Comic Reviews 02.24.2020

Hey y’all. I’m sorry for being late on this one, but I’m dying. Figuratively, that is. I’ve been sick all weekend and still am, but I wanted to get this done so I’m powering through. Only two issues this week, but both reviews are pretty meaty. I also read Guardians of the Galaxy #2 but had nothing much to say about it. It’s a good continuation of the prior issue and has one of my favorite tropes: a prophecy. Anyway, let’s jump in!

 

I love a good prophecy.

As always, I will be using a three-tiered grading system. Buy means I think you should go buy this comic; it’s very good and worth your money and time. Borrow means that I think this issue is worth reading, if you can borrow it from someone; it may be worth the money for you but I’m not confident in telling you to purchase it. Pass means you should pass on the issue; I don’t recommend you buy the comic and generally don’t think it’s worth your time to read. Pass is bad.

Spoilers for: Marauders #8 and Flash Forward #6

Marauders #8

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artists: Stefano Caselli

Colors: Edgar Delgado

Letters: VC’s Cory Petit

Design: Tom Muller

Cover: Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson

I love this comic book. It stars a lot of my favorite characters in an intriguing plot with a million threads going. X-Men as pirates? Great. Political backstabbing? Awesome. Corporate espionage? So. Much. Of. That. Also, the art always looks good and perfectly captures the tone, even though Caselli is the third artist in eight issues. Caselli is my favorite to grace these pages thus far but not so much that I will be mad when he leaves in two issues.

Kate Pryde is dead. She drowned in the ocean just off the coast of Madripoor. Bishop is going to confirm her death. He does so but is caught by Verendi, what appears to be a mercenary company run by children. Its actually very unclear what the company actually does, but they have a militia so its not peaceful work. Anyway, Iceman, Emma Frost, and Christian Frost show up to rescue him and Iceman freezes the ship and all the air in it as a threat to Verendi. Its insanely cool. One soldier’s finger snaps when he tries to shoot Bobby because its just that cold. Its great. I’m a big fan of when people recognize that Bobby is one of the most powerful X-Men.

 

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The heart of this issue is Emma Frost before and after that rescue operation. Upon learning of Kate’s death, Emma holds on just long enough for everyone to leave the room before her legs buckle and she falls to the floor sobbing. Later, she meets Storm to tell her the bad news. Understandably, Storm is upset. So much so that hits Emma. In her face. And Emma lets her. That’s the most telling moment of this entire issue. In any other circumstance, Emma would have gone into Storm’s mind and knocked her out or reduced to a blithering puddle. But not this time. Emma was the one that asked Kate to do these dangerous missions. Yes, Emma surrounded her with some of the most powerful mutants on Krakoa, but she still sent Kate out there.

Then, Emma shares with Storm the way she felt when Storm introduced the newly resurrected Cyclops in House of X. Not in words, but in thoughts, raw emotions. And two embrace, both in tears. And so was I, even if I know Kate will return, probably sooner than later. But the way creative team formed this moment is masterful. Caselli in particular is the star. His facial expressions and body language are exquisite and exactly right. The gravitas is there, as is the raw emotion. I hope he sticks around for a while.

Verdict: Buy

Flash Forward #6

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Brett Booth

Colors: Luis Guerrero

Inks: Norm Rapmund

Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri

Cover: Doc Shaner

Why? Why did any of this need to happen? Honestly, I don’t even know what happened. Maybe more than any other issue of this series, Flash Forward #6 has events occur with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Things happen, people say things, and then BAM! Wally West is Doctor Manhattan. Which I guess is the redemption this comic promised from the beginning? Maybe. It is, at best, moderately unclear.

Let’s back up real quick. This issue opens with Wally West eating with his children, Jai and Iris. I thought they were being hunted or something. That’s why they had to run when Wally landed there. Either way, it doesn’t matter. That night, while his children sleep, Wally walks outside where Tempus Fuginaut and the Mobius Chair are waiting for him. You see, it’s time for Wally to make the ultimate decision that Tempus has been preparing him for this entire series (Apparently). He must destroy this planet, and thus his children, in order to stop the dark matter from spreading across the multiverse. The way he is going to do that is via the Mobius Chair.

 

I still like Brett Booth though

Now, my understanding is that the Mobius Chair just imbues the person sitting on it with of the knowledge in existence. So maybe it will be able to give Wally the answer to how to destroy this world, but it seems as though the chair does the destroying and it just uses Wally to aim it. Maybe it’s channeling “the hope of a good man,” as Tempus puts it. For the stick he gave Wally to clear dark matter never truly had any power. It simply focused Wally’s hope into a way to dispel the dark matter. Except that can’t possible be the answer because Wally and Tempus explicitly state that he will have no more emotions, and therefore no hope, once he sits. That’s not even considering the fact that Mobius Chair has never had that effect on its previous occupants.

It doesn’t matter though. None of this matters because Wally doesn’t make a big choice. He agrees to sit on the chair only if Tempus saves his children, which is exactly what happened. So there is no big moral choice. There is no heroic sacrifice. It’s the easiest decision Wally has made in this entire series. He would always give himself up for his family. A family that has been reunited now. I guess Linda remembers the Pre-New 52 timeline where she married Wally and they had twins. Cool, I guess.

 

But why?

The issue ends with Mobius-Wally journeying through the cosmos until it finds Doctor Manhattan’s energy and fuses with it. There is zero explanation on this point. The only reason we know its Manhattan’s energy is that Wally has the hydrogen symbol on his forehead now. I haven’t read Doomsday Clock yet, so I don’t know if this was set up in that series, but it could’ve been better explained here either way.

Ultimately, this comic was meaningless and had a lot of “Somehow, Palpatine has returned,” energy. And that’s not what you want.

Verdict: Pass