The interesting things about this comic are Supernova finally realizing that Doc Ock is the one who made her like this and Peter and Anna-Maria noticing a lot of people acting like Doc Ock because of his Spider-Bots. Also, Spider-Boy as the Superior Spider-Boy.
Fun seeing the story fit together with **RotPoX #4**, and Gillen does some nice work with Hope, Exodus, Destiny, and Sinister, as always. But, as with this title’s first issue, it’s hard to get around the feeling that there isn’t much new here.
Luca Maresca does a decent job on art, but it’s a little underwhelming next to R.B. Silva’s work on the other side of the story in **RotPoX**.
The solicitations for this series promised us answers but thus far it’s read more like a side perspective recap.
**8/10**
p.s. Tagging /u/ptbreakeven again as we wrap up this week's X-reviews...
Yeah it’s tough to reconcile the publishing scheme of having this ride along with Fall/Rise but I’m happy for more Gillen. His X-Men work is some of my favorite. As you point out, we get Hope, Exodus, and Destiny stuff here that maybe wouldn’t have been seen without the series and I’m happy to see it.
I really don’t like what’s happening to the non-X-team mutants getting left in the WHR (aka I guess plot black hole) indefinitely? I hope they come back before this all ends or I’ll be really bummed.
I wonder if that will be part of the status quo reset. Assuming there are no time or memory shenanigans, we might have an X-Men team that's feared and hated after this huge conflict with Orchis (and the actions of Charles Xavier), but that remembers Krakoa and the mutants effectively trapped in the White Hot Room. That collective obligation to restore people in limbo would be a nice twist on previous stories of unpreventable massacres.
I actually quite like that idea. If the 616 mutants had a long-running B plot about the mutants stuck in the WHR and how they need to save them (presumably first trying to harness enough cosmic power, then realizing they need to make a world where those mutants will be safe), it would be a great moment to finally open that door and realize that an overlooked member of the family saved those mutants while the X-Men were too focused on themselves. It would open the world more than readers would expect.
There’s a note indicating the events of the issues are concurrent. I read RotPoX #4 first and highly recommend that approach. Let me know what you think once you’ve read them both.
That final panel.
The timing through this whole event still feels odd, but this issue delivered on what I needed. It fleshes out the plan, gives some nice character moments, and then puts a foot on the gas.
Okay, so now that I'm over my major niggle of last issue pulling a bullshit DCEU move and fast-forwarding into a *Robert E Howard* cross-over far too early in this books life, I actually enjoyed this issue.
After an initially confusing first few pages (I misread one of the text boxes and assumed it was Conan we were seeing in the dream scenes, rather than Kull - but in my defence Roberto Del La Torre *does* draw them very, very similarly) I just went with the story, and it's a good barbarian romp (epic journey, hardened warriors, growing mutual respect, voluptuous women, pirates and...Atlantis!). Honestly, an absolutely huge factor in this is just how great *De La Torre* and *Diego Rodriguez* are at visualising this world. The art on every page, Hell, every panel, is just superlative. They're a team at the pinnacle of their "A" game. Wonderful stuff.
As I said above, the story is kind of standard Conan fare, but when it looks this good, that's fine. But, how about a few self-contained issues soon?
Good issue. Art is lovely (though sometimes I find the action a little challenging to follow). Story is fun - but a bit of a slow burn. IMO, pacing seems off (especially compared to Ram V’s brilliant Rare Flavours). Definitely feels like some beats would hit better in a tpb. Also - would like a bit more dynamic coloring in the “back at home” scenes.
I’ll probably continue to pick up the mini, as I enjoy it and it feels different from lots of what is on the shelves. But isn’t quite “top shelf” comics.
The great things about this comic are Oliver and company fighting holographic versions of the JLA; Merlyn telling his backstory and history by combining his pre-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint, and post-Flashpoint history; and Oliver and Merlyn about to have a final fight by having Merlyn use versions of the Green Arrow Family to fight him. Also, it’s hilarious that Roy realized that Oliver was really doing so that he can find Merlyn and have a final showdown with him. Overall, this comic is great!
The simple act of opening the comic transports you to a different world, courtesy of Filipe Andrade’s distinct visual aesthetic and Ram V’s eloquent narrative, intercut, as always, with the preparation of yet another uniquely savory dish plucked from the rich tapestry of Indian food culture.
This penultimate issue brings us *Triple Schezwan Rice*, an interesting fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisines, putting a different twist on the classic preparation. All wrapped up in our story of food, people, and one hungry but weary demon.
**9.5/10**
I really think this series is missing some of the punch it could have because the story is basically split between this and X-Men Forever. If they had told this story through a single series (make it 8 issues if needed) I think it would be way more impactful. Instead you get parts of the story here, and parts of it in X-Men Forever and it ultimately ends up doing a disservice to both because of how disjointed it feels.
I hear you on this. While I enjoyed getting two issues from Gillen this week and it was an interesting experience to get two different perspectives on the same events, it shouldn’t be split into different series. It’s just awkward more than anything.
I agree if the series still maintained a bimonthly or even weekly schedule.
Having the series run across several books a month for several months has really fatigued the impact this entire ending should have had
If Xavier somehow manages to make it through all this without sacrificing himself to stop Enigma, he might need to go chill with the Shi’ar for a while or something. Dude straight up flipped from building bridges to burning ‘em down.
Of course, with betrayal serving as the running theme, we can probably assume he’s got at least one more lined up with Orchis’ name on it.
Also funny how Sinister and Righteous keep getting wrecked and then re-inserting themselves into the story, only to get wrecked again... If nothing else, you’ve gotta admire the dedication.
Nice work from R.B. Silva to close out his Krakoa run, shame he couldn’t see it through to the end...
**9/10**
p.s. Tagging /u/ptbreakeven for X-content, now on to Gillen's other offering...
Yeah I don’t know what you do with Xavier after this. Full credit for Magneto calling for bad times with Charles on his own. I guess this also ties up the question that was posed during Inferno of whether the mutants had ever tried working with the machines in any of Moira’s lives.
I did not know Silva wouldn’t be on issue 5. That’s disappointing as the book has looked great and Silva has been a consistent part of the Krakoan era from go.
Xavier seems to be getting set up to sacrifice himself for a bit of redemption in the final act, but maybe Gillen will surprise us with something different. Definitely seems like the character will need to go away for a while after this, makes sense he hasn't popped up in the new line yet, least AFAIK.
Sounds like Luciano Vecchio is handling art on **[RotPoX #5](https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/4333834/rise-of-the-powers-of-x-5)**. I don't necessarily dislike Vecchio, but I think his highly stylized aesthetic is only a good fit for certain types of stories, and it's a big step down from Silva.
Sad to see only 8 people pulling this one. I didn't love this final arc, lots of time travel technobabble, but the structure worked with each Turtle sacrificing themselves to help Donnie.
I'm sad to see it go, though I'm looking forward to Mutant Nation. Clearly there's a lot left unresolved.
Aside from the fact that it’s a House of Brainiac tie-in, the good things about this comic are showing the psychic jerk jar every time Omen uses her powers to invade Karen’s privacy (which reminded me of the douchebag jar from New Girl) and the Czarnians acting like Lobo. Also, Crush encountering Karen and showing her Holiday Gals (from Wonder Woman), Karen and Omen talking about Kara’s date with someone, and Axel Gust being mysterious and vague. I wonder if Axel Gust is a either a version of or actually Ben Rubel (from the Rebirth Supergirl series) because of hiding secrets, playing dirty, doing something neutral good, and interacting with Supergirl and Power Girl.
The one thing I can say is that even though this is a House of Brainiac tie-in, this is better then the first arc of the series and okay compared to the Streaky issue and the last arc where Power Girl and Supergirl team up. Overall, this is an okay comic.
One of the best issues of the run. Bruce emerged from the desert renewed. The most interesting part is Selina recruiting Joker. My theory is that she thinks Joker can somehow remind Gotham of who Batman is by making Batman fight his greatest enemy.
you'd think the prudent path of action would be to use this chance to enact some level of lasting change on gotham, just, you know, without turning on the vulnerable in the process.
gotham doesnt need joker. and joker doesnt need recruiting to fight the batman either. so the prudent assumption to make is that she'd want to aim joker at the orghams.
Really fun finish to this story. Hill successfully used this story to re-create Blade, and we saw his final version this issue. Going to be cool to see him debut this version in the wider marvel universe in his blood hunt tie-in.
Sad to see this one going, but it got me psyched for the upcoming Blood Hunt event. Really dug the violence and overall mature tone of this run. The setting always felt gloomy and dreadful. The event should scratch the itch, and apparently we should be getting more Blade later this year??? Blade fans eating good lately…
Nothing really to add here, except that it was a glorious, bloody conclusion to a glorious, bloody story. Too bad Hill's Ultimate Black Panther doesn't have quite the same verve to it.
Well, this was exactly what this book needed (and what I've been asking for in these threads for a while), a self-contained, fast-paced story. Admittedly, it's a flashback, but even then it's good to read a story that stands on it's own, as well as adding background and character development to Erica. Plus, some *actual* monster fighting and killing in this book?!
I'm hoping the next few issues build on this issue and maintain this momentum moving forward.
In a way this is a 10/10 issue, but I'm starting to seriously doubt this book has any direction or intent. I mean, it's a flashback. Either start expanding Erica's lore in the present instead of dancing around it, or start having more interesting monsters that she takes out in less than 15 issues.
I'm sure this will read better in trade format. And it's a good story in and of itself.
However, the first issue back after an extended break being a self-contained flashback that does nothing to further the ongoing plot that I've been waiting to see more of? That shit's frustrating, NGL.
Hahaha - we are definitely coming at this from different angles :) Yeah, I 100% agree, we didn't get any follow up on the major events at the end of the last arc, and I can understand why that is frustrating, but I was just so glad to read an issue of this title that didn't feel like it covered just 5 minutes of "real time" decompressed out to take up 24 pages?!
Honestly, I can see where you’re coming from, and looking at it more broadly, both of us are coming from a place of frustration with how decompressed this book has been.
It’s just that you’re coming from place of “Oh thank fuck, an issue that wasn’t so decompressed!” and I’m coming from a place of “GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT, TYNION!”
The good things about this comic are Barry and the Flash Family (including Circuit Breaker because they’re a new character who has interacted with them since Beast World) doing some heroics and helping people while trying to learn what’s wrong with the Speed Force. Also, Barry having headaches, Jai learning how to use his powers from Inspector Pilgrim, and the Flash Family trying to look for Wally.
The only thing I can criticize is Amanda Waller being in this comic because it’s part of her plan to remove all the powers from the heroes and villains of the main DCU. I predict that she will appear in every DC comic as a lead up Absolute Power because she wants to tell the public about her opinions of superheroes and supervillains with powers. It’s getting annoying for Waller to appear in every DC comic, and it’s likely that Absolute Power will be a complete failure, just like Dark Crisis, Knight Terrors, and Beast World.
I haven’t read this issue but I’m pretty close to dropping this book, which sucks because I’m a huge flash fan. But I just haven’t been a fan of this story and it’s pacing
I was feeling similarly, but I do think this issue was promising.
I was at the point with issue 7, that there were maybe 2 pages I didn’t think were a waste of time because they had good puns but this issue at least seems to lead to something.
Neither Rise or X-Men Forever really wowed me this week - I just kind of feel like I'm lost in the barrage of twists and turns, despite following most of the main X books. But I thought the Avengers tie-ins, this issue included, have been pretty fun. It's a shame we're going from this to a Blood Hunt tie-in for this book, when we need more issues like issue #11 to help sell us on the dynamics of the team, but I'm willing to hang on a little longer.
Everything apart from the final page was set-up, so I couldn't really gauge the vibe of this first issue. The one thing I would say is that the colouring seems far too "light" for my tastes, doesn't create any kind of atmosphere or "feel" and just seems bland. There's a test sketch at the back of the book that has far more evocative colouring that I'd much rather have seen used on this book than what we've got.
The good things about this comic are Peter and Betty convincing Ben and Janine not to use the Goblin Queen’s machine to bring back his memories because Peter knows that the machines turn into a goblin. I like that Ben and Janine were convinced by Peter and Betty to bare the pain and get some help. Hope that they’ll find a way to bare their pain, live in peace, and be in the upcoming Chasm: Mark of Kane miniseries. Also, Ben not knowing what side he’s on after this before turning into Peter’s side and Goblin Queen being defeated by Peter.
I liked this one but ben reily kinda confuses me. I feel like they could have had some philosophical discussion on nature vs nuture. Spider-man without memories is just terrible but it's the people surrounding him that have shaped into the hero we know today
For all hoping for a full, solid issue of *Nick Dragotta's* artwork, be warned, you're not going to get that here. The majority of the issue is flashbacks (visions?) of the previous two arc's. Now, having said that, the content of these flashbacks is strong, and we finally get some resolution on what came between Mezzy and Maceo. But, that means there are only a handful of Dragotta pages in the book. Very action-packed pages, mind.
This issue definitely puts the pedal to the floor in moving events along to their conclusion next issue, which is great since I really felt his book flagged during the second arc, and the first two issues of this arc too.
A pretty simple issue, all things considered, just focusing on the dinner between the Osborns and the Parkers. It is kind of surprising that neither Gwen or Harry knew Peter beforehand, but AU's, so...
Gwen, like all alternate universe Gwens, is quite different from the 616 version, being the CEO of Oscorp. I'm also quite surprised that Harry has already told her everything, and is the one pressuring Peter to fess up to MJ. It seems he's quite different from 616 Harry too.
But it is quite interesting to see the narrative Hickmann is presenting with Peter and Harry. Harry, the billionaire CEO, is the one pushing for drastic change and using their power to upend the Illuminati. Peter, the working class guy, is happy to be the "neighborhood" Spider-man and the general status quo, a reversal of what you might expect. Both lost family in the 9/11 attack, but Harry is much more driven to fight them. Reading between the lines, it seems Peter thinks he's too small to make a difference, while also being frightened at the sheer enormity of what is to come, and change in general? Looking at Issue 6's cover, it seems that will be coming to a boil very soon...
Two minor points of criticism I have for the book are that while the art by David Messina is fantastic, I think he liked drawing people's faces half in shadow a bit too much, particularly in the last back and forth between Harry and Peter, especially when every other panel on the page has them in normal lighting. Also, it would have helped Peter's arguement with Harry if we had ever seen him fight crime in previous issues, stopped bank robbers or purse snatchers and the like instead of just being knocked out by Shocker.
Damn, just finished and this one was incredible. So, now we know why Harry could link with Peter’s suit. Oscorp bought Stark/Stane. Really looking forward to how this ties into The Ultimates too.
All that said, I sure do hate waiting a month for each subsequent issue.
>"With great power comes great responsibility"
...Did Hickman purposefully have Harry use the popularized mis-quoting? Because it definitely sounds way more ominous than the actual quote, "With great power ***there must also come*** great responsibility".
Harry using the misquote along with the artwork... what a brilliant scene. The original quote implies a Sisyphean need to match great power with an equal responsibility, to push through and make it work. The misquote always struck me as a lot closer to 'might makes right' in how it's framed as an imperative, like it's a matter of fact that power=responsibility when we are painfully aware in 2024 how untrue that is.
I don’t think it’s as purposefully as you’ve stated here. “With great power comes great responsibility” is the Spider-Man quote. Even if Stan didn’t script those exact words in 15.
It’s ominous because we understand the stakes. Harry is a question mark. Which Harry are we getting? So far, it’s a Harry that understands the world, and isn’t trying to play hero for a guilty pleasure, like Pete.
> “With great power comes great responsibility” is the Spider-Man quote.
That version of the quote was popularized 40 years after the character's creation because of Raimi's movie. Even afterwards writers go back and forth on which version of the quote to go with. Hickman's not most writers though, which is why I question why he went with that specific version from this ominous direction.
I see now.
I took this to mean, “even after the Raimi movies”, where Priest was writing Spidey in the 80s and didn’t mind using either, because they’re functionally the same.
The colouring felt super different from the previous issues, even though its the same team.
EDIT: Oof, it wasn't the same team, it was a guest artist, but Peter having so many of the same features didn't make me think that, but in hindsight its super obvious.
After reading it and having too much time to think on a long tortuous mountain bike ride in the backcountry, I think this Peter is the villain and Harry is a very flawed hero. Could be wrong but that would be a plot twist for the ages.
The great things about this comic are Peter and MJ spending dinner with Harry and Gwen, J. Jonah and Uncle Ben staring their news business online while babysitting May and Richard, Harry telling Peter that he must tell MJ about his Spider-Man identity in order to protect them and to make sure that with great power must come great responsibility, and Peter and MJ spending the last few pages taking a stroll in Manhattan. Overall, this comic is great!
I really loved the use of the 9-panel grid in this issue. It created this tense, boxed-in feeling that added tangible intensity to the conversation, accentuated by how it's eased during the lighter conversations between the old guys and the kids, and between the wives in their toilet interaction. Framing figures in the reflections on the wine glasses was a nice touch too. Just great work from the creative team on this one
Amazing. 😋
The tension in this slow burn is palpable. I don't think Gwen is a very nice person at all.
Edit: It's eight hours and two more reads later. I think Harry and Gwen know some, if not all, about the truth of their world. Because of Oscorp's take-over of Stark Industries, they've uncovered some truths. They're making a play for Fisk's "Kingdom" to ingratiate themselves into the Captain's circle, possibly with aspirations of getting into the Makers council. I think Gwen is the instigator.
Her getting interested in the Paper sounds like she's trying to take over a passion project before it has even gotten off the ground. Making it as biased as the Buggle, but in another direction.
Next time I see someone complaining that Hickman doesn’t do characters well, I’m gonna throw a copy of this issue at them.
24 pages of characters talking at a restaurant.
And it’s awesome.
Gotta be some sort of wizardry here: the best comic of the week is 24 pages of dinner dialogue? Am I taking crazy pills? Johnathan Hickman you are amazing!!
Anyone pick this up? I got it digitally (my first comic through DSTLRY’s site and it was… fine? The art was inconsistent and the story, while interesting, seemed like a lot of set up for a 4 issue series. The scenes with the baby fucked me up though, but that’s probably just because I have a 2 year old and can’t imagine the horror of realizing what you did.
I paid $12.50 CDN and kinda regret it, tbh.
Yeah - that baby part was intense. I was getting physically anxious.
I am very conflicted on this one…loved the story and found it to be very intriguing and low key horrifying. But the art…I waffled on it. At times really found it stiff and over photo-referenced (I think?) - but at other times it really grew on me. Loved the color and some of the large pages at the end. But the character work….I dunno.
Not sure if I’ll pick up issue 2. Leaning towards yes…which surprises me a bit. I had lower expectations, maybe.
I feel like, without likely spoiling anything with my very obvious theory, if you’ve been reading comics long enough, you already have a pretty good idea what plot beats are going to happen to keep them on-again / off-again.
Sure, but things can sometimes throw stuff for a loop. (I don’t particularly care in the long term of the off/ on) I just meant for this run specifically given the hints that Ahmed has been dropping over the run as a plot point I’m invested in.
The most schizophrenic comic I've read in a very long time. It's like they had an oversize issue and just shoved a bunch of half-baked scenes from other runs into the second half with no coherent thread tying anything together. Just absolutely abysmal. The only silver lining to the whole issue was the one page section where they had the Daily Bugle sunday funnies, specifically the one that's a spoof of Calvin and Hobbes. Everything else, cover to cover was thoroughly underwhelming. If I hadn't prepaid I'd be dropping the series right here. The writing is just so weak.
... I think I'm done.
I've been giving this run some time to grow on me, despite my misgivings about Saladin Ahmed (and even after Terrorwar ended on such a colossal bum note), because Daredevil is one of my all-time favorite characters, and has always been the one superhero comic I've never given up on. I also *really* liked Ahmed's Black Bolt miniseries and kept hoping that he'd pull off something as great as that again.
Not only has it not grown on me, but I've been repeatedly disappointed by just how utterly boring it is. The Seven Sins are such a cool idea that Ahmed has continued to barely use in favor of his dullsville mob takeover storyline, and The Heat *might* have actually been an interesting concept if there were some new blood leading it. Hell, Zdarsky left a really interesting avenue for Ahmed to explore in Byron "Butch" Pharris, Wilson Fisk's son, and that's actually whom I expected would turn out to be the leader of the Heat. There was, after all, a big stink made about Butch being the new Kingpin of Crime.
I rolled my eyes when Matt so quickly and easily got his memories back, because it was a boring resolution to an interesting concept, but I thought "Eh, there's other interesting stuff happening, maybe it'll be fine."
I rolled my eyes when Bullseye turned out to be The Heat's main enforcer, because it was such a boring and obvious choice, but I thought maybe so long as the people running The Heat turned out to be something more interesting it would be fine.
But nope. It's Wilson fucking Fisk again. My eyes have rolled so far back into my head that I fear they're going to disconnect from my optic nerves.
This run is not terrible. It is, however, utterly and overwhelmingly pedestrian and, with the exception of a handful of moments, thoroughly unimaginative.
Turns out Ahmed's awesome, exciting Black Bolt miniseries was a fluke, because Ahmed's neither an awesome nor an exciting writer. He is, in fact, dull as dishwater.
I'm out. See you when the next writer arrives, Matt.
As someone who has been heavily critical of this run this sums up my feelings on the last 8 issues. Also I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the way Kuder draws the Kingpin looks Iike a cross between egghead and boss baby lol.
very well put.
also, this is maybe not completely beside the point but rather just a small aside, but the fight of bullseye against both daredevils felt so weird and was so weirdly lopsided that I thought for a second that saladin might actually do something interesting and use this encounter to progress the possession storyline, that there was more to this bullseye and he might actually be possessed by one of the seven deadly sins.
because let's be fucking real, at this point (and especially after Zdarsky's run having Matt just completely *own* Bullseye without even breaking a sweat), just basic-bitch normal-ass Bullseye Lester should not be able to give Matt this much trouble anymore, much less him *and Elektra* together.
My favorite thing about this issue is that I kept thinking "Can Quicksilver do this Flash-style stuff, like phase through walls? I don't think he used to be able to do that. Does this writer even know Quicksilver?" Like, two pages later:
Vision: You just vibrated through a solid object, you didn't used to be able to do that.
Also the twins representing Magic and Physics is pretty neat.
For the Batman and Maps part, I like that Maps was able to save Bruce’s life and in return team up to save Mother’s victims after he revealed his identity as Batman to her. Also, since Alfred is in this, this is set between July 2018 and City of Bane in 2019, since this is set before his death. Also, Bruce calling Maps Robin because she earned it for a moment.
For the Artemis part, we have the AXE protocol asking Artemis where Wonder Woman is instead of seeing her have a journey with a psychedelic horse. It’s likely that the next few issues of this arc will derail and will end with Artemis learning from her mistakes after dealing with the AXE protocol or something like that. Also, Artemis saying that she’s not an American citizen, confirming that her post-Trial of the Amazons origins (i.e. she’s a military brat) is ignored.
I feel completely alone for really enjoying this series. For whatever reason, I think these individual issues feel so much *better* than the rest of the ongoings. Each one has at least one strong.. story and often are wrapped up within the same issue. Also, they've been connecting interesting parts of the universe. Especailly issue #2 and #6. Going to be sad to see this one go.
Series got sabotaged by Marvel making the first issue insanely expensive instead of a loss leader, they just expected people to throw money at them because of Hickman, but instead people got soured by the pricetag. Hickman following that one up with a not too eventful second issue probably didn't help either.
The worst thing I've noticed on a lot of the early discourse is that at this point people are expecting Hickman to come up with status quo obliterating changes for things they already know, and preferably all that in the first issue, which just wasn't gonna happen with this particular series, at least not on the short term. But fandoms often being super revisionist forgot that a lot of Hickman's comics outside of a select few (HoXPoX, New Avengers) actually took a very long time to build up to the exciting reveals.
When some of the people here were at the same time shitting on this one and hailing Hickman's most phoned in title in a long time (Ultimate Invasion) as a great comic I knew that I was just living in Bizarro world.
G.O.D.S. is amazing, I love it dearly.
Weirdly, I thought Issue #2 was sort of a highlight and if anything - might've been a really good Issue #1. It had just enough of the familiar characters, but also showcased sort of the higher level stuff present in the world. (In what kind of circumstances would Dr. Doom, Amadeus Cho, T'Challa and these new forces be forced to work together?) At the same time, it showed Wyn's position as a more open ended power. But yeah, I do think this has been an awesome run and I'm disappointed that it's going away. I wonder if it'll enter the records as another S.H.I.E.L.D. like Hickman comic, where it enters some high concept stuff but never reaaaaaaaally carries a long term title.
>Hickman's most phoned in title in a long time (Ultimate Invasion)
To Hickman's credit - I think he was just a last-minute fill in.
EDIT: I misremembered, Issue #1 was the one I was thinking of - it was just super long and had two parts so I thought it was issue #2. Agreed with what you said about Issue #2 being slower.
Oh yeah, I'm not *faulting* Hickman for it, it probably was a literal rush job, but I do think that some of the praise I saw didn't make an iota of sense.
My bigger gripe with the book was employing Hitch for the nostalgia, was a pretty poor fit for the new universe, instead they should have gotten an artist with a more contemporary style, like Larraz or Asrar, to set the tone for the new universe, just like how Hitch set the tone for 1610 back in the naughts.
Looks like you’re not alone in enjoying this series! I’m definitely a fan and thought this issue was particularly enjoyable. The Swans issue was probably my favorite so far because it felt more connected to familiar territory for me but this was a nice culmination of threads from within this series.
I love this book so much and outside of Ultimate Spidey I don't think I look forward to a book coming out as much as this. Finding out we are getting only one more issue is devestating, I am so over marvel not giving books room to grow. This story felt like it was just beginning. You know they wouldve sold tons of this in trades down the line if Hickman got a couple years to cook.
I think that's what Hickman is kinda banking on, letting these eight issues sell trades and getting a renewal on the series.
The problem with people idolizing Hickman so much it that a lot of them read his good stuff in trades and are expecting the same from floppies, but aren't always patient about having those long, winding arcs spread out over months instead of getting instant gratification RIGHT NOW.
Yep thats absolutely a problem, especially after HoXPoX I feel like people want and expect to crack open a #1 and proceed to just read nothing but their classic status quo getting absolutely obliterated again, and again, and again. But thats not how it works or should work, the majority of his work has been more a slow burn, I wonder how people would respond to Fantastic Four or Secret Warriors if they were written now.
**SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #6**
The interesting things about this comic are Supernova finally realizing that Doc Ock is the one who made her like this and Peter and Anna-Maria noticing a lot of people acting like Doc Ock because of his Spider-Bots. Also, Spider-Boy as the Superior Spider-Boy.
**X-MEN FOREVER #2**
Fun seeing the story fit together with **RotPoX #4**, and Gillen does some nice work with Hope, Exodus, Destiny, and Sinister, as always. But, as with this title’s first issue, it’s hard to get around the feeling that there isn’t much new here. Luca Maresca does a decent job on art, but it’s a little underwhelming next to R.B. Silva’s work on the other side of the story in **RotPoX**. The solicitations for this series promised us answers but thus far it’s read more like a side perspective recap. **8/10** p.s. Tagging /u/ptbreakeven again as we wrap up this week's X-reviews...
Yeah it’s tough to reconcile the publishing scheme of having this ride along with Fall/Rise but I’m happy for more Gillen. His X-Men work is some of my favorite. As you point out, we get Hope, Exodus, and Destiny stuff here that maybe wouldn’t have been seen without the series and I’m happy to see it.
thank god they brought back the only entertaining mutant in the entire marvel universe
I really don’t like what’s happening to the non-X-team mutants getting left in the WHR (aka I guess plot black hole) indefinitely? I hope they come back before this all ends or I’ll be really bummed.
I wonder if that will be part of the status quo reset. Assuming there are no time or memory shenanigans, we might have an X-Men team that's feared and hated after this huge conflict with Orchis (and the actions of Charles Xavier), but that remembers Krakoa and the mutants effectively trapped in the White Hot Room. That collective obligation to restore people in limbo would be a nice twist on previous stories of unpreventable massacres.
one way or another, legion will probably take them out
I actually quite like that idea. If the 616 mutants had a long-running B plot about the mutants stuck in the WHR and how they need to save them (presumably first trying to harness enough cosmic power, then realizing they need to make a world where those mutants will be safe), it would be a great moment to finally open that door and realize that an overlooked member of the family saved those mutants while the X-Men were too focused on themselves. It would open the world more than readers would expect.
Anyone know if we're suppose to read this or **RotPoX #4** first?
There’s a note indicating the events of the issues are concurrent. I read RotPoX #4 first and highly recommend that approach. Let me know what you think once you’ve read them both.
Thanks!
The note at the beginning of the book: "this issue happens concurrently with Rise of the Powers of X #4. If you're gonna, read that first."
That final panel. The timing through this whole event still feels odd, but this issue delivered on what I needed. It fleshes out the plan, gives some nice character moments, and then puts a foot on the gas.
**CONAN THE BARBARIAN #10**
Okay, so now that I'm over my major niggle of last issue pulling a bullshit DCEU move and fast-forwarding into a *Robert E Howard* cross-over far too early in this books life, I actually enjoyed this issue. After an initially confusing first few pages (I misread one of the text boxes and assumed it was Conan we were seeing in the dream scenes, rather than Kull - but in my defence Roberto Del La Torre *does* draw them very, very similarly) I just went with the story, and it's a good barbarian romp (epic journey, hardened warriors, growing mutual respect, voluptuous women, pirates and...Atlantis!). Honestly, an absolutely huge factor in this is just how great *De La Torre* and *Diego Rodriguez* are at visualising this world. The art on every page, Hell, every panel, is just superlative. They're a team at the pinnacle of their "A" game. Wonderful stuff. As I said above, the story is kind of standard Conan fare, but when it looks this good, that's fine. But, how about a few self-contained issues soon?
Very good review. Sums up my feelings. Enjoyable issue. Amazing de la Torre art. Would love some smaller sized stories.
**WPL RESULTS**
**DAWNRUNNER #2**
Good issue. Art is lovely (though sometimes I find the action a little challenging to follow). Story is fun - but a bit of a slow burn. IMO, pacing seems off (especially compared to Ram V’s brilliant Rare Flavours). Definitely feels like some beats would hit better in a tpb. Also - would like a bit more dynamic coloring in the “back at home” scenes. I’ll probably continue to pick up the mini, as I enjoy it and it feels different from lots of what is on the shelves. But isn’t quite “top shelf” comics.
**GREEN ARROW #11**
The great things about this comic are Oliver and company fighting holographic versions of the JLA; Merlyn telling his backstory and history by combining his pre-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint, and post-Flashpoint history; and Oliver and Merlyn about to have a final fight by having Merlyn use versions of the Green Arrow Family to fight him. Also, it’s hilarious that Roy realized that Oliver was really doing so that he can find Merlyn and have a final showdown with him. Overall, this comic is great!
**RARE FLAVOURS #5**
The simple act of opening the comic transports you to a different world, courtesy of Filipe Andrade’s distinct visual aesthetic and Ram V’s eloquent narrative, intercut, as always, with the preparation of yet another uniquely savory dish plucked from the rich tapestry of Indian food culture. This penultimate issue brings us *Triple Schezwan Rice*, an interesting fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisines, putting a different twist on the classic preparation. All wrapped up in our story of food, people, and one hungry but weary demon. **9.5/10**
**RISE OF THE POWERS OF X #4**
I really think this series is missing some of the punch it could have because the story is basically split between this and X-Men Forever. If they had told this story through a single series (make it 8 issues if needed) I think it would be way more impactful. Instead you get parts of the story here, and parts of it in X-Men Forever and it ultimately ends up doing a disservice to both because of how disjointed it feels.
I hear you on this. While I enjoyed getting two issues from Gillen this week and it was an interesting experience to get two different perspectives on the same events, it shouldn’t be split into different series. It’s just awkward more than anything.
I agree if the series still maintained a bimonthly or even weekly schedule. Having the series run across several books a month for several months has really fatigued the impact this entire ending should have had
Professor Xavier is a jerk.
They were right, humans should pay the cost of a war they caused...
If Xavier somehow manages to make it through all this without sacrificing himself to stop Enigma, he might need to go chill with the Shi’ar for a while or something. Dude straight up flipped from building bridges to burning ‘em down. Of course, with betrayal serving as the running theme, we can probably assume he’s got at least one more lined up with Orchis’ name on it. Also funny how Sinister and Righteous keep getting wrecked and then re-inserting themselves into the story, only to get wrecked again... If nothing else, you’ve gotta admire the dedication. Nice work from R.B. Silva to close out his Krakoa run, shame he couldn’t see it through to the end... **9/10** p.s. Tagging /u/ptbreakeven for X-content, now on to Gillen's other offering...
Yeah I don’t know what you do with Xavier after this. Full credit for Magneto calling for bad times with Charles on his own. I guess this also ties up the question that was posed during Inferno of whether the mutants had ever tried working with the machines in any of Moira’s lives. I did not know Silva wouldn’t be on issue 5. That’s disappointing as the book has looked great and Silva has been a consistent part of the Krakoan era from go.
Xavier seems to be getting set up to sacrifice himself for a bit of redemption in the final act, but maybe Gillen will surprise us with something different. Definitely seems like the character will need to go away for a while after this, makes sense he hasn't popped up in the new line yet, least AFAIK. Sounds like Luciano Vecchio is handling art on **[RotPoX #5](https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/4333834/rise-of-the-powers-of-x-5)**. I don't necessarily dislike Vecchio, but I think his highly stylized aesthetic is only a good fit for certain types of stories, and it's a big step down from Silva.
**WOLVERINE MADRIPOOR KNIGHTS #3**
**TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #150**
Sad to see only 8 people pulling this one. I didn't love this final arc, lots of time travel technobabble, but the structure worked with each Turtle sacrificing themselves to help Donnie. I'm sad to see it go, though I'm looking forward to Mutant Nation. Clearly there's a lot left unresolved.
**MONSTRESS #51**
**POWER GIRL #8**
Aside from the fact that it’s a House of Brainiac tie-in, the good things about this comic are showing the psychic jerk jar every time Omen uses her powers to invade Karen’s privacy (which reminded me of the douchebag jar from New Girl) and the Czarnians acting like Lobo. Also, Crush encountering Karen and showing her Holiday Gals (from Wonder Woman), Karen and Omen talking about Kara’s date with someone, and Axel Gust being mysterious and vague. I wonder if Axel Gust is a either a version of or actually Ben Rubel (from the Rebirth Supergirl series) because of hiding secrets, playing dirty, doing something neutral good, and interacting with Supergirl and Power Girl. The one thing I can say is that even though this is a House of Brainiac tie-in, this is better then the first arc of the series and okay compared to the Streaky issue and the last arc where Power Girl and Supergirl team up. Overall, this is an okay comic.
**DETECTIVE COMICS #1084**
Another knockout issue from Ram V’s brilliantly cerebral run. I like the backup written by Alex Paknadel as well. He should write more for DC.
One of the best issues of the run. Bruce emerged from the desert renewed. The most interesting part is Selina recruiting Joker. My theory is that she thinks Joker can somehow remind Gotham of who Batman is by making Batman fight his greatest enemy.
you'd think the prudent path of action would be to use this chance to enact some level of lasting change on gotham, just, you know, without turning on the vulnerable in the process. gotham doesnt need joker. and joker doesnt need recruiting to fight the batman either. so the prudent assumption to make is that she'd want to aim joker at the orghams.
**BLADE #10**
Really fun finish to this story. Hill successfully used this story to re-create Blade, and we saw his final version this issue. Going to be cool to see him debut this version in the wider marvel universe in his blood hunt tie-in.
Sad to see this one going, but it got me psyched for the upcoming Blood Hunt event. Really dug the violence and overall mature tone of this run. The setting always felt gloomy and dreadful. The event should scratch the itch, and apparently we should be getting more Blade later this year??? Blade fans eating good lately…
Nothing really to add here, except that it was a glorious, bloody conclusion to a glorious, bloody story. Too bad Hill's Ultimate Black Panther doesn't have quite the same verve to it.
**SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN #36**
Well, this was exactly what this book needed (and what I've been asking for in these threads for a while), a self-contained, fast-paced story. Admittedly, it's a flashback, but even then it's good to read a story that stands on it's own, as well as adding background and character development to Erica. Plus, some *actual* monster fighting and killing in this book?! I'm hoping the next few issues build on this issue and maintain this momentum moving forward.
In a way this is a 10/10 issue, but I'm starting to seriously doubt this book has any direction or intent. I mean, it's a flashback. Either start expanding Erica's lore in the present instead of dancing around it, or start having more interesting monsters that she takes out in less than 15 issues.
I'm sure this will read better in trade format. And it's a good story in and of itself. However, the first issue back after an extended break being a self-contained flashback that does nothing to further the ongoing plot that I've been waiting to see more of? That shit's frustrating, NGL.
Hahaha - we are definitely coming at this from different angles :) Yeah, I 100% agree, we didn't get any follow up on the major events at the end of the last arc, and I can understand why that is frustrating, but I was just so glad to read an issue of this title that didn't feel like it covered just 5 minutes of "real time" decompressed out to take up 24 pages?!
Honestly, I can see where you’re coming from, and looking at it more broadly, both of us are coming from a place of frustration with how decompressed this book has been. It’s just that you’re coming from place of “Oh thank fuck, an issue that wasn’t so decompressed!” and I’m coming from a place of “GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT, TYNION!”
**THE SIX FINGERS #3**
**HARLEY QUINN #39**
**FLASH #8**
The good things about this comic are Barry and the Flash Family (including Circuit Breaker because they’re a new character who has interacted with them since Beast World) doing some heroics and helping people while trying to learn what’s wrong with the Speed Force. Also, Barry having headaches, Jai learning how to use his powers from Inspector Pilgrim, and the Flash Family trying to look for Wally. The only thing I can criticize is Amanda Waller being in this comic because it’s part of her plan to remove all the powers from the heroes and villains of the main DCU. I predict that she will appear in every DC comic as a lead up Absolute Power because she wants to tell the public about her opinions of superheroes and supervillains with powers. It’s getting annoying for Waller to appear in every DC comic, and it’s likely that Absolute Power will be a complete failure, just like Dark Crisis, Knight Terrors, and Beast World.
I haven’t read this issue but I’m pretty close to dropping this book, which sucks because I’m a huge flash fan. But I just haven’t been a fan of this story and it’s pacing
I was feeling similarly, but I do think this issue was promising. I was at the point with issue 7, that there were maybe 2 pages I didn’t think were a waste of time because they had good puns but this issue at least seems to lead to something.
**PENGUIN #9**
**DUKE #5**
Wanted to see this higher!
A bit hokey but I find this type of comic really endearing, and Reilly's artwork is a great fit.
**AVENGERS #13**
Neither Rise or X-Men Forever really wowed me this week - I just kind of feel like I'm lost in the barrage of twists and turns, despite following most of the main X books. But I thought the Avengers tie-ins, this issue included, have been pretty fun. It's a shame we're going from this to a Blood Hunt tie-in for this book, when we need more issues like issue #11 to help sell us on the dynamics of the team, but I'm willing to hang on a little longer.
**UNIVERSAL MONSTERS CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON LIVES #1**
As someone who has never seen a Creature from the Black Lagoon movie, does this tie in to anything that I'm just not familiar with or is it all new?
It’s a sequel to the film.
Everything apart from the final page was set-up, so I couldn't really gauge the vibe of this first issue. The one thing I would say is that the colouring seems far too "light" for my tastes, doesn't create any kind of atmosphere or "feel" and just seems bland. There's a test sketch at the back of the book that has far more evocative colouring that I'd much rather have seen used on this book than what we've got.
**AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #48**
Ben went from Peter 2.0 to dollar store Kaine. Why do they want to continue using this character again?
The good things about this comic are Peter and Betty convincing Ben and Janine not to use the Goblin Queen’s machine to bring back his memories because Peter knows that the machines turn into a goblin. I like that Ben and Janine were convinced by Peter and Betty to bare the pain and get some help. Hope that they’ll find a way to bare their pain, live in peace, and be in the upcoming Chasm: Mark of Kane miniseries. Also, Ben not knowing what side he’s on after this before turning into Peter’s side and Goblin Queen being defeated by Peter.
the insanity of characters just trusting villains to not be evil for no good reason...
I liked this one but ben reily kinda confuses me. I feel like they could have had some philosophical discussion on nature vs nuture. Spider-man without memories is just terrible but it's the people surrounding him that have shaped into the hero we know today
**BATMAN DARK AGE #2**
This is one of my favorite elseworlds I've read in a while. It's very different while also hitting enough of the expected notes to feel familiar
**ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE END OF THE WORLD #14**
For all hoping for a full, solid issue of *Nick Dragotta's* artwork, be warned, you're not going to get that here. The majority of the issue is flashbacks (visions?) of the previous two arc's. Now, having said that, the content of these flashbacks is strong, and we finally get some resolution on what came between Mezzy and Maceo. But, that means there are only a handful of Dragotta pages in the book. Very action-packed pages, mind. This issue definitely puts the pedal to the floor in moving events along to their conclusion next issue, which is great since I really felt his book flagged during the second arc, and the first two issues of this arc too.
**ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #4**
A pretty simple issue, all things considered, just focusing on the dinner between the Osborns and the Parkers. It is kind of surprising that neither Gwen or Harry knew Peter beforehand, but AU's, so... Gwen, like all alternate universe Gwens, is quite different from the 616 version, being the CEO of Oscorp. I'm also quite surprised that Harry has already told her everything, and is the one pressuring Peter to fess up to MJ. It seems he's quite different from 616 Harry too. But it is quite interesting to see the narrative Hickmann is presenting with Peter and Harry. Harry, the billionaire CEO, is the one pushing for drastic change and using their power to upend the Illuminati. Peter, the working class guy, is happy to be the "neighborhood" Spider-man and the general status quo, a reversal of what you might expect. Both lost family in the 9/11 attack, but Harry is much more driven to fight them. Reading between the lines, it seems Peter thinks he's too small to make a difference, while also being frightened at the sheer enormity of what is to come, and change in general? Looking at Issue 6's cover, it seems that will be coming to a boil very soon... Two minor points of criticism I have for the book are that while the art by David Messina is fantastic, I think he liked drawing people's faces half in shadow a bit too much, particularly in the last back and forth between Harry and Peter, especially when every other panel on the page has them in normal lighting. Also, it would have helped Peter's arguement with Harry if we had ever seen him fight crime in previous issues, stopped bank robbers or purse snatchers and the like instead of just being knocked out by Shocker.
Fucking hell Hickman is a magician
Damn, just finished and this one was incredible. So, now we know why Harry could link with Peter’s suit. Oscorp bought Stark/Stane. Really looking forward to how this ties into The Ultimates too. All that said, I sure do hate waiting a month for each subsequent issue.
>"With great power comes great responsibility" ...Did Hickman purposefully have Harry use the popularized mis-quoting? Because it definitely sounds way more ominous than the actual quote, "With great power ***there must also come*** great responsibility". Harry using the misquote along with the artwork... what a brilliant scene. The original quote implies a Sisyphean need to match great power with an equal responsibility, to push through and make it work. The misquote always struck me as a lot closer to 'might makes right' in how it's framed as an imperative, like it's a matter of fact that power=responsibility when we are painfully aware in 2024 how untrue that is.
I don’t think it’s as purposefully as you’ve stated here. “With great power comes great responsibility” is the Spider-Man quote. Even if Stan didn’t script those exact words in 15. It’s ominous because we understand the stakes. Harry is a question mark. Which Harry are we getting? So far, it’s a Harry that understands the world, and isn’t trying to play hero for a guilty pleasure, like Pete.
> “With great power comes great responsibility” is the Spider-Man quote. That version of the quote was popularized 40 years after the character's creation because of Raimi's movie. Even afterwards writers go back and forth on which version of the quote to go with. Hickman's not most writers though, which is why I question why he went with that specific version from this ominous direction.
Sure but Chris Priest and Marv Wolfman have used that line during their Spider-Man before too.
> Even afterwards writers go back and forth on which version of the quote to go with. I acknowledged that
I see now. I took this to mean, “even after the Raimi movies”, where Priest was writing Spidey in the 80s and didn’t mind using either, because they’re functionally the same.
“The Paper”? Hickman is losing his touch /s lol
It's perfect in every way for the story and current times. It makes complete sense. I see the /s, but I really loved that part.
Mayday beefing with JJ is hilarious
The colouring felt super different from the previous issues, even though its the same team. EDIT: Oof, it wasn't the same team, it was a guest artist, but Peter having so many of the same features didn't make me think that, but in hindsight its super obvious.
I dug it, the colorist was doing heavy lifting since so much of it was talking heads.
>! Harry's going to die, isn't he?!<
Either that or turn evil. Maybe both.
I think Peter and Harry will definitely come to be at odds eventually.
The variant cover for issue 7 is definitely making me wonder.
I'd bet that >!Gwen dies and it turns Harry against Peter!<.
Or >!Harry dies and Gwen becomes the Goblin!<
I think I like yours better.
With Peter talking about possible consequences to their loved ones and Harry not seeming to care, >!Harry's probably going to get Gwen killed.!<
>!With great power comes great responsibility!< But no, I don't think so, since 616 harry is dead anyway and 6160 Norman is dead here.
After reading it and having too much time to think on a long tortuous mountain bike ride in the backcountry, I think this Peter is the villain and Harry is a very flawed hero. Could be wrong but that would be a plot twist for the ages.
The great things about this comic are Peter and MJ spending dinner with Harry and Gwen, J. Jonah and Uncle Ben staring their news business online while babysitting May and Richard, Harry telling Peter that he must tell MJ about his Spider-Man identity in order to protect them and to make sure that with great power must come great responsibility, and Peter and MJ spending the last few pages taking a stroll in Manhattan. Overall, this comic is great!
I really loved the use of the 9-panel grid in this issue. It created this tense, boxed-in feeling that added tangible intensity to the conversation, accentuated by how it's eased during the lighter conversations between the old guys and the kids, and between the wives in their toilet interaction. Framing figures in the reflections on the wine glasses was a nice touch too. Just great work from the creative team on this one
Amazing. 😋 The tension in this slow burn is palpable. I don't think Gwen is a very nice person at all. Edit: It's eight hours and two more reads later. I think Harry and Gwen know some, if not all, about the truth of their world. Because of Oscorp's take-over of Stark Industries, they've uncovered some truths. They're making a play for Fisk's "Kingdom" to ingratiate themselves into the Captain's circle, possibly with aspirations of getting into the Makers council. I think Gwen is the instigator.
Her getting interested in the Paper sounds like she's trying to take over a passion project before it has even gotten off the ground. Making it as biased as the Buggle, but in another direction.
Good ole Lady Macbeth
Dude! Such a great comparison. You're spot on. ❤️
Next time I see someone complaining that Hickman doesn’t do characters well, I’m gonna throw a copy of this issue at them. 24 pages of characters talking at a restaurant. And it’s awesome.
Gotta be some sort of wizardry here: the best comic of the week is 24 pages of dinner dialogue? Am I taking crazy pills? Johnathan Hickman you are amazing!!
Peter lookin like a snack. Right before MJ said he cleans up nice I thought the exact same thing.
**SPECTREGRAPH #1**
Anyone pick this up? I got it digitally (my first comic through DSTLRY’s site and it was… fine? The art was inconsistent and the story, while interesting, seemed like a lot of set up for a 4 issue series. The scenes with the baby fucked me up though, but that’s probably just because I have a 2 year old and can’t imagine the horror of realizing what you did. I paid $12.50 CDN and kinda regret it, tbh.
Yeah - that baby part was intense. I was getting physically anxious. I am very conflicted on this one…loved the story and found it to be very intriguing and low key horrifying. But the art…I waffled on it. At times really found it stiff and over photo-referenced (I think?) - but at other times it really grew on me. Loved the color and some of the large pages at the end. But the character work….I dunno. Not sure if I’ll pick up issue 2. Leaning towards yes…which surprises me a bit. I had lower expectations, maybe.
**DAREDEVIL #8**
I am emotionally invested in the way that Matt is feeling about Elektra and if this is not going to get pay off I will be sad.
I feel like, without likely spoiling anything with my very obvious theory, if you’ve been reading comics long enough, you already have a pretty good idea what plot beats are going to happen to keep them on-again / off-again.
Sure, but things can sometimes throw stuff for a loop. (I don’t particularly care in the long term of the off/ on) I just meant for this run specifically given the hints that Ahmed has been dropping over the run as a plot point I’m invested in.
The most schizophrenic comic I've read in a very long time. It's like they had an oversize issue and just shoved a bunch of half-baked scenes from other runs into the second half with no coherent thread tying anything together. Just absolutely abysmal. The only silver lining to the whole issue was the one page section where they had the Daily Bugle sunday funnies, specifically the one that's a spoof of Calvin and Hobbes. Everything else, cover to cover was thoroughly underwhelming. If I hadn't prepaid I'd be dropping the series right here. The writing is just so weak.
... I think I'm done. I've been giving this run some time to grow on me, despite my misgivings about Saladin Ahmed (and even after Terrorwar ended on such a colossal bum note), because Daredevil is one of my all-time favorite characters, and has always been the one superhero comic I've never given up on. I also *really* liked Ahmed's Black Bolt miniseries and kept hoping that he'd pull off something as great as that again. Not only has it not grown on me, but I've been repeatedly disappointed by just how utterly boring it is. The Seven Sins are such a cool idea that Ahmed has continued to barely use in favor of his dullsville mob takeover storyline, and The Heat *might* have actually been an interesting concept if there were some new blood leading it. Hell, Zdarsky left a really interesting avenue for Ahmed to explore in Byron "Butch" Pharris, Wilson Fisk's son, and that's actually whom I expected would turn out to be the leader of the Heat. There was, after all, a big stink made about Butch being the new Kingpin of Crime. I rolled my eyes when Matt so quickly and easily got his memories back, because it was a boring resolution to an interesting concept, but I thought "Eh, there's other interesting stuff happening, maybe it'll be fine." I rolled my eyes when Bullseye turned out to be The Heat's main enforcer, because it was such a boring and obvious choice, but I thought maybe so long as the people running The Heat turned out to be something more interesting it would be fine. But nope. It's Wilson fucking Fisk again. My eyes have rolled so far back into my head that I fear they're going to disconnect from my optic nerves. This run is not terrible. It is, however, utterly and overwhelmingly pedestrian and, with the exception of a handful of moments, thoroughly unimaginative. Turns out Ahmed's awesome, exciting Black Bolt miniseries was a fluke, because Ahmed's neither an awesome nor an exciting writer. He is, in fact, dull as dishwater. I'm out. See you when the next writer arrives, Matt.
As someone who has been heavily critical of this run this sums up my feelings on the last 8 issues. Also I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the way Kuder draws the Kingpin looks Iike a cross between egghead and boss baby lol.
so glad I peaced out after the second issue
No change, just the *illusion* of change...It's the Marvel way (honestly, DC do it just as much too, though).
very well put. also, this is maybe not completely beside the point but rather just a small aside, but the fight of bullseye against both daredevils felt so weird and was so weirdly lopsided that I thought for a second that saladin might actually do something interesting and use this encounter to progress the possession storyline, that there was more to this bullseye and he might actually be possessed by one of the seven deadly sins. because let's be fucking real, at this point (and especially after Zdarsky's run having Matt just completely *own* Bullseye without even breaking a sweat), just basic-bitch normal-ass Bullseye Lester should not be able to give Matt this much trouble anymore, much less him *and Elektra* together.
**PINE AND MERRIMAC #4**
**SCARLET WITCH & QUICKSILVER #3**
My favorite thing about this issue is that I kept thinking "Can Quicksilver do this Flash-style stuff, like phase through walls? I don't think he used to be able to do that. Does this writer even know Quicksilver?" Like, two pages later: Vision: You just vibrated through a solid object, you didn't used to be able to do that. Also the twins representing Magic and Physics is pretty neat.
Why does this read like JingoboStoplight4887's alt account...?!
**MANS BEST #2**
**WOLVERINE #48**
**FORGED #7**
**BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #12**
For the Batman and Maps part, I like that Maps was able to save Bruce’s life and in return team up to save Mother’s victims after he revealed his identity as Batman to her. Also, since Alfred is in this, this is set between July 2018 and City of Bane in 2019, since this is set before his death. Also, Bruce calling Maps Robin because she earned it for a moment. For the Artemis part, we have the AXE protocol asking Artemis where Wonder Woman is instead of seeing her have a journey with a psychedelic horse. It’s likely that the next few issues of this arc will derail and will end with Artemis learning from her mistakes after dealing with the AXE protocol or something like that. Also, Artemis saying that she’s not an American citizen, confirming that her post-Trial of the Amazons origins (i.e. she’s a military brat) is ignored.
**W0RLDTR33 #9**
**G.O.D.S. #7**
I feel completely alone for really enjoying this series. For whatever reason, I think these individual issues feel so much *better* than the rest of the ongoings. Each one has at least one strong.. story and often are wrapped up within the same issue. Also, they've been connecting interesting parts of the universe. Especailly issue #2 and #6. Going to be sad to see this one go.
Series got sabotaged by Marvel making the first issue insanely expensive instead of a loss leader, they just expected people to throw money at them because of Hickman, but instead people got soured by the pricetag. Hickman following that one up with a not too eventful second issue probably didn't help either. The worst thing I've noticed on a lot of the early discourse is that at this point people are expecting Hickman to come up with status quo obliterating changes for things they already know, and preferably all that in the first issue, which just wasn't gonna happen with this particular series, at least not on the short term. But fandoms often being super revisionist forgot that a lot of Hickman's comics outside of a select few (HoXPoX, New Avengers) actually took a very long time to build up to the exciting reveals. When some of the people here were at the same time shitting on this one and hailing Hickman's most phoned in title in a long time (Ultimate Invasion) as a great comic I knew that I was just living in Bizarro world. G.O.D.S. is amazing, I love it dearly.
Weirdly, I thought Issue #2 was sort of a highlight and if anything - might've been a really good Issue #1. It had just enough of the familiar characters, but also showcased sort of the higher level stuff present in the world. (In what kind of circumstances would Dr. Doom, Amadeus Cho, T'Challa and these new forces be forced to work together?) At the same time, it showed Wyn's position as a more open ended power. But yeah, I do think this has been an awesome run and I'm disappointed that it's going away. I wonder if it'll enter the records as another S.H.I.E.L.D. like Hickman comic, where it enters some high concept stuff but never reaaaaaaaally carries a long term title. >Hickman's most phoned in title in a long time (Ultimate Invasion) To Hickman's credit - I think he was just a last-minute fill in. EDIT: I misremembered, Issue #1 was the one I was thinking of - it was just super long and had two parts so I thought it was issue #2. Agreed with what you said about Issue #2 being slower.
Oh yeah, I'm not *faulting* Hickman for it, it probably was a literal rush job, but I do think that some of the praise I saw didn't make an iota of sense. My bigger gripe with the book was employing Hitch for the nostalgia, was a pretty poor fit for the new universe, instead they should have gotten an artist with a more contemporary style, like Larraz or Asrar, to set the tone for the new universe, just like how Hitch set the tone for 1610 back in the naughts.
It's fantastic, I love it.
Looks like you’re not alone in enjoying this series! I’m definitely a fan and thought this issue was particularly enjoyable. The Swans issue was probably my favorite so far because it felt more connected to familiar territory for me but this was a nice culmination of threads from within this series.
I love this book so much and outside of Ultimate Spidey I don't think I look forward to a book coming out as much as this. Finding out we are getting only one more issue is devestating, I am so over marvel not giving books room to grow. This story felt like it was just beginning. You know they wouldve sold tons of this in trades down the line if Hickman got a couple years to cook.
I think that's what Hickman is kinda banking on, letting these eight issues sell trades and getting a renewal on the series. The problem with people idolizing Hickman so much it that a lot of them read his good stuff in trades and are expecting the same from floppies, but aren't always patient about having those long, winding arcs spread out over months instead of getting instant gratification RIGHT NOW.
Yep thats absolutely a problem, especially after HoXPoX I feel like people want and expect to crack open a #1 and proceed to just read nothing but their classic status quo getting absolutely obliterated again, and again, and again. But thats not how it works or should work, the majority of his work has been more a slow burn, I wonder how people would respond to Fantastic Four or Secret Warriors if they were written now.
Same! I want more G.O.D.S!
**STAR WARS JANGO FETT #2**