Writers: Kieron Gillen, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colourist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Clayton Cowles(Note: This issue follows on from New Mutants #42, and continues into New Mutants #43)
Previously, in Journey Into Mystery: Sigurd, a long-forgotten Asgardian warrior, has had his cover rumbled when the New Mutants appear on his doorstep. Worried that they would tell the other Asgardians where he was hiding, Sigurd unleashed a spell that transformed all of the Asgardians in the vicinity into humans, erasing their memories.
Loki, Thor, the Warriors Three, Hela and Leah were trapped in Sigurd’s spell, and the New Mutants tried valiantly to restore their memories. With the apparently restored Loki’s aid, they thought they had done it, casting a counterspell. Unfortunately, the spell did not work, since Loki was lying – he didn’t remember who he was at all! At that moment, the Disir, flesh-eating cannibals from Asgard’s distant past, learned that their curse of not being able to eat Asgardian flesh had been undone by Sigurd’s spell, and they launched an all-out attack on San Francisco.
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colourist: Frank Martin Jr.
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe CaramagnaPreviously, in Amazing Spider-Man: In his last hours on Earth, Doctor Octopus has held the world ransom. If they do not comply with his demands, then a ring of satellites surrounding the planet will amplify the sun’s rays and burn the planet to ash. Spider-Man and the Avengers battled Doc Ock’s Sinister Six, but were soundly defeated, and the Avengers captured.
Saved by the Black Widow and Silver Sable, Spidey has been racing around the world to stop Doc Ock’s satellites from deploying, but it seems that he was too late. As they entered the final base, they found that they were too late, and Ock’s plan had come to fruition. Spidey, Sable and Black Widow returned to the surface to see the world aflame, and Doc Ock triumphant.
Thwip.
Writers: Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato
Artist: Francis Manapul
Colourist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Wes AbbottPreviously, in The Flash: Barry Allen’s powers have been causing rips in the fabric of space and time when he runs too fast. During a battle with Captain Cold, Barry accidentally sent a group of people, including potential love interest Iris West, into one of these rifts and lost them. After defeating Cold, Barry opened another rift and ran inside to try and find his lost friends.
Inside, Barry learned of the Speed Force, the mysterious energy that allows him to run at superhuman speeds. He also battled Turbine, a Tuskegee airman drawn into the Speed Force during World War II who was trying to go home. It was revealed that the space/time rips were being caused by Turbine attempting to escape the Speed Force, and so they were not Barry’s fault. Barry grabbed Turbine and drove him out of the Speed Force, but landed himself in even more trouble – right in the middle of Gorilla City, where they were in the midst of choosing a new king.
Writers: Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Ig Guara
Inker: J. P Mayer
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Dezi Sienty(Note: This issue follows on from Superboy #9 and Legion Lost #9)
Previously, in Teen Titans: The Culling is well underway, with the Teen Titans, Superboy, and the Legion Lost trapped inside NOWHERE’s Antarctica base. Harvest, the evil behind NOWHERE, pitted the superheroes against each other and a cadre of assembled metahumans, hoping to take on the winners as his new team of Ravagers.
Instead of battling each other as expected, the two teams joined forces to subdue all the other candidates to protect them from harm. Harvest revealed himself, and a group of Titans and Legionnaires engaged him whilst another group helped ferry the captives out of the base. Wildfire unleashed his full power against Harvest, but was unsuccessful in taking him down, leaving the teams with little hope.
My final review for Teen Titans, because this crossover was absolute garbage.
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Penciller: Greg Land
Inker: Jay Leisten
Colourist: Guru eFX
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe CaramagnaPreviously, in Uncanny X-Men: The Phoenix is coming. The cosmic force of destruction and rebirth is heading across the galaxy, and it’s most likely host is an X-Man – Hope Summers. When the Avengers turn up on the X-Men’s island home of Utopia demanding Hope, the so-called mutant messiah, the X-Men retaliate with a show of force. In the confusion, Hope escapes Utopia alone.
With both the X-Men and Avengers on her trail, Hope scatters her homing signal across the world to five locations – Wakanda, Latveria, the Savage Land, Tabula Rasa, and Wundagore. The Avengers and X-Men split into teams in order to track her down, leading to further clashes in these new terrains.
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Declan Shalvey
Colourist: Frank Martin Jr.
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe CaramagnaPreviously, in Thunderbolts: In the wake of Fear Itself, the Thunderbolts rigged their tower in order to teleport them across the country to escape captivity. Their plan worked, but as well as space, the tower travelled through time. Having bounced around the timestream, the Thunderbolts find themselves in the not-too-distant past, at the formation of the original incarnation of Thunderbolts.
After initially fighting the earlier Thunderbolts, the two teams work together to make the most of their situation. Not trusting the future Thunderbolts, the past Fixer sneaks into their computer room and reads the files about his life. Disappointed, he confronts his future self about what a loser he goes on to be. Angered, the present day Fixer detonates the past Fixer’s armour, effectively killing himself and creating a time paradox.
Do they go out with a Bolt, or a whimper?
Writers: Rob Williams and Brian Clevinger
Penciller: Thony Silas
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colourist: Wil Quintana
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna
Previously, in Amazing Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus has been holding the world ransom. With his final few hours on the planet, he has decided to repair the ozone layer and have his last act save the human race. There are a few conditions however – money for his Sinister Six cohorts, and the apprehension of Spider-Man!
After the Avengers were defeated by the Sinister Six, Spider-Man, Black Widow and Silver Sable were left to defuse Ock’s plans before they came to fruition. Spidey puts out a call to those around the world who still believe that he is right, and his allies mobilise around the world to try and stop Doc Ock’s satellites from launching.
You don’t need to go to the Ends of the Earth to read my review of this one-shot.
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Chris Bachalo
Inkers: Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey, and Victor Olazaba
Letterer: Chris EliopoulosPreviously, in Wolverine and the X-Men: After being split in half by the Schism, the X-Men are facing another decision as the X-Men and Avengers are battling over the fate of Hope Summers, the so-called mutant messiah. Wolverine is approached by Captain America, and pledges to help Cap stop Cyclops’ plan to allow Hope to become the next host of the Phoenix Force.
Across the galaxy on the planet Sin, bets are being placed as to which planets will be destroyed by the oncoming Phoenix Force first. Shi’ar Emperor Gladiator has seen that the Phoenix is aiming for Earth, where his son, Kid Gladiator, goes to school at Wolverine’s school. Looks like it’s time for parental intervention.
Review? Review.
Writers: Kieron Gillen, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colourist: Andy Troy
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Clayton Cowles(Note: This issue follows on from Exiled #1, and continues into New Mutants #42.)
Previously, in Journey Into Mystery: The Disir, flesh eating women who used to serve Odin’s father, Bor, have been released from Mephisto’s Hell due to the reappearance of Sigurd, an ancient warrior that they thought had died. Mephisto tasks Loki with finding them again, or he will reveal Loki’s part in recent dark dealings. Loki enlisted his brother Thor, goddess of death Hela, her handmaiden Leah, and the Warriors Three to help him in this quest.
Sigurd turns out to be the alter ego of Zig, a man who just happens to be living across from the New Mutants in San Francisco. When the New Mutants, the hordes of Asgard and the Disir appear on his doorstep, Sigurd uses an ancient tablet to cause all of the Asgardians to disappear.
Been reading JiM lately?
No?
Go read my review and find out why you should.
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciller: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colourist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy B
Previously, in Batman: The Court of Owls, a mysterious organisation that claims to run Gotham from the shadows has targeted Batman for death. After escaping their labyrinth and capturing one of their Talon assassins, Batman returned to Wayne Manor to recuperate and plan his next move.
Giving him no time to breathe, the Court has launched all of their Talons into Gotham City, targeting important citizens. The Bat-Family is working together to battle them, whilst the main force of Talons has attacked Wayne Manor head on. Batman and Alfred are holed up in the Batcave armory – it’s time to clean house.
Nanananananananana Batman reviiiiiew.
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin, and Tom Nguyen
Colourist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Previously, in Green Lantern: The compassion-powered Indigo Tribe appears to Sinestro, capturing him and returning to their homeworld. Hal Jordan reluctantly follows, and is captured himself. By manipulating Black Hand, Hal is able to recharge his faux-Green Lantern ring and escape into the Indigo fortress.
As he travels through the building, Hal learns of the connection between Abin Sur and the mysterious Indigo Tribe. Whilst examining an enormous statue of the former Green Lantern, Hal is brought face to face with the entire Indigo Tribe and their newest recruit – Sinestro himself.
In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, a review for GL #9 is in your sight.
Go read it, if you like.
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Victor Olzaba
Colourist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna
Previously, in Amazing Spider-Man: Peter Parker has finally hit the Big Time. With a swanky new job at Horizon Labs, designing new gadgets and gizmos for his dual life as Spider-Man couldn’t be easier. Spidey is also a card-carrying member of the Avengers now too, which comes with its own benefits – like having someone to watch your back.
Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six have convinced the leaders of the world that he can save them from global warming with his Octavian Lens satellites. Spidey and the Avengers disagree, but after the Avengers are defeated at the hands of the Six, it now falls to Spidey, Black Widow and Silver Sable to try to stop Ock’s plans before they come to fruition. Unfortunately, Ock has set the world leaders a new task in order to secure his cooperation – capture Spider-Man!
Thwip on over to PopGO and see what I thought of the latest instalment of Ends of the Earth. Y’know, if you like.
Writers: Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Brett Booth
Inkers: Norm Rapmund, Sal Regla, Marlo Alquiza and John Livesay
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Previously, in Teen Titans: The Teen Titans returned to the Antarctic base of the mysterious organisation NOWHERE in order to rescue Superboy, who had been sentenced to death. Once there, they were brought face to face with the villainous leader of NOWHERE, Harvest, who easily defeated them and offered them to Omen, another teenage metahuman who preyed on their darkest fears in order to subjugate them whilst preparations for the Culling ritual were made.
Elsewhere, NOWHERE’s elite force of teenage metahumans, the Ravagers, lead by Rose Wilson, captured a team of time-displaced teens from the Legion of Superheroes. Now the Teen Titans, Superboy, and the Legion Lost must work together in order to survive the Culling – or face death at the hands of the Ravagers.
The first part of the Culling! Read my review, if you like.
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artists: Marco Rudy and Yanick Paquette
Colourists: Nathan Fairbarn and Val Staples
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Previously, in Swamp Thing: Alec Holland was recently returned to life with clouded memories as the hero known as Swamp Thing in the back of his mind. Whilst attempting to find answers, he found himself under attack by the forces of Sethe, the grotesque monster that lords over the Rot. Teaming up with his past love, Abigail Arcane, Alec tried to take the battle to Sethe. However, he resisted the Parliament of Trees, the leaders of the Green who could transform him back into the Swamp Thing to battle the Rot.
Now, all hope is lost. Abby has succumbed to the Rot and been transformed into a deformed creature of evil. Alec, heartbroken and dying from a grievous wound, used the last of his bio-restorative formula to transform himself back into the Swamp Thing. Initially decimating Sethe’s forces, he soon found himself face to face with Abby’s new form, and was summarily defeated.
Animal Man #9 - Much better than the last two issues, back to basics and utterly creepy.
Dial H #1 - Book of the week. Strange, utterly bonkers, and I’m totally in love with it.
Avengers Academy #29 - Not what I expected at all, but enjoyable as usual. Also naked Hercules.
Avengers Vs. X-Men #3 - A little slow, mostly. Not really very remarkable in the scheme of things.
Exiled #1 - Lots of questions that I need answered. The ending had me confused and desparate to know what’s next.
Venom #17 - The ending annoys me, though I hope it’s only temporary. Great otherwise, and Kev Walker is perfect for the art.
X-Factor #235 - Typical X-Factor, which means it was awesome.
