Theodore Beale has responded to yesterday's post. I'd link it and say not to read the comments, but honestly, why read the article. There's some other highlights on my Tumblr. Which I bet, by linking here, I'm going to get some fantastic asks to ignore soon.
Comics, from worst to best of what I voluntarily paid for via what a commenter on Theodore Beale's blog calls "e-begging on Patreon." (Which is still $2 off from a review on "High Sparrow" come Sunday.)
The Black Vortex: Omega
Man, I love the word "Omega" instead of issue numbers. Kitty Pryde as literal Manic Dark Cosmic Power Dream Girl. This should never have been thirteen issues long. It was preposterously dumb. But its resolution is at least interesting in a general sense of being a thing that will probably be retconned by Secret Wars anyway.
Lazarus #16
A somewhat self-consciously clever interstitial issue to let Michael Lark catch up with the schedule. Fine, although I'm not sure it works satisfyingly after a self-consciously clever arc finale - Rucka's pop virtues are not quite so virtuosic as this requires. He's an album man, not a singles man. Nothing wrong with this issue, but not why this book is in my pulls either.
Guardians of the Galaxy #26
I see we've caught up with Secret Wars. Which is, once again, unsettling more than exciting - this issue sets up a lovely premise. Then it ends by going into a series that at best puts that premise on hold for several months. I mean, I'm not saying I think it's going to suck, but I have to say, April is not doing wonders for my excitement on this series. In particular, I continue to think the pacing of Hickman's Avengers issues was wonky - the fact that there's no actual Secret Wars content coming out for the last few weeks is making the rest of Marvel feel disposable. There's no swagger or confidence to this.
Chew #48
Chew continues its frustrating trend of being good enough, often enough that I don't drop it.
All-New X-Men #40
This has generated some deserved controversy online over accusations of bisexual erasure. You can see, in the full issue, why Bendis thinks that accusation is misjudged. I'm very much unconvinced, simply because there's still nothing motivating the decision to make Iceman, as he rather awkwardly puts it, "full gay" as opposed to bisexual. There's nothing gained by having Iceman be gay instead of bi, and there's plenty of implication that bisexual people are just gays who lack conviction, which is a bullshit stereotype.
In any case, the sense of momentum leading into Bendis's big X-finale is satisfying.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Nobody is ever going to write a better line for Galactus than "Thanks, Tippy-Toe," except of course, for Ryan North, who writes numerous other lines of similar quality for Galactus in the course of his defeat at the hands of Squirrel-Girl. (This is not spoiling the ending, since the title of the book pretty much guarantees it.)