Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of September 9, 2015)

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Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Thu, 09/17/2015 - 11:00

1602: WITCH HUNTER ANGELA 3 by Marguerite Bennett, Kieren Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Frazer Irving

Summary: Angela and Serah are tracking the third Faustian. They find this world’s Rogue, a girl named Anna Marie who is possessed by Faerie Queen. Enchantress had said that Serah would die if Angela and Serah killed three more Faustians, so they seek another way to save her. Serah realizes that Enchantress is using Marlowes’s plays to bring back the Faerie ways. She suggests that they need to create a magical story of their own to counteract Enchantress’s magic. Angela and Serah both feel a strong affection for Anna Marie. Anna begs Angela tell her a story. Angela tells her about two actors she met named Johnson and Bowen (Cloak and Dagger). Shakespeare cast them in Romeo and Juliet. A jealous actor is pissed that a black man would get such a big role, so he poisons Johnson. It didn’t kill him, it turned him into a living shadow. Bowen kisses him, taking some of the poison and becomes a creature of light.

Enchantress arrives. Anna Marie decides to stab herself to prevent Angela or Serah from having to do it. The curse is ended, and Anna Marie survives. Enchantress still considers this a third dead Faustian and kills Serah. Angela burns her body, but Serah’s skull starts to talk to her.

Mike Maillaro: This was my favorite issue in this series so far. Cloak and Dagger’s story was real clever and beautifully done. I was a little annoyed that Anna Marie managed to get around Enchantress’s prophecy, but Serah still died. If felt a little cheap. But they did redeem that with the clever ending. Huge improvement here.

Score: 4/5

A-FORCE #4 by Marguerite Bennett, G. Willow Wilson, and Jorge Molina

Summary: Starchild sneaks through Arcadia, dodging the Thors. Once outside the city, she releases the others from the pocket dimension she hid them in. They realize the traitor is using Asgardian magic, which points them back to Nico’s adopted mother, Loki. She had manipulated events to be crowded the next Baroness of Arcadia…though she really wants to be called Queen.

Starchild brings the others back to the castle. They attack Loki, who says She-Hulk had failed Arcadia by not appeasing Doom. Loki tries to convince Nico that she did all this to avenge America being exiled, but Nico realizes the portals and all started before America was exiled. She takes down Loki, but in a last ditch effort, Loki damages the shield wall. She-Hulk assembles A-Force for a last stand.

Mike Maillaro: Nice twist with Loki (even though the cover does kind of give it away). I had thought it was strange to see her as an adopted mother in the first issue, but I just went with it. I should have trusted my instincts better. This series continues to be great and I am real curious what A-FORCE will look like after SECRET WARS ends.

Score: 4.5/5

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #5 by Dan Slott, Adam Kubert, and Scott Hanna

Summary: Hawkeye leads the Resistance into Regent’s base. He fires the inhibitor arrow at Regent, but Regent catches it use the Spider-Sense he is draining from Spider-Man. MJ and Annie arrive at Regent’s control room. They find a woman using a prototype armor similar to Regent’s. Annie uses her speed and agility to take the woman out. MJ tries to get a scientist to tell her how to shut down Regent’s armor, but there are no external shutdowns. MJ ends up putting on the woman’s armor.

MJ and Annie start to break the heroes’ containment cases to reduce Regent’s powers. Regent arrives to try and stop them. Peter sees what is about to happen, and breaks out of his containment pod to protect his family. Spider-Man knocks regent through a window. Annie wants to help, so Hawkeye gives her the head of the inhibitor arrow. She disables Regent’s powers, allowing all three Parkers to team up to take him down. Regent manages to grab Annie by the neck. Spider-Man makes a joke to distract Regent, and knocks him out. He was momentarily tempted to kill Regent, but decided that wasn’t the hero he wanted Annie to look up to. They lock up Regent, who says they have Doomed them all.

Mike Maillaro: The one major issue I had here was all the characters acted like they have never heard of Doom when Regent brings him up. Every other book, the characters all know and fear Doom as God Above All. Why would this domain have no idea who he is. It just made no sense, and threw the whole narrative off for me. I liked that in the end, Peter, MJ, and Annie all ended up as super-heroes.

For the most part, I did enjoy this series. It was a nice look at Spider-Man as a family man once again. Though it’s real clear, this is only a quick tease and won’t be the status quo of Spider-Man anytime soon. Which just makes me sad.

Score: 3.5/5

CIVIL WAR #4 by Charles Soule and Leinil Francis Yu

Summary: The Blue is preparing for a major attack on The Iron. They have prepared their Bellcurve weapon which will take away the powers of any nearby superhuman.

Meanwhile, Iron Man puts Bucky in charge and suits up to go rescue She-Hulk. He tracks her to the Divide, where she’s being held by Black Panther. It was a trap to lure Iron Man in. He captures Iron Man and reveals himself to be a Skrull who was manipulating events all along. Stark attacks the Skrull with lightning powers he manage to implant himself after a failed attempt at cloning a Thor. Other Skrulls arrive to attack, so he frees She-Hulk to help him.

Meanwhile, Captain America blows up the bridge across the Divide and sends The Blue’s forces to attack The Iron. Cap uses himself as bait to draw The Iron’s big guns closer and prepares to set off the Bellcurve.

Mike Maillaro: Nice twist with the Skrulls…but I am not sure where Skrulls would come from. There is no space in Battleworld. Just a minor thing, but it did bug me a little. I was surprised Marvel didn’t do more of this with the real CIVIL WAR. The small tweaks here made the characters’ actions make a lot more sense if there was so much external manipulation. Instead we got Secret Invasion, which just sort of felt sandwiched in by too many other Marvel events. This has been a real good story, and I’m real curious how it will all end up.

Score: 4/5

GIANT-SIZE LITTLE MARVEL – AVX #4 by Scottie Young

Summary: The Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy are all fighting to try and get the new twins in town to join up with them. Iron Man suggests that everyone back off and let them choose. And then the Inhumans arrive to try and recruit the twins. Medusa takes them to town and randomly mutates some citizens using Terrigen mists. Cyclops laughs at them and Black Bolt blasts him. The twins are getting frustrated. They try to get all the heroes to stop fighting, but they refuse. An epic brawl breaks out. The twins realize they have to pick a side for their own safety. They end up being recruited by the Brotherhood of Evil.

Mike Maillaro: This whole series was a lot of fun. The epic battle scenes here was incredible. It was almost George Perez level of crowded, but with a real sense of playfulness. Scottie Young always makes books I want to read. Can’t wait for I HATE FAIRYLAND!

Score: 5/5

KORVAC SAGA #4 by Dan Abnett and Otto Schmidt

Summary: Wonder Man tries to stop Korvac, but Korvac has gotten too powerful. Starhawk believes someone had been suppressing Korvac’s powers unnaturally. Korvac decides that Doom is an obscenity and needs to be taken down. The Avengers and Guardians try to stop Korvac, but he’s way too powerful. He orders them to stand with him or they will be considered pawns of Doom who need to be defeated. Korvac orders them to stand with him or they will be considered pawns of Doom and have to be destroyed. Nikki, Yondu, and Astro decide to stand with Korvac.

Korvac apologizes for the damage he’s done, but he must reveal the truth. Starhawk arrives and confirms what Korvac said. There were once stars and a whole multiverse. Moondragon uses telepathy to show everyone what reality used to be like. Korvac hid his own powers, even from himself, to protect himself from Doom to be able to undo what Doom had created. Korvac sees that it can’t be undone, but he can take Doom’s place. Doom sends Thors to purge Korvac from Battleworld. Korvac refuses and promises to not go quietly. The Avengers and Guardians try to help Korvac, but the Thors quickly defeat them all. Korvac manages to restore their lives to help them fight on, killing himself. The Thors wipe Forrest Hills and the Holy Wood from the face of the planet. They declare themselves the “Guardians of What Once Was” and promise to use that knowledge to stop Doom.

Mike Maillaro: Pretty huge ending. Not sure if this will have any relevance to the main series. It should, but I would be real surprised if it did. This was a decent end to a series I didn’t enjoy all that much, even if it featured a lot of characters I typically like Abnett seemed way out of his realm here and it showed.

Score: 3.5/5

MRS DEADPOOL AND THE HOWLING COMMANDOS #4 by Gerry Duggan and Salva Epsin

Summary: Shiklah and the Howling Commandos try to use the Scepter of the Manticore on Dracule, but Dracula knocks it from their hands. This starts a mad dash to control the Scepter. The Commandos all fall one by one to Dracula. Dracula’s minions end up with the Scepter. Deadpool’s ghost possesses the minion and throws the Scepter to Shiklah, who is able to use the Scepter to destroy Dracula.

Deadpool’s ghost finally gets Shiklah’s attention. He tells her that she made a huge mistake. Doom is going to be pissed that she took out his hand-picked Baron. Shiklah calls Deadpool a coward and sends him away. Moments later, Thors arrive, killing her and everyone else in this domain.

Mike Maillaro: Tough ending here! This was a good series, and it was nice to see ghost Deadpool ended up having a role to play in the story and wasn’t just there for commentary. I do think they missed out by not having him make a Deadman joke.

This is three domains that Thors have demolished this week! Doom needs to curb his path of destruction, or there won’t be much of a Battleworld left.

Score: 4/5

MS. MARVEL #18 by G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona

Summary: Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel arrive to find that Kamran has already exposed Kamala’s brother Aamir to the Terrigen Mists. But Carol says she doesn’t think this is actually Terrigen Mist. Aamir didn’t cocoon, and it feels different to Carol. Whatever this is, it seems to be giving Aamir powers, but also making him sick. Aamir accidentally blasts Kamran away. Then he blasts Carol and Kamala away. Kamran tries to leave with Aamir, but Aamir heard Kamala’s voice and refuse to leave without her. Aamir is pretty annoyed by what Kamran did to him. He never wanted powers, he was very satisfied with his life. He’s also pissed at Kamran breaking Kamala’s heart. Kamala is surprised that her brother takes her side. Aamir warns Kamran to stay away from his family. Kamran tries to attack Aamir, but Aamir’s new powers and a little judo go a long way. Exhausted, Aarmir collapses. Carol believes that he’s having an allergic reaction to this gas, and the powers are likely just temporary.

Carol and Kamala manage to get Aamir out of there and get him back to the school. Carol has to go back to help deal with the Final Incursion. She gives Kamala a necklace with both of their symbols joined together, that will also serve as a GPS locator. Carol tells Kamala that she is doing great work, but she needs to prepare herself for the end of the world. This issue ends with Kamala admitting to her mother that she is Ms Marvel. Mom says that she knew all along. One more issue to go.

Mike Maillaro: Kind of a petty complaint being I love this series, but they should have ended it with the revelation that Mom knew all along. That would have been a perfect fade to white moment. Not sure what else they are going to do with this series before the relaunch. But, that didn’t stop me from loving this comic. But that is no real news, I always love Ms Marvel. One of my favorite comics.

Score: 5/5

PLANET HULK #5 by Sam Humphries and Marc Laming

Summary: Rogers had found out Bucky was killed by Red King says Doom had killed him by sending him on a suicide mission. Red King offers Rogers the chance to join him and help strike back against Doom. Red King even says that he knows Doom’s one weakness. But Rogers is so overcome with rage, he attacks and kills the Red King. Doc Green arrives. He knew Bucky was dead all along, but he used Rogers to take down the Red King and allow Doc Green to take the throne. He then reveals that he was the Rogers of this domain all along. Rogers ends up killing Doc Green too, leaving Greenland leaderless.

Mike Maillaro: Damn. That was one grim ending. It fit the tone of the book perfectly, though I will admit, I was sort of hoping for a slightly happier ending. The reveal of Doc Green and Roger’s response was really well done. A solid end to a real enjoyable series.

Score: 3.5/5

RED SKULL #3 by Joshua Williamson and Luca Pizzari

Summary: Magneto leads the Annihilation Wave on an attack on the Shield Wall. Abigail Brand tries to hold them off. She even sends Sentinels after Magneto. Magneto quickly realizes the Sentinels and the wall are not made of metal, and can’t be affected by his powers. Red Skull set him up. The Sentinels quickly lay to waste off of Magneto’s plans. The bugs are all killed or run away. Magneto’s face is scarred up so badly he looks like Red Skull. He tries to get revenge against Red Skull, who shuts down his powers and throws him to the zombies. Magneto manages to set off the bomb in his inhibitor collar, killing himself and a bunch of zombies.

Red Skull tries to sneak through the shield wall using the entrance that Magneto and company came through. He finds Crossbones waiting to kill him. Crossbones was tasked with killing any of Magneto’s party that made it out alive (none of them did), but killing Red Skull is just as good. He returns to Doom with proof that Red Skull is finally dead.

Mike Maillaro: The dripping gift box with Red Skull’s head in it was a great visual to end this series. This was the perfect length for this story at three issues. I still would have liked them to follow through with the Suicide Squad premise they started with, but this was still a solid story. Moral of the story? Doom always wins. That has been a trend this week.

Score: 3.5/5

SECRET WARS 2099 #5 by Peter David and Will Sliney

Summary: Mordo heads to the Virtual Unreality device in Alcheman to summon his master, The Dweller in the Dark.

In Strange’s Sanctum, the Defenders and Hercules find themselves with Captain America’s very confused civilian identity. She doesn’t remember being Cap at all. Hercules tries to convince her of the truth, but she just wants to go home. Suddenly, she hears Miguel Stone’s voice in her head, reactivating her Captain America identity. She is still pissed at Miguel turning on the Defenders, but Miguel says none of that matters. He needs all hands on deck. He even promises to give the Defenders their freedom…assuming they survive. The Dweller in the Dark has taken over Alchemax.

As the Avengers and Defenders fight a hopeless battle, Miguel tries to take his father to safety. He finds out that Tyler Stone was the one who tried to have Cap killed in the first issue. So Miguel throws Tyler out a window.

Hercules, Captain America, Strange, and Valkerie work to stop Mordo and shut down the portal. Cap knocks Mordo out. The Dweller is able to project fear, reducing his enemies to blubbering fools. Submariner arrives riding Giganto to attack The Dweller. Giganto knows no fear, which makes him the perfect weapon against the Dweller.

Strange shuts down the portal, sucking Dweller back inside. Hercules smashes the portal to seal him away. Miguel keeps his word and promises to stay out the Defender’s way.

Mike Maillaro: Man, I was kind of bummed when this series started with all these new 2099 characters, but it all ended up working real well. Now I am hoping we see them again in the new SPIDER-MAN 2099 series. That has been a reoccurring theme in SECRET WARS to me, getting attached to characters we may not see again. I kind of wish Battleworld would be the new status quo.

Score: 4/5

SIEGE #3 by Kieron Gillen and Felipe Andrade

Summary: The Ultrons are attacking the shield wall, led by a converted Nick Fury. Brand talks to her robot prisoners and finds out that they fled Ultron because they were in love. They are willing to help. They can verbally hack the other robots. They order Fury to shoot himself in the head. It works once, but does minimal damage. It survives, and kills one of the robots. Brand keeps trying to get Kang to travel through time to fix all this, but Kang says the time stream has been blocked with Chronomines.

The other robot is willing to try and stop Fury, but it knows Fury can shake off its control quickly. The robot orders Fury to take Kang’s hand. Kang pulls it into the time stream, seemingly killing Fury and Kang. Brand rallies her troops to fight back, and Leah and Magik return to help finish the job. Apparently, they had eloped and set up their own subdomain on the other side of the shield wall. They refuse to serve Doom, but couldn’t let Brand and their friends be killed. They head back into the Deadlands. Kang emerges from the time stream, with a very dead Fury. He was able to use Fury’s body to keep himself alive.

Thanos arrives, and says “I’m here to talk.” The last page says, “1 day before the wall of the shield. There is no hope.”

Mike Maillaro: This has been a real inconsistent series. The first issue was real good, the second issue was kind of blah, and I liked the third issue as it basically pulled all the pieces together in a mostly satisfying way. I actually was not sure if this was the last issue or not (it’s not, there is another issue coming out first week of October). I was kind of hoping it would stop here while it was still good. Hopefully, the last issue will end it on a strong note.

Score: 3.5/5