NB of the Week

-Weakness Compels Strength. Betrayal Begets Blood. This is the Law of the Nine Spoils-

This week may have brought what turned out to be the most diverse, well written week in a very long time. A little bit of everything was this week and all of it was a lot bit awesome.

Birthright #6

Michael and his big brother Brennan camp through the wild as their father must deal with the repercussions of letting them go. While this issue is mostly story set-up and movement, we do get to see the first, "real" shot of the God-King Lore and what I imagine Hell could look like:

 

And we also get a big set up at the end. More of the magic-or-something-whatever people that Mikey if hunting decide that if Lore set Mikey from Terrenos, they'd bring Terrenos to him. No idea who they are or what that blue magic stuff means, but it's blue so it has to be the good to Lore's evil red colors.

Miles Morales: the Ultimate Spider-Man #12

Miles has been taken captive by Hydra and Dr Doom but that will never be a match for his fight. Generating a new power (no idea what it exactly is but it was a powerful energy blast of sorts), Miles breaks free and takes the fight to them. By the time his friends find him, he has already single-handedly beaten them all. But before they can all get back ti life, they look up and see another Earth looming above them. Secret Wars is coming.

Saga #27

Marko is in a bad way. After doing some bad Fadaway with Miss Yuma, Marko is having major flashes to the past, in particular to points of violence and his beating of a young girl as a child who was burning his dog. All the memories lead him the realization of why Alana has done what she's done. Now he wants his family back and he's going to kill the man who has pulled them away. Once again, Saga is brilliant and I really cannot tell you how much you should be reading this.

Convergence: The Question #1 (of 2)

Convergence is kinda dumb. It's just a filler for DC to move their offices and bring back continuity they're regretting haven gotten rid of. However, if you read the Question stuff from Greg Rucka before the New 52 scrap, this is the book for you. It feels like the last four years didn't even happen.

Angela: Asgard's Assassin #5

Thor continues to chase Angela and their baby sister as Angela takes the child to Heven in hopes of purging the blood of Surtur from her. After catching up, a fight ensues between Thor and Angela over the baby, but when Angela saves her from death, Thor realizes that she is trying to help her. She tosses the baby into the underground furnace and we all wait another issue to see it's outcome.

All-New Hawkeye #2

Flashback-wise, wee see Clint and Bart as they first join the circus as kids, meeting the Swordsman and learning that there is more family out there than blood and better than any they've had so far. Back in the present, Clint and Katie save some children who look to have been experimented on. Once out, they use their mind powers to stop all the AIM baddies before they all get away. Clint remarks at the end that if he had known in that moment what he knows now, those kids woulda stayed right where they were. Foreboding words that I'm excited to see play out.

Descender #2

The hunters are here for Tim and after finding out he's worth even more, they can't wait to get his head. As Tim tries to run, he begins showing his defensive weapons and kills not only their hunting pet but the leader as well. Its at that point that things really turn. In response, one of them blasts Tim through the body, leaving his machine bits shorting and falling out as it all tries to reboot itself. Like a guardian angel, a drill machine wakes up, claiming to hate all "hrrmans" and kills the hunters. It picks up the "little bot" not knowing what to do to help little Tim-21. End Issue.

Great week. DC surprises with a great story in a crappy one. The Ultimate Universe is coming to a complete end. Angela continues to be a huge surprise read. Image Comics keeps chugging out some amazing, new stories. It's a great week to be reading.

NB of the Week

A Month Off? Man, Somebody Got Lazy

(Spoils)

Batman: Eternal #52

New 52: Futures' End #48

Earth 2: World's End

Written by: Various

Drawn by: Even More Various.

DC's next big event started this week in Convergence #0 and with that start came the three endings to DC's three, weekly titles.

And that was the best part about all three of them.

My excitement this week comes from the fact that these awful stories are no longer running. For the last year, DC has put out 126 weekly issues costing fans $378 and almost nothing happened. Batman Eternal was the struggle of the Bat-family as all shit rained down on them. Gordon framed for murder, Batman wanted by the police, Selina cutting ties and becoming a crime boss who shows her boobs more. And in all that, nothing happened. Stephanie Brown was introduced and the world got Bluebird in Harper Row and that was it. Hush came and went, Cluemaster was apparently smart but not smart enough to see he was gonna die and Lincoln March aka Thomas Wayne Jr was the baddie who set it all up. And then was defeated and put to sleep by the Court of Owls. And Gordon was cleared and back to being in charge. And Batman was a hero again. One year to tell this story and have everything back to where it was at the start.

Futures' End (started in last years Free Comic Book Day issue) was the story of Batman Beyond traveling to his past but still five years into our future in order to stop Brother Eye and Mr Terrific from creating the awful future he's from. So what ends up happening> nothing. Batman Beyond dies and passes the torch to Tim Drake, who is dead in Beyond's future. Tim then ends up traveling back to the future only to find that... nothing changed. Except some characters that were dead before Beyond left are now alive. Almost one year to tell this story and have everything back to where it was at the start.

World's End was sadly (happily?) the one that kinda did something. The heroes of Earth 2 were about to be invaded by Darkseid and their planet was to be the new Apokalips. So of course they all had to band together and stop the forces. Which meant that every issue was pretty much people running into another baddie and fighting and repeating. For 26 weeks. However, as I said, some things did happen. Alan Scott became something of a White Lantern as he has come to embody all the Avatars and not just the Green. Original Superman was found to not have actually died as was set up at the beginning of Earth 2 but he then died for real. Good job there. Mostly, they all lost. Darkseid won and took their Earth and now all living life that was able to escape on giant ships now has to find a new home. 26 issues that could have been told in 6.

But at least it's over. Now everybody can go join Convergence where DC is going to say "Ah screw it" and bring back the Pre52 stuff into their still newly rebooted universe.