Friday Comic Reviews: Absolute Power, X-Men, Energon Verse

Friday Comic Reviews of Absolute Power, various X-Men books, and a chunck of the Energon Verse.

Starting this week, I’m going to be short reviews of everything I’ve read each week; just a few sentences on what’s going on in the books. Many will be older books, but I’ll throw in more recent stuff as I go to the shop or try out new comics on their respective apps.

I’m grouping these into story arcs rather than individual books; first up is the Energon Verse books:

Destro #2: Is this the 3rd or 4th G.I. Joes mini? Doesn’t really matter because they have all been pretty fast paced, set up story for the overarching Joes universe, along with setting the stage for the Energon Verse on Earth. Destro deals with his arms company, M.A.R.S., dealing with the competition, let by Xamot and Tomax. Destro has already received Energon and a partnership opportunity from Cobra Commander. The action, mixed with industrial espionage, makes for an intriguing story.

Transformers #10: Unlike the G.I. Joes stuff, this is a little slower paced; it’s still very entertaining. This issue, we get the background of what has happened to Beachcomber, who mysteriously showed up last issue. In the battle to Earth, he’s jettisoned out of the ship and lands on the moon. After hitching a ride to Earth on Apollo 11 and finding the crashed Ark, he decides that if we awakens the other Transformers, he’ll doom Earth to a similar fate as Cybertron. If you’ve been reading since the beginning, you know how that ends up.

Void Rivals #11: This the slowest paced book of the bunch and it’s frustrating. We get Darak and Solila still wondering around with Springer, being attacked by Solila’s people. It’s been the same for a couple of issues and there’s a bigger story that needs to come out…how energon fits in, why the planets are battling for it, the history of the planets, and how Transformers keep showing up? I’m here for the long haul, but my patience is wearing out.

Here’s a bunch of X-Men reviews, as I’m catching up on the Fall of the Krakoa Era:

Cable #3-4: As young Cable and old Cable try to stop the Neocracy, we get to see the struggles of a team-up of the same person. Old Cable is trying to prevent his future (again) by taking out a potential threat to the future (again). Young Cable is trying to prove that his destiny isn’t set in stone after watching his old man self try to show him they are taking out a threat. Truthfully, we could have done without this book while all the Orchis/Fall of X stuff is going on.

X-Men Unlimited #131-141: This might seem like a big chunk of reading, but these Marvel Unlimited exclusive stories are fast reads; probably 2-3 issues are comparable to an actual book. Sunspot has been powering the X-Corp Island to help rescue trapped mutants; they discover that Selene is trying to ascend and become a living god. Various X-Men show up to rescue the captured mutants and stop the ascension. It’s been a fun story, but not one critical to the story; it’s probably why these are limited to the app.

Iron Man #14: Iron Man isn’t an X-Man book, but he’s been pulled into the story. With Stark Tech powering Sentinels and Rhodey being incarcerated for one of Stark’s “transgressions”, Tony has sided with the mutants to take down Feilong. He’s sent IronHeart into space with Forge so they can make some ships out of Mysterium, the new metal the mutants have found. Riri and Forge go to the dwarf forge to make the ships, where the dwarfs try to turn on the duo and keep the metal for themselves. The ships get completed and Riri sends the Mandarin Rings across space, as she feels their dark hold taking over her.

Iron Man has been a solid addition to the Krakoa story, and this issue didn’t disappoint. I’d like to see the team up continue after the Fall of X stuff.

Shifting to DC and Absolute Power:

Absolute Power Free Comic Day 2024: I’ve been sitting on this one, but decided to give it a quick read before hitting the main story. It basically just a filler story setting up what is to come. If you didn’t pick it up on FCD, you aren’t missing anything.

Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1: This is pretty much the same type of thing as the FCD issue, but a little more in depth. There are 3 different stories, one by each of the lead in writers; the main books you need are Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run, House of Brainiac in Superman and Action Comics, and the Suicide Squad: Dream Team mini. Basically, Amanda Waller is making her play with the help of Failsafe, the Suicide Squad, and a Brainiac shell. It’s enough to get me into the story.

Action Comics #1064: Part one of House of Brainiac, which I felt I needed to read before hitting Absolute Power. Brainiac uses an army of Czarnians to attack Metropolis with the goal of capturing members of the House of El. It’s a solid start of the arc that didn’t do too much yet. It’s enough to get me interested, which is rare in a Superman book.

And finally, random a random book:

Moon Man #3: When I heard Kid Cudi was making a comic, I added it to my pull list. Co-written with Kyle Higgins, the story centers on an astronaut who gets powers on a disastrous mission. This issue has Ramon, the astronaut, find out the others on the mission with him got powers as well, and it’s been revealed to their employer, Janus. It’s a slow burn comic, but it’s well done. I just wish it didn’t take 2 months to get an issue.

I’ll be back next week with the comic releases and new reviews.