[continued from previous message]   
      
   under which this isekai plays...this is a world where people Maggie has   
   passed on the street have likely met the "real" Red Sonja, but also where   
   there's loads of alternate reality versions of various characters, so   
   Maggie's likely Quantum Leaping into a version of Red who doesn't have to   
   worry about continuity with Gail Simone's books.  (Priest has lots of   
   experience with Hyperborean comics from the Marvel "James Owsley" days, but   
   isn't necessarily staying abreast...pun intended...of Red's current comics.)   
   This is Maggie's low point, she spends much of the Hyperborean scenes at some   
   level of debilitated from illness while other characters take initiative   
   around her.  As such, it's very much an installment best read in the   
   collection, it's kinda meandering and whiny on its own.  Mildly recommended.   
   $4.99, rated Teen (lots of blood, some vomit).   
      
        Vampirella #6-8 (Legacy #681-683): Dynamite - After a very talky issue   
   with loads of exposition, the "Vampi of Future Passed" arc ends on largely   
   silent panels that didn't quite carry the story as well as I'd have liked.   
   Big three-way fight scene in the present with several people showing up   
   conveniently around the same time, and then Vampirella suddenly snaps out of   
   it or something?  I get the feeling that the real resolution is being left as   
   the Big Reveal of the arc that starts in #7, with an AI robot opponent   
   literally getting inside her head (and pants) and trying to figure her out.   
   I suppose if Vampirella is going to get her own Brainiac "evil library"   
   character, having her be horny makes sense.  Trained that AI on AO3 or   
   something.  Hard to give a proper recommendation because I really do feel   
   like #6 is supposed to feel incomplete and get really resolved maybe in #12.   
   $4.99, rated Teen+ (some clothed sex scenes, lots of blood).   
      
        Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1-2: Dynamite - There's always been something   
   of cultural appropriation about the core Peter Cannon story, your basic   
   Mighty Whitey who learns all the secrets of the Hidden Orient better than   
   their originators, etc.  Later versions tried to play that down a bit, but   
   Van Lente leans hard into it by making the Hooded One into an homage to Count   
   Dante of the 1970s martial arts ads in comics, who then graduates to cult   
   leader and then hidden political grey eminence.  Peter grows up in a martial   
   arts/transcendent philosophy cult compound, and is the sole survivor of the   
   mass "suicide" which is pretty obviously (like, not really a spoiler) mass   
   murder instead.  Where the original Hooded One was a dissenter among the   
   secretive council of oriental masters, he's the whole game now, which makes   
   him much more dangerous to Peter Cannon, since there's no counterbalance   
   beyond a single childhood friend who also survived the cult (she got out   
   before it really got rolling, but then got drawn in by the current   
   incarnation).  If anything, it's gonna be a neat trick for Van Lente to make   
   this series last past the current chase/fight scene that takes up issue 2 and   
   isn't over yet...the original Hooded One could be thwarted without being   
   killed because the rest of the council could keep him in check, but there   
   doesn't seem to be anything like that in play for this version of the story.   
   And the next issue box does promise a battle to the death, but that might not   
   stop the Hooded One anyway.  However, I have faith that Van Lente can pull it   
   off.  Recommended.  $4.99 each, rated Teen or Teen+ depending on whether you   
   look on the front cover or the back cover (violence, mostly).   
      
        Star Trek Lower Decks #13-14: IDW - I suppose one advantage of a   
   six-issue arc is that Sheridan can indulge in side gags that don't need to be   
   elevated to B-plot level, such as the Mudd's robot kit that Boimler and   
   Rutherford build for Definitely Not Sex reasons, or Mariner trying to avoid a   
   dental appointment.  On the other hand, the choice of "Tendi feels   
   competitive with T'Lyn" as the main B-plot feels pretty retread-y given how   
   thoroughly the canon explored that theme.  I suppose one problem is that   
   these comics take place at some generally undefined point during the series,   
   which means that a lot of character bits are locked down, and a bunch of   
   stuff has to be either avoided entirely or manage to reset to status quo at   
   the end of the story.  This wasn't as big a problem with North's "clever   
   idea" 2-parters (especially since he did most of his work before the end of   
   the show, so the need to avoid making too many changes was also based on not   
   wanting to contradict upcoming episodes), but Sheridan doesn't really have   
   the knack for working around these limitations.  I'd much rather they tell   
   stories set after the series (a la the Season Ten issues of MLP), but I   
   suppose it's possible that the license doesn't permit that.  I guess Sheridan   
   just isn't as good at working in the available gaps without me feeling the   
   cramped nature of those gaps.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99 each.   
      
        Expected next time: Welp, this month turned out to NOT be a skip month,   
   but next month almost definitely will be.  Dynamite's Thundarr the Barbarian   
   comic will start in January, and yet another new #1 from Moon Knight in   
   February, plus The Fall of Ultraman from Marvel.   
      
      
        Dave Van Domelen, "Then you know we're not the kind of men you should   
   MESS with, kid."  "Oh, no.  On the contrary.  You are EXACTLY the kind of men   
   who DESPERATELY NEED to be MESSED WITH." - Fireteam Leader and Peter Cannon,   
   Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)