Hawkman #28. Written by Robert Venditti. Art by Fernando Pasarin.

With the endless cycle of reincarnation finally broken, Hawkman finds himself scared of dying in a fight. Hawkwoman tries to get Carter to live their best lives with the JSA but their first enemy Hath-Set is back and he wants them both dead.

Next to last issue of this excellent Hawkman series. What a wild trip. The first year had incredible Bryan Hitch art that finally made sense of all the different versions of Hawkman. The beginning of the second year stumbled a bit but the last several arcs have been stellar. I really like that Venditti is ending this series with Hawkman & Hawkwoman being in their best version (IMO) with the 1940's JSA.

The last page is definitely a great cliffhanger!

9/10.

Wonder Woman #764. Written by Mariko Tamaki. Art by Steve Pugh.

Wonder Woman is still "stuck with" Max Lord. They are searching for missing weapons from Lord Industries. Diana has to fight to find the weapons while keeping an eye on Max.

Once again Tamaki just gets Diana. I love her Wonder Woman. I like how she writes her and her mistrust of Max. We all know Max is biding his time to betray Diana. And while Pugh's art is awesome this is the 3rd artist in 6 issues! I would like to see an artist do more than 3 issues.

7/10 overall. 9/10 for Tamaki's portrayal of Diana.

New Mutants #13 Written by Ed Brisson. Art by Rod Reis.

This is chapter 7 in the X of Swords crossover and due to new Covid restrictions probably the last one I will read for a while.

What went before: Mutants have united and live nearly all on the island of Krakoa. Apocalypse has revealed that he has tried something similar before, on the island of Okkara, but a demonic invasion forced him to sacrifice his wife, his children and half the island, splitting Okkara in Krakoa and Arakko. Arakko was thrown into another dimension and now the demonic armies, lead by Apocalypse's children, the four original Horsemen, have returned for revenge and conquest. Their army is stopped in Otherworld by the magic of the Omniversal Majestrix, Saturnyne. She gets both the Horsemen and the X-Men to agree to a duel: 10 champions of each side, each armed with a special sword will face each other on the battlefield in Otherworld.


Plot: Doug Ramsey has discovered that he is one of the 10 chosen swordfighters and that Warlock who has been posing as his arm (by covering Doug's real arm) will be his sword. Doug is worried and afraid that he'll die, Warlock is optimistic and promises to do everything to protect him. Illyana, who is also selected as one of the 10 swordsmen, decides to train Doug in swordplay. Krakoa wants to protect Doug, because Doug acts as translator for him to the Council, giving Krakoa a voice in all matters on the Mutant Nation, but Doug decides that he does not want somebody else to possibly die in his place and is resolved to go.

The Good: I really liked this issue, unlike most of the tie-ins so far. There are several reasons for this:
- This issues focuses on Doug, Warlock and Illyana, all main cast members of the New Mutants title and this title so far has been more about the characters that an ongoing plot, so an issue focusing on Doug is welcome. (Also Krakoa, Exodus, Xavier and Mondo play small parts). So it's not disrupting an title for the crossover.
- I think this is a pretty good Douglas Ramsey story: Doug is not a fighter, his skills are mental/social instead of physical, so he is wondering why he was chosen and also why Warlock was chosen, but Saturnyne's motivations remain mysterious. Also having died before, he's afraid of dying again. Even then, when given several ways out by Xavier (who suggests finding a replacement), Krakoa (who offers to hide Doug) and Exodus (who wants to kill Doug to be resurrected later (mutants that die on Earth can be resurrected, the ones that die on Otherworld in the duel can't) and go in his place. Not because he cares for Doug, but because he thinks that he will do better in the duel.), Doug is determined to take his responsibility and does not want somebody else to die in his place.
- BTW I like that Brisson remembers that Exodus is actually a great swordsman, being a 12th century crusader and good friend/rival of that era's Black Knight.
- I love Rod Reis artwork on this title, not quite as abstract as Sienkiewicz was, but it's certainly reminiscent of Sienkiewicz style and therefore very appropriate for a New Mutants title.

The Bad: Not much really, all issues I had with this are really, really minor.
- Krakoa worries that with Doug gone nobody will speak for him, but as earlier issues and actually this issue itself show, Krakoa can speak through Mondo (and probably also communicate through Black Tom). Of course talking through Mondo is painful for both Krakoa and Mondo, so I can see why that is not a preferred option (also it seems more to be that Krakoa is genuinely worried for Doug as a friend and he uses the communication issue as an excuse to get the rest of the mutants on his side in this).
- Doug figuring out how to use his powers to read the bodylanguage of an opponent is something he has done before, so it should not be the big breakthrough in his training that it is portrayed as (though again here it's more that Doug accepts that he will go and not let somebody else go in his place and Illyana worries that even with this skill she does not expect him to survive the upcoming battle.)

Neither good nor bad: We still don't know why Warlock was hiding, but it appears that by now most mutants know that Warlock is on Krakoa with Doug.

9/10

Ewing's really hit his stride again, after the Xenmu story things seemed to kind of come unfocused but the last couple issues have reminded me again of just why I felt this book was so fantastic. The Leader has a real plan to hurt Banner and feels like the classic Leader we all know and love and Banner and the various Hulks all have the own individual voices and their own sense of purpose which is a lot to juggle at once.

The only negative? It really has a sense of finality to it; when the Leader falls it feels like the whole Green Door plot which has been the heart of the book will reach its conclusion and with that I feel like Ewing and Bennett will be done with the Hulk which would be a pity.

Interviews with Ewing & Bennett have stated they planned a 50 issue run.

I think it has been out for a couple of weeks, but the recent trade of the current John Contantine: Hellblazer series written by Simon Spurrier is a nice return to form for fans of the original series.