It’s a new dawn! It’s a new day! The Fall of X is here and I actually read a couple of those books, like the new X-Men and Astonishing Iceman. I’m a bit more on board now than I was before.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Scarlet Witch #7 for a really fun, creative, done-in-one story.

Meanwhile, it’s a new world, friends. I have put Tears of the Kingdom behind me and have started Baldur’s Gate 3! Tannenbaum, my half-orc bard, is living the good life. Adventure is his! Let us hope I can make it all the way through this game. Also, I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and I’ll have a review up on Wednesday.

Comic Reviews: Astonishing Iceman #1, Fantastic Four #10, Justice Society of America #5, Scarlet Witch #7 and X-Men #25.

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Astonishing Iceman #1
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Vincenzo Carratu
Colorist: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham

Iceman is one of my all-time favorite X-Men and I adored his last solo series, so let’s give this one a try!

After the attack on the Hellfire Gala, Iceman is still alive and fighting bad guys the world over. He saves a guy in San Francisco who once took some mutant growth hormone and was targeted by Orchis. We soon learn that Orchis specifically targeted that guy to draw Iceman out. When the day is saved, a very tired Iceman retreats to his castle in Antarctica and we learn how he survived: his boyfriend, Romeo, the Inhuman, was able to collect Iceman’s emotional essence and put him back together, though it’s not permanent and is in danger of falling apart all over again. Still, Iceman is in good spirits.

For their next attack, Orchis plans to send Helium, the Unfreezeable Man, after Iceman’s mother in Long Island.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Very Good.

This issue lays all the groundwork for what the series will be about, but I feel like it lacks that extra spark to make it something special or to make it really stand out. For starters, the explanation for how Iceman is brought back from the dead is really complicated and takes several dialogue-heavy pages to explain. And even then, I’m still not entirely sure what’s happening. Obviously, Romeo used his powers to latch onto Iceman’s emotions and brought him back that way…but it’s somehow not solid? And Romeo has to keep his powers active at all times to keep Iceman going? So it makes sense, but it’s a really big stretch. It also doesn’t help that we don’t get an re-introduction to Romeo. I had to Google him to find out who he was and what he’s doing here.

Nitpicking out of the way, it’s still a strong and enjoyable first issue to an Iceman comic. The main character is cool as heck, and the opening hero scene is a ton of fun. Iceman swoops in, saves some people from some nasty stuff, kisses the boy and peaces out before the feds catch up to him. It’s fun, and Orlando nails the voice of the main character. The artwork is also top notch, full of energy, with a great handle on all the ice. The white coloring really pops. This issue also helped put Orchis into perspective for me. They’re just a bunch of evil racists being about as evil and racist as possible. Maybe I was putting too much thought into them before, but I think I get it now.

And I’ll definitely be coming back next issue to see Iceman kick their butts.

TL;DR: A whole heck of a lot of explaining needs to take place to set up the characters’ new status quo, and that serves as baggage for an otherwise fun first issue.

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Fantastic Four #10
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Leandro Fernandez
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Welp, if this ain’t just the cutest little done-in-one story I’ve read in a while.

We check in with an alien race 500 years ago. They’re traveling to a new home planet in a generation ship, with their race all asleep, except for one caretaker at a time. Their engines have mysteriously shut down and they don’t know why. We journey through the centuries as each new caretaker encounters some strange alien force — a burning figure, a rock monster, an invisible force and strange, stretchy tentacles. After several hundreds of years, one caretaker realizes that these beings might be trying to help, so he shuts down the engines completely.

We then cut to the Fantastic Four, who explain that the ship is trapped in some space/time warp thingy. The aliens are experiencing time at hundreds of times normal speed. The F4 repair the engines and send the aliens on their way, having never encountered them. But those aliens will be heralding stories of their saviors for centuries to come.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This is the sort of weird, sci-fi, sciencey goodness that North has brought to the series. My recap doesn’t do it justice, obviously. And it doesn’t take much to figure out what’s going on. But it’s such a fun, silly, fascinating concept. It all really comes together when we check back in with the F4 and see the whole story retold from their perspective. That makes the issue. I honestly don’t have much to say about it as a whole. It’s a super fun idea, and North executes it very well. It doesn’t need multiple issues. It never needs a follow up. This is just the sort of weird adventure the Fantastic Four goes on and gets involved in. They’re science heroes, they do neat stuff, and the day is saved. The writing is strong and the art works — though Fernandez draws a freakishly skinny Thing in some panels. Now that’s weird.

TL;DR: Really clever, really fun done-in-one sci-fi story starring the Fantastic Four.

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Justice Society of America #5
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Mikel Janin and Jerry Ordway
Colorists: Jordie Bellaire and John Kalisz
Letterer: Rob Leigh

Ultimately, despite looking great, this Justice Society of America comic is a bummer.

Huntress has a chat with her dad, Batman, and tells him everything there is to know about his future so that he doesn’t die. Then the Justice Society find them to prepare to fight, and then Degaton shows up with a whole squad of himself from various points along his timeline. They all get into a big fight until Dr. Fate uses the snow globe to summon different JSA teams from different timelines, until they win the fight and trap Degaton in a shard of time from the Flashpoint universe. Everybody goes back to their own time — except for Huntress, since her actions have erased his own timeline. She’s stuck in that present day.

Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.

This comic has a big pedigree, and there is a ton of thought and work put in behind the scenes, but the actual execution is very lacking. Basically, they just punch Degaton into defeat. All this build-up over four issues to this guy being a terror across the entire timeline, a killer of Justice Societies…and then they just monkey pile him until he can be zapped into a time prison. That’s it. That’s what everything has been building towards. He just shows up suddenly while the JSA are chatting, and then they just pile on JSA members until he’s defeated. It’s gussied up by suddenly making this snowglobe capable of bringing in other timeline JSAs, and then all the Doctor Fates work together, but it’s still a very quick, very pat ending that wraps everything up. And since we’ve been dealing with so many characters across so many eras in time, no one, not even Huntress, has really had a chance to be a foundational character or have much character development. This whole thing is ultimately a very light, very simple story of various JSAs through time being menaced by a guy, until the time comes that they can successfully beat him up.

TL;DR: An ultimately disappointing finale to what seemed like a bigger, deeper story.

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Scarlet Witch #7
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artists: Lorenzo Tammetta and Sara Pichelli
Colorist: Frank William
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

Honestly, Scarlet Witch is probably my favorite comic these days.

Magneto reveals himself to actually be Joseph, the clone, who is looking for some place to belong. Wanda is taken aback by his arrival, but she’s interrupted by another arrival: Nelson Gruber, Bookworm, through the Last Door. He’s a Sleepwalker villain with the power to bring book characters to life, and he’s ranting and raving about how he brought the Wonderful World of Oz into the real world, only to get deposed and have his hand cut off by the Wicked Witch of the West.

So Wanda takes Gruber to the small town in Oklahoma he converted and she adventures through Oz, until finally having a really awesome witches duel with the Wicked Witch. Turns out, fictional characters all live in the Ideaverse, and Gruber has been messing that place up. Wanda sends everybody back there, including Gruber. When she returns to her shop, she welcomes Joseph.

Meanwhile, new villain Hexfinder strikes a deal with Diablo.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

I know Steve Orlando has written a lot of comics in his day, but his Scarlet Witch is really something special. Each issue is just so much fun, coupled with all manner of really fun character development and story development on the sidelines. Bringing Joseph into this book is a great idea! He’s got that weird, tangential connection to Wanda that absolutely works for how this book is being written. He’s another lost soul in need of help, and the magic shop is a great place for him. Couple that with creative ideas like this new villain, Hexfinder, who looks awesome. And then a quick Diablo cameo just for fun.

But, obviously, the real joy of this issue is the Wizard of Oz stuff.

It’s just plain fun. Orlando is a creator after my own heart, plucking obscure, one-off characters from decades ago and giving them new life in this comic. Bookworm brings Oz into the real world, leading Wanda to face off against all the familiar characters and monsters, including the Wicked Witch? Wonderful! Personally, I would have liked more Oz stuff, because it’s handled in a montage. But the witch duel is sublime. So big, so fun, so magical. And who better for the Scarlet Witch to battle in her own comic than the Wicked Witch of the West? Such a fun idea, and executed flawlessly.
With artwork that never misses a step and never lets down the imagination, wonder and splendor written into the page. It’s all quite splendiforous.

TL;DR: Another wonderful one-off, in which obscure Marvel characters vex the Scarlet Witch and she gets to have an awesome witches duel with a true legend. Just plain fun.

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X-Men #25
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Much like with the Astonishing Iceman issue above, reading this is helping me to wrap my head around what’s going on with Fall of X.

After Orchis attacked the Hellfire Gala and shut down the Krakoan gates, Kate Pryde fell through one at long last and wound up in Jerusalem. We find out that she brutally murdered all of the Orchis guards there because she knew that war had begun and she needed to keep her secrets. She then became Shadowkat, the silent ninja, capable of moving between gates and checking in on allies. She visits Mars to see that it’s a civil war, and she meets Woofer, the guy from a few issues ago. She visits with Synch, who is running a squad of X-Men from the sewers. We also check in on the Unity Squad, an imprisoned Cyclops, Emma Frost, Forge and Ms. Marvel.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Alright, so I think I’m getting it now. The X-Men are now underground and on the run against an overwhelming, occupying force. I really loved Krakoa, and I don’t think the past few years had even begun to tap into its potential. But this is the now, and I’m more on board than I was last week, immediately after the Hellfire Gala. This issue is all about set up and explanations of where everybody is at and what they’re doing. There are some strong scenes, and some of the characters are in cool places, but it is more set up than actual story in its own right. I like the overall feel of the issue. It really helps to understand where everything is at and what Fall of X might be about and might look like. So that definitely succeeds.

I also really enjoyed most, if not all, of the vignettes. Kate Pryde going full ninja and killing a squad of Orchis goons is awesome and a really cool, really dark place to take her character in the wake of what happened. She definitely holds the issue together. Most of the other stories are just peeks at what everyone else is up to, with notes to check out other comics. That’s fine. It all still works. I liked checked in on Woofer. If Duggan wants to use his new mutant as a focal point of some Fall of X stories, I am fully on board with that. There is a lot of good set up in this issue.

The only thing that didn’t sit right with me is all the stuff with Ms. Marvel. I very much enjoy Ms. Marvel as a character. But in this issue, Emma Frost takes Kamala home and uses her mental powers to erase the memories of her death from her family. Why did we have a whole issue dedicated to her funeral if Marvel was just going to bring her back immediately and wipe the minds of those who were at the funeral? It all seems so ghoulish. Also, with so many young, teen mutants to choose from who don’t get any page time, do we really need to have Ms. Marvel taking over all the X-Men action? Were the X-Men comics and Ms. Marvel the character both flagging in popularity, so a crossover is the answer? Maybe. I dunno.

TL;DR: This issue does a lot to help me cope with the gruesomeness of last week’s Hellfire Gala. This issue gives us a really good look at what Fall of X might be about, and I’m on board.

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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.

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