Front Lines - Week of January 13, 2016

Secret Wars 9 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

Summary: Black Panther and Namor approach Doom.  Black Panther is armed with the Infinity Gauntlet.  Doom offers to return Wakanda and Atlantis to them, but they don’t want “fake kingdoms on a manufactures world, subjected to the whims of a vain fraud.” Black Panther turns Doom to glass. Namor shatters Doom, but he is able to pull himself back together.

Meanwhile, Reed finds Sue and Valeria.  He tells them he plans to fix everything.  Reed and Maker go to check on Molecule Man. He’s hungry, but they have no food for him.  Maker tries to betray Reed, but Molecule Man saves Reed and then slices Maker to pieces.

Doom and Black Panther keep fighting as gods.  Black Panther laughs at Doom, who realizes this was all a distraction.  He heads to Molecule Man’s tomb.  He confronts Reed.  Doom says he saved millions of lives.  He’s about to use his powers on Reed, but Molecule Man takes Doom’s powers away from him because Doom did not bring him food. Reed and Doom fight.  Reed gets Doom to admit that Reed could have better saved the world.  At that point, Molecule Man gives Reed godlike powers.

Everything explodes.   Black Panther uses the Time Gem to go back to Wakanda just before the first incursion.  It seems he is back where Hickman’s New Avengers run started.  Wakanda launches a ship.  Black Panther calls it “their Alpha Flight.”

Eight months later, on the renamed Prime Earth, we find out that since Miles gave Molecule Man a burger, Molecule Man did him a favor and brought his mother back to life.  Miles lives in Prime Earth and is working with Peter Parker.  The both call themselves Spider-Man.

Reed, Sue, Franklin, and Valeria are now rebuilding the multiverse.  Franklin dreams new universes, and Reed is able to make them happen.  Each gets a little piece of Molecule Man to serve as an anchor.  And this helps heal Molecule Man’s soul too.  Val and Future Foundations plan on cataloging and recording all these new realities.  They have left Ben and Johnny on Earth Prime, saying their stories aren’t over yet.  Reed also decides to restore Doom’s face.  The end.

Mike Maillaro:  Man, the main Secret Wars series felt 7 issues too long.  Grimm never got his revenge on Doom.  Black Panther and Namor get all this power and they are pretty much only there to distract Doom.  The whole crossover ends up resolved by Doom and Reed having a slap fight.  Even Maker’s betrayal was pointless as Molecule Man stops it immediately.  Reed is now God and rebuilding the multiverse.  Franklin is re-doing Heroes Reborn, just on a more epic scale.

Literally the only thing I really liked about this issue was the scenes with Peter and Miles.  Especially when we find out Molecule Man revived Miles’ mom just because Miles had given him a stale burger to eat...which was far more than anyone else did for him.

This issue also left too many questions.  Why are Miles and Maker the only survivors of the Ultimate Universe (presumingly)?  How did Old Man Logan survive and end up on Marvel Prime?  Why didn’t Reed fix the time problems on Marvel...like sending the All-New X-Men back to their time?   Plus, we have a lot of inconsistencies in the new Marvel already.  I am not even sure if the incursions happened or not.   

Part of me thinks this whole crossover was just an excuse to stop calling Marvel’s main universe 616.  I don’t even see this as a goodbye to Reed and Sue, as this story sets up a whole new cool status quo for them.

Grey Scherl: If this had been the final arc of Hickman’s Fantastic Four, I’d have loved it. As it stands...they delayed this book, extended this book, dragged it out, and yet this issue still feels rushed. The Panther/Doom fight was glossed over, the Reed/Doom fight jumped around to help get it over with quickly, and the aftermath stuff was breezed through too quickly to create any real emotional attachment to the happenings.

Mike: Yeah, I totally agree.  It really  felt like a lot of wait, wait, wait...and in the last second HURRY!  If they needed to add an extra issue, it would have made a lot more sense to just use it to establish the new state of the universe.  Instead, there are a lot more questions than answers here, and it just makes me feel like Marvel dropped the ball here.  

A lot of it can be because the “All-New” Marvel has been going on for several months now, and they just had to get Secret Wars done because it was just getting ridiculous at this point for the event to still be going on.  

Grey: Brevoort, reminding us all that he’s a schmuck, attacked Web Warriors for “getting it wrong” by labeling 616 characters as 616 instead of Prime. At one point he said that they couldn’t spoil Secret Wars, then he’s all like “They should have gotten it right”.

Mike: Marvel editoral policy.  BLAME EVERYONE EXCEPT THEIR OWN CRAPPY EDITORIAL POLICIES.

Holy crap, bro.  We did it.  We managed to review every issue of Convergence and Secret Wars.  

Grey: I miss Convergence, now that was a fun event! WITH NO DELAYS!

Score: 2.5/5

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 0 by Kyle Higgins and Hendry Prasetya

Summary: This issue starts with the Green Ranger dreaming that he’s still under Rita’s control.  He has killed the other Power Rangers and is about to help Rita reshape the world.  

In the real world, Tommy and Jason are driving to school.  Tommy feels like he’s being haunted by Rita’s presence.  Tommy is also nervous because it’s his first real day at Angel Grove High (he was under Rita’s control before).  The other Rangers are at school, and they notice Tommy is acting a bit odd.  He heads off to be alone.

On the Moon, Rita prepares a new monster called the Bullzer.  At school, alarms start to blare.  Bullzer is outside tearing things up.  The Rangers morph and head to action.  They summon their Zords.  Megazord manages to grab Bullzer.  Jason tries to get Tommy to finish him off with Dragonzord’s tail, but Tommy is still distracted.  He manages to push through, destroying Bullzer, but also destroying a bridge in the process.  Kim breaks the Pterodactyl Zord away from the Megazord to save some civilians.

The Rangers head to their base.  Tommy says this Zord is faulty.  Jason accuses him of not following directions.  Zorton tries to make peace.  He believes Rita is behind all of this.  Meanwhile, Rita and Scorpina meet in secret.  Scorpina has recovered a crystal from the damaged bridge that is important to Rita’s plans.

Ongoing Adventure of Bulk and Skull by Steve Orlando

Summary: The principal is yelling at Bulk and Skull. They manage to sneak out of his office when someone comes in screaming that 30 party subs have been delivered to the school.  Bulk and Skull try to invite some of the girls to help them eat the subs. One of the girls is talking about the Power Rangers. Bulk decides that in order to get women’s attention, they must become “the new Power Rangers.”

What Time is it? by Marghead Scott and Daniel Bayliss

Summary: The Power Rangers are fighting Goldar and some putties in mist.  They have having some problems finding each other and their comms are not working.  Rita has Goldar grow.  He’s about to stop on Tommy and Jason, but Trini arrives in the Sabretooth Tiger Zord to protect them.  The other Rangers summon their zords.  Working together, they all attack Goldar.  The Rangers for Megazord and Dragonzord, surrounding Goldar.  He realizes he’s defeated.

Mike Maillaro: This issue captured the feel of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers perfectly.  I really liked that they updated some of the references (like the tech they are using in their everyday lives) to help set this book in a more modern time.  I sort of felt like I was reading Ultimate Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Classic, but designed for a 2015 reader.

My only real complaint is so petty I am not even sure if I should mention it.  I thought that segregating the Bulk and Skull story to a backup was a mistake.  They should have just integrated it right into the main story to provide some much needed comic relief, just like Bulk and Skull were in the original series. Especially since we only get two pages of it in this opening issue.

I am also kind of bummed out that we have to wait two months for the series to really get started.  But, this was a really good comic, and I look forward to seeing more.

Grey: I love the little modern touches and hope to see more as the series goes on. I also hope they make the book more PG than the G rated show (violence be damned, the show is terrified of non Tommy/Kim couplings, and being halfway through SPD on my binge watch, the lack of obvious couples being together is maddening). The issue really did need more Bulk and Skull, and I still have an issue with a new generic teacher being there instead of Ms. “I teach EVERY subject” Appleby.

Mike:  Apparently she couldn’t cut it in the modern No Child Left Behind world.  

Grey: How else will these high school students learn the value of the question mark?!

Score: 5/5

Batman and Robin Eternal #15 by Various

Summary: Azrael is meditating. He believes all of reality is a lie and impure except for himself.  He is pretty pissed that Batman’s allies kicked his ass and escaped.  They have been spotted near St Dumas’ secret city of Gnosis.  The Order of St Dumas sends Azrael to get redemption by avenging his defeat.

Azrael goes to find Red Robin standing over a defeated Red Hood.  Tim says that Azrael helped to open his eyes.  He asks to join the Order, and overs Jason Todd as proof of his loyalty.  Azrael is suspicious, but St Dumas accepts this.  He locks Jason Todd away and tells Azrael to bring Timothy Drake to him.  Tim has a lot of questions for Azrael.  Meanwhile, Jason Todd starts to plot his escape, whispering a countdown as he does so.  Tim is introduced to St Dumas, a man who is all wired into the city of Gnosis.  He calls Red Robin “the only true partner to Gotham’s Knight.” Dumas decides to make Tim his new Angel.  He calls Jean-Paul unworthy. Dumas orders them to fight to the death to decide who will be his new Azrael.

Back in the flashback. Mother is talking to Scarecrow about fear and Batman.  Scarecrow heads off.  Orphan warns Mother against trusting Crane.  Mother tells Orphan to “prepare the child.”  Mother calls Batman to meet.  Batman tells Robin they're going after Scarecrow.

Back in the present, Red Hood has escaped.  The countdown finishes, and Red Robin sets off an EM Pulse shutting down the whole base and Azrael’s armor. Red Hood was here to steal everything the Order had on Project Ichthys and everything connecting St Dumas to Mother, including making Jean-Paul.  Dumas uses telekinesis to attack Red Robin.  He says he will kill Red Robin and Azrael.

Meanwhile, Red Hood’s mind is being overtaken by Project Ichthys.  He dreams about himself as a child and in the dream the Joker is about to kill him with a crowbar once more.

Mike: Azrael’s story in New 52 is so different from the character I loved in the 90’s when I started reading comics.  I think it still worked real well, though I do kind of feel bad that he keeps getting his butt handed to him by the Robins.  Azrael should almost be on the level of Batman, not his sidekicks.  But I will admit I have a lot of bias here.

I did think it was interesting that they try to play Red Robin as more of a partner than a sidekick, but I am not quite sure that makes a whole lot of sense.

Grey: I still can’t tell who is playing who in this book, and I have to admit, Robin War did a major number on the momentum here. I mean, does it take place after Eternal? Before? Has to be after, right? I mean, Damian is nowhere to be seen here.

Score: 4/5