Sorry, I've just been watching Rain Man; excellent movie. If you haven't seen it then you're stupid.
Welcome to the Mast, ladies and gentlemen. Today I bring you another edition of Thursday's Comics!
Unfortunately it's a very slow week for me and my subscription box at Gosh! Comics, so you won't have much to read and I won't have much to type. Before I get into that, though, I want to give you a heads up about some stuff you should be keeping your eyes out for.
Image Comics' ultraviolent series, Haunt, is approaching the release of its first trade paperback. Haunt (Vol. 1) comes out on March 3rd and collects issues #1 to #5. It shouldn't break your recession-hit pockets too much, so if you're looking for something to get into then definitely check that out. Furthermore, it has a truly delicious cover!
Also, people have been asking me if I plan to do anything on DC's current mega event, Blackest Night. I have only read bits and pieces, but I haven't read enough to review it. On top of that, with the amount of subscriptions I have, I can't really focus my efforts on yet another event that's attached to another load of mini-series' and tie-ins. When Blackest Night is finished and released in trade paperback format, I GUARANTEE I will be doing a comprehensive review of Blackest Night in its entirity.
That's for another time, though. Right now, let's talk some comics!
Haunt #5.
With the Kilgore bros now in deeper with The Agency than they ever imagined they would be, we see the plot of Kirkman's first arc as Haunt writer come to a close.
The comic begins with Hurg - the Kingpin with a ponytail and grey hair, looks wise at least - visiting Cobra, still in his hospital bed after getting his face caved in by Haunt. He mentions that he can forgive Cobra for his misgivings THIS time, simply because he now has an opportunity to gain what he wanted anyway; cast your minds back to Haunt #4's end and the woman (Mirage) offering to sell Shillinger's notebook to him.
As of this moment, the story centres around the Kilgore bros and their progression inside The Agency as they track down the notebook, the people who want the notebook and the people responsible for Kurt's death. All the while, the mole that Hurg placed there begins to relay info to him.
Agency Director Stanz reveals to Daniel that they've received a tip-off about a meeting between Mirage and Hurg, and that the notebook will be present. Kurt tells Daniel to pass on the message that they ARE going, regardless of what Director Stanz says, to which he reluctantly agrees.
Naturally, the deal goes awry as soon as Mirage and Hurg exchange the notebook and cash respectively. The Agency's agents command everyone to freeze and a massive gunfight erupts between themselves and Hurg's men. Haunt joins the fray and they despatch a number of bad guys with their tendrils. They catch up with Hurg and as they have him near their grasp, one of his henchwomen fires multiple shots into his side, forcing him to concentrate on healing as Hurg escapes.
During the botched meeting it's revealed that there's a connection between Kurt and Mirage. This is quite expertly explained when Daniel is back at The Agency getting patched up. Kurt had an affair with Mirage, but for reasons that you can't help but understand. He snaps at Daniel for judging him and goes on to say how he loved Amanda, but felt nothing in common with her due to his line of work. Through all the death, carnage and high stakes of being a covert assassin/soldier, he began to find all of the little aspects of her life to be trivial. Due to a similar line of work, he bonded with Mirage and they made all these plans to use the notebook as a means of bartering for cash. Cash they'd then spent to forge a new life together.
Daniel feels worse because he fell for Amanda in the way Kurt fell for Mirage, but could never have her due to her love for his brother, despite his brother loving another in the same way. It's a really twisted, heartbreaking tale that leaves no moral ground safe to stand on.
Eventually we see Hurg's mole, Ms. Rhodes, cursing the incompetence of Hurg's henchwomen and Hurg himself for not getting the notebook. Director Stanz overhears, asks what's going on and gets a headshot for his troubles. She detonates a bomb in The Agency and Haunt promptly shows up ready to handle the business, but it's too late. Assistant Director Tosh is crying over his body and the realisation that this is deeper than they thought dawns on them.
Drawing to a close, we see Daniel at a meeting with Tosh as she thanks him and Kurt for saving her. Offering Daniel the chance to be a full member of The Agency, using the spirit of his brother to train him as a soldier, Daniel says he isn't sure. She gives him a card and tells him to meet her back at the H.Q. when it's rebuilt, and that she knows he'll say yes because he has nothing better to do.
The issue ends thusly.
I have to say, this is an absolutely tremendous way to end the arc. It feels like this title is on its way to progressively greater things and I'm an so very hooked. The characterisation is being fleshed out nicely, the characters have noticeable punch and the art is mesmerising. Unfortnately, this is the last issue that Ryan Ottley is working on. It's not all bad, though, because Greg Capullo (Haunt's layout organiser) will be taking over.
Really, this is shaping up to be something special, even though it's not wholly unique or original. The trade paperback is out on March 3rd and if you don't pick it up, it's your loss!
Dark X-Men #4 of 5.
I am so glad that this series is only five issues.
Again, I am going to assume this takes place before Siege because otherwise it makes even less sense than it does already.
We pick up as we left off. Nate Grey has possessed Norman Osborn and Mystique is trying to talk him out of it, or talk sense into him. Something of that nature. Eventually, the Dark X-Men venture into Osborn's mind via the use of his psi-ops. The ones that Nate Grey, X-Man, used to take corporeal form.
They enter his mind and eventually come face to face with Osborn's psyche. Due to having to spend all his energy trying to fight Nate, he has left some of his lesser personality traits unchecked, and thus the Green Goblin portion of his psyche proceeds to appear and threaten to kill them all.
That's more or less all that happens in this issue and, honestly, I don't care to remember anything else.
It's a poorly written, poorly conceived and poorly timed series. Avoid it.
Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #4 of 5.
THIS rules.
With the immense and nightmarish ships closing in on them as they venture further into The Fault, the combined crew of the Starjammer - this being The Starjammers and the Imperial Guard - attempt to prepare themselves for an upcoming fight of epic proportions. In a last ditch attempt to call for help, Oracle links with Quasar in an effort to use the M'Kraan crystal as a means of communication between them and Gladiator, the Shi'ar Emperor.
Gladiator barely receives this distress signal, but he recognises the dire peril his collegues must be in if Oracle risked using the crystal as a means of contact (The crystal is in the hands of the Shi'ar), and decides that they need his immediate help.
The scene shifts back to space and members of the Imperial Guard are floating around outside the ship, trying to use some of The Fault's floating debris as a barricade. They haven't got much time, but due to not being detected by The Fault's warships, they have SOME time. Starbolt begins welding pieces together whilst Warstar and other plant mines around on various pieces of space debris. In the middle of all this battle prep, Smasher's attention seems to be caught and he floats off toward something.
Ch'od of The Starjammers contacts them and asks which one decided it would be a good idea to rip out the ships hyperdrive capacitor, to which Praetor quickly dismisses any hint of sabotage. It begins to dawn on them that Smasher has only recently joined the Guard, and becomes a prime suspect. As he re-boards the ship, he is revealed to be none other than Talon, a space-warrior with a group known as The Raptors. He retrieved these amulets that will allow him to spawn three more of himself, with the excuse being that he wants to aid them in their battle. They can't outrun the threat, so they may as well outfight it.
The dialogue in these issues is just brilliant. Abnett, if a little directionless on other titles, always comes through with brilliantly gripping dialogue that marries up with the storytelling perfectly.
Inevitably The Fault's warships detect them and they begin their approach. Let me just say that the art on the creatures from The Fault is absolutely great, the horrifying appearance of these creatures/demons is truly what helps them come across as this demonic threat. The battle is similarly gruesome.
The Fault's ships begin spitting cloned warriors out of their maws - think the Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean, but red/brown and looking suspiciously like a vagina -, clones that look like the X-Men! The clone of Beast bites into Starbolt causing him to explode and, presumably, die. As the rest of the Guard fight for their lives while those on the ship make further attempts to bolster their firepower, one of the warships draws closer, about to fire something from it's gaping mouth. At this moment, something erupts forcefully from it as if being shot from a gun, severely disabling it.
We see Praetor exclaim great shock at the sight, and the issue ends with him triumphantly announcing: "It's Gladiator!".
THIS is where it all seems to kick off, despite having ONE issue left. It feels like nothing as really happened in ANY of the Realm of Kings titles except the one-shot, and this. Even then, this title has only stepped the gears up within the past two issues.
Regardless, Gladiator finally defying Shi'ar law and entering the battle (An Emperor must never enter combat) made me very happy. I loved seeing him become Emperor as he's one of by boys after all, but he clearly isn't born for it. He's meant to be out there, fighting! Finally, he is. I await the final part pleasantly, even if I feel Realm of Kings is a bit of a missed opportunity. If it ends in March/April like I assumed it did, then it's definitely not really done enough, but we'll see.
If you still haven't picked up or read War of Kings, do so. Get the trade paperback and then, if you desire, you can get this series. Realm of Kings: Inhumans is alright, but I'm really not sure what it has to do with Realm of Kings. I will be better suited to recommend tie-ins and mini-series' when the whole thing is over and I can better understand the purpose of it all.
Overall, Abnett provides yet another lesson in how to write exciting and dramatic cosmic extravaganzas. You could do far worse than to pick up anything he's writing right now.
---
In other news, we have THREE more teasers for Marvel's upcoming Secret Avengers series!
Discussions suggest that the most popular front-runners for the first and second ones, respectively, are Scarlet Witch and Noh-Varr. It could be Noh-Varr in his Captain Marvel costume, but I think the only reason the former is being said to be Scarlet Witch is because not many other females have a silhouette like that.
I doubt it's her just based on what she has caused in the past, but I suppose it could be. Though the second one is rumoured to be Captain Marvel, it is a very ambigious silhouette. I have NO idea who the last one could be. I was going to say War Machine, but the severe absense of shoulder minigun and shoulder missile launcher is standing out.
I'm actually thinking that it could be Captain Marvel, and the second one is someone else entirely.
Oh well. Expect to hear from me as soon as they're revealed!
That's it for this week, but as usual I will be back between now and next week with another post or two of some kind.
Thanks for reading, thanks for the interest and thanks for the support.
Until next time, peace.
-The Mast
