team dynamic here, and hope that Gerry Duggan doesn’t rush into a new lineup too quickly.

Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:

Marvel Voices: Wakanda Forever #1

Swamp Thing Green Hell #2

Wasp #2

The Week in Music:

Leland Whitty – Anyhow – I remember when Leland Whitty used to just show up to play saxophone or flute on a few tracks on any given BADBADNOTGOOD album, and then when they acknowledged that he’s actually a pivotal member of the group.  Now he’s got a solo debut album, and it’s pretty great.  There are some more traditional jazz tracks here, as well as one that is basically a BADBAD joint.  I like the groove to this album, and am always happy to support a hometown legend in the making.

Oscar Jerome – Spoon – British guitarist Oscar Jerome is all over the place on this album, moving from jazz to r’n’b and back again, yet the album feels very cohesive.  Jerome surrounds himself with gifted musicians and just follows his heart.  This didn’t grab me the first time I played it, but the more I do, the more I enjoy it, even if I find it a little difficult to classify.

Get in touch and share your thoughts on what I've written: jfulton@insidepulse.com