December 9th, 2020
J.R.'s Picks:
Crossover #2 – When our world collides with the worlds of comics, things get pretty bad and this issue highlights that it’s going to get much worse. Comic book writers are dying left and right as their creations come to give them reckoning for what they’ve and the name drops at the beginning are pretty hilarious. Ryan, son of a right-wing cult leader, is arrested for burning down the comic store last issue and is taken to a federal agent of mysterious origin. The agent explains he’s been put in charge of wrangling anyone from another world and that Ryan has a much grander part to play in all of this. Meanwhile, Ellie and Otto have to figure out what to do with their new comic child friend…an excellent continuance- this story is gonna be huge!
S.W.O.R.D. #1 – Mutants! In spaaace! Another acronym from Marvel’s past comes back to shine in this first issue. Magneto travels to the S.W.O.R.D. homebase floating in the near reaches of space to inspect the newly founded mutant space program for the Quiet Council of Krakoa. Agent Brand heads the operation while familiar faces and new ones man other stations. A huge focus of this issue was The Six as a communication relay, similar to The Five who run the resurrection protocols on Krakoa. The highlight of mutant powers working in tandem has been phenomenal throughout the Dawn of X and I’m excited to see it be a continued focus in the new era of Reign of X.
Giga #2 – The astoundingly good first issue of this series made me come back for more and I’m sure as hell glad I did. Evan is corned by a group of dusters seeking to strip mine the Giga he finds himself in. Little do they or Evan know, Evan’s shitty cleric friend Mason had them followed by a strike team he commands. Taking them all back to the HQ of the cult that runs all infrastructure, Mason makes a proposition to Evan: make an interface to commune with the Giga through outlawed nueromancy and they’ll forget about his crimes. Evan agrees but after handing over the instrumentation, things get BUCK wild from there. Get in on this series now, it’s definitely going to blow up big.
Home Sick Pilots #1 – So. Two punk bands sneak into a haunted house with proven supernatural deaths attached to it. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out. After watching a shitty thrash band play a “good” venue of an abandoned bowling alley, the Home Sick Pilots try to think of a locale even better to help their band make it. Ami throws out the option of the haunted house with a history of urban legends attached, enough to draw a crowd. When she does some investigating of her own though, she turns up missing leading her bandmates to go looking for her. Things take a major horror turn here so flip through the pages yourself and witness some damn fine storytelling at work.+
Diarra's Picks:
Crossover #2 - The world was shaken up when characters from our favorite comics started coming to life. For the safety of everyone, the heroes are forced to live in a dome away from the people of this world. Fiction and reality clash when a little girl covered in Ben-Day dots walks into Ellie and Otto’s comic shop. Most people feared the abilities of fictional characters and they destroy the shop trying to find the girl. Luckily, Ellie and Otto already got her to safety. Otto is apprehensive, but Ellie believes if this girl escaped the dome, there is a chance Ellie can sneak in and find her parents trapped inside. That’s when they find out the girl didn’t escape from the dome, but a lab where the government is experimenting on fictional characters. Ellie knows she has to put and end to this, but her storyline is about to sync up with someone she least expects. This story has only begun, but the fun the creators of Crossover had making this series is undeniable and infectious!
Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1 - The amazing art of Filipe Andrade made me pick up this book and I was not disappointed! The fantastic family decide to get a little R&R, and go on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. Of course, Reed can’t ignore a chance to get some sciencing in, and they stop by a crater site he heard about on the way. The others think it’s a snooze fest, but let him have his fun. Once Reed’s gathered his samples, the vacation gets back on track, but one of the team’s many enemies laid a trap knowing Reed couldn’t pass up a chance to learn. The samples collected were poisoned and the family’s powers begin to work against them, but that’s nothing a little Cronenberg-ing can’t fix!
Scarenthood #2 - Our four new friends are still pretty spooked from the events of issue one. Jen, Cormac, Flynno, and Sinead decide to do some digging into their children’s daycare after experiencing the unexplainable. Still shaken up from losing time in the school auditorium, Cormac had to get a bit of encouraging. Their research leads them to an old lodge, but they can’t quite figure out it’s location. The gang gets close, but they all experience a similar time loss, but this time on a bridge in the middle of the woods. Between their research into the paranormal and raising toddlers, they all begin to unravel a bit. But who hasn’t felt overwhelmed and lost their cool as a parent? Still, something strange is going on with Cormac, he is keeping a big secret.
Stone's Picks:
TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 - The long awaited story by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Tom Waltz has finally arrived! In the future, the last surviving ninja turtle is on a quest for revenge. Armed with all the weapons of his brothers, this turtle will fight his way through any and all obstacles to avenge his family. He will infiltrate a city in pursuit of its ruler, Master Oroku Hiroto, Master Shredder's grandson. This last turtle will stop at nothing to put an end to this age old feud between the foot clan and the Turtles by any means necessary!
The Amazing Spider-Man #54 - After being resurrected from the dead, Peter is shocked to find out that Kindred is his good friend Harry Osborne. As the two discuss what's led them to this point, they begin to battle with Peter thinking he will have the upper hand since he always beats Harry when Harry’s having one of his moments. That was far from the case as Peter experienced a myriad of pain born from his own sin. Death may have been a luxury for Peter. What happens next, he won’t want to bear witness too.
Takes From The Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint #1 - Tempus Fuginaut takes us to the Flashpoint universe to the time in which Barry tried to regain his powers by dousing himself with chemicals getting struck by lightening. Instead of regaining his powers and setting things back to normal, he dies. With Barry dead, the Reverse Flash now has the entirety of this Flashpoint world to himself. The only one that stands in his way is this world's Batman, Thomas Wayne. Reverse Flash owes all he is to Barry. Without the one person who fueled his life, what will become of Eobard Thawne?