It’s a pretty quiet week for comics after the absolute
deluge of last week. Superior Spider-Man is
rocketing towards its conclusion, Inhumanity
continues its meander towards birthing the on-going Inhuman and Night of the
Living Deadpool continues that one-note joke. What caught my eye this week
includes the following:
Guardians of the Galaxy #11.NOW
This issue needed an editor who actually edits things. I
know Brian Bendis is a pretty big deal, but somebody should actually
spell-check the guy once in a while- that “Jean Gray” typo is pretty glaring,
especially since it appears right in the middle of a big dramatic beat.
Here we apparently have Part 1 of the Trial of Jean Grey (or
Jean Gray as Bendis would have it), despite last week’s All-New X-Men insisting
that it too was Part 1. Editor! Anyway, it sort of works as well as a part 1
for the story, except it pre-supposes that you’ve read the shenanigans in last
week’s opener. Basically, it’s that big council of aliens- Brood, Kree, Shi’ar,
Peter Quill’s dad- that were present in Hickman’s Infinity all deciding that they should do something about
pre-Phoenix Jean Grey. Other than that, it is the definition of a Bendis down-time
issue, with Starlord slumming about a space-market and Gamora and Angela
chumming about talking about murder and that. Their relationship is very
enjoyable and I look forward to seeing how their dynamic shifts once Captain
Marvel is introduced to the mix. One thing that grates more than a little about
Angela is her constant fish-out-of-water shtick. Does she really need to have
the concept of the Phoenix explained to her?
I know the .NOW tag is supposed to somehow attract new readers who might
not know the ins and outs of the Phoenix saga, but it’s just very clumsy. We
get it! She’s from another universe where the height of fashion was sentient
capes, chains, metal bras and obese demonic clowns! Oh comics, you silly.
This issue also acts as a pleasant coda to Tony Stark’s
involvement with the team and hints at the earthlings soon to be recruited to
the gang. The rest of the issue is the team finding out about the X-Men of the
past being drawn into the present and all the timey-wimeyness surrounding that.
At one point the council of weirdly designed aliens ponder about why the
present-day X-Men would summon the past X-Men. The Kree Supreme Intelligence suggests-
“Nostalgia.” It’s a cheeky (almost self-depreciating) moment of Bendis’ voice
bleeding through and it works. A strong opener to the Guardians' half of this
story!
X-Men Legacy #23
From what the solicitations seem
to indicate, the Legion centric version of this title is wrapping up with #24.
It then looks like it’s going back to the original numbering and having an
anthology issue with all previous writers contributing their take on the
concept. It’s anyone’s guess what direction this most ancillary of X-Comics
will take after that. I can’t say that I’ll be distraught when the Simon
Spurrier/Tan Eng Huat version wraps up. Don’t get me wrong- it’s an incredibly
well told narrative with a nice through-line for Legion and Blindfold, but it’s
approaching the point where a conclusion seems fair and sensible to the legacy
(haaah) of this storyline. Both Legion and Blindfold are on the precipice of
finally understanding themselves and how they can best function within and
outside of group structures. I honestly didn’t think the concept of a
pro-active Legion taking on the wrongs of the mutant world while learning to
reconcile the various parts of his persona would support a title for so long,
but hey, I was gladly wrong.
This issue is almost entirely
self-narrated by Legion. It’s a much simpler written self-narrative than we’ve
had in previous issues and Huat’s art is as engaging as always. Fortunately, it’s
also clearer than in previous issues and helps tell a very abstract story much
more clearly than might have been the case with Huat’s defining style. This
issue named after an episode of Angel (“Slouching Towards Bethlehem”) or I
suppose, a reference to the WB Yeats’ poem if you prefer- “The Second Coming.”
It hints at what role Legion might have after this series and how he might heal
the schism- inheriting his father’s legacy of unity. With only one issue left,
there’s a lot of plot still to resolve- mind worm stuff, Legion and Blindfold’s
relationship, and Legion’s relationship to the wider mutant world. I’m excited
to see how Spurrier juggles it all!
Uncanny Avengers #16
Yes, it’s issue five-hundred of
the endless Apocalypse Twins story-line and everyone’s a little worse for wear.
Captain America is missing half his face, Thor loses an arm and the rest of the
cast are dead, approaching death or else MIA. I’m usually an emotional wreck
after reading this comic. So many awful things happen to the heroes in any
given issue. It never devolves into gore-porn though. What’s happening doesn’t
sully the optimistic tone of the wider Marvel universe and is a sensible
continuation of story-lines and themes established way back in Remender’s
X-Force comics. But by God…I do wish this would wrap up soon. I’m excited to
move onto the Red Skull material promised way back in the first arc of this
comic and I feel the Apocalypse twins issues have lingered a little too long.
Remender has a tendency to linger on ideas that he finds personally fascinating
far longer than the readers’ attention remains with the plot. I’m still hanging
in there, but I know a lot of people’s interest seems to be waning.
Anyway, quite a bit happens this
issue. Thor “Cares not” multiple times (I strongly suspect that catchphrase is
gonna come back and bite him in the ass) and puts the smack down on Uriel. The
geniuses of Earth- Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Doom and others- tackle the
impending threat of Celestial judgement. Kang briefs his time-travelling squad
of heroes (which include a Phoenix infused Vision). Wasp almost saves the day.
And then Eimin shows up to beat up Thor with the help of Exitar the Celestial.
It’s a LOT of stuff to juggle, and Remender is adapt at keeping these balls in
the air. I do think a close to the chapter on the Apocalypse Twins would
refresh the comic though, and I hope Remender considers this in the coming
issues.
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