Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of September 2, 2015)

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

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #3 by Fabian Nicieza & Gerardo Sandoval

Summary: Dr. Nemesis is interrogating Jean Grey, who was brought there by Sabretooth and Wild Child to have him interrogate her to find out what the humans are planning.  At the same time, Essex is interrogating Carol Danvers.  And the X-Men are interrogating Cyclops.

Magneto’s wife, Emma Frost, makes a psychic connection with Jean Grey.  They both realize the humans are hiding a virus that can kill all mutants. Apocalypse’s forces storm the human village and they find the cannister with the virus.  The X-Men arrive and try to recover it themselves.  But Apocalypse gets there first and opens the cannister, curious to see who is strong enough to survive the virus.  

Grey: I miss Dr. Nemesis, he was the best part about the Fraction/Gillen era. But, oh, hey look, another mutant killing super virus! I mean, yes, it’s the Legacy Virus, so totally not new, but it’s still another one!

Mike Maillaro: I was not making the connection through the first 2 issues that this was Dr Nemesis. I kept thinking it was a random new character they added to keep Sinister’s hands clean.   So that was a nice twist to me.  This issue was kind of odd with all three factions interrogating someone and all coming up with the answer at the same time because of Emma’s leaky telepathy.

Grey: How about the namedrop about Emma being Mrs. Magneto?

Score: 4/5

Age of Ultron Vs Marvel Zombies #4 by James Robinson and Steve Pugh

Summary: Pym realizes that the ionic energy that makes up Wonder Man is the glue holding the Ultron Zombies together.  He believes that he can use that energy to take control over the hive mind running the Ultron Zombies.  But he needs a greater mind to control them.  And that will require Wonder Man, Vision, and Jim Hammond.  Pym worries that this will cause they to lose their memories and personalities.  They are willing to do it to save their loved ones.  

The Ultron Zombies break into the city.  Pym is putting the finishing touches on the device as they attack his lab.  The Wasp from his domain rescues him. Wonder Man, Vision, and Jim Hammond are ready to make their sacrifice.  At the last second, Iron Cross gets Pym to make it so she can take Hammond’s place.  Iron Cross and Wonder Man will “live forever” in the device, and Hammond gets to go back and be with his pregnant.  Pym’s plan works, and everyone gets a happy ending. Well, except for Vision and his love, Agatha Harkness.  But, I guess no one cares about them…

Grey: Vision got what he deserved for trying to date a woman he thought would die quickly. I mean...poor Vision! This book had me torn. I loved the premise at first, but I also was expected some Pym vs Ultron action, and while Pym was fine, Ultron did the biggest job I’ve seen out of him in years.

Mike Maillaro: He basically was Apocalypse level of “I am kicking so much ass...just to lose in the weakest way possible.”  I did love Radiance and Jim Hammond’s conversations through this about baby names.  For some reason, that made me smile.  I really liked Radiance from Robinson’s All New Invaders.

Grey: So she was from somewhere else? I had no idea!

I’d also like to poke fun at how convenient it was that Simon’s robo-girl could take Hammond’s spot. Because Old West Pym can rework a super sophisticated cyborg to work the same as a super sophisticated android, and he can do all of it in under five minutes when his previous level of genius was “clockwork man”.

Score: 3.5/5

FUTURE IMPERFECT #5 by Peter David and Greg Land

Summary: The Ancient One is Rick Jones (I CALLED IT).  RIck brings them to the Destroyer armor.  Maestro is expecting some kind of trick.  Rick says he doesn’t need a trick.  He has already summoned Doom.  Maestro only has minutes until Doom arrives.  By the time Doom has arrived, Maestro has put on the Destroyer armor.  Doom tells Maestro to back down, but Maestro has no fear of Doom.  They face off.

Maestro in the Destroyer armor is easily able to shrug off Doom’s powers.  Maestro floor Doom with a punch.  Doom unleashes his full power and the Destroyer armor absorb it.  Maestro fires back.  Doom’s force field is failing.  Doom tries to cut a deal, but Maestro has no interest.  Doom is destroyed. Maestro declares himself God now.  Everyone bows down to him.

But it turns out to all be inside Maestro’s head.  He wished for victory, and the Ancient One granted it, but it’s all just a dream.  A dream that will last until Maestro dies.

Mike Maillaro: Yikes.  A hell of an ending.  I was happy to see Rick Jones!  I always loved how Peter David wrote Rick in HULK and CAPTAIN MARVEL.  It was a perfect way to end this story.  Maestro’s ending kind of bummed me out.  But we will seeing him...or a version of hm at least...in CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS in a few months.

Score: 4.5/5

HAIL HYDRA #2 by Rick Remender and Roland Boschi

Summary: Nomad has ended up on Battleworld in a domain controlled by HYDRA.  He finds himself face to face with his counterpart from that world, Leopold Zola.  Zola thinks Nomad was created by his father as a possible replacement. This drives Zola into a rage and he starts to pound on Nomad.  Nomad is quickly taken down.  Zola brags to his father, who wants Nomad brought in alive.  Nomad manages to get the hell out of there, and Zola refuses to follow him into the sewers, defying his father’s orders.

Nomad encounters refugees in the sewers led by this domain’s Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, and their daughter Ellie.  At first they think he’s a HYDRA spy, but he tells them his story, including being raised by Rogers and Carter back on his world.  He wants to help them take down HYDRA.

They are attacked by Venom, a HYDRA agent.  Rogers and Carter order Nomad to take Cap’s shield and Ellie and escape.  The others are all killed or captured.  Before Cap dies, he finds out that Venom infected Ellie with a symbiote.

Mike Maillaro:  Real brutal stuff here!  I loved that we got to see Nomad face what he could have been if it wasn’t for Captain America.  That gave this story a real heft to it.  It really feels like this could have been part of Remender’s CAPTAIN AMERICA.  Not quite SECRET WARS, but still a decent read.

Score: 3.5/5

HOUSE OF M #2 by Dennis Hopeless, Cullen Bunn, and Marco Failla

Summary: Magneto has some kind of powerful being chained in his study.  He calls it “Dragon,” but we don’t see who or what it is.  Magneto reflects on having defeated all his enemies and having no one left as a worthy adversary.

Meanwhile, Misty, Black Cat, and Hawkeye have found themselves in Deathlocket’s underground armory.  She’s building an army of Deathloks to help the human resistance.  Her father had been captured in one of Magnus’s raids and sent to the Human Re-education Center.  She knows about Luke Cage’s plans to fight back, but Cage is gone.  She convinces Misty and company that they can fight back.  She gives Hawkeye an arrow tip that can shut down a mutant’s powers.  A plan starts to come together.

Scarlet Witch’s twin sons continues to cause trouble, rebelling against Magneto’s subjugation of humans.  Magneto’s elite Red Guard arrive to stop them. Scarlet Witch shows up and blasts Wolverine for daring to lay a hand on her sons.  Shaw tries to talk some sense into Wanda, but she blasts him too and heads off with her sons.

Namor and Quicksilver are moving the Atlanteans into position to attach Genosha.  At almost the same time, the Deathlok army arrives.  Polaris realizes this has to be some kind of feint.  The humans would not be so foolish as to send an army of metal cyborgs to attack Magneto.  She’s right.  The humans use this distraction to sneak into the palace through the kitchen.  They make it to Magneto’s study.  Hawkeye manages to hit Magneto with the mutant inhibitor arrow. With Magneto down, the dragon is loose. It’s Fin Fang Foom!  Polaris finishes taking down the deathloks and heads back to her father’s side.  And then the Atlanteans hit the castle with a huge tidal wave.

Mike Maillaro:  I like the sheer randomness of Fin Fang Foom being here and Magneto’s prisoner.  Not sure it made any sense, but it was still damn cool.  Hopeless and Bunn are a great combination.  This comic was just a lot of fun.  A lot of characters here, and it all worked together real well.  

Grey: Apparently Namor and Quicksilver were meant to be a couple at some point in the process, and that kinda bleeds through. God Mode Wanda is kinda….eh, but I get it. In the original House of M she was thought to be a human, so it caused Magneto to treat the flatscans more fairly. Here, she’s more powerful than anyone, and humans are under their boots.

Score: 4.5/5

SILK #7 by Robbie Thompson and Tana Ford

Summary: Silk is visited with her therapist as the final incursion is going down.  Then she reports to work.  She feels like she should be doing something more, but has no idea what that should be.  JJJ calls her into his office.  He managed to track down some information of her family.  Her brother seems to have been arrested a few months ago as part of the Goblin Nation.  Cindy has a hard time believed that.  She remembers her brother as being a good kid.  JJJ finally orders her to find him and interview in about the end of world, forcing her to go see her family.

Silk web swings across New York which is in dire straits.  She stops to play hero several times.  At one point, she tries to stop a bus from plunging into a sinkhole, but it collapses on her.  Pokemon Dude arrives to save her.  She appreciates his wanting to help, but insists that he should be with his daughter.  She realizes she should do the same, and heads straight to her brother.  She finds Albert heavily scarred up.  She hugs him and apologizes as everything fades to white.  

Grey: Cindy is absolutely perfect and I love everything about her character. I was half expecting her to get to Albert and it actually be someone different, but I legit teared up when she found her long lost brother just in time for the world to end.

Mike Maillaro:  I had similar concerns.  Especially when they said he was in assisted living and I saw the scars on his head.  I thought he was not going to remember her, or something equally brutal.  Glad that we basically got a happy ending here.  More or less.

Score: 5/5

SILVER SURFER #14 by Dan Slott and Mike Allred

Summary: Dawn is really excited about the idea of bringing everything in the universe back. Surfer warns her they have to approach this more cautiously. Dawn brings back her family.  Surfer reluctantly agrees to work with Glorian to bring everything back.  Dawn is put in charge of restoring Earth while Surfer works on bringing everything else back.  He realizes this is redemption for all the harm he did while working for Galactus.  

The first thing Surfer does is bring back the black void of space.  Glorian tries to convince Surfer that he can make improvements and doesn’t have to bring everything back exactly the way it was, but Surfer declines.

Back on Earth, Dawn’s sister believes Dawn isn’t up to this task.  And her father wants her to bring back her dead mother.  Surfer is starting to have similar thoughts...that he can make the universe better than it was.  He could restore all the lives Galactus snuffed out.  But he is determined to bring things back exactly the way they were.  But then he brings back Galactus.  He starts to change his mind, starting by destroying Galactus.  From there, he starts to rebuild all the planets and lives he snuffed out.  This is upsetting the Shaper of All Things.

Dawn’s attempts at rebuilding Earth are coming out flat, because she only saw most of Earth in her sister’s postcards.  Zee tries to convince her to ask her sister for help, but Dawn refuses.  She decides to call Surfer for help.  While Surfer is still in space, a second Surfer returns to Earth, eager to help Dawn. Dawn and Surfer both talk about how perfect everything is.  And the Shaper is getting more and more pissed.

Mike Maillaro:  Some real deep ideas here.  I assume in the end, this all have to fail for Doom to make Battleworld, but seeing how Dawn and Surfer could have restored everything and what that kind of power does to people has been one hell of a trip.  I really enjoyed this story, even if it did seem to borrow real heavily from DOCTOR WHO.

Score: 4/5

SPIDER-ISLAND #3 by Christos Gage and Paco Diaz

Summary: Agent Venom tells Vision to take Peter Parker and Stegron.  Venom stays behind to cover their escape, and manages to fight the way through the spider-mutates and escape himself.  They all make it back to the rebel underground.  Peter wakes up.  The heroes are feeling a lot of hope for the first time in a while.  Peter asks Flash to continue leading.  Venom plans to use Stegron’s retrogeneration ray to mutate the New Yorkers to free them from the Spider-Queen’s control.  Peter works on making more Lizard Serum.  As this is going on, Stark is going crazy because of the Goblin Serum.

The Queen tries to lure them into a trap by sending out mutated versions of Mary Jane, Betty Brant, Sharon Carter, and Carlie Cooper.  The heroes know this is a trap, but can’t leave their friends under Spider-Queen’s control.  They track them done, and use the Lizard Serum to free them from Spider-Queen’s control.  But when they bring them back to their base, they discover tracking beacons hidden in each of the women.  Spider-Queen sends her forces after the heroes.  Stark sacrifices himself, knowing he doesn’t have much time left before he loses the last of his sanity.  This allows the other heroes to escape to safety.

Mayday Parker: Spider-Woman by Tom DeFalco, Ron Marz, and Sal Buscema

Summary: Mayday is still trying to kill J2, believed it’s Daemos thanks to Enthralla’s manipulations.  Insider the Avengers Mansion, Jarvis suddenly attacks Scott Lang from behind.

Meanwhile, Uncle Ben meets with Norman Osborn and Phil Urich.  He’s worried that May has been going non-stop since Peter died.  He wants them to take over some of the burden.

J2 is too strong to be hurt by Spider-Woman, and he refuses to hit her back.  Spider-Woman is finally defeated by her own Spider-Sense.  The real threat is revealed to be Red Queen, Hope Pym.  She forces J2 to remove his helmet or else she will kill all his friends.  She now controls all the Avengers.

Grey: MAY! Marvel would be stupid to not have some MC2 action after Secret Wars, it’s like a license to print money to old school fans.

That said, the core story is just great, and I love Flash in charge of his Monster Avengers. Iron Goblin was awesome.

Mike Maillaro: Yeah, with the inclusion of the Spider-Woman story, this is just about my favorite SECRET WARS tie-in.  It seems they are planning for the long haul, with that great scene with Uncle Ben looking to Phil and Norman for help.

And like you said, the main story has been great too.  Really can’t ask for anything more than that.  

Grey: Gage needs more high value work. All he does is write awesome stories.

Score: 5/5

SQUADRON SINISTER #3 by Marc Guggenheim and Carlos Pacheco

Summary: At the outskirts of Utopolis, Nighthawk meets up with Sandman who has stolen to Argonite gun for him.  Nighthawk later gets Paste Pot Pete to say that Whizzer was the one who stole it.  Whizzer realizes he was betrayed by Nighthawk, but before he can point the finger at Nighthawk and Sandman, Hyperion kills Whizzer.  Nighthawk snaps Paste Pot Pete’s neck to get rid of the final potential source that can incriminate him.

Meanwhile, in Nutopia, they are building an army of Starbrands.  Dr. Spectrum discovers this.  He wants to tell Hyperion, but he sees they are working with Power Princess.  Nighthawk convinces Spectrum that Hyperion would go into a rage and kill anyone who tried to convince him that his consort was a spy. Nighthawk says that Power Princess killed a Thor and was trying to pin it on Spectrum.  Spectrum is afraid of being killed like Whizzer; he plans on running. Nighthawk says that he could be tracked by his power prism.

Later, the Nutopians attack.  Hyperion tires to call Doctor Spectrum for help, and Nighthawk says that he’s gone AWOL.  Even without Spectrum, the attack fails.  Power Princess tells Hyperion that she believes Spectrum must have been working with the Nutopians.

After the fight, Power Princess and Nighthawk compare notes.  He tells Power Princess that she needs to get out of town. Nighthawk now has the power prism that Doctor Spectrum left behind and he intends to use it to kill Hyperion.

Mike Maillaro: A lot of real good conspiracy building here.  The only thing I didn’t like is that Nighthawk is made to look like a super genius, while everyone else bumbles around dancing to his every whim.  It’s not much of an intrigue story when everything goes exactly like plan.  No real challenge or complications that Nighthawk hadn’t anticipated.  It’s just dull to read about a character who is that unbeatable.  Nighthawk really needs to get some major comeuppance in the last issue here or this story will feel like a waste.

Grey: Nighthawk as SuperBatman got kinda old, and at this point he pretty much deserves to go in to try to kill Hyperion, and just get decapitated for his troubles.

Mike Maillaro: I would pay to read that.  I remember when Nighthawk was the lame member of the Defenders.  Which is saying a lot when you think about it.

Grey: The only Nighthawk’s I know are that one, and the Supreme Power one which is pretty much “What if Bruce Wayne was black and his parents were killed right in front of him by angry southern racists?”.

Score: 4/5

STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE #3

Summary: Star-Lord and Kitty have been captured by Gambit the Collector in Doom’s Museum..  Gambit leaves to check on a nearby crashing sound.  Star-Lord sings Kitty’s favorite song to seduce Widget (who is an alternate reality version of Kitty) to release them.  When Gambit returns, Star-Lord and Kitty ambush him.  But Gambit is able to use Longshot’s blades to fight them both off.  Suddenly, one of Doom’s statues comes to life, accusing Gambit of defiling his museum.  Doom clobbers Gamit, revealing that he is really Drax in disguise.  He has been following them since they left the Quiet Room.  

Kitty recovers the anomaly that Gambit stole.  It turns out to be Rocket Raccoon’s tail.  Drax turns Gambit over to the Thors for punishment, but he left him with Longshot’s blades, figuring it would keep both sides distracted long enough for Kitty, Drax, and Star-Lord to get out of there.  Star-Lord doesn’t want to turn over Rocket’s tail to Doom.  It’s the only thing left from his world, and it belonged to his friend.  Kitty reluctantly agrees.  Star-Lord tries to ask her for a date. She refuses, but kisses him anyway.  They go their separate ways.  Drax and Star-Lord start plotting to form a “den of thieves.”  

Gina:  This was certainly the perfect ending to an outstanding run.  The humor and cheesy romance was par for the course, and although they tend to prey on my patience, the puns were spot on.  I am still tickled by this version of Drax, and look forward to them cloning Rocket in the near future.

Score: 4.5/5

THORS #3 by Jason Aaron , Chris Sprouse, and Goran Sudzuka

Summary: In Doomgard, the Thors are trying to decide what to do with the man they found calling himself Loki. He seems to have fallen asleep in the interrogation room.  All they know for sure is he’s got a long record of petty crimes and lives in a cardboard box near where Beta Ray Bill was killed.  He was also at the crime scene where Donald Blake’s body was found.  When they tried to arrest him, he revealed himself to be a powerful magic user.  

Thorlief enters the interrogation room.  Loki admits he was Beta Ray Bill’s informant.  The night Beta Ray Bill died, Loki had told him about Jane Foster.  Loki taunts Thorlief into attacking him.  Thor slams him into a wall, and then tries to play nice.  Loki doesn’t fall for Good Thor/Bad Thor.  He does notice that Thorlief seems to shudder whenever Loki mentions the names Jane Foster or Donald Blake.  Loki is getting annoyed that the Thors aren’t smart enough to figure out what is going on here themselves.  He says that he moved the bodies to help the Thors find them, and he even called in anonymous tips.  Loki knows that he was destined for greatness, but when Doom reshaped the worlds, Loki somehow ended up in a cardboard box.  Loki also knows that there are a lot more dead Jane Fosters and Donald Blakes out there.

Thorlief follows Loki’s advice and heads to a mass grave in the Deadlands.  There seem to be dozens more.  Thor is attacked from behind by Rune Thor.  He’s the one who killed Beta Ray Bill.  He leaves Thorlief for dead, but the axe-wielding rogue Thor from earlier arrives to help him.

Mike Maillaro: Pretty good interrogation scene.  I was reminded of HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS.  Looks like we’re finally starting to get some answers here.  Next issue, everything will hopefully be explained completely. I have really enjoyed his series.  Not quite what I was expecting, but that is a good thing here.

Grey: I’ve enjoyed it a lot, too. I mean, really, my only problem is that I saw Runey and Destroyer being the bad guys in the first issue. I blame my action figure collection, I actually have a Rune King Thor figure, so of course he’d be the heel.

Score: 4/5

X-MEN ‘92 #8 by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, and Scott Koblish

Summary: Gambit is hurt badly.  Caliban is trying to revive him.  Rogue realizes that Cassandra duped her.  Gambit regains consciousness, and Rogue goes to join the fight against the X-Sentinel.

On the Astral Plane, Xavier and Shadow King fight it out.  Shadow King is too powerful...until Jean Grey, Cable, and Psylocke add their power to Charles and that enables him to turn things around.  Shadow King vows revenge.

Cyclops is trying to get Kelly and Cassandra to safety.  Cassandra claims that Shadow King possessed her and forced her to build the X-Sentinel.  She believes that Kelly should be able to shut the X-Sentinel down.  Kelly says they need a laser beam to transmit the shutdown code into the X-Sentinel’s chest. Cassandra slips off.  Jubilee suddenly appears just happening to have the laser they need.

Gambit charges up Wolverine’s motorcycle and uses it to blow up the X-Sentinel to give the others time to put their plan in action.  Rogue catches Gambit in midair.  He kisses her, saying it was worth it as he fades to unconsciousness.  Jubilee hits the X-Sentinel with the laser, shutting it down for good.  Sadly, her jacket and glasses don’t survive.

Afterwards, Cyclops retires, turning the X-Men over to Storm.  Most of the Rej-X form the core of a new class at the Xavier Institute.  We also find out that Kelly was working with Apocalypse all the time.  He is part of a new group of Horsemen including Bastion, Mystique, and Exodus.  This issue ends with X-MEN ‘92 will return…

Mike Maillaro: NOOOOOOOOO!!!  Not Fair! I suffered through 8 issues of this garbage.  No more!  You can’t make me read another issue of this!  Never. Never. Never.  Even the ending which brought back Generation X couldn’t make me not hate this comic.  DO NOT BUY!

Score: 2/5