Bottom of the Pile - Sept. 23rd, 2015

1872

I'm pretty sure I was waiting this entire mini-series to see if they'd pull the trigger on a steampunk Iron Man.   So, y'know...much obliged. 

Astro City

I've got the unpopular opinion that Astro City is lowkey one of the most progressive, diverse books on the market.   And this issue kinda furthers my opinion with this, as Kurt uses a familiar "fiction brought to life" story to create what's essentially an Americanized mahou shoujo.   It manages to once again place a female character (two, really) at the forefront of the story, and also not succumb to the continuous "super srs = mature and good" narrative that we've been decrying for the better part of a decade and yet still persists.  The ending manages to be both bittersweet and heartbreaking yet inspiring all at once.   Basically, the standard for an Astro City story.   Can't wait to find out more about Honor Guard's newest heroine. 

 Batgirl

Last issue I was so not with the idea of Batgirl's slightly crippled, "new Oracle" sidekick putting on a costume and going out into what's basically the most dangerous city on DC Earth to fight crime.  I mean, seriously?  Is Burnside basically what the '66 Batman's Gotham eventually becomes?   Otherwise, Gotham is not a place for rookies.

But this?  Giving a super-genius black girl a bunch of automated vehicles and drones via a complex neural network?   Well, that has all kinds of potential.  It goes a long way towards legitimizing Batgirl as the protector of her own section of Gotham that she now has her own sidekick.   I'm also a fairly big fan of the budding romance between Luke Fox and Barbara--but mainly because I'm just in favor of anything that sets the New 52 apart from the original.  

 Inhumans: Attilan Rising

Well well.  Inhumans: Attilan Rising goes a long way towards truly giving us a view of just how tumultuous and impossible of a place Battleworld is, and how ridiculously powerful Doom is.   The story was a mix between a love story and a rebellion, as the Inhuman King and Queen learn of Doom's duplicitous nature--causing the star-crossed lover to attempt to make a stand.  The end result?  Black Bolt, finally brought back to his full power, goes to make a direct strike against "God Doom"...only to be wiped from existence and have his entire timeline started from scratch.

And given the "same result as last time" line, it seems Doom is able to re-create the timeline while swapping whatever variables he wants, whenever he chooses.  That said, while he can "reset" time whenever he pleases, it seems that he can't stop the people of Battleworld from rebelling against them without stealing their free will altogether, something he's yet to attempt.  Either way, the heroes from the original Marvel Universe have their work cut out for them--I'm fairly certain this is the most powerful Victor von Doom's ever been.

Sinestro

I hate to say the Green Lantern universe went wrong the second Geoff Johns left, but...here we are.  Much as I love Sinestro, Bunn, and how he writes such compelling villains...it's frustrating seeing my favorite new character of the last ten years and my favorite Corps being brought so low.  Their planet destroyed, their leader so hopeless and distraught he's not even trying to build his Corps back up.   And that's before you get to the fact that none of them should be using their rings because they're slowly destroying the universe.

That said, if all this is leading to Sinestro helping Saint Walker to release that silly "we need to have a Green Lantern present" limitation, I'm all about it.  

Transformers: Windblade

I apologize for ever being against any part of Transformers.  It's not quite reaching the heights of Transformers: More than Meets the Eye but holy crap, Windblade is so good.   (Plus MTMTE is better than 90+% of the comics on the market.)   I was wondering what kind of Cybertronian Elita One (formerly best known as "Optimus Prime's girlfriend") would be, only to discover she's from a society of philosophers who learned to use their dead as spare parts.   That sends quite the uncomfortable, creepy chill up my spine and I can't wait to see what "Till All Are One" looks like, as well as the societies of the remaining Titans.

Years of Future Past

No lie, when I got to the last page of this I lost around ten minutes searching to see if this was really the last issue (it is).   It just offers very little closure in my opinion, and though Kitty's closing speech was very well put together for an epilogue that's meant to make you draw your own conclusion, I guess this is just my finally reaching my saturation level on dystopian possible futures and the X-Men.   Do these guys ever win?    I mean, even judging by what happens after Secret Wars is over, the mutants are basically forced to live off-world--and the ones who don't are fucking sterilized so that there can't be anymore mutants--A.K.A., the status quo from circa 2005.   Yikes.