Comic Picks By The Glick

No, this isn’t “Thanos vol. 3:  Thanos Wins.” So successful were these six issues from new writer Cates, and his “God Country” collaborator Geoff Shaw, that this volume was rebranded (on the copyright pages at least) with his name.  Deservedly so, if the sales of this arc were any indication. This latest “Thanos” series was looking like an also-ran at the end of Jeff Lemire’s twelve issues, and then these six issues from Cates and Shaw piled on reorders -- issue #13 went through five printings the last I heard -- and sales increased in a way that you just don’t see for a Marvel comic, or really any comic, in this day and age.  So, was “Thanos Wins” as good as I had been led to believe? The answer is a qualified “Yes,” because for all that works about this arc you’ve got to be onboard with the idea of Thanos as one of the Marvel Universe’s big bads in order to get the most out of it.

Now this is weird.  The previous volume put the main plot on hold to focus entirely on a grown-up Yukiko Gosho as she tried to put the vampire-related trauma of her high school years behind her and live an ordinary life.  It was an effective character study that ended in a way that promised a return to the core storyline. That’s exactly what we get in this volume and I’m surprised it wasn’t as satisfying a read as I was expecting.

It starts out promising enough with Gosho sneaking into the cult compound where she thinks Okazaki is being held in the dead of night.  Things don’t go well for her and she’s caught, but the cult’s leader welcomes her into its fold because they have a history together. You see, the cult leader is Sakurane, the serial killer who cut her throat and left her for dead in a burning apartment.  While Gosho knows she’s in trouble, she summons the courage to play along with Sakurane until she can find out if he really does have Okazaki, Yuuki, or both of them down in the basement of the cult compound. Meanwhile, probably-not-a-serial-killer Sudo has tracked Gosho down to the compound and is working on his own way to save her from the danger inside.

The problem with vol. 7 is that it moves too slowly.  It’s not a slow burn, mangaka Shuzo Oshimi is just taking his sweet time with how the plot is advancing here.  By the end of the volume things haven’t really advanced all that much and there hasn’t been the kind of interesting character work I’ve come to expect to compensate for that.  Sadly, what we do get is some really nasty stuff happening to Gosho at the hands of Sakurane. Just about all of it happens off-panel, but the implications are more skin-crawling than anything else.  We do find out who’s in the basement, so it’s not like the volume is completely lacking in significant developments. It’s just that vol. 7 leaves me feeling that Oshimi was drawing things out to an unnecessary extent before he gets to the really good stuff.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

The quality has been going back and forth on the two “X-Men” flagship titles.  While I thought the first volume of “Gold” offered some welcome nostalgia to the ho-hum drama of “Blue,” things quickly reversed themselves.  “Blue” found its groove in its subsequent two volumes while the nostalgic fun of “Gold” grew more rickety in its second before effectively faceplanting in its fourth.  (Vol. 3 was the inter-title crossover “Mojo Worldwide” which was a draw because the story was so very “meh.”)  This time around we have another proper volume of “Gold” while “Blue” crosses over with “Venom” for the “Poison-X” storyline.

Now that they’re no longer on the trail of the Hulkverine, what’s a random assemblage of morally flexible and violent mutants to do?  How about head south of the border to Santo Marco where the government is violently suppressing mutants through use of a suborned Nuke platoon.  Warpath is all for it and takes point on much of the story as he clearly identifies with the natives’ plight, while Old Man Logan sees a more practical purpose in taking out the platoon.  As for Domino, Lady Deathstrike, and Sabretooth, they’re all onboard because something about the mission appeals to their personal interests -- like robbing a bank. This results in a fun little action story that has a bit more going on than you’d think as the team wrestles with the optics of the situation and makes some questionable decisions as they try to pull out a win.  The art from Yildray Cinar is also pretty nice as he choreographs the carnage with appreciable flair.

Greg Pak wrote that story solo, but he’s joined by his buddy Fred Van Lente for the second as Sabretooth resumes a yearly tradition:  Trying to kill (Old Man) Logan on his birthday. This also leads to lots of well-orchestrated violence, this time courtesy of Roland Boschi, as Sabretooth tries to get Old Man Logan to give into the bloodlust he’s suppressed for so long.  If you’re going, “Wait a second, isn’t Sabretooth’s personality still inverted from the events of ‘Axis?’” Well, yes, that’s the official line even as there’s been a slow walk back to the character’s traditional mindset. Pak and Van Lente are using the birthday excuse to allow Sabretooth’s old personality to fully reassert itself and the results are surprisingly entertaining.  It’s a nice spin on a familiar concept that also has something to say about Sabretooth himself as we find out how Old Man Logan was finally able to put him down in his old timeline. Good stuff overall and welcome proof that this series can deliver the goods when not dealing with the Hulkverine.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

I’ve mentioned before how this series has felt hamstrung by its inability to really get out there and explore the state of the “Star Wars” universe prior to “The Force Awakens.”  Now imagine a comic that has to limit itself further by placing itself within the confines of the “Poe Dameron” series itself. That’s the state the “Poe Dameron Annual” from writer Robbie Thompson and artist Nik Virella finds itself in as Poe and BB-8 find themselves adrift in a First Order minefield and forced to take refuge on one of their ships to escape.  The whole thing is fine, yet feels deeply inessential even before you get to the final page reveal which indicates that the annual should’ve been collected in the previous volume. With “Poe Dameron” wrapping up soon we’ll at least be spared from more wastes of space like this one.

That being said, with “Poe Dameron” wrapping up soon writer Charles Soule has decided that it’s time for it to get back to it’s ostensible main plot:  Finding the mysterious Lor San Tekka. The good news is that he’s been found. The bad news is that he was caught breaking into a Neimoidian vault and is now in their custody.  Now Poe and the rest of Black Squadron, with General Leia Organa masterminding the operation, have to break him out in a fun little heist that’s easily one of the better stories we’ve seen in this series to date.  That’s even before Terex shows up again.

While the agent of the First Order was mostly robbed of his agency in the previous volume, he finds a way around that here, making things difficult for people on both sides of the conflict in the process.  Terex’s exploits here cement his status as the best thing about “Poe Dameron” as he’s had a really interesting arc to follow from Imperial loyalist to his current disillusionment with the First Order. While his story appears to wrap up here, I don’t doubt that Soule will find a way to fit him into the next volume, which will let us know what Poe and Black Squadron were up to when they weren’t on screen during “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi.”  That said, I can’t say it’s a good sign that I’m more concerned about a supporting character created for this comic than what’s in store for the title character himself.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Three different "Avengers" titles wrap up their runs in this perfectly serviceable event series.

How can you tell when a creator is firing on all cylinders regarding their current series?  When they ditch their main cast and setting to focus on an all-new group of people in a completely different situation.  That’s what mangaka Kengo Hanazawa does in this latest omnibus as we continue to focus on former shut-in Takashi Ezaki after he’s rescued by Kurusu and his companions.  After he makes it back to their base with capable survivor Kowashi, Ezaki is slowly brought into their tight-knit and tightly-packed fold as he gets to know the many rules they’ve established in order to stay alive and starts to pull his weight in order to show that he belongs there.  While the ZQNs provide an ever-present threat, this community also has its own share of issues to deal with. From the schoolgirl who wants to head to her school to see if her parents are still alive, to the other survivor that’s contacted them via CB radio, to the members in a nearby shed that are thinking of making a break for it, to Kurusu’s general craziness, you’re left with the feeling that things here could implode at any minute.

That they do shouldn’t surprise anyone.  What makes it interesting here is that it happens in spite of the fact that everyone was following the rules.  The idea that sometimes you can do everything right and still be screwed gives the subsequent escape some real drama, and actually inspires some sympathy for the characters you’ve just been introduced to. Hanazawa’s masterfully orchestrated ZQN attacks also keep the excitement level high throughout.  Hideo and company may be MIA until the last few pages, but the mangaka does such a great job fleshing out this new community and its characters that the absence of the main players in the series up to this point isn’t that big of an issue here.

Neither is the revelation that “Kurusu” isn’t a specific name but a special type of ZQN.  What is an issue is the fact that Kurusu-types all have a specific look to them, which honestly just comes off as a little goofy when we see three of them going at each other.  Also, the end of this whole arc does feel more than a little abrupt. As if Hanazawa felt that he had digressed from Hideo and co. for too long and was eager to get back to them.  I can understand that feeling, but whatever concern he may have felt was unnecessary. This was another excellent volume of the series, showing Hanazawa fully in control of the narrative almost to the very end.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Cates is the new hotness at Marvel thanks to his work on “Thanos,” “Venom,” and to a lesser extent his brief run on this title.  I say this because in all likelihood “God of Magic” came about because Marvel wanted to keep “Doctor Strange” going through their “Legacy” initiative but needed someone to kill some time on it before Mark Waid and Jesus Saiz came in for their “Strange in Space” relaunch.  So yeah, we’re dealing with a fill-in arc here. A fill-in arc which happens to be pretty good as far as these things go since it sets up and resolves a clever change to the status quo: Loki as the new Sorcerer Supreme.