SPRINGTIME GRAB BAG

It's that time of year again, where I look at a few random items from the "to read" pile in what has become known (at least to me) as the Springtime Grab Bag!

All of the upcoming reviews will be digital books purchased in various Comixology sales. First, we'll look a couple pulp-influenced offerings from Dark Horse: THE BLACK BEETLE IN: KARA BOCEK by Francisco Francavilla, and CONAN AND THE JEWELS OF GWAHLUR by P. Craig Russell.

After that, we'll jump over to Image for a mini-series I've wanted to check out for quite some time, but just never got around to, MADAME MIRAGE by Paul Dini and Kenneth Rocafort. And then we'll wrap things up with a visit to IDW for a look at their BATMAN/TMNT ADVENTURES mini-series, a crossover between the definitive animated incarnation of Batman and one of the many animated incarnations of the Turtles.

With the Black Beetle, Conan, and Batman and the Turtles, I have some idea of what to expect, but I really don't know what Madame Mirage has to offer, so this should be an interesting few weeks. I hope you'll stick around to see how it all unfolds!

X-MEN '92 #8 - #10

"THE TWELVE" | "A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH" | "EARTH X"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Alti Frimansyah w/Cory Hamscher (#10 assist)
Color Art: Matt Milla | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham | Cover Art: David Nakayama
Production: Carlos Lao | Editors: Heather Antos & Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

The final chunk of X-MEN '92 begins with our heroes and the Ex-Brood fighting off the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who have arrived to exterminate the Brood. Rogue gets a spotlight here, going to-to-toe with Gladiator while the rest of her friends battle the remaining members of the Imperial Guard -- and the entire fight proves to be a diversion allowing Gambit, Beast, and Death's Head to hijack the Guard's ship. The X-Men escape back toward Earth, where this short-lived series' sub-plots quickly come to a head.

First, we learn that the Gamesmaster is actually Mystique in disguise, and the entire Upstarts competition has been the brainchild of Apocalypse as a way to steel the X-Men against an impending threat. Apocalypse reveals himself to the Upstarts and recruits them to his cause, and at the same time is joined by Cassandra Nova and the mysterious Joseph. Meanwhile, President Kelly arrives at the site of Lila Cheney's concert in Westchester to confront Professor X and X-Factor, revealing that he doesn't trust the X-Men to protect Earth and that he's made a deal with Apocalypse.

Apocalypse and his team show up, we get some jokes at the expense of nineties whipping boy Adam-X, then the X-Men arrive on Earth with the Ex-Brood. Apocalypse reveals a heretofore unknown benevolence to Xavier, explaining that he wants to save the world from a mutant Celestial named Xodus, who has recently awakened. But before he can explain his plan, he's gunned down by Cable as X-Force shows up.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #427 & #428

“MIND GAMES” | “PERSONAL BEST”
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Jerry Ordway
Lettered by: John Costanza | Colored by: Tom Ziuko| Edited by: Andy Helfer & Mike Carlin

The Plot: (Issue 427) Superman invades the nation of Qurac and confronts its president regarding the recent attacks in Metropolis, which he believes were sponsored by the Quraci government. Meanwhile, a being called Prana probes Superman’s mind for clues as to who he is and why he uses his powers for the benefit of humanity.

(Issue 428) Superman single-handedly dismantles Qurac’s military, to the approval of the entire world at large. Meanwhile, Perry White’s teenage son, Jerry, is kidnapped by agents of mobster Jay Falk, who order Perry to scrap a series of exposés he’s been running on the criminal, and to issue a retraction. While Perry struggles over whether he can abandon his integrity and lie about Falk in the pages of the Daily Planet, Superman combs Metropolis, locates Jerry, and brings him back to Perry.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: In issue 427, Clark Kent is on assignment in Qurac, though the nature of the story he’s chasing is unrevealed. It can be assumed, however, that he’s there for the same reason as his alter ego — to look into the connection between Qurac and the Freedom League who attacked Metropolis in issues 424 and 425.

Prana and his wife, Zahara, are both inhuman beings and members of a mysterious organization called the Circle, who dialogue hints are aliens and/or precursors to humanity on Earth. As issue 427 concludes, Prana dies of overexertion from his forays into Superman’s mind, and the agents of the Circle who have been hiding out in Qurac (and who, we’re told, provided the weapons used in the Freedom League attacks) decide to move to Metropolis to keep an eye on the Man of Steel.

X-MEN '92 #5 - #7

"THE ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX: THE LAST X-MAN"
"LILAPALOOZA" | "HOMESICK ALIEN BLUES"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Cory Hamscher (#5) & Alti Frimansyah (#6-7)
Color Art: Matt Milla w/Dono Sánchez Almara (#6) | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover Art: David Nakayama | Title Page Design: Nicholas Russell (#5)
Production Design: Carlos Lao | Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

Following the first story arc of their ongoing series, Chad Bowers and Chris Sims give us a one-off story in issue 5 to remind readers that, while they've left the X-Men, Cyclops and Jean Grey are still members of the cast. We pick up with the couple in Alaska, from whence they're plucked to the future by an elderly woman named Rachel. Cylcops and Jean work with Rachel -- a.k.a. Askani -- to infiltrate the lair of Mister Sinister... but in the end it turns out Askani and Sinister are on the same side, working together to create the ultimate weapon against Apocalypse. That weapon proves to be a clone created by Sinister using genetic material grabbed from Cyclops and Jean while Rachel led them through his lair. The story ends with the couple transported back through time just after meeting their clone "son", Cable -- and when next they materialize, they find themselves in the year 2099, confronted by that era's X-Men.

As usual, kudos to Bowers and Sims for integrating the often labyrinthine continuity of the nineties into their story -- though in this case it's not really that difficult. Cable created by Sinister as a weapon against Apocalypse is pretty much the character's mainstream universe origin as well, and Rachel pulling Cyclops and Jean through time to Cable's future was the plot of the ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX mini-series in 1993 (hence the title of issue 5's story). There's a twist here, with Sinister and Rachel in cahoots and Cable created in the future as a clone rather than in the present day as a biological child, but for the most part, this story adheres to existing continuity pretty well, just streamlining it a bit for the X-MEN '92 audience. And the cameo appearance by the X-Men of 2099 on the issue's final page is probably my favorite part of this one! I loved that series when I read it "first run" off the stands, and it's always nice to see it revisited.

SUPERMAN #4

“BLOODSPORT!”
Writer/Penciler: John Byrne | Inker: Karl Kesel
Colorist: Anthony Tollin | Letterer: John Costanza | Editors: Andy Helfer & Mike Carlin

The Plot: A maniac calling himself Bloodsport shoots up a diner occupied by Jimmy Olsen, who summons Superman to help — but by the time the hero arrives, Bloodsport is gone. Superman tracks Bloodsport to a bowling alley, where the madman is on another spree. Superman nearly stops Bloodsport until a new gun materializes in his hand and tags the Man of Steel with a Kryptonite bullet. Jimmy arrives and gets Superman to the hospital, where doctors remove the Kryptonine shrapnel.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, the man behind Bloodsport’s weaponry, realizes his experiment has gone haywire and dispatches his men to deal with the crazed vigilante. Superman catches up with Bloodsport first, but the latter’s weapons are still too much for the Man of Steel to handle alone. Luthor’s security forces soon arrive, but Bloodsport makes quick work of them as well. Finally Superman realizes Bloodsport is teleporting his guns in from another location and disables the teleporter by ionizing the air around the villain.

Bloodsport is about to kill himself and destroy ten blocks of Metropolis with a bomb when Jimmy arrives, having deduced Bloodsport’s true identity based on his words and the fingerprints on one of his guns. With Jimmy is Bloodsport’s brother, Michael. He convinces Bloodsport to stand down, and the massacre ends at last.

X-MEN '92 #1 - #4

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN" | "YOUNG BLOOD"
"THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE" | "PAGES FROM THE BOOK OF SINS"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Alti Frimansyah
Color Art: Matt Milla | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham | Cover Art: David Nakayama
Production: Carlos Lao | Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

The ongoing X-MEN '92 series picks up precisely where the "Infinite Comics" left off: Professor Xavier has opened his school to a new class of young mutants, Bishop and Psylocke have recently joined the X-Men, and Cyclops and Jean Grey are on a leave of absence. We're still apparently set in the SECRET WARS universe, as the X-Men's "world" is referred to once or twice as Westchester (which gets a little confusing since their local municipality is also, as in the source material, called Westchester too). It's pretty clear at this point, if it wasn't already, that this really isn't a straight continuation of the X-MEN animated series. The initial team lineup as seen in the Infinite Comics was the same as on the show, but the similarity ends there. These X-Men have fought in a human/mutant war and are lauded as great heroes by the world, for one thing. For another, references are made to events that never happened on the TV series -- and I'll note some as we get to them.

I'm not necessarily complaining about this; the series is still fun, and -- I'll note for the umpteenth time -- it's a treat to see the X-Men running around in their Jim Lee costumes. But, as with Chris Claremont's X-MEN FOREVER, something of a spiritual forebear to this series, Marvel advertised a "continuation" but what we've actually wound up with is more of a reinvention. To put it plainly, if you tell me that a series is going to "continue" the X-MEN cartoon, I would expect the series to pick up precisely where the cartoon left off: with Professor X away in outer space with Lilandra while the X-Men, still feared and hated by the world at large, live in a loosely brokered peace with Magneto. Start there. It's a continuation. Pick up where the series left off. It's not rocket science, people.

(And I'll give Claremont some credit -- X-MEN FOREVER at least did begin practically exactly where X-MEN #3 ended, with the mutants searching for Fabian Cortez. It just went off the rails pretty quickly after that.)

LEGENDS #5 & #6

“LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!” | “FINALE”
Plotter: John Ostrander | Scripter: Len Wein
Penciler: John Byrne | Inker: Karl Kesel w/Dennis Janke (issue 6 assist)
Letterer: Steve Haynie | Colorist: Tom Ziuko | Editor: Mike Gold

The Plot: (Issue 5) Billy Batson sees a girl he had befriended hit by debris from a riot and finally changes back into Captain Marvel. Moments later, he’s spirited away by Doctor Fate. In Star City, Fate grabs Black Canary. He plucks Guy Gardner from Los Angeles, then the Blue Beetle from Chicago. In Gotham City, Fate grabs Batman. In New York, Captain Boomerang is captured by a gang of Gordon Godfrey’s rabid followers, and Fate takes Flash and Changeling before they can pursue. Finally, Doctor Fate appears in the White House as Superman confers with President Reagan and Vice President Bush. He grabs the Man of Steel as well, and they depart.

Elsewhere, G. Gordon Godfrey stirs up his mob in Metropolis and shows off the captive Captain Boomerang on TV. Amanda Waller orders Task Force X to either rescue or kill Boomerang before he blows the cover off their team. In Washington, D.C., Godfrey continues to speak to his followers, until Doctor Fate arrives with his team. On Apokolips, Darkseid prepares for the final act of his plan, while in Gotham City, a determined Robin leaves his hospital room.

(Issue 5) On Apokolips, Darkseid and the Phantom Stranger continue their chat, while on Earth the heroes battle Godfrey’s war dogs, soon augmented by a troop of parademons from Apokolips. Godfrey snags Doctor Fate’s helmet and makes a run for it, while not far away, the Suicide Squad rescues Captain Boomerang. Meanwhile Wonder Woman appears to help Guy Gardner against a war dog, while human agents of Godfrey storm the White House and attempt to assassinate the president — but J’onn J’onzz impersonates the commander-in-chief to thwart the intruders.

Eventually all the otherworldly threats are eliminated and the heroes are left to face Godfrey’s foaming mob. But the arrival of a number of children, spared from Godfrey’s power of suggestion, causes the adults’ frenzy to waver and wear off. Desperate, Godfrey dons Doctor Fate’s helmet, hoping to use its power to save himself, but it instead overwhelms him, reducing him to a gibbering mess.

In the aftermath, the gathered heroes decide to re-form the Justice League, while on Apokolips, Darkseid vows that his war against Earth’s legends is not over.