Thunderbolts 3, Cable and X-Force 3, Punisher: Nightmare 2, Punisher War Zone 3, Marvel Universe vs the Avengers 4

Thunderbolts 3
Way (w) and Dillon (a)

One of the things I talked about at length in my X-Force post-game entries near the start of this blog was the way in which Remender handled Deadpool. He's got a crazy streak to him and he's certainly unbalanced, but he's good at what he does and he has something of a moral center. This is, I feel, especially true in Uncanny X-Force, maybe more so than in his own series, but the groundwork was definitely laid by Daniel Way over in Deadpool. For as much as I love Remender's Deadpool, I think I like Way's better. On the one hand, he's had him longer and has been able to focus more attention to him, but on the other, I think he's got a really good mix of absurdity and seriousness. Thunderbolts looks to be a good outlet for that.

Our ragtag bunch of killers are working in Kata Jaya in Southeast Asia to train freedom fighters to destabilize a jerk dictator who apparently set off a gamma bomb. Elektra has been caught (intentionally) and Venom and Punisher are working with the freedom fighters to get more supplies and work on thinning the enemy ranks a little. Meanwhile, in Madripoor, Red Hulk and Deadpool have a frank discussion of Red Hulk's plans, which include using the mind of a de-powered Leader who Red Hulk is slowly re-powering to actually make his mind worth using. This is one of the more entertaining parts of the book, and where Way shows his Deadpool skills. A lot of writers would have had Deadpool flippant the whole time and almost unbearable beside Red Hulk and seeing the Leader. Way gives him his sense of humor but also makes him a valuable voice in the conversation. He points out that this plan doesn't seem so great and that, even if there is a good plan somewhere within it, Punisher will shoot the Leader right in the forehead if he finds out. By the end of the issue, he has.

There are some stories boiling in here, both in the tensions between team members (turns out NO ONE thought bringing the Leader along was a good idea) and in the story. The cliffhanger of this issue, or one of them, is that the jerk dictator didn't set off a gamma bomb to destroy a village, there's something else afoot. Also, Elektra is being held by the Leader's brother, Hulk villain Madman. I still think that Deadpool is the strongest written character of the group, but that could shift. For now, though, the most enjoyable parts of the book involve Deadpool. Then again, I'm biased; I'm not a huge Punisher nor Red Hulk fan. We'll see what I'm feeling halfway through this series.

Cable and X-Force 3
Hopeless (w) and Larocca (a)

My, but X-Force books are fun. As I eagerly await the new Uncanny X-Force that comes probably next week (look, I'm pretty sure that's when it is) and stars a couple members of my beloved X-Force team (including a few that are Fantomex), this Cable and X-Force team is really something. I was nervous about two separate X-Force books coming hot on the heels of Remender's, and that worry isn't out the window until the new book comes out, but so far Cable and X-Force has proved immensely readable. As I said in yesterday's Avengers Arena review, I like the Nick Fury-esque sort of planning aspect of a team leader/strategist. Apparently Dennis Hopeless does too. This book highlights that aspect quite nicely, as Cable is a pro at this sort of work and everyone on the team has some sort of experience with it and with him. There's a nice bit where he explains their mission and they all, one by one, offer their plan with him rejecting each one. It's a fun bit of quick character building that really works. It also works because the team is so small. It's easier than in most books to understand the relationships within the team because there are only six team members and they all have pretty well-established connections already. ALSO, I get happy whenever I remember that Dr. Nemesis is on the team.

This book dives right into the "threat to mutantkind" mantra of X-Force and goes to shut down an anti-mutant fast food chain because Cable has seen the future and a virus starts there that would kill thousands of humans and leave mutants untouched. Rather than allow it to be blamed on mutants and let the bigoted head of the company blame mutants for it, they aim to shut the virus down at its start, a factory. Forge has a talk with Theresa Payton, the aforementioned bigoted head, and finds out that she's not as bigoted as she might have seemed and that, unlike what the team is thinking, she seems to have no knowledge of the virus. Forge exhibits some cool Sherlock-like detail noticing about a robot bodyguard she has and disables it and breaks loose to head home. Things go slightly awry in the plans and they finally make it to the factory to find that the plague is already at work within and has incapacitated Colossus already.

Okay, as I was typing the summary, I noticed that it sounds absolutely crazy. I don't think I did a horrible job summarizing because all of that does happen, but the problem is that there's no useful way to summarize MOST comics, and this seems to be one of them. This book really is worth reading. I heartily recommend the series so far so maybe stop reading that summary and just read everything else I've written. The fun bit is that people who HAVE read the issue would read that summary and go "I KNOW, WASN'T IT GREAT?"

Punisher: Nightmare 2
Gimple (w) and Texeira (a)

We continue where we left off last week, with Punisher and Niman/Johnny Nightmare (his murderer persona) out searching for the twin killers who killed Niman's wife and daughter. We start to get into a more mysterious backstory for Niman. He wasn't just a soldier who had a couple personalities within him and who is currently on the track to becoming another Punisher. Through some strained memories and plenty of repeated dialogue, Niman remembers that he was the sole guinea pig in a new series of inoculation tests during his training at Fort Bragg. Though they discontinued the treatments, they seemed to have a lasting effect in terms of accelerated healing and, to some extent, strength and vision and focus, etc. A sort of mini-super soldier serum. However, it also seems to be opening the door to the Johnny Nightmare persona taking over. Whether that was in there before and was amplified by the war and the serum or if the serum caused that has yet to be discussed.

The writing of this issue was interesting. Complicated. As I said, there's a lot of strained memories and repeated dialogue to illustrate the cracks in Niman's mind. It's effective, but I think it tends to lose some of that effectiveness after too much time. After enough time for a reader to go "right, got it, now you're just holding me up." I also do find it interesting that the title character of this book was present for the entire issue and had about four lines. I'm not saying that as a negative. I don't imagine Punisher as the chatty type (besides, Marvel has enough of those as is) and I think this level of dialogue is about accurate, especially when we're focused on the other character in the book. The book has taken a bit of a turn from what I was initially anticipating, so we'll see if it holds interest in the final three issues.

Punisher War Zone 3
Rucka (w) and Di Giandomenico (a)

Okay, I keep saying I don't like Punisher. I'm going to have to go back and read Rucka's run because this Punisher War Zone book is pretty incredible. YES, it definitely sucks me in that it has the Avengers and YES they are often the focus more than him but STILL. There's a lot of really good examination of what Punisher is and what he does. It's like the Wolverine-in-X-Force idea of using something as an outlet for your animal nature. Thor examines this after chasing down Punisher in Indonesia and being led into a secret munitions stockyard. Punisher hides out to the side as Thor, doing exactly what I said YESTERDAY he doesn't do, makes extremely quick work of the whole affair. I'm not bringing that up because I think it's out of character for him to do it, I bring it up because it really is something he doesn't really do. Thor doesn't tend to fight regular humans because he would devastate them. Of course, if he's led into a place with clearly illicit and dangerous things going on, it's well within his character to stop it. He just typically doesn't go to those places. It's a nice touch and follows from the last issue of the book, where Punisher led Black Widow to an exploited group of young boys and girls so she might save them instead of fight him. It's a good strategy for Castle but, of course, he ends up being caught by Thor because, while Natasha's problem last issue took time to resolve, Thor had destroyed the place in a matter of seconds.

Though the premise of this book has been that the Avengers are trying to bring Punisher in because he's a public danger and because his protege is going to get the death sentence after she was caught to make an example of him, Thor chooses not to bring in Punisher. He has a talk with a captive audience, letting Frank know that he's free to take his arms and go after their talk but it would be wise to listen. They have a couple beers and talk about what it is Punisher does. Though Frank says Thor doesn't know anything about him and the war he fights, Thor quickly shows off his own knowledge of war and being a warrior and seems to nail down Frank's entire personality. This was telling to me and the moment I decided I needed to go back and read Rucka's run. He clearly knows what he's doing with Punisher and clearly has a plan for him of some sort. This book is definitely worth reading, as Rucka treats the Avengers well in their limited capacities and clearly has a grasp on Punisher. Also, the art, particularly the art surrounding Thor's attack on the base, is pretty fantastic.

Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers 4
Maberry (w) and Fernandez (a)

I'm going to be honest, I'm not really a huge fan of these books. Marvel Universe vs., Marvel Zombies, Deadpool kills, etc. I don't know why. But I have a few theories. One is just that I don't understand the universe. I know this is all kind of a possible future or an alternate timeline or, you know, fiction. But in a Marvel world so organized, I have trouble piecing together where this fits in. Also, there's always that zombie-story feel of "we don't know why this started but it did and here we are and there's no way to stop it." There's never a cure in any of these books, which is probably fitting but even if you put one cure in one of these books, it would make it feel like it was possible in any of them. That would be the reference point as a reader to say "Oh, well they survived beyond the series that one time, so it could happen again here." In a way, that leaves books like this with no stakes. You see your favorite heroes fall and some may survive but there are no stakes because you know they won't eventually. Like, know, not just have a bad feeling. That leads to the last and likely more truthful theory: I don't like watching my favorite characters all die.

Anyway, my favorite characters all died in this book. The writing wasn't bad, the art was good throughout, but all characters became possessed or became dead. Except Punisher. I still don't care.


So this ends "necessary force" day, as I dubbed it when picking out which days I'd review which books. Get ready for "X-Men day (minus X-Force)" tomorrow.