Comics

Daredevil #8

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Daredevil #8The latest issue of Mark Waid’s Daredevil returns an old enemy of Daredevil‘s in the Purple Man known as much for his colorful complexion as his ability to bend people to his will. After setting the stage for his current plans years ago, the Purple Man surfaces to begin abducting children all over the city. Revealing himself to be their father, the Purple Man awakes each child’s similar gifts, although he’s not prepared for the welcome deadbeat father receives from his progeny.

With the villain himself taken out by the children he created solely to love him the story takes a dark turn as the kids, now with powers they are only beginning to learn to control and no adult supervision, are left to their own devices. The twist now becomes in how Daredevil will fight the new threat without harming the children.

Daredevil #8 also includes Matt Murdock meeting Kristen McDuffie‘s parents (and offered a book deal for his autobiography). McDuffie’s a great character, but Waid’s decision to tell fans she isn’t the woman for Daredevil takes some of the fun out of these kinds of stories. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Fables #144

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Fables #144Still unaware that the recently resurrected Bigby is being controlled by an outside force, the pair of Ozma (dressed like teen superhero) and Beast housed in the Big Damn Golden Armor) set out to stop him. Along with a giant castle appearing in the middle of Manhattan, the resulting chaos creates one of the funniest lines of the series as a New York cop exclaims “What in the bloody fuckhole of America is going on here?”

Despite magic and armor on their side both Beast and Ozma find defeating (or even slowing down) the wild Bigby impossible. Trying to fight the voice in his head, Bigby has no choice but to eventually murder both Fables continuing his bloody path straight to Fabletown and his wife.

With Bigby’s story in full swing the rest of Fabletown prepares for his arrival, as does Snow White who prepares to meet her husband for what might be the final time. Where Fairest seems to have lost its way a bit, Fables #144 provides a strong tale with an enjoyable back-up story offering the final fate of the Three Blind Mice. Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $2.99]

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G.I. JOE #1

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G.I. JOE #1After discontinuing the company’s various G.I. JOE titles earlier this spring, IDW launches a new series where a changing world threatens G.I. JOE. With Cobra renouncing its terrorist ties and becoming a peace-keeping organization Washington debates whether or not an organization like the JOEs need to exist.

As Cobra attempts to broker peace between Schletteva and Galibi, Scarlett is stuck in Washington attending Senate hearings defending her organization now that their primary threat has apparently seen the error of its ways. The question about what Cobra is really up to, with the help of Siren who continues to rebrand Cobra to the outside world, is left hanging as the first issue comes to a close but we do know not every Cobra soldier is happy in their new roles.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Traviss begins to lay a foundation for the series here but by the nature of the story is forced to be unnecessarily vague about the real intentions of all the players. The art on IDW’s JOE books has always been hit-and-miss. Steve Kurth’s work matches Traviss expositional storytelling but a little more traditional comic style would go a long way to help sell the storyline. For fans.

[IDW, $3.99]

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All-New X-Men #32

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All-New X-Men #32After their encounter with a new mutant Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, and X-23 are scattered across the Marvel Ultimate Earth with no way of getting home. Jean Grey is lucky enough to run into Spider-Man, albeit not the Spider-Man she knows, but other members of the team aren’t so lucky.

Angel finds himself in the middle of the Savage Land, Beast is trapped in the middle of Latveria, after accidentally breaking up a football game X-23 is on the run from the law, and Bobby wakes in the middle of the Mole-Man‘s lair.

The Jean Grey/Miles Morales team-up sells the issue (while also providing a pretty cool splash panel of Miles’ time as Spidey), but the other storylines don’t put the original X-Men in situations which they couldn’t have found on their own Earth (in either timeline, really). As someone who has largely ignored the Ultimate Universe since its creation the comic is is only mildly interesting to me but longtime fans may get more out of it. For fans.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Morning Glories #40

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Morning Glories #40While spending much of the issue highlighting the underground student newspaper crew, Morning Glories #40 offers a philosophical discussion about he nature of reality with the arrival of Oliver Simon and Ellen Richmond who show up to help the class get back on track for the upcoming science fair. Although Vanessa is overjoyed at the unexpected visit from her mother, Ian is less than thrilled with his father’s arrival and lecture on the nature of observable reality. However, the debate does stir something in the young man and force him to take the first step on a dark path in attempting to rewrite history for his own ends.

Given the lecture hall set-up the issue is even more verbose than usual in throwing out ideas from ancient philosophy to modern science fiction to explain the nature of the universe as we know it. The real reveal isn’t the discussion itself (which I’m sure has clues to larger themes buried in Dr. Simon’s ramblings) but the dark nature of Ian who not only tortures the blinded Fortunato but also prepares to use the power of the Cylinder for his own dark purposes. For fans.

[Image, $3.50]

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