Leftovers 10-29-14

Pretty short week for full reviews this week but, like I said yesterday, not too many giant books out there. Let's just blast through this.

All-New X-Men 33

The ANXM search through the Ultimate Universe trying to make sense of their new surroundings. Angel and X-23 find each other, Jean leans on the Ultimate Spider-Man, Iceman gets in some trouble, and Beast is rather trapped in Latveria. It's extremely similar to Bendis' GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 15, which featured the Guardians all split up in foreign places, some faced with the unknown and some faced with enemies, in little almost-vignettes to show that they're all confused and lost. Like I said with that one, worth a miss. Total Score: 2/5










Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 3
Sabertooth has latched on with an army unit and is brutally killing just a bunch of people, even going so far as to kidnap a shorter one per night, dress him as Wolverine, and murder him. His dreams are filled with Wolverine mocking him, telling him that he'll never be complete without Wolverine and laughing at him for never getting to kill his true rival. It's weird and heavy-handed and the art is interesting but often lost me as to what was actually happening. Full-on crazy Sabertooth is not a Sabertooth I have any interest in, though I'm rather burned out on any Sabretooth after a few years straight of seeing him show up what feels like every week. Total Score: 2/5


Death of Wolverine: Deadpool and Captain America 1

Steve Rogers calls Deadpool in to help him thoroughly clean and destroy Wolverine's stuff, insistent that no one should find his genes and clone him (is this regular procedure when a hero dies?). The last piece is a knife used to stab Wolverine that was sold to AIM not long ago. With the clock ticking, Deadpool and Steve launch an attack on an AIM base and secure the knife again. When they return home, Cap leaves Deadpool to destroy the knife. Deadpool, though, returns to Butler's base and considers cloning Wolverine himself. It's a decent team-up, one we could have expected after their arc together in DEADPOOL. It's got a few laughs and some sweet moments between the unlikely allies, but it's nothing particularly groundbreaking, like I thought their first arc was. Total Score: 3/5






Deathlok 1
Henry Hayes is a Deathlok and has no idea. When he's sent on missions by his handlers, he returns mind-wiped, believing that he was assisting Medics Without Borders in war-torn areas. He also returns home to his life as a single father of a teenage girl named Aria. However, things might get complicated as his last mission had him attacking Black Tarantula, among others, who seemed to survive, unbeknownst to Deathlok, and he's drawn the eye of Maria Hill, who covertly promotes a promising researcher named Andrea Hope to active agent, tasked with finding as much as she can about this new Deathlok. It's an interesting starting point for this new series, though its best attribute this issue is actually how quickly it reads. With so much new information and characters and storylines coming at us all at once, this issue could drag, too exposition-heavy to keep us interested. Instead, it moves well and switches locales and perspective a lot, keeping the reader interested, if not yet invested. Total Score: 4/5


Elektra 7
Matchmaker has been killed by the experimentally juiced up Lady Bullseye who can become intangible as she pleases. Still not a problem for Elektra, who allows herself to take a few hits to force Lady Bullseye to become solid, allowing her to stab her then, as she goes intangible, Elektra breathes her enemy in. It's kinda disturbing. Anyway, she defeats Lady Bullseye and returns to Sidewinder, demanding he take her to the Assassin's Guild leader. He leads her to New Orleans where she's ambushed by other assassins she's defeated but are now similarly juiced up like Lady Bullseye with varying new powers. It's a tough fight but she bests them once more, finally making her way to someone at least pulling some of the strings. The guy says he doesn't lead the Guild but he can make this go away if Elektra lets the weird doctor experiment on her too. She, of course, refuses, kills the pair, and returns to Sidewinder to find out who leads the Guild. He doesn't know but believes Bullseye, currently catatonic and in SHIELD custody, does. Elektra sets off to bust Bullseye out. Elektra continues to be great, handling all of the amped up assassins who come her way and illustrating just how next-level she is in this community. The art isn't my favorite here, which is unfortunate because Del Mundo's really was up there. It's also a bit strange that she destroys so many people this issue that could have been issue-long fights. I'm not that upset about it, nice to see a book move quickly instead of trying to milk every fight out, but it's a tad weird in this community. Also, Matchmaker is dead and I hate this book for that. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 12
Wyatt and Spider-Man talk to Johnny, who IMMEDIATELY comes to his senses and visits Ben, explaining that someone is clearly pulling the strings here and that Ben needs to get out. In Latveria, Valeria tells Doom she has to go home to try to pull her family back together, leaving Doom, who has devious plans once more. Finally, Reed accuses Mr. Eden, with a great deal of exposition because who would ever want to see him work towards a discovery when we could just have him talk about things he discovered off-panel, of engineering the portal opening in the Baxter Building. Mr. Eden isn't really Mr. Eden though, Reed's lab partner Cully is Mr. Eden and he's doing all this because he hates Reed. WHAT A DUMB ENDING. I'm going to give this the very slightest benefit of the doubt here as we all know FANTASTIC FOUR is ending soon, so it's entirely possible these dumb twists and dumb turns were meant to unfold over multiple issues instead of twenty pages, but STILL. We don't care about the GASP, it's not MR. EDEN, IT'S CULLY thing because we don't care or know about either of those characters. Reed accuses him of engineering everything with a ton of evidence we're just learning about NOW, which is like a detective story where we see a moonlighting detective doing his day job then suddenly, apropos of nothing, solving the whole case on the last page of the book. It's all terrible and I do not like it one bit, my friends. Total Score: 1/5


Guardians of the Galaxy 20

FINALLY, the end of Star-Lord's story reveals that an already dying Nova sacrificed himself to transport Drax and Star-Lord back to their proper universe and that Thanos escaped too. There's also some crap about how Nova was in love with Gamora and he swore Star-Lord to secrecy about all of this, which is why he didn't tell Gamora or the crew earlier. If it is indeed the death of Richard Ryder (doubtful, as that old comic book axiom of "we didn't see the body" certainly comes in to play), it's a pretty stupid death; a standard sacrifice with questionable motivation marred by a prolonged and unnecessary admission of love. It's the worst kind of superhero death, cliche and boring at the same time. Then Gamora goes off and sheds a single tear. Total Score: 1/5






Inhuman 7
Black Bolt is still alive and Maximus is using his telepathic powers to control the missing king, focusing his limited powers entirely on Black Bolt. Medusa knows that her husband is alive and sends a pair of Inhuman investigators, one from the old kingdom named Auran and one NuHuman named (by Auran) Nur, to track him down. They eventually do find Maximus and Black Bolt and Auran, knowing that Maximus likely can't control their minds while he's focused so hard on Black Bolt, somehow doesn't realize that Maximus would be willing to use Black Bolt to attack the investigators, which he does, blowing out a huge part of the penthouse they're staying in overlooking New Attilan. Nur, though, may still be alive, ready for the next move. There are some interesting things in here, particularly between Maximus and Black Bolt, but the whole book is dragged down by a lot of exposition and re-explaining what's going on all over the universe wherever Inhumans are concerned. I also kind of like the idea that Soule is introducing new Inhumans all over the place, moving them into our consciousness slowly so he can eventually bring everyone out at once and we won't be overwhelmed. It's a smart play for a franchise looking to build. Still, the writing will have to get out of its own way and start trusting the reader a little more before the book can really take off. Total Score: 3/5


Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration 1
It's an extra long (and double-priced) book to commemorate 75 years of Marvel, replete with a story about the start of the universe, an old Stan Lee script illustrated by Bruce Timm, a Bendis Jessica Jones story, a Tom DeFalco Spider-Man story, a Len Wein Wolverine story, and a slew of covers from a slew of illustrators for books that will never exist, all credited to Brian Michael Bendis. Is it worth your money? No, probably not, unless you really love Bendis because this book is just chock full of him. It's always nice to see some of the legends like Lee, DeFalco, and Wein, but their screen-time is limited and the stories are somewhat fun throwbacks, nothing you haven't read a thousand times before. Six bucks though? I'm not gonna tell you to spend that. Total Score: 2/5






Nova 22
Nova talks his way back out of expulsion with a reluctant Principal Philbin then goes trick-or-treating with the X-Kids at the Jean Gray School. It's a bit of a reset issue and it works well enough for that with a couple of nice moments and an easy, generic story. Nothing to write home about but not a complete failure of an issue, as I maintain it's important to rest every few issues and let our hero have a slower day now and again. Total Score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 32

Six months after the fall of the Thunderbolts, Red Leader runs his new compound from Kata Jaya, the spot of the team's very first mission. He's plotted his whole life perfectly and now his only problem is that he has a crush on his biographer and can't seem to win her affection. However, all is not well for Red Leader as the Thunderbolts have been gathering intel about the new compound and have led the Avengers there to help take it apart. Red Leader has plenty of plans in place to pick apart his old team but they all crumble when his biographer turns out to be the SHIELD agent Hawkeye had been working with in disguise. She shoots him from behind and the T-Bolts and Avengers win the day, though it's made clear to Red Hulk that none of them want to join him again. It's a fun ending to a book that has certainly had its ups and downs (though mostly ups, particularly from halfway or so on). Deadpool has a particularly strong issue here, though the rest get a little bogged down by the sheer amount of characters and the focus being on Red Leader. Also, Mephisto sends the spirit of vengeance back to Johnny Blaze, to his dismay, which is a fun moment. Total Score: 4/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 11
Melita interviews Spider-Man, Storm, and Quentin Quire about the passing of Wolverine, though "interview" probably isn't the right word. She talks to each of them and gets more from some than others. The Spider-Man bits are mostly fun and work pretty well and the Storm stuff is more or less what you want out of Storm. To be fair, the Quentin stuff is what you can expect from Quentin too, but I still have to ask if we need this much Quentin Quire in our lives. Anyway, strong "in memoriam" kind of arc and, like last issue, it's nice to see so many artists paying their respects to Wolverine. Total Score: 3/5

Leftovers 10-15-14

As I said on Tuesday, there were a whole bunch of comics out this week so let's dive right into it with these much shorter, much quicker reviews. Let's also hope that they're much shorter and much quicker than I tend to be, even in these.


Avengers World 14

The Next Avengers help Sunspot, Cannonball, and Hyperion bring down Barbuda and free Smasher from their control as Shang-Chi gets his revenge on Gorgon, replacing Madripoor in the process, and Druid, who was killed while in the land of the dead, giving him the ability to stay with them and now giving him access to the language he needs, successfully brings the dead back and closes the portals while the Avengers and Euroforce beat up Le Fay. Success all around! These three sweeping stories come to a close in a pretty clean way, but one that follows well enough from the rest of the series. Strong writing and wonderful art anchor this one. Total Score: 5/5








Deadpool's Art of War 1
Deadpan gets hired in some strange chrono-bending way to kill Sun Tzu, author of Art of War and he gets real interested in the work, deciding to re-write it and publish it, claiming it as his own. His would-be publisher demands he find a new way to write the story as many have already done just that and he decides it should take the angle of a survivor's guide. He decides to start a massive war so that he can test his theories out surviving just such a war and pits Loki and Thor against each other, trolls and frost giants against Asgardians. However, his advice to Loki gives Loki the upper hand and Loki actually wins the inciting fight. There is maybe an interesting story in here but I've yet to really see it. It's also not nearly as fun as you'd want a Deadpool story to be with only really a handful of fun moments even attempted and almost all of them missing the mark. With Loki standing over a beaten Thor on the last page, Deadpool asks us "Isn't this fun?" Nope, but thanks for asking such a specific question. Total Score: 2/5


Edge of Spider-Verse 5
The final EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE shows us little Peni Parker, someone who I will not be talking about in the possessive sense, set to replace her father as SP//dr, a premiere crimefighter of her world who relies on a genetically keyed spider-suit to fight crime, which she does well, even despite her youth. After a run-in with Mysterio and some gangs (and a team-up with that universe's Daredevil), she's accosted on the train by two other Spiders from different universes, who warn her of the coming Morlun and other Spider-Killers. She agrees to go with them to help strengthen the Spiders. It's a pretty strong book (though I tend to have a distaste for books wherein some song plays and the lyrics show up as text in the book, particularly when the book is written by the frontman of My Chemical Romance, a band whose music I do not care for, but this is getting real nitpicky now and very nearly petty so let's close up this parenthetical) and the art is particularly strong. Overall, with a couple of missteps, the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE precursor mini-series has created some interesting characters and should get readers pretty interested for the main course, starting in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 11
She-Hulk meets with Wyatt Wingfoot and they discuss how Johnny's in trouble and how everything else seems to have broken the wrong way for Marvel's first family. The duo agree to team-up and try to figure out who is behind all of this before whoever it is can figure out they're on his or her trail. On his way home from the meet-up, though, Wyatt is attacked by a mysterious archer, saved only when Spider-Man pops in, also called by She-Hulk to give a hand. Oh, and Thing keeps getting beaten up in prison with a pseudo ally in Sandman and Reed is doing stuff and Sue is still crying. Really continue to not like this book but I do think this might have been a stronger issue than the last few, almost because the F4 weren't in it as much. That, uh, that still didn't make the book good, I should specify. Still way too narrative heavy and hand-holding and painted with such a broad stroke to be dark and menacing to actually feel that way. Total Score: 2/5


Hulk 7
Doc Green, fresh on his de-gamma-ing of Rick Jones, meets with Hulkling, who promises him that his powers are based on mixed alien heritage, not gamma in a fun little scene. Green's next real target is Skaar, son of Hulk (who Green claims not to be any more), so he travels to the Savage Land. After a vicious fight, Green manages to inject Skaar with the serum and watches him revert to something more resembling human (though with Skaar's strange background, no one really knows what he is now). His next targets seem to be the Red Hulks, both he and she, but first he has to deal with what's going on inside him, which seems to be a rebellion from Banner and even Hulk, still locked away in his mind. Some interesting things afoot here. I still don't like and/or care about Doc Green, which is the only thing the book is slipping on but I have a feeling now that it's intentionally slipping on that point. With the reveal that Banner and even Hulk may be still in Doc Green's mind, showing that the Hulk and Doc Green might really be separate entities, it's probable that Doc Green isn't the one we're really meant to be pulling for. Some interesting stuff and I'm surprised by how excited I've become to see the other Hulks in this series. Apparently I like those guys. Total Score: 4/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 7
Doom has trapped current Loki in time stasis after the villainous Loki showed Doom that he would destroy the world in the future. With Doom distracted, though, by Red Onslaught's hate-wave affecting Latveria, Verity reveals herself to Valeria and explains that Loki should be freed, the logic of which hits Valeria pretty quickly. They go and break down the time cube then, with Loki and his truth-sword released, they construct a way to broadcast the sword's inherent truth to Latveria, freeing the civilians from the perceived hatred they'd been feeling. As Doom and Loki debate what to do next, Magneto shows up and tells them they're needed to fight the Red Onslaught or else watch the world burn. Though I still can't help but eye-roll at Verity Willis (that name! What a specifically correct name PRE-DISCOVERY of her powers! Which are still undefined!), this is a pretty strong issue. There are an appropriate amount of funny moments and clever twists and turns. Valeria in particular gets a solid performance, with Ewing nicely toeing the line between naive child and brilliant wunderkind well (a line that so few others manage to hit). Best part is when Verity asks what makes hate easy and Val mutters "Mommy and daddy." Aww, poor angry kid. Also, great art from Jorge Coelho. Total Score: 4/5


Magneto 11

Hey, we just talked about this guy! Anyway, we see a bit of the last issue of AXIS as Magneto flees the fight with Iron Man on the verge of being crushed. He returns to his base with Briar Raleigh, wondering if maybe he isn't the massive villain the world thinks him to be, after unleashing Onslaught a second time and causing so much destruction once more, all while never actually helping his chosen people. Briar plays him a video she made of all of his greatest hits, which are mostly violent and despicable from the outside, but ends with a clip of a civilian mutant saying that, though Magneto was angry in all of this, he saved her life and she's happy, if a bit scared, that someone like him is on her side. Rejuvenated, Magneto travels to the ends of the Earth to gather a number of villains including Mystique, Sabertooth, Carnage, Doom, Loki, Absorbing Man, Hobgoblin, and Deadpool (who actually comes to him), to take on the hero-killing Sentinels Red Onslaught has at his command. Though this certainly wouldn't be required reading to understand what's happening in AXIS (we know by the end of issue two that Magneto left and got some villains and came back, which is pretty much all we need to know to continue), this one actually really does add a lot of depth to the stories, both the story of AXIS and the story of Magneto. It's extremely well-done and fits nicely with what Bunn has been establishing all along for Magneto. Great work. Total Score: 5/5


Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 6
While the Green Goblin recovers from his gunshot-to-the-head wounds and promptly kills J. Jonah Jameson for them, Miles and Maria Hill talk to Peter and MJ, trying to ensure that he's the real deal. As they keep questioning him and he keeps basically saying that he is Peter but he doesn't know how he's alive, probably something to do with science or whatever, Gwen and Aunt May also show up, suddenly aware that he's still alive. Unfortunately, the reunion is cut short when Goblin turns up on the front lawn. Miles demands Peter get his family and friends to safety while he takes on Goblin. With a series of attacks revolving around his venom blasts, Miles takes down Osborn with ease. Hill calls for backup to restrain Osborn while the powered-down Norman pleads with Miles to help him, promising that he'll tell him the truth about Miles' own powers and DUN DUN DUN his real father. EYE-ROLL. I actually enjoyed this issue (though it came with a lot of the sort of back-and-forth dialogue that seems to only serve to extend the pages...now we're getting into different styles of Bendis writing) right up until that last page, where Norman promises to tell him about his REAL FATHER. I suppose there has to be more drama to the return of the Green Goblin than just "oh, Miles' venom works absolutely GREAT on that guy" but I really don't need more daddy issues in comics or, you know, anywhere else, thanks. It's possible this will be some sort of fake-out or won't have the desired effect on Miles, but I'm reviewing this issue for this issue, not for the future, and GEEZ, trope alert. Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin Annual 1

We get a look back at the days when Fury took the job to be the new Man on the Wall in the stead of Woodrow McCord. Fury, eager to know more about McCord, is shown around the moonbase by Howard Stark, who shows him McCord's diary. In it, McCord explains what happened between himself and the man he replaced, a man named Stafford, and what the job has done to him in turn. I went into this book with a lot of skepticism because I don't tend to love Annuals and I really don't tend to love Annuals for events or for one-year only comics and I already didn't love ORIGINAL SIN. To say, then, that this issue is absolutely the best thing to come out of ORIGINAL SIN feels a little like the truth and a bit misleading at the same time. It's the truth because this book really does feel, to me, like it outstrips anything in ORIGINAL SIN, thanks to the quality of ORIGINAL SIN, and it's a bit misleading because this book really is genuinely very good. It's an extremely well-written character piece about Woody McCord and, on the outsides of that story, about Nick Fury. There's a lot here and Latour does a great job to really make the Man on the Wall stuff compelling and interesting. I couldn't help remembering that Latour was the last person to write a WINTER SOLDIER series before this newest incarnation and that I'd absolutely have loved to see him as the writer on this current one, as a guy who clearly has a compelling take on the Man on the Wall thing and who knows Bucky well. Great stuff here. Really worth checking out for a single issue sort of thing. Total Score: 5/5


Spider-Man 2099 5
Miguel insists that Alchemax no longer do things like hire criminals straight out of prison and suggests that they instead work on building supervillain prisons, an idea that Liz Allan is onboard with. However, Miguel is bothered by searing pains in his head as Miguel O'Hara's from different worlds are killed by Morlun. He escapes to the roof and switches to his costume right as the Miguel O'Hara who linked all of his fellow Miguel's heads together in a misguided attempt to team them up opens a portal to 616. Before he manages to enter it, though, Morlun catches up with him and kills him, dropping the body to the 616 but shies away from entering himself, remembering that world as the one in which he died. Miguel takes the body and realizes he has to find Spider-Man. Interesting issue all around. There's maybe an attempt at a little too much backstory from the other universe's Miguels especially considering it's quite clear they're going to die before they have a huge impact on the story, but our Miguel does well here and it seems like he'll be our messenger for the SPIDER-VERSE entry point coming very soon. Total Score: 4/5


Storm 4

Storm, hurt by the loss of Wolverine, expresses her grief out a safe distance from Earth before settling down and moving forward. She finds Wolverine's phone on his desk, which instantly gets a text from Yukio, asking for him to come down to help. She instead travels to Las Vegas where she tells Yukio what happened to Wolverine and promises to accompany her to whatever she needs help with. Believing this could be a bad idea as Storm is bound to not like what's coming, Yukio leads her to an underground meeting with the heads of a few clans of the world. The four bosses talk and try to figure out land issues with two clans clashing over one AIM base drifting between their territories. To solve the dispute, the four bosses and Storm go into an arena where two champions for the sparring clans face off. Disgusted by the fight-to-the-death mentality, Storm intercedes, with Yukio pleading her not to, saying that these fights keep the civilian casualties down from these gangs. Storm can't abide it, though, and the head of the third clan challenges Yukio for supremacy after her champion broke the rules. The pain of the loss of Wolverine is handled nicely in this issue, with Pak and Ibañez dedicating about five pages to her overwhelming grief before having her refocus and continue forth. It's pretty much what you want from Storm. The fighting clans are a little confusing to write about in an attempted brief summary but work alright in the book (though the areas they're claiming are a little vague). It's also a nice example of the differences between Wolverine and Storm, with Wolverine abiding these fights because he understands that it could keep civilian casualties down and Storm unable to abide these fights for any reason. Total Score: 4/5


Superior Foes of Spider-Man 16
The penultimate issue of SUPERIOR FOES finds the Sinister Six ready to step up as the heads of the Maggia with the head of Silvermane in tow. Unfortunately for them, Overdrive, Beetle, and Speed Demon all made deals with various other mobs and now the pier is a war zone about to get even crazier as Punisher, Mach VII, and Shocker head that way for their own reasons. Boomerang, though, got everything he wanted as he had stolen Chameleon's shape-shifting serum from his vault and poses as a Mets rookie pitcher to get to pitch once more for his team. As ever, really fun, really engaging issue. Great stuff from Speed Demon and Boomerang and a couple of twists that work really well for the issue. It's been a really fun ride for this team and I'm sad to know it's coming to an end in the next issue, but glad that we managed to get 17 out of it. Guys, 17 issues for a funny book that stars a supervillain C-team is kind of a massive win. Total Score: 4/5

New ANT-MAN series announced, FANTASTIC FOUR cancelled, new HAWKEYE creative team

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Cover by myself and @fatheadwilson to the just announced new Ant Man series by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas. (Scott Lang's new costume design is by yours truly as well :)

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A new ANT-MAN series was announced at New York Comic-Con this weekend. The series, which will debut in January 2015, will be written by Nick Spencer with art by Ramon Rosanas. This is a move that isn't unexpected as we're closing in on Ant-Man, the major motion picture set to come in the back-half of 2015. Spencer, of SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN and AVENGERS WORLD, seems a really good fit for the book, which will focus on Scott Lang and undoubtedly will want the sort of humor Spencer can bring to a book.

In other news, FANTASTIC FOUR has been cancelled by Marvel in a news story that no one finds surprising. It has, of course, led to a number of articles speculating (or claiming as fact) that Marvel has done it to keep promotion of Fox's upcoming Fantastic Four movie down, which continues to sound like the worst reporting in the whole wide world and continues not to be a rumor I buy in the least. Instead, I think the book is just not good and it's getting cancelled because, you know, it's not good.

The other big news I've seen is the announcement of a new creative team on huge Marvel hit book HAWKEYE. Matt Fraction and David Aja will end their hugely acclaimed run soon, leaving Marvel with the challenge of wanting to continue a great series that has found a huge following but losing the talent that put it on the map. At NYCC, they've announced that they're committed to putting top talent back on the book with Eisner-nominated writer Jeff Lemire (SWEET TOOTH, ESSEX COUNTY) and Eisner-winner Ramón Pérez (JIM HENSON'S TALE OF SAND). It's a huge decision and one that could prove excellent for Marvel as it allows Fraction and Aja to finish their story without it dragging on and still keeps top talent with big followings themselves on the book.

Also announced at NYCC is that February will see a line of 20 books with Phil Noto variants. Pretty excited about that, you guys.

Leftovers 10-1-14

Alright, let's get right into it because you and I both have some Smash Brothers to play.


Edge of Spider-Verse 4

In an alternate universe, a creepy kid named Patton Parnel gets bitten by a radioactive spider and it begins to turn him into something close to a living spider. Patton begins to eat people, starting with his bully Gene and his Uncle Ted before really just uncorking and going for everyone, including his beloved next-door neighbor Sara Jane. Before he can capture Sara Jane, Morlun shows up and finishes him, though all is not well for Sara Jane, who has a number of spider eggs in her from a bite she sustained. Creepy twist on the Peter Parker origin story here as EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE gets a horror comic entry. It's certainly readable though the connections between this world and the 616 are almost distracting. Writer Clay Chapman clearly chose these names for a reason, he's not shy about telling us that this is meant to be similar, but it does border on over-repetitive, a forced wink and nod. Total Score: 3/5



Fantastic Four Annual 1
Sue goes to Latveria to get Val back but Val wants to stay and Sue freaks out and attacks Doom, who reveals that someone else is in her head and Val stops Sue before she can kill Doom and I still do not care one bit about this book. I really don't like any of these characters and again, the exposition here is just SO HEAVY (and not like Marty McFly's "heavy"). It's unbelievable and clunky and obnoxious. I also like Val in certain scenarios but you really have to balance out the genius with the child thing for me, you can't just have a precocious "spouting exposition" and "using big/formal words" child to illustrate who she is. I know that Sue has something going on in her head right now, but it's still such a terrible rendering of this character, a character that I just don't have any interest in reading, regardless of what's in her head. Total Score: 1/5

Guardians 3000 1
The Guardians of the Galaxy in the year 3000 (or 3014, to be exact) are under attack from the Badoon. The Guardians are Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Yondu, and Starhawk and they have a refugee, named Geena Drake, from a Badoon camp in tow. They had met up with other powerful space entities fighting the Badoon in what was supposed to be a safe place, but they were ambushed and everyone died. However, there are issues with time right now and Geena seems to be a key to it. She wakes up 30 minutes before they all die trying to escape and she begins to remember, eventually picking up a gun and fighting back. Groundhog Day (the more popular reference) or Edge of Tomorrow (perhaps the more applicable reference), whatever you want to call it, that's happening. It's mixed in with a ton of exposition as if this is the only issue this creative team is going to get and they have to get everything out now. The only reason to believe maybe they have more time than they're letting on is that they won't stop saying made-up words and I get that we're a thousand years in the future and language changes but COME ON, STOP WITH MADE-UP WORDS. I really do not like them. They're always distracting and clumsy and obnoxious. Seriously, it drags the book down and slows the pacing badly, even when the exposition does that plenty. Total Score: 2/5

Legendary Star-Lord 4
Okay, we gotta speed things up again. Star-Lord tracks Thanos to the moon and wants to kill him, what with his guilt about letting him get back into the universe. The Mandalay Gem gets him to a point where he can kill Thanos but he won't do it because it would possibly blow up the moon and then the Earth would be in some real trouble. Meanwhile, Kitty's mad at him but he wins her over again, SOMEHOW, and Mr. Knife wants to steal a powerful artifact. It's hard to get on board with the cast of this book and this one just serves as another of the multitudinous books where I'm beginning not to like Kitty Pryde, who freaks out when Peter travels near Earth and won't see her (irrational and weirdly needy in their line of work) and then forgives him when he GOES TO EARTH AND LEAVES A MESSAGE FOR HER OUTSIDE OF HER PLACE BUT CONTINUES NOT TO SEE HER. There are things happening in this book but it's hard to really care about them if you don't care about the people involved in said things. And I don't right now. Total Score: 2/5

Moon Knight 8

There's a hostage situation in a building in New York and Moon Knight goes to put an end to it. He alternates between his three personalities, all of whom have a very specific way of dealing with problems, and eventually he ends up killing the hostage-taker, only to learn from the news later that the bomb the purported terrorist had was his company's agricultural accelerant that, though harmful, wouldn't have killed his hostages. Now, thanks to news reports of his brutal dealings, Moon Knight has been revealed and exposed as a brutal vigilante, all according to Knight's doctor's plan. There is a lot of interesting stuff here, particularly the multiple personalities we see and another look at Khonshu, but the overall pacing is a little slow here. It's a different sort of layout, almost meant to read more as a picture book than a comic, with dialogue (occasionally ambiguous as to who said it) and narration printed neatly on the sides of smaller panels. Although it's a kind of neat look, it doesn't quite hide the fact that there's a lot of pace-slowing explanation and prose there. Still pretty strong stuff and it's clear with his second issue on the series that Wood is intent on following Ellis' tone for the strong series. Total Score: 4/5

Silver Surfer 6
After a series of requests that try Surfer's patience, Dawn demands they get the best ice cream in the universe, leading them to Planet Prime, a planet where perfection reigns and everyone is the best there is at what they do and what they do is a very specific task, such as Banker One or Tour Guide One or Street Sweeper One. Their actions on the planet inevitably lead to Warrior One, the most perfect warrior, to attack Surfer. He struggles under the might of the warrior, nearly losing the fight, before Dawn tells him to simply remove the Warrior's badge, promoting Warrior Two to his spot and calming things as the new Warrior One calls for an end to the fight, but leading the new Warrior Zero to swear his revenge. As ever, the book strives to be fun and light and mostly hits, occasionally going a little far in one direction or another. It's hard not to draw certain comparisons to Doctor Who, as we have an extremely powerful and knowledgeable alien leading an Earthgirl around on a series of adventures but these issues are self-contained, typically, small anecdotes from a larger story and with very little ongoing drama. The smartest thing about this book is the inclusion of Michael and Laura Allred, whose art and colors grant this book the energy that they'd probably be lacking with anyone else. It's such a specific tone for this book and the Allreds make sure to convey that tone in everything they do. Total Score: 4/5

Spider-Man 2099 4

Scorpion, with a legion of Spider-Slayers at his disposal, is dead set on killing Spider-Man 2099, who he believes to be regular-type Spider-Man. He's succeeding until Miguel gives them the slip just long enough to have his computer Lyla turn on his regular clothes hologram. With no spiders to target, Scorpion begins to threaten the civilians around, believing Spidey won't let them die. Miguel tosses Lyla on to Scorpion's back with direction to hologram him up to look like Spider-Man. The Spider-Slayers attack him and he only barely survives, destroying them in the process. Meanwhile, Tiberius' captor dies saving him from the collapsing building, causing him to have a change of heart and not sell the Slayers to the warlord dictator, even going so far as to oust him with his own legion of Slayers. It's a very strong issue out of this young book, one that moves pretty well and finds Miguel using his smarts and his skills to win the day in classic Spider-Man fashion. The art is strong and the tone is right where it needs to be. I'll be interested to see if this book can fit in with EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE, where it's headed next. Total Score: 5/5

X-Men 20
The mystery deepens as hunters return to their original ship, forcing Rachel, Monet, and Psylocke to take them all down. They discover security footage in the ship and learn about Sharada Darthri, a being who seems intent on creating and cultivating new life, even if it's at the expense of old life (this may be a little vague and/or wrong because they still haven't actually figured out her intents), which is why she's so interested in the Shi'ar/Kree/mutant child of Deathbird. Under Darthri's command is SWORD's Manifold Tyger, who is directed to kill everyone at the Peak. He attacked Storm already and now aims to take out Cecilia Reyes. It's an interesting story so far, even if it's a little tough to follow, and the writing continues to be pretty strong here, though there are maybe a few too many asides and interjections. I'll be interested to rate this one a little more thoroughly once we've seen it all and once the plot is cleared up a bit more. Pretty strong stuff though otherwise. Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 9-10-14

Wowwwwww, managed to knock out enough books that I only have SIX ISSUES to quick-review today. Not saying I'm super-duper proud of myself but it'd be okay if you were all super-duper proud of me.

All-New Ultimates 8

The Ultimates meet to figure out their next plan, particularly where they're going to live and how they're going to operate now when Spider-Man tells them that J. Jonah Jameson offered them "whatever they need" to help and maybe he could help with this. Meanwhile, the Femme Fatales, a new villain group with some sort of puppeteer over them, attack Manhattan. The Ultimates dispatch them well enough but constant bickering between Cloak and Dagger comes to a head and the two remove themselves to break up. Oh, and the Future Foundation shows up for some plot device and someone is watching them/researching them on some monitors. You know how it goes. The series continues to drag with exposition and would-be playful dialogue hampering the pacing. The banter during the fight is as constant and as head-shakingly frustrating as it's ever been. Total Score: 2/5




Deadpool 34
In another throwback story, this one tied to ORIGINAL SIN, we learn that Deadpool used to work willingly (sort of) for Butler, giving him his blood and doing jobs for him. His personality is still there but there is an element of coercion to it. Things come to a head when Butler, testing the limits of Deadpool's subservience, sends Deadpool to kill his own parents. After a brief encounter with Alpha Flight, Deadpool burns his childhood home down with his parents sleeping inside. He returns home to find Carmelita on Butler's doorstep with little Ellie. Butler takes a blood sample from Ellie before Deadpool sends them away, shouting about how dangerous he is. He also leaves Butler's employ, leading to Butler to capture him covertly whenever he needs a new sample. Back in the present, Adsit has seen all of this courtesy of the truth bomb but Preston refuses to let Deadpool know about it. It's a pretty strong issue with the expected amounts of '90s comic-book references and homages which tend to be a lot of fun but can also carry on a little long. Instead, here, Duggan and Posehn front-load the issue with such references (making it a little bit of a drag but not giving it enough time to really slow things) and then really put some weight in the back half. Pretty strong stuff. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 10

Thing learns that She-Thing runs his Ryker's prison wing as dictated by someone higher up on the food chain, Sue steals one of the Fantastic Four transports from under SHIELD's nose, Johnny continues to party, and Reed finds himself alone in a fight in Chicago against the Wizard and the women of the Salem Seven, only surviving the fight with the appearance of Scarlet Witch. It's funny that this book should come after the '90s throwback DEADPOOL issue because that issue made fun of the '90s tradition of long-winded mid-fight exposition, among other things, then here all of that is in a real, non-tongue-in-cheek FANTASTIC FOUR book. Just further highlights why books aren't written that way any more. As ever, this book drags, the dialogue is terrible, and nobody has a thought they don't shout to the world. Total Score: 1/5





Magneto 9
Magneto sets off for Genosha, where he's learned more atrocities are being committed. He recalls times in the concentration camp as he finds mutants and Inhumans imprisoned at Genosha, held by the Red Skull, who Magneto soon learns has old friend Charles Xavier's brain. In his anger and his desire for justice, he goes alone to attack Skull and his S-Men only to be humiliated by the S-Men and captured. It's as dark an issue as that summary would make you expect, but it's a pretty good issue as Magneto fails for pretty much the first time in this series and as we get a little bit of a teaser of what we can expect out of the upcoming AXIS. More strong work out of Bunn, Walta, and Bellaire on this series. Total Score: 4/5


New Warriors 9

Scarlet Spider wants to quit the team and the mountain has brought him "home," which, to his chagrin, means Houston. He and Justice fight about the team and about Scarlet Spider's heroism but the two are interrupted by Choke the Bear, a giant former NBA mascot granted insane powers and size by a meteorite that once crashed through his court and landed on him. As Scarlet Spider tries to leave, hoping that Choke, who is set on fighting a villain in Houston, will follow him, he runs into old friend and police lieutenant Wally Layton who tells him that he was wrong when he blamed Kaine for Houston's problems, that Kaine really was a hero and saved the city and his own life multiple times. Kaine reluctantly goes back and, with the help of Justice, takes Choke down, even more reluctantly agreeing to stick with the team. Meanwhile, Aracely reveals to Speedball that Mictlan is coming and she will die soon. This issue is a lot of fun and Yost again shows off his prowess for taking any character, giving them a unique voice, and making you care about them. Everyone on the team gets at least one line this time out and there's not really a wasted line. Everything is meant to color a character or to advance the plot and it all works really well. Excellent work as ever and the book continues to be a really entertaining read. Really sad this one's ending. Total Score: 5/5


Nightcrawler 6
Nightcrawler and Scorpion-Boy team to fight their way through the Crimson Pirates in their attempt to save mutant genius Ziggy Karst. Together they plow through the pirates with seeming ease and Nightcrawler begins to believe there's more to it than the pirates just killing a bunch of people to get to Karst. Indeed, when they finally rescue Karst (who is immediately taken with Rico), they find that the pirates have been shooting everyone but the guns have been teleporting them to interdimensional slaver Tullamore Voge. Nightcrawler uses the gun on himself and rescues the civilians and Ziggy, returning home triumphant again. The book continues to be really start-and-stop with the dialogue and exposition stepping on the toes of the plot and the character-building. The plot twists, too, seem to come out of nowhere, which is kind of what you want a plot twist to do but a twist doesn't mean anything if there's absolutely no precedence for it, as in this case. This is a new mutant we know nothing about being attacked by pirates we haven't seen in decades for a slaver we haven't seen in decades and it's all over and done with in one issue. What a weird book. Total Score: 2/5

ALL OF THEM

Okay.



Okay.



Okay, so we're back. Apologies for the little break (I may some day take a bigger break but one that's scheduled and doesn't revolve around my axle breaking and my car needing more assistance than my blog). For some dumb reason, I still feel determined to review every book but we're all busy people, we don't need big reviews, particularly the Sunday after the comics have come out. Most of you may already know what books you want! So let's blast through this, super super super condensed version. I may not even mention creators...hold on, I'm getting a thought - start of the week, maybe I'll post all the creators on the side like how I post the new release comics. I gotta update the look of this site anyway. Any suggestions/comments/criticisms? Okay, we're wildly off-topic now. TO THE COMICS, wherein I shall strive to give the SHORTEST REVIEWS I CAN POSSIBLY GIVE.


All-New Invaders 9

The Invaders have been caught off-guard by a bunch of Deathloks and their master, thanks to some sort of AI controlling device, is revealed to be a Martian. The book continues to be horribly slow, to over-explain everything, and to, presumably as an effect of the previous two clauses, seeming have no tension to it. Total Score: 2/5


All-New Ultimates 7
The Ultimates follow Crossbones into the sewers where they run across deformed fellow experiments of Roxxon who have been left there along with a pile of bodies. Geez, now they have to deal with Roxxon and a protracted and uninteresting gang war? This continues to be protracted and uninteresting, though at least something happened this time. Total Score: 2/5


All-New X-Men 31
While the adult X-Men are out of town to figure out Xavier's will, the ANXM find a new mutant named Carmen who can open portals to other dimensions and, in their attempt to help her understand, she sends them off to different universes, namely, it seems, the Ultimate Universe. Wasn't AGE OF ULTRON supposed to knock off this cross-universe business? Didn't BENDIS write that? How many loopholes can we create WITHIN TWO YEARS? What is HAPPENING? Total Score: 2/5


Amazing Spider-Man 1.4
Clash has made something of a name for himself but he's only doing so in comparison to Spider-Man, which enrages him. Finally Spidey invents something that should negate Clash a bit and uses it when Clash attacks the Daily Bugle (they all come there eventually) but Clash breaks it, leading Jonah to call him a real threat and Spider-Man the knock-off, to Clash's delight. Getting a little sick of all of Spider-Man's villains being crazy and wanting attention, is anyone else feeling that way? Total Score: 2/5


Avengers 34

How are we still not out of the As yet? Okay. Captain America gets brought by Iron Lad to the end of time where Iron Lad, Immortus, and Kang tell Cap he has to remain there so he doesn't interfere with events on current Earth that could lead to the end of days. Cap, of course, doesn't take that well and gets the time gem once more, going back to the present and preparing the Avengers for an assault on the Illuminati. Really interesting point to have reached and there's a great classic Cap speech in the middle of all this. Total Score: 4/5


Avengers Undercover 9
The Avengers and other gathered heroes descend on The Pit to attack Zemo and free the former students only to be trapped in The Pit while Zemo and his army attacks the rest of Earth, starting with SHIELD. The bait-and-switch worked pretty well, but it didn't account for Cammi, who broke out of her prison and has the drop on Zemo and his lieutenants. More strong stuff from this series which has reached its sadly penultimate issue. Total Score: 4/5


Cyclops 4
Cyclops and Corsair are running short on Corsair's life-saving medicine, a fate to which Corsair is resigned but about which Cyclops is angry. Corsair has set about trying to teach Cyclops to fight and to live off the land while awaiting rescue but Cyclops has already started to give up hope. Corsair tells him that hope is the difference between the Scott he knew and the Scott on Earth now, that the current Cyclops lost all hope. Not wanting to be that guy, young Cyclops sets about trying to fix the tracking unit the bounty hunters attached to Corsair's ship, which will provide rescue but in the form of bounty hunters. Some solid character work here from Rucka and a nice quiet issue before guns presumably start blazing again. Cyclops and Corsair's relationship is the driving force of this young book and it's well done here. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 9
Reed has started work with John Eden (ugh) while Johnny is depressed in the Manhattan upper class, Sue frets about the kids, and Thing finds out that She-Thing runs the prison and has an axe to grind with him. I don't know much about Fantastic Four history because I largely don't care about the F4 but She-Thing? Is that what we've chosen to dig up as Thing's greatest foe? There's finally hint of a greater scheme at work behind everything happening but I still refuse to buy plenty of what's happened so I'm unimpressed by a clear hand steering things. Total Score: 2/5


Guardians of the Galaxy 18
Gamora kidnaps Peter Quill and brings him to an interrogation chamber unbeknownst to the rest of the team, where she asks him about what happened in the Cancerverse that allowed he, Thanos, and a living Drax to return. Part one of the story involves Star-Lord and Nova attempting to nobly sacrifice themselves to see Thanos forever trapped but Thanos making a solid argument to Star-Lord about why he should hand over the cosmic cube he's holding. Not much substance, as yet, to this story that should explain some things. McGuinness' art is strong, though, so it's certainly readable. It would be more readable if there wasn't so much quipping in the CANCERVERSE. Total Score: 3/5


Inhuman 4

Medusa has set up New Attilan on the ground near New York and opened it to the public. Thor comes to hang out with her as she explains her reasons for doing so, which are mostly to build relationships and alliances while showing the Inhumans are nothing to fear. However, assassins try to kill her, wounding her handmaiden Elejea in the process. Thor delivers the assassins to Medusa, who learns they are Nuhumans (the convenient term for new Inhumans) angry that they're now different. She offers them a place in her kingdom or the opportunity to leave unharmed and without resistance, showing the people how peaceful and reasonable she can be. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious character named The Reader saves a Nuhuman in China. Plenty happening in this book and Soule is doing a solid job to really make this start feeling like its own culture and own big world, which is very important. Stegman also does really impressive work on these pages. Total Score: 5/5


Original Sin 5.4 - Thor and Loki
As Loki leads the Angels to attack Asgard, Thor summons the storm to him and annihilates his prison, breaking out and immediately wreaking havoc on Heven. Loki does indeed bring the Angels to Asgard but neglects to mention that all the Asgardians live now in Asgardia and that only Odin and The Serpent are in Asgard, finally rousing Odin back to action. Not a terrible little issue though it does drag a little at parts and sometimes the often flowery Asgardian English confuses where it should just push forward. Mostly strong work. Total Score: 4/5


Savage Hulk 3
Jean has the power of the Hulk and seemingly Hulk-strength telepathy now but...wait, it's just a dream of Xavier's as his mind has been manipulated by...wait, it's all happening in Banner's head and the Leader is there with bombs strapped to everyone suddenly and he's ready to detonate Xavier's if he even tries to get into his own mind and...look, I'm not sure what's happening here but I am sure that I'm almost entirely disinterested in it and it still moves slowly, even with a plot that's clearly ramping up. Total Score: 2/5


Silver Surfer 5
It turns out that the barrier around Earth isn't actually real, it's in Surfer's head courtesy of a nearby slumbering Lord of Nightmares. Everyone on Earth has fallen asleep except for Dawn Greenwood, who is drifting off, and it's given the Lord of Nightmares the power, thanks to a rare alignment of the planets, to essentially keep everyone asleep and in nightmares forever if Dawn, Surfer, Hulk, and Dr. Strange don't stop him, which they eventually manage. There's a lot of interesting art and ideas but this one feels a little bogged down by how much Slott wants to do and by this strange mythology. Dawn eventually, I should mention, realizes that she wants to see more of the universe and goes with Surfer. Total Score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 30
Punisher and Elektra fight while the two reminisce, both in their heads and out loud, about their times together. Elektra is a far better fighter than Punisher and doesn't really let him get a moment to rest, but even when he finally does get her pinned, he can't bring himself to kill her and the two separate less than amicably but also with neither dead. As Hawkeye relates everything he's figured out to Iron Man, particularly about the terribleness of the new Thunderbolts team, Punisher calls Red Hulk and tells him that he's next. A pretty good fight scene carries this rather nice break-up issue as the weird relationship that was Elektra and Punisher comes to an end. Total Score: 3/5


Uncanny Avengers 23
The Unity Squad needed a bit of time to recover from everything that's happened, so Janet and Scarlet Witch return finally to everyday life from Janet's family's secluded vacation home to try to put their lives back in order again. Anyone that needed healing or examination was placed in a healing chamber for Hank McCoy to study or heal, though Sunfire remains imbued with tremendous power, Havok's face will never heal again, and Rogue still has Wonder Man in her brain (no one really came out of this alright). Rogue goes a little crazy as the voices and memories she thought she expelled from her brain take over again and she runs rampant through New York until Scarlet Witch catches up to her and swears she'll help her. Meanwhile, Red Skull prepares his next major strike along with Kang's recent right-hand man Ahab. Lots of set-up for the upcoming AXIS and some good closer from the last very long arc make this one a worthwhile read, but not one that feels totally necessary to continue the story. Total Score: 4/5


Wolverine 12

It's another fight in a mall and Wolverine decries Sabretooth's hypocrisy while Sabretooth decries Wolverine's use of armor and they fight and eventually Wolverine powers through his crappy dialogue and narration to defeat Sabretooth and they get the orb back and Death is like "hey Wolvy, see ya soon, like in September's DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini-series!" and I'm just glad another heavy-handed but ultimately ineffective WOLVERINE volume has come to a close and I'm looking forward to Charles Soule's spin. Total Score: 2/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 8
Wolverine and Storm have a date in The World, where time moves differently. They end up staying there a while longer, spending a great deal of time building a life, overthrowing a warlord born of the old Weapon Plus program, and stabilizing the region. They leave after a year with Storm leaving as the queen and Logan as the inspiration for a school and so forth, their love for each other deepened but still unable to overcome their responsibilities with the X-Men. It's not a bad issue and the time jumps make it move quickly enough and stay interesting. It's also the first time in the few years that they've had this on-and-off relationship between Wolverine and Storm where I've felt like maybe it wasn't just something the writers wanted to make work, maybe it is something that can happen in this world. Nicely done, Latour. Total Score: 4/5


GUYS, I DID IT. Why isn't everyone praising me ALREADY?

Leftovers 8-13-14

Hey all my buddies, we've reached the end of another long week and I've reached the end of another string of longer reviews. You know what that means: focusing up to whip out this review dump in under an hour (tricky business, that, considering how many I left for myself. Did you guys realize I hadn't actually reviewed AMAZING SPIDER-MAN or SPIDER-MAN 2099 yet? Because I sure didn't). LET'S HIT IT.

Amazing Spider-Man 5
Slott (w) and Ramos (p) and Olazaba (i) and Delgado (c) and Eliopoulos (l)

Spider-Man and Silk make out for a while until she reveals that she knows he's Peter Parker, which jolts him back into his regular state of mind. Disturbed by both of their actions, he brings her home to try to figure out what should happen next, but they quickly end up making out again until Anna Maria comes home. She tells him that Sajani hasn't appeared to any press events as scheduled and he must do it himself, so he goes on J. Jonah Jameson's new talking heads show and begins to talk about his desire to capture and cure Electro and other villains only to be interrupted by Black Cat and Electro busting on to the set to hold Peter hostage. Silk emerges and fights the pair while Peter changes but Electro manages a hit on Peter that renders him immobile while Cat prepares to unmask him on live television. I still really don't like this Black Cat-Electro team-up and I really hate the crazed Black Cat that's emerged from it. Also, her luck powers seem to be working overtime, as do her luck-based mantras and BOY that never gets annoying. Total Score: 2/5


Avengers Undercover 8
Hopeless (w) and T. Walker (a) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

It's been three months since the kids joined up with the villains and some are ready to join up officially while the others are on the cusp of being in deep enough to turn the tables on their "allies." When the now-together Hazmat and Anachronism decide they've gained enough trust, they escape momentarily to contact Hank Pym and tell him what's been happening. He's not thrilled but he agrees to help them when the moment comes. Unfortunately, Zemo seems wise to their game and brings down each one of the kids not already under his sway (Death Locket seems pretty entrenched already and Cullen is being controlled by Daimon Hellstrom). It's a really nice bit of sleight of hand by Hopeless as he keeps the reader focused on the changes that have occurred over the last three months and on which of the kids will follow through on their original plan before revealing that Zemo already has the drop on them because, you know, in retrospect, of course he does, he's Zemo and this plan isn't foolproof, let alone Zemo-proof. Good issue. Total Score: 5/5


Avengers World 11
Spencer (w) and Ienco (a) and Mossa (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Avengers kids are on hand and they prove themselves by taking down a flock of SHIELD agents before Maria agrees to their help. They go to AIM Island and, with the help of Manifold, take down plenty of AIM agents and use a device to gather the intelligence AIM has gathered and block its transmission. They manage to stick it to one of the bio-networked AIM agents and then distract Forson long enough to escape while the present Avengers head to the White House to defend it from AIM, who have more or less declared war on America after Iron Man's "attack" on Forson on live TV. Mostly interesting stuff here though the re-emergence of the Next Avengers mostly just serves to confuse me as to why they're back and, you know, timeline stuff and the like. Whatever, still doing alright. Total Score: 4/5


Deadpool 33
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Lucas (a) and Staples (c) and Sabino (l)

Deadpool fights off wave after wave of Ultimatum soldiers before their boss Flag-Smasher appears and Deadpool gets incapacitated enough for Flag-Smasher to throw Ellie out the window. Deadpool struggles to his feet and begins his attacks anew, furious and sad, until Genesis shows up to help his ol' pal Deadpool with own pal Quentin Quire in tow. Evan caught Ellie going out the window and the girl is unharmed, which doesn't keep Deadpool from annihilating Flag-Smasher, ensuring he stays alive so no one else picks up the mantle and comes after him and threatening him with horrible consequences should he ever come near Deadpool or Ellie again. Deadpool convinces Preston to take Ellie in and he himself buys a house across the street from Preston to be in constant view of his daughter. Meanwhile, Adsit reveals to Preston that Deadpool killed his own family. Pretty good issue, plenty of fun and interesting stuff here. I don't love Lucas' art, which makes anyone unmasked look fairly grotesque and kind of distracts from the situation at hand. Not bad otherwise though. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 8
J. Robinson (w) and L. Kirk (p) and Hanna (i) and Aburtov (c) and Cowles (l)

Thing is accused of murder, Sue attacked the Avengers after losing her kids, and Johnny's been booted from his live tour in favor of Robinson's ALL-NEW INVADERS creation Radiance. Thing is moved to a high-power prison facility and Sue and Reed are brought to Eden, a community hovering above Lake Michigan led by a man named John Eden because creativity isn't worth anything, I suppose. This is a book I legitimately finished, planning to read a few more comics upon its completion, and I found I couldn't continue because sometimes books are just too bad. It seems telling that the blurb they took from a Newsarama article for the cover simply says "Marvel's premier dysfunctional family" and not anything lauding this actual series. It seems like something is pulling the strings here on the F4 and you can almost be assured that's true because Robinson basically has Reed say it a couple times without actually saying it because Reed apparently hasn't figured it out yet but is taking liberty to simply dance around it. Maybe they didn't have any space to say it outright because they had already used up all of their real estate on exposition. I really don't like this book. Total Score: 1/5


Hulk 5
Duggan (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

Hulk has been injected with Extremis and it's made him incredibly smart, though it made him also shave his hair into a mohawk and start calling himself "Doc Green" so maybe we're meant to question exactly how smart he really is. He's smart enough, though, to have formulated a way to cure gamma-enhanced beings, though the serum won't work on himself. He's realized that gamma-enhancements are too dangerous to have around and he's made enough of the serum and fashioned enough adamantium nanites for delivery to the other gamma-enhanced beings, starting with Rick Jones, who isn't so crazy about the idea. Very interesting new direction for the series as Gerry Duggan takes over the book (a little sad that it's not Mark Waid because I was going to talk about how I met Mark Waid last week and he was delightful and very kind but now I have no idea when I'll be able to mention it). I'm distracted, still, by the mohawk and the name Doc Green but I like a lot of the other stuff. Total Score: 4/5


Inhuman 3
Soule (w) and Madureira (a) and Gracia (c) and Cowles (l)

Lash has taken a few more Inhumans to Orollan, though no one really knows what to make of his cultish ways. Meanwhile, Lineage has sought council with Medusa to tell him what he knows about Black Bolt's plan, gleaned from the information he's received from the voices in his body. Allegedly, something worse is coming for the Inhumans and Black Bolt unleashed the Terrigen Mists because they'd need all the help they can get. Medusa brings a handful of combatants to Orollan to tell Lash about the threats and to warn him off killing any more Inhumans, which he very reluctantly agrees to. Lots of good stuff here and a lot of interesting new places to go but you do have to get through a lot of exposition in this issue to get to the meat of the series. Total Score: 4/5






GUYS, maybe there will be more later but I am burned out and APPARENTLY I really left a ton for myself for today/tomorrow so I'm takin' a break. Love you all, spoilers for the future post: THUNDERBOLTS and X-FORCE are both worth reading. Can't say much else.

Leftovers 7/9/14

100th Anniversary Special: Amazing Spider-Man 1
S. Ryan (w) and I. Lee (a and c) and Cowles (l)

Another glimpse into the future as we see where Peter Parker might be in another few decades, battling Kingpin over a techno-symbiote, a Venom that grants him access to the world's electrical data. In a city where even the cars are connected to a giant grid, it gives him unparalleled control and the ability to hunt Peter at any turn. Peter manages to escape into the technology-less Central Park and make himself a torch, which he wields as Venom approaches. He dives at Kingpin with it and manages to burn off the suit, taking Kingpin down. He returns home and we learn that he's recently lost Aunt May (hard to feel too bad, she lived to maybe 700 years old, given the way she looks in early SPIDER-MAN) but he's ready to keep fighting. It's not a bad in medias res book (though it claims to be 8 of 8 and it's the first time Kingpin is revealed as the villain, so it's indicative of a pacing problem in the arc) and Sean Ryan's writing doesn't over-explain too much (as would be the temptation as you jump into a whole new world and the end of an arc) while In-Hyuk Lee's art is very impressive. Strong stuff, certainly entertaining enough to read, though it seems a little heavy-handed about the role of electronics and the pace of technology and so forth. 4/5

All-New Invaders 7
J. Robinson (w) and Laming (a) and Guru eFX (c) and Petit (l)

Torch continues to explain to SHIELD agent Malloy what happened with Radiance, which leads to a story within a story within a story and ALL OF THEM ARE BORING. The original Invaders were set to cause a tsunami in Japan that would likely end the war but Golden Girl, Radiance's grandmother, could not abide the loss of innocent lives the tsunami would cause. She and the Kid Commandoes fight against the Invaders and eventually cause them to see the innocent people and they all refuse to go through with the plan, prompting the army to drop the bombs. Radiance backs off, ashamed that she took such steps to nearly really hurt some people, and Torch takes the fall for her and he explains it to Malloy and Malloy is apparently an alien AI and I DO NOT CARE. This book has SO MUCH over-exposition, kicking off with Malloy literally saying "let me list what you've said" at one point and it's just stuff like that that make this one of the most poorly written and therefore boring books I've seen. 1/5

Amazing Spider-Man 1.3
Slott (w) and R. Pérez (a) and Herring (c) and Caramagna (l)

As the science fair approaches, Peter decides to enter a magnetic device he used against the Vulture. It fails to impress but it works well when Clayton Cole shows up at the fair in his Clash get-up and Peter assumes the worst, changing to Spider-Man and attacking before Clash can hurt anyone. Of course, it makes matters worse and Clash is more powerful than he was before. Spider-Man forces him to flee with the magnetic device but has earned the ire of everyone around and his turned Clash even more against Spider-Man. This is a fairly slow issue with equal time given to the new storyline as to the old ones (like the Vulture fight) so you already know a lot of the stuff that's happening. More than that, though, it reverts Spidey to his original personality maybe a little too well, making him far less likable and more reactionary. He is rather the cause of all of these troubles (with a generous helping of Clayton Cole's insanity). 2/5

Avengers Undercover 7
Hopeless (w) and Walker (p) and Gorder (i) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

Chase is in neurosurgery even after Nico uses her power to heal his chest and it rather sends her off the deep end. She's been training with Alex, her evil, one-time, thought dead boyfriend, who has determined that her power is legendary but her willingness to use it is holding her back. When Chase returns near death, she flips and decides to give up, letting in to her more wrong desires and kissing Alex. Meanwhile, Maria Hill, Hank Pym, and Steve Rogers lament the loss of AIM's prisoner, a SHIELD agent named Crenshaw who pretty much built their entire communications security and who is now in Zemo's grasp and Cammi, kept quietly in a cell, creates a peephole to see where she's being kept only to find out that it's right above Zemo's living room. She sees them celebrating, Zemo's hand around the waist of a woman with her back to the cell, and can't figure out what the celebration is for, leading her cellmate, the still alive Arcade, to offer some theories. Really interesting book as these kids only get more interesting and as their situation seems to get more dire. Lot of fun with a couple of good twists and turns and the promise of the next issue zooming us three months into the future. 5/5

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 3
M. Benson (w) and Huat (p) and Yeung (i) and Aburtov (c) and Sabino (l)

Shang-Chi, with the help of the Daughters of the Dragon and MI6, follows after White Dragon and a mysterious friend, learning that they've taken hold of a book of powerful dark magic. Shang is joined by sometimes adversary Skull Crusher, also believing White Dragon is up to something too sinister to continue. They sneak into the White Dragon's lair and come upon him, managing to subdue him but ultimately succumbing to the magic in the room. Then Dragon's friend appears, revealing himself to be Midnight Sun, brother to Shang-Chi, who is set on taking his father's place and running the crime world of England. They've already killed most of the Triads' leaders, using their heads for their enchantments, and White Dragon offers up his own to Midnight Sun, who takes it and then proceeds to take Skull Crusher's. Things look as bad as they have for Shang-Chi, who is facing quite an adversary in his own brother. The book moves well and doesn't over-explain, though still gives enough of a sense of things for unfamiliar readers to get a foothold in the story. I'm also particularly partial to Huat's art after X-MEN LEGACY so this book is doing pretty well in my book, though it does get a little too deep into Shang-Chi's story for the casual reader. 4/5


Deadpool 31
Posehn and Duggan (w) and J. Lucas (a) and Staples (c) and Sabino (l)

While Deadpool and Dazzler keep pulling apart the vampire nests, Preston meets with Butler's brother in Chicago. She meets Ellie, who has something of a fondness for violence and gore, but she's asked to leave by Utler before anything really happens. However, a separate task force appears to capture Ellie and Preston manages to all but fight them off. When she's shot and taken out in the process, though, she manages to spend a text to Deadpool to tell him what's happening, which sends him looking for any help to get him to Chicago quickly. After exhausting all his likely allies, he happens upon Thor at Avenger's Mansion, who allows him to hang on to Mjolnir while he throws it for Chicago. The book moves pretty well and advances the plot nicely, though the vampire hunt seems to be taking something of a backseat to the Ellie situation, which feels a little strange. The art is maybe a little more disconcerting than I'd like but otherwise, pretty strong showing. 4/5

Fantastic Four 7
J. Robinson (w) and Kirk and Haspiel (p) and Haspiel and Kesel w/Magyar (i) and Aburtov and Woodard (c)

Johnny ruined Reed's chance to help Ben in the past and now Thing remembers it all and demands Johnny not speak to him again. He leaves Johnny's apartment and heads to the bar, where he gets a call from Alicia saying she's been kidnapped by her step-father, the Puppet Master. He rushes to her, calling Reed to come help on the way. When Reed arrives, he finds Thing standing over the body of Puppet Master, swearing that he didn't do it. Much of the first half of the issue is dedicated to the ORIGINAL SIN flashback, which is rather unnecessary as we pretty much got the gist of it last time. There's still plenty going on with Puppet Master and it feels like this is the sort of crime/trial/mystery that could go on for a while and maybe have an easy wrap-up. Still, the book reads alright, though a little over expository, and the differing art styles (Haspiel for the OS flashback and Kirk for the rest) work for their parts. 3/5

Nightcrawler 4
Claremont (w) and Nauck (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

The Trimegas attack the school and Wolverine and Nightcrawler find that Margali has escaped after dismantling Storm and Beast to just their memories. Amanda sets to work repairing them but finds that they have memories missing, specifically the ones about Kurt's return. Her plan seems to be to go to Heaven and conquer that world with her Trimegas and her magic but Kurt and Amanda find and stop her out on the lawn, though not before she opens a portal between the two. Amanda dives into it to help close it from that side but Kurt is barred access, already having chosen to leave Heaven. She refuses to let him try, fearing he'll erase himself from eternity of he tries (??) but promises she'll be waiting for him and the portal closes. The adventure is a fairly strong one and it intends in classic Claremont fashion but the issue is bogged down a little by unnecessary dialogue and explanation, such as Nightcrawler's inner monologue that runs through his list of everyone fighting, something that has come up in just about every issue so far and which wasn't even necessary the first time. There are things here that are interesting but they'll have to get past the bogged down presentation to really unleash them. 3/5

Original Sins 3
Inhuman: Soule (w) and Browne (a) and Delgado (c) and Cowles (l)
Young Avengers: North (w) and Villalobos (a) and Gibson (c) and Cowles (l)
J. Jonah Jameson: Slott (w) and Bagley (p) and Rubinstein (i) and Mounts (c) and Cowles (l)

An Inhuman named Lineage learns that Black Bolt started a war with the Kree, the Young Avengers are convinced to make a mini-Cerebro for the Hood to learn everything they can from the drug addicts who took too many secrets, and J. Jonah Jameson fires a young reporter who digs a little too deep into Spider-Man's past only to learn that Jameson had once reviewed Spidey's one-man show positively. The INHUMAN story, written by INHUMAN writer Charles Soule, seems to indicate more coming, the YOUNG AVENGERS story continues to be well-written with a lot of fun moments but ultimately a little slow, and the Jameson story is a fast enough read that it's just a cute little one-off. Can't complain too much on this one. 4/5

Spider-Man 2099 1
David (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miguel O'Hara, posing as Mike O'Mara in the present, is the Spider-Man of 2099 but he's trapped in 2014 and trying to make ends meet. He works for Alchemax, the company that will go on to ruin the world by his time and he rents a pretty crappy apartment in the city. He's chased by something of a timecop, sent back to destroy him before he changes anything, but he manages to outmaneuver it, causing it to blow its own head off instead of his or Alchemax owner Liz Allan. As Spidey 2099 leaves her office, Liz has her assistant verify that no windows have been broken, believing that this Spider-Man is on her payroll somewhere. There are interesting things happening as this series kicks off, particularly with the added twist of an intelligent Liz Allan immediately taking steps that seemingly no one else has ever taken for Spider-Man, but the issue starts to get a little too cute as banter slows things down and makes the timecop (from future agency TOTEM) almost comical at times while being threatening and cold at others. Still, strong first entry and only a couple times with Miguel saying future-swear "shock." 4/5

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 13
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Cowles (l)

Chameleon managed to get away from the crime scene as the cops and Mach VII showed up, but most of the other guys were taken away. Boomerang and his team, though, successfully snuck out with the portrait, planning to head to a safehouse. Meanwhile, Shocker and the head of Silvermane make it out of their predicament when Shocker realizes he can use his gauntlets to fly away from Hammerhead and his goons. He lands at the safehouse before Boomerang, setting Shocker and his old team for a reunion. The book drags a little bit when it focuses on Shocker and Silvermane but overall it's an incredibly fun book with a lot of truly funny moments. Many books that go for funny fall a little flat because they seem to come out of left field or the situation doesn't really call for funny or something like that but this book reliably manages to hit just the right tone and to keep the book fun. Strong showing for this one. 4/5


Wolverine 10
Cornell (w) and P. Woods (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Sabretooth has access to the weapon now and is ready to transform New York entirely, making it truly Darwinian world, one where his strengths should set him up to be the ruler of all (which seems to work in counterpoint to his new CEO Sabretooth appearance). Meanwhile, Wolverine tracks him with help from the X-Men, to whom he apologizes, and prepares to attack with the help of his Guerica Bar pals, to whom he apologizes, Thor, to whom he apologizes, and SHIELD, to whom he apologizes. Wolverine has decided to accept help finally and now it'll be a matter of timing about whether Wolverine's forces can stop Sabretooth before he unleashes his weapon. Things are shaping up here for a big final showdown but it's still slowed by the stupid Guernica Bar stuff, the maudlin Wolverine, some weird art, and CEO Sabretooth. 3/5