The Pull List 8/21
- TMNT Villains: Karai: The excellent mini series for the excellent TMNT comic continues highlighting the backstories of it’s villains and this issue features Shredder’s grandaughter, Karai. Her backstory is that her father was the head of the Foot, but he turned into a lazy, corrupt business instead of the powerful ninja clan it should be, so Karai trained in secret and then took back control when she was an adult and then resurrected Shredder using an ancient ritual. She also gets into a battle with Leo at the Foot training center, as Shredder recently made Leo his ‘chunin” or second in command over Karai.
- Nova #7: After stopping an alien fleet with Gamorra and Rocket Raccoon, Sam Alexander attempts to do some heroic deeds on Earth but fails at every opportunity, including pissing off the Superior Spider-Man aka Doc Ock and ruining a movie shoot in Los Angeles. He eventually heads home and helps repair the local skate park that was destroyed in his first major battle.
- Thunderbolts #14: With the Avengers off planet for Infinity, the Thunderbolts take the opportunity to take out a major mafia group for The Punisher, who is the first member to benefit from General Ross’ deal that if they help him, the Thunderbolts help them, no questions asked. I can’t wait to see what mission Deadpool makes everyone go on.
- Indestructible Hulk #12: Hulk’s mission to save time begins in the 1800’s, where a “chronanarchist” named Tok has brought dinosaurs to the wild west and affected a silver mine in the prehistoric past to create time travel material. Hulk teams up with a trio of western heroes to fight the dinosaurs and Tok while Bruce Banner exists in a robotic drone and is able to gather intelligence and has to keep the Hulk angry.
- Dinosaurs Attack #2: After a pretty long setup last issue, this issue is almost all dinosaur mayhem, as the world is under siege by dinosaurs that materialize thanks to an experiment on an orbiting space station. Pterodactyls attack Washington DC, a Brontosaurus attacks New York City and much more. The dinosaur attack scenes are lifted directly from the classic trading cards while new exposition is done in a different style, which is a little jarring honestly. I don’t feel this series is quite up to the Mars Attacks! series that IDW did previously.
- Animal Man #23: Things are getting serious for Buddy Baker and the Red this issue as cult leader Brother Blood has acquired some of Buddy’s blood after he was held captive by a horrific group of human/animal hybrids and it seems like, unlike some hare brained supervillain schemes, this one is actually going to work as Brother Blood arrives in the Red and wrecks havoc, while Buddy and his daughter Maxine can immediately feel the power of the Red being ripped out of them. We’ll have to find out what will happen in a month as it’s Villains Month next issue.
- Superman Unchained #3: Superman learns the history of the powerful being he’s been investigating and discovers he’s a fellow alien who has been dubbed Wraith by the US Government and has been working in secret for decades to clean up global hot spots and resolve conflicts. There’s word about an attack by drones in Tokyo, so Wraith and Superman head off to stop the threat side by side, but Wraith sinisterly says it’s great to be fighting side by side, but it will be a shame to have to kill him.
- Judge Dredd #10: If you’re familiar with Dredd, you know things get weird and disgusting out in the Cursed Earth and this issue is no different as Dredd and a nine eyed psychic mutant named Dann escape from a mirror maze at the backwoods amusement park of the Woodrell clan and launch an attack to take them out and steal their transport. The horrifying truth about where all the Woodrells come from is revealed and classic Dredd villains, the Angel clan, arrive at the end of the issue.
- X-O Manowar #16: Aric the Visigoth has carved out a section of Europe as a new homeland for his people after conquering the alien Vine race on their home planet. His teacher, the immortal Eternal Warrior, tries to explain how things work in the modern day but Aric refuses to listen and they have a brutal fight that ends with the Warrior leaving and Aric’s father’s crown and other treasures destroyed. The US government is keeping an eye on the situation but are baffled that they just seem to be setting up a farming village and not any weapons or communications.