The Voyages of SheBuccaneer #4 ~ A week late, thanks to Diamond screwing up, but it's here at last. This is the first of three issues telling the 'Eye of the Jade Dragon' story, making it a change from issues #1-3 which each had their own stand-alone storyline (albeit ones that, like the present story, are linked together in the context of a larger quest). SheBuccaneer has never been light on storytelling, but with more room to play with on this Jade Dragon escapade, there's a lot more complexity and subplot being thrown in. Eastern sorcery proves a nasty thorn in the side of the Captain, resulting in her and a selection of crewmates being captured and enslaved (with their ship the Queen's Vengeance last seen ablaze, and assumed to have gone down), and the Captain herself winding up an unwilling and irritated accessory to a feud between two sorcerers - cue the super-tough training sequence, a la Kill Bill, only the Captain's 'mentor' is a lot nastier than Pai Mei. Meanwhile Black Ben Claggart, the Captain's recurring nemesis, is making a deal with Governor William Truk, the man who had the Captain's lover Jack Rackham executed, and who she in turn humiliated by escaping and stealing her ship from. As always the dialogue is raucous and lively, full of pirate-speak, and the art is full of energy and expression, but with a dark edge that keeps it from seeming cartoony - it's a rough, bloody story, as befitting a tale of pirates, yar. In place of the Crystal Mantecon centrefolds that graced issues #1-3 (she's still on the back cover), this issue has a two=page poster by Norm Breyfogle, plus a couple of pages of interviews and Q&A (including a quote drawn from right here, yay!)
Action Comics #875 ~ I've never been really into Superman - being a heroine addict, Supergirl would've been my way into the Super-family, but I'm still leery of her given how bad her title was back when I read it (I'm toying with the idea of giving it another try sometime, though - it's been a while, they may have mended their ways). So, knowing very little of New Krypton and Super-goings-on in general, this issue was a bit of a shot in the dark, bought purely because it advertised a new team, one of whom is female. Luckily, while the issue keeps some cards close to its chest (and utilises some elements of background I'm unfamiliar with, or hazy on at best), there's enough solid exposition that I could get to grips with it; Greg Rucka's writing it, so it's no surprise that the story is good by its own merits. In brief, there are Kryptonian sleeper agents on Earth, and Flamebird (a Kryptonian security agent, or something) and Nightwing (a teenager from a previous story I don't know about; evidently Kryptonian, but familiar with Earth) are tracking them down and capturing them, which in turn brings them to the attention of General "Kneel Before" Zod, who sends his hench-wench Ursa to go sort the heroes out. Where the story goes from here, I can't guess - there's too much backstory I don't yet know, besides the obvious conclusion, "They fight each other" - but the writing is good, the art is colourful and engaging, so far Flamebird seems to be the main character of the pair, and thankfully the Kryptonian speech is subtitled (unlike the early Superman/Batman Supergirl issues), although I'd prefer if it were just in a different colour or font or something. I'll stick around for more.
Soulfire: Shadow Magic #4 ~ If I had to sum up this issue in one sentence, it'd be "Everything goes to hell." Grace and Kelsyn steal a moment to themselves for a rather touching scene between the two lovers, but then it's back to business, and against the tide of events already set in motion, their efforts to do good seem doomed to fail - even with Grace's royal influence, they're only two people, and powerful forces are behind the armies and destruction moving through their lands. Meanwhile back in the capital city Empyrea the bad guy's plan (sketched out last issue) takes effect in catastrophic fashion, and in Karthia the tale we've been getting in glimpses of the forest girl is, unknown to the major players, on a collision course with them that all unforseen changes everything. Plus the dragon's still mooching about somewhere, but without dialogue it's difficult to tell what's up there - we'll find out later, I guess. It's powerful storytelling overall, but what worries me is the aftermath - with so much chaos being thrown into the mix, can the conclusion really pull something out of the fire worth calling a finale?
The Invincible Iron Man #11 ~ Tony's still on the run, and has an encounter with War Machine where he gets to be all smart and I've-planned-this-whole-thing-out - which is fun, but it's the women I'm here to see. Pepper, unfortunately, only gets two pages, but they're really cool pages, showing her getting to know her new suit, and taking a leaf out of the Iron Man movie in having Jarvis as the suit's AI, helping her out. I can't wait to see her in action. Maria Hill, meanwhile, is in Texas, and while doing her hot spy thing stumbles across some freaky stuff going on in some company's basement. As a fan of The Order, I also was tickled that not only do we get a flashback at Tony setting up a (rather clever, by comic standards) secret contact system, with Henry Hellrung (Anthem) in attendance, but also a present-day scene between Henry and Tony that plays out very interestingly. A good issue, but I'm really looking forward to when we get to see Iron Woman take centre stage.
C.E. Murphy's Take A Chance #3 ~ Two issues back to back - I wonder if that's Diamond's fault? Anyway, following on from last week, Chance is on the trail of China White, the drug dealer she promised Candy she'd take out, a task which has an extra importance to her as she's kind of transferring her feelings of helplessness at not having saved her son onto Candy - protect her, and she hopes it'll make up for it, somehow. That's the crux of what this comic seems to be about, so far: it's got a solid superhero story, a non-powered vigilante fighting criminals, but a lot of attention - much more than usual in a superhero comic - goes to Chance's state of mind, why she does what she does, and what it does to her. I know it doesn't sound profound, but this comic deals with the subject with more depth and intrigue than is often the case. The relationship between Frankie (Chance) and Darius continues to be a major subplot, and quite intriguing, written with flair for punchy dialogue, and the art, while still a bit 90s, is growing on me - especially in the scenes of Chance in costume, for how muscular she looks. Female superheroes, even the ones who don't have powers to rely on, often seem to be able to lay down powerhouse moves in a fight even while looking like bikini models; Frankie's shoulders and biceps fully back up her ability to beat the hell out of people, which is a refreshing change.
Guardians of the Galaxy #11 ~ With the 'War of Kings' prelude thingy in the Negative Zone done with (and War of Kings itself on the stands, although I keep forgetting to have a look to see if I want to read it or not), this issue heads off in another direction to check in with Drax and Phyla, last seen being killed by Mentor of Titan. As was the probable guess when it happened, in zapping the pair of them Mentor was actually sending them to the appropriate afterlife-ish realm where they in fact needed to go to continue their search for Moondragon - but what they find there is a susprise, one which I won't spoil, except to say it managed to use a fairly standard plot trick in a refreshing kind of way. Whether all this is leading up to the return of Moondragon, it's difficult to say (although, naturally, I hope so) - what is certain at this point is that it's headed for a big damn spectacle that should be worth seeing. Phyla, sadly, is a bit wishy-washy this issue, but hopefully this is setup for her to regain her composure later on - she's had confidence issues since she first took the mantle of Quasar (and old Quasar fans, eager for any excuse to complain, have been quick to leap on them), but it's getting to the stage where they really should be put to rest in some kind of definitive fashion, I think. Wil Quintana's colouring, allied to Wes Craig's art, gives the limbo-or-whatever realm a distinctly different feel to what we've seen in this title so far, which is a nice touch.
Power of the Valkyrie #1 ~ The cover of this comic is slightly deceptive - not visually (hotpants is indeed what a Valkyrie wears these days, it seems), but in terms of how the Norse background is treated. This isn't a case of 'Valkyrie = superpowers' - real Norse mythology is heavily present in this issue, and central to its storyline, which makes for a fascinating read for someone like me, vaguely aware of the basics but never having investigated further. Along with a reintroduction of the main character Suzanne, a nurse and unwilling focus of the machinations of the Norse gods and various other magical beings, the issue recounts the Norse creation myth, its heavy focus on fate, and its inevitable outcome in Ragnarok. The sons of Loki (a major player in the earlier Power of the Valkyrie series, I gather) are featured as well, in a sequence that kind of overshadows Suzanne's role, delving into fate and predestination, and managing to both set up and pay off a powerful chain of events in the space of a mere few pages. I'll need to read more to really get a grip on Suzanne's character, and how this story is going to play out, but for now it's certain that this comic has the confidence and ability to be surprising and intriguing, wherever it goes.
Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 ~ Batman is dead, Gotham's bad guys are having a field day, and despite every Bat-related hero under the sun pitching in to help keep the peace, it's not enough. Clearly someone needs to put on the bat-suit and be Batman to restore law and order, but Nightwing's being a pansy about whether he's worthy or not, so everything keeps going to hell until someone else does it, turns out to be a raving psychopath, and Nightwing eventually has to don the cowl to make things right again. That's before I read the issue - I just got this since Batwoman is on the cover, I'm not that interested in the story, especially since a cursory scan of the issue indicates that I nailed the plot summary sight unseen. Batwoman's in one panel in the interior, by the way - at least that's one panel more than the Gotham Underground miniseries that also put her on the cover - and apparently no-one's really interested in her being Bat 'man' to hold Gotham together during the crisis, even though she did exactly the same thing during the 52 year when Bruce wandered off to 'find himself' or whatever. I'll check the next issue when it comes out to see if Kate shows up - no Kate, no buy.
