Comics

All-New X-Men #23

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All-New X-Men #23Continuing the story from Guardians of the Galaxy #11.NOW, the time-displaced original X-Men along with Kitty Pryde, X-23, and the Guardians of the Galaxy head into space after Jean Grey who has been taken by the Shi’ar to be publicly tried for crimes she hasn’t committed yet. The odd circumstances the X-Men find themselves in leads to quite a bit of offbeat humor highlighted by Iceman‘s glee over interacting with a talking raccoon.

Of course, as often happens with the Guardians’ plans, things don’t go as smoothly as possible when they ship comes under attack from a Shi’ar warship. Unexpectedly, the heroes are saved by the arrival of the Starjammers led by Cosair whose relationship with this version of Cyclops is less cordial than his present day counterpart.

Filled with action, suspense, and an awful lot of humor and inside references (such as Kitty Pryde’s mention of her uncomfortable past with space travel), the pairing of the two teams is a lot of fun while the pre-trial moments between Jean Grey and a Shi’ar telepath continue to set the stage for the trial yet to come. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Astro City #9

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Astro City #9As the conspiracy behind framing Winged Victory as a super-villain continues, the heroine is forced to abandon her schools. Continuing to investigate the elaborate frame, the Samaritan and The Confessor urge the heroine to go into hiding until they can uncover the proof to clear her name.

Winged Victory’s only respite comes from answering the call of the voice which has slowly grown in strength over recent days. On an inaupsicious rooftop garden she will come face-to-face with one the Council of Nike (those whose power flows through her veins) who offers the hero the story of her only life, a brief moment of rest, and the support to continue to fight for her cause.

Although the overall story isn’t advanced much (the investigation hits dead ends and the evidence against Winged Victory mounts), in terms of exploring the effect of the attack on the hero Astro City #9 works well. And before it’s over we get the tease of how the young man who came to her door just before her world started crashing down might have a big role to play in the arc’s final issue next month. Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $3.99]

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Star Wars #14

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Star Wars #14The second-half of Ensign Nanda‘s five days with Darth Vader on a secret mission of revenge concludes with Vader collecting Tag Rogaren from the asteroid fields of Alderaan and swiftly dealing with the elite Stormtroopers who decide they’d rather turn in the man for a bounty than see him returned to the Empire.

The final piece of the puzzle locks into place when Vader and Nanda head to Bircher‘s homeworld and discover the traitor’s connection to Mon Mothma whose family home the Dark Lord of the Sith obliterates from low orbit with Nanda as the only silent witness to his actions.

I’m sorry to see what has been the best arc of the series so far come to and end. Although Nanda survives her two days with the most dangerous man in the known universe, and even gets what was promised to her, we see how the emotional scars left from the five days will last a lifetime. Best of the Week.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Batman #28

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Batman #28Although I’m a huge Batman fan, with distasteful odor of Death of the Family still palpable even today, I decided to give Scott Snyder’s Batman title a wide berth for an entire year, only checking in to look at the Damian remembrance issue ten months ago.

Over the past year I’ve picked up and dropped various of the other Bat-titles but haven’t come back to Batman. This month’s issue reminds me why, but it also offers a glimmer of the promise that the New 52 hasn’t quite stamped everything once enjoyable about Bat-titles completely out of the DCU.

I have to start with Harper Row, who apparently is Batman’s new partner and a better acrobat than Dick Grayson. Other than the asshole New 52 version of Shazam she may be the poster child for everything wrong with the state of the current DCU. The edgy street kid who disobeys Batman and even USES GUNS (which doesn’t bother the Dark Knight) is a perfect example of DC Editorial’s forced gritty vision that has turned off so many readers from their books.

…

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G.I. JOE #13

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G.I. JOE #13As with the last issue, G.I. JOE #13 continues the forced pairing of the Baroness with Cobra’s newest asset Siren who has a talent for spinning a tale to fit a particular time and situation allowing Cobra to boast about the ancient organization’s shrouded history with everyone from Somali Pirates to the Yakuza.

As with G.I. JOE #12, Along with Alex Cal doing the art for Siren and the Baroness’ movements in the present the various tales the Siren spins are each presented by a different artist which continues to give the comic the feel of an anthology not dissimilar to Dynamite Entertainment’s current Legends of Red Sonja comic, and the last of which teaches the Baroness a valuable lesson about being careful what you ask for.

How much truth each of the Siren’s stories actually contains is kept purposefully vague, but its obvious the woman has a gift that Cobra has no intention of giving up anytime soon as she learns a valuable lesson as well when Cobra finds the perfect pressure point to force Siren to continue her work. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

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