Comic Book Review Round-Up – May Week 4, 2019

The penultimate May review round-up includes The Flash #71, Detective Comics #1004, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #4, Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion - Jabba the Hutt #1 and War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #2.

The Flash #71

I’ve not read The Flash diligently before, but the one good thing about reboots is that they provide a jumping on point for new readers. The Flash #70 basically retold the origins of Barry Allen as concisely as possible, but the main aim was to send him into a nightmarish future and meet his much-older self. In this issue, older Barry is a confident and optimistic man, though why that is begs the question. Central City is ruled by a villain called ‘Turtle.’ This character should be laughable, but I’m willing to give him a shot. Young Barry needs to return to his original timeline, but first the speedsters need to escape the bad guy and his army.

I’m in two minds about the art by Howard Porter and Hi-Fi – from time to time the character sketches are stunning, other times their expressions and movements are exaggerated. What is beautiful is the detailed landscape. There’s a lot to behold and I am intrigued to know if young Barry Allen’s life is going to be moulded by his accidental encounter in the future.

'Detective Comics' #1004

Astrid Arkham’s transformation into the Arkham Knight is elucidated in this latest issue. Yes, it’s as cliché as expected and a contrived way to make Batman into Astrid’s enemy no. 1. The killing of the wife while she’s in labour/just had a child is the worst form of fridging possible. Popular media loves to make women’s lives hell, and if they’re pregnant, they must be put in additional peril for reasons beyond me.

This new arc has been hard to enjoy because it feels so archaic. Even the re-telling of Astrid’s story takes a leaf out of old school comics. No one would recount a harrowing tale the way Tomasi has written it. A flashback to the Arkham family life would have been much better and more poignant, if not less cliché. To top it all, Astrid is written as little more than a simpleton driven by fairy tales. The enigma of the Arkham Knight is continuously eroded in this series.

'Star Trek: The Q Conflict' #4

Q’s petty grievances with his fellow enemies now embroils the famed Prophets from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Q wants the Starfleet teams to attract the Prophets’ attention, but he may have bitten off more than he can chew in this latest issue. As the different teams attempt to fulfil their latest task, it’s apparent that the Prophets do not like being disturbed.

I love that even more characters are given page space in this issue, including my personal favourites, Dr. Julian Bashir, Tom Paris, Seven of Nine and Guinan. There are cameos from other significant characters as well, and that’s what makes this series such a delightful homage to the franchise.

The interactions between the characters across the crews are authentic and I can so easily hear the actor’s voices in the dialogue. The denouement was disconcerting, but it opens the door to even more excitement in the upcoming issues. This series has been the highlight for me this year, and I wish it would go on forever.

Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion - Jabba the Hutt #1

Jabba the Hutt is as villainous as they come, though the highlight of his existence is that he was strangled to death by Leia! But this new installment in the "Age of Rebellion" series reveals a whole new side to Jabba. He’s more than just a sleazy Hutt – he’s a cunning businessman who knows how to manoeuvre people and use their greed to his advantage. One would expect no less from a person of his reputation.

This issue took me by surprise, and the more I think about it, the more I love how the story played out. When this series was announced, this Jabba story was the kind of content readers expected. The first half of this segment has been dull, but the latter half is already looking good. This issue is spectacular and everyone will enjoy it.

'War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men' #2

Even though I’m not following the entire War of the Realms saga, the episodic nature of the Uncanny X-Men issues allows me to catch up with the team. Some of the continuity errors are seemingly fixed in this issue as Valkyrie-Dani fights off Frost Giants while creating a refuge for the surviving humans. She is aided, somewhat, by Multiple Man, Shan, Havok and Cyclops. When the X-Men find out about a splinter mutant group, they try and locate them.

I was enjoying this issue till a couple of female characters were captured – it’s a bit tedious to see the same tropes repeated. That being said, it’s nice to see Dani, Shan and Hope as people of action leading from the front, instead of being shunted to the background like the main timeline. I’m not sure where this arc is headed, but I like reading the X-Men, so I’ll keep going.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this review round-up. I’ll be back again next week with another selection of comics.