Comics

Worlds’ Finest #19

Worlds' Finest #19With Power Girl‘s wild power fluctuations becoming more frequent and dangerous, the Huntress decides it may be time for the pair to consider finding help. After a year-and-a-half of the title focues on the pair to themselves (other than Helena’s friendship with Damian, and Power Girl meeting Supergirl) it appears Worlds’ Finest is finally ready to introduce Earth-2’s Robin and Supergirl to this world’s heroes.

Much of Worlds’ Finest #19 is set-up as Kara’s latest power freak-outs leave Helena stuck in a public park in her pajamas and almost burn down Starr Industries’ board room. Realizing her friend needs all the help she can get, Helena breaks into the Batcave hoping to convince this world’s Batman to help the daughter of another world’s Batman.

I”m glad the pair’s isolation is coming to an end, but I would have preferred the issue to move along quicker rather than simply set-up events for confrontations which apparently won’t even take place in this title (as DC plans to begin the pair’s introduction to the wider DCU in Batman/Superman #8). Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Amazing X-Men #3

Amazing X-Men #3After opening up with a fun sequence involving the Beast fighting demonic pirates (which leaves Hank McCoy a very different character at the end of the issue than the man who began it) Amazing X-Men #3 finally begins reuniting Nightcrawler with his former teammates beginning with Storm.

With the fates of the other X-Men not touched on, the main crux of the latest issue deals with McCoy’s unfortunate transformation that certainly suits his moniker and the reunion between Kurt and Ororo that includes a flashback to their time in the mansion and might have brought them both to tears if there weren’t an entire ship full of pirate demons in need of being dispatched.

After two issues of set-up, Amazing X-Men finally starts delivering on the promise of working Nightcrawler back into the group. Although I didn’t expect the level of romantic undertones we get here, I love the reunion between the pair and can’t wait to see where they go from here. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Daredevil #35

Daredevil #35With the penultimate issue of this version of Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil before Marvel reboots the title along with most, but not all, of the Marvel NOW! titles in favor of yet another new numbering scheme that may or may not last a full year or two, the writer sets up the pieces for major shifts for Matt Murdock both in the courtroom and while donning his red tights.

Blackmailed by the Sons of the Serpent (who have a full portfolio on Murdock’s night-time activities and a complete profile highlighting Daredevil’s weaknesses) to represent a member of their organization who is actually innocent of the crime he’s been accused of, Daredevil calls on the help of Elektra to help him work out his options (and punch bad guys). Stuck in a no-win situation, Murdock does what he does best – improvise.

The move Waid makes here is certainly bold, but it’s also a genie that’s going to be hard to ever put back in the bottle should Marvel find an outed Matt Murdock problematic to deal with.

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Velvet #3

Velvet #3Framed and on the run from the same government agency she has worked for her entire life, Velvet sets out to solve the murder of Jefferson Keller. After her friend Burke sneaks her out of the United States and into Vienna (while quickly dispatching any trouble they come across), Velvet begins retracing the final days of Keller which includes seducing a government paper-pusher and breaking into a prison to rescue Jefferson’s asset and try to slow piece the mystery together.

When the woman proves difficult demanding to see her child before helping fill-in the blanks about Jefferson’s final days, Velvet reluctantly agrees only to get played and nearly loose her newly-won asset before getting any useful information out of the broken woman.

Although she’s been out of the game for years Velvet continues to easily slide back into the life she was born for as the agency that trained her hunts her down and she searches for the identity of the person who murdered two old friends and framed Violet for the crimes. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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Powerpuff Girls #5

Powerpuff Girls #5Only after loosening his control of Townsville‘s villains and letting each revert back to their true form does HIM finally reveal his presence and gloat at his victory. The Powerpuff Girls jump into action to stop the collection of villains from laying waste to the town. However, after discovering HIM’s mind control the villains re-purpose their anger accordingly and threaten retaliation.

Facing the prospect of fighting the girls and the various villains, HIM decides to release each character’s inner sin to further destroy Townsville – including those of Buttercup and Blossom. Thankfully for the town, Bubbles steps up in a a big way as the lack of darkness in her soul forces the villain to abandon his latest scheme. And, to wrap-up events, the comic leaves us with a nice message about people actually being able to change if they are given the opportunity.

Writer/artist Troy Little delivers another fun issue leaving the Mojo Jojo thread still left to be resolved next month. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

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