Tag: Matt Herms

This Week’s Comics

Chasm and the Insidious Six pose above the DARK WEB: FINALE #1 logo. Upside-down, Magik, Iceman, Spider-Man, Cyclops, and Jean Grey pose below it.
THE FLASH: ONE-MINUTE WAR SPECIAL #1 ("Race Against the Clock"): In four vertical panels showing half their bodies, Kid Flash, the Flash (Wally), the Flash (Barry), and Impulse rush forward.
  • The epilogue of Dark Web is set in “Spring,” which marks roughly a three-month timeskip from the main events of the story. Factor in Amazing Spider-Man #908 (which also began with “Spring”) and it’s been at least a year since “Beyond.” (Although I could see the next issues of ASM picking up before the epilogue, particularly with the next two issues being by a guest creative team.)
  • From the lettercol:
    I’ve only been reading comics for about a year and a half, so I haven’t encountered too many crossovers yet.
    Oh you sweet summer child.
  • Things I missed by not reading the other tie-ins: Eddie Brock turning into Bedlam.
  • The Flash special was mostly side-stories, which is honestly a fine use of a tie-in issue, even if I’m always amused when none of the characters on the cover appear in the issue. It was nice to see Avery Ho again.
  • I’m not hugely into DC Comics’ potential futures, seeing as we’ll never actually get them, but I do rather like the one we’ve seen in Adams’s run—part of it, I think, is that the Flash legacy extending well beyond Wally West has been a well-established thing for a very long time.

This Week’s Comics

Justice Society of America #2: Huntress pursues the glowing Helm of Fate. Behind her are Jakeem Thunder, the Golden Age Flash, Stargirl, Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Golden Age Green Lantern.
Tim Drake: Robin #5: Robin, perched in front of a wall of heads, readies a throwing weapon.
Amazing Spider-Man #18: "Dark Web". Spider-Man faces a crab-like demon.
Action Comics #1051: “1st Super-Sized issue! More pages! More Action!” Superman leads Superboy, Power Girl, Steel, Jon Kent, the Super-Man of China, and the Super-Twins in floating above the Earth.
Detective Comics #1068: The halves of Two-Face’s face are separated; Bruce Wayne, with Batman’s shadow, appears in the middle.
  • In Justice Society of America (vol. 4) #2, the events of Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #3 (September 1994) is captioned as “eight years ago” and those of Doctor Fate (vol. 4) #1 (August 2015) is captioned as “one year ago.” As with most things related to DC Comics timelines, I don’t entirely buy this—all of Rebirth occurring within one year seems absurd even without getting into specific textual points (for instance, I seem to recall Tim Drake saying that he’s been dating Bernard Dowd for six months). And all of the Johns-written stuff since Doomsday Clock has seemed like it’s happening in its own, kind of disconnected corner of the DCU anyway. But eight years since Zero Hour would put the Young Justice generation in their early 20s (Tim was 14 at the time) which seems to be about where they really should be? (I am begging artists to give Kon back his stubble.)
  • Speaking of timelines, I’m still not sure when in relation to anything else this “Gotham Nocturne” Detective Comics arc is taking place. Given what happened with Two-Face this issue, feels like it might matter at some point.
  • I’m not saying I wouldn’t read an entire issue of Kon and Kenan hanging out. But I’m not not saying that.
  • The villain rant in Tim Drake: Robin #5 is impressively obsessive.
  • I am pretty ready for Amazing Spider-Man to go back to being self-contained. (“Back” may be overly generous given all of the tie-in issues last summer.) This issue opening with Madelyne Pryor’s plot being resolved in a different tie-in that I didn’t read was kind of funny, though.