Avenging Spider-Man 21, Venom 35, Morbius the Living Vampire 5

Avenging Spider-Man 21
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The two-parter Chameleon story continues as the Saints wreak havoc on the Helicarrier in an attempt to get to Chameleon. They send Hulk out of the Helicarrier and are prepared to put Spidey down before a suspicious Nick Fury appears to save him. Meanwhile the Helicarrier is getting torn apart, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Coulson are fighting back a horde of Russian henchmen the Saints brought with them, and Chameleon is loose somewhere, wearing the face of his doctor. Literally wearing his face, not like Chameleon'd into it. It's creepy and weird and no one appreciates it. Spider-Man eventually tracks him down at the same time as one of the Saints and, after another battle between them, Spider-Man puts him down and spies a teleport device on him. With Chameleon and the Saint incapacitated, Spider-Man teleports them away and into his lab (the one in which he's collecting the other Sinister Six members). Fury sees the teleport as it's happening and Spider-Man tells him that the Saint got Chameleon before he could but oh, look at that, they've teleported to that pesky ship nearby! The Helicarrier blows up the ship and everyone feels pretty good about what happened, particularly Spider-Man, who has triumphed again.

The Sinister Six collection storyline continues as Chameleon ends up in Doc Ock's lab for reasons still yet unknown. Will this resolve itself before the title switches over to Superior Spider-Man Team-Up? Will this be the inciting incident that causes the switch? Will the reunion of the Sinister Six be the kickoff for Superior Spider-Man Team-Up? I can't know any of these things. I do like the way this issue treats SHIELD, though, as a sort of fun-loving bunch. That's probably inaccurate. However, my mind is on The Venture Brothers this week as the long awaited fifth season kicks off Sunday night, so I can't help drawing comparisons to this version of SHIELD feeling like the OSI or SPHINX at their tamest. Yost continues to characterize the Doc Ock Spidey with aplomb and makes the story and characters worth reading. Fun book.

Venom 35
Bunn (w) and Shalvey (a) and Loughridge (c)

Hot off his fight with Toxin and the Figure, Flash heads into school with a black eye and a worry about how things in Philly are working out so far. Those worries are amplified when he sees Eddie Brock enter the school and approach him. The two talk out their problems and decide where they want to fight (Brock doesn't want any children harmed either, but that's part of why he's so mad at Flash, who has brought his symbiote into a school) before a crowd of Figures appear, set on destroying the two symbiotes. Flash rushes the kids into safety while Brock approaches the Figures. Flash toys with the idea of letting Toxin and the Figures finish each other off, leaving him to just cleanup after and taking out some of his own enemies at the same time, but eventually jumps into the fight to protect Toxin. They eventually fight back the Figures and turn back to face one another. Toxin is still set on killing Venom, convinced that Flash won't be able to control it forever and it's silly to keep it if it's just going to go crazy on him. However, Flash convinces Toxin that he's keeping it in control because he's fighting for something worth controlling it. He argues that Brock never had anything to live for before the symbiote so he let the symbiote take control of him. Flash, on the other hand, has a family and friends and is trying to make a new life for himself so he's going to work to keep Venom under control. Toxin reluctantly agrees to allow him to try to make his life, but warns that he'll kill him once the symbiote takes charge.

Watching symbiotes fight is always going to be entertaining in comics and it's good to see that Eddie Brock's transformation from Antitoxin to Toxin hasn't changed his feeling on symbiotes as a whole. I've really liked Shalvey's art throughout his whole run here. I don't know if there's anything else to add to that or any reason it sticks out particularly here, just occurred to me that I hadn't really said it and I don't have a ton to analyze about this book for some reason. But yeah, Shalvey's art has been pretty great all the way through. I've commented on his covers but his art is really holding this book together in some ways. Not that I don't think the story is fine or the characters are good, but it's been moving a little slowly as of late. I think he made it to Philadelphia in, I want to say, issue 27 or something like that and it feels like he hasn't been there for eight issues. That's a weird thing to feel at this point. Still, pretty good book, really good art, interesting enough, which is sometimes all you need.

Morbius the Living Vampire 5
Keatinge (w) and Elson with C. Rodriguez (a) and Fabela (c)

I'm still not sold on this series. Granted, today I have something of a headache so my reviews have been a bit off and my reading skills may be down a peg or two, but by and large this series feels like it's trying to be something but it's not sure what it's trying to be. There are hints of Batman in here, with a sole-protector vibe mixed with an I'm-no-hero vibe. There are bits of crime books, trying to weave a complex tale of drug running and gang warfare and "who's playing who" about all of Brownsville. The art style is weirdly reminiscent of The Walking Dead in some places, though I'd say far less detailed and often less realistic. Morbius is so over the top anti-hero that it makes it kind of difficult to read at times (though that might also be the headache). All the while, it seems like the book wants to toe the line between cheeky and quirky and sinister and dark, which is an odd line to toe and is not typically done particularly well. It's a tricky book in general because it's really still hard to figure out who this book is for. Is Morbius this popular of a character? What age group is enjoying this book?

Anyway, Morbius cleans up some of the gangs in the city following the death of Noah St. Germain and receives the blessing of the normal neighborhood people, who wish to take back the town. However, he's quickly pulled away by the Rose, who explains that he's been the one positioning Morbius for all of this, from his arrival in Brownsville to his fight with Noah to this defeat of the gangs. He also warns Morbius that he has Morbius' mother captive so Morbius should probably do what he says. What he says is that he's going to continue to allow Morbius to do whatever work he wants to do but, in eight weeks, everything's going to go belly-up and Morbius will take the fall for it and the Rose will profit, because that's what the Rose does. Who is pulling the Rose's strings, though? At the end of the issue, we find out that this goes one level even deeper and he's being funded by Morbius' own father, who, had you asked me, I would have guessed was dead, based on absolutely no evidence. I don't know, something about the book comes off as trying too hard and not giving enough of a reward. I guess we'll see as this series moves into its next arc.

Wolverine and the X-Men 30, Savage Wolverine 5

Wolverine and the X-Men 30
Aaron (w) and Ferry with Larraz and Espin (a) and Campbell (c)

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I could never really get into precocious children criminal masterminds. That's almost entirely untrue BUT it's the thought that crosses my mind whenever I see the Hellfire Academy anywhere. I do believe that they are seemingly real criminals (because we've seen them at work) but it's always difficult to see them as anything but an idea. I know that sounds weird because all of writing is just an idea and doubly so in comics, where any idea may fly (sometimes literally). However, the Hellfire Academy, led by four precocious child geniuses, stick out like a sore thumb, as if someone in a pitch meeting was like "no, what if they're CHILDREN?" You can break down every character to its essence, sure (Captain America: literally a walking flag in wartime; Storm and her new X-Men: a grab at international markets but with a focus on how the X-Men are family despite their differences; Iron Man: weapons manufacturer who uses his own designs and stops selling weapons to bad guys, etc.), but there feels like there's no way to look at this group of children and not say "yup, they're children just to be children." I don't know, maybe everyone else loves them. Maybe this book isn't aimed at me. Maybe the fact that they're children will play a huge role. Maybe I just can't really believe in four child geniuses the way I can, somehow, believe in men and women who can fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes and what not. But I have trouble with them. It doesn't totally help, either, that this issue is drawn well enough, but with a definite bent towards making everyone at the school look younger. Granted, it is a SCHOOL, so probably they're younger than I expect them to be (Marvel time plays with your head. Quentin Quire has been around for ages now and I think he actually may be younger than when he was introduced. Okay, not actually, but it often seems that way) but the issue made Quentin look like a ten year old, and Toad not much older. You know, Toad. One of Magneto's very first henchmen. Because all of Marvel history MIGHT take place in a very busy week.

Anyway, there's a traitor at the Jean Grey School who has been contacting students and trying to get them to join the Hellfire Academy. They've already taken Glob Herman and Idie, as of last issue, and now they're reaching out to Quire. Quire has a soft spot for Idie and determines to figure out what made her go to the Hellfire Academy. He psychically interrogates a bamf and finds a weird history of their species that he doesn't feel the need to go further into (it has to do with Azazel) before finding that Idie intends to figure out who from the Hellfire Academy shot Broo and kill him or her. Quentin decides to go there too, lending a hand to Idie, presumably. Meanwhile, in space, Hank is trying to restore Broo's mind with the help of alien criminal doctor Starblood. Everything goes to hell up there and the Hellfire Academy's new super-powered recruit the Philistine teleports in, takes Starblood and Broo, and leaves. We find that Husk is behind many of the events at the Jean Grey School as she and Toad are reunited and, along with Quire, they join Philistine, Starblood and Broo. There's lots going on but it's somewhat diluted with all the various plots and the betrayals and the people in the shadows. As last issue showed, there's plenty in store for the people at the Jean Grey School. This issue continues to poke at us to ask about it.

Savage Wolverine 5
Cho (w and a) and Keith (c)

Readers of this blog will know that I have real issues with the premise of Savage Wolverine. I don't really have an issue with Wolverine being violent or being a ladies man because those are both in his character, but I have issues with books that are so openly exploitative. I suppose it's a step above been exploitative and not admitting it. Maybe. But the idea that it sells itself on the basest opinion of what a comic reader is makes it tough for me to root for this book. It's unfortunate, too, because I think Wolverine is characterized here in a somewhat interesting and acceptable way and Cho's art is certainly good when it's not being unbearably sexualized. There is a four panel spread near the start of this book that shows a headshot of Hulk followed by a headshot of Amadeus Cho followed by a headshot of Wolverine followed by a full body shot of Shanna wherein her breasts are easily as big as her head. Anyway, there's some Hulk vs. Wolverine fighting just to have Hulk vs. Wolverine fighting before the Dark Walker emerges and starts to ascend into the sky. Hulk takes the bomb from Wolverine and leaps after it, only to get smacked away effortlessly, have the bomb explode in his hand, and get caught out of the air by a giant whale, which Cho points out was both "pretty awesome and funny." After the writer/artist is done patting himself on the back, we see the Dark Walker return to its leader, an entity known as Visher-Rakk (it's essentially Galactus with the Dark Walker Morrigon serving as a herald), to inform him that there's a new galaxy ripe for eating.

The next arc or issue promises to feature Wolverine in a team-up with Spider-Man as written by Zeb Wells with artist Joe Madureira, the original team behind Avenging Spider-Man. Most recently in Marvel, he's written the two Carnage series, Carnage and Carnage USA with Clayton Crain in the last few years. I don't know if this is a permanent switch or just an interlude before Cho takes the helm again, but I wouldn't be disappointed if this was a break from the first arc. I thought there were some good ideas and some decent writing in this book but not enough to cover for the flaws. If this book was able to get over itself, I think it could be the stronger Wolverine book. However, I can't help but think that maybe this will be Wolverine's Avenging Spider-Man title, which doesn't really disappoint me as long as it changes its need to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Let's think happy thoughts for the future of this series.

X-Men 1, Uncanny X-Force 5

X-Men 1
Wood (w) and Coipel and Morales (a) and L. Martin (c)

John Sublime, powerful enemy of the X-Men, has returned to the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe but seemingly only to ask for help. Also returning to the X-Men is former-mutant-turned-vampire (this is comics, this is how things work out here) Jubilee, now with a baby in tow. It's not her baby and these events aren't unconnected. Sublime followed Jubilee in Europe and in the New York train station while she made contact with the X-Men. He then pushes ahead to the Jean Grey School, where Rachel Grey and Psylocke accept his surrender and begin interrogating him. They learn that he had a sister strain of bacteria who he had more or less pushed away and forced to evolve on her own. She has returned to Earth after millennia in space, feeding off alien technology before riding meteors back to Earth, and seems destined both to do the jobs Sublime couldn't and to kill Sublime, who has come to the X-Men for protection and aid. He reveals to them that Jubilee is connected to this whole situation through the orphan baby she's adopted. That baby seems to be carrying the strain, which Sublime reveals can take over machines the way he takes over people, and the strain causes the train Jubilee and her escort force of Kitty Pryde, Storm, and Rogue are on to switch tracks. The X-Men save the people on the train (if not the train itself) and manage to make it to Westchester. When there, the baby makes contact with a phone that Jubilee has been given and the strain transports itself to Beast's lab, where it takes on a new form and reveals itself as Arkea Prime.

The series starts off with a bang, considering how much information and story we're given to process. It's nearly impossible to make judgment calls on the first issue as there is too much that needs to get done in that time so it's tricky to make definitive statements about a series as a whole and I wouldn't want anyone doing it, let alone myself. So I won't do that. However, I will say that I'm looking forward to seeing all these characters interact. I was looking forward to it before the series started and I'm looking forward to it even more now. I appreciate the way that it was handled this issue and I'm hoping that more time grants more opportunity for that. Though she's already been somewhat quieter than the rest, I love the way Storm is being developed so far. She's quiet and thoughtful and seems to always have something processing. It's a bit early to get a read on everyone at this stage, but hopefully little characterizations come up like that more. For now, though, enjoy this Skottie Young variant cover for X-Men 1.

Uncanny X-Force 5
Humphries (w) and Alphona and Soy (a) and Strain and Curiel (c)

Storm and Psylocke have entered Bishop's fractured mind to try to understand what's going on with the crazed mutant while Puck watches over them and Spiral, their captive. Inside Bishop's mind, Storm and Psylocke move through the memories of their old friend and learn a bit about what the time traveler has been up to since he was exiled in the future by the X-Men for trying relentlessly to kill Hope. They have some sympathy for him, especially when he spares the life of a possessed girl and cures her, despite what his new leaders tell him and when he tells that girl that he now can see how much he tortured Hope and how unconscionable it was. They also manage to see who it was that possessed him, finding the White Owl and the Bear that Psylocke fought and trying to stop him from ever being possessed. As Storm and Psylocke are at work in Bishop's mind, their bodies are taking a bit of a toll, both nose-bleeding as tough mind-reading is wont to cause. Puck doesn't really notice (nor can he really do anything) as Spiral offered him alcohol and now he's telling stories and doing flips and the like. She uses this moment to try to escape but finds Puck isn't quite so incapacitated as she thought and he puts her back down but, at that point, notices that something's wrong: Betsy's body is missing. Cut to Cluster, the Lady Fantomex, driving away with Betsy and swearing that she's safe now.

The way that Bishop's mind is presented and illustrated is pretty stunning, as Storm and Psylocke trek through the ruins trying to figure out what went wrong and what they can do to save it. It does carry on for quite a bit to give us a sense of the person Bishop is now and to create questions for the reader (how was Bishop brought back from the dead? Who is the mysterious Order that Bishop joined up with? What is the White Owl and how are they going to find/stop it? Why did Bishop save the possessed little girl against orders? Where did the White Owl end up? When will we find all of this out?) but there's enough to keep the reader interested. However, it's hard not to feel, still, like the best story is going on in the shadows. Granted, I'm a huge Fantomex fan and it was the Fantomexes that really drove my curiosity about this book, but we're getting their story very slowly or quietly, if at all. I can't say I blame Humphries for this and perhaps the payoff of waiting so long for this story (yes five issues is SO LONG) is going to be enhanced by the way its being divulged, but it's a little hard to get to the end of the issue and go "THAT'S THE STORY I WANTED TO READ, THE ONE WITH THE THREE FANTOMEXES FIGHTING." Still, paves the way for a solid Fantomex issue next time, right? Right?

Captain America 7, Indestructible Hulk 8

Captain America 7
Remender (w) and Romita Jr., Hanna, and Janson (a) and White (c)

The issue starts by delving again into Cap's past, but this time from the perspective of present day Cap (or, more specifically, the Cap of two years ago, who farmed the land with the Phrox and Ian. Remember, an absurd amount of time has passed while he's been here) as he looks back on the man his father was. He reveals to Ian that his father collapsed under the pressures of his time and was unable to stand back up, something Steve is able to more easily understand now that he's been raising Ian. Ian asks if Steve will ever disappear on him and Steve admits that his intense desire to not be like his father has led him down a wholly different path altogether; instead of abusing the ones he loves, he becomes emotionally unavailable to them. He promises Ian he'll never disappear. Flash forward to today, as Cap works his way through Zola's tower to try to find Ian, who is being brainwashed by Zola. Steve has already subdued, but not killed, Ian's sister Jet so Zola knows he's on his way. Jet is freed by some of Zola's minions and pursues Steve again. Meanwhile, Steve is having a hell of a time in this assault, forcing his already broken body further and further until he is again confronted by Jet. She attacks him but her heart isn't really in it and Steve escapes the fight momentarily to save a Phrox from being mutated, a process Zola has been enacting to further his plans (soon revealed!). He saves her but it leaves the two of them dangling from the walkway with only Jet around to save them. Steve convinces her to act on the impulses she's been feeling lately, including her confusion about Steve and the recent guilt she's experienced at Zola's plans. She tells Steve the entire plan (now revealed!) which involves Zola infecting many powerful people of Earth with the liquid consciousness he infected Steve with, though a greater dosage, and effectively create a world of Zolas run by Zola. The plan is already pushing quickly forward and Steve needs to find a way to derail it and to save Ian. Jet makes him swear to save Ian and then tells him where her brother is. When he gets near, he is shot through the side of his stomach by a seemingly fully brainwashed Ian.

There is so much happening in this issue (hence my really long description) and it's hard to break it all down. Steve reveals that the memories of his childhood that he's been experience aren't just there for the reader's benefit, they're there because they've recently forced their way to the top amidst all of these new experiences. This, tied to his understanding of his own psyche and emotions (the idea that he pushes people away as a response to his father's abuse) gives us such a different view of Steve while keeping so nicely to the character itself. It's unimaginably difficult to write an entirely new angle for a character while being somewhat handcuffed by 70 years of backstory but Remender has proven again and again that he's more than capable of it. Now Steve will have to face the hardest fight of his long life as he battles Ian to try to save him all while Zola furthers his own plot. This is an even harder fight than Steve had with Bucky back when Bucky was Winter Soldier because a.) he's actually spent more time with Ian over the years they've been stuck here, b.) he physically raised Ian like a father, as opposed to Bucky who was more of a best friend or even brother with maybe a hint of father mixed in, and c.) Ian is a child. Come back next time for an even harder inner turmoil for Steve, if that's the sort of thing you want to see. It is admittedly rather painful as Steve is forced to deal with all of these things, as well as dealing with numerous physical injuries that he is constantly diagnosing and working through. Still, brilliant book.

Indestructible Hulk 8
Waid (w) and Simonson and Wiacek (a) and Charalampidis (a)

We learn a little bit more about the semi-suicidal Patty as well as about the way Mjolnir is viewed in the scientific community as this Jotunheim arc concludes. Patty has a degenerative brain disease that is all but incurable at this point but she is the sole provider for her father. Suicide would mean that the insurance companies wouldn't give him anything but dying at the Hulk's hands would surely compensate him, as opposed to her simply dying from the disease and leaving him alone and with nothing. Bruce tries to get her to believe it's curable or at least worth trying to cure but she's a bit of a hard sell. They talk about why Mjolnir is immovable but she's not interested in it unless it has to do with a cure for her. Meanwhile, they devise a plan to return home with a lot of soft science (I'm supremely happy that I'm not a scientist because I can just read whatever writers say in here and be like "yup, makes total sense to me. I'm sure this is a real solution") which is ultimately interrupted by the Frost Giant possessing Randall revealing himself and leading his fellow Frost Giants in an attack on Midgard. They are eventually rebuffed by Hill, on the other side of the portal, and Hulk's emergence. The whole team, including the rather wounded real Randall, make their way back to Earth and Thor and Hulk part ways for the time being. Bruce hopes that the whole experience has opened Patty's eyes to not being alone in the universe because, as he says, "alone" is poison. Next issue will team Hulk (or pit against) with Daredevil in a clash of Mark Waid authored heroes.

This arc was certainly interesting and it was very nice to see Simonson drawing Hulk and Thor together (even if he made Bruce and, by relation, Hulk's hair somewhat Osborn-like). The story went a long way to develop the characters that Waid has introduced to Banner's world, which definitely needed to be done after several issues that focused on Hulk and/or Banner working with SHIELD. This book is going to have to toe an interesting line of keeping Hulk available for SHIELD while focusing itself on Bruce and his work with the science he's dedicated himself to. The conceit of this book, which makes it very different from most Hulk books, is that Bruce is determined to make something of himself after all this time as a super-scientist and it'll be neat to watch as Waid puts that in the forefront and tries to leave Hulk a bit on the sidelines, as much as you can leave Hulk there. It's largely untested waters and it'll be fascinating to see if Waid can still make a compelling book when you take one of the more famous characters in Marvel history and put him on the bench in favor of the other half of him. If anyone can do it, though, it's probably Waid.

New Avengers 6, Dark Avengers 190

New Avengers 6
Hickman (w) and Epting and Magyar (a) and D'Armata (c)

This incursion is different for a few reasons. The first is that the team is somewhat ready for it, having created ways to destroy the opposing world if necessary. Second, it's happening over Latveria, adding all sorts of potential problems to this work. Third, as Black Swan explains, the world that's coming has blue skies and not red. Blue, she says, signifies mapmakers, who deplete the Earths of all living substance to power themselves, then allow that Earth to continue its path towards other ones. Eventually, a piece of that dead Earth is meant to break off and lead the mapmakers to the newly discovered Earth so they can start the process all over again. Though the team has far more time to destroy this incurring Earth (and far fewer moral qualms, given the fact that the planet is already dead, which is not to say no moral qualms), the piece of the Earth will break off within an hour and doom the new Earth (the 616 Earth). The team goes to the dead Earth as Doom and his son fight off an invading army from the dead Earth (they serve as sort of a distraction, it seems) and manage to blow it up. When they return to the 616 Earth, they put Black Swan in her cage where she begins to telepathically communicate with the similarly trapped Terrax. They may be coming to some sort of arrangement. Meanwhile, it seems like the piece of the dead Earth may, in fact, have arrived as Doom's men bring him an artifact.

I will admit there was a little less Doom than I was kind of hoping for here, but I think that this is probably a better way to throw him into the mix. Instead of making him fully aware of everything, he knows some basics (other Earths are attacking this one, the Illuminati are somehow connected) and will be thirsting for more. Keeping him in the dark will just make him more hostile, which is especially great considering we already have someone on the team who is purportedly willing to do whatever it takes to save this Earth without concerns (Namor). The character relationships are growing and the characters on an individual basis are becoming incredibly interesting, even if they were already. Black Panther has always had the willingness to do whatever it takes but his intelligence almost always made it so that he could win every situation without huge, huge sacrifices. Now he has to cope with blowing up other worlds to save his own, which can hardly count as a win. One of the more fascinating things about Reed Richards to me has always been the fact that seemingly every alternate universe Reed we see is evil in someway or another, whether he's been corrupted by knowledge or is just sociopathic, preferring intelligence to human emotion. He's kind of straddling that line here as he forms a strange bond with Black Swan and knows that her cold understanding of this situation is going to prove useful. There's a lot happening in this book in the immediate and in the background that will inevitably boil up. It's very exciting to get to watch that happen.

Dark Avengers 190
Parker (w) and Edwards and Pallot (a) and Sotocolor (c)

The mysteries of this alternate universe unravel as Reed Richards reveals that the whole world was a sick experiment of sorts by AIM, meant to twist the genius heroes of the world into open warfare so that they could steal the weaponry that was created. They were able to steal a sliver of time from Kang after he had recently attacked the Avengers and had been exploiting that sliver of time to create this little pocket world. With the sliver closed, everything will return to normal and this reality, if it's remembered at all, will only be remembered as a sort of bad dream to whoever was involved. However,  if the sliver closes with the actual Dark Avengers still inside (it's their appearance that has destabilized the sliver as a whole), they could be erased from existence. The issue features a lot of little team-comes-together moments and everybody-helping-out bits as the Dark Avengers join with the few remaining heroes of this world to take down Grimm and Tony. After Reed explains everything, they find themselves chasing down the AIM unit that's busy escaping through the sliver themselves and they manage to pour out of the sliver, beating up (or possibly killing, who knows with this team) the AIM unit and shutting down the sliver forever. There's a quick page of the heroes of the 616 shaking off the bad images the sliver created and the team re-emerges just outside of Avengers Tower. Skaar leaves, free of the team, and the rest of the team seems destined to stick together, except for Ai Apaec, who June steps on. There is still some intrigue left over from this arc as we're not totally sure if June is controlling certain aspects of US Agent (who has no intention of bringing the team to prison, as they were headed the first issue of this long arc) or anyone else, but more or less, this book is closed.

As I said in my pre-game this week, I was very disappointed to see that this series was ending. I do think there are more stories to be told by this team and I can't say that there's anyone out there who should be telling them more than Jeff Parker. His wit and quirk mixed with the impressive stories he's wanted to tell both here and on Red She-Hulk have made these books, which could have been disasters as they abruptly followed on the heels of Thunderbolts and [Red] Hulk respectively , something different in this Universe full of great, if sometimes same-y, stories. It's been nice to learn more about these characters and to question their motivations while also exploring a world pushed mad by AIM and what happens if the heroes of our world are pushed just a little too far. Don't be surprised to see these characters used again soon or appearing in other books across the U, but be saddened that we lost this particular book.





Also, quick note, this is my 200th post on this blog. Thanks for everyone who's been reading and all of you who haven't, even. Just, thanks to everyone.

Comics this week

Another somewhat short week with a bittersweet bent to it; somehow Dark Avengers is releasing its last issue this week without me realizing ahead of time. I'm somewhat depressed about it, but I suppose I'll get into that more when I choose it as one of my five to watch for this week. SPOILERS, Dark Avengers 190 is on there.

Captain America 7
I'm excited for this book whenever it comes out. Of course, Cap's my favorite hero out there so I know I'm likely to be excited for it for my own personal reasons but I can't stress enough how interesting I'm finding this series. From seeing new angles of Steve's life (including as a child and as a father) to leaving Cap in a place where the flag on his uniform doesn't really mean much and he can't hope for support to come, every part of this series is dedicated to exploring different facets of Steve Rogers and Captain America and it's all great.

Dark Avengers 190
I was rather sad when I checked the new comic list and saw that this was the final issue of Dark Avengers for a few reasons. First and foremost, this book has been interesting all the way across and has featured a team of villains who might be heroes in a place where heroes are villains. Very interesting in its conceit. Also, it follows a trail of other cancelled books like Winter Soldier, Age of Apocalypse, and Red She-Hulk which have all featured heroes who maybe aren't quite popular enough to sustain a solo book but also don't really fit into any team or take place somewhere on the outskirts of the Marvel Universe. There are books far more deserving of cancellation and there are corners of the MU that are over-saturated with books so we see too much of them. Dark Avengers was different and had already gone to different places. Also, it means (unless I'm forgetting something) Jeff Parker isn't writing a regular book for Marvel and that's a shame after fun runs on Dark Avengers and Red She-Hulk. Hurtful, guys.

New Avengers 6
I love this book. I don't know if there's more to say than that. I love everything this book has done and every place its been willing to go. It's a very dark story with appropriately dark characters delving into the darkest places they can go. They've been trying to keep the incursions on the down-low and have attempted to keep the information between only themselves, to the point of erasing Cap's memory of the disasters. However, it's going to be awfully hard to do that for this issue as the newest incursion is happening over Latveria. Adding Doctor Doom to this mix is very exciting for me. Doom fits so interestingly into this equation and I'm thrilled about where this could go.

Uncanny X-Force 5
This is going to be a very important issue for Sam Humphries' X-Force issue as it's the issue that will bridge the first two arcs. The first arc wasn't a bad arc but it certainly didn't blow me away either. This issue will help establish the team and its goals and the way that the team interacts with one another outside of an event. Not to say that an event won't start up in this issue (it probably will) but there's likely to be a bit of cool-down to establish the team a bit further. This issue will be crucial for setting up the rest of the series so here's hoping for a strong showing.

X-Men 1
Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel return into the Marvel Universe with a new X-Men title. The most notable thing about this series, though, is the decision to make the team an all-female one, featuring Storm, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rogue, Jubilee, and Rachel Grey. There are some cases where this kind of team would feel like pandering (and make no mistake, Marvel comics should absolutely be pandering. Well, not pandering, but they should 100% be featuring more female driven-comics) but this team works on paper. It's a very powerful team with a lot of character but also it seems to have a reason for these women to come together. They don't feel just thrown together out of nowhere, they're all friends and they're fighting for the same causes, by and large. This is a big deal book because Marvel needs to see more female-led books survive and thrive. It's also a flat X-Men book, without any sort of bells or whistles on the name. This isn't X-Treme X-Men or All-New X-Men. This is X-Men, plain and simple. Calling this book "X-Men" shows a dedication to this team and the female-led principle, now the audience (and the writer and artist) need to make that pay off.

This week's picks

There are five or six books I'm trying to narrow down to three for this week's picks and it seems like, at any moment, any three books could take the spots. It can be frustrating trying to whittle that many books down to three, but the upside, of course, is that I got to read a bunch of really good comics this week. Never going to be upset about that.

Daredevil 26

Daredevil has long been billed "the man without fear" and he almost always lives up to that title. Even if he's losing a fight, he tends to appear unafraid, just angry or depressed. His lack of fear often pushes him to keep fighting. However, here, in Daredevil 26, he is flat out terrified of what's going to happen next. After being soundly defeated by Ikari last issue and told that he'll be killed at some point, Daredevil is seeing threats everywhere. The really great thing, though, is that he's not necessarily wrong. Yes the people he's accusing could be completely innocent and appear to be after he attacks them, but each time something additional happens to show that he wasn't wrong. The issue culminates in a nice Matt/Foggy scene and in the reveal that Bullseye is behind everything. Daredevil gets back on track and finds Bullseye, taking out Lady Bullseye in the process. It's a great examination of everything Matt tries to be and what it takes to make him break. Great issue for comic fans and extra great for Daredevil fans.

X-Men Legacy 11

Like seeing Matt's resolve weaken under all his pressure and strengthen again after Foggy's pep talk, we get a chance to watch David tested over and over, by his own father's brain, by his own feelings about himself, and by the Red Skull. Instead of Matt, whose strength makes him aim to take down the villains he's facing, David's strength means giving up against Red Skull and sacrificing himself to save the world from the future he causes. The writing continues to be tight and David continues to be a perfectly broken protagonist. One of the great things about this issue is that it turns the expectations about comics on its head. As David keeps getting opportunities to turn tail or to discover that the facility he wants to use is, in fact, evil, his resolve continues not to break and he continues to want the chance to take his powers out. In every other comic that Marvel puts out, the hero MIGHT have made it this far, but then would have fought Red Skull and tried to think of another way or something. In this case, everything that piles up makes David say "I don't care, someone will deal with you eventually, the pill works, I want it." It's really brilliant and such a twist if simply because it's what he had wanted all along and he stuck to it. It's a twist without a twist. Fantastic.

Young Avengers 5

I like everything that happened in this issue. There's a lot of really fun stuff and anything that could be construed as cheesy is pointed out to be cheesy right away, before the reader can do it himself. What really boosts this book over other books this week like Avengers or Fantastic Four or Journey into Mystery or Superior Spider-Man is the Loki discussion that it generates. Loki finally reveals himself to the audience to be the original Loki posing as the much more lovable and kind of trustworthy kid Loki but there's a twist; kid Loki is still there as Loki's conscience of sorts (he points out that he's not real, of course, but he's still in there). For anyone who loved Gillen's run on Journey into Mystery (if you didn't, maybe go read all of it this instant), there's tons to be excited about going forward. There are lots of directions to go with this series and with these kids and with Loki. The book jumped right in and clearly intends to keep at this level even as the first arc winds down. This is a near perfect book for anyone. I would recommend this title to any comic reader and to a whole lot of non-comic readers.


Best Cover

Again, a lot of good ones out there. Superior Spider-Man had a weirdly haunting cover, Daredevil's cover is more beautiful Samnee art and Young Avengers is a really neat concept well executed by McKelvie. However, this run of X-Men Legacy covers have kind of blown me away one after another and manages to continue to do so here. It's a great image of David sliding on a bunch of pills, a bit out of control, as the pills form up to make the Red Skull. It highlights everything that needs to be highlighted that will come in the story and that the character is going through without giving the whole book away. Also, the art is solid on it and the very basic color scheme makes the image stand out even more.

Deadpool 10, A+X 8

Deadpool 10
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Staples (c)

Ben Franklin and Agent Preston are both disturbed and upset about the way Deadpool is handling the Vetis situation, which included killing Michael in the hopes he could go convince Mephisto that Vetis is trying to undercut him. Franklin leaves the group and drifts into, predictably, a strip club. We'll get back to that "predictably" bit in a second. Anyway, the next person Deadpool has to assassinate is a businessman named Daniel Gump who Vetis gave pre-cognitive powers to. When Deadpool arrives, he comes across Spider-Man, who is also investigating Gump, a suspiciously successful businessman who has suddenly acquired mercenary protection in the form of people like Batroc, Taskmaster, Stilt-Woman, and others. There's a bunch of banter, including Deadpool making fun of Doc Ock kind of out of nowhere, and eventually Deadpool catches up to Gump and kills him. Spider-Man webs Deadpool up with the other villains, denouncing him for killing Gump instead of letting the justice system have him. Meanwhile, Michael is trying to get to Mephisto but has run into some trouble with a gatekeeper demon.

Readers of this blog will know that I'm not particularly on board with this title the way it's currently running. That "predictably" tag I gave to Franklin going into the strip club could be applied to a lot of the jokes that pop up throughout this book and throughout this series. There are a handful of decent and original jokes peppered in throughout the ten issues we've seen so far but it feels like something like 80-90% of the jokes can be seen coming a mile away. That wouldn't be horrible in a book that doesn't sell itself on its jokes and that hadn't hired comedians to write it. However, where you have a book that makes just about every line a joke, it's a downside if those jokes constantly reach for the lowest hanging fruit. So no, this book hasn't really made me excited about anything they've done, despite including Tim-favorite Batroc the Leaper. It hurts when he shows up and I'm still not entertained.

A+X 8
Spider-Woman and Kitty Pryde: Duggan (w) and Larroca (a) and Ocampo (c)
Hawkeye and Deadpool: Hastings (w) and Brown (a) and Armstrong (c)

Hey, look at that. We start with a story written by Gerry Duggan, co-writer of the Deadpool series! I'm not going to say that what I said above about Deadpool 10 totally apply to this first story featuring Kitty Pryde and Spider-Woman and Lockheed trying to acquire a strange and unidentified space-metal for SWORD before anything bad happens to it. However, most of those things still do apply. There are a bunch of pop culture references and low-hanging fruit jokes and things like that. The other thing I couldn't help feeling, as is true with literally every issue of Deadpool I read, was that this book felt so long. Each Deadpool book, I get just about halfway through and can't believe the book is still going. Not because so much has happened, but because there's been such an overabundance of dialogue. Same problem here, which is particularly depressing because this story is half of an issue. So one quarter of the way through a book, I got annoyed with how long the book felt. Not the best feeling. Anyway, the three heroes fight Absorbing Man, who is trying to get his hands on the weird metal amidst a swarm of Hydra and AIM fighters. Kitty lets him take the metal then shuts his brain down after a whole ton of exposition about her history. Like I've said, A+X books aren't particularly plot-heavy or heavy in general and they don't have to be because of the conceit of the book. I would still rate this story under a lot of the stories that have spawned from this immensely long series.

There are still a bunch of pop culture references in the second story, featuring Hawkeye teaming with Deadpool to rescue a taco chef from pirates who intend to force him to make meals on their journey, but they make light of the fact that they're using pop culture references. Deadpool searches his repertoire for a new pop culture reference for Hawkeye only to learn that all of them have been used over and over again. Deadpool also decides to join Hawkeye in using arrows and shows off his own trick arrow, which uses a novelty Hulk hand at the end that punches people and roars when it hits them. The trick though, he explains, is that they all explode. The whole thing feels pretty genuine though, with two heroes who can more or less respect the way the other works and knows that their mission is a relatively fun one. Of course, I was a little biased going in as someone who likes both these heroes (and particularly roots for Deadpool to be halfway decent outside of his own books now, as it's the only place I can tolerate him now) and who likes Christopher Hastings (to my credit, I was a fan of Brian Posehn before Deadpool too). Anyway, this story was fun, nothing more, but that's what A+X is so can't fault it for doing its job well.

Journey into Mystery 652, Iron Man 258.3

Journey into Mystery 652
K. Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

For whatever reason, I tend not to clump this book among my favorites. Part of that I would have to attribute to the fact that I have so many books I'm a bit in love with right now. The other part might be that it hasn't really blown me away in any issue so far. It could still have something to do with the fact that my mind tends to seize up a little around Asgard stuff; there's a lot of history there and I don't know huge swaths of it, even considering how much I do know and that frustrates me. However, when we get right down to it, I love this book because of the way Immonen treats Sif. Immonen clearly has a perfect picture of the way she wants her main character to be presented and the way that Sif deserves to be presented. She's still undeniably Asgardian but she is her own Asgardian. She still has all the same warrior tendencies and the same bafflement at Earth qualities but she has such a clearly defined voice aside from all of those rather defined traits. If you're looking for a book with an interesting character and a good place to read character, you could do far worse than this one. As that is something I'm usually looking for, I tend to enjoy this book throughout then forget about it when I'm choosing favorites. So it goes.

Gaea, one of the Asgardia all-mothers, has taken ill and no one knows what to do about it. She's, as you might assume, the all-mother tied to nature so the Asgardians are particularly nervous about what this could mean. They also have no idea how to heal her. Sif goes to Broxton to talk to Jane Foster and see if humans have any sort of thoughts on this and Jane recommends quarantining and observing Gaea and her garden. Tony Stark offers an asteroid that he has marked as a place where they could quarantine her. Sif volunteers to take care of it and watch her out there but, when they get there, they get a call from Beta Ray Bill asking them to quickly evacuate the base because he and his ship Skuttlebutt are in pursuit of a ship that's set to crash on the asteroid, a ship that is being driven by Bill's ex-girlfriend. There's a lot of fun dialogue throughout the issue and Sif and Bill's relationship is already looking like a fun one, so it'll be good to see their interplay throughout the arc. Just a really fun book with a very strong central character.

Iron Man 258.3
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Entity is planning to kill both Iron Man and Justin Hammer, as Tony figured out last issue, so Iron Man goes to warn and protect Hammer of the impending attack. He gets there and is attacked by Hammer's defenses before being able to relay the message. As Hammer disengages his own attack, Entity sends in a squad of SHIELD Mandroids that he's hacked and a squad of Dreadnoughts to kill the pair. Iron Man is able to hold them all off long enough for Hammer to use his emergency escape ship to launch off to his space satellite. With Hammer clear of his island, Tony blows the whole place up to disable the Mandroids and Dreadnoughts. As they regroup, Tony heads for the satellite. His suit, though, isn't particularly made for space travel and he finds himself running low on oxygen as he reaches Hammer, who decides not to open the door for him, preferring to rid the world of Iron Man while he has the chance. Meanwhile, Rhodey has been trapped in Stark's underground computer base by the Entity and looks for a way out. He finds a new suit that looks like the War Machine suit (I don't know where exactly this series falls in continuity as it pertains to Rhodey and War Machine) which he determines isn't connected to the computer system, so it's free of Entity's influence. However, the last time Rhodey was in a suit was a pretty traumatic experience so he has to will himself into the suit, which he does to escape and try to help Tony.

Big ol' fight scenes permeate through this issue but not a ton else. There's not a giant focus on advancing the plot behind the fact that now Hammer seems to know Entity is after him and Rhodey is in a suit and on his way to help Tony. By and large, though, the issue spends its time with explosions and Tony narrating how he's going to defeat his various foes. Makes it a little tricky to delve into the plot and the characters when there isn't much to say. Oh well. Next issue is prime for some plot to happen, I suppose.

Uncanny X-Men 6, X-Men Legacy 11, Ultimate Wolverine 4

Uncanny X-Men 6
Bendis (w) and Irving (a and c)

Scott's team of X-Men are in Limbo right now (capital "L" means that they're in the place, not the state of being. Unless the place is a state of being. Look, just...it's a place in the Marvel Universe and we're all going to have to get over that) and Dormammu is enjoying trying to torture Illyana and claiming sole ownership of Limbo. The team, almost entirely consisting at this point of new mutants with untested powers and of teachers with broken powers, is nervous to engage Dormammu and his minions but are also unable to escape. The Cuckoos enter everyone's minds to give them courage to fight, which they proceed to do. Meanwhile, Maria Hill is trying to figure out who masterminded the attack on Cyclops in San Diego and what Cyclops' mutant revolution is planning on doing, exactly. To do this, she has enlisted another mutant to head up mutant affairs at SHIELD (I don't know if that's a real department, it's just what I'm trying to say): Dazzler.

There are some decent ideas in this book. Obviously training new mutants to use their powers and teaching them about what it is to be a mutant are cornerstones of X-Men books and those cornerstones are made more complicated by the fact that this is the first wave of new mutants since decimation. On top of that, learning that mutant powers can "break," as opposed to being simply magicked away or "cured," is an interesting thought if it's approached the right way. Speaking of approaching things the right way, there is really a feeling that Bendis can't get out of his own way on this. I've already spoken at great length in this blog and to anyone who will listen about how I don't like Bendis' writing style of late, which relies very heavily on snappy back-and-forth (he had a Tumblr post this week about how The Newsroom is not The West Wing in the same way that Bunheads isn't Gilmore Girls; both West Wing and Gilmore Girls are clearly pretty high up in his pantheon of shows and it DEFINITELY reflects in his writing style but, like I've said, that can work in TV and movies but works best if used very infrequently in comics). Putting aside the fact that I personally think it's obnoxious and gets pretty boring to read when done too often, I do think it slows up the actual good ideas he might have about the characters or about the world. It's a pity because I think there is still a Bendis out there I could not spend my time criticizing but, unfortunately for me, it's not present right now.

X-Men Legacy 11
Spurrier (w) and Davidson, Huat, and Yeung (a) and Rosenberg (c)

This book continues to be a joy to read. The secrets of the "red rage" and the Xavier (or at least one of them) in David's head are revealed as he continues through his tour of the I.B.S.S. facility to see if the "cure" pill is the real deal or some scam meant to kill mutants or steal their powers to be used by the stealer. As the issue pushes forward, David finds out a number of things about the facility, including the fact that the pill leaves mutants in a somewhat vegetative state, able to still feel happiness but not much else and never to really develop a personality again. Despite that, he still demands the pill, knowing that putting him in a vegetative state is better than him eventually losing control of his powers and destroying the world. As he reaches the last room, full of people who were the victims of mutant violence (all these victims have been unintentionally hurt as bystanders), he is surprised to find that they're not actually real. Well, they were. They are all dead, reanimated by an Xavier linked to David's brain. They're guarding any secrets perfectly from David because they're almost entirely shells. The red rage attached to that Xavier appears and berates David for trying to give up his powers and making himself a failed legacy to his father (X-MAN LEGACY), all of which David falters under and apologizes for. However, as the red rage disappears, he pulls himself together and understands that his father is dead and whatever sick being is corrupting David's mind to show him this has no control over him. He still demands the pill. In the end, the mastermind reveals himself as none other than the Red Skull, pulling off the Marcus Glove mask and starts soliloquizing, expecting David to lash out at him or something along those lines. Instead, David tells him that he's not going to be any part of the plan, the pill really does seem to work and that's all that matters because he still wants the pill.

The end of this issue was pretty amazing. On top of the reveal of the Xavier and the red rage in David being controlled by the Red Skull and the Red Skull running this little facility, David makes a real character stand and manages to do something that I'm not sure I've ever seen done in comics: not fight. Sure, fight scenes are great and comics are great at them, but there is a real expectation, especially when the mask comes off, that David is going to attack Skull or flee or decide not to take the pill because Skull is evil so this procedure is clearly evil or so on. Instead, David stands up to him and very candidly tells him that he doesn't care that it's Red Skull running the operation, he doesn't care that the Skull has his father's brain, he doesn't care about anything that could spawn from that. All he cares about is that the pill works and he's going to use it. It's a really brilliant twist in that it's not a twist from anything David's said over the last two issues but it breaks from everything comics are known for doing. Meanwhile, Blindfold is rallying the troops at home (by troops, I mean three other mutants who want to beat up David but are also willing to try to save him) to rescue David from taking the pill. That's more like comics but it's set opposite David insistence on taking the pill in such a way that it will still create new drama and a new story to build on. Really expertly done, great series, another great issue.

Ultimate Wolverine 4
Bunn (w) and Messina and Erskine (a) and Tartaglia (c)

The Ultimate Wolverine limited series concludes as Quicksilver and Wolverine brawl over what to be done with the Mothervine sample running through Jimmy's veins. Quicksilver wants to weaponize it to bring the mutant race back to its power and Jimmy refuses to let innocent people be hurt by whatever it is Quicksilver wants to do. Quicksilver, though, has the upper hand in this fight because he just needs blood and Jimmy doesn't want to kill him. However, Jimmy gets in enough hits to stall Pietro and is eventually saved by the reappearance of his birthmother, who knocks them both down. Jimmy, she reveals, will heal so she's not too worried, but she's willing to let Pietro suffer a bit. For Jimmy, that healing is going back to Utopia and forgetting about Mothervine for a bit while also embracing his heritage as Wolverine. For Pietro, suffering means whatever's about to happen next in Ultimates Disassembled, the Ultimates storyline set to start in Ultimates 25. Ultimates.

It's a neat and tidy story with a little bit of character building for both the Wolverines of this universe, giving us the father aspect of Logan that knew the best way to protect and raise Jimmy to live and be a good man was to give him to his old war buddy James Hudson and giving us a good amount of information on Jimmy, who has starred in plenty of Ultimate X-Men books but hasn't had a ton of time to really be explored in that series. The Ultimate Quicksilver is also a somewhat fascinating person; he's not so removed from his 616 parallel that his whole personality is different, but he has more of the villainous streak that makes Pietro such an interesting character across both universes. Obviously he's been a hero in each place, but he has done his fair sure of treacherous acts and is often viewed with suspicion or contempt from his peers. Adding to that feeling in the Ultimate Universe isn't a bad way to push forward. It'll be nice to see him re-emerge in the Ultimates in a few issues.

Superior Spider-Man 10, Scarlet Spider 17

Superior Spider-Man 10
Slott (w) and Stegman and C. Smith (a) and Delgado (c)

After the events of last issue, Peter Parker seems officially to be gone from the Marvel Universe. There's no longer a trace of Peter inside his old body or inside his old brain so any Peters that might be lurking out there are unbeknownst to us as yet. Doc Ock knows it too and revels in it, knowing that now he can fully be the Spider-Man he wants to be. As I've mentioned on this blog, that's a more brutal Spider-Man but quite possibly a more effective one. His goal is, as he states, not to treat the symptoms, which he criticizes Parker for doing, but to eliminate the disease. He wants to snuff crime out from the source. His spider-bots, monitoring the city for crime, have allowed him to get a jump on that including, in this issue, taking down three major supervillain gang leaders in the Owl, the White Dragon, and Tombstone. Satisfied with that work, he doesn't stop their scurrying henchmen, who all end up recruited by one of the many Goblins out there right now, this one dubbing him/herself as the Goblin King, who had also recruited Vulture's child henchmen. Add to that the fact that the Goblin King has figured out a flaw in the spider-bot programming that allowed him or her to go unseen and there's something of a massive problem on the horizon for Superior Spider-Man. On top of his issues with the criminals of the town, Doc Ock, despite throwing the Avengers off his trail, has attracted the suspicions of both Carlie Cooper and Mary Jane Watson with his recent behavior, which also includes going back to school to earn his doctorate and dating his tutor for the class he needs. All sorts of things happening with this new Spidey.

I've already expressed sadness over the loss of Peter Parker but I've also expressed interest in how well this series is shaping up. On top of the fact that it's a good comic helmed by a guy who absolutely seems to know what he's doing with his book, Doc Ock has proved to be a rather fascinating character in the shoes of Peter Parker. Like I said, it can definitely be argued that he's a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker was (though we'd probably need more time to fully evaluate that statement) and his obsession with planning out his moves makes for both a very different character than Peter and a very entertaining one. If a planner sort of person is written well, he or she makes for one of the better characters to see in any medium. It's like Nick Fury; when he's written well and you can see the wheels within wheels part of him at work, you don't ever want to put down the series. Black Panther can often run the same way, on top of being one of the coolest and most mysterious heroes out there. I don't know if Ock can reach those sorts of levels (his personality as a whole is nowhere near the personality of the aforementioned two) but he can certain make for a good series.

Scarlet Spider 17
Yost (w) and Barberi and Wong (a) and Lokus (c)

After fending off an attack from the Assassin's Guild once several arcs ago, Kaine agreed to a deal with them: in exchange for leaving his friends alone, Kaine would kill someone for them at some point. That time has come and the Guild wants Wolverine dead. Kaine brings Aracely with him to Westchester and sends a costumed Aracely in posing as a young mutant. It's maybe not the best plan, considering how many telepaths are on call at the Jean Grey School, but it gives Kaine time to invisible his way in there. The pair are promptly discovered and the X-Men engage them, only to have Aracely accidentally incapacitate half the team with her weird powers and for Kaine to take out Bobby and Beast. When Wolverine finally joins the action, he and Kaine start slugging it out too, ending when Prey makes an appearance (maybe we should call him Predator. I don't know. Whatever's inside Kaine that constantly names everything else Prey) and stops Wolverine's heart. The issue ends as Kaine asks the other X-Men who's next.

This is Wolverine we're talking about so ripping his heart in half isn't really a fatal blow to the healing mutant. Well, it is. But he can probably come back from it. Perhaps that's the way this little arc is headed, with the Guild's terms met (kill Wolverine; he's officially done that now, the deal didn't specify that they had to stay dead). Still, it raises more interesting character questions about both Kaine, who continues to be more brutal than Peter Parker and more willing to kill cherished mutant heroes, and Aracely, whose powers are still somewhat undefined and whose background is doubly so. The writing continues to be largely good and pretty fun and Yost's grasp of the characters at the Jean Grey School is not unimpressive. Looking forward to the further interplay between Kaine and the X-Men, especially on the heels of killing Wolverine without too, too much difficulty. This solid spinoff continues to be solid and seems to be a pretty well-established book in Marvel's stables right now. Weird that at number 17, you can have more issues under the belt than most titles out there. Such is the downfall of rebranding.

Daredevil 26, Fantastic Four 8

Daredevil 26
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

This plot has seemingly reached its climax as Matt escapes Ikari and goes to try to fix himself up a bit before the next encounter, whenever that may come. He's unsettled and freaked out and extremely paranoid about Ikari's attack and the threat that a new one could come at any time. He snaps during an interview with a possible replacement for Foggy's workload, lashing out at a man reaching for antacids to soothe his nerves during the interview. As the man rushes out of the office with Matt apologizing behind him, the man mentions Ikari and escapes. The same thing happens as Matt gets to the hospital to help Foggy through his chemo and attacks a nurse who's about to inject Foggy with something. Though the nurse seems to be legit, the syringe has braille on it that says "got you." Matt confesses to Foggy everything that's happening and Foggy tries to help him figure things out. As they try to piece together the related events, Foggy's notes start to form a bullseye. BULLSEYE (though, to cover my bases, I find it important to note that they never officially confirm it's Bullseye). Admittedly, it's a little weird the way they get to the end result, but the end result is super exciting as one of Daredevil's biggest foes seems back on the scene. DD evades Ikari, who is still following him, and heads to Bullseye's hideout (thanks to a tip from Hank Pym about where the radioactive waste came from). There he finds Lady Bullseye, who he takes out efficiently, before advancing on Bullseye. The issue ends as Ikari sneaks up behind Daredevil.

I really like Daredevil as a character and as a series right now and one of the reasons I've found him so compelling are his key villains. Elektra was always cool as a villain because she's so brutal and has such a past with Daredevil. Kingpin is a great villain because he's the exact kind of mastermind you want a criminal to be, always a few steps ahead and very cunning and ruthless. But Bullseye is the key villain to Daredevil. He's the same sort of build as Daredevil, with beatable skills but definitely very real skills. He's also got the Joker sort of mentality of never knowing what his real motivation is. He's sometimes in it for the money, he's often in it because he hates Daredevil so much at this point. He's very interesting to me and I can't help but be a little excited at the prospect that Bullseye is back finally, long after his "death" in Shadowland. This is my problem as a comic reader: I want death to mean something in comics and not to be cheapened by the fact everyone eventually comes back, but I also don't want anyone to be gone forever. Comics fans: we're exceedingly hard to please. The very end of this issue also features a second story (by the same creative team) about Foggy's time in the hospital. It focuses on Foggy going to entertain some cancer patient children as they wait for Iron Man to come see them. It's a very touching little mini-issue that isn't preachy but still comes with a great lesson while also giving us a good look at Foggy, one of the best support characters in comics.

Fantastic Four 8
Fraction (w) and Bagley and Farmer and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

It's Ben's one day in his human form a year and he has a full plan for the day. The F4 bring him back to Yancy Street of the past and he goes to pick a fight with the Yancy Street Gang. This isn't the YSG from FF, this is a group of gangsters with guns and a penchant for shakedowns. Ben steps in to protect a shop-owner from the gangsters and promises the shop-owner and his wife that he'll protect them. He relates his troubles, in short, with the Yancy Street Gang and tells them that he's seeking a bit of retribution, even if it means getting his hands dirty. The shop-owner's wife doesn't like the sound of that and asks Ben to leave. Ben has to admit to himself that he's come an awful long way just to beat someone up but ultimately decides it's still worth it. He sends the YSG running again but the shop-owner points out that they'll just come back with more guys and more guns. Ben checks the time and promises that they're going to get some backup by then. Of course, when the YSG shows up again, the Thing is back and fights them all off, swearing to always protect Yancy Street. The YSG runs off and Ben returns to the F4, who have questions of their own for him. While he was gone, the kids relate a dream they each had about the adults going away and leaving holographic messages for them (as related in their AU tie-in; pretty cool that these kids dream in alternate realities) and reveal that Ben had said something in the dream about a fateful run in with Doc Doom back in college. The F4 are about to set off for COLLEGE.

I found myself really liking this episode, though I've never been a Thing fan. It's very sweet and gives a really good sense of his character. We already know that Thing doesn't like the YSG and that he loves Yancy Street but we get a really good look at it here as he goes to try to shape the way his home evolves over time. It's genuinely touching and it helps to ground him on Earth and illustrates some of why he's so homesick when they're gone. It's also a good story on its own that stands alone while also fitting into the rest of the series. Add to that the intrigue of the children remembering the events of the AU tie-in issue (despite the fact they remember it as a dream and that it's part of a universe that will never have happened by the end of all that business) and where the team is going next to potentially correct errors in Ben's past and we have ourselves some story and some major character building.

Uncanny Avengers 8AU, Fearless Defenders 4AU

Uncanny Avengers 8AU
Remender and Duggan (w) and Kubert (a) and F. Martin (c)

I can't help feeling, again and again, that the AU tie-in books are stronger than the AU series books. That might not necessarily be a really bad thing (though it's a little hard to argue the point) because the event is producing good comics somewhere. It is weird, though, that I understand more about the Age of Ultron event from reading the side books than I understand from the Age of Ultron main title. Not about the "Ultron is here, go back and time and kill Hank Pym bit." That plot is really easy to understand (if a little hackneyed) despite the series' insistence that it's not and they need to spend four issues telling you all about it. However, this issue goes out of its way to explain the dynamics of the new world that's been created by Hank Pym's death, showing us more than what the main series had, which had pretty much been "LOOK, NOW HE'S COLONEL AMERICA AND HE HAS AN EYEPATCH AND LOOK OVER THERE, WASP IS CAPTAIN MARVEL WASP." Here, Remender and Duggan attempt to explain how some of the relationships in this world work and how the world itself functions without the Avengers (I'm going to be honest, I still don't see how Hank Pym dying ends the Avengers in total. I know he was a founding member and he did a lot of big things here and there but, let's be honest, he's Hank Pym). On top of that, we understand a good deal more about Eimin and Uriel's upbringing at the hands of Kang and what Kang's plans are.

Kang is trying to raise Eimin and Uriel (this seems to happen before their attack in UA, not to be confused with AU) to be prepared to kill human. He wants them to kill Colonel America in this dimension (which he also knows is inconsequential, just like the audience of AU) to get some practice. Meanwhile, Steve is going to talk to Havok, the leader of the Morlocks, underground in the hopes of bringing Caliban, who has killed someone, to court. He and Alex and Rogue (Alex's wife in this dimension) argue a bit about mutants and humans and everything else before Uriel and Eimin attack. Cap leads them away from the Morlocks and is starting to lose the fight when Alex intercedes. He gives Steve time to escape before getting sliced in half himself by Uriel. Rogue attacks Uriel and is fatally wounded, but absorbs his memories and finds out about their past at the hands of Kang. She tries to talk to him as she's dying, trying to get him to understand how evil Kang is and how he and his sister are being used. She starts to get through to him but Kang directs Eimin to finish Rogue off. As punishment for letting Steve escape, Kang sends the Apocalpyse twins back to the mutant camps to learn to hate humanity some more. It's a good standalone issue that serves as a solid addition to both AU and UA. Can't ask more of a tie-in book than that.

Fearless Defenders 4AU
Bunn (w) and Jimenez and Kesel w/ McConnell (a) and Fabela (c)

This one was a bit less telling. It still follows the basic functions of the the tie-in; we learn a little about the world of AU while also focusing on a character from the Fearless Defenders. In this case, we learn an awful lot about Hippolyta. Ares rules Latveria under the guise of Dr. Doom and we find out that Hippolyta, who is Ares' daughter, was killed by her own daughter who had decided her mother wasn't fit to rule the Amazonians. Ares then sought retribution on the Amazonians for killing his daughter but Hippolyta knows that it was Ares who stoked the fire in her daughter, even if Hippolyta's death wasn't his goal. And Caroline le Fey wants to meet Dr. Doom who is her father. So there are some daddy issues abound. However, I can't say there's too much more.

We learn a bit about Hippolyta, who is probably the character who has most risen out of the ashes (literally and in terms of the Marvel Universe) from this Fearless Defenders team. We also learn a bit more about the AU universe, including the state of Latveria and its people, and what has happened to Mjolnir (it now rests with Ares, though it's "worthy" magic has dissipated now that Thor has died, which I would say isn't really how Mjolnir works but whatever, I'm not a Mjolnir historian, despite my wishes). Oh, and Caroline le Fey has a sort of Cable-like origin story but without the "raised in a hellish war zone and forced to adapt" bit. Instead, she was sent to the future by her mother to be raised by wealthy followers of her mother. Okay, I'm reaching a bit for plot pieces so let's just wrap it up. If you're trying to complete your AU collection, pick this up or if you're a diehard Hippolyta fan. Otherwise, worth a miss.

Avengers 12, Young Avengers 5

Avengers 12
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

Another interesting and less action-driven issue. The positive of this series is that it's created a story that is so self-sustaining and requires such a commitment that showing downtime is not only acceptable, it's natural. This so far isn't a book that needs action to push it to its next spot every issue, like so many other books, because the action is happening all around the Avengers. They have to deal with these life seeds all over the world but they can't deal with it in a "blow it up right away" kind of method. They instead have to see what these seeds are doing and investigate the circumstances as a whole. This issue is kind of the perfect example of that as the team further studies what's happening in the Savage Land. Tony (investigating this all from deep space with an empty suit providing surveillance and backup for the team on Earth) has been looking into the Savage Land and has found the newborn inhabitants to be remarkable. They don't need food or water, they don't breathe, and they've already aged about seven human years in two weeks or so. They can still be harmed but they don't have the same necessities that humans do. He worries that taking away the struggle of survival will make them cold or unsympathetic or any number of other, bad things so Hyperion and Thor decide to try to teach the children about life on Earth. It's a nice idea because neither character is from Earth and both share the kind of "we don't have the same struggles as humans do" mentality. They attempt to teach the children about trust and values and glory and honor and accountability and so on before Captain Universe shows up and helps explain that not needing can translate to providing, the same sort of argument that could be made about Thor or Hyperion's motivations. With great power and all that. Speaking of, Spider-Man interjects to mention that these children can still be harmed so teaching them only that lesson will lead to them martyring themselves and nothing more. As the issue winds down, several of the children are kidnapped by the High Evolutionary who has discovered what could be the next phase of humanity on the planet.

Again, I really like how well-paced this issue is. Sometimes I get annoyed at not having a plot advanced but I don't think a lack of action translates to a lack of plot. I'm particularly willing to forgive a lack of action if we get an added depth of character, which is bound to happen in this series when we're introducing so many new character/reintroducing lesser known characters. In this case, we get a lot of backstory on Hyperion and his feelings towards Earth and his own life. He's a little Doctor Manhattan-y with lesser powers. He's still unbelievably powerful (possibly equatable to Thor) but his memories work in the kind of way that Doc Manhattan's do: they're not linear, they're pretty much all a single moment, stored in light. He does seem to fully believe in helping humans, though, and has the personality that separates him from Doc Manhattan and others like him. He and Thor bond about being superior beings sworn to protect Earth and it's a nice little moment for each. Another good issue and I think this team is building nicely.

Young Avengers 5
Gillen (w) and McKelvie and Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

I still think that New Avengers is my favorite book currently being put out at Marvel. I'm blown away during every issue from start to finish and I usually need some time to process everything I've read. That said, I don't know if there's a book I get more excited to read than Young Avengers. There's a chance it could take the mantle from New Avengers at any moment but, for the time being, it's a situation where I prep this blog entry (by writing the title and the names of the people right up above the entry) and get actually giddy to start reading the comic itself. I know it's going to be absolutely gorgeous and have all sorts of twists and turns and be fun and different and exciting. It's about as big of a guarantee as anyone can make in this business and it's absolutely thrilling to have that out there. I also come away from the book going "whoaaaaa" or something of the like. I think three of the first five issues have left me on a weird emotional high where I can feel my whole body tingling and I can't stop smiling because what I've read has touched something in me that is so pleased with the fact I've been able to read this book that it takes me some undetermined amount of time to come down from it. So I suppose I can safely recommend this book to just about anyone.

We start to delve here into what exactly is going on with Kid Loki as Kid Loki himself shows us what exactly is going on with Kid Loki. Readers of Gillen's Journey into Mystery (SPOILERS: I DON'T USUALLY WARN OF THEM BECAUSE I FEEL IT'S INHERENT WITH WHAT I'M WRITING BUT IN THIS CASE, IF YOU INTEND TO READ GILLEN'S JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, YOU SHOULD AVOID READING THE AREA BETWEEN THESE TWO SETS OF BOLD TEXT BECAUSE THAT SERIES IS GREAT AND I DON'T WANT TO RUIN IT FOR ANYONE) will already know that Kid Loki was still a form of Loki, but one who strived to change the way Loki worked and the way he was viewed. It was a great series presented as a sort of novel across something like twenty to thirty issues that showed the ever-devious Loki deviously doing things that could help everyone instead of things that could help only Loki. Of course, the true Loki wasn't quite gone and had been scheming himself and eventually forced Kid Loki into a corner and overwrote his soul with that of the original Loki. Confusing yes. Gillen explains it better in this very book. But we didn't really see anything past that assumed overwriting until now, as the true Kid Loki is now a sort of guilty conscience for regular Loki and-you know what, hang on a second, let me invite the other readers back in - OKAY, COME ON BACK NOW GUYS - This is a bit of a convoluted issue to explain because it involves me going so far back into JiM and other things so here's what I have to say: Read this issue. Read this book. Subscribe to it. You should be reading this series because it's so great. The characters are interesting and perfectly written. The art is gorgeous. The story is entertaining (this is the last issue of the arc, better get the whole series to be safe). The directions this book can go are numerous. It's all very exciting. Go buy it. That's my review.

Comics this week!

Lotta good books out there this week. Fifteen books this week, if my count is right (I have to temper it with that all the time because I've been burned before). There's been a weird lull lately of non-20 book weeks. I'll be honest, I'm not complaining. I love reading comics but reviewing five books a day while also attempting to perform as an adult human is occasionally taxing. But this is the world and I'm complaining about self-inflicted writing about books I tend to like far more than I tend to dislike. Maybe if I could stop myself from writing essays on each book I'd be in better shape. Maybe.

A+X 8
I don't tend to put these books (or books like them) on my "most anticipated" lists for the simple reason that I don't tend to anticipate them. They are what they are and I don't begrudge them that. They're fun little one-off books but they're not typically much for plot or hugely for character building. That said, I'm pretty excited about this book if just for half of it. I'm not completely thrilled for the first half, which is a Spider-Woman and Kitty Pryde team up written by Deadpool co-writer Gerry Duggan. I'm not really a fan of Spider-Woman (though I've grown fonder of her with DeConnick's take) and I'm not a fan of the new Deadpool series. I am, though, still a big fan of Deadpool and Dr. McNinja writer Christopher Hastings (who wrote the Deadpool mini for Fear Itself as well) will team Deadpool with Hawkeye for his half of the story. I'm pretty excited about that one.

Avengers 12
This book just keeps building and building. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before (I think I may have last week, or I may have just been thinking about it a lot) but Kelly Sue DeConnick says that Hickman is capable of planning in four year blocks for his stories. It makes total sense (and the more I write down, the more I remember having already written that at some point) and this story feels like something along those lines. When I said this to one of the guys at my comic shop, he said that he'd be surprised if Hickman stayed on the book for four years; guys like that tend to move around and are usually in the Marvel game to prop up their creator-owned books. That's not untrue and it's not anything to hold against Hickman (whose CO stuff I should really be reading) but that doesn't change the fact that this series feels like a long game. That doesn't mean the immediate stuff is worth skipping; quite the opposite in fact. These kinds of long term things tend to be most rewarding after reading everything and this book has been really good already.

Daredevil 26
Geez, what's not to recommend about this book right now? Matty's up to his neck in stress and now he has to deal with a mysterious hired gun who has all of Matt's powers but isn't blind (and knows Matt is)? There's definitely worrying stuff all over the horizon if not closer for Matt Murdock and I swear at some point his Shadowland past will catch up to him, you just watch. I mean, it has to, right? It was pretty crazy.

Superior Spider-Man 10
After last issue's somewhat shocking reveal that Doc Ock figured out Peter's memories were gaining sentience and that Peter had a chance of coming back, he snuffed out the problem and seems ready to move on and away from it. We're all comic book readers here so we all expected Peter to come back, maybe even sooner than this would have been. Could Doc Ock really have taken out the last chance for Peter Parker's return? Probably not, but it's worth thinking about. Just like the most intriguing question in Marvel right now might just be "Is Doc Ock a superior Spider-Man?"

Young Avengers 5
Even if Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie weren't crafting an exquisite book right now, with an enticing plot, superb characters, clever writing, and gorgeous art, the plot twist of "Loki has reality-altering powers" should be enough of a draw for any reader. That's Loki, god of mischief and decidedly sinister, with powers spawned from the lady who once decimated the mutants by saying words. Not even particularly difficult to say words, just words. Sure, Billy's powers might not be quite up to his mom's standards yet but he also doesn't know how to use them. Loki doesn't have the level of power Billy has (right now, anyway) but he sure has the experience Billy lacks with powers. Now we have to see if Loki fulfills his promise to help them or if he simply doesn't return to the team. Maybe more than that, though, is what he'll do with the powers now that he has them. Extinguish the curse, sure. But he's got ten whole minutes with those powers. You think that's all he's going to do?