Comic shop comics: June 4-18

Batman Eternal #9 (DC Comics) It's another Guillem March and Tomeu Morey issue, meaning it's another of the better-looking issues of the series so far. In this John Layman-scripted installment, Catwoman continues to cause problems for The Roman in Gotham, ultimately getting herself captured by him, while Batman investigates The Roman's recent dealings in Hong Kong. And by "investigates" I mean "just fights a bunch of guys."

That's actually a lot more fun than it sounds, as he gets help from The Batman of Japan, from the pages of the late, great Batman Inc (seen on the cover with The Super Young Team's Shy Young Lolita Canary—simply referred to as "Canary" within—fighting the lame, New 52 version of The Ghost Dragons), and the two Batmen ride their Bat-planes to Jiro's Batcave, which comes complete with his own wizened old man who serves him tea and his own, culturally appropriate version of dinosaur statue:

I'm a huge fan of the world-building Grant Morrison has done on...pretty much everything he's done for DC Comics, so it's a pleasure to see Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Team Eternal making use of many of those additions (speaking of which, Snyder-creation Roadrunner also appears in this issue).

There's a pretty big reveal in the last panel, regarding the identity of the mysterious British lady seen climbing a skyscraper in a cat-suit in the last panel of #8, which I won't spoil here, but will in a few more sentences.

Batman Eternal #10 (DC) The bulk of this issue, drawn by Riccardo Burchielli and still scripted by John Layman, involves Catwoman's captor, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, being captured by Professor Pyg and his frankly rather horrifying "Farm Hands," human beings with animal heads apparently sewn on:

Not sure how that chicken-headed guy even works, biologically, but I suppose a man brandishing farming implements whose body is powered by the brain of a chicken is about as scary as you can get. Wanting revenge on Falcone for blowing up his lab in an earlier issue, Pyg kills his way into Falcone's pad, holds the gangster and the cat-burglar hostage as he prepares to perform some surgery on them, until Batman appears to save the day.

There are two bits of sup-plot momentum here, as Alfred Pennyworth is reunited with his long-lost (to the Crisis On Infinite Earths, I believe) daughter, now a sort of secret agent for Britain, and we find out where Stephanie Brown's been hiding out. I'm not a fan of Burchielli's artwork here, especially coming as it does right after personal favorite March's, but he certainly does a nice job in making the scary Farm Hands scary.

Batman Eternal #11 (DC) While the cover shows Scorpiana (another character from Morrison's time on the Bat-books) furiously scissoring Batgirl, the interior artwork quite literally looks nothing like that; the designs of both ladies, as well as the style of their rendering, is about as different as can be. It is also awesome, but having already extolled the virtues of Ian Bertram's art at (too?) great length at Robot 6 this week, I suppose I should just link to that piece rather than rant and rave about him some more here.

Suffice it to say that it's probably the best-looking issue of the series so far, and certainly the most wild and visually interesting, Bertram being an ideal candidate to follow in the footsteps of artists like Frank Quitely and Chris Burnham when it comes to drawing Batman adventures (Say, where is Burnham at the moment? Shouldn't he be drawing...whatever he wants for DC?). Bertram is maybe the most highly-stylized, idiosyncratic artist to draw a regular issue of an ongoing, in-continuity Batman book since Kelley Jones, and needs a showcase original graphic novel or miniseries of his own ASAP.

As for the plot, this one checks in with various father/daughter relationships among the cast. Batgirl journeys to Rio De Janiero to try and clear her father's name, which means rescuing a telenovela star from The Club of Villains' Scorpiana (with assists from some unlikely characters, all of whom look awesomely unique as rendered by Bertram). Catwoman reads a letter in the pouring rain of a cemetery. Stephanie Brown learns about her father, Cluemaster. And Alfred and Julia have a conversation, in which she expresses her extreme disappointment with him for abandoning his former career of stitching up soldiers in order to work for Bruce Wayne. That last bit is more emotional than I expected; I was invested enough to read it and think to myself, "Oh, if you only knew, Julia!"

Maybe Julia Pennyworth will be the next Robin! (Ha ha no, it's going to be a resurrected Damian, I'm sure.)

This was by far my favorite issue so far, mostly because of the art, but it's well-written as well...even if it has my least favorite Bat-family character of all (Red Hood, of course, who Bertram manages to draw in a way that reminded me of Kevin O'Neill's superhero work).

Batman '66 Meets The Green Hornet (DC/Dynamite) Believe me when I say this isn't meant to be insulting at all, but one of the best things about this comic, which is co-written by Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman, is that you can't tell that it's written by Kevin Smith at all. A comic book based on a show—well, a pair of shows—with a very particular tone, Batman '66 doesn't really leave much room for a writer to insert too much of their own personalities, and, if they do, it would easily implode the rather delicate imitation that's necessary to get the comic over. But the various weakness of Smith's comics-writing one might be familiar with—the no-brow potty and gay panic humor, the wordiness—none of that's here. Smith and Garman, like the more seasoned comics writer Jeff Parker, who writes the ongoing Batman '66 series, doe a pretty pitch perfect impression of the show, with little more than a hint of self-awareness.

Bruce Wayne is accompanying a shipment of "priceless fossils" from the Gotham Museum of Natural History on a train headed for Green Hornet's hometown. On the train, he meets his old friend Britt Reid, and Reid's valet Kato. While the two secret identities banter a bit, making fun of one another's alter-egos, their previous foe attacks the train, and the men excuse themselves to secretly slip into their work clothes.

Ty Templeton, a great cartoonist and great comics artist whose work I don't get to see on the printed page nearly as much as I like, handles the art chores, and it's good stuff, although the fact that he draws Adam West so on-model somewhat unnerves me. Alex Ross, whose been conspicuously absent from DC of late (where was Ross when they were redesigning all the costumes?!), provides a fully-painted cover in his familiar photo-realistic style. I would have loved to see what this book might have looked like had it featured Ross-painted interiors, as I think the hyper-real look of his art coupled with the goofy scripting would have matched the high-camp of the television show in a way that no drawn art has been able to accomplish.


Classic Popeye #23 (IDW) Popeye fights some pirates, with no help at all from Wimpy and Olive. Then Popeye and Pappy clean up his ship. And there's a dumb Shermy story. And that's it. I should probably drop this book, which I say to myself about once a month now, but I just can't seem to bring myself to do so.

The Lake Erie Monster #5 (Shiner Comics Group) I'm assuming that this wasn't on the racks of your local comic shop this month, unless your local comic shop is in northeast Ohio (I'm not sure how widely it's distributed, actually; did you guys down in Columbus see it on the shelves of the Ogre or anywheres?). But you can buy it online, if you like. This is the fifth and final issue of writer Jake Kelly and artist John G's horror adventure comic about a Creature From The Black Lagoon-like fish-man rising from the polluted Lake Erie to terrorize 1970s Cleveland, an idea originally inspired by movie posters for movies that don't exist that the creator's engaged in.

In this final issue, the various protagonists all convene at the abandoned Euclid Beach amusement park for a showdown with the monster...s! They prove nigh unkillable, but that doesn't stop our heroes from pumping them full of shotgun shells, hurling molotov cocktails at them and, in one case, pulping one's head with a huge rock. It's all very horror movie, up to and including not-very-good-ideas, like seeking refuge from a monster engulfed in flames in a hall of mirrors or climbing up the rails of a roller coaster to escape one. Not to mention the The movie might be over, but the horror is still out there, in case we want to do a sequel ending.

John G's thick lines and ink-heavy art have reminded me of early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles art, especially the stuff by Kevin Eastman and/or Eric Talbot, an aesthetic only furthered by the grungy, urban environments and the lettering. As with previous issues, the book is chockablock with ads (there are 31 story pages, counting the introduction and "Commodore's Cleveland" feature starring the horror host character The Commodore, and 11 pages of ads, all for local businesses and drawn by the creators. Some are rather unfortunately placed between story pages).

I enjoyed reading it in this format, although I sincerely hope a publisher out there notices this series and decides to reprint it in trade paperback format. I think its earned an audience beyond the regional one it's so far enjoyed.

The New 52: Futures End #5 (DC) Of DC's two weekly series, this is the bad one, but I haven't been able to tear myself away from it yet—or tear it out of my pull-list, to be more accurate. I'm curious about where it's all going, and just plain love the weekly comics format. It's not great comics, no, and it's not always good comics either, but it's relatively cheap (i.e. it's not $3.99) and it's not as bad as a lot of the publisher's New 52 line.

Jesus Merino and Dan Green are this week's art team, while the writing credits remain unchanged as always (and this time Keith Giffen does not get an art consultant credit).

In this issue, the slightly sinister, awfully douchey Mister Terrific launches his new product, the uSphere, which I guess is a sort of combination T-sphere and iPhone, via a live product announcement which various characters we've been introduced to watch intently. As does two we haven't seen yet, the Batman and Alfred Pennyworth of the year 2019.

King Faraday talks to Grifter about his plans for him. Earth 2's Fury, the daughter of that world's Wonder Woman, tries to escape her prison on Cadmus Island, tearing apart the OMAC guards, only to be stopped by a mysterious little girl. Firestorm finally breaks up. And a guy named Tommy and a lady named Midge bring John Constantine to look at a Brainiac symbol-shaped crop circle in Kansas.

The New 52: Futures End #6 (DC) Patrick Zircher steps up to bat as the artist, and the various plots all move incrementally forward! New 52 Key, Plastique and Coil plan a heist of Terrifitech, which Batman Beyond spies on, as he wants to get in there to totally kill Mr. Terrific. Father Time sends Agents of SHADE Ray Palmer, Amethyst and Frankenstein to investigate the death of StormWatch, via a shortcut through The Phantom Zone, where they unexpectedly encounter Black Adam. And Lois Lane confronts bearded Tim Drake and his new girlfriend after closing time in the bar that Drake, now going by the name "Cal Corcoran," manages.

You know, I didn't really realize this until I saw him taking a drunk, randy, rowdy Ronnie Raymond out using martial arts in this issue, but this plotline is essentially Tim Drake faking his own death and pretending to be Patrick Swayze in Road House, which is actually a pretty fantastic premise (although here the road house is a lame bar in a strip mall called "The Wounded Duck").

The mysterious, masked Superman shows up to warn Faraday not to mess with Lois Lane, which I suppose is mean to suggest that the mysterious, masked Superman is "our" Superman, who Tom Bondurant reminds us must still be around in 2019, if he's going to be made into a monster OMAC/Deathlok cyborg in time for the events of Futures End #0, which Batman Beyond went back to 2019 in order to prevent.

The New 52: Future's End #7 (DC) Well it's about time. No one has lost a limb in issues. Does it even count when Frankenstein gets his arms ripped off though, given that he an always just sew new arms on...? I like that it is Black Adam who disarms him though, as Black Adam previously tore the arms off of Young Frankenstein in that shitty World War III comic. (Remember that? Here were the highlights.) Anyway, the agents of SHADE finally arrive at the crime scene where StormWatch is floating around dead in space, and it looks like they really are all dead...at least Midnighter, Mermaid, Jack Hawksmoor and Hawkeye all look pretty dead.

Of greatest note this Aaron Lopresti-penciled, Art Thibert-inked issue is that we finally get a name for that little girl on Cadmus Island, "Fifty Sue" (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Get it? Ah ha. I'm gonna guess Brian Azzarello gets the high-five for that one?), and Batman Beyond is confronted by Mr. Terrific, which one would expect to be just what BB wants, since he's come back in time to kill him and all, but, instead, BB runs away, leaving Mr. T. with the stowaway OMAC/Deathlok from the future, which seems to give Mr. T. ideas. Time travel sure is stupid.

She-Hulk #5 (Marvel Entertainment) What's this? A She-Hulk/Superior Foes of Spider-Man crossover...? Not quite, but not not in the same ballpark, as writer Charles Soule and guest artist Ron Wimberly send She-Hulk to the apartment of Superior Foe Herman Schultz, AKA The Shocker (and, like Superior Foes, She-Hulk has thus far managed a light, comedic tone).

Our heroine Hulk is investigating the mysterious "blue file," a case in which someone named George Saywitz sued a whole bunch of super-powered people in North Dakota, including She-Hulk, but she has absolutely no knowledge of or memory of the case. The Shocker is another defendant named in the case, as is Tigra, who Shulkie's new employee Patsy Walker, Hellcat goes to interview, and her paralegal (and her paralegal's monkey) go to North Dakota to look for paper records pertaining to the case.

So it's a whole lot of legal legwork in the might Marvel manner!

Actually, there is quite a lot of action, as when Patsy says "George Saywitz" aloud, it acts as some sort of trigger word, makaing Tigra go crazy and try to murder her in a brutal cat fight. As for the Shulkie/Shocker interaction, after Herman initially tries to run, they basically just sit down and share Chinese food, and have an interesting heart-to-heart (page 16 is pretty priceless).

With Wemberly drawing, this issue looks nothing like the previous, Javier Pulido-drawn issues, but that's A-OK, as Wemberly is an incredibly interesting artist in his own right. The panels are drawn almost exclusively in weird, extreme angles, often from very high or very low, to the point that many sequences made me nostalgic for those old Aeon Flux shorts that used to run on MTV's Liquid Television, back when I was still young and vital and had long, flowing hair on my head. Color artist Rico Renzi does bright, poppy, flat work akin to that of regular colorist Munsta Vicente, making some very interesting choices, like the pink sky above New York City in the Patsy/Tigra scenes.

In addition to not being drawn by Pulido, this is the first issue that isn't really standalone. I mean, it's not impenetrable if you read it by itself or anything, but, unlike the first few issues, it's not a complete story unto itself, but a plot-carrying piece, as the sub-plot hinted at and teased in the earlier issues finally comes to the fore.

She-Hulk is still good, but, better yet, it's unexpectedly good.

SpongeBob Comics #33 (United Plankton Pictures) This issue continues the first multi-issue narrative of the series so far, in which writer Derek Drymon sends SpongeBob to Shady Shoals retirement home to learn about the first encounter between his hero Mermaid Man and new hero Viro Reganto, the Esperanto-speaking sea king (Drymon draws the present bits, in the usual SpongeBob style, while Jerry Ordway draws the flashbacks, in his superhero style). Perhaps reflecting the old-school superhero shenanigans of this storyline, the cover reflects those of some old DC crossover comics.

I kind of love the arrogant Reganto character, and I particularly enjoy the Esperanto-sprinkled dialogue.

That's but one of the stories in this issue of, course. There's also a Joey Weiser/Jacob Chabot story in which Gary goes off to camp, a Brian Smith story in which SpongeBob and Patrick visit Sandy, a 10-page story in which Larry the Lobster must defend his beach from invading jellyfish, two pages worth of James Kochalka strips, a Maris Wicks "Flotsam and Jetsam" educational strip about jellyfish and a really rather lovely Ramona Fradon back cover pin-up, featuring Viro Reganto autographing various love-struck female sea creatures.

SpongeBob Comics Annual-Size Super-Giant Swimtacular #2 (United Plankton Pictures) Hey, remember last year when I wondered aloud whether United Plankton Pictures were going to publish their annual annually, or do something goofy like DC and Marvel, and publish them whenever, or with the year in the title so they can use a #1 every year...? Well, now we've got our answer.

As with the previous Swimtacular, this one is all superhero-related stories, one of which I plan on discussing with you at greater length in the near future. In the mean time, suffice it to say this issue features work from creators as various as Israel Sanchez, Mark Martin, Jay Lender, Paul Karasik and SpongeBob regulars R. Sikoryak, James Kochalka and Jacob Chabot. I really enjoyed the work by Sanchez, who drew the adorable cover, as he's an artist I'm unfamiliar with, and whose work is super-cute, while somewhat suggesting that of occasional SpongeoBob contributor Stephen DeStefano (Now please stop reading this post and click on "Israel Sanchez" above and look at all his amazing work. Wow.)

The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #12 (Marvel) And Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber are back, and the book is back on track. Boomerang is able to convince his erstwhile allies who aren't The Shocker to join him on a new heist, stealing back the painting he stole from The Owl for The Owl, who was helpful enough to fund The Sinister Sixteen:

Hey, it's Bi-Beast! I was just talking about that guy!

I can't really decide what my favorite part of this issue was. I really liked the bit where Hammerhead struggled not to slip into talking like James Cagney when he got excited, but then the bit where Overdrive uses his super-weird powers to create a Segway was pretty great too. And that's not even considering the George Herriman homage or the panel with the Lenin mummies on it.

Anyway, Superior Foes remains one of the only comics I like so much I'm willing to pay $3.99 for it, even though I know in my heart I should probably just wait for the trade.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time #1 (IDW) And hey, speaking of $3.99 books I know I should trade-wait, but can't help but buy on the day of release, here's a new TMNT comic, drawn by EDILW-favorite Ross Campbell. This is the other book I raved about at Robot 6 this week, and thus should probably shut up about at this point. It's drawn by Campbell, written by Paul Allor, colored by Bill Crabtree, and features the ninja turtles running around dinosaur times, fighting awesome feathered dinosaurs and/or Utroms, because Renet (Or, as the headline to Chris Sims' review at Comics Alliance puts it, "Turtles In Time #1 has ninja turtles riding dinosaurs to fight brains in robot suits, all other comics inferior by definition").

Seriously, this issue is 100% pure comics, and tt he only thing I don't like about it is...the font on the "Turtles In Time" logo.That, and I'm not sure if Campbell is drawing the rest of the series or not.

Meanwhile...

I have two articles posted in places that aren't here this week, that you're welcome to go read if you like. First, at Good Comics For Kids, I reviewed the Afterlife With Archie: Escape From Riverdale, which collects the first five issues of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Franco Francavilla's Afterlife With Archie and all of its one million variant covers.

And then today at Robot 6 I wrote at some length about Batman Eternal #11 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time #1, two comics elevated from good to awesome by some unusually, unexpectedly incredible art (especially on Batman Eternal; I expected the TMNT comic to look pretty great, as it was Ross Campbell-drawn, but man, that Batman Eternal comic sure caught me off-guard).

Guess which one of those three comics the above image came from.

I honestly had every intention of posting a new installment of "Comic shop comics" tonight.

But it turns out there were so many comics waiting for me at the shop this week, and I had a few pieces to write for places that aren't here tonight, that I'm just not going to be able to get to reviewing the 14 comics from the last three Wednesdays that I bought at the shop today. Hopefully Friday night. In the mean time, please enjoy this Ross Campbell drawing of a ninja turtle punching out a velociraptor, from the first page of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time #1, one of the three best comics I read this evening, all of which I will tell you more about in the near future.

Marvel's September previews reviewed

September looks like it will be the rather rare month in which there won't be a big, line-wide crossover/event story going on in Marvel's main superhero line of comics, just a lot of solicitations mentioning the fall-out from the currently unfolding one (Original Sin) and the imminent arrival of the next one (Axis, I guess).

Not that it's an uneventful month at Marvel, or anything, as they are still publishing a ton of comics, the vast majority of which are out of my price range (I'd like to read about a half ton of these comics, but will in actuality only purchase and read...let's see...two, trade-waiting the rest of the ones I have any interest at all in).

It looks like there will be a Spider-Man event dealing with various alternate dimension versions of Spidey ("Spider-Verse"), which could well allow Marvel to have the original back in action and keep the Superior Spider-Man an ongoing concern...at least for the time being.

And there are so many damn Deadpool comics there might as well be a Deadpool event going on. I counted five (Deadpool #34 and #35, Deadpool Bi-Annual #1, Hawkeye Vs. Deadpool #0 and Deadpool Vs. X-Force #4), for a grand total of $25 worth of Deadpool in the month of September.

Oh, and Wolverine is apparently "dying." Again. There will be a gazillion variant covers for Death of Wolverine #1-#4, and two of those will feature Deadpool.

You can see Marvel's complete solicitations for the month of September by clicking right here; you can read on for my thoughts regarding what seemed to be of interest to me this time around (Also? Jokes, but almost exculsively bad ones).

ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER #7
FELIPE SMITH (W) • DAMION SCOTT (A/C)
“LEGEND”
• Is ROBBIE REYES racing towards eternal damnation?
• The birth of the BLUE HYDE BRIGADE
• A blazing hot trail comes to an end.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Hey look, Damion Scott! Still drawing this series! I like Damion Scott (even if that cover's a little hard to make heads or tails of). And I liked the first issue of this series; the first trade collection, All-New Ghost Rider Vol. 1: Engines of Vengeance will be available this same month.

ALL-NEW X-MEN #32
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • MAHMUD ASRAR (A)
Cover by SARA PICHELLI
• Dimension-hopping is something of an X-Men rite of passage and it’s about time the All-New X-Men took the plunge!
• I guess you don’t always have to travel Miles away to visit a new place…
• But will the web they find themselves tangled in Ultimately bring about their end?
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

This cover and this solicitation copy seem to say the exact opposite thing, regarding whether Ultimate Spider-Man is coming to the Marvel Universe to join the X-Men or if the X-Men are going to the Ultimate Universe to meet Miles. I'm assuming the copy's right, as that makes more sense, Miles Morales not being a mutant and all (at least, not that I know of).

While this looks like it will likely be fun, I can't help but think of that Joe Quesada quote about the two Marvel universes never crossing over, because that would mean that they were officially out of ideas. What's this, like, the fifth time that's happened now...?

CAPTAIN AMERICA #24
RICK REMENDER (W) • CARLOS PACHECO (A/C)
The Tomorrow Soldier part 3! The MARCH to AXIS continues!
• Zola unleashes the hyper-mutates on New York!
• Jet Black and Falcon vs Zola to the death!
• The Red Skull’s long game revealed, as the road to AXIS begins here!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

No idea what might be going on in this title, but I like that cover.


CYCLOPS #5
GREG RUCKA (W) • TBA (A)
Cover by ALEXANDER LOZANO
• Still weeks away from pick-up by the Starjammers, Cyclops and Corsair look for help getting off a hostile planet elsewhere
• Continuing the trend, would-be rescuers might not be what they seem.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Marvel has no idea who is going to be drawing this comic book that will be shipping in three short months, which means they haven't started drawing it yet. So I'm sure it will look great!


DEADPOOL BI-ANNUAL #1
PAUL SCHEER & NICK GIOVANNETTI (W)
SALVA ESPIN (A)
Cover by DAVID NAKAYAMA
• When Deadpool is hired by WaterWorld to protect their theme park from activists, he has no idea he’s going to wind up face to snout with Brute Force—protectors of the environment! Look ‘em up! That’s right—they’re real!
• Written by star of The League and NTSF:SD:SUV Paul Scheer and Nick Giovannetti, this is one issue sure to make a splash*!
*This joke was not written by them.
40 PGS./Parental Advisory …$4.99

I can't believe they're publishing a comic called Deadpool Bi-Annual and aren't using Bi-Beast as the antagonist.

DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1-4
CHARLES SOULE (W) • STEVE McNiven (A/C)
Variant COVER by Joe Quesada*
Sketch Variant COVER by Joe Quesada*
75TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT BY ALEX ROSS*
Variant COVER by SCOTTIE YOUNG*
Mortal Variant COVER by ED MCGUINNESS*
Deadpool Party Variant by Pasqual Ferry*
Deadpool Party SKETCH Variant by Pasqual Ferry*
Artist Premiere Variant BY TBA*
*Issue #1 only
IT’S THE BEGINNING OF THE END – 3 MONTHS TO DIE ENDS HERE!
• The beginning of the end is now here … THE DEATH OF WOLVERINE!
• THREE MONTHS TO DIE, the loss of Wolverine’s healing factor--all led to this, the single most important X-Men event of the decade.
• Logan has spent over a century being the best there is at what he does...but even the best fade away eventually.
• Over the years, Logan has been a warrior, a hero, a renegade, a samurai, a teacher—and so much more. But now, the greatest X-Men hero will play a role he’s never played before in this special weekly event brought to you by industry superstars Charles Soule and Steve McNiven.
Issue #1 - 48 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
Issue #2-4 - 40 PGS. (EACH)/Rated T+...$4.99 (EACH)

Yeesh. Look at this monster of a solicitation. While they didn't show every variant cover, I can't imagine that there's one better than Scottie Young's, posted above.

I'm pretty curious about this simply because I can't understand why Marvel's making such a big deal out of it, particularly given the fact that no one can possibly believe Wolverine is going to be "dead" for very long...not even as long as, say, Captain America or The Human Torch long. Savage Wolverine doesn't need him alive and kicking, but what about Wolverine and Wolverine and The X-Men, and the Avengers books and the entire X-Men line, which has been reorganized around warring factions lead by Cyclops and Wolverine, the latter of whom stepped in to fill the role of the also temporarily dead Charles Xavier...?

Also, didn't Jason Aaron totally just kill Wolverine within the last few years? I distinctly remember reading a graphic novel called Wolverine Goes To Hell, which, if I recall correctly, was about Wolverine going to hell, a place people go when they die.

EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #2 (Of 5)
JASON LATOUR (W)
ROBBI RODRIGUEZ (A/C)
VARIANT COVER BY Greg Land
GWEN STACY: SPIDER-WOMAN!
• In one universe, it wasn’t Peter Parker bitten by the radioactive Spider, but Gwen Stacy!
• She’s smart, charming and can lift a car-- Just don’t tell her Police Chief father!
• How is she involved in Spider-Verse? Seeds of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9 are planted here!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

So I'm guessing Edge of Spider-Verse is a weekly series leading up to Spider-Verse proper, with each issue focusing on a different alternate Spider-Person...? This one looks kind of promising, and will have art by the excellent Robbi Rodriguez. I kinda like what we see of Spider-Gwen's costume here too, in its simplicity; it looks like something I'm almost certain I've seen ads for in a Marvel comic, come to think of it.

That's the cover for Edge of Spider-Verse #3, featuring Spider-Man Aaron Aikman (a new character?). The cover is by Dustin Weaver, who is also writing and drawing the issue. I like the costume design, particularly in the way that it looks so much like the original Spider-Man costume while being completely different, simultaneously.

The Wizard is the new Iron Lantern...?

Good cover-making, Kaare Andrews!


MIRACLEMAN #10
THE ORIGINAL WRITER (W) • RICK VEITCH (A/C)
Variant Cover by JOE QUINONES
Variant Cover by MICO SUAYAN
• Mike and Liz Moran are now parents to a talking newborn miraclebaby. Their surprises have just begun.
• Two strange alien figures are tracking the subjects of Project Zarathustra. Who are they and how are they connected to Miracleman’s origin?
• Johnny Bates fights back against Kid Miracleman, making a decision that will have epic repercussions.
• Including material originally presented in MIRACLEMAN (1985) #10, plus bonus content.
48 PGS./Parental Advisory…$4.99
NOTE: This issue will be Poybagged

So I thought this goofy "The Original Writer" business was just something Marvel was doing in regards to respecting Alan Moore's wishes to not have his named used in the promotion of the book. That is, that they were just saying "The Original Writer" instead of "Alan Moore" in the solicitation copy, and that they wouldn't put Moore's name on the covers. But I saw a copy of the first trade collection in my local library the other day, and was surprised to see "The Original Writer" on the title page too.

That shit is bananas.

I like the fact that they're polybagging a comic book that's almost as old as I am; wouldn't want any spoilers to get out!

MOON KNIGHT #7
BRIAN WOOD (W) • GREG SMALLWOOD (A)
Cover BY DECLAN SHALVEY
Personality variant by DECLAN SHALVEY
• Season 2 of MOON KNIGHT begins with a new creative team and a black-out!
• When the entire city is thrust into darkness by a threat, Moon Knight’s must use all of his weapons (and personalities) to defeat a new foe!
• Brian Wood (X-MEN, DMZ) takes the writing reins picking up from where Ellis left off pushing questions from MOON KNIGHT #1 back to the fore and amplifies them 100-fold!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I don't envy these guys, particularly Wood, whose track record of writing comics anywhere near as good as most of Warren Ellis' comics is...not so hot.

Nice cover by...departing artist Declan Shalvey.

SECRET AVENGERS #8
ALES KOT (W)
MICHAEL WALSH (A)
Cover by TRADD MOORE
“M.O.D.O.K. SUPREME EXTRAVAGANZA”
• M.O.D.O.K.’S ORIGIN STORY. YOU HEARD RIGHT.
• How do you know what we tell you here is true? You don’t. But you’re into it. Why? Because we love you. And it shows.
• Disco? Yes. Abandonment issues? Definitely. Was that a pun? Maybe. Is that a romance brewing? Are we still lying to you? CLAP FOR M.O.D.O.K.!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Greatest cover of all time? Or greatest cover of all time?

It is a grave injustice that Moore is drawing the fuck out of MODOK on covers like this , but isn't also providing interior art.

THE SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #15
NICK SPENCER (w) • STEVE LIEBER (A/c)
Still not CANCELLED!
• GANG WAR begins here. You know it’s a big deal because we put it in caps!
• Everyone gets in a big fight over the head of Silvio Silvermane. Lives are lost, feelings are hurt, and car keys get misplaced!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Marvel has heard your wondering when they were finally going to cancel this book, and they are now incorporating it into their marketing. The fact that this is the beginning of a story arc means it's going to live past September, too. I guess the $1 increase must have saved it...?

I'll have to see the finished product in order to properly judge the cover, but, in general, I'm a big fan of the middle finger.


THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #25
JASON AARON (W)
ESAD RIBIC, SIMON BISLEY, RM GUERA (A)
Cover by ESAD RIBIC
Variant cover by MILO MANARA
Variant cover by SIMON BISLEY
Variant cover by RM GUERA
• Redefining the word “epic,” it’s the god-sized 25th issue of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER featuring an amazing artistic line-up!
• Young Thor vs. Frost Giants!
• The untold origin of Malekith the Accursed!
• King Thor’s granddaughters uncover a startling secret chapter from the history of the Thunder God!
• Thor deals with the shocking fall-out from ORIGINAL SIN!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

Hey, I wanna see Simon Bisley draw a Thor comic! This marks the first time I've wanted to read a Thor comoc since...how long ago did Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee quit making their Thor comic...?

Has no one ever done a "Wolverine jumping out of the cake" gag on a cover before? That's a good idea, and it seems like the sort of idea that someone would have thought of by now. But maybe that's just because hindsight is 20/20...? Anyway, cool Wolverine and The X-Men cover, Mahumud Asrar.

X-FORCE #9
SIMON SPURRIER (W) • ROCK-HE KIM (A/C)
• In the deserts of Afghanistan, X-Force has found a lead that could help them track down the villain who killed one of their own.
• But standing in their way is Britain’s own team of superhuman operatives: MI13!
• As the two factions come to blows, little do they know that a third player threatens to wipe them all off the board…
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

I would totally by a trade paperback collecting all of the post-cancellation MI13 appearances.

X-MEN #19
MARC GUGGENHEIM (W) • HARVEY TOLIBAO (A)
Cover by TERRY DODSON
• With S.W.O.R.D.’s orbital headquarters, the Peak, literally hanging in the balance, the X-Men race into deep space to find the source of the new threat that’s emerged from the abyss.
• But little do they suspect that lurking in the shadows of the Acanti Skunkworks, a conspiracy is waiting to entangle them…
• And what’s worse is that it’s a conspiracy that has connections to the deaths of Rachel Grey’s family!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

What? They still haven't canceled this book yet? I just read the first two trade paperbacks collecting much of the first year of this series (not counting the "Battle of The Atom" crossover issues, which I previously read in Battle of The Atom), and by "just" I mean I just put down vol. 2 and sat down to finish this post within the last half hour, and I was shocked, shocked, shocked at what a godawful comic it is.

Now, a lot of that is just the fact that the book seemed to be a low-priority one in the current X-Men line (Uncanny X-Men, All-New X-Men, Amazing X-Men, X-Force), and that the X-office saw fit to yank around the cast writer Brian Wood was able to use between issues), and the fact that it crossed over with the A books in the line within its first few issues, but it was a remarkably incompetent book, and though much of the art was pretty nice, it also changed every three issues or so...sometimes more frequently than that.

I've been so pleasantly surprised by so many X-Men comics of late that I was just not prepared to encounter one that was so bad again, I guess. Anyway, I'll have a super-long post about this shitty, shitty comic at some point in the near-ish future. In the mean time, I guess it's good that it's got a new writer? Hopefully it's found a reason to exist, too, but given how quick Marvel is to relaunch comics these days, I'm really surprised they haven't cancelled this book, retooled it with an actual premise and relaunched it as Jubilee and The X-Men or Storm and The X-Men or XX or whatever.

...

Hey, did I miss a Hawkeye solicit...?

No? Whatever happened to Hawkeye...? That was a real comic book that Marvel really published in the recent past, right? It seems so long since I've seen an issue. Did I just dream Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye...?

DC's September previews reviewed

September has come to be something of a special month at DC Comics over the last few years, on account of that's when they initially launched "The New 52" initiative, and, as such, each September they tried some sort of similar, line-wide, sales-goosing gimmick.

This year's seems to be rather weak. In essence, the entire New 52 line gets a month off, replaced by 40-some one-shots sharing the same Futures End sub-title and a #1 (Action Comics: Futures End #1, Batman and Robin: Futures End #1, etc).

On the one hand, this will give DC the benefit of only publishing they're better selling titles, the same way they did last September with the Villains Month decimal-point issues (in which, for example, they published four issues of Batman and zero issues of Batwing in a single month), and of selling a bunch of #1s. On the other hand, they are all tied in to the weekly series The New 52: Futures End, set five years into a dystopian future that will never, ever actually come to pass, and thus can't possibly have any bearing on the characters or the titles. It's not hard to imagine readers interpreting this as a good month to simply sit out, although the publisher actually does have some other interesting, non-New 52 books available this month, so perhaps readers who want to skip the event can and will instead invest their time and money in some slightly more off-the-beaten path books (Adventures of Superman, Sensation Comics, Batman '66, Tiny Titans, etc).

On the other other hand, these will have weird-ass 3-D motion covers similar to the ones from last year's Villains Month, none of which looked as good in person as they looked as gifs online. I think people liked those...? They must have, as they're doing them again this year.

Anyway, for a completely complete list of what DC is planning to publish this September, you can visit Comic Book Resources, and for a much shorter list of what jumped out at me, you can keep reading this here post.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #17
Written by JERRY ORDWAY, KELLY SUE DeCONNICK and STEVE NILES
Art by STEVE RUDE, VALENTINE DeLANDRO and MATTHEW DOW SMITH
Cover by STEVE RUDE
SEPTEMBER 24 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST • FINAL ISSUE
Superstar creators unite for the final issue of the series! First, a Superman/O.M.A.C. team-up as only Jerry Ordway and Steve Rude can deliver! Then, when Lois Lane gets Superman a mystery gift for Valentine’s Day, Superman speculates with his friends about what it could be – and what he should get her in return! Finally, Superman is confronted by a ghost from Krypton! Don’t miss out!

And down goes another title I like and read regularly. At least this one is being replaced with Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, the second issue of which will be shipping this same month that Adventures is shipping it's last issue.

What the fuck is this...?

There's your New 52 Spoiler, as drawn by Jason Fabok on the cover of Batman Eternal #22. I don't love it, as I kinda liked the big, white eyes on all-black facemask of the original costume (particularly as drawn by Damion Scott), but I do like the darker purple color and, as far as New 52 redesigns go, this one's a pretty strong one. I even like it better than Stephanie Brown's Batgirl costume.


BATMAN: KELLEY JONES GALLERY EDITION HC
Written by DOUG MOENCH
Art by KELLEY JONES, JOHN BEATTY and others
Cover by KELLEY JONES
Advance solicit • On sale NOVEMBER • 248 pg, FC • 12” x 17” • $125.00 US

Graphitti Designs proudly launches their new, large-format hardcover book series with BATMAN: KELLEY JONES GALLERY EDITION. For the first time ever, Dark Knight fans and collectors will have the opportunity to see and own museum-quality reproductions of memorable Batman art...as it was originally conceived by the artist. Printed in color from high-resolution scans of the actual original art, this first entry in Graphitti Designs’ new Gallery Editions line replicates the look, feel and attitude of the artwork. Every page is reproduced at original size on heavy paper stock, capturing the artwork – stray pencil marks, whiteout, coffee stains and all! The pages are alive with all of the subtleties and nuances one would expect from investment-quality original comic art.

BATMAN: KELLEY JONES GALLERY EDITION is the first in a series of deluxe, hardcover books from Graphitti Designs that faithfully reproduces the original art from select, key DC Comics series. This inaugural volume contains the covers and interior pages from BATMAN #515 through #525, minus the interior of issue #520, which Kelley did not draw. These stories are written by Doug Moench, with most pages inked by John Beatty.

Graphitti Designs’ Gallery Editions reproduce the look, feel and attitude of the original art as it was originally created by the artist. Though it appears to be printed in black and white, the contents of these books are sourced from high-resolution, full color scans taken directly from the artwork. Each high-quality, Smythe-sewn hardcover book captures every detail of the art at actual-size, and are printed at 200 line-screen on a rich, heavy paper stock. Replicating the original art experience is our goal. Our Gallery Editions are the next best thing to holding the original art in your hands – and easier on the wallet, too!

Well, if this lottery ticket I bought yesterday wins tonight, here's one purchase I'll definitely be making.


BATMAN NOIR: THE LONG HALLOWEEN HC
Written by JEPH LOEB
Art and cover by TIM SALE
OCTOBER 1 • 384 pg, B&W, 7.5” x 11.5” • $49.99 US
This landmark 14-issue epic is collected in a brand new noir edition that spotlights the artwork of Tim Sale, as the Dark Knight hunts a mysterious serial killer who strikes only on holidays. Includes appearances by Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, The Joker and many of Batman’s greatest foes!

I just wanted to note the title of this particular book, which inserts the word "noir" between the usual Batman and the colon of the title of this oft-reprinted work. I guess that's to distinguish this as a black-and-white edition, printed on larger pages than usual...? I'd be interested in taking a look at it.

If you haven't read it yet, this is a really great series, full of fantastic artwork, imaginative recreations of Batman's entire rogue's gallery and a pretty engaging murder mystery that doesn't really start to fall completely apart until the end (It still makes more sense than "Hush" did though!).

Nice. And that's just one of two issues of a Batman '66 comic we're getting this month...!

BIRDS OF PREY: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Christy Marx
Penciller: Robson Rocha
Inker: Oclair Albert
Cover: Dan Panosian
On sale SEPTEMBER 10
32 pg, FC • RATED T
3-D Motion Edition: $3.99 US
2-D Standard Edition: $2.99 US
Free of Ra’s al Ghul’s control at last, Black Canary claims her rightful place as the head of the League of Assassins!

OHHhhh, that's Ra's al Ghul's cape! See, when Black Canary showed up at Green Arrow's funeral in Futures End wearing that cape, I thought it was supposed to be Count Vertigo's. In any case, it doesn't really go with the outfit. She either needs a black cape, or a green bathing suit.

As you can see, DC didn't make gifs of all of the 3-D motion covers just yet.

Looks like that Batgirl cover above may have some competition for worst conceivable costume. Jesus.

INFINITE CRISIS: FIGHT FOR THE MULTIVERSE #3
Written by DAN ABNETT
Art by JAVIER GARRON and ALEX CAL
Cover by TOMMY LEE EDWARDS
SEPTEMBER 17 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Based on the hit videogame INFINITE CRISIS! Having survived the destruction of an entire universe, Batman, Nightmare Robin, Arcane Green Lantern and Gaslight Catwoman arrive on the home world of Atomic Wonder Woman. In this devastated, post-apocalyptic landscape, the team finally confronts Atomic Two-Face and his mutant hordes, commanded by the fearsome Atomic Bane.

I'm not a video game player, but I'm intrigued by the concepts and designs of many of these DC-related video games, so I certainly like the idea of comics based on them. I didn't like any of the Akrham material, though, that DCU Legends weekly was pretty awful, and Injustice has been remarkably strong (generally poor, always inconsistent artwork aside), although it's starting to get tedious, as it seems stuck in prequel mode rather than ever actually getting to telling the story of the game.

I hope this comic series will be good. I really like reading those two sentences of synopsis.

THE MULTIVERSITY: THE SOCIETY OF SUPER-HEROES: CONQUERORS OF THE COUNTER-WORLD #1
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art and cover by CHRIS SPROUSE and KARL STORY
1:10 B&W Variant cover by CHRIS SPROUSE
1:25 Variant cover by FRAZER IRVING
1:50 Variant cover by GUILLEM MARCH
1:100 Variant cover by GRANT MORRISON
SEPTEMBER 17 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
...
The biggest adventure in DC Comics history continues!
Grant Morrison joins modern legend Chris Sprouse (TOM STRONG, BATMAN: RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, ACTION COMICS) for a trip to Earth-20 starring a Society of Super Heroes unlike anything you’ve seen before! It’s pulp Super Hero action with a post-modern twist — you can’t afford to miss it!

Who is the demon-like Green Lantern protecting Earth-20? What secret does Doc Fate hold that could save the world? Who are the hand-to-hand and air-to-air combat queens known as the Blackhawks? And what happens when these heroes come face to face with their diabolical Earth-40 counterparts – led by Vandal Savage – for an epic war between parallel worlds? Find out all that and more in this exciting stand-alone issue which also acts as chapter two of the overall MULTIVERSITY storyline. Join us, if you dare, for THE MULTIVERSITY!

What, every issue is going to have a #1 in it...? Hm.

Nice, interesting cover for Names, a new series by writer Peter Milligan, although the artist responsible for the cover is a different artist than the one responsible for the interiors.

SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #6
Written by SHOLLY FISCH
Art and cover by DARIO BRIZUELA
SEPTEMBER 3 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
When the Hall of Justice is haunted, who can the Super Friends call to save the day? Their pals Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne, of course! But when the Mystery Machine pulls into town, will the gang be able to help, or will Shaggy’s phobias give these ghosts an advantage?!

That cover actually looks like it belongs to the previous issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up, the one that mentioned Daphne an Velma undergoing Amazon training, but regardless, the plot synopsis sounds intriguing.

TEEN TITANS EARTH ONE VOL. 1 HC
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by TERRY DODSON, RACHEL DODSON and CAM SMITH
NOVEMBER 19 • 144 pg, FC, $22.99 US
In this new, original graphic novel, the young heroes of the Teen Titans never felt like normal kids...but they had no idea how right they were. Their seemingly idyllic Oregon upbringing hides a secret – one that will bring killers, shamans, and extraterrestrials down on their heads, and force them into an alliance that could shake the planet to its foundations! The superstar team of writer Jeff Lemire (ANIMAL MAN, GREEN ARROW) and artist Terry Dodson (WONDER WOMAN, HARLEY QUINN) reinvent DC’s youngest heroes, with an all-new mythos in an all-new world!

Huh. So this is a brand-new, start-from-scratch Teen Titans concept, featuring a better writer, better artists, better designs and a better logo than what we got with The New 52 version of Teen Titans...? I wonder why they didn't just use this instead of the mess we got instead.

Looking at the cover, it appears to feature Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy/Changeling, Cyborg, Terra and...some blond guy. Who's the blond guy, do you think?

Review: Age of Ultron

I think it's fairly safe to say that when Avengers 2: Age of Ultron is finally released in theaters, its plot won't at all resemble the crossover event storyline it's taken its sub-title from. Age of Ultron, the 10-issue 2013 miniseries, is, after all, about Wolverine going back in time in an attempt to prevent a horrible, robot-ruled future where most of his friends have been killed. Which was, of course, the same basic plot as this summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past movie.

The comic book series was written by Brian Michael Bendis, a very able, very experienced crafstman who has been writing these stories pretty much continuously for years now, and has thus had plenty of opportunities to find out what works and what doesn't. Like most of Bendis' big superhero epics, this one is really rather good, right up until the point where it stops being any good at all. What's different about this one, however, is how long it manages to be any good at all—it's remains rather strong right up until its final chapter, at which point the likely mandated events that elevate it from basically a big Avengers story into one that will change the Marvel Universe forever—which included introducing a one-time Spawn supporting character for no reason evident in the book itself—occur, and the book devolves into an only tenuously related resolution and a series of teases for other, smaller events (so unrelated to what's come before they need special Marvel "AR" applications to explain them to the possibly confused).

From the outside looking in, this seems to be Bendis' long-in-the-works conclusion to his tenure at the head writer of Marvel's ever-expanding Avengers line (and transition to a similar role with the X-Men line), banged and hammered into a line-wide crossover/event somewhere rather close to the finish line.

The collection begins before Age of Ultron #1, in Avengers #12.1, which is included here, and rightly so. It may not have been branded as part of the series proper, but it's fairly important, even integral. So much so that when Age reaches its climax, large portions of #10 are recycled pages from Avengers #12.1, albeit with a few additional dialogue bubbles super-imposed upon them.

Like the first half of Age, that issue is drawn by Bryan Hitch, in his usual "widescreen" art format, here with his borderless panels atop white pages, like some of Chris Bachalo's recent X-Men art. He'll prove an excellent match for the story and for Bendis, as the former involves several scenes of epic destruction and plenty of rubble, a specialty of Hitch's, and the latter's penchant for scenes of long, drawn-out conversations surely benefits from someone of Hitch's skill at drawing realistic and detailed human faces (although there are relatively few such scenes here; Bendis doesn't write all that Bendis-y this time around).

In the Avengers issue, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew, Agent of SWORD goes investigating a strange energy source and then goes missing, and so SWORD Director Abigail Brand convenes a meeting with the various Avengers squads of that moment in time: adjectiveless, New and Secret (SWORD, of course, is the SHIELD-like organization dealing with extraterrestrial threats).

A search and rescue team including Avengers from each of the major Avengers titles is assembled, and they go to find Spider-Woman, currently in the clutches of The Intelligencia, a villain team made up of various super-geniuses. The energy source was a "Spaceknight" that fell to Eath, but when the Avengers attack to kick the poor mad scientists' asses, the metallic hulk activates itself and reveals itself as Ultron, having stowed away on the space-artifact to get back to Earth after being...away, probably being the menace in a miniseries written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, if I had to guess.

"I am unprepared for this battle," Ultron says. "You will wait." Then he blows up, knocking everyone down and disappearing. Iron Man completely loses his shit. Despite having fought Ultron many, many (many, many, many) times before, he's scared that this time fighting Ultron means the end of the world.

"I've seen the future..." Stark says, perhaps referring to the solicitations for Age of Ultron, perhaps to having seen early drafts of Bendis' script. "This is going to happen and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

And what do you know, Tony Stark was right! From there we journey to "Today," and two, two-page spreads of establishing shots of a meticulously devastated New York City, the "camera" slowly zooming in from shot to shot (Another reason Hitch is so well-suited for Bendis...? Bendis often seems like he'd rather be writing for Hollywood, and is settling for Marvel Comics). We see a pretty elaborate infiltration action scene, in which Hawkeye murders a whole bunch of the apparently now-endangered humans, in order to rescue a captured, drugged, tortured and interrogated Spider-Man from The Owl and Hammerhead, who were planning on trading him with Ultron, who apparently lives in the big city floating over what used to be New York City. Hawkeye returns Spidey to the few surviving heroes left in NYC.

(If you're counting, these are Tony Stark, Luke Cage, cute haircut She-Hulk, Emma Frost, cooler-costume-than-usual Wolverine, Captain America, Storm, Sue Storm, Monica Rambeau, Daisy, Quicksilver and...I think that's it. There are other characters who appear in the background of the first three issues, like Beast and Iron Fist, but they are never mentioned and don't reappear, so they are either art mistakes—at one point, Hitch draws Ben Grimm lying on a cot, while dialogue later refers to him as being dead, meaning that was an art mistake or the heroes were just storing his corpse in their sleeping quarters—or they get killed off-panel between scenes).

A handful of heroes survive in other cities. Moon Knight and badly-scarred Black Widow are in San Francisco, and they've tumbled upon Nick Fury's secret plan to save the world if this exact thing happens (It turns out to be a dumb plan that doesn't work). Taskmaster, The Red Hulk and The Black Panther are in Chicago—I know, where else would one expect to find an African king?

After Cage and She-Hulk do some suicide reconnaissance to figure out why exactly Ultron seems to be trading favors to humans (like not killing them) for superheroes, and where Ultron really is (the future).  Ultron is apparently invading the present from the future using the top half of The Vision and a bunch of super-duper-powerful Ultron drones, one of which is strong enough to do this to a Hulk—

Is that even possible? I didn't think that was possible.

The three factions of heroes eventually arrive in The Savage Land, where Nick Fury's waiting, with a cache of super-weapons and his dumb-ass plan. He wants to use Dr. Doom's time machine to travel into "the future," where Ultron waits, and then destroy the evil artificial intelligence. With guns.

You can probably think of a better way in which to use a time machine in order to stop a robot invasion from the future that also used time travel. Maybe, for example, traveling back to the point where Ultron arrived in the present in the first chapter of this story, or the flashback in which Ultron apparently infiltrated The Vision. Or hey, did you guys see Days of Future Past...? They could travel back in time to warn themselves about this going down before it goes down, so they'll be ready to stop it, just like Kitty and Bishop did to save their team over and over.

Anyway, Wolverine's got a big, dumb idea too, but not quite as dumb as Fury's: Go back in time and kill Hank Pym, the man (and Avenger) who created Ultron in the first place, before he can create Ultron.

Removing a founding Avenger, the creator of Ultron (who created The Vision, who pro-created with Scarlet Witch, which lead quite directly into House of M) would obviously have pretty huge implications for the timestream (none of which Bendis visits at all methodically, instead going with "everything is just bad and different"). It still makes slightly more sense than Fury's plan.

This is the end of the first five-issue "act;" that is, the part that Hitch is/was available to draw on the necessary schedule. From their, the art style shifts rather drastically, with the second "act" art split between two different artists, Brandon Peterson handling the scenes set in the present and future, pencil artist Carlos Pacheco and inker Roger Bonet handling the scenes set in the past. Peterson does a passable Hitch imitation, and while Pacheco's art looks nothing like either of theirs, it doesn't really need to: It's cleaner, smoother and less fussy, the better to distinguish itself from the dark, gritty present of Marvel comics. It's too bad Hitch couldn't have stuck around a little longer, as there's actually relatively little present/future left in the story, with the bulk of it happening in the past.

To spoil things, Fury's team does indeed land in "the future," and are then immediately slaughtered by Ultron, whose army of killer drone-bots are obviously much more advanced by that point.

In the past, Wolverine arrives on the exact day Pym is about to have the great idea to build Ultron, but there's a stowaway, Invisible Woman Sue Storm. These two are, obviously, a unique, even inspired pairing, and to see two such vastly different characters whose paths almost never cross in the crowded Marvel Universe is one of the pleasures of the series. She tries to talk Wolverine out of it, Wolvie tries to talk her into it, with the end result being she lets Wolverine kill Pym, and they return to the "present," only to find a much different but equally terrible future (For one thing, Cyclops is calling himself Cable and is on The Defenders!). There, NYC is again obliterated, only this time by Doombots with rams' horns, controlled by Morgan Le Faye.

So Wolverine goes back in time again to stop himself from killing Pym, eventually coming up with a decent solution to stopping Ultron's invasion of the present that doesn't alter the timestream in any way.

Except for the fact that Wolverine went back in time one time too many.

In the tenth issue, drawn by the previously mentioned artists (well the Hitch and Paul Neary sections are repeats) as well as Alex Maleev, Butch Guice, David Marquez, Joe Quesada and others, the awkward grafting of implications occurs.

The only issue in this book that I read the serially-published, comic book-comic of was Age of Ultron #1, which Marvel actually charged $3.99 for but also provided over 30 pages of content in, while (most of ) the rest of the series was at their regular $3.99/20-22-page price point. If I had purchased #10, I think I would have been fairly furious to find that eight of its 34 pages are simply reprints of that Avengers issue drawn by Hitch and Neary (I wonder if they got paid for that art again?). The gag is, of course, that through time travel, that scene happens "again," with a slight change: Pym sends a message to Tony Stark instructing him how to shut down Ultron before Ultron escapes to initiate his "Age," so we get eight pages of Avengers #12.1 all over again, only on a handful of those pages there are little electronic dialogue bubbles from Pym telling Stark to load a program.

He does, and the day is saved...or is it?

Smart guys Stark, Pym and The Beast are looking at troubling "readings," and they've come to the conclusion that they've "broken" time.

"We've altered the space-time coninuum before," Beast argues. "Time travel has been part of our--"

"But this-- This may have been on time too many," Pym cuts him off.

So, what does broken time mean? Well, there were hints earlier in the story that there are other worlds or dimensions (which isn't exactly a revelation, as trans-dimensional travel has also been a part of all their day-to-day lives), and the book is then dedicated to a series of teasers. Some of these are very, very brief, as in single-image cameos that hint at future storylines involving time-travel (Kang and The Apocalypse Twins, the Indestructible Hulk's time travel, Spider-Man 2099, the original teenage X-Men), but there are a trio of other, slightly longer sequences: The "616" Galactus arriving in the Ultimate Universe (which I believe lead to an Ultimate Universe crossover story called Cataclysm), Hank Pym having an idea involving artificial intelligence (no idea; did this maybe tease the already-canceled Avengers A.I. series, which wasn't very good?) and Neil Gaiman's Angela character appearing in a Marvel Comic for no discernable reason (I guess we'll have to see future issues of Guardians of the Galaxy for that explanation).

Most of the negative issues with the series—aside from its implosion of an epilogue, so hastily and lazily thrown together they didn't even bother to use completely new art for all of it, of course— are fairly minor, somewhere between nitpick and That's not the creative choice I would have made there.

Ultron is strangely absent from his own epic storyline, one in which he has conquered the Marvel Universe. Throughout, he appears as no more present or compelling then, say, the Sentinels in any X-Men comic or the Terminator robots. Aside from a one-panel glimpse in flashback, and a splash page in the Avengers issue, he's just reflections of himself from the off-page future,  generic foot-soldiers that look like himself. We don't understand his motivations any better than what Tony Stark says in an offhanded manner—he hates humanity—and Bendis seems to assume a great deal of familiarity with the character. That, or "robot that hates humanity" is all the characterization he thinks we need.

And even if it is, it would have been nice to get some of the mechanics of the story: How Ultron invaded the present from the future, how he maintained a backwards link through the timestream with Vision, how and where he got all those spaceships and floating cities and drone versions of himself and so on.

One of the mysteries of the first act was why Ultron was bothering to run a protection racket with some human villains, allowing The Owl and others to live in exchange for superhuman payment. Stark guesses that it had something to do with Ultron trying to imitate human feelings and emotions but, um, I didn't quite catch how that worked or works in the context of the story. Was Vision attempting to save them? Did Ultron use them as raw material? What?

Also, it seems strange that Pym didn't play a bigger role. Until the very end of the book, he is simply seen in flashback, but as Ultron's creator and the guy whose life and death the book's moral dilemma hinges on, it seems like he should have been a presence. Presumably he was quickly killed at the outset of Ultron's attack. It might have been something worth noting; also, it seems like he's the only Avenger not at the meeting in #12.1 that kicks the whole thing off.

(I realize it's quite possible that some of this business will be explained in a tie-in to the series, and I see there's an entire additional collection of all the ancillary material, entitled Age of Ultron Companion; that's all well and good, but I can't judge a book based on what might appear in another book. A work should be complete unto itself.)

As for the nit-pickery, I'm well and truly lost as to how time-travel works in the Marvel Universe, as I thought for a long time there were rules about it; that is, that time couldn't ever really be altered, attempts to do so only created alternate timelines where the changes happened, but the "real" or original timeline didn't change at all. Am I remembering that correctly? Did I dream it?

The idea that the time is actually "broken" by all of this abuse is fairly interesting, but I don't really understand what it means, as time travel has been more-or-less constant in every corner of the Marvel Universe since this saw print—Bendis' own X-books, for example, saw not only the original X-Men travel forward from the past, but multiple visitations from multiple contingents of X-Men in the future (This feels like one of those instances of Joe Quesada's attempts to put genies back in bottles, like reducing the number of mutants or breaking up Spider-Man and Mary Jane; to take a problem that isn't really a problem, fix it clumsily, and then everyone either just writes around the solution to keep telling the stories they wanted to tell in the first place, and maybe its even reversed at some point anyway). The idea of holes into other dimensions opening is also interesting, but, again, I don't really see what it's changed (the last few volumes of Uncany X-Force I read involved them visiting other, alternate dimensions, and the Ultimate and Marvel Universes have crossed over repeatedly before, directly and indirectly).

Finally, I was pretty amused by a sequence in Age of Ultron #4, in which Black Widow shows Moon Knight a copy of Fury's plan to save the world in case of an Ultron invasion from the future (which, remember, is to time-travel into the future to attack Ultron):

There's a pretty clever issue of Secret Avengers written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Bendis' frequent co-creator Alex Maleev (#20 in...one of the many volumes of Secret Avengers. It's in the Ellis trade) devoted entirely to Black Widow saving the day via repeated time-travel. Of course, that was a secret, so maybe she's just keeping it secret from Moon Knight.

Finally finally, Hitch's Beast reminds me of Stinkor.

That is all.

Meanwhile, at Robot 6...

I have a short review of Anouk Ricard's Benson's Cuckoos at Robot 6 today. It is a great comic book that you should definitely check out. I said the Benson, the fluffy white character in the above pages, is a poodle, but now I'm wondering if he may be some other breed of dog. Perhaps a bichon frise? Or a Bich-poo? Or Poochon?

What is the greatest, most creative ostentatious demonstration of wealth in Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Trail of The Unicorn...?

The scene in "Letter to Santa" in which Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge (dressed uncharacteristically in a suit jacket and tie) hit each other over the head with sacks of money as if engaged in the world's most expensive pillow fight certainly demonstrates great wealth, but as it occurs in the privacy of Scrooge's own office, it's hardly ostentatious.

This panel from the last page of "The Great Duckburg Frog-Jumping Contest," in which Donald and his nephews take their $3,000 prize to an expensive restaurant to buy the most expensive dish is pretty great. I love the fact that here Donald has so much cash that he's not only stuffed himself with it like a scarecrow, but the serene expression on his face, as having a sailor's hat bursting with bills is perfectly natural (Louie, by contrast, cracks a smile).

But I think this panel from the title story, in which Donald and the boys drive past Gladstone in their new, absurdly impractical-looking car, purchased with the $2 million that Uncle Scrooge gave them for saving the life of his unicorn, is the best ostentatious demonstration of wealth. It's not just the ridiculous luxury car itself—the fact that appears to get TV and/or radio in 1949, the monogrammed car door, the hood ornament bigger than the kids—or the fact that they've hired a driver in an elaborate uniform.

It's the fact that they've hired a second guy in an elaborate uniform to sit next to driver, apparently for the specific purpose of insulting other drivers with less ostentatious cars.

DC's May 2014 in dismemberments

Dystopian Future Captain Cold (drawn by Ethan Van Sciver) and Dystopian Future Batman (Jesus Merino and Dan Green), The New 52: Futures End FCBD Special Edition #0, May 3rd

Hawkman (Mike McKone), Justice League United #1, May 14th

Power Ring (Doug Mahnke and Scott Hanna), Justice League #30, May 21st

A polar bear (Dan Jurgens and Mark Irwin), The New 52: Futures End #3, May 21st

Frankenstein (Aaron Lopresti and Art Thibert), The New 52: Futures End #4, May 28th

Swamp Thing (Paul Pelletier and Sean Parsons), Aquaman #31, May 28th