Convergence #2 (DC)

writer: Jeff King

artist: Carlo Pagulayan

Oh, this is becoming quite good.  And as the first issue to be written solo by Jeff King, it speaks to King's ability to write a good comic book, too, and that's very good to see.

The one thing that seemed to garner universal praise for Flashpoint was when Batman, who was in the altered reality Thomas Wayne, gave the Flash a note to give to the Batman from the reset reality, which is to say Bruce Wayne.  As we all should know, Thomas Wayne is Bruce Wayne's father.  In the Flashpoint altered reality, Bruce is the one who died in Crime Alley, whereas it is much more common for it to have been Thomas.  Which is to say, having either aware of the other's existence creates instant poignancy.

King doesn't go for poignancy when he has Thomas and Bruce meet.  He deliberately avoids the exchange between them.  But the impact is still there.  It's there when Dick Grayson of one reality realizes the wife he has lost in his own is still alive in another.  This is common alternate reality material, but it's the first time a mainstream alternate reality story in DC, famously home to many alternate realities, has sanctioned such a possibility.  Thomas Wayne as Batman is walking around in Convergence, too, but the one from Earth 2, not Flashpoint.  That's where Dick Grayson comes from, and he's the lead character in the issue.  Without King having to point it out, there will be plenty of fans who find this to be ironic, because ever since Infinite Crisis this is a character who has been walking around on borrowed time.  DC had toyed with the idea of killing him off.  This was the subtext of his fate in Forever Evil.  And now in Convergence there's at least one issue where Dick is directly aware of the transience of fate.

King masterfully navigates such storytelling, with the kind of finesse not seen in a big event comic book since Identity Crisis.  If Convergence never receives a similar reputation, it will be because Convergence is far more linked to the more outlandish things comic books can do.  But the quality, certainly in this issue as we follow Dick Grayson and two Waynes, is the same.  In some ways, by allowing the reader inside the veil, which is what makes narrative captioning so powerful, perhaps even better.  On the page depicted in this review, it speaks for itself.

Avengers: Millennium #3 (Marvel)

writer: Mike Costa

artist: Carmine Giandomenico

This issue features Mike Costa settling in to his story.  Sure, there's more Spider-Man nonsense, but once it becomes apparent that even though Hydra seems to have everything figured out, the Avengers are still going to come out on top, and in a thoroughly Mike Costa way.

The image demonstrates how Costa is approaching Hydra in his familiar way, too.  The difference between his approach here, however, and how he would have done it in one of his G.I. Joe/Cobra comics is that Hydra is represented anonymously, whereas there are many famous figures to use or even create over at IDW.  Costa has learned that he doesn't need to do things the same way in order to get comparable results.  This is a considerable step forward from his Blackhawks experience.

He likes to make logical puzzles out of his stories, too, a key element of his IDW work, and certainly something Millennium at least suggested early on but is only now getting to actually demonstrate.  This is definitely true of how the issue ends, a moment that proves the story is going to show exactly how the good guys pull it off, which is the most insidious aspect of how Costa always presented Cobra, how he's done Hydra here, and even why the good guys were always worth rooting for in the midst of all that Cobra posturing, because the best laid plans can still be defeated.

So I'm pretty happy at this point.  I just wish he would ignore the impulse, whether by his own instincts or encouraged by Marvel, to present wacky nonsense alongside the rest of it.

Wasteland #60 (Oni)

writer: Antony Johnston

artist: Christopher Mitten

I want to go on record, once again, for how much I loved how Lost concluded.  I thought it was a brilliant experience all the way through.  And two of the most brilliant things it did came in the final season, specifically two episodes: 1) "Ab Aeterno," which detailed the previously mysterious Richard Alpert's complete backstory, and 2) "Across the Sea," which similarly explored Jacob and the Man in Black.

The only thing that would have been better is if one or both of them had been held until after the finale.

Because that's exactly what Antony Johnston chose to do with Wasteland, explaining once and for all what exactly was going on all along.  Technically, the story ended last issue, and that one was circular, too, but in a different way.  This one's strictly explaining, once and for all, how Michael first came to take up his quest for the mysterious A-Ree-Yass-I, and how his dark counterpart Marcus established the fateful town of Newbegin.

Like the Lost episodes, it features time-lapse so as to better cover a large chunk of Wasteland history.  The series always had a strong generational theme to it, and so watching that play out again is one of the issue's pleasures.

And yeah, now with all this added perspective, for the first time I can probably suggest Wasteland to fans of Lost.  I'd never realized that before.

Writer Antony Johnston includes a heartfelt essay about what it was like to finish his grand story.  Omitted is any mention of what he's working on now, but there's more bad news for Johnston fans in that he's recently put Umbral on hold.  Umbral is his second project with Christopher Mitten, Johnston's first and last collaborator on Wasteland, that in many ways was a more playful version of their first.  From what he says in his essay here, it's easy to imagine that it's not easy being Johnston at the moment.

For readers like me, who have remained faithful for sixty issues, despite breaks in publication and rotating artists (when at the very least it would have been preferable for Mitten to have stuck around the whole time; Saga has built in breaks in its publication so that Fiona Staples can faithfully continue with each issue, but sometimes times change too slowly, although even that is a part of Wasteland mythology), it's great to see the end at last, so that we can commence enjoying the whole thing, over and over again, at our leisure.  And continue praising its merits for the vast legions of the uninitiated.

Because this one's a classic.

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #12 (Marvel)

writer: Brian Michael Bendis

artist: David Marquez

I feel kind of snookered, and I really should have known better.  This was billed as "the epic conclusion," which I took to mean, Brian Michael Bendis's last ever issue of Ultimate Spider-Man after fifteen years, three series, over two hundred issues, and two different heroes under the mask.  The second being the eponymous Miles Morales from this iteration.

You know, every time a creator comes up with an alternate character to hold a famous superhero name, there are fans who think that replacement will stick around forever.  And sometimes they do, but we all know they will never actually replace the icon.  (And it does need to be an icon.  The Golden Age Flash and Green Lantern don't count.  Or any other example off the top of your head.)

And because as often as not it's a minority who gets the honors, there are fans who are desperate for that alternate to become a permanent replacement, or be the animated and/or live action Hollywood equivalent of said famous superhero.  There's nothing wrong with that, but there's probably a lot of disappointment involved, as when it was recently announced that the new big screen Spider-Man...will once again be Peter Parker.

Which means, not Miles Morales.  Or Miguel O'Hara, or even "Spider-Gwen," the latest inexplicable Marvel sensation.  Or anyone else you might be thinking of off the top of your head.  The thing is, the icons are icons for a reason.  Theirs was the story that set the ball in motion, and usually there's a much better story involved that way.

You really have Bendis to blame for this one.  After helping inspire the Samuel L. Jackson version of Nick Fury (via some of the most curiously circular logic in pop culture history), the Ultimate line pretty much became completely pointless.  A "more realistic" version of Marvel, it quickly disposed of icons left and right, starting with Wolverine.  Superheroes don't come back from the dead in the Ultimate line.  Which is why when Peter Parker was also killed off, he was simply replaced.  And whatever else Miles Morales is, he has always been a random replacement who merely allowed Bendis to continue writing Ultimate Spider-Man, which at times has seemed like it might after all be his lasting legacy.  So you can see why he's reluctant to move on.

And is he moving on?  Your guess is as good as mine.  This issue is not a goodbye at all.  That may be one considerable suggestion right there.  Bendis would not abandon something like this so flippantly.  The biggest development is Miles randomly exhibiting a new power, which might as well read like the Marvel version of Superman's recent debut of a new power.  It's basically the same.  It would not be below Marvel to steal something so blatantly like that.

I mean, this whole series is ending because Marvel is "closing shop" again in preparation for Secret Wars, which promises another Marvel "reboot" (Marvel has never yet done an actual reboot, just a window dressing alteration or two that freshens the landscape a bit).

(Marvel has made a wicked habit of ending series left and right, the way the Ultimate line killed characters left and right.  Always to get that fan-friendly "first issue.")

The thing that is ending, and I will qualify this statement - apparently ending, is the Ultimate line.  When Kitty Pryde pops up and announces the team with her as the Ultimates, which was this reality's version of the Avengers (until, and massive geek headache ahead, a team showed up literally calling itself the Avengers), and it has no more impressive membership than Kitty herself and the team of Cloak and Dagger (kudos if you have any idea who Cloak and Dagger are, Ultimate versions or otherwise), you know something has already ended.

To complicate matters further, the letters column went out of its way to solicit comments from creators and fans just as if this really were an ending.  Nothing from Bendis himself, mind you.  So chances are, Bendis fully intends to continue.  I just have no idea what else he has left to say, except...

Yeah, I have no idea.

Saga #27 (Image)

writer: Brian K. Vaughan

artist: Fiona Staples

So yeah, Saga is basically a soap opera, which if you take the term "space opera" in full soap opera context, is exactly what you might have always expected a space opera to be like.

Which is to say, the story is still hinging on whether or not Marko has a chance of getting back together with Alana.  At the moment it looks pretty grim.  He was thrown out after he, uh, threw groceries at her (it's slightly more complicated than that, but she's basically treating it as spousal abuse; she doesn't trust him, he doesn't trust her, and oh wait! a psycho robot janitor kidnapped their baby girl!), and this issue sees him actually have a bad drug experience (which was kind of the whole reason he, uh, threw groceries at her), which reminds him of all the bad things he's done (worse than throwing groceries).  He emerges with a clear sense of what he has to do next.  Whether that ends up making sense remains to be seen.

This is a space opera filled with great characters, by the way.  That's kind of the real appeal of Saga, that it's the most clearheaded science fiction creation since Star Trek and Star Wars, fairly straightforward yet filled with moving parts.  Fortunately, they'll all very distinctive.  The two in the image I've included for this issue are: 1) the shorter one, Ghus, a deceptively cuddly-looking fellow who is more than willing to help 2) Prince Robot IV draw some blood.  Prince Robot is by definition awesome.  His Robot Kingdom features a population with television monitors for heads.  Pure awesomeness.

Saga is filled with moments like that.

Red Lanterns #40 (DC)

writer: Landry Q. Walker

artist: J. Calafiore

At times in this final issue, Landry Walker seems to be taking some serious digs at his predecessor, Charles Soule.  Pretty bold, Mr. Walker.

The funny thing is, he still comes to the same conclusion.  The only way to extricate Guy Gardner from being a Red Lantern is with hope.  In Red Lanterns: Futures End, Soule envisioned Guy as becoming a Blue Lantern.  Walker has Guy spend this issue talking with his sister, who thinks Guy's attitude about what Atrocitus tried to do to Earth, and Guy's belief that he alone can or needs to make things right, is complete nonsense.  She calls him on it numerous times.

Like I said, Walker suggesting perhaps in a very subtle way that, at the very least, some of the ways Green Lantern comics in general have been written over the years might not be very, well, subtle.

He also spends pages on end allowing J. Calafiore to draw big blazing images of angry, angry Guy trying very hard to make things right, stooped in anguish the likes of which, well, only Atrocitus had previously exhibited, early in the series when everyone wondered what the whole point of a Red Lanterns comic could possibly be.  Why wonder about the torment of monsters?  Walker's concluding thought is that rage isn't the be-all some people can make it out to be.

Which, again, is him basically refuting the whole concept.  I don't know whether to congratulate Walker or offer condolence.

Once again I have to say how much I admire Calafiore's remaining with the series, a point of continuity that's incredibly rare when another creator has suddenly departed.  It's more common for both headlining acts to vacate the premises, and for the new artist to fail miserably in helping smooth the transition.  Walker gets away with as much as he does in part because Calafiore creates the illusion of continuity.  If you didn't know someone else was writing, you wouldn't notice.  This is a testament to the writer, the artist, and probably the editor, too.

The New 52: Futures End #48 (DC)

writers: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen

artists: many, many artists

And how does The New 52: Futures End, well, end?  Apparently with Batman Beyond realizing, as the panel suggests, that he failed.

Yeah.  Never quite see that coming, do you?  But there were surely surprises along the way, and really, I think the whole point of Futures End was making Batman Beyond officially part of DC canon, giving him a whole event and everything.  And as it turns out, replacing the original one with Tim Drake.

This wouldn't be the first time a weekly series has swapped one secret identity for another, even.  Countdown to Final Crisis did that for Red Robin, a persona that debuted in Kingdom Come and originally featured Dick Grayson under the cowl.  But as with the Boy Wonder version of Robin, Jason Todd succeeded him.  And later, even Tim Drake.  Drake has, in fact, been Red Robin throughout the New 52, though with a redesigned look and relegated mostly to Teen Titans comics except for appearances in various Batman crossovers.

Drake is the Robin who most selflessly supports the Batman legacy, so it's fitting that he finally gets a chance to be Batman, in one form or another.  Unless there's another swerve, he's going to be the star of the upcoming Batman Beyond ongoing, which will also mean his first solo series in the New 52 era.  He was famously the star of the first-ever Robin ongoing, not to mention the popular series of limited adventures that preceded it.

Second lead, at least as represented in this issue, for Futures End turned out to be Mr. Terrific, a character among several who was given a second chance in the weekly after having proven a bust at the start of the New 52 in his own series.  He also appeared in Earth 2: World's End, although he was probably more crucial here, as one of two people (the other being Bruce Wayne) responsible for the unintentional unleashing of Brother Eye, who has been a standby villain since Infinite Crisis, and at one point even the intended foe in a Justice League movie, him and all his associated OMAC drones.

I'm still more than okay with not having read Futures End all the way through.  It was launched under great fanfare as the most important of the three weeklies DC debuted last year, and had at least two writers with considerable critical pedigree behind them (Brian Azzarello and Jeff Lemire), supported by more traditional ones (Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen).  In the end, I would assume that the veterans seemed to run more of the show.  I don't know.

The only thing I would really want to go back and read is Superman's arc from when he returned to how he eventually exited.  Given how much attention was given to whether or not the real Man of Steel was even going to be present, one might have expected him to be featured in this final issue.  At least, one might have expected that if they hadn't been reading faithfully.

As it turns out, the future that ended was Batman Beyond's.  But now there's a new one.