Comics

Devil’s Reign: Spider-Man #1

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It seems Ben Reilly‘s role in Marvel’s Devil’s Reign is to get beat up, captured, and rescued. Then repeat. After being freed by his friends, Spidey-Clone is captured again by the Thunderbolts making use of S.H.I.E.L.D. tech. Getting out of his latest jam, Reilly makes it back to Beyond to do a minimal amount of healing before being sent back into danger.

Devil’s Reign: Spider-Man #1 is your typical tie-in issue. While not bad, if you choose to skip the issue there’s nothing here of major interest and  you also won’t miss anything in terms of the larger Devil’s Reign story. The other half of the comment focuses on the Rose, and the character’s obsession with proving himself by capturing Spider-Man for his father. Unfortunately, while his minions are able to momentarily get the upper-hand, things don’t turn out so well in the end. It seems if you want a job done right…

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The War for Earth-3 #1

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Spinning out of the (surprisingly good) latest volume of Suicide Squad comes the first issue of The War for Earth-3 as Amanda Waller and her team invade the alternate Earth controlled by Ultraman and the Crime Syndicate. Meanwhile, Rick Flag‘s team have their own problems on Earth-0 dealing with the surprise Waller left for them.

While Waller’s team takes down Power Ring and then Owlman, Ultraman is distracted by the sex games of Owlman and Superwoman providing the Squad with just the opening they need and Waller time to make her pitch to the world’s most dangerous man. Aside from the seedy Owlman / Superwoman / Ultraman stuff, ick, there is plenty of action (although nowhere near $6 worth) and Waller does have a plan which her team executes leading to a new status quo. The war has begun. Hmm, okay?

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Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat and Kid #2

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Continuing the retelling of classic Usagi stories from the Lone Goat and Kid arc, Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat and Kid #2 weaves together three characters during the Festival of Kite Flying: our traveler, a kite maker, and an unscrupulous gambler.

Tatsusaburo‘s story kicks off events and covers the work needed to produce the region’s largest kite ever. Usagi and Hatsu‘s storylines converge quickly as the rabbit ronin exposes the crooked gambler to the town. Hatsu attempts to save face by turning all the gamblers against the ronin blaming him for the townspeople’s sudden anger to the gamblers as the chase crashes into Tatsusaburo’s story and Usagi goes for an unexpected ride. The different threads are woven delicately together in a rare bloodless Usagi adventure that still holds up well today.

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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #289

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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #289 offers us a team-up of Agent Helix and Dawn “Snake Eyes” Moreno (are we still calling her Snake Eyes?). The formidable pair are in Louisiana on the hunt for Dr. Mindbender and Cobra’s new the base of Cobra’s new B.A.T. program run by Revanche.

I’m not wild about the art from Casey Maloney. Also, the comic is also mostly set-up, including a lame running gag about the two women making a local cop look like a chump, before finally our protagonists pit their skills against the new androids who prove to be more than capable while also be able to hide in plain sight (which Cobra plans to take advantage of by staffing the B.A.T.s throughout its casinos. The action is fine, once the comic finally gets around to it, but I was hoping for more finally seeing these two pair up.

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Elektra: Black, White & Blood #2

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Elektra: Black, White & Blood #2 offers three more tales of Marvel’s most famous assassin in white, black, and plenty of red. While there is no break-out tale in the issue, we do get three solid stories featuring the character in different locales.

“Cut and Run” finds Elektra in Madripoor where Patch puts the assassin onto Joon, a woman of the evening who has fallen in with a dangerous assassin who isn’t too keen on her aborting what he believes to be his unborn child. 

In “Verité” a couple of New York Police Detectives work to try to solve the murder of a witness against the Kingpin who was killed so quickly that the murder wasn’t caught on camera (funny, I didn’t know Elektra was a speedster?). And in “Yokai,” set in Japan, Elektra fights a legendary creature who has stolen a small child.

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Elektra: Black, White & Blood #2 Read More »