Captain America 8
Remender (w) and Romita Jr. and Janson with Hanna (a) and White (c)
God that's a hard one to read. Hey guys, I normally don't mention that there are spoilers in these reviews because it's pretty obvious. There were two ways to go with this blog, writing brief and vague analysis of certain issues and suggesting books to read or writing longer reviews that summarize issues and point out the strengths and flaws while working from a point where you and I both know how books end. Obviously I've chosen the latter and I don't regret it. However, if you're reading this book or plan to, do not read this review until you've read the issue. I suspected the ending that was coming and it still came as a shock to me. Spoilers start....now. Zola is rallying his troops as he prepares to head back to Earth to Zolafy it. He's made them ready to keep serving him in Dimension Z and to serve the new king and queen of the land, his two children. His children are quite busy themselves at the moment, as Ian/Leopold fights Steve and Jet finds a conscience. She betrays her father by leading captured Phrox away from their captivity and back to their children waiting in the caves, who she had secretly been smuggling against her father's orders. Just as she gets them close to safety, Zola descends on her, enraged that she's found compassion. The two begin to fight as we cut back away to Steve and Leopold. Steve is getting himself pretty good and killed throughout the issue. We've seen through the series a level of violence against Steve that is unprecedented for him and quite possibly for any comic and it's continued here. He's fought off and killed Captain Zolandia, the mutate who shares his genes but it cost him a lot to do it and it's not like he went into the fight in the best shape he's ever been. Now Leopold attacks him, screaming about how he was kidnapped and how strength is virtue and might makes right and so forth. He question the hypocrisy of representing and protecting one nation, particularly one so fraught with problems as America and prepares to kill the already near-dead Steve. Steve tries again to convince the boy that he did everything he could only to help him and that it doesn't matter if he's Leopold or Ian, as long as Steve knows that the child made his own choice. He explains that he chose who he became, he chose to be someone different than his father. The rage in the boy's face falters and, though he's still holding a gun to Steve's head, he chooses the name Ian. Steve comforts him and says that it'll all be okay as (
SERIOUSLY GUYS, SPOILERS) a bullet fires and speeds through Ian's neck, who tumbles over and off the bridge he and Steve had been on. Steve turns to see the shooter, Sharon Carter, eager to get Steve out.
Look, I'm not going to pretend like I didn't notice the fact that I've read two really traumatic murders of a child in Marvel books in the last three years and both have come from the pen of Rick Remender. I'm sure there are others out there who have noticed that and who, more skeptical than I, are saying it's a rather weak trick to elicit a certain response from the audience. I hugely disagree here. First off, I don't think killing a child in any medium is ever an easy decision, less so when you've spent seven issues building and protecting him. It's a particularly devastating move, sure, to any reader and it's obvious the effect it could have on a reader and on a book. Still, I think Remender's proven time and again that he's not doing anything for cheap reactions or cheap thrills. Instead, everything has always been perfectly choreographed and everything has a purpose. Even still, as recently as the last Uncanny Avengers, people are debating Wolverine's X-Force team's actions with the child Apocalypse. I think this is a similarly complicated situation and I'd be very surprised if there weren't serious repercussions and still possibly some salvation for Ian (here's hoping). Still, really and truly devastating issue here all around. Even if you take the probable death of Ian out, you have Steve in a level of emotional and physical pain that has never been seen and Romita's art and White's colors certainly bring that to life. There are a lot of bigger panels to show exactly how violent Zolandia has become against Steve and the Ian shot, as well as the Sharon reveal, both get a full page. Wow, that's going to be a hard one to get past. That's kind of why I scheduled it to be reviewed before two other absurdly great books.
Daredevil 27
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)
Holy crap. Okay, that thing I said before about Captain America, it stands here too. Read this issue. Don't let my writing, which cannot compare to the feeling this comic can give, ruin the surprises in this book. Daredevil has discovered who is behind everything in his life going crazy recently. Bullseye has been resurrected by the Hand but, though he lives again, his body will never be the same. His spine is too badly damaged from Daredevil's attack on him at the onset of Shadowland and it's left him paralyzed and devoid of his senses except sight. In the time that he's been alive since his resurrection, he's done nothing but focus on revenge on Daredevil. He has learned everything about him, about his life and it's left him with every detail of his intricate plan. Now Daredevil has figured him out and he's approaching the concrete-like container that holds Bullseye, seemingly unaware that Ikari is behind him. Daredevil leaps into action, jumping on to the top of Bullseye's container and threatening to send his club straight into Bullseye's brain. Bullseye tells him how stupid that would be. As the audience, we get a look into where Matt's friends are. The people in his office have been summoned back to work by someone claiming to be Matt, though he's not in his office and someone else is lurking in the shadows. A grinning doctor has just excused one of Foggy's nurses, leaving the two alone. Someone watches A.D.A. McDuffie from out the window. Milla has a smiling visitor at her hospital. We see all this as Bullseye reveals what happened with the Hand and how foolish it would be to attack him. With only his sight left, Bullseye demands that Daredevil fight Ikari, where Daredevil will lose and die in front of him. If he doesn't, everyone Matt cares about will die to the agents Bullseye has sent.
SPOILERS YOU DUDES AND LADYDUDES. Matt reveals to Bullseye that he's not so concerned about Bullseye's agents because Bullseye wasn't the only one to send people to Matt's friends. Foggy's doctor is Hank Pym, the shadowy man in the office is Iron Fist, the man outside McDuffie's window is Spider-Man and Black Widow pushes Milla's wheelchair across the grounds. Daredevil attacks Ikari but quickly realizes that he'll lose anyway, tired as he is. He smells chemicals and rightly figures out that the chemicals Bullseye used to try to create more Daredevils are nearby. Matt races to them, knowing it will throw Ikari off, low-level radiation filling the air. He's right but as he falls to attack Ikari, Lady Bullseye appears and enters the fray. Knowing it's a fight he can't really win, he collapses the floor (or the roof, it's a little tricky to tell) with his club, sending Bullseye crashing down with them. Ikari and Lady Bullseye are trapped under floorboards as Daredevil pries Bullseye out of the metal tank, though not quickly enough to save his eyesight from the chemicals seeping in. The three villains are arrested and this chapter comes to a close with Matt astoundingly victorious.
I'm not sure I can say a whole lot about analysis here. I'm pretty blown away. The twist in the middle wherein Matt has planned for Bullseye's agents with his own totally blew me away. It somehow didn't even occur to me. That's how well Waid and Samnee have been planting the seeds throughout this arc. It's just a beautifully done story and it's a perfect reconnection between Daredevil and Bullseye. Fittingly, it ends with Matt and Foggy talking again. That's been a nice touch for this series, the strength of their relationship prevailing again. It's been a wonderful series, deserving of all the praise it gets. Speaking of comics that deserve all the praise they get...
Hawkeye 11
Fraction (w) and Aja (a) and Hollingsworth (c)
Well this has been an unsuccessful post for reviewing comics but a really phenomenal post on a personal level for reading comics. Each and every one of these comics so beautifully represents another reason I love comics. Of course, I've been waiting for this one eagerly since it was announced. Lucky, a.k.a. Pizza Dog, investigates the murder of Grills. Yes, for those who haven't seen already, this comic comes from the perspective of Clint's dog. And it is just gorgeous. There's not much that I can summarize here because I really
really don't want to ruin this one for you which is just such a wonderful example of storytelling and such a beautiful mix of words and pictures. In Marvel, two books regularly refuse to make the distinction between writer and artist, instead preferring to label the writer and artist as "storyteller." Those two books are Hawkeye and Daredevil and they're about as perfect as they can be. I do like what the decision to cast themselves as storytellers represents and I think that these books, more than any other, probably require that distinction. I love the art and the writing of plenty of Marvel books but few are so dependent on one another as these two books. So what will I say about this book, other than you need to read it because it's a marvel of storytelling and heart? Lucky, the hardboiled almost noir dogtective (nailed it) investigates the case and runs afoul of former owners/enemies while getting further than Clint probably will in quite some time on this case. Also, he again makes Clint as likable as he's been in this book before kind of breaking everyone's heart. I'm not even going to give this one two paragraphs because I'm not really doing a full-blown summary. I can't stress this enough you guys. Read this book. Read all three of these ones, okay? It's all well worth it.
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