Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of July 22, 2015)

Front Lines by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

E IS FOR EXTINCTION #2 by Chris Burhnam, Dennis Culver, and Ramon Villalobos

Summary:  Cyclops, Emma, and Wolverine had tricked the U-Men to free Xorn.  The old X-Men end up blowing up the U-Men as they leave.

Meanwhile, Beast realizes that the Hank McCoy who showed up at the end of issue one is a human with no X-Gene.

Cyclops and company are restored to full power by Xorn.  They attack Magneto’s Atom Institute, demanding the release of Jean Grey.  Quintin Quire betrays his teammates to help Cyclops.      Quintin reveals that Magneto had been using the Phoenix edd to pump the students with Mutant Growth Hormone and inhibiting the old X-Men’s powers.  Magneto had planned on using Quintin and Esme to prematurely hatch the Phoenix Edd.  Magneto strikes Quintin down, but he had already bonded himself to egg.  The egg bursts open.  Magneto says it is calling him.  Xorn fights Magneto back.     Xorn surrenders himself to the Phoenix Egg.  The egg goes dormant, landing on Magneto.

Suddenly, Beasts from several alternate realities arrive.

Mike Maillaro: This comic would have been great without the confusing Beast subplot.  It keeps taking a mostly straightforward narrative and making it into a mess. Has any comic in history ever been made better by a Beast subplot?  I like the character, but he should never get the spotlight.  I did enjoy this comic other than that.

Score: 3.5/5

FUTURE IMPERFECT #3 by Peter David and Greg Land

Summary: The rest of the rebels are trying to make their way into Maestro’s palace, led by his former soldier Layla Miller.  They manage to get in and make their way down to the dungeon to rescue their leader, Thunderbolt Ross.  The dungeon is empty, so they think Layla betrayed them.  They manage to fight the guards off with the help of Layla’s attack robot (named Jamie).  They decide to go after Maestro, assuming Ross is already dead.  They reach the throne room and find Ross and Maestro have made peace.  Maestro tells them his plans to take out Doom.  He has access to The Destroyer.

Mike Maillaro: I was real pissed when Layla called for Jamie, and we get a stupid robot dog, not Madrox.  Dirty pool, Mister David!  This was a real good story with a lot of humor.  Definitely fits in with some of my all time favorite Peter David stories.

Gina: As always, Peter David is the epitome of comic genius.  Too much?  This issue of FUTURE IMPERFECT continued to have great surprises and an interesting storyline.  For those of us who are fans of Peter David, we were rewarded with lots of inside jokes and some disappointing teases.  Does the robot dog split into multiple bodies?  Please?  Can’t wait to see where this one goes.

Grey: My only problems with this book are the previously mentioned tease of Madrox giving us a spooty robot, and Layla not having her M tat. I MISS X-FACTOR!

Score: 5/5

LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #16 by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett

Summary: This issue starts with Valstagg being struck down and waking up in Valhalla.  Freyja is gathering all the fallen and the doors of Valhalla open as Odin blows the Gjallar Horn to summon all the fallen Asgardians to the final battle.

Verity is pissed that Loki remover her soul, but realizes that Loki is trying to ensure Verity survives the final battle.

Meanwhile, King Loki has taken Odin’s staff.  Young Loki appears and takes the staff back.  Freyja leads the army of the fallen into the fray, and King Loki flees.  Hel and Odin both try to convince Young Loki to fight on their side, but she says she is not playing those games anymore.  She walks off.  The final incursion wipes out everyone, but Loki and Verity who stand outside of it all as storytellers.  Loki is able to preserve all the Asgardians by preserving their stories.  Suddenly, the old gods appear demanding to know what is going on here.

Mike Maillaro: For the most part, I enjoyed a lot of this arc.  Al Ewing did an excellent job spinning this story.  I especially liked the parallels between the final incursion and Ragnarock.  But how many times has Marvel done “the final battle?”  It’s been done to death by now.  It’s a final battle like Square does Final Fantasies...

Score: 3.5/5

MAGNETO #20 by Cullen Bunn and Paul Davidson

Summary: As Magneto tries to prevent the final incursion, he continues to reflect on the past events that brought him to this point.  We find out that Briar was seriously injured during one of Magneto’s past rampages.  She lost her leg and became obsessed with Magneto.  She wanted to control him, allowing him to move forward the cause, but minimizing the damage.  Magneto is pissed she was trying to act as a puppet master, but decides to spare her life.  

In the present, Magneto’s body is tearing itself apart as he fights the final incursion.  He’s about to be attacked by Ultimate Sentinels, but we find out that Briar revealed his plan to SHIELD to get them to cover his back.  SHIELD destroys the Sentinels.  Magneto says his farewells to Polaris.  He takes her powers to add to his own.  To be concluded.

Mike Maillaro: This arc has gone on far longer than it needed too.  Especially since we know Magneto fails.  The flashbacks worked much better here than in the last few issues, but I still think they often feel like padding. This should have been a nice quick one-shot, not issues long.  I would have rated this one a lot higher if the story had actually ended here.

Score: 3.5/5

MARVEL ZOMBIES #2 by Simon Spurrier and Kev Walker

Summary:  Elsa Bloodstone finds a zombified MODOK rotting on the ground and raids it for weapons.  The kid who is tagging along with her points out that someone is following them.  Elsa insists that the can’t worry about that, and they need to keep going.  The travel on, and the kid is grabbed by zombie Saurons. They are rescued by a heavily armed Warren Worthington.  He is one of the Shield wall protectors who was sent to scout the migration of zombies.  He says he can take only carry one of them, so Elsa hands the kid over.  As she continues to travel, she realizes Worthington was a shapeshifter.  She gives chase and finds it was really a zombie Mystique.  Elsa also finds a strung up Deadpool that the zombies as using as a food source.

Mike Maillaro: This was a real odd place to end this one, but I enjoyed it anyway.  Mystique as a shape-shifting zombie was real cleverly done.  I also loved all the flashbacks drawing parallels between Elsa’s relationship with her father with her current relationship with the kid.  This helped make for a real deep and entertaining comic.

Grey: As soon as I saw Angel show up, even with the “haha, trick question!” stuff, I knew he was a bad guy. I mean, what are the odds that they get discovered by a single flier working off the shield? This book is all sorts of awesome, though, like any Spurrier written Crossed arc.

Mike: Yeah, I kind of thought the whole situation smelled bad too.  But I was not expecting shapeshifter Zombie Mystique.  Personally, I think Elsa was so eager to get rid of the kid, she wasn’t giving much thought to how unlikely it was.

Grey: I really can’t wait to see where things go from here. There’s a weird sense of drama with having only one true lead character, which makes her immortal until the final issue, but it’s not actually hurting the book. Really, I just want to see what happens when Elsa says screw it and starts beating them all to second death. They keep putting over how she has no weapons left, so it’s gotta be magic or magic ass kicking.

Score: 4/5

OLD MAN LOGAN #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino

Summary: Apocalypse arrives, and he is confused by the presence of Old Wolverine.  He decides to kill Wolvie and figure it out later.  A female Beta Ray Bill strikes Apocalypse down warning him that he’s going against Doom’s will. Even Apocalypse kowtows to Doom, but he still wants answers.  While they are talking, Old Man Logan has slipped away.  Enraged, Beta Ray Betty blasts Apocalypse’s horsemen.  Apocalypse’s infinites attack Beta Ray Betty.

Later on, Old Man Logan is stalking Beta Ray Betty who is searching for him.  Wolverine manages to slice her, but she hits him with lightning and sends him flying away.  He ends up landing in Technopolis.  Baron Stark and Grand Marshall Rhodes finds him and they are real curious about how he got there.  Old Man Logan tells them that he wants to meet Doom.  He starts to tell them about things he shouldn’t know.  Rhodes knocks him out.  When he wakes up, he’s been left to die in the Deadlands...Doom’s will.

Mike Maillaro: Really enjoying this series.  Seeing Battleworld from this very different perspective has made OLD MAN LOGAN stand out.  Man, all of the Thors are jerks.  Doom really knows how to pick ‘em.  If Wolverine had ended up in Arcadia or Yinsen City, he might have been able to get some real help.  Instead, tossed into the Deadlands for his trouble.  

I find myself real curious how this Logan will be around after SECRET WARS.  It’s clear this book has quietly made itself one of the most important SECRET WARS tie-ins because of it’s exploration of Battleworld and it’s ties to Marvel’s futures.

Grey: He’s going to kill so many damn zombies next issue, and it’s going to look beautiful. I agree though, all Thors are jerks.

Score: 4/5

THE PUNISHER #19 & 20 by Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerads

Summary: In SECRET WARS, Punisher killed off a bunch of big name supervillains having an end of the world get together in New York.  Afterwards, we was recruited for a mission in Tekrit.  A terrorist group called the Black Dawn have taken American hostages.  Punisher goes to rescue them, a skull mask on his face and a flaming skull blazing across his chest.

Punisher ends up getting shot up pretty bad, but is able to kill the Black Dawn leader.  Punisher manages to kill them all as the Final Incursion wipes out everything, as he bleeds out.

Mike Maillaro: I actually had no idea Punisher even had a series going on at the moment.  I completely missed covering issue 19 last month.   One thing that really bugged me about this one was “Why is Punisher wearing a mask?”  Everyone knows who Frank Castle is, so that just seemed a little silly.  If they are setting up a “new” Punisher, who will take on the mask, I guess that could sort of work, but it seems like a real stretch since Punisher never wore one.

I thought it was a little weird that when all of reality was ending, Punisher would get sent on a hostage mission.  Seemed like the definition of stacking up the deck chairs on the Titanic. All that said, this seemed like a great send off for the Punisher, but as a SECRET WARS tie-in, it was kind of crappy.

Score: 2/5

STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE #1 by Sam Humphries and Alti Firmansyah

Summary: Star-Lord in this story is the 616 Peter Quill who escaped the final incursion in the Life Raft.  He has been separated from the other survivors, presumingly when Doctor Strange teleported them all to safety in Secret Wars #4.  Star-Lord has taken a job as a musician in the Quiet Room.  He sings Disney songs, because no one in this world has heard of Disney, so he is able to make them very popular.  He goes by the name Swinging Steve Rogers.  

One day, Kitty Pryde comes into the Quiet Room.  This Kitty is an agent for Valeria Von Doom. She’s meeting with Gambit the Collector about an anomaly.  A tuft of hair that scans as “origin unknown.”   Valeria trades him knives made from Longshot’s bones for his collection.

Star-Lord spots Kitty.  Gambit is getting handsy, so he rushes over to save her.  Gambit thinks this is a setup, so he explodes a champagne bottle and escapes using the luck in the knives.  He takes the tuft of hair with him.

Star-lord kisses Kitty, who punches him.  His blood lands on the scanner, revealing him to be an anomaly of “origin unknown” as well.  Kitty grabs him to take him to Doomgard.

Gina: Oh the tragedy of a world without Disney!

Mike Maillaro: I thought that was pretty funny since Disney owns Marvel.  Best cross-promotion ever!

Gina: It is prove that Disney lyrics are a viral contagion that worms its way into your ear and makes you like things you shouldn’t.

Mike Maillaro:  I wonder if that is how Peter Quill landed Kitty in the first place  Talk about playing way out of your league.  He threw down a little “Whole New World” and bang, he was in.  

Gina: Back to the comic.  I really liked the more childish nature of this comic.  I haven’t seen hearts in a character’s eyes since Archie.

Mike Maillaro: And don’t forget, Archie has gone modern, so you won’t see it there any more either.  

Gina:  It’s refreshing to have the perspective of someone who actually feels like they lost something.  Even when you encounter characters from 616 like Doom and Strange, there is this drive to continue in the new universe, where Peter is stuck with the loss in the past.  I am looking forward to the interaction between Peter and this version of Kitty since their two different realities clearly don’t mesh.

Mike Maillaro: I mostly enjoyed this one, though I am hoping they don’t go with a cliche ending that “in all realities Peter and Kitty belong together.”  Their relationship has been cute, but I don’t think it works all that well.

Gina: It’s not the destination, it’s the journey and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Grey: How long until she stabs him?

Score: 4.5/5

WEIRDWORLD #2 by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo

Summary: Akron’s quest to get home to Polemachis has landed him and his dragon in a dungeon in a land of underwater apes called Apelantis.  He finds out from another prisoner that he’s to be sold as a slave.  The prisoner wants to escape and believes Akron is his best opportunity for that to happen.  We find out that the prisoner is a Crystallium Warrior named Warbow.  They retrieve their weapons, but can’t find Akron’s dragon.  During their escape, Akron loses his map.  Warbow says that he has a map of his own, and will give it to Akron if he helps him rescue the prince of Crystallium.

Meanwhile, Baron Le Fey has saddled the dragon and takes it out for a ride.  Warbow and Akron manage to sneak into her palace.  Warbow leads Akron to the treasure room.  Apparently Prince Crystar had been smashed to pieces.  Molten Men surround them.

Mike Maillaro: This is such a quirky fantasy book.  I have no idea how it can possibly related to SECRET WARS, but this is exactly the type of comic I want to see more of.  I was really reminded of some of the old Crossgen books I loved so much.  It’s tricky to rate this issue.  Great comic, but not much of a SECRET WARS tie-in.  But it was so good, I found myself not caring all that much (I feel the same way about WHERE MONSTERS DWELL).

Score: 4/5

X-MEN ‘92 by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, and Scott Koblish

Summary - Psylocke realizes Professor X is still alive.  Cable thinks this attack must be connected to Apocalypse, because he’s finding psychic energy he last encountered in Apocalypse’s clone tanks.  Domino checks the computer and finds out that the X-Men went to Clear Mountain and never checked in.  Psylocke stays with Xavier while X-Force teleports over there.  Psylocke enters Xavier’s mind and finds a trail leading to Cassandra Nova.

Meanwhile, Cassandra is trying to get Jean to release the power of the Phoenix to Cassandra.  In the Mindfield, Cyclops attacks Cassandra from behind, as Scott and Jean’s psychic bond is still in tact.  Cassandra starts to attack them with their own memories, but Psylocke arrives to help turn the tide and help keep the Phoenix under control.  Psylocke and Xavier recover, and Xavier says that Cassandra is planning to assassinate Baron Kelly.

Cassandra wakes up to find X-Force storming the facility.  Meanwhile, Beast and Jubilee are putting the finishing touches on a EMP weapon to shut the base down.

Mike Maillaro - Reading and reviewing this book every two weeks is a sign of my dedication to our wonderful readers.  Its always a trudge.  This is especially depressing for me since it was one of the books I was most excited about, and the one that misses the mark the most.  I love 90’s comics, but this takes the worst of them and misses the fun and energy books of the period had.

I did like the quick flashes of Cyclops’ memories, including Sinister and what seemed to be X-Cutioner’s Song.  And Deadpool walking around with Sabretooth’s decapitated (but still talking) head was amusing.  So I am going to give this book a slightly higher score than it probably deserves.

Score: 3/5