Comic Reviews
Saga #17 - The robot prince is harassing the writer and eventually reveals that he doesn't really like war/violence. Klara rushes in and she and the writer take down the robot. With The Will injured, Gwendolyn goes looking for Marko for healing, hears the fighting, and rushes in. She sees the writer with a gun and kills him before realizing that he's there with Klara and a horrible mistake was made. There is a lot of good drama and build up until the violence happens, then it goes fast and chaotic and leaves the story in a low point.
Saga #18 - Everything comes to a head here. Lying Cat fights Klara, who no longer cares if she lives, but Izabel proves her worth and scares Lying Cat off. Prince Robot reboots into a fail safe mode and Izabel uses that to rescue Klara from the fire. Upstairs, Gwendolyn faces off with Marko and Alana, threatening them in order to get help for The Will. She doesn't care about what's going on between them as long as she gets the help. Marko ends up throwing Alana off the building, who then proceeds to learn that she can fly and turns the table on Gwendolyn. Marko reveals that magic won't work on The Will, so everyone leaves. The story jumps some, The Will recovering, Gwendolyn and Lying Car licking their wounds, and Hazel growing a few months and learning to walk. A nice capstone to tie off all the threads leading up to now with plenty of feels. Now, a long wait to the next arc.
Prophet #42 - This was a weird side story with Diehard remembering a time when he saved a species from an Empire agent who was poisoning the water causing everyone to "rave". The backup story is longer than usual and features a frog falling in love with a fly (what?). Neither make much sense and don't seem to tie in with the larger story (but I liked the raving town). Seemed like an unnecessary diversion.
Kick-Ass 3 #5 - Corrupt cops working for the mob create a "Skull & Bones Gang", seemingly to fight crime, but really just wiping out competition to take control of the criminal underground. The mob is pissed and gets the cops to wage war on the masks. Meanwhile, Kick-Ass is ignoring his superheroing duties so he can get laid instead. As little as I want to see Kick-Ass having sex, especially with JRJr's art, I like the idea of corrupt cops gaming the system to their own gain. Makes everyone else seem an incompetent fool, which they mostly are.
Kick-Ass 3 #6 - Most of this issue is about a psychologist trying to get under Hit Girl's skin. He has her recount the first time she killed someone and she tells of tale of disappointing her father until she finally manged to do it. She's proud of what she did, but doesn't think her mother would understand. The doctor is an asshole and had her mother watching the whole thing, then reunites the two thinking the mother would yell at Hit Girl. Instead, she tells Hit Girl to keep fighting. There's a little bit with Kick-Ass getting back into the game while the Skull & Bones Gang is taking out the other heroes. Then, Motherfucker shows up at Hit Girl's, has her paralyzed, and is about to shoot her dead. It's all a little bit silly, but I like the focus on Hit Girl and the lack of Kick-Ass' O-faces.
Young Avengers #10-13 - The mother beast sends an invasion force to Earth while Leah tries to trick Teddy into joining the "evil exes" club. All the teenage heroes on Earth fight off the invasion from the parallel worlds in NYC while Teddy is rescued, Marvel Boy dumps Kate for an ex (who ends up being imaginary), Loki allows his more powerful older self to take control, and Wiccan uses his reality altering powers (and love) to save everyone without making any major changes because he recognizes his lack of experience. All the details are confusing as hell to me, but the themes are obvious and the character interactions are brilliant. All heart, little mind, is how I feel reading this book.
Young Avengers #14-15 - After defeating the bads, all the teenagers have a New Years Eve party where we see each of our main characters wrap things up with each other, either making amends or healing wounds (well, except for Kate and Marvel Boy). Each character gets their own artist who has fun with the artwork. A nice cap stone to end an interesting series.
Venom #23-25 - This is a weird issue from a new Venom writer. Basically, Venom is marked to rule in hell and Hellstrom is trying to get him (well, the Symbiote) and a bunch of other evil alien monsters in a position to serve him while he makes a play at ruling in hell. I don't really like the supernatural turn for a character based around the military.
Minimum Carnage: Alpha/Omega, Venom #26-27, Scarlet Spider #10-11 - Carnage escaped into the microverse in Huston. Venom is on his tail and Scarlet Spider gets pulled in when he tries to help people. They end up in the microverse fighting Carnage while the miniature people over there try to use the Venom and Carnage symbiotes to destroy the microverse ... blah blah blah. They end up back in Huston where Carnage is killing people and Scarlet Spider shoots him in the head to end him. Unfortunately, this leaves the symbiote with full control over the now brain dead Cletus, making him deadlier than ever. I wasn't really on board with this crossover. The stakes were too abstract and the two heroes didn't have a lot of chances to interact with each other, much less their friends.
Scarlet Spider #12 - A random issue where Scarlet Spider is getting kicked out of his hotel room, but then has to fight a bunch of Santas in the lobby, then gets to stay. Amusing. I think this should have been the point issue instead of the next one. Speaking of:
Scarlet Spider #12.1 - Scarlet Spider goes to solve the murder of a young woman who ends up being a sex slave in a human trafficking ring in Huston. Ends up being a gang led by a guy with ties to The Hand. It's not exactly a fun issue, but gives Scarlet a thing to fight for in the city and acts as a set up for a big bad to fight.
Venom #27.1 - Venom is hunting down groups related to Damon Hellstrom fucking with him. He also tries making amends with the people he bullied in High School and realizes that he needs a change of pace. Also, seems like the symbiote is taking off on its own (while Flash is sleeping) and killing people; it's probably because of all the devil/demon stuff going on. Some nice morality of the anti-bullying type, but the rest is just treading water and I don't think it works too well as a ".1".