Comic Book Case

Star Wars: Obi-Wan and Anakin (Leave Disney Alone!)

Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padawan Anakin Skywalker are on a mission to the planet Carnelion IV on the order from the Jedi Council who received a Jedi transmission from the planet. Carnelion IV is a planet that has been in war for years, between the factions of the Openers and Closers and has been ignored by the Republic and Jedi for years. As if that wasn't enough, Master and Apprentice are rather strained, with Anakin wondering if he should leave the Jedi Order to pursue his own destiny and Kenobi wondering if there is anything he can do to change his mind.

This story had been out for a while and I honestly wasn't sure if I wanted to read it but it was on sale and I did want to find a way to make up for no update last week (I only had three books last week, totally lame). After reading Kanan: Last Padawan as well as Star Wars and Darth Vader, I've honestly found myself really liking these books under the Legends Continuity, at least in regards to the comics. Anakin I always felt was the biggest victim of the prequel trilogy and while this doesn't help us see him in a totally new light, it does help us understand his fall to the Dark Side as more than just "save my wife!". Anakin here sees how the Republic doesn't help out other planets and systems because it is the right thing to do, but because there may be something in it for them as a whole. We also see how Palpatine was trying to sew the seeds of doubt in Anakin from day one, showing him how corrupt the Senate is and how the Jedi do so little. Kenobi himself seems to not know how to reach Anakin though not for lack of trying and ultimately it is him that ultimately makes Anakin choose to stay with the Order who shows finds a way to make it work. In a lot of ways, Kenobi is like Hollis Mason in that he is the best of his group in a different way than others.

The Open and Closers of this planet serve as a parallel for not just Anakin and Obi-Wan but for the Jedi and the Sith, two groups unable to understand each other and would rather butt heads than anything else. I do like how despite this universe having such a futuristic world, they still have dirigibles which are always cool for stories. If this is what Disney is bringing us with Star Wars, I can't help but like it (though I still want epic Luke Skywalker, Legacy of the Force era Luke Skywalker).

Detective Comics #945 (Stephanie, Shut Up!)

Picking up right after last issue, Batman asks Stephanie what the First Victim said to her after Harper told Batman what happened, namely that the First Victim plans to attack again tonight though Stephanie counters that he won't if Batman unmasks himself. Batman later has Batwoman gather everyone into the Belfry to stay and ready to mobilize while at the same time getting their heads on together courtesy of Leslie Thompkins therapy sessions. Clayface has his therapy session where we find out about Glory Griffin who was once a huge fan of Karlo's movies and how he drowned in the same chemicals that made him Clayface when he went on a rampage. Meanwhile, Leslie's clinic is attacked by the Victim Syndicate while Stephanie has her session with Leslie though she walks out and gets benched by Batman when they go to stop the Victim Syndicate.

This issue was interesting but I've honestly never disliked Stephanie more than this since her little tirade against Bruce Wayne in Batman Eternal. It isn't hard to understand her motivations here, she's still mad at Batman or rather, still missing Tim and the team itself seems to have fallen apart mostly because of Tim's death. Batman is wondering who the First Victim is and thinks about he used to remember all of the victims/casualties in his battles against villains. Clayface tells Leslie that his memory is affected when he is in his clay form and he wonders if there is any point to going and fighting if all that is going to happen is people get hurt. He really is trying to be a good guy but he is clearly still haunted by his guilt and fear  of what he's done that that he may be nothing more than a monster. Batwoman still doesn't like Luke Fox, seeing him as someone who just does this because it's fun as opposed to anything else, the team is at it's all time low and even if they stop the Victim Syndicate, I don't see them coming back from this.

Batman Annual #1 (CHRISTMAS!)

So this annual had four short stories, involving Batman and the holidays. There isn't anything super important or interesting, just some sweet stuff and fluff along with a little teaser for the next arc (after the I AM SUICIDE event ends). Instead of going into all of those, I'm just going to say that as a holiday special, it's all pretty good and reminds me a lot of the animated series Christmas episode which had a story with Gordon and Batman as well as a fun little story with Harley and Ivy teaming up to go on a shopping spree with Bruce Wayne. Here we have a story about Batman investigating a possible terrorist threat that is really just an acrobatic display, a really good story reintroducing Ace though what happened to the dog Bruce got Damian is a mystery, one involving the Mad Hatter and some woman I still don't know, and the plug for the next story showing the return of the villain Stag (at least I think he's a returning villain, not sure exactly). If you want something short and sweet to read I'd say give it a read.

Superman Annual #1 (PLANT POWER!)

Hamilton is in peril, or at least the part Superman's farm is on as the lakes and streams are drying up. Deciding to get a higher and more super vision view he flies up and sees Swamp Thing in the ground who erupts from it and says he doesn't belong on this planet. Holland (Swamp Thing) says that there is a disturbance in the Green and it is coming form Hamilton which causes Superman to remember the people who told him he didn't belong on this planet and that there was something about him that he didn't know about. Holland calls it a vibration aberration that relates to the way he draws solar energy from the sun. Superman tries to calm him down but when he touches him, Holland gets a shock of blue energy and turns blue and starts speaking ancient and broken Kryptonian and starts attacking Superman. The fight gets pretty intense until Superman pulls him into the Earth to have him take root to center himself and he then tells Holland that if he is infected and causing the Earth problems then Holland should just purge it of him right here and now so Holland does as another fight breaks out when Superman freaks out due to a lack of communication and starts fighting him off so Holland says they will skip a step and Holland eats him after a bit of a struggle. Holland and Superman fuse together and become one to attune Superman to the Earth so he will draw less energy from the sun. 

This was a really fun issue. It was nice to see Holland again, I don't think we've seen him since Justice League Dark, or was it Aquaman? I think I mentioned earlier on what I liked about annuals when they further or set up a story in the future or at the very least are about the book itself. This was about Superman truly embracing his life in this new Earth where he never really felt he did before. He is still in a lot of ways stuck back on his own Earth and this showed a lot in Superman: Lois and Clark where he was very set on watching people who went bad on his world and even here where he seems so set only being Superman and a father/husband to Lois and Jon, he isn't doing anything else. When he fuses with Holland, Holland tells him that he has to let go of his past, not forget it, in a lot of ways, this is his "rebirth" as he is now absorbing solar energy at the same rate as the other Superman and I kind of wonder if this had something to do with his powers slightly fading earlier on. Either way this was a fun issue that I would love to see animated.

Civil War 2 #7(UGH)

On Atillan, Ulysses has another vision while Medusa tries to convince him to head to be studied by the Inhuman scientists and ends up in a post apocalyptic Earth where he is attacked by one of Hulk's children and is saved by Logan. Logan asks him who/what he is and when he hears he is an Inhuman, Logan says that it's weird because all the Inhumans left Earth years ago. Ulysses asks what happened and Logan tells him it was Tony Stark, that Carol Danvers pushed him too far and it led to this. Meanwhile in DC, Captain Marvel has called the police to apprehend Spider-Man at the Lincoln Memorial and after Director Hill tells her that they should get them to stand down before a fight breaks out. Spider Man then sees Steve Rogers and the two talk about how they both "know" Spiderman doesn't want to kill Steve (who is secretly a member of HYDRA) and it seems good so far until Carol shows up to take Spiderman with her but then Tony reveals himself and the two begin to fight.

I kind of feel like this issue exists just to sort of do something. If you were to tell me that this issue exists because they had to do eight issues I would believe you. There honestly isn't anything that big other than the vision Ulysses has and the fight between Iron Man and Captain Marvel starting. Carol had an interesting moment where she is hoping people will understand she is just doing what is best for them but it's just so weird. It's like she isn't aware of what is going on, that Ulysses has been wrong before and his powers are manifesting in ways no one has suspected. Since it looks like Iron Man will lose this fight going by the next cover I kind of wonder what will happen after that. In the previous Civil War story, things continued with the Super Hero Registration Act but I wonder if Ulysses will stay on Earth and why hasn't he seen visions of HYDRA? Though it is interesting that presumably this fight is happening in D.C. where the White House is and where Captain America and Spiderman are, which is the same location where Spiderman kills Cap.

Wonder Woman #11 (That's Just Mean Rucka!)

Diana and Steve find themselves back on Themyscira and a feast is held in their honor at their return, led by Queen Hippolyta. The problem is that Hippolyta is dead last time Diana checked but Hippolyta shrugs it and everything else Diana tells her off (Diana being the god of War and losing Olympus) as the party continues. Steve wanders off to look for the priestess he met when he was last here but the Amazon he asks has no memory of her. Diana and Steve then sneak away to wander around the island and Steve points out that everything seems off like how he can understand everyone and the differing architecture, and even some of the people (he doesn't mention how Hippolyta's hair is a different color), and throughout all of this, her wrist hurts as Diana heads to where she fell and got bitten to find that the entire place is different from what she remembers. Diana takes her wrist gauntlet off and sees that the bite she has is still there and bleeding. All of a sudden there is a flash of light and she sees an image of the tree where the snake bit her shattering. Diana realizes tearfully that this island is not her home, it has never been her home, Diana has never been back home since she left all those years ago.

This was really heavy for a couple of reasons. From a story standpoint, it is really saddening to find out Diana has never been home. For years she thought she had been going back and forth to her home, hugging her mother, sparring with her sisters, and all of it was a lie. I think it was a good idea and I do like what this does to Diana and honestly I think this is the sort of thing Meredith Finch was trying when she picked up from Azzarello's run on the book, this just feels more natural and less desperate.  What I personally don't like about this is that it totally means that not only was Diana not a real god of war, but also that she was never trained by Ares and that Zola doesn't exist and the same of Hera. This retcon here has cost me what I really liked about Azzarello's book but I guess it's just the nature of comics, ah well.