Comics

Moon Knight #1

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Moon Knight #1Underutilized since the end of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev‘s twelve-issue run which ended in April 2012, Moon Knight has been largely absent from the Marvel Universe popping up in guest-spots here and there. And with good reason as that run is a hard act to follow. Picking up the torch for the new series which returns the hero from the west coast back to New York is writer Warren Ellis and artist Declan Shalvey.

Although strong in several areas, Moon Knight #1 is a little weak in terms of both action and the delusional insanity the character has been known for. In fact Marc Spector seems to be far more sane than in quite some time. And for a comic that focuses on a man with a personality disorder it’s surprisingly absent of thought balloons or any insight into what’s going on in our hero’s head.

Helping on a case involving a slasher, the comic illustrates Spector’s deductive abilities, stealthiness (even while wearing an all-white suit), his near limitless resources, and exceptional fighting skills. If he wasn’t Marvel’s crazy Batman before he is now.

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Beware the Batman #5

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Beware the Batman #5When an old enemy decides to get revenge on Katana Batman‘s new partner finds herself public enemy number one. To clear her name and prove that one of Battleaxe’s apprentices is actually impersonating her and committing crimes under Katana’s name, Batman’s partner will have to stick clear of police while tracking down a mirror image of herself.

As with the last issue, Beware the Batman #4 relies on characters that were never introduced in the television show. Given how the character is introduced here, I wonder if there was a script on the show to introduce the character of Battleaxe that simply never got made (or aired).

Katana vs. Katana works well, and gives the police a heightened reason to target Batman and his partner. Of course all this leads up to next month’s premature final issue of the series told completely from the perspective of Alfred. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Worlds’ Finest #20

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Worlds' Finest #20Continuing the “First Contact” storyline begun in Batman/Superman #8, when Superman becomes infected by the same nanites causing Power Girl to loose control of her powers the foursome of heroes split up to keep the pair of malfunctioning Kryptonians away from each other.

Power Girl and Batman fly ahead to New Gammora, where the Dark Knight Detective has deduced the trouble has originated from, and where they discover the mad scientist behind Kara’s recent troubles which are only a byproduct of his plan to perfectly clone Kryptonian DNA, while Huntress and Superman make their way more slowly to the same locale giving the Man of Steel time to recover.

Although it lacks the big moments of the characters meeting for the first time, the second chapter continues to play on how this world’s Batman and Superman are similar yet different to those our heroines remember from their own parallel world while revealing our villain. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #2

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Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #2Complications with Zoe‘s pregnancy leave the crew of Serenity with a newborn baby to care for and a forced trip to an Alliance medical ship where the crew, to protect themselves and young Emma, must leave the injured ship’s first mate in the hands of their enemy.

That’s hardly the only trouble for the crew as Jayne leads the leaders of the new resistance to their messiah who (not surprisingly) has no interest in joining or leading their cause, especially after Mal correctly deduces that rebels have brought trouble right to his door.

Jayne swapping places with Zoe means we’re still without a full crew, and River‘s choice to put herself in a medically-induced coma to find more information like Miranda which can be uses as leverage against the Alliance proves the young woman‘s timing hasn’t improved as it leaves her defenseless, and the ship down another crew member, when Jubal Early catches up with Serenity once more. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

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Samurai Jack #5

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Samurai Jack #5The first arc of the new Samurai Jack comic comes to a close as Samurai Jack ventures into Aku‘s fortress to find the final remaining Tread of Time and come within a breath of fulfilling his destiny and making it home.

Other than to collect the arc in a graphic novel there’s no real reason to end the storyline so quickly as Jack’s quest to collect the various threads could have continued for quite some time. For better or worse the storyline is shortened, through montages in each of the last few issues, and Jack’s quest to reconstitute the Rope of Eons comes to an end.

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