Remender (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)
Wanda has to choose for or against helping the Apocalypse Twins move every mutant off Earth and to an ark to be brought to their new home on Jupiter, leaving the humans to ruin Earth themselves. What's more, if she chooses that path, she has to convince Wonder Man to help her accomplish it. She's very torn on it and she reveals to Simon just how broken she still is over her role in decimating the mutants, something she hasn't really let on too much about since she's returned to the Universe. It's been a little on the outside, kind of seeping in (no thanks to Rogue's incessant anger), and now it comes to a head here as she sobs to Simon about the weapon she became. She asks him to make the decision, afraid that she won't make a strong one. According to Eimin, who has used her temporal powers to see this future, he will agree to help her. Meanwhile, Cap, Havok, and Wasp are trying to shut down the tachyon transmitters that are blocking aid from the future from coming in. This is all on Immortus' request, who is not the most reliable person but who Havok and Cap feel they have to trust in this situation. They're set upon by Banshee as they're closing in on the tachyon transmitters in one of the Akkaba Society cities and a fight breaks out, slowing their way as Wonder Man makes his decision. Flash forward about 2100 years to the Kang Dynasty where Kang, thrilled that his twins are going to remove the mutant threat from Earth, has a rude awakening as the twins, in a recorded message to Kang, reveal that they've sabotaged his home. It begins crumbling away in front of him as they congratulate him for being king for a day.There's plenty in this issue, which is particularly exciting as this was kind of billed a little bit as an origin story for Uriel and Eimin. There are certainly elements of that, as we see them try to break from Red Skull's future mutant internment camps only to face more punishment (Uriel is told to cut out Eimin's eyes to prevent her seeing more opportunities for escape), but this is largely involved with the things that are going on at present. Not to say I don't want to hear Uriel and Eimin's origin stories; I think what they've been through is both interesting and obviously integral to this story, but it's not usually great to break from the main story as it's getting intense for a flashback. The way Remender structured it here, showing us a horrible moment clearly pulled from a slew of horrible moments while humans continually let the twins down, was perfect, giving us plenty of backstory and motivation without needing to dedicate an entire issue to it. This gives us a little extra room for a somewhat fun interaction between Havok, Cap, and Wasp as we hear a little too much information from Wasp about her run-ins with the Hellfire Club and as we get a little bit of flirting between Wasp and Havok, which Cap has to somewhat embarrassingly break up. Nice bit of fun, well-timed and well-executed. Really good book overall. I wasn't necessarily thrilled that Salvador Larroca was illustrating this one (I've tired of him a bit over in Cable and X-Force) but the art didn't both me. I think he's better off drawing people in smaller panels or with fewer tight close-ups. Frank Martin's colors don't hurt either. Really good story and some bonus characterization in this one.
Young Avengers 10
Gillen (w) and McKelvie w/ Norton (a) and Wilson (c)
Loki pays a quick visit to Mother back in her dimension to get some questions answered. We find out that, though her entry to this dimension is Billy's fault, it was Loki who subconsciously planted the idea in Billy's head to try to resurrect Teddy's mother. Loki now, though, feels fully in charge of the situation, having used magical rules to his own end and successfully playing the game, which leaves Loki with the trust of Billy, the wizard whose future will dictate the future of magic itself, and leaves Mother stuck in her dimension as long as none of the Young Avengers return to New York. The variable he didn't account for, unfortunately for the team, is Leah's re-emergence. After Loki leaves Mother's dimension (and after a very quick appearance by the Patri-not), Leah pops in to suggest the two team up to take down Loki. She returns to Earth to accompany Teddy to their group in Austin, which consists of her, three former lovers of Noh-Varr, Ultimate Nullifier (from the Teen Brigade America came from), and Patri-not. They all share stories of being dumped and how they all want revenge for these slights. When asked to share, Teddy denies them all, saying that they're all crazy stalkers and that hurt feelings are no reason to hurt people. Leah says he's welcome to leave the magic circle whenever he likes, which he does choose to do. Unfortunately, the magic circle has transported them to New York and Teddy emerges from the basement only to be besieged by Mother and her cronies.Crazy stuff happening as Leah becomes, yet again, a major player in a Marvel book (pretty exciting, in truth, even if it goes against our team). More than that, we're starting to understand a little bit better the dynamic between this Loki and our team. Specifically, we're seeing the plans Loki has put into place (Loki is always putting plans into place) and how everything is connected. It all pours nicely back into the demiurge idea of Billy being the most powerful being in creation (and nicely points to Loki trying to rush him out of that dimension), which connects very nicely with possible Loki plans. Nothing else out of the rest of the team but Teddy's bits are certainly nice touches here. I think I've mentioned before that I don't have a particular fondness for Teddy, which is different than literally anyone else on this team (even the newest characters are higher on the list typically than Teddy is for me). It's nothing against Teddy, he just doesn't really have a personality that clicks with me (or a personality, sometimes). He gets a little lost in the shuffle as primary supporting character to Billy. Here he actually speaks out and defines himself, not allowing himself to be absorbed into the group of burned lovers. Solid issue for him and a really great Gillen-writes-Loki-and-Leah issue. Art continues to be outstanding, still worth mentioning. Great book.
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