New Comic Book Day: June 14, 2017

[callirhoe]

This post is for discussion and reviews of new comics for the week of June 14! Feel free to start threads for anything you've just read, want to read, or are curious about.

Here there be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Comments

PULL OF THE WEEK

[callirhoe]

Out of the new comics you read this week, which one book would you most recommend to your fellow fans?

X-Men: Blue #5

[callirhoe]

(The Story So Far: The original five X-Men, time-displaced as teenagers into the present, have split off from the other X-Men and are back to their original mission: training in their powers, helping people, and being big damn heroes. They're headquartered in Madripoor, which is a wretched hive of scum and villainry, and their mentor/leader figure is... Magneto??? The relationship there is still uneasy. Anyway, in the last couple issues they've been in the snowy mountains of Colorado where a familiar-looking bub with snikt powers is being pursued by first Wendigo (!) and now a mysterious team calling themselves the New Marauders...)

This is one of the comics I'm most excited about right now! I love the O5 with Jean as their leader. I'm especially interested in the various dynamics (particularly Bobby being distracted by boyfriend troubles, and Scott being concerned about Hank and his use of the mystical arts and motivations, and the Jean and Magneto hidden agendas), and I'm interested to see what all this is building toward.

This issue was pretty good! I admit I'm not fond of Son of Wolverine being immediately adopted by the team (his name is Jimmy Hudson and he is from an alternate universe that some of the kids visited previously; I'm not familiar with him at all, and he's mind-wiped so there's almost no personality there anyway, so there's not much to form an opinion about him). But the New Marauders -- a collection of mutants from alternate universes gathered together by Miss Sinister (!!!!) -- are neat! I like the battle, with the metal-power-leader-girl flinging knives and forks around because WHY NOT, and I was first D: to see Armor (Hisako!) as a baddie, but it's an alternate version and these kids are all apparently mind-wiped, so okay. Quicksilver being a dick as always is fun! And the New Marauders get away, but we will definitely be seeing them again.

I love Bobby the most, and he gets some really great lines in this one: "Stop helping the bad guys grow as people!" with the crossed arms and side-eye. Hee! I also like his trick of growing multiple "snowmen" to help him in fights. That's really fun! Older!Iceman used a similar ice decoy thing in the first issue of his solo last month; it's cool, pun sorta intended, comparing and contrasting how they use their powers.

At the end, when they're discussing their next move, Jean says something about how both Cerebro and Miss Sinister detected something strange about Son of Wolverine: The Re-snickt-ening -- "he's a mutant... but different". I have no idea what is meant by that, but I'm very curious to find out.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #17

[callirhoe]

Beyond the Fourth Wall, Part 2!

(The Story So Far: Gwen Poole, a normal fangirl from Our World^TM, was dropped into the Marvel comics universe where she became a... supervillain's henchman-turned-mercenary??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, two issues ago she decided to investigate whether people from her old life had duplicates in the Marvel U, went home, and was greeted by her brother Teddy, who somehow pulled her back into Our World^TM, wiping her memories in the process! D:)

THIS ISSUE WAS A TRIP AND A HALF AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE. Gwen tripping over the "The End" on the last page of the previous issue set up the amazingly zany meta-meta of this one, where she figures out she can touch her own monologue boxes and break through panel borders. And then...

THIS GODDAMN PAGE!!! Gwen! Defenestrated by a fourth-wall-breaking pink box of your own making!

I love everything about this series, but just especially this arc so far is SO COOL. It's got the zany adventure we know and love about Gwenpool along with musings on the comics format and fan culture AND a sense of disorienting loss of something you can't quite name and metaphysical displacement that's just a little bit horror-y, maybe kind of Twilight Zone? I don't even know. Chris Hastings is amazing and I hope he keeps writing this for a long, long time. <333

Anybody else reading this? Any theories on what's going on with Teddy and how he knows what's up? I have not a clue but I am so excited to find out!

(Edited to add: Ted Poole... oh dear...??!!)

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #21

[callirhoe]

Boys' Night Out!

(The Story So Far: NOTHING IN PARTICULAR, this is just a fun stand-alone adventure. Starring: Chipmunk Hunk aka Tomas, a college student/superhero who can talk to chipmunks! The Unsinkable Koi Boi aka Ken, another college student/superhero who can talk to fish! Brain Drain aka Brian Drayne, a third college student/superhero who is actually the brain of a Nazi scientist in a jar with a robot body disguised as a human!)

This issue was fun, fluffy, and not terribly substantive, but that's okay! I am always here for Brain Drain and his moments of existential despair, and Ken's puns (and guns, yowza does he have excellently-muscled arms this issue) -- the best/worst of which was almost definitely "Taking up art, are we, Mystique? I'd say that sounds more like a mys-take!". YIKES. <3

Observation: Ken has been growing a personality since this volume started, while Tomas seems to be losing one? I mean, not that he had much of a personality to begin with aside from "being hot and funny and Doreen had a crush on him", but he's just gotten blander and blander and it's kinda weird.

Detective Comics #958

[shobogan]

This issue starts a new arc centred around Azrael and the Order of Dumas. It was set up way back in 950, with Jean-Paul and Luke discussing his suit and the hint that there was something truly alive in there.

Their dynamic continues to be delightful. I loved seeing them in a fun, casual setting. Then Kate strolled up and made it even better. (She came because Kristin Stewart was there! Too bad her flirting plans were tragically interrupted.)

Then we get CASS AND BASIL DOING SHAKESPEARE and it's one of the most precious things I've ever seen. Generally speaking I don't think Tynion has devoted enough time to Basil's actual redemption arc or his relationship with the team - there was a lot more telling than showing going on - but I adore this relationship.

We get some exposition on Azrael's rebooted backstory, some of it summing up what we learned in Batman and Robin Eternal and some of it new. I'm interested to know more about his years travelling the world, and how his dynamic with Nomoz evolved.

Meanwhile, Bruce waltzes into the Iceberg Lounge to see "an old friend", and it's always fun to see him use the tux instead of the suit. (Alfred's snark was also appreciated.) Then it's revealed that said friend is ZATANNA AND I AM SO HYPED.