Secret Avengers 5, Avengers World 9

Secret Avengers 5
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

It's sort of a day off for the Secret Avengers with all of their recent missions end it and the team spends it in their own ways. Spider-Woman talks to the living bomb and learns from it that she is an empath, Coulson demands a vacation and takes it even after it's denied, Fury is sent into Coulson's locker only to have acid sprayed in his good eye for his troubles, Black Widow helps Maria Hill interrogate the terrible poet and reveals that she knows about MODOK, Hawkeye eats lunch and shoots some arrows, and Maria Hill and MODOK discuss whether MODOK can be trusted. Though MODOK swears he can and swears that he wants to make the world better, Hill secretly believes that everything that's happened recently, from the hitman to the recently discovered pregnancy of the Fury to the poet and the living bomb, has MODOK's fingerprints all over it.

There are directions in which this book can go that I think would make it an interesting book and I think that Kot has wisely kept many of those directions open. One of the benefits of an occasional rest issue is that it allows a reader to reset and the writer to nod at different potential plot lines. You need to fill space in a rest issue and you don't want it to be wasted space so the best thing you can do is keep some balls in the air. Kot is doing that nicely here, but there is a little bit of a flaw here in that Kot's biggest ball still in the air is that MODOK maybe can't be trusted. I wasn't particularly onboard at any point with MODOK joining up with SHIELD because I don't think it tracks at any point in MODOK's existence (it tracks in SHIELD's existence because SHIELD is the worst) but neither sincerely wanting to help SHIELD nor subterfuge and subtlety in trying to take SHIELD apart from the outside has ever been a strong suit for MODOK, so to find that this book's drama is currently hinging on whether or not we trust MODOK left me feeling a little letdown. Still, I enjoyed this issue more than the previous ones because it felt a little more down-to-Earth (I don't think the book should be forced to keep to sort of generic comic book standards, but I do think it needs to choose a real tone and stick with it) and didn't get too caught up in its own perception.

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 9
Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and Mossa (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cannonball and Sunspot are being treated pretty well by AIM and it's throwing them off a bit. They're not able to leave but they're treated to fine dining and first-run movies (with as blatant a nod to Marvel's upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy as you're about to see in comics, even including the movie tie-in books). Still, their rescue team didn't pan out but Maria Hill was able to establish contact. With the help of a future Jocasta unit recovered back in Spencer's SECRET AVENGERS, Hill has learned that AIM Island has blossomed because the AIM of the future is sending back tech and info to the past. She knows how they're doing it and sends Cannonball and Sunspot to go shut it down at the source, traveling to the future to stop the flow of information to the past. A future Jocasta meets them there and brings them to see the kidnapped children of the Avengers.

I talked in my pre-game about how much I'm enjoying this series as a whole, with smaller teams and somewhat more personal quarters and missions. It's been a really strong book altogether and I think this issue is no different. This one is a little more light-hearted as Cannonball and Sunspot, particularly together, are more light-hearted characters, but it works here as the situation still feels big but they, with all of their powers and bravado, don't quite fit into it, leading to the humor and the slightly-off tone. It works. Also, there's a major Back to the Future reference which is then called back very nicely and a good Back to the Future reference will typically get me on your side (I'm calling it Back to the Future because the line in question, "it's your kids, Marty, something has got to be done about your kids!," is at the end of the first movie and is repeated at the start of the second movie but we're NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE SECOND MOVIE. Whole stupid thing hinges on Marty not being able to walk away from someone calling him chicken. So dumb, you guys! But that first one is gold).

Total Score: 5/5
Back to the Future Total Score: 1.21 GW

Punisher 4, She-Hulk 3

Punisher 4
Edmondson (w) and Gerads (a and c)

Captured by Dos Soles and Electro, Punisher is in a bit of a bind. Electro tortures him while the leader of the Dos Soles promises that he'll earn money loaning Punisher out to be tortured to other villains who have been hurt by his actions. Electro has no intention of letting Punisher live that long but doesn't mention that bit to the Dos Soles' leader. After the drug lord leaves the room, Electro continues to brag to Punisher before Punisher kicks out at the chest of Electro and propels himself, chair and all, through a window behind him. Freed from his chains on impact, he rushes to one of the bombs in the room, daring the Dos Soles who saw his escape to shoot him. He manages to get a gun from one of them and he works his way through the building before the Dos Soles' leader detonates the building, preferring not to leave anything behind. Punisher reunites with Tuggs and tells him that the Soles are planning a citywide strike on LA with Electro, who is also working with AIM and has come to work with the Dos Soles as part of an arrangement with AIM (though Frank doesn't know this part yet). While Frank sets out to shut them down, Tuggs is captured by the new Howling Commandoes closing in on Punisher. A new wrench is going to be thrown into everything, though, as AIM hires another mercenary to work for whatever their plan is: former X-Man/X-Force member Domino.

Like BLACK WIDOW, Edmondson is here writing another story about a strong protagonist who is good at what he does even if what he does is arguably "good." He also makes sure that the protagonist has a strong narrative running throughout, something important for both books that he's writing right now. With BLACK WIDOW, he has to ensure that she's not characterized as cold or heartless; Noto's art helps bunches with that because she's so very human in the art but having a running narrative of the way she thinks helps tremendously. In that same way, Punisher is brutal and efficient in his methods and he's very steadfast in what he believes, all of which has put him toe-to-toe with unambiguously "good" superheroes time and again. Giving him a strong narrative and putting his very human thoughts there (as writers sometimes use the "Punisher's War Journal" entries to do, though I think it's less effective than a straight shot into his mind) humanize him in a way that his actions never could. Strong issue here and plenty of story to follow as Punisher's new universe gets a bit bigger every issue.

She-Hulk 3
Soule (w) and Pulido (a) and Vicente (c)

She-Hulk has been approached by Kristoff Vernard, son of Dr. Doom, seeking asylum in the United States. As the two go out for coffee so she can hear his case, he says that he's being kept in Latveria and groomed to be the next ruler of the nation, which may be okay except that he knows he wouldn't be a ruler in his own right, he'd be the ruler holding all of Doom's positions and doing only what he wanted. He wants to be allowed to experience the world for himself and he knows Doom will never allow it. She agrees to help him but, since he's been in America for exactly a year at this point, they have to get the paperwork in that day. She calls in a favor with a judge and they get into Kristoff's car. His driver begins to take them to the airport, revealing himself to be a Doombot as they figure out where they're going. She-Hulk stops him and tracks down an old Fantasticar kept at JFK to get them back into the city. On the way in, they're besieged by legions of Doombots as they try to make their way into the courthouse in disguise. One catches what they assume is Kristoff only to find it's Hellcat posing as Kristoff to allow the actual man time to get into the courtroom. He does and She-Hulk rushes in behind him, rather beat up. Given the difficulty it took just getting past Doom and into the court that day, the judge approves his grant for asylum but no sooner does she pound the gavel than does Doom himself descend into the courtroom and drag Kristoff away, with She-Hulk vowing to get him back.

Bold move here as Soule puts She-Hulk right up against Dr. Doom to kick off her brand new series. There's a lot of legal work here as we understand why Kristoff wants asylum and the case in which it can be granted to him, not to mention some of the logistics of gaining asylum. The book kicks off with double page spreads galore as She-Hulk and Kristoff walk through the city with elongated panels stretching between the two pages. It's certainly an interesting layout and makes the story feel almost widescreen, in a way, though it's not a tactic I think I'd enjoy so much on repeated issues (I'm a bit conservative with my fondness for double page spreads, another thing I tend not to enjoy from Bendis). The book flows pretty well, though it's an interestingly paced book. There are long swaths of dialogue as procedure and history is explained but the double page spreads serve to make the book read faster; though there's a lot of dialogue, every page-worth of dialogue is spread across two pages. So the book flows but it's not in a regular sort of way. Still, it works and the book continues to be a pretty fun ride.

Avengers 27, Avengers Assemble 25

Avengers 27
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

The Avengers are fighting the Avengers from an alternate universe, meaning that AIM has suddenly realized their responsibility in unleashing these Avengers on Earth and in losing their brand new super Adaptoids. It's not an enviable position for AIM and they certainly don't want to be tied into this whole situation. While the core of the Avengers fight their dopplegangers, Banner meets with the other Banner, learning that he's been lobotomized and had the part of his brain that recognized and enabled emotion removed. He no longer gets angry and he now turns into the Hulk by a remote control wielded by his Avengers, who act more as conquerors and slaughterers than heroes. Bruce decides to test the sociopath theory by striking him in the back with a wrench, believing that he still has the ability to Hulk. As the Avengers take down their counterparts one by one (along with shocking revelations like their Iron Man is a crazed Jarvis who killed Howard and a baby Tony and took the mantle himself and that their Captain America is actually a General), Hulk turns up, but all actions indicate that he's the other Hulk. Before anything can be conclusive or before the fight can be satisfactorily ended, AIM pops in and puts a temporal field around them, stopping time momentarily so they can capture the other Avengers and bring them back with no record of their interference. Meanwhile, the super Adaptoids have found AIM's multiverse gate and intend to enter it as explorers.

I'll be honest, I kind of keep forgetting this story is going on. That's not to say I don't like it. I think there is a lot to like here. The foes are interesting, seeing what the goal of these Avengers is has proven interesting, AIM's involvement is compelling enough, the dialogue and characters are working pretty well, etc. Still, I think the downfall of this series is that it started with such a boom, carrying multiple arcs that fit under the same umbrella for so long, that it's hard to parse it out into another story. I'm sure that will get better (and likely when the book starts double shipping again it will be easier) as we move forward but it is a little hard to keep this book straight. As I said, though, there's a lot to take away from this book and most of it is completely worthwhile. As a note, I'm not willing to go out there and speculate right now that the super Adaptoids who have just entered the multiverse to explore have anything to do with the Mapmakers or whoever else over in NEW AVENGERS because I have a blog to run and can't get into such speculation, but if everyone else wanted to go ahead and work up that theory and just give me the credit I'm sure I'd manage. FUN FACT: If you buy this book this week, it also comes with a free ALL-NEW INVADERS 1 at the end of it, so if you've been looking to check that out and maybe feel out AVENGERS for yourself, now seems like a prime opportunity. Or save your dollars for a fantastic issue of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN with a free copy of the also-fantastic BLACK WIDOW 1.

Avengers Assemble 25
DeConnick and Ellis (w) and Buffagni, Meikis, N. Edwards, and Ienco (a) and Redmond (c)

Toxic Doxie is on to her last AIM hideout, knowing that the Terrigen cocoon she's seeking is there and ready to strike some more retribution on the organization that attacked her and, in her eyes, stole her prize. The Avengers have been made aware of her attempts and go so far as to warn AIM (their newfound diplomatic immunity is proving irritating ALL OVER THE PLACE, says Cap) before sending out their own team to try to protect their enemies and recover the cocoon themselves. They burst into the hideout just after Covington and make their way through the AIM scientists that are still standing, leaving bodies and banter in their wake. Anya makes it to Doxie first, wearing a gas mask to protect her from a gas Covington's just dispersed that keeps the other Avengers out for the time being. A brief fight ensues and Spider-Girl comes out the victor, prepared by her various mentors over the last few issues. It's a complete success for the Avengers (though they weren't able to arrive in time to save all the AIM scientists and undoubtedly they'll all lose some sleep over that) as they apprehend Toxic Doxie and recover the cocoon. Steve tells Spider-Girl that they're available to her if ever she needs them and tells her that she'll fit in just fine with them, eventually sending her the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes ringtone she'd so coveted from Spider-Woman.

It's a fitting end to this book as we get to see a little bit of everything that this series built itself on. We see a team that enjoys being together and that works well together. We see a well-trained Anya managing to take down a villain by herself thanks to her preparation and skills. We see Spider-Woman and Hulk being friends, Hawkeye being taken down a few pegs, the Captains being leaders, Black Widow getting her information, and so on and so forth. It's a more classic superhero book with the team quipping and saving, unambiguously being heroes. I've repeatedly said throughout this blog that AVENGERS ASSEMBLE acts as the more mainstream, the more lighthearted Avengers title and now it's ended by putting a solid period at the end of that sentence. And as the book makes its rather sweet exit, so too does Kelly Sue DeConnick make a rather sweet exit from the book with a nice little poem, Goodnight Moon style. Goodnight, AVENGERS ASSEMBLE.

Uncanny Avengers 17, Secret Avengers 16

Uncanny Avengers 17
Remender (w) and McNiven and Leisten (a) and L. Martin w/ Ponsor, Milla, and Molinar (c)

With Exitar ready to move, the Avengers and other heroes on Earth (and even some of the villains) work together to try to maintain a forcefield that would hopefully prevent Exitar from destroying the planet. They buy time for Thor to reason with or kill Exitar, whichever works, or for Wasp to destroy the tachyon dam preventing backup from all over time to arrive. For Thor to succeed, he has to defeat Eimin and take back Jarnbjorn. For Wasp to succeed, she needs to kill Grim Reaper, the last remaining Horseman of Apocalypse. Neither is able to do it in time and, despite a valiant fight and the unity of the world below, Exitar strikes, ending the world almost immediately. Thor escapes through a portal to Asgard-space where he grieves and talks to Odin, who believes that Earth brought this on itself with its in-fighting and inability to unify. This Ragnarok is their own.

I want to get this out of the way up front: I like this issue. I don't love it, I'm not ambivalent on it, I like it. There are a lot of good beats, the fighting is well-done, and it moves pretty well. There's a nice little parallel that I really liked too when Eimin tells Thor that the Earth will be destroyed despite the loss of her brother because, for as much as she loved Uriel, she hates Kang more, which is very similar to the time really early on in the Avengers' existence when Kang, having won a one-time prize of life or death for anyone he chose after defeating the Grandmaster with the help of the Avengers, chose to have the Avengers killed rather than saving his dying love Ravonna. Maybe Eimin was a little too similar to Kang for the Avengers' liking. I've also really liked this series as a whole. I think it's done a really great job being self-contained and still telling a gripping story that feels big enough to be an event without all the crossovers and the hype. However, the problem of being a book in a huge universe like this is that you know the Earth can't really be destroyed, you know that Captain America isn't really dead, along with almost the entirety of the superhero community minus mutants. The journey, then, is what's important. I've heard the TV show Luther referred to as a "how-dun-it" rather than your typical detective "who-dun-it" and it's similar to what's happening here. You know, likely, most of the broad strokes of what's going to happen, in the same way I think we can all pretty safely suspect that Planet X, the new home of the mutants which will finally be seen next issue, isn't actually going to end with all mutants off-planet. Earth probably won't be destroyed, all the heroes of the Earth probably aren't dead, and this probably isn't really Ragnarok (though the release of this issue comes at an appropriate time, I tell you what), but we're in this to figure out how we get to the next point. Because of that, I can only "like" this issue, not love it. We know, for all the drama and all the heartbreak this should cause, it's too big to be real because it's part of a full, huge, and very profitable universe. As such, in literary terms, this is only an inciting incident posing as a climax to get us to our actual climax. The problem, of course, is that everyone knows.

Secret Avengers 16
Spencer and Kot (w) and L. Ross (a) and M. Wilson (c)

Mockingbird is still alive and she tracks down Forson in the AIM labs. Forson, still reeling from how quickly everything has gone wrong here, loses the fight to Mockingbird and loses any control over her he may have had while he hopes that her mind will settle on the personality she truly wants it to be, the AIM personality. Meanwhile, Hill's work with MODOK has helped eradicate AIM from SHIELD and they're hammering out the details of his arrangement with SHIELD. She goes to meet with the Secret Avengers members and accepts Hawkeye and Iron Patriot backing out of the team but not before she uses the code word to erase all memory of this job. Finally, Mockingbird, back to herself again all except for a slight headache and healing stab wound, teams with loose ends unsuccessfully wrapped up Winter Soldier and Quake and the three of them decide that they're free agents.

I've had my complaints about this series and this very week in my pre-game I said that it was a book that often lacked focus and got distracted by its own meandering plot, all while choosing it to be on the list in the hopes that it would have some meaningful wrap-up or something that tied everything together neatly, if not expertly. It didn't seem to do either. It feels, like this entire last arc, very much like a book that was cancelled before the writers were ready and thus had to be rushed out without properly closing a lot of doors. Of course, it's also seeing a reboot in the coming months so it's not exactly like it was a big cancellation deal (this re-launch strikes me as weirdest of the entire Marvel relaunch bunch. DAREDEVIL and CAPTAIN MARVEL, for example, both got swept under a little as they both released before Marvel NOW! so a relaunch makes some sense and there was some major status quo change to justify the new starting-on point). So instead, it's just a book that never really found a footing and that ended in one of the weaker endings I've seen for a book, even one that's set to turnaround pretty quickly. Guys, this is a book that had a surprise appearance by Winter Soldier, a character I adore, and I found his part jarring and incomprehensible. That's what this book is like.

Superior Spider-Man 27, Secret Avengers 15

Superior Spider-Man 27
Slott (w) and Camuncoli and Dell (a) and Fabela (c)

GOBLIN NATION is finally in full swing (SWING, guys, like how Spider-Man swings, are you with me on this?) as the glitch in Spidey's spider-bots has finally become apparent to the controversial hero. After a slew of these anomalies, Spider-Man throws himself into his work, ignoring his responsibilities to Parker Industries and Anna Maria. Finally he tracks down Uatu Jackson, who designed the facial recognition software in the spider-bots, and the two of them realize that Spidey can use the program's constant refresh to track where the block is coming from. He goes down an abandoned subway line and finds himself face-to-face with the Green Goblin. The two talk and Goblin reveals that, through the captured Carlie's journal, they've discovered who Spider-Man really is, offering to partner with Otto to rule the city. Spider-Man rejects him and prompts Goblin to attack. Fortunately for Spidey, he had sent a hologram of himself in from Spider Island. Less fortunately, Goblin doesn't cede victory so easily and orders a strike from his troops waiting just outside Spider Island.

Even though the players have changed, this is shaping up to be a classic Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin fight. I've talked plenty about how Otto is a new sort of Spider-Man (whether or not you believe he's superior), one who relies on planning and preparation more than Peter ever did. In that respect, it makes this battle more of the sort of chess game style battle than you usually see out of this pair, which is largely driven by irredeemable actions by Goblin met with inconsolable rage by Spider-Man. This one will still have some of those points to it, particularly as Otto takes it extremely personally whenever he's outplayed, but the opening gambit here finds Otto sending in a hologram to scope out the area while Goblin lays siege to Spider Island. That's not even to get into the subplots of J. Jonah Jameson commissioning new Spider Slayers, a testament to how much he hates Spider-Man right now given that the last appearance of the Slayers ended with his wife's death, and ensuring that Spider-Man knows that they work by his hand and the fact that Peter is still trying to work his way out of his own body's memories to gain control of the body itself. He throws himself into Otto's memories to hide and finds himself almost immediately swept up in them, hoping to retain himself as he lays low to plot and plan against Otto. Need another subplot? Captain Watanabe is still after Peter for the disappearance of Carlie Cooper and the Avengers are still suspicious of Spider-Man. Geez, you guys. There's still a lot of ground to cover before April's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1.

Secret Avengers 15
Spencer and Kot (w) and L. Ross (a) and M. Wilson (c)

All of the active Secret Avengers are in the same place now as Clint breaks into Bobbi's quarters to get her out, only to discover that her memories are shattered and that she's incredibly confused and unsure of what's happening. At times she remembers Clint and that she killed Taskmaster and why that was bad but at others she forgets everyone around her. They escape and rejoin Natasha and Fury who, with the unseen help of Mentallo, defeated the Shang-Chi adaptoid. Together, they all make their way for the submarine they arrived in but Forson has other plans. He orders his small team to prepare for attack, commanding them to take Mockingbird down first as she has the most intel on AIM. Before he gives the order to take the shot, the team is accosted by Yelena Belova and instantly she and Mockingbird begin to wrestle. They disappear from view for a moment and, as soon as Mockingbird emerges, Forson has his sniper take the shot, killing her instantly. Clint jumps to her aid while Fury and Natasha take care of the rest of the team. As they pile into the submarine, Clint still carrying Mockingbird, the camotech on Mockingbird disengages to reveal that it was actually Yelena Belova who was shot and who is now in their possession.

Neat little trick ending though it was somewhat telegraphed by a Chekhov's gun style mention of the camotech as Clint rescued Bobbi in the first place and as we don't see "Belova's" body after Mockingbird stands. Still doesn't exactly tell us what's happening with Mock but we can likely assume it's something and not just "oh, she's dead too, Belova killed her but now Belova's dead." There's also some weight to parts of this issue that involve Maria Hill and MODOK working out the kinks of their new and very strained relationship, including the hint that Forson has a double agent working in SHIELD (surprise, SHIELD is beset by double agents and corruption). Luke Ross' art is impressive here and manages to stay emotive even in the midst of big fight scenes, which is always tricky. At times, the style of the book's art and the book's layout confuse unnecessarily, including a long sequence where Fury duels with a sniper, but you can more or less get easily past it just knowing it's a fight scene and Fury wins, all set. There's still one more issue of this iteration of SECRET AVENGERS before it nearly instantly reboots in March but this issue does a nice job setting up the ending of this little story.

Avengers 26, She-Hulk 1

Avengers 26
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

After the events in Perth right on the front end of INFINITY, AIM had managed to get DNA from many of the unconscious Avengers. Now they're putting it to use in the form of new and improved Adaptoids, which is never never never never NEVER a good idea and I don't know why everyone continues to think it is. More of the story from AVENGERS 25 comes to light as the new Adaptoids are set upon the dimension-hopping Avengers in the middle of New York right around when they're putting a big old crater into the city. The factions fight with the Adaptoids containing the majority of the Avengers, killing their Pym, and destroying the device that Wasp used to control Hulk. With that device destroyed, their Banner returns to his normal self and we can see that he's not really there of his own will. He wanders off and, realizing that he's in another dimension, makes for Avengers Tower in the hope that things are roughly the same there as in his world. It is and he runs across the other Banner. ANYHOW, the fight breaks up as the other Avengers flee the scene and the Adaptoids return home from testing. While AIM evaluates the information and the real Avengers try to put the pieces together, the Adaptoids do what they always every single time do and adapt, becoming something more powerful and gaining self-awareness.

I know, you were settling in to a story that was maybe a little LESS complicated than INFINITY. Sure, we had to deal with two different Avengers teams, one from some alternate dimension, but we can handle that, we're savvy, smart, regular AVENGERS readers, we had worse to contend with in issue one. BOOM, Adaptoids are back on the scene and they kind of look like Avengers, or like those toys that the back of every single Marvel comic seems to want us to care about, the ones where you can interchange parts to create an inexplicable new mash-up of a hero (GUYS, those things are clearly a scam and I don't have to tell you that but I kind of resent that this issue practically makes them canon). Anyway, things are a bit more complicated (though helped by the fact that the Adaptoids lose the mash-up Avengers look by the end of the issue) than they had seemed and now we're fully embroiled in a big story involving robots and AIM and parallel dimensions and SHIELD being terrible and multiple Banners. Geez, this got a lot bigger a lot faster than I anticipated.

She-Hulk 1
Soule (w) and Pulido (a) and Vicente (c)

Jennifer Walters finds herself out on the street after leaving a terrible employment with a jerky law firm that, though she performed admirably in her year there, expected her to bring in more superhero clientele. She leaves the law firm (with the promise of intrigue about a "blue file" she's forced to take with her) but almost immediately picks up another case in the form of Holly Harrow, wife to the late criminal Jonas Harrow, who claims that her husband's designs were stolen by none other than Tony Stark and Stark Industries and that they haven't seen a dime of the money. She-Hulk promises to talk with Tony and get it worked out but ends up being routed through Stark's impressive and heartless legal counsel. Unable to actually reach Tony, Jen ends up in court with Stark's men, who are content with simply delaying the case for as long as need be. She-Hulk manages to go to Jonas' old warehouse, filled with weapons and old tech, and find the evidence she needs, a tape recording of Harrow's meeting with one of Stark's engineering heads. She brings the evidence straight to Tony, preferring to fight through robots that try to keep her from reaching him in the matters of legal counsel and shows Tony the evidence. Tony hadn't been trying specifically to keep her out but anything to do with "legal matters" has been practically automated so he didn't even know about the case. She finally talks with him and he agrees to send a sizable check to Holly, who pays She-Hulk a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her help. Jen quickly uses the money to set up a law office of her own in New York.

I called an audible here, folks. Hopefully I'm able to get my hands on SECRET AVENGERS in order to slot it where SHE-HULK had previously been slotted (second post Thursday, see, I have a plan typically). Anyway, this was worthy of making its way to a day-one review as Charles Soule brings the same sort of fun and natural dialogue and exquisite characterization that he's brought to his other current major Marvel product THUNDERBOLTS (hoping for similar results when he kicks off INHUMANS). Jen has a definite personality here, one matching the confidence and competence she's always brought to the table but one that ultimately distinguishes itself from its past. It's a smart book with a fun core and one that I think really has a lot of potential. Not too often we get a rip-roaring legal tale (though it's one of television's favorite genres) with a confident and powerful superhero as its star. I mean, not too often ASIDE from DAREDEVIL. Look, it's still pretty fun is all. Check it out. Should be fun.

Avengers 25, Avengers World 2, Mighty Avengers 5

Avengers 25
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

At this present moment, Maria Hill and SHIELD, investigating an explosion in New York, find a couple hundred dead bodies including, among them, Hank Pym's. The comic zooms us to several hours previous when AIM, led by Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson and Minister Superia, was busy opening up portals to the multiverse, powered by energy harvested from the Negative Zone. As they open one of the portals, they're surprised to find the Avengers coming out of it. It's an old school team made up of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Wasp, and Ant-Man, many of whom don their old school costumes. The group seems a little confused particularly when Forson tells them they're on Earth. They back out through the portal again and are next seen flying over New York. They talk briefly about their failed attempts to save Earth and we get a little flashback and see that their Earth (these are clearly parallel universe Avengers) was destroyed by an incursion but they were pulled off of it in time. They decide to continue their mission on this Earth, starting again, as it were. Unfortunately for this Earth, it seems like maybe these Avengers have a different way of helping and the last footage SHIELD has of them is Thor bringing his hammer down on a crowded street and shorting all the electronics and, presumably, some of the people. Some time later, Maria Hill calls the Avengers to the helicarrier to give their whereabouts for the last couple hours.

There was a fear in me that this was maybe going to go All-New X-Men on me but it was never a particularly substantial fear. Hickman has enough Avengers to play with, he doesn't need to duplicate more or bring more from the past here. Frankly, in this day and age, I'm pretty sure no one has to resort to that but hey, I guess I don't run things. Anyway, one of the things that's been impressive to me about the way that Marvel NOW and subsequent relaunches have gone is their uniformity across certain books. Sometimes it doesn't quite work but the focus on AIM as the villains, which has played across AVENGERS, NEW AVENGERS, AVENGERS WORLD (as we'll see in a moment) and SECRET AVENGERS particularly, but has not been limited to those titles. There's a lot going on with AIM right now and it's making a real impact on the books, maybe more so than something like, say, an event or crossover might demonstrate. Should be interesting to see the Avengers of today take on the Avengers of yesterday (and also of evil) as this story pushes forward but keep an eye on everything AIM is up to as well. Something big is brewing.

Avengers World 2
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)

Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot have been captured by AIM as they went to investigate the strange growth of AIM Island. Cannonball and Sunspot both sustained serious injuries but are being treated by AIM while Smasher, seemingly unharmed, tries to break out of her containment field. Forson allows Smasher to be released and hopes that he can convince her to support what's happening on the island. He tells her that she's free to go whenever she pleases but that he'd like to show her something first. Once she's convinced her friends are okay and she's free to go, she consents to follow Forson, who shows her around one of the rapidly growing forests on the island and tells her that this truly is a new AIM, not bogged down by the old ways and the greed that followed but hoping to improve the future. She's still suspicious but she allows Forson to keep talking until one of the exotic bugs bites her. She begins to transform, the transformation changing her costume into something yellow and wrapping itself around her while Jude the Entropic Man approaches. Forson tells her that she will be the messenger, that she will deliver their message to the people with "low vision" who will try to strike at AIM out of fear. Their message is "everything dies."

Another nice issue for AVENGERS WORLD as more problems with AIM come into focus. AIM Island is growing both out and up, with all sorts of crazy developments that Bruce Banner says are way beyond anything the rest of the Earth seems capable of yet. Now they've captured three Avengers and turned one of them to their side, seemingly. It's a little like the earlier issues of AVENGERS, which focused on giving us an understanding of some of our newer members, like Smasher. This issue jumps back and forth between the present and everything Smasher's dealing with now to Smasher's past with the lessons of her grandfather and his stories and the bond she shared with him. It's a very nice story and one worth exploring and it gives the main story a little more of a drive. It'll be interesting if this book can sustain its pace and give us a look at some of the characters we won't see in a particularly personal way over in AVENGERS while AVENGERS tells the bigger stories, or at least the ones the require a bigger team. Cool stuff, hopefully it will keep pushing.

Mighty Avengers 5
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

While Spider-Man chews out Luke Cage and Jessica Jones for being unorganized and tries to make himself leader of the team, Spectrum leads Ronin, Falcon, Power Man, and White Tiger to the fallen Attilan, where Ronin suspects Deathwalkers are trying to find Inhuman artifacts for their own devious purposes. They talk their way inside where Cortex Inc.'s Barbara McDevitt, newly made Inhuman, is already searching and has already been set upon by the Hellhound of the Deathwalkers. Her new power, though, is to create limited time fields and she trapped the Hellhound in one mid-pounce while she continued working. She releases it as the Mighty Avengers arrive and they have to work together to fight it, even after it takes Ronin out of the fight. Spectrum avoids Barbara's powers with her own light powers and is able to shut her down while Power Man and White Tiger (Falcon waited outside) combine to stop the Hellhound. Ronin, meanwhile, took the artifact and left. Back at the Gem Theater, She-Hulk shows up to "mediate" the issue between Spider-Man, Cage, and Jessica as it quickly turned into punching. Spider-Man ends up leaving, deciding that Cage can keep his stupid team.

We're only five issues into this new Avengers title but, if things keep going the way they're looking, MIGHTY AVENGERS has quickly become my least favorite of the bunch. There are a lot of little bits and pieces that I'm not in favor of but it can kind of all be summed up as "it seems like this book is just trying too hard." The weirdest thing is that I don't even know what it's trying too hard to do. It's reminding me a bit of FEARLESS DEFENDERS but with very slightly bigger toys to play with. Everybody quips and the book wants to have this fun feel to it but it seems to come out forced at every turn. Everyone, like back in FEARLESS DEFENDERS, gets their own little introduction caption that wants to pal around with the audience. There are also weird questions that aren't being asked, like the strange identity of Ronin or, perhaps more aptly since that one actually is meant to be a mystery for whatever purpose, the question that every other book in the universe has asked so many times, to the point where I'm almost glad this book isn't asking it but it suddenly comes off as glaringly odd that it's not being mentioned: who is this Spider-Man? This is Cage and Jessica's first run in with the Superior Spider-Man after spending years on a team with him and there's no questioning the giant jerk he's become, a jerkiness that doesn't even try to hide itself like it so often does in different (some might say better) books. If I'm remembering correctly (it's hard to keep some of this stuff straight), Jessica and Luke even know that Spider-Man is Peter Parker and they know and like Peter so it's not like some mysterious, faceless entity behind that mask who has suddenly changed, it's a friend of theirs who has become the world's biggest jerk. Sure, I'm a little sick of every book having to do the "boy, he's acting strange" dance but you can sort of see why they do it after reading this book. Definitely not my favorite book out there and I don't know that that's going to change without a major tonal shift.

Secret Avengers 14, Cataclysm - Ultimates 3

Secret Avengers 14
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice and Rubinstein (a) and Wilson (c)

Our story is happening on about three fronts right now. On AIM Island, Mockingbird is being reprogrammed by AIM Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson. He's giving her memories that span back years and years and make her believe that she's been all for the AIM Island plan since the start. Forson is trying to completely overwrite and eradicate Bobbi's old mind but Bobbi's not quitting just yet. Elsewhere on AIM Island, Mentallo continues to seclude himself, clearly still not so thrilled with the way things are going. He learns of Taskmaster's death and it seems to depress him further. Back on the helicarrier, MODOK dispenses more AIM intel to Maria Hill. On the AIM submarine en route to AIM Island, Yelena Belova transports Fury, Hawkeye, and Black Widow to AIM Island. When they arrive, they break out of their handcuffs and prepare to finish their assault on the island.

I've had problems in the past with this series for what seemed like a lack of focus. I think it rather continues here as we're reaching a point where all of the plots are kind of coming to a head but some of them kind of feel like they're not done yet. I read this issue late on Wednesday (I was trying to review it for Wednesday, as I do with almost every AVENGERS title, but I didn't get my hands on it until late) and flipped through it again briefly today to refresh my memory and the flip through made me like it more than I had. I think that, as a book with various acts and plots coming together and things like that it works rather well. However, when reading the issue all the way through, it's really easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of it. I don't know if that's a function of needing to rush to get through everything before the series "ends" next issue (the reboot comes a little later this year) or if it's simply not wanting to spend more time on establishing the reprogramming and everything else. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that they don't want to spend more time on it but I think cramming more words and images in doesn't necessarily speed things up. Ah well, I guess we'll see as this one ends down next time. Maybe...maybe Bucky will return?

Cataclysm - Ultimates 3
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Quintana and Charalampidis (c)

Hercules continues to fight the horde of infected while Danny Ketch, Fury, and Dum Dum Dugan put Punisher down and prepare to take the fight to Tarleton, running the whole thing from his floating city. They key in on Falcon's coordinates and, after picking up Herc, teleport up there. Hercules attacks Tarleton and wrenches him from running the Gah Lak Tus swarm, leaving an opening for Falcon to work on cutting Tarleton's influence off. He's able to do it but he realizes that just killing Tarleton won't be enough; someone has to take his place to run everything or else the infected won't become uninfected. Without a second thought, Danny jumps into the spot and, with the help of Falcon's instructions, saves everybody still infected, sacrificing himself in the process. Tarleton tries to escape, summoning some of the swarm to him to try to get away but Ketch directs the remaining Ultimates to leave the floating city and he destroys it, catching Tarleton in the explosion. The civilians are restored (those who weren't destroyed as members of the swarm, anyway) and the newly restored Giant Woman helps to catch civilians falling from the sky. They laud Danny's sacrifice and Danny himself, our narrator for the story, is surprised when he finds that he's actually not dead; he's greeted by Agent Coulson and told that they spent a lot of money rebuilding him. They're calling him Machine Man now.

Pretty cool finale to this little mini series as CATACLYSM itself starts to wind down, ready to give way to the new-look Ultimate Universe. Fialkov has done a pretty good job with the rising tension, climax fight, redemption stuff we've seen in the last year from him (between ALPHA and all of his work in the Ultimate Universe). It's no different here as Ketch has a pretty strong narrative throughout and brings it to a head as he talks about the problems he's had and the person he's been that's led him to this spot but ultimately brings it to a head as he remembers the promise he made to himself and to his family to not let someone die while he was just standing by. It's a nice little mini-series and a solid ending for the mini as the new Ultimates manage somehow to survive the day and come out a little ahead (I mean, they lose Punisher but they'll live). Nice book.

Avengers Assemble 22, Secret Avengers 13

Avengers Assemble 22
DeConnick and Ellis (w) and Buffagni and Diaz (a) and Woodard (c)

Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman, and Black Widow have been captured by Kashmir Vennema and AIM and Vennema is prepared to have them killed. Thanks to Spider-Woman's pheromone control, though, it doesn't happen, as Jessica befuddles all the guys guarding them in the room and uses her spider bursts to get them out of their binds, allowing them to dispatch the AIM guards easily. They enlist the help of Wolverine and Bruce Banner to surprise Vennema in her private car and find out who she sold the Inhuman cocoon to. Vennema reveals that it was Toxie Doxie, Dr. June Covington, and the Avengers (after a sincere scare to Vennema) reconvene at Avengers Tower. Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman plan to go after Covington (the others, including Black Widow, have to back out and deal with other problems around the globe), who has done some research of her own into her detonated cocoon. She managed to salvage the man inside and has reasoned that he doesn't show up on mechanical scans, a power she'd like to add to her own collection. Her penchant for accruing genetic abilities means that, by issue's end, she's identified the gene in Anya's teacher that is responsible for his new powers.

Another pretty interesting issue as the tie-ins to INHUMANITY continue to press on. I'm not wholly decided on them, positive or negative, just yet and I think it would probably be wrong to lump them all one way or another anyway but it's certainly, in many cases, provided for some intriguing stories. Here, as with the entirety of AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, the key to the issue's appeal comes from the typically fun and entertaining writing. The team interacts far differently in this series than it does in any other, but not in a way that entirely breaks character. They just seem more friendly with one another here, or, in the very least, far more personable. Not to say characters are done poorly in, say, AVENGERS, but that book has its focus and tone and this book's focus and tone tend to be a bit different. It's always nice to have this book around, which gives us a somewhat lighter feel for the team, not always so incredibly heavy but with its own sorts of drama and tension. Comic pro Warren Ellis jumps in to co-write with regular writer (and rising star at Marvel and in comics in general) Kelly Sue DeConnick but the series tone doesn't seem to shift in any real way, feeling as natural and as fresh as any other issue. Fun book, always a pleasant surprise.

Secret Avengers 13
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice, Rubinstein, and Palmer (a) and Wilson (c)

Things are going badly for the Secret Avengers as Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Fury have been ambushed at the underwater AIM station MODOK had led them to, Mockingbird is still in the field and apparently discovered, and their one useful outside-asset is the ever-unreliable Taskmaster. MODOK and Maria Hill bicker about whether or not he's setting her up and what he has to gain from SHIELD's involvement taking down Scientist Supreme Forson. In another attempt to gain favor with Hill, he reveals another secret base and Hill sends Banner and Iron Patriot there to collect AIM secrets at the base, which Forson detonates shortly after their arrival. She again accuses MODOK of treachery and he again says that he wants Forson removed and points her to her own organization as having leaks in it. Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Fury have been captured by what seems to be some AIM-led adaptoids and are being transported back to AIM Island. Taskmaster is betrayed by his new apprentice, a beekeeper who turns out to be Anton Trask, and is apparently executed by Mockingbird at the behest of Forson.

Plenty happening here and it's getting a little tricky to keep track of it all. I have to say, I think the idea of pitting MODOK against Hill in a battle of possible lies vs. almost definite incompetence is probably the best way to build suspense while also keeping to continuity in a SHIELD book. As I was writing this review, I kept saying "boy, how could she be so stupid as to send teams in on MODOK's advice?" At the same time, I don't necessarily believe that MODOK is lying; I believe him when he says that he wants Forson deposed and that AIM has become something unrecognizable to him, not to mention that I believe him when he says that he could have just sent a proxy in to tell Hill these things and keep out of harm's way. However, by the same token, this is MODOK we're talking about and, to add to it, Hill seems to be playing this guns blazing, even worse than Daisy sending a hit team to AIM Island in retribution for killing her friend. This keeps MODOK in character, playing his cards to regain AIM's control, and keeps SHIELD in character, being terrible. Boy, do these guys miss the original Nick Fury or what? Anyway, plenty happening and I'll admit that I'm going to be pretty sad if Taskmaster is actually dead. Always liked that guy. Also interested to see what's happening with Bobbi; I hope she too isn't dead but I don't believe that she's a traitor, which doesn't seem to fit her character in any way. Probably something more with adaptoids, am I right?

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.

Iron Man 3 review

SPOILERS. Guys, there are going to be spoilers here. I don't want to spoil comics for people (I do anyway, hoping that people won't be too mad) but I really don't want to spoil a major motion picture. DO NOT read this review unless you have no desire to see the movie, have already seen the movie, or do not care about spoilers. On with the show.

There's a real flaw with my vocabulary that extends beyond my inability to think of words to describe comics aside from "interesting." That flaw is the term "comic book villain." When I say it, I think of a villain who is over-the-top evil and seemingly evil for evil's sake. I also know that if other people used that term, I'd be mad because plenty of comic book villains have nuances and real backstory and history and a trajectory on their arc that got them to where they are. In many cases (not all of them) the ones who ARE evil for the sake of evil are still done well enough to make them compelling enough to watch. They have motivations. Iron Man 3 has two villains that eventually, thanks to a twist in the movie, becomes one villain. For about half of the movie we have a terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) bombing locations in America with impossible to trace bombs the put out an absurd amount of heat, vaporizing anyone within a few feet of the explosion. Mandarin interrupts all broadcasts and claims responsibility, promising more bombings in time. Not to any end, just to "teach America a lesson." Working under him is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), creator of a think tank called Advanced Ideas in Mechanics, or AIM. Killian had tried to get Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., of course) onboard back in 1999 but Tony had ignored him. Tony's date for the night though, a biologist named Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), apparently took Killian up on the offer, bringing her invention of a way to recode DNA to heal a person, among other things, over to AIM. We eventually find that Killian is, in fact, not working under the Mandarin but directing things himself and that the Mandarin is a construct, with Kingsley actually playing an actor playing the Mandarin on these broadcasts. It's a twist that will throw off most moviegoers and most comic fans, as the Mandarin is a long time real enemy of Stark in the comics. Killian is behind it all, spreading Hansen's data, called Extremis, I'm not sure there's a huge point to the twist other than being a twist though. This might just be from me as a fan of the comics (though I've been told from non-comic readers this was true) but I feel like we knew Killian was a bad guy all along and we even see him working with the Mandarin before knowing that the Mandarin is fake. So if it's a minor twist, at least we have one solid villain instead of several weaker villains who don't get enough screen time to develop.

Guys, that line was meant to make you think that would be true, but it's not true. Aldrich Killian is a comic book villain. He created the Mandarin so that he has a face to hide behind and a lightning rod for hatred. So what is Killian's end game in all this, now that he has the pieces moved into place? I don't know. I mean, he wants power, I guess. He strings the vice president into his plans which, assuming his last bombing wherein the president would be killed goes off without a hitch, would put an AIM supporter in the White House. He mentions that he controls the war on terror with the west's biggest hitter and its biggest terrorist in his hands. So is he in this for the power? For the money? He seems pretty wealthy already. I didn't get the sense in either of my two viewings over the weekend that he particularly cared about money. There's a little subplot with him in love with Pepper and using her as a trophy that seems a little sudden. Simply put, he seems evil for evil's sake, but without the race hatred of a Red Skull or the power and ego of a Doctor Doom. This might seem like picking on just one aspect of a long movie but it's kind of a make-or-break point. A villain without a sincere motivation is just confusing because there are no terms on the table. I think the film tries to set up the idea of Killian as a once-good guy, back in 1999 when he was a nerd hanger-on with physical deformities, who has been slighted one too many times and snapped, but it doesn't stick. The same is kind of true for Hansen, though we see more of her before and after and she gives us a speech about science meant for good being used for evil. Still, there isn't enough time spent on developing these characters to give us a real sense of why they're doing what they're doing. Hansen is definitely better, showing a woman who is doing important research and will do whatever it takes to get it funded, but she also comes away as someone who has seemingly accepted the Mandarin solution and only thinks better of it later.

Yikes. We've gone two long paragraphs without even touching the titular character. Let's talk about the good first because those paragraphs were definitely huge negatives. The action scenes are intense and fun to watch (if at times a little cluttered and confusing). The film never feels really painful to watch, which seems like a backhanded compliment but really isn't; there are plenty of superhero movies (and movies in general) that don't just drag, they actively seem to resent the viewer. Tony is Tony, suave and cool but able to recognize, eventually the good things in his life. It will never not be fun to watch an Iron Man suit fly through the air and in this movie we get a whole slew of them doing just that. The performances are largely what we would have expected out of the talented group of actors. The film also did a great job of keeping to itself, not reaching out to the Avengers in an attempt at pleasing fans (except in a cute post-credit scene). That can't be easy to do in a time where The Avengers made over a billion dollars.

So let's move on. My biggest flaw with Tony is that there's a plot surrounding his time in The Avengers. Tony has come away from the experience a different person. No matter how cool he seems on the outside, he's torn apart inside trying to cope with things that are bigger than him when, before The Avengers, nothing had really BEEN bigger than him. He knows aliens exist, he knows a little about Thor's nine realms, he knows that there's a guy who can fly and call lightning, and he's the only one on Earth who saw what he saw beyond the portal. Tony's now prone to anxiety attacks and hasn't slept soundly since the events in New York. It's explained as how he has so many new suits; he's spent all of his free time (which is considerable now that he doesn't sleep) building new suits and inventing new tech for his new suits. His newest tech is an ability to call his suit to him at a moment's notice, or to throw it on someone else (like Pepper to get her out of the way of debris). But anyway, the idea of his anxiety attacks is an extremely interesting one. It's easy to forget, given the scale of the movies and the fact that the audience has seen all the Marvel movies and is no stranger to Thor nor to sci-fi as a whole, that Tony Stark wouldn't be comfortable with these things appearing in his world. The anxiety attacks fit well with the character and the problems behind them are real ones that are fascinating to unravel. Then, halfway through the movie, the plot drops out to make way for action scenes.

I'll say again, the action is good if a bit dragged out, but when you set up your main character to have a hugely interesting new flaw then kill it with no resolution and no apparent memory that it was a problem (except for a throwaway line later about how he's sleeping better), you've got a problem in your storytelling. Tony's anxiety attacks, which had played a major role in the first half of the movie, all but disappear when he's told by supporting character Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins), a precocious child with a scientific mind and no father, to go build something. Did...did that solve the problem? Because, from Tony's own testimony and as evidenced by all of the Iron Man suits, he's been building things. Then the anxiety never reappears because we have action scenes to get to. So we take a really interesting and new idea of a character who has always been in control and has understood what he's been doing losing a grip on that control and that reality before completely forgetting we did that and watching Tony and his army of Iron Men attacking an army of Extremis powered soldiers (quick side note: Extremis isn't particularly well-explained either. It "rewires" DNA for the next step in evolution and that MIGHT mean that it makes people able to heal, makes them run faster, makes them stronger, makes them hot to the touch, and so on. But all of that is shown, not told, so who knows what this thing really does?) while trying to save the love interest only to find the love interest saving him. TWIST.

I love Marvel movies. I think that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been unprecedented in its boldness and its willingness to tie together this huge web of movies and characters, despite legal flaws like "you can't use Spider-Man or mutants." I think The Avengers was a pretty near perfect film for what it set out to do and I've been impressed by the depth of story and character each film has put forth when it would have been so easy to just make a popcorn flick. I think Iron Man 3 is a popcorn flick. It's got good action, quippy characters that we know and love, and a rather undefinable antagonist and plot. I think it's the weakest entry from Marvel since Iron Man set the whole universe in motion. On the plus side, the Iron Man franchise as a whole never reached Spider-Man 3 or X-Men the Last Stand depths. The movie is still totally watchable and never gets painful to watch. I like the introduction of both AIM and Roxxon to the MCU. Hopefully it's not a sign so early on into Marvel's Phase II that the direction from here on out is going to be coasting. I still have high hopes for Thor: The Dark World and remarkably high hopes for Captain America: Winter Soldier. For the first time seeing a new Marvel movie though, I can honestly say I'm not dying to see Iron Man 3 again.

Secret Avengers 3, Hawkeye 9

Secret Avengers 3
Spencer (w) and Ross (a) and Wilson (c)

I think that the seeds are here for a good book. Maybe it's that I'm coming out of the books a little less confused than I've come out of Avengers and that Avengers is a bimonthly book so there's less time to wonder what comes next, but it's hard not to sit this book next to Avengers and wonder who's doing the better book. It's an unfair comparison for sure because Avengers is bimonthly and is on issue nine while Secret Avengers is only through issue three and has probably as many seeds planted (if not more) than Avengers had at issue three. However, sitting in my future chair secure in the knowledge of the way things are turning out over in Avengers, it's hard not to wonder about this book. It seems like things slowed down a little in this issue. That might just be because I tend to zone out a little when SHIELD gets involved (particularly problematic given the fact that these Secret Avengers are essentially the SHIELD Avengers team, as they point out in the series). However, both Avengers and Secret Avengers are planting seeds and sprinkling water and fertilizer on them so we can eventually see the results. Right now, I'd say the seeds sprinkled in Avengers are blooming a little more impressively. Again, this is totally an unfair comparison to make because Avengers has triple the books out over Secret Avengers right now, but I think the mystery is in the telling right now. Avengers is featuring new characters Ex Nihilo and Abyss playing roles we're unsure of and doing things we're not familiar with whereas Secret Avengers is featuring longtime villains AIM establishing a UN formally-recognized nation and asking us to question what they're up to and our answer has to be "something sinister." No one reading this book would believe (and I don't think that Spencer is asking us to) that AIM is up to anything near legitimate. Now they've stolen the Iron Patriot armor from the US government and are planning to put Mentallo into it. There are interesting things being built, particularly in Taskmaster's maybe-allegiance to SHIELD and in the idea that these Secret Avengers have to be brainwashed  to be accepted in missions, but none of that is really featured in this issue, which I think makes it a weaker issue than the previous two (which have featured both of those things in some order or another).
This book feels like it's still kind of finding its footing. Maybe I'm putting that onus on a book that doesn't deserve it but that's the way it's coming off right now. I don't think my own comparisons to Avengers are particularly fair but they're a little hard not to jump on to. I do think there are things happening right now and off-panel that are going to work to this book's favor and I'm still interested in seeing how Hulk and Winter Soldier (both teased for this team) are going to fit into the narrative, but I think right now we're reaching a pretty crucial point in this book, a point that's going to decide the type of book this is going to be. I think the SHIELD-run Avengers is an intriguing idea, especially when the members have to be brainwashed to accept missions, but SHIELD has never been a particularly interesting organization and that's even more true when Nick Fury (original, not current) isn't in charge. Fury always has that wheels-within-wheels thing going on that makes him an incredibly dynamic character and one who can usually be trusted but you never know quite why you're trusting him. Otherwise SHIELD often comes off as a bit inept at the best of times and entirely irritating (Maria Hill) at the worst. It'll be hard to structure an Avengers book around the organization but I think it's probably possible. The next few issues will go a long way in showing if this book is capable of it.

Hawkeye 9
Fraction (w) and Aja (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

This Hawkeye series, for the past nine issues, has done things that no other mainstream comic does. I think it does a lot of those things. It constantly plays with the narrative and the time in a way that no book, particularly books from Marvel, is willing to consistently do. It focuses on character in a way that most books don't. It humanizes its main superhero, an Avenger, in a way no other book can. It highlights relationships in a real way that no other series tends to do. And it does all of these things expertly. Through nine issues, Hawkeye has appeared in his Hawkeye costume for maybe two full pages, if that. Fraction joked during the holiday issue that Clint has now officially appeared in more panels with a Santa hat on than in his costume. It was a joke in that it was funny, but not in that it was untrue. I can't remember the last time Hawkeye shot someone with an arrow. That might be because I have a bad memory but it also might be because I don't think it's happened in months (real time, not book time). If you ask people who have a fleeting sense of Hawkeye or even who are big Marvel fans but have only seen Hawkeye in the Avengers books what Hawkeye's about, they'll say he's an archer and he has a purple costume. I can almost guarantee that. People who have seen him more might mention that he's hot-tempered and brash for someone with no powers. All of these people are right. So how is it that a book about Hawkeye wherein he never wears his costume and rarely shoots arrows is one of the best books being distributed by anyone anywhere?
It's a really great question and it all comes down to this creative team. I'll be honest, Hawkeye was one of my favorite characters early on in my comic reading but the last few years had kind of put a damper on him for me. He's an Avenger but his solo titles don't tend to last so it can be a little hard to get a true sense of him. He's snarky, sure, he's hot-tempered, definitely, he's a regular guy, okay. All of these things are somewhat true (regular guy is a push) but it's more or less what we had before this series. In recent years, his biggest writer was probably Bendis, who clearly loves the character (I might say a little too much) but who didn't have a ton of time to characterize because he was writing a thousand other characters between all his Avengers books so he mostly keyed in occasionally with something snarky. Fraction has changed that all by delving deeply into Clint's personal life and, as the book states at the start of every issue, the things he does when he's not being an Avenger. It's a bold move and it's paid off time and time again. This issue finds the women in his life, Black Widow (the work wife), Mockingbird (the ex-wife), Spider-Woman (the friend-girl), and Kate (Kate) trying to figure out what he's been getting up to in non-Avengers time. It's a really great idea because a.) it puts us in a place where we get to see Clint's relationships through a nice little lens and b.) it really cements the idea that this is truly the stuff he's doing when he's not an Avenger. It's often hard to kind of separate heroes out from their various allegiances and teams and what not because you'll get a pretty constant stream of guest stars in a book and references to the teams they're on or it's simply in the reader's mind. Fraction and Aja want you to forget all of that and realize that the Avengers know far less about what's happening in Clint's life than we'd assume, to the point where they don't even know where he lives, let alone what he's doing with his time. It's a really brilliant idea and it's presented wonderfully. Meanwhile, the plot moves forward as Natasha has a great scene wherein she catches Penny/Cherry (whose real name is finally revealed as Darlene Penelope Wright) and learns that Clint's in real trouble. We also get Kate and Bobbi beating up some tracksuit Draculas who are hanging outside of Clint's apartment and finally we get the clown from hell who shoots one of Clint's supporting characters and presumably fan-favorite Grills/Gil. This book really has everything; interesting plot, compelling threats, and fantastic characters. And it's all for 2.99 a month. Worth every cent and some (but don't take that as authority to raise the price, Marvel execs who no doubt read this).