It’s fun and has some nice quirky touches. Something about the ending was insatiably corny though. Still interested to see how the arc develops.

Bit of a drop from last week, mostly because the art falters. It’s inconsistent.

This issue is less about action and more about bonding and intent, and it provides more emotional content and a satisfying connection between Blue Bolt and Firestar, it just doesn’t really move things forward in any way, and the stakes are no higher than they were at the end of the last issue.

However, I am warming to the team, and want to see how the story progresses now that the characters are more fleshed out. It’s got to be Rhodey’s turn soon, right?
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This was my favourite issue so far.

It did the nice retro art thing I liked from the first issue. It gave a plausible explanation and interesting dynamic to the multiple Ultrons. It allowed Spider-Woman to shine, again, and quite honestly I could get used to that. It dialled way back on the goofiness. It had an intriguing meeting with the Illuminati. Plus it had *that* cover.

I enjoyed Dark X-Men by Steve Foxe. It wasn’t perfect, it maybe needed a longer arc to flesh out the individual plot lines, but it meant business.

Sadly his Spider-Woman run was awful, so I was not inclined to pick this comic up (after all these characters were introduced in that book.)

However, I’m fairly glad I gave it a chance. It’s fun. It’s not ground breaking but it’s bouncy, and bright, and shows potential.

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This comic is messy. I get that the team are supposed to be bad at working together, but giving such a massive introduction to Firestar, which served no purpose, and didn’t add to her flaking out, seemed a misjudgment when the Angelic Ultron was reduced to pretty much one page with risible and basic dialogue. On that point, the voices are indistinct, Spider-Woman and Blue Bolt both saying “you’re welcome” immediately after each other doesn’t help. Lord knows what the Spider-Woman “slapping” line was meant to achieve beyond a very weird visual image. If she’s pulling her punches, write that, keep it simple.

Yet, having said that, this comic is aiming for something interesting. It just needs the author to get out of his own way. The Stevil joke wasn’t worth repeating twice.

My major like this issue was the portrayal, beyond my carping above, of Spider-Woman. Finally, it feels like someone is writing her back to the standard of “Avengers Assemble” or “Secret Avengers”, and in one issue she’s been allowed to be stronger, and more capable, than she was in her last three runs. More of that please. more

I wish Duggan would stop trying to be funny. It just comes off awkward. Now Firestar is an alcoholic? I'm not sure why he's trying to make a new Thunderbolts team out of this. Is it a surprise to anyone that Ultron is still evil? This could be a good title if they drop the criminal side of things and just make it a team. I do miss Tigra not being a part of the team, but bring in She-Hulk and Hawkeye.


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This was a bit messy and clunky, but the premise shows promise, and that ending elevates it.

So much time was given to Tony’s backstory that the issue began with an info dump rather than a compelling narrative, and we did not get much team interaction, which is a bit of a shame in a team book.

The first five pages should have been jettisoned. The comic would then have begun with Tony in medias res, which I do believe was the intention. The first page would then have been the splash shot of Tony in the Retro Suit, with the endearingly drawn retro action pages following. The kitschy humour could have been muted too, then the book would have felt more cohesive. Ultron could have been seen later, saving the day in real time in front of his colleagues, leading us to get real time reactions to his presence.

Never mind. We got what we got, and in general the good points outweighed the bad.

It has an interesting cast, the potential for the set-up to work or fail big creates drama, and it promises greatness.

The art is a bit shaky at times, and suffers from a similar lack of cohesion as the writing, but when it works picks out some nice character beats, and the colourist is on point.

Mostly, it’s a pity that anyone on the team not called Tony Stark gets such little attention. I mean, poor Rhodey, c’mon! Spider-Woman, relegated somewhat to the Basil Exposition role, fares marginally better, but also has to provide a coincidental presence at one point to further the plot, before leaving for San Fran. On a positive note it is nice to see Duggan giving her a realistic voice, rather than the over-egged dialogue forced onto her by Hopeless and Foxe, so long may that continue. Personally, I would have liked to see her gliding alongside Tony rather than hanging off his arms. I think it would have made her look stronger and more of an equal to him, and the conversation would have been way more natural. Jess shouldn’t have needed any help to Super-Spy her way out of a Hospital, and Tony’s dialogue should have been clear in order to make her lame subterfuge work. Flying back to base didn’t need dramatic visuals, it needed a quiet reflective moment between team-mates, and if this book could create more of those, it would have a real beating heart. This book contains any number of characters that are both victims, and survivors, and, at times, the slightly glib edge is at odds with the darker heart. Lightness can mean space, as much as humour or jokes. It feels like it needs to decide what it wants to be. Does it want to be “The Empire Strikes Back” or “Return of The Ewoks”?

So imo this wasn’t perfect, but if it irons out the wrinkles, could turn out to be heading in that direction.
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Thank goodness it’s over.

I guess it was nice to see Spider-Woman finally coming off the bench for a few scant moments in the final issue but it amounted to nothing.

There was never any sense of danger, despite the hyperbolically written teasers, and no real resolution to anything. Overall, it was pointless and toothless. If the Gang War section was slow and painfully obvious from the start, the second half amplified both those flaws. There was no mystery in either story because it was obvious how both would progress. Plus what happened to the plot point that Hydra have seemingly been able to make everyone forget Jess had a son? If they have that kind of mind control at their disposal surely that should be a Marvel wide concern and something that Jess should be alerting people about rather than staying quiet about.

I never thought it was the right choice to make Jess a mother and it’s just ended up making her, and her plot lines, repetitive and dull.

Giving Jess, a queer coded character, yet another simpering romantic moment with a male character when Lindsay was ignominiously written out stinks. Marvel have done their level best to make Jessica as one dimensional as possible and it’s boring. To see Steve Foxe praising the Hopeless run which was basically Pygmalion writ large, so Patriarchal, and filled with queer baiting is majorly disappointing, but no surprise considering this storyline. Jessica has learned the error of her ways and now is a conduit for motherhood, god forbid she get a story that doesn’t revolve around her being a super-straight mommy.

Presumably, the unnecessary Gremlin back story was there to promote the upcoming Armour Wars, and that along with the heavy focus on the product placement kids who showed no distinct personalities beyond their obvious namesake dress-up, reduced Jess to a guest star in her own book. Plus Russians pronounce “farewell” as “do svidánʹja” so it was lazy editing too. Jess making one call to Fury to sort things out for the kids but still using obsolete tech herself was just cringe.

This really has just left me feeling that Marvel have no idea what to do with Jess except for treating her as an cliched afterthought. I really don’t hold out much hope for her future at this point. Reading the sign off by Steve Foxe it very much reads that Marvel gave no opportunity for anything particularly off the wall or exciting to happen. They’ve put her in a very small box and seem hellishly proud of it. Hardly surprising it didn’t do well.

I think I’m mostly disappointed because this plot could have produced an exciting emotional ride but ended up being a whimsical YA romp with a painfully cliched redemptive arc that had already been delivered within the fifth issue with Spider-Boy, and the sixth issue on the train. After that it was just more of exactly the same. Great if you like watching repeats. I don’t care that Jess was originally a blonde, I care that she used to glide from ground level. If you’re going for detail at least try to get it right. If this was mission accomplished for Marvel then I honestly don’t know what they were thinking. more

I must be reading a different comic to a lot of others.

Yes, it has a nice cover, the art is vibrant, and the use of Angar is creative, so there’s the three stars, but…

The early scenes with Liberty were mawkish, and set Jess up, again, as being a generally useless. She’s solved nothing. Even the idea to reuse Angar, and the spy stuff, belonged to Liberty. Jessica is literally a passive narrator in her own book. Her only role is to constantly remind us that she’s a mommy nowadays. All the answers have fallen into her lap, and not a one of them have been shocking, or unexpected, even the big reveal at the end repeats the last issue. A villain, with no previous ties to Jessica, has been resurrected and provides no new information beyond what was already known. Wow!

The set up has lacked vital pace, and the writing is so on the nose it’s painful. Angar patently isn’t wearing a collar until the plot needs him to. I’m glad it’s ending, but am worried for the future of Spider-Woman if this is supposed to pass muster. So disappointing.

At this stage I’m convinced Marvel think ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a positive self-help manual rather than a mordant, dystopian satire. more

Best SW cover ever.

Sadly, I’m not feeling this book at all.

I guess I should be glad it finally seems to be picking up the pace, but to all intents and purposes this issue, end reveal aside, repeats its predecessor. Jess encounters a villain with a grudge against Echidna, The Assembly swoop in, Jess remains suspicious. Even the jokey song themed title remains the same this time.

The mystery is as obvious as Gerry being the Green Mamba. Since failing to save her own son Jess has been on a mission to save other kids. Thankfully Hydra didn’t age The Assembly into adults so the chances of her saving them, like Bailey and the train kid, by using her not so hidden powers of super-mommyhood should be quite high.

I should be thrilled by the call backs and the prospect of a new Champions team, which is of course another call back, but it feels like leadened product placement instead. For instance, finally someone remembers Jess can glide, but we get a solitary static shot, and Jess has to jump off a high building when she was previously adept at low elevation take offs, and then wishes she had a bike over her own former skill in a rather oddly drawn monologue. When she splits up Angar and the militia her venom blast is orange not green. It’s also hard to praise continuity when Lindsay McCabe got written out in place of a clunky cameo with Roger. Ironic when everyone’s mind seems to have been interfered with and that hasn’t prompted an all out attack on Hydra by all the other superheroes affected. Seems important that. Ah well. We’ll see what’s next.



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Effectively this is a repeat of the last issue but with a less appealing guest star. The new artist is fine although some of the facial expressions seem peculiar.

Turns out Jessica is now the Patron Saint of all kids, and the way things are going I fully expect her to become a surrogate parent to the mini-me New Champions.

It seems that Marvel has decided Jessica is not allowed any purpose beyond being defined by her role as a mother? And is so far under Captain Marvel’s shadow she even has to borrow one of her villains.

When I first saw the three page teaser for this series in the Spider-Man special I thought we were in for a treat. Sadly this run seems happy to tread the same kitschy line as Dennis Hopeless and Kelly Thompson where Jess plays a pale imitation of her former self. It’s just so disappointing and so one-note.

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AmericanHealthCare says it all really.

Ever since the Hopeless run Handmaidened her into having a kid Jessica has been defined by no more than three things; being a mother, being Carol Danver’s bestie, and, mostly, being useless. It’s like she isn’t allowed to exist in her own right. Half her skills are missing and, even though her bio-electric powers get name checked in this issue, they are still listed as bio-kinetic in the synopsis. Jess is painted as so dumb that she can’t remember how San Francisco trams operate. This is the same shtick that Hopeless pulled early in his run so he could be the manly man to rescue her from the ineptitude that he gave her.

Still, it looks like this run ends after the next two issues, so maybe Marvel will take stock at that point.

I’d like a complete year one reboot to be frank. I would have preferred the direction Aleš Kot took in Secret Avengers, and the character building Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue DeConnick put in during their time on Avengers Assemble, when her snark and kookiness were not presented merely via weak one-liners.

Currently this could be any female centric book by Marvel with little to distinguish it from the ubiquitous soapy house style they seem to relegate their female characters to. The recent White Widow run also dealt with faceless corporations buying up housing stock so we’re literally getting nothing new here.

Jess used to punch above her weight despite her flaws. Now we’re constantly reminded that she can’t compare to Captain Marvel and shown, via her namesake in the Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse movie, that she must be synonymous with having kids, which is a hell of a lesson to give to the woman who repeatedly said “No!”.

Who knows, maybe the “return of someone we thought was dead”, being teased is the OG Jess and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
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This title really struggles. The story and questionable action stuff would be easier to forgive if the voice worked, but Jess herself and the dialogue in a broader sense are all off. This is not working.

This one issue was more fun, and worked better, than all the Gang War issues combined.

Finally, it felt that Jessica’s voice worked, and worked well. I’ll never be a fan of the decision to make the one woman saying “No!”, a mother, and could care less if the next time we see Gerry he is found dead behind a dumpster, but I actually empathised with Jessica for the first time. How much of that is connected to Bailey’s sadness I don’t know, but it actually turned out to be an inspired team-up, and one I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

I might have rated this issue higher but think that the editorial team are letting Steve Foxe down. Jessica’s eyes should be green, her powers bio-electric. Whoever is responsible for the lack of detail checking, and launching Jess yet again in the middle of an event that didn’t serve her well, needs to have a word with themselves.

Overall, I am glad to see the writing pick-up but worry that the damage has already happened to potential sales. I hope not, based on the promise of this one issue, but then again one swallow does not make a summer. Let’s see where we go from here. more

A step up the last few issues!

What is happening? I've usually liked Foxe's work in the past and this run started out at least functional. This feels so weird with Madame Web just coming out. Do writers just hate Spider-Wom(e)n? There are some decent story beats happening here, but the level of bonkers stupidity is just egregious. We have to suspend disbelief for comics, but everything about this issue breaks immersion. What did I just read? At least I can't criticize the pacing; they packed a lot of antics into one issue. more

I think this had the potential to be better, but I thought it was still fairly good for what it was. I am interested in the story between Jessica and Gerry, and I thought the way this ended between them, for now, was good and leaves the door open for my exploration later on.

Steve Foxe’s initial arc for Jess has had its ups and downs. It’s been good when Jess has been kicking butt, but has struggled when her entire personality is confined to her being an emotional mother. I don’t like that she is reduced to a blubbering female who is only defined by her motherhood.

With Gang War wrapping up, I’m willing to give this run a few more issues to move onto bigger and better storylines for Jess, but the rope is short. more

Well, that was just weird. Instead of Gang War they should have called it Jessica Drew and the Case of the Over-Complicated Info-Dumps.

I mean props where they’re due, Jess being called out for being a poor mother isn’t undeserved, and her cleverly getting Carol not to follow Gerry by demanding her attention showed Jess still occasionally has the smarts.

Sadly, overall���the plotting made little sense, beyond setting up the obvious, and mundane, ending. Jess came over as histrionic rather than emotionally believable, mostly because the script bent over backwards to justify her feelings that it had to be Hydra, instead of allowing her to solve the mystery, and uncover the truth organically. Ultimately, it all felt hollow and trite, like painting by numbers.

Honestly, this mini-series has generally ended up being quite hokey. Roger had already been replaced by Lindsay at the time of the End of the Spider-Verse story, so why was he suddenly back on the scene unannounced? Is Marvel scared of a potentially queer relationship or simply terrified by continuity? Also, even if Roger didn’t know Gerry, or why he himself was there, why would he leave a cot-bound child alone? Bonkers.

I guess the denouement goes some way towards providing a half-way reasonable reason for why she suddenly decided, with no prior inclination, to become a mother, in that it was ill conceived, but honestly it felt that way at the time. I’d always thought Hydra had pulled a deeply hidden trigger as it never truly felt honest to Jess to suddenly have a kid out of the blue. Speaking of blue, Jess’ eyes should be green, and her powers bio-electric. It’s like Marvel literally don’t care any longer.

Still, at least Gang War is over. I’m happy to forgive and forget so long as the writing turns the corner it needs to. I’m less convinced than I was at the start of the run, but fingers crossed…I really don’t want to have to abandon another Jess series, but this has not been that fulfilling so far. When, even though the pacing works, the most exciting moment in Jessica’s solo comic is Julia setting up Carol’s return, something has gone horribly wrong. Shame, as I liked the mostly serious approach.
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Fuck the reviewer GhostDemon

If Steve Foxe ever writes a Diamondback solo it will likely be top notch, every one of that character’s scenes shine. I am enjoying the straightforward tone of the book, and the artist and colourist are doing consistent work.

Okay so we didn’t have to wait until the final issue for the info-dump, but getting it here, as she is already in the process of being saved, completely destroys any sense that she was ever in danger, and positions us away from any immediate, visceral involvement with her story. Discovering her powers were fried as she fell would have covered that better.

Why would Jess think Julia, or her powers, creepy? It seems the most closed minded, petty take, especially as she’d previously accompanied Magnus across the Astral Planes, and worked with the previous Madame Web to help Mattie Franklin. It devalues her. People used to call Jess herself creepy, you think she’d be a bit more empathetic.

Unless, that’s supposed to explain why Jess didn’t approach Julia before, in which case, rude. Jessica’s argument that only Hydra could have organised things is too pat, any number of malevolent forces could have done the same. I guess I should be happy that we didn’t have to wait until the final issue for that info-dump but it wasn’t elegant.

As for the reveal, it was too obvious to be shocking, it simply went exactly as expected, which was disappointing. The info-dump came too late. Instead we got heavy-handed clues, delivered in a clunky manner, that meant there was no chance for it to build and become horrifyingly inevitable.

It’s such a shame. I love the clean, real world elements of this book, the approach is great. However, Jessica’s monologue voice has slipped back into the same wonky poetry-slam pattern as the first issue. The second issue was better. I think because there’s a lot of tell don’t show. For instance, at one point Julia says Jess is no longer on her own, and I thought we were about to get a sassy three page team-up, instead Julia sidled quietly off page, leaving Jess to assume the Basil Exposition role as she steals aboard the ship, and a bit of momentum got lost. However, in general, the pacing is better in this issue than its predecessor.

I don’t know. This certainly isn’t bad by any means, but I want it to soar. Hopeless pretty much muffed up the four part Spider-Verse book that preceded his straight run, and then turned things around. Not in a way I liked, but the difference was palpable, so maybe Foxe can do the same going forward. I think I’m finding niggles because it has so much promise as a fresh take on Jess. The last time I enjoyed a portrayal of her unreservedly was in ‘Secret Avengers’ by Kot and Walsh, so I remain hopeful.

In the meantime, I’m hoping this book ends big. Another bombshell? I’d like to think so.

One final thing. Jess and her son appear to be using the fear element of their Pheromone powers within fights, presumably, as some form of Martial Arts “Kihap”. If that is the case, it’s a brilliant idea.

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Okay, I’m struggling a bit here.

Jess is my fave, and I don’t think she’s always been well served. I hated the Hopeless run, and whilst I mostly enjoyed the Pacheco run it didn’t hold the same excitement on a second read. I’m a fan since the original days and here, we’re getting something that feels like it could deliver something special but is, imo, let down by missteps.

I loved seeing Jess going Old Skool, actually conducting an investigation and going under cover, but it was all for naught when an accomplished spy unwittingly tripped a sensor. It made her look duff. I could accept that the trauma of her kid going missing had made her sloppy but there was nothing in the script to suggest that. Also I had secretly believed that Jess somehow used her bio-electric (not kinetic) powers as a form of stealth, so that’s on me. Boo, though. At another point Jess calls Logan “surly” when I would argue understandably pissed off. Jess has always been the outlier voice seeing others with empathy, so her response seemed weird. Plus, if you’re going to complain that family chit-chat is ruining the urgency of your mission, then why devise a plan that involves waiting until the next day and hiding in a toilet, when your own gliding powers and super hearing will get the job done far more quickly?

In general I did feel that Jessica’s voice was clearer in this issue, less flouncy and more to the point. The art is mostly great too, capturing the dynamics of the fight with the Hydra goons, and some great “camera” angles.

Yet, still, I’m not really feeling Jess’s mission. I think it’s because I don’t understand how she feels about it, or why she has focused on Hydra. If only she knows her son has gone, Carol seemingly providing confirmation that there is something stranger than a mere kidnapping, then why isn’t she questioning the mystics? I feel that there is a clue we haven’t been given and I’m hoping (we’re half way through here) that it’s not a complete info dump at the end of this limited series. What power do Hydra have to alter the memories of anyone that might remember Gerry? If they don’t, why isn’t Jess looking elsewhere? There’s too many questions surrounding Jess’s actions because she isn’t giving us squat. Like in issue one, outside the club she derides the bad men for being bad, nothing about her fears for the kid if Hydra have him. In the club she tells Diamondback that Hydra are especially nasty terrorists and yet says nothing about her son which was her reason for being there. She doesn’t seem to be very focused. Again, I could accept that, if it were presented that way. I get that we have to await the outcome of the mystery but presenting us with Jessica’s internal conflict doesn’t preclude that.

The only new information we got in this issue is that Typhon are in cahoots with Hydra and Diamondback. It felt like we could have had something richer or more compelling. I’m of a mind that the clunky hints about Green Mamba better be red herrings because they’re so on the nose, but at the moment the journey is what concerns me. In her book I am able to understand the motivations of Diamondback but left uncertain of what is truly motivating Jessica.

I know I have been a bit negative but I want this book to succeed. I genuinely believe we could end up with a smart and involving portrayal of Jess and it’s looking promising, but we’re not quite there. It will be interesting to see what we get once the crossover event is done with but this has some ambition that it just needs to fulfil a bit more.







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That’s more like it.

This issue had a really compelling emotional core that resonated within the plot, and the story was strong. The way it ends make me feel as if that may be it for now, perhaps a break, but despite my previous concerns I l’m definitely keeping it in my pull list.

I don’t think I ever reviewed an issue of the Moon Knight run that preceded this but it was likely my favourite comic. Dependable, rich, and involving.

Vengeance issue one takes time to look at the supporting cast and prepares us for a shake up for the titular character. It works well and provides a nice emotional connection that will no doubt be tested over the coming months.

Disclaimer: I only read this issue because a YouTube buddy wanted me to review it with him. We covered issue #1 and that was enough for me.

This is not a comic book. I don't know WHAT it is to be honest. It was a chore to get to the end. I think it's 20 pages but it felt like 50. There might be some semblance of a story in this issue but I couldn't find it.

The character voice for Yelena is Florence Pugh from the Black Widow movie. Only sometimes it isn't. It changes throughout the issue. Yelena is a trained assassin and would not come across as a village simpleton. She should be highly intelligent. In this book she isn't.

The other characters have the same voice. It's difficult to know who is talking.

The focus of this issue is on finding a job with a good dental plan. While shopping at a farmer's market. I'm not being sarcastic, it really is. Oh, and revealing to anyone who might be near you that you are a SECRET assassin.

Apologies for the rant--a rare one from me--but I wanted to give a few reasons as to WHY this is a bloody awful comic book. I could've just written the word "terrible" and left it at that. I probably should've. more

This issue isn't complete garbage, but it's close. The art is horrible and I don't really understand the whole web of life thing. It doesn't make a bit of sense. I never like the whole arc of her having a child and I assume one of the writers retconned it and now Foxe is addressing it. Captain Marvel doesn't even belong is this book, just like Jessica didn't need to pop up in every single Captain Marvel issue. They should just do a team-up book already, since that's pretty much how these two characters operate. Captain Marvel's new costume is horrendous. It needs to go away quickly. She looks like a baton twirler in a high school band. The only tie-in to Gang War is the last page. I won't be continuing this title, which is unfortunate since I like Jessica. Like Wonder Woman, I wish they could find a writer that understood the character.

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Less of a tie-in to the Gang War event as the other two tie-ins this week, Steve Foxe’s story focuses more on Jessica Drew’s lingering storyline around her missing child (lots of similarity to Mystique’s story) and her own personal vendetta against Diamondback. Something felt very off about Foxe’s writing for Jessica, perhaps I’ve just reached my fill of Marvel moms running around crying for their children. It reduces these characters to grieving mothers and limits them from any further layers of complexity. Let’s hope Foxe can get a better grasp on Jessica’s voice give his lead on her ongoing series after this event ends. #JusticeforJessica more

Okay, this is a mostly good.

The tone, the pacing, and the look of the book are all very welcome. It feels streamlined, and grownup, and there is a refreshing lack of wackiness. Although her venom blasts are listed as bio-kinetic not bio-electric so I don’t know what that’s about.

The plot is slim, but effective, and by the end of the book enough pieces are already in play for the story to progress and gain momentum.

As for the central mystery, it works! Although, in truth, I’m more concerned about the disappearance of Lindsay McCabe. I never liked the decision to make Jess a Mom. Her stance against motherhood was powerful, and unique, and played to her status as an outlier. Still, here we are, and whilst it’s not the most original story, I appreciate how it is being handled here.

My one real quibble is with Jessica’s voice. The scenes with Armadillo and Spider-Man were spot on, but Carol’s visit and the nightclub scene, didn’t match. The dialogue between Carol and Jess felt like it belonged in another book, it felt campy, and tonally misplaced. Similarly, Jess calling bad guys a “waste of air” and “slimy” felt redundant, it seemed too florid, and diluted the tension. It’s odd, because Foxe is nailing all the voices in Dark X-Men. I wonder if he’s doing too much in service to previous runs rather than shutting them out and fully committing to his own thing?

However, minor gripes aside, it’s a solid start. It’s nice to see a more serious approach to Jess. more