Not much in the way of comics this week. In fact, there’s gonna be a bit of a comic review drought this whole month, I think. DC is starting some new event that I’m not interested in, and a look at the upcoming release calendar just doesn’t have a lot of my comics on it. Maybe I’ll try some new things. We’ll see.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Fantastic Four #9 for its fun use of Alicia Masters as the fifth Beatle.

Meanwhile, I think I’m nearing the end of Tears of the Kingdom, but I’m stretching it out as much as possible. I’m probably far from the end of Diablo 4, but we’ll see. It’s a good game, though probably not my cup of tea in the long run.

Comic Reviews: Fantastic Four #9 and X-Men #24.

Fantastic Four #9
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Ivan Fiorelli
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

I very much enjoy North using the different characters as different narrators per issue. I think he could have done a lot more with an Alicia Masters issue, but this is still a fine experiment.

The new issue has Alicia Masters as the narrator, and I North does his best to try to weave her blindness into the story. It’s not a full issue dedicated to that, but it’s a nice touch. Sue, Alicia and Johnny battle Xargorr, who stayed behind on Earth when her species invaded in an ancient issue of Tales to Astonish. Alicia comes up with an idea to fight back that involves giving her an invisible puppet she can mold, while Sue creates a big version to fight. It works for a bit, until Xargorr causes Johnny to forget and join her team. Then Sue makes a desperate attempt at victory and is able to turn the tide and free everybody! Happy endings for all!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

There have been several comics in the past that try to play with the form to mimic some sensory alternatives. Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja did an issue in sign language, and an issue from the perspective of a dog, with a focus on scents. Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo recently did an issue of Nightwing from a first-person perspective. So I feel like a creative team as awesome as this one probably could have come up with something really cool for an issue from the perspective of Alicia Masters, the blind sculptor. They try. The inklings of some ideas are in play, and they work very well. But I don’t feel like they go as far as they could. They’re not as creative or innovative as they could be.

The story is also a little too off-kilter to really play up what they do accomplish. Xargorr is revealed to be a callback from some ancient Tales to Astonish comic from back in the Golden Age. Her powers and her scheme don’t really have anything going on that could be enhanced by having a blind narrator. But all that nitpicking aside, it’s a fine wrap-up to the story. Sue and Alicia do a great job counteracting Xargorr, with a lot of great art. I’m not entirely sure how Alicia’s plan was working, but it was working, and made for some great visuals. So fun little comic that shot for the moon and landed among the stars.

TL;DR: Nice little wrap-up to this two-part story, which an interesting focus on Alicia Masters-Grimm as a blind narrator/protagonist.

X-Men #24
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

So, once again, the Hellfire Gala will change everything, but it’s not here yet, so comics like this one feel like they’re just spinning their wheels until the main event.

As we await the Hellfire Gala and the trouble to come, the X-Men fight Pogg Ur-Pogg on Gameworld. They win by cutting him a deal for some mysterium. Afterwards, Jean and Scott have a heart-to-heart about where their hearts are in the battle for mutants. Jean has decided to leave the X-Men. And just a bunch of various subplots and plot threads are set up or teased for various spin-offs.

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

This issue is fine. The writing is as strong as ever, with some real quality art. But this issue really highlights one of my problems with X-Men these days: there’s never enough time to really develop the characters. Because the roster changes every year, and each issue is required to feature all manner of action and excitement and set-up, X-Men never has time to stop and smell the roses. The Scott/Jean stuff has been simmering here and there for several issues now, building to this big scene…but it doesn’t feel earned, and it doesn’t feel like a natural growth. Or maybe I’m just reading it wrong? Even still, this issue is also filled with all sorts of random happenings that just don’t gel for me.

Pogg Ur-Pogg is just an excuse to have some superhero action in an issue. It doesn’t matter. But then we’ve got the Scott and Jean conversation, the issue opens with Orchis getting the drop on a time-traveling teenage Cable, who is trying to save the Hellfire Gala. Polaris is sad all of a sudden. Rogue and Destiny have a scene that’s maybe carried over from some other comic? Then the issue ends with a tease about Sunfire that gets brought up every half a dozen issues or so, with a trip to Otherworld. There are just so many subplots and spin-offs going on, especially in this issue, that none of it is sticking for me. No matter how cohesive an individual issue might be.

TL;DR: This issue feels like it’s spinning its wheels until the new Hellfire Gala, where all the actual big events will happen.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I grab from Comixology any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments.

——————–