What were they thinking? #2:

‘ENDINGS, CLOSURE & COMFORT’
Greetings again! Welcome to the second addition of ‘What were they thinking?’ (WWTT?) where I discuss the best, the worst and the ‘why did they do that?’ of the new comics released this week and read by me.
[*This review contains spoilers*]

THE GOOD:
This week’s theme for comics was last issues and variant covers. With Marvel and DC having both released a series of oddly expensive variant covers and reprints, all eyes were affixed of three series enders. First was G. Willow Wilson & M. K. Perker’s AIR (DC/Vertigo), as well as John Ostrander & Jan Duursema’s Star Wars Legacy (Dark Horse) and lastly Brian K. Vaughn & Tony Harris’ Ex Machina (DC/Wildstorm). While I did not read Air or SWL because I am unfamiliar with those stories I did dig deep into the final pages of Ex Machina. With any good narrative, it’s always hard to see it come to an end. The sensation of turning the last page and knowing nothing more is to come of these characters, or the fear of disappointment that it will end in shite (*cough* The Sopranos *cough*). But reading the last issue of Ex Machina was amazing. With a brilliant start and finish to the issue, I felt satisfied with the closure – even after the dark path it had you walk. Brian K. Vaughn created, with the characters, the most appropriate and necessary resolutions for the characters in order for Mitchell Hundred to move on and find his own closure and the closure of the book.

THE BAD/WWTT?:
It may come as a bit of a shocker, but I was not a huge fan of this weeks comic: Brightest Day #8 (DC) that is penned by Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi and an amazing team of artists. While I loved the Blackest Night arc, Brightest Day has done very little to keep my eyes glued to the pages the same way its predecessor had. Finding the most redeeming and interesting aspect of the arc being Deadman, with Aquaman in a close second, I was saddened to see a lack of his story and our fishy friend not appearing at all. Furthermore, (spoiler alert) I was already on the snore and bore with the Hawkman/Hawkgirl story, but this weeks issue increased my dislike for it even more with the big reveal that the Queen of Nth City is Hawkgirl’s mother? What were they thinking?

THE PICK OF THE WEEK!!!:
This read was, in my opinion, the best read of the week. Personally still affected by the events of The X-Men: Second Coming arc, and the loss of so many characters that I held close to my nerdy heart, Jason Aaron & Davide Gianfelice’s Wolverine: Weapon X #16 provided a one-shot that x-readers needed. It’s old news now, but in the Second Coming arc Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler died, along with many others, while protecting Hope – the mutant messiah. Having been brought to tears by his death, and later the eulogy/funeral issue, I couldn’t help but read on that Wagner’s best friend (Wolverine) was having the most difficult and emotional time with this loss. This special issue took Logan on task to deliver by hand a piano to a mountain top church in Venezuela via Nightcrawler’s last will and testimony. While on this long and rugged journey Wolverine thought back onto the history the two had shared in an attempt to find closure and comfort that his friend is in a better place. In the end, Logan finds his peace with Kurt’s death, and most importantly – so does the reader.