Front Lines - Mini-Reviews (Week of August 24) - DC Rebirth and Civil War II

Captain America: Steve Rogers #4 by Nick Spencer, Javier Pine, and Miguel Sepulveda

Summary: Last issue, in 1926 (well, the false one in Steve Roger’s mind implanted by Red Skull), we find out that HYDRA killed Steve’s abusive father.  His mother realizes that HYDRA can’t be trusted, and has Steve hide.  HYDRA arrives and ends up killing his mother too.  They take Rogers as their own.

In the present, Steve Rogers recruits Doctor Selvig to help him recover Kobik.  Rogers has been unable to bring her in, because she severs the connection whenever he tries to call Bucky.  We also find out that Cap murdered Red Ghost and his apes in cold blood in order to give Selvig a lab to work out of.  Rogers is planning to kill Red Skull and take over HYDRA.

Maria Hill is removed as the head of SHIELD, and the Congress is considering giving SHIELD greater power to be able to take down HYDRA by any means necessary.  Cap supports these initiatives, of course.

Mike: There was so much going on in this issue.  I barely scratched the surface with my summary.  We see Quasar training his replacement, Taskmaster realizing there is something suspicious about Baron Zemo’s death, and a great scene with Rick Jones keeping Cathy company at her brother’s bedside.  By the way, there was a great throwback in that scene to Rick Jones being a James Spader fan, which came up during Peter David’s Hulk.  That has always stuck with me (My Spader sense is tingling) because I am a Spader fan too.  I have no idea if it’s intentional, but if so, it’s kind of awesome.

Broken record time.  I enjoyed this issue, but like 80% of the Civil War II tie-ins, there wasn’t a huge connection here.  Ulysses is mentioned in passing, and we see Kobik and SHIELD being turned into something ugly, but that was more a part of Avengers Standoff than Civil War II.  But if nothing else, you certainly get your money’s worth from this issue.  Lots of storylines moved forward and a very enjoyable comic.

Captain Marvel #8 by Ruth Fletcher Gage, Christos Gage and Kris Anka

Summary: Captain Marvel with the Ultimates and Avengers are able to use Ulysses’ powers to prevent disasters all over the world.  Though many countries are starting to get suspicious of their ability to intervene.  Black Panther has concerns about Carol’s actions, especially in light of Hawkeye killing Hulk because of Ulysses’ predictions.  She shows Black Panther how they are working to vet Ulysses’ predictions, but he still has concerns about bias affecting Ulysses’ predictions.

Carol goes to see Hawkeye, pissed that his actions could have ruined everything she was trying to achieve.  He realizes that she has a lot of doubts about what she’s doing. She admits that he’s right, but she has no one she can talk to.  She doesn’t want to prove Stark right, and she doesn’t want to undermine those who support her.

Danvers is called in to Van Nuys, California.  Ulysses has seen a disaster around Stewart Caldwell, a lowly TV writer who got powers during Secret Wars II.  His powers were believed to be inert.  Carol arrives, and finds one of the man’s writing awards still has power.  They drain the energy away, but Caldwell is arrested.  Carol feels guilty about his arrest, believing he was not trying to cause harm.  And that an outside force may have charged the award.

Mike: This issue was just about my favorite Civil War II tie-in so far.  It was great to see Carol’s doubts, and the reasons she was reluctant to express those doubts.  It really helped make her actions fit in better with the character.  Black Panther as her conscience worked so well.

I was also shocked to see the return of Thundersword...sort of!  I had just reread Secret Wars II a few months ago, so this was a great way to reference Marvel history.  I love little continuity callbacks like this.  Sometimes Marvel stories feel like they take place in a bubble, so this worked really well for me.

Deadpool #17 by Gerry Duggan and Mike Hawthorne

Summary:  The bank vault opens, allowing Deadpool and the Mercs for Money to escape, though they are still fighting with each other.  Deadpool sets off a flashbang grenade blinding himself.  In the chaos, he ends up opening fire on some police officers.  Preston arrives to arrest them all.  They end up in court and convince the judge that it was all Kang’s doing.  They are ordered to make full restitution to the town and are banned from New Jersey.  Deadpool agrees to terminate the Mercs contract, as long as they never get in his way.  

Deadpool tries to go to Preston’s for Sunday night dinner, but she punches him in the face.

He drops in on his wife, Shiklah, to find that she’s in bed with Werewolf by Night.  He shoots Werewolf in the head with a shotgun.

Mike: Right up front this issue tells you it has nothing to do with Civil War II.  But that isn’t the only thing about the cover that is a lie.  Last issue hinted that Madcap had been causing some problems behind the scenes.  The cover seemed to say this issue would feature a showdown with Deadpool, but Madcap doesn’t even show up in this issue. The comic itself wasn’t even all that bad, just a lot of false advertising. It was also great to see Deadpool having some personal consequences for his actions.

New Avengers #15 by Al Ewing and Paco Medina

Summary:  With the help of his old friend Warlock, Sunspot is working to defend Avenger Base Two from Maker’s forces.  He manages to reroute a SHIELD attack drone to destroy Maker’s base.  We get some flashbacks to show how Roberto was manipulating things throughout the series to go his way and be ready for Maker.

Sam and Max rescue Songbird from SHIELD, and Squirrel Girl, Wiccan, and Hulkling return to the team to help. Pod ends up sacrificing its life to save Aikku.  And Ava is able to free the other White Tiger from being controlled by her tiger amulet.  Just in time for the White Tigers to face off against the rest of the Revengers.

Mike: Sam, Roberto, and Warlock.  This book is totally being taken over by the New Mutants, and I could not be happier.  I know you all are probably sick of me saying it, but again, a Civil War II crossover with no real connection to Civil War II.

Every issue of New Avengers has a lots of twists and turns, and that is exactly what I love about this series.  Nice to see Roberto get a much needed win here, though it definitely came at a cost.  Next issue, the New Avengers Vs The Revengers.  That should be a hell of a final battle!

Venom: Space Knight #11 by Robbie Thompson and Gerardo Sandoval

Summary: Venom has come back to Earth looking for components to “cure” the symbiote. He’s also looking for his old partner, Mania, who seems to be losing control of her own symbiote.  Peter Parker arrives as Spider-Man to try and take down Venom.  He’s trying to rescue his friend Flash from Venom’s control. Spider-Man is able to use sonics and flames to separate the symbiote from Flash.  The symbiote seems to have no memory of their time together.  When Spider-Man says he was once the host for the symbiote, the symbiote tries to bond with him.

Mike: I had started reading comics right around the time that Marvel started making Venom into more of a vigilante than a hero.  Hard to believe that was almost 25 years ago.  As a result, I haven’t read a lot of comics were Spider-Man and Venom fought.  I did like that Parker was able to use technology inspired by other heroes to give him an edge on Venom.  I also liked that this issue made a lot of references to the last Venom series, including Mania.  I loved that series.  That said, I had no interest in Venom in space, so I hadn’t been following this series.  Another “non-Civil War” tie-in, but once again, I really enjoyed the comic anyway.

Blue Beetle: Rebirth #1 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins

Summary: Jaime has been working with billionaire industrialist Ted Kord.  On his way to school, Kord calls Jaime to help the police deal with two bad guys.  They are called Rack and Ruin, and they seem to have been sent to get Beetle’s attention.  Jaime tries to fight them, while Ted Kord gives him advice over a headset, which is annoying Jaime more than it’s helping him.  Jaime is able to take them down, and is surprised to realize they were both robots.  The robot parts continue to attack him.  Ted ends up gassing the place, but Rack and Ruin escape in the chaos.    

Jaime heads to school.  Dr Fate arrives to warn Ted than the scarab that powers Jaime is magical in nature.  Meanwhile, we find out that Amparo (who happens to be the aunt of one of Jaime’s friends) was behind the robots. And she is very concerned that Blue Beetle is working with someone else now.

Mike: Real top notch creative team.  I’ve been a fan of Kolins work since Flash, and Giffen has been one of my favorite writers as long as I can remember.  I have always liked Jaime, but his past series always seemed to fall a little short in one way or another.  But this was a great first issue with a great creative team.  And you add Ted Kord into the mix, and you have one pretty perfect comic here.  Definitely worth checking out!