Rick Remender

After rather serious vol 1 (weird outfits a la Clockwork Orange aside) this volume starts as weird as nightmare caused by overeating at night - Led Dent, now back as Constable high on Juice as always, engages the terrorists from Humpty Dumpty and Alice [from Wonderland, although Cinderella seems to be there too :)] and, while showing Flak's determination not to negotiate with terrorists, basically kills off all the hostages together with terrorists in an epic conflagration.

Flak, with d**k show more swinging right and left decides to leave for Tokyo, where he built the safe haven for rich with clean water and food, and he brings with him murderous maniac Davey and Led in case muscle and firepower is required [and of course all the rich selected by IQ meter at the entry into the ship - this made me laugh I almost choke myself :)]. But what he did not expect is return of Debbie, new protector of Tokyo - she is on the warpath seeking revenge for destruction caused to Tokyo at the end of vol 1 (and if you wondered - she is the ghost from the title).

Art as always is great, panoramas - Flak's residence but also sea beaches of Tokyo - are just wonderful. As I said lots of d**ks and boobs swinging around and we see in general nudity and complete debauchery of the ruling elite (hentai octopus was weeeeeiiiiiiirrrrddd) , but I guess idea is to show how consumerism basically eats and consumes itself. That aside action scenes are just great.

For me this book went a little bit sideways toward cuckoo land, half of it is happening in minds of lunatics like Davey. But the end is good, balances a lot of things (epilogue was buhahahaha moment), we leave Debbie with a loss she needs to come to terms with, and she decides to cope with it through helping others after the events of this book.

Very good SF dystopian book, with accent on how technology is a good slave but terrible master.

Highly recommended. show less

There may be some ableist tropes that don’t hold up well, but overall the dynamic story of Flash Thompson’s turn as a militaristic Venom is a stroke of genius.

Graphic Novel Book Club January 2016

This was one of the books I was given in the GN Christmas BookSwap and everyone was so interested in it at that meeting (as none of us had heard of it, but the back writing sounded so compelling) that we assigned it as part of the next meetings books.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting to get out from this series what it gave me. I love the number of layers in it and that the hero is definitely, insanely, massively an anti-hero who is not looking to turn show more it around and become a hero by any scope of the imagination. I love that you are aware from issue 1-2 that no one you love and learn about is safe from dying suddenly, which makes each word and scene with them more precious, more important, more focusable on.

I was not by even infinitesimal stretch of the imagination expecting what happened at the end of this volume and I can't wait to see what that means for volume 2. show less

I picked up this omnibus to try and catch up on what happened with the various teams between the Avengers vs X-Men and Original Sin events. This Unity Squad was formed in the wake of AvX by Captain America. He realized that the Avengers didn’t do enough to help and defend mutants, so he forms a new team: himself, Rogue, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Wolverine and led by Havoc. Wasp comes in as a PR consultant to help with the fallout from the Phoenix Five.

Though the book opens with Red Skull, the show more majority of the story centers around the struggle to stop new villains, The Apocalypse Twins. They grew up in Red Skull’s (future) concentration camps, until rescued by Kang the Conqueror. He has plans for them, but they have plans of their own – to create a mutant paradise and destroy Kang’s future. The only downside is that Earth will be destroyed by Celestials if they get their way. Bummer. The overall plot is incredibly well done, with intricate layers that are revealed throughout and a brilliant game of strategy with multiple players. Everyone is playing a side game. Thor actually sets the entire thing in motion, when as a young, unworthy god he enchants Jarnbjorn so that he can get revenge against Apocalypse. It was very clever how the story spanned ages, and also fitting considering Kang’s involvement.

As fantastic as the plot was, I had two big problems with this run that kept me from really enjoying it. First, the infighting among the “team” wore thin very fast. I love reading Avengers series because of the personal history and camaraderie among the characters. Aside from Wasp and Thor, who have critical roles but don’t appear that much, the characters with all the “screen time” here are X-Men, so this felt like an X-Men book. One where the team is fractured by the death of Xavier. Scarlet Witch and Rogue take the spotlight, and they fight incessantly; to their own detriment and that of the team. I understand why, but it made this a chore to read (and I like both of these characters). I wasn’t sure if I wanted the bad guys to win, jut to put them out of their misery - and mine! I don’t mind bickering among the characters, but it needs to be offset by humor and/or friendship.

The second problem is Red Skull. Honestly, he’s a one-dimensional villain that can’t sustain a story arc, so it was probably a good idea that the authors ditched him for most of the run. But, the result is that he was shoehorned back in. After the confrontation at the beginning, he shows back up after the Apocalypse Twins are defeated. Magneto unwisely beats him to a pulp and he somehow becomes the Red Onslaught. The next page is a giant “to be continued” directing readers to Axis as that’s where it’ll be resolved. It felt like a big FU to readers – why have him in this run at all if they were just going to punt his story over to Axis? The omnibus concludes with a weak story about Mojoworld that was just tacked on.

Overall, this was a solid run with an exceptional plot that was ultimately held back by an unnecessary villain and poor character relationships. I’m glad the teams went back to their usual rosters. show less