NB of the Week

No Pleasure, No Rapture, No Exquisite Sin greater... Than the Runs

X-Men '92 #1

Secret Wars has a lot going for it, especially in this title. The great 90s animated show comes to Battleworld as the X-Men find out from Baron Kelly of the existence of Clear Mountain, where evil mutants go to be reformed. Not trusting that sound, they go to check it and find its run by a lady called Cassandra Nova. After the word game with her, the X-Men agree to a trial run of her techniques. What they don't know is that she is also currently battling Xavier in the psychic realm. Nova is not what she seems. She is a clone of Xavier made by Apocalypse but found and inhabited by the Shadow King. Welcome back X-Men '92. Hope you survive the experience.

Where Monsters Dwell #2

Over in the Monster Dwell domain in Battleworld, Clemmie and Karl are lost after their plane went down. And it's not Called Where Monsters Dwell for nothing. Aborigine tribes, dinosaurs, giant sharks and crocodiles and after all that, a very large tribe of Amozonian women. Karl Kaufmann just can't catch a break.

Age of Ultron vs Marvel Zombies #1

Not a whole lot to this story yet. Beyond the SHIELD lies the domains of the AI (Ultrons) and the Zombies. This issue has some awesome fighting between the two. On top of that, an old school looking Hank Pym enters the fray. He soon comes across Vision, Toro and Wonder Man who are asking him to help save their world. Story is building but who cares? This issue had awesome zombies fighting awesome robots and that's all I needed.

Uncanny Avengers #5

The High Evolutionary looks to be winning but then the new team comes together and defeats him. Wanda feels alone but Vision steps in reminding her that she will never truly be alone. And that's it. I honestly expected more from this first arc but it's possible that Secret Wars kinda hindered that. Hopefully it'll come back strong yet again after Secret is over

Daredevil #16

Waid begins to bring his amazing run on DD to an end as he has Daredevil attempt to make a deal with the Devil. Though it is Marvel so I suppose I should distinguish the Devil from a metaphorical Devil because this is the latter. It is, in fact, the Kingpin. The Shroud has tried his best to ruin Murdock and it may succeed. Unless Fisk can help. Murdock is at the end of his rope and offers him the only thing he's ever wanted: the death of Matt Murdock. Matt will give Fisk the opportunity to "kill" him off all while he still stays as Daredevil. Only Fisk will know and then Fisk can have back the old leverage that he had over Matt. Kingpin seemingly agrees to protect Matt's friends and family in exchange only at the end, we see that Kingpin may have some aces up his sleeve as his ninja on the inside already has Foggy.

(Late) NB of the Week

Moving has made things a little/lot behind in most ways so this is 5 days late. 

So really it's the NB of last week.

Either way, let's get to it.

Thors #1

Written by Jason Aaron

Drawn by Chris Sprouse

What we knew ahead of Secret Wars was that the writer of the main Thor book was writing a book called Thors in which we got as police drama only with many Thors. Boy was he not kidding. What we didn't know at the time was what the Thors actually place in Battleworld was but we now know that it is as Doom's own personal police force, laying down the law as he has created them. When the Thors come, you know it has hit the fan.

Here in the pages of Thors, we get the best of Law & Order mixed in with the fear of Doom. There has been a murder. More than one, actually. The Thor known as Ultimate Thor and his partner, Beta Ray have the impossible sounding task of figuring out the now serial killer they have on their hands. This has become an Allthing. A case that needs to be solved as soon as possible before Doom himself takes an interest. Five women, seemingly no connection. Different ages, from different kingdoms and no known identities to boot. However, they do get a little from their forensics expert on the force, Throg (that'd be the Thor frog from way back, if ya couldn't tell). The five women do have a connection: they were the same woman. They now have a silver lining, they could possibly find lines as to where the killer may strike next. They just have to find any missing persons case that matches. As Ultimate ponders, Beta goes to his source on the street to find anything out. A homeless vagabond named Loki who claims he can shed light on some things but that Beta isn't going to want to hear them. We go back to Ultimate as he's in the bar (which only allows Thors in) arm-wrestling Groot-Thor (Groor?) as a loud crash of thunder is heard. The Thors head off as they follow it's source to an alley where they find Beta on the ground, twisted and bloody. The call goes out: officer down! Ultimate Thor begs his friend and partner to hold on. They were gonna get the Bifrost open and take him to the help he needs. As UT begs Beta to not move, Beta slowly whispers the one fact he found. He knows the identities of the murdered: Jane Foster. We end with Ultimate Thor, holding the now deceased body of hid partner.

If you change out the hammers and the flying and the setting, this was some of the best cop drama I've come across in a long time. It was surprising to find how non-superhero-y the story felt and how welcome it was. A book filled with Thors and I don't want superhero story. At this point, most every Secret War title, while different takes and mostly refreshing, have been somewhat the same feeling as before Secret War. Thors flips that all around. This different take finally equals a different feel and I can't be more excited to see how this murder mystery is going to play out.

NB of the Week

-IF YOU SAVE THE WORLD, WE CAN DO IT IN THE SPOILS-

Earth 2: Society #1

Written by Daniel H. Wilson

Drawn by Jorge Jimenez

This first issue to the relaunched Earth 2 title is one of those cases of counting the chickens before they hatch. I wasn't too sure on this book over the last year or so and here's the rundown as to why:

When DC launched Earth 2 in the New 52 universe, they brought in fan-favorite writer James Robinson, probably best known for his long tenure on the Starman title (a personal favorite of mine) and though making Alan Scott gay drew a lot of criticism, it was an excellent read in my opinion. About a year and a half later it all fell to shot. Robinson announced he was done with the book and DC and DC announced that Injustice writer Tom Taylor was taking over. Taylor was a surprise read as I knew nothing from the man but it was starting out in a very good way. Until Worlds End was announced. Half a year worth of weekly story from various writers about Darkseid coming to take their planet as the new Apokolips. The weekly was less than stellar. And that may still be a bit nice. In the end, Darkseid won and there was no more Earth for Earth 2. Until Convergence. In which another writer (Jeff King) wrote back into DC continuity the Multiverse that was originally destroyed way back in Crisis on Infinite Earths. This brought back alternate characters and storylines for DC as a whole and what was left from the Convergence world was taken by the remaining Earth 2 survivors as their new Earth. A literal Earth 2 for them. During Convergence, Earth 2 Batman (Thomas Wayne) was killed and Earth 2 Dick Grayson, after being paralyzed, has become the new Batman. Which is where Earth 2: Society begins. Several writers and more than a few bad stories later. Hence my hesitation. Welcome to comics.

So imagine me surprised when Robopocalypse writer Daniel Wilson takes the reins of this cluster and actually manages to tell a rather intriguing story. It all begins one year after "Planetfall" with the new Batman chasing baddies (as all Batmen do). Back and forth from this we go to the world after Convergence as the population begins to land and/or crash its way to their new planet while the remaining heroes all try to figure out how to start over. Grayson is definitely the start of this issue as he is "rescued" by the heroes in the past and saving the day in the present. In the present, he catches up to the new version of Johnny Sorrow and thwarts his attempt on the life of Terry Sloan; Mr Terrific, baddie of the world and all around douche. We end the issue with his running and Grayson wondering what has the most powerful man on the planet scared for his life.

This was not a train wreck. That's a very good surprise and a very good thing to read. Novelists tend to have a little trouble transitioning from their native narrative to a sequential one and Wilson is no different but it didn't lag in the way most do. The pacing was a bit off but not in a distracting way. The ending was a bit rushed and in fact, not much of an ending at all but as a whole, it's a solid and promising start to a title that really needs some consistency and direction, both of which have been sorely missed since Robinson left. Here's to hoping DC has pulled their heads out of their asses.

Boobs of the Day

Birgitte Hjort Sorensen
Ok, so her singing in Pitch Perfect 2 was pretty good and in that movie, Anna Kendrick kept getting flustered by her, always responding to her threats with compliments as she was taken back by her perfect looks. Meh. However, after her one episode stint on Game of Thrones last night (no spoils but maybe she comes back...?), she is much hotter somehow. Maybe it's the platform. Or maybe it's the badass fighting of the undead (She was with Mastodon in that all that, Adam). Anyway, she's looking mighty fine today.