Comics of March 25, 2015

It’s that time of the week again, where the comic world graces us with its newest releases. This week brings three chapters of the Black Vortex crossover, as if last week’s two issues weren’t enough. A partial conclusion to Amazing X-Men’s Juggernaut story arc released, and so did the end of Gotham Academy’s first story arc. On the writing front, I’m in the middle of dialogue-focused sweeps, where I go through my book several times, focusing exclusively on one character’s dialogue at a time so that they actually sound different when they talk.

The comics I picked up this week include Wolverines 12, Amazing X-Men 18, Black Vortex 7-9 (Guardians of the Galaxy 25, Nova 28, and Legendary Star-Lord 10), Uncanny X-Men 32, Gotham Academy 6 and Red Sonja 15. Here are my first impressions, and links to full reviews will be added when they’re posted.

Guardians of the Galaxy 25 and Legendary Star-Lord 10 review (plus thoughts on Nova 28)

Gotham Academy 6 review

Wolverines 9-12 review

Amazing X-Men 18 is good. With the Living Monolith becoming the Juggernaut, the X-Men realize how hopeless the situation feels and have a bit of a heart-to-heart moment. It’s a good examination of what people do when they believe they have no chance to succeed. Of course they figure out how to beat him in the end, but it caps the issue off with another intense cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the art is a downgrade from previous issues. Still, anyone interested in the Juggernaut really should pick this arc up. It’s not a very deep story, but it’s intense and full of great action and humour.

Uncanny X-Men 32 is good. This is a Cyclops-focused issue, exploring his further feelings of guilt and exactly what his planned Revolution is. Exploring the hopelessness that the mutants face really adds weight to the story, as does touching on his former relationship with Emma Frost. Not much actually happens, but Cyclops fans should enjoy this.

Red Sonja 15 is great. After being cursed with the inability to forgive anyone for even the smallest things, Sonja ended the last issue by inflicting a serious injury on herself so that she couldn’t hurt anyone else. Considering a very powerful sorcerer is chasing after her, that might not have been the greatest plan. The action in this issue is intense, but more importantly, Sonja goes through an emotional transformation. This might be my favourite comic of the week, and people who like barbarian stores who haven’t checked out Gail Simone’s Red Sonja run really should.