#siri play adam raised a cain

[manyu-ten]

"Things are different between the original timeline and our current one. We're different Earths now, different universes. Not everyone's birthdates line up. Some people are older. Some are younger. Some are the same." Jason pauses, avoiding Dick's hard gaze.

"...Not everyone's relationships are the same here as they are on the original Earth. Couples, siblings, parents and their children..." Jason taps his forefinger against his helmet. Dick would have found a smug satisfaction in Jason's obvious discomfort if not for his own growing ire. The longer Jason spent playing footsie with the issue, the more time they were losing on fixing their own damn universe.

--------

"For fuck's sake Jason, just spit it out." Dick sneered, good and well at the end of his rope of patience. He locked his palms against his knees to keep from shaking the child—because that is what he was, a petulant, unruly child.

Jason's lower lip trembled. His face did that funny thing again that made Dick's chest sink into his stomach and set his head ablaze.

Jason inhales deeply and with an exhale, shatters their timeline.

"You were born 13 years earlier in that universe. My birthdate's still the same....We—I— you're not my older brother in that universe."

Dick blinks. He feels the dawning reality of their situation come over him like a skull cap.

For the first time in days, Jason looks him in the eye.

"You're my father."

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 24 September 2018

Quick Bits:

Amazing Spider-Man #6 kicks off a new arc with art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado (along with a special sequence from Steve Lieber and Rachelle Rosenberg), with Nick Spencer playing up Peter’s problems with his super-villainous roommate and thereby the humour. Really quite like the art for the flashbacks.

| Published by Marvel

Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs & Eldritch Men #2 takes a bit of a breather as the dogs try to figure out what’s going on. I love the measured pace that Evan Dorkin and Benjamin Dewey are taking to telling this story. For one you get to bask in Dewey’s beautiful art, but at the same time it’s building a bit of ominous tension. Events are still occurring, but we’re still being left in the dark as to what exactly is going on. It’s a nice mystery.

| Published by Dark Horse

Beyonders #2 is more bizarre conspiracy theory and pseudoarchaeology fun from Paul Jenkins, Wesley St. Claire, and Marshall Dillon. It’s rather entertaining to see these disparate bits of history and quasi-history come together and be twisted into this new and strange kind of adventure.

| Published by AfterShock

Bone Parish #3 sees the proverbial excrement hit the fan as the pressure gets turned up on the Winters family. The tension, action, and drama are being cranked up on high by Cullen Bunn, Jonas Scharf, Alex Guimarães, and Ed Dukeshire. Also, the art from Scharf and Guimarães is getting even more elaborate, especially in its depictions of the trips the Ash users are taking.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Cold Spots #2 is even better than the first issue, and the first issue was stunning. The story is still light on explanation and heavy on creepy atmosphere, but when the art looks like this, I’m willing to just bask in it. I love what Mark Torres is doing here with the art. He has a style that feels like a blend of early Matt Wagner, Ted McKeever, and Phil Hester and it is perfect for this kind of eerie horror. Torres and Cullen Bunn are creating something very compelling here.

| Published by Image

Cyber Force #6 begins branching out more, more explicitly building up the team, rather than just focusing on the individual origins amongst eventual team members. It’s a welcome shift in this reimagined timeline, as Bryan Hill & Matt Hawkins begin to develop the world past Cyberdata.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Die!Die!Die! #3 may have had its physical print run pulped this week due to a printing error with the cover, but it still came out digitally. It’s more over-the-top violence and action as Robert Kirkman and Scott Gimple still seem to be trying to channel Garth Ennis’ style of action/satire. You reach a saturation point after a while, so it’s thankful that they’re developing the characters fairly well and coalescing a larger kind of plot. Also the great artwork from Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn helps considerably.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Domino Annual #1 has a very loose framing sequence from Leah Williams, Michael Shelfer, and Jesus Aburtov, but it’s mostly a collection of four short stories, presenting Domino at different time periods and in different situations with different people. The only common bit is that they’re all really well done. There’s a story from Gail Simone, Victor Ibáñez, and Jay David Ramos continuing the fun from the regular series, spotlighting how Domino’s Posse came together. A reflective piece on Cable by Fabian Nicieza, Juan Gedeon, and Aburtov. A gonzo action bit trying to cheer up Colossus after he was jilted at the altar by Dennis Hopeless, Leonard Kirk, and Aburtov. And finally, a humorous, but heartfelt, showcase of some of the unlovable but loved obscure and sometimes hideous “freak” X-Men from Williams, Natacha Bustos, and Aburtov.

| Published by Marvel

Edge of Spider-Geddon #4 may be the weirdest one of these yet, featuring a world where the natures of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin have been inverted, and the world has seemingly been subjugated by Oscorp. Aaron Kuder, Will Robson, Craig Yeung, Andres Mossa, and Cory Petit give us an interesting endgame here for this world, but in doing so also potentially set up the catalyst for the entire Spider-Geddon event. 

| Published by Marvel

Extermination #3 doesn’t get us any closer to understanding what’s going on with Ahab or young Cable, though in the latter’s case there seem to be hints that he’s gathering the time tossed original five X-Men to “repair” them and send them back, but that’s a guess. At the mid-point, I would have expected more crunch to the story, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Great art from Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, though.

| Published by Marvel

Faith: Dreamside #1 resumes Jody Houser’s excellent and humorous take on Faith, picking up on threads from the last series, joined this time by MJ Kim, Jordie Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe. You don’t need to have read any of the previous material (though I do recommend reading it anyway) as this does a good job of getting you up to speed of the relevant details for the story at hand.

| Published by Valiant

Fearscape #1 is a magnificent beast. Ryan O’Sullivan’s narration for the overblown, pretentious author Henry Henry is so incredibly perfect and enthralling. I know this aspiring writer, I may very well have been this aspiring writer at times. Damn good voice here. Overall, love the premise of a storyteller having to save the world, and the art is just gorgeous. Andrea Mutti and Vladimir Popov make this beautiful, especially as the art shifts to a more soft focus as the story wanders off into the Fearscape. Imagination, form, style, and structure are all at play here and it’s just wonderful.

| Published by Vault

Friendo #1 is the other debut from Vault this week, going in for a kind of contemporary sci-fi with Friendo™ glasses offering up a digital assistant tailored to you, like a more personable Siri seen through Google Glass. It’s an interesting concept, brought forward in a humorous fashion, but I get the impression that Alex Paknadel and Martin Simmonds are going for more sociopolitical commentary here. Beautiful art from Simmonds and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Vault

Harbinger Wars 2: Aftermath #1 is a decent epilogue to the event from Matt Kindt, Adam Pollina, Diego Rodriguez, and Dave Sharpe. Basically it checks in on all of Valiant’s heavy hitters as they put the pieces back together following the event, establishing Livewire as the world’s number one target. Very nice art from Pollina and Rodriguez.

| Published by Valiant

Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery From Beyond #2 continues to be entertaining, violent, and humorous as Rondel finds himself in more precarious predicaments trying to solve what haunts the land. I really like the art from Simone Di Meo and Brennan Wagner. Di Meo’s style here reminds me a lot of James Harren’s on the first volume of Rumble and it just works incredibly well for this kind of action/horror.

| Published by Albatross Funnybooks

Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer #1 is the second of these Infinity Warps mini-series to start up and it’s really rather good. As an origin story for the Iron Hammer, you really don’t have to be reading the rest of the Infinity Wars story here, so it works well as its own thing. The mash-up here is obviously Thor and Iron Man, with Al Ewing, Ramon Rosanas, Jason Keith, and Cory Petit telling a story that expertly grafts a variation on Tony Stark’s origin into the mythological trappings of Marvel’s version of Norse Mythology.

| Published by Marvel

Jessica Jones #3 concludes the arc with Dia and Elsa Bloodstone in the first part and then has a rather runny comedy of errors in the second part set around getting ready for Danielle’s birthday party. This is great stuff. Kelly Thompson, Mattia De Iulis, Marcio Takara, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit are doing wonderful things with this series.

| Published by Marvel

Man-Eaters #1 reunites the Mockingbird team of Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna, along with Lia Miternique, Stella Greenvoss, and Katie Lane, to kick off this new series about menstruating women who turn into man-eating big cats. It’s...an odd premise to say the least. There are certainly layers of subtext in the story that I still need to unpack, but on a surface level this is an interesting mix of police procedural, horror, and humour. If you think Cat People, you’re probably along the right line of thought. What it does do extremely effectively, however, is utilize comics as a medium. How the pages are lain out, the differing types of content, basically just how the story is told is impressive. This is something that can only be told as a comic and it’s just a wonderful use of the medium.

| Published by Image

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #31 is not quite a fresh start, spinning out of the events of the “Shattered Grid” story-arc, but at the same time it is the start of a new Power Rangers team and creative team in Marguerite Bennett, Simone Di Meo, Alessandro Cappuccio, Walter Baiamonte, Francesco Segala, and Ed Dukeshire. Confusion, chaos, and uncertainty definitely seem to be the goals of the story, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re coming in blind. It’s also interesting to see Di Meo’s style here, somewhat different from what he’s doing with Hillbilly. Still dark, and scratchy, but I’d probably compare this more to Sean Gordon Murphy, as it’s a bit more streamlined, better suited to the brighter colours of the Rangers’ world.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Old Man Logan #48 begins the final arc for the series before it goes out in a blaze as Dead Man Logan. Great art here from Ibraim Roberson and Carlos Lopez.

| Published by Marvel

Paradise Court #3 is interesting in that we’ve reached a bit of misdirection in the story, although kind of obvious misdirection since the exposed serial killer doesn’t look a thing like the other killer we’ve seen, which raises some interesting questions about the full nature of this gated community. Also, some really nice work this issue from colourist Leonardo Paciarotti. The change of flushness of the red in Amy’s face while she’s recounting her encounter is a really nice touch.

| Published by Zenescope

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310 brings Chip Zdarsky’s run on the title to a close, with this single issue tale of what random people on the streets of New York City think of the threat or menace, illustrated by Zdarsky himself. It’s damn good. And a fitting end to what has been ultimately a very entertaining run.

| Published by Marvel

Regression #11 returns from the trade break with a new arc and a drastically changed status quo. Cullen Bunn has been great at setting up this insidious quality to the cult claiming Adrian for their own and that evil, disturbing nature comes to the forefront this issue.

| Published by Image

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #2 continues the fun of the first issue as the family goes off to a holodeck simulation of a campaign, only to spotlight that Rick’s idea of facerolling a munchkin dungeon crawl isn’t their idea of fun. Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Zub, Troy Little, Leonardo Ito, and Robbie Robbins are delivering just the perfect crossover here.

| Published by IDW & Oni Press

Star Trek vs. Transformers #1 is the start of a limited series crossing over the Transformers with the animated series Star Trek characters, including M’Ress and Arex. The animated series was always a bit ridiculous, but fun and weird, so it fits well with incorporating the Transformers cartoon (though there do seem to be additions). Absolutely love the artwork from Philip Murphy and Priscilla Tramontano, who perfectly capture the style of the cartoons.

| Published by IDW

Stranger Things #1 begins a four issue limited series from Jody Houser, Stefano Martino, Keith Champagne, Lauren Affe, and Nate Piekos following Will Byers’ perspective during the first season of the Netflix series. It’s great. Jody Houser uses the boys D&D playing to frame out Will’s actions, lending some interesting survival tactics, as well as opening up an opportunity for Martino, Champagne, and Affe to utilize different styles for the variety of narrative frames. Also, Martino’s likenesses are rather well done.

| Published by Dark Horse

Transformers: Lost Light #24 is the second-to-last issue of this series as IDW’s Hasbroverse winds down to its conclusion. It’s really starting to feel final, with the crew’s epic battle against the Functionalists. James Roberts pens one of the most heartfelt and stirring speeches for Hot Rod this issue.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #1 sets this series off to a good start in a relatively straightforward manner. Vampirella is searching for a cure for the problems on Drakulon and it brings her to Mars. Erik Burnham, Ediano Silva, Dinei Ribeiro, and Troy Peteri do good set up work here.

| Published by Dynamite

Witchblade #8 drops a bit of exposition on us, filling us in on how Johnny is alive and a bit on the shadowy organization and its operatives trying to kill Alex and take the Witchblade. Still loving this series and the depth that Caitlin Kittredge, Roberta Ingranata, Bryan Valenza, and Troy Peteri are giving to it. It’s starting to develop some of the more traditional hard-tinged horror/superheroics, but still feels like a fresh and reinvigorated take on the Witchblade concept.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

X-Men Blue #36 concludes the series and with it Cullen Bunn’s tenure with the X-characters, running from Magneto through to now. He ties up a few missing plot threads and allows the characters to say a few goodbyes, nicely illustrated by Marcus To and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #19 begins a new arc picking up the pieces in the wake of Harbinger Wars 2. It’s good. Very good. Matt Kindt gives us a perspective for Capshaw that was kind of missing from the event, as to why she continues with GATE and the government after how insane some of their actions seem to have been (valid points about uncontrollable psiots notwithstanding), resulting in a very strong start to this arc. The art from Juan José Ryp and Andrew Dalhouse is also stunning, especially when showing a different visual perspective as to how Capshaw sees her situation.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: Betty & Veronica: Vixens #10, Black Panther #4, Gasolina #12, High Heaven #1, Invader Zim #35, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Coronation #7, The Long Con #3, Marvel Two-in-One #10, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #4, Modern Fantasy #4, Moon Knight #199, Old Man Hawkeye #9, The Punisher #2, The Realm #9, Red Sonja #21, Redneck #15, Rick & Morty #42, The Sentry #4, Spider-Geddon #0, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #39, StarCraft: Scavengers #3, Star Wars Adventures #14, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #24, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #31, The Thrilling Adventure Hour #3, Venom: First Host #5, Wayward #29, The Wicked + The Divine: 1373, Xena: Warrior Princess #8, X-Men Red #8

Recommended Collections: Astonisher - Volume 2, The Crow: Memento Mori, Cyberforce: Awakening - Volume 1, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins Complete, Dejah Thoris: Gardens of Mars, Encounter - Volume 1, Exiles - Volume 1: Test of Time, Hulk: World War Hulk II, Infidel, Klaus: New Adventures of Santa Claus, Lucas Stand - Volume 2: Inner Demons, Medieval Spawn & Witchblade- Volume 1, Port of Earth - Volume 2, Red Sonja - Volume 3: Hell or Hyrkania, Saga - Volume 9, Songs for the Dead, Usagi Yojimbo/TMNT Complete Collection, Wasted Space, X-O Manowar - Volume 5: Barbarians, You Are Deadpool

d. emerson eddy does not represent the Lollipop Guild.