X-Men Legacy 23, Uncanny X-Force 17

X-Men Legacy 23
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

David's world worm is in full effect as he finds himself trapped in his own mind while the sum of his powers begin to envelop everyone around him, calling forth all mutants to join him, which they do, convinced by David's powers that it's for the best. The only one who isn't called into David is Blindfold, who tries to stop the other mutants from being taken but who also recognizes that she won't be able to. She enters David's mind as her physical body keeps fighting the world worm outside and the two of them talk. It's a surprisingly soft talk with everything that's happening outside and it has a lot to do with his regret that he won't be able to spend more time with Ruth. It's then, though, that the smallest of loopholes occurs to him (particularly notable since he also spends a fair amount of time lamenting that the beautiful people in this world always get loopholes and manage to worm their way out of death but he just worms his way into it. Get it? Worms. Guys, I'm working on LAYERS here): one of the powers he's gestalt-ed into him is the powers of the Chronodon, who can make time stand still. He uses these powers not to stop anything that's about to happen but to give himself and Ruth just a little more time. And then they make love in that time.

This series and this story have been incredible all the way through, highlighted by a very distinct narrator and protagonist but certainly helped by a well-developed and maintained supporting cast. In the end, though, this was always meant to be a love story between David and Ruth and finally, after 23 issues, they get their moment. Albeit, it's a short lived one as they had to literally stop time to have it and their return to time will return their physical forms to fighting with one needing to kill the other to ensure their better future, but it's still a moment. It's a lovely moment at that and it's backed by an issue that gives us exactly what we've come to expect from this book; it's a solid mix of action, high stakes, and character drama with the typical comic book world-ending possibility and, as David knew it would, it all comes down to punching. Really great visual issue too. Striking images and jarring colors (lots of yellow and grey) really help to highlight everything that's happening and give it sort of an epic feel. So excited for the last issue but also so incredibly depressed by the idea of it.

Uncanny X-Force 17
Humphries (w) and Tolibao, Soy, Tadeo, Young, and Paris (a) and Curiel (c)

The conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE, CABLE AND X-FORCE, and the VENDETTA crossover itself kicks off with Hope plunging the psimitar into Bishop's gut. Bishop, though, convinces her to take the psimitar out without actually killing him by again pointing out that he's totally sorry but more so that she shouldn't throw her life away by killing and that she shouldn't throw her life away on him. Not to say he wouldn't deserve it, he admits, but that it's still not worth it (it doesn't hurt that he's not a threat any more). With this, the rest of the X-Force teams locate and attack Stryfe, splitting into two groups, one to attack Stryfe and one to locate their missing teammates. The attack on Stryfe is well-managed by Psylocke but ultimately fails to the omega-level mutant. Stryfe captures everyone in a telekinetic hold except for Spiral, who had left earlier, and Cable, who was still removed from the fight. Spiral, though, hadn't actually left officially but had, instead, gone to pick up Cable and they return to stab Stryfe with the psimitar, which does not kill him but does force him to flee. However, before he goes, he forces Hope to take his powers, knowing she can't contain them and will likely kill them all with the psychic reverb. With Stryfe gone, everyone is free to worry about Hope exploding but, before she can, Bishop rushes forth and talks to her, understanding what she's going through as someone whose powers also rely on absorption and release. Bishop manages to get her to contain the power and then blast it upwards, impacting no one. With everyone safe, the two teams reconvene and hang out a bit, effectively ending the books with Psylocke and Cable walking into the sunset together.

It's not a bad little ending but most of it hinges on Bishop and Hope, which is certainly a worthwhile story and one that's executed as well as anything in these two series has been. However, it also means that the rest of the players in this book kind of get pushed to the side a little and actually end up feeling a little unnecessary. The story was never about them and their rescue of the hostages only ended up serving as a distraction for Cable to get to Stryfe. Kind of a weird way to end the two series, which is kind of what I've been saying since the get-go. I've also been saying that this crossover has hit every beat in a sort of predictable fashion and, with the quality of the issue aside, this issue is no different. Still, like I said, the story of Cable, Hope, and Bishop was one certainly worth telling and I think it's told pretty well here. I don't think either of these series got to end on a particularly strong note with this crossover, sadly, but it's certainly an acceptable note and it paves the way rather nicely for Si Spurrier's X-FORCE next month (woo!).

Avengers AI 5, Captain America Living Legend 2

Avengers AI 5
Humphries (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

After Dimitrios' attack on Washington, AI fears are at an all-time high, making it considerably more difficult for Vision and Alexis to protect the populace and keep order. Making it slightly more easy, though, is that Alexis is successfully cutting her way through Dimitrios' encryptions that kept her memories sealed off from her, giving her a new purpose: she is a protector of all types of life. She also seems to have gained some sort of limited precognition, which she uses to stop an unstable man from blowing up a bank after the bank lost everyone's money in Dimitrios' attack. Back at home, Pym has sealed himself away in his lab to cope with his own bipolar disorder, recognizing (after thorough charting) that he's about to hit a downswing. Monica Chang isn't thrilled with the decision and makes her frustrations clear as she reveals that Victor, with his seemingly dying breath, protected the server's black box but only Pym can actually access it. Meanwhile, Doombot is attempting to revive Victor, feeling that Pym hasn't done enough. Victor's consciousness, on the other hand, has found itself in the Diamond.

I think the pieces are here for a substantial book but right now it's kind of circling around a point. I'm not exactly sure about what's making the book feel uncomfortable right now but something isn't quite clicking. It might be the vagueness of the enemy or the abruptness of the team; we're kind of used to teams needing to build together but, in a day and age where the market is so filled with content, books don't have as much of a chance to build, forcing those "coming together" kinds of arcs to be too short or too staged. I think Humphries has done a pretty good job trying to pull something together for that; everyone here still feels like (with maybe the exception of the mysterious Alexis) he or she has his or her own voice, even in how early we still are in the series. I'd like to see that developed a little further. Another worry is that every book these days, again because there are so many, has to start with a bang or else you won't get any sort of market share, or at least that's how it feels. Therefore, this threat has to be big but it also has to be meaningful and it also has to be beatable by this ragtag team. That's a lot of constraints to put on a first arc, let alone the need to build a team and a theme and what not. I think this book will have to find its legs soon or risk waiting too long.

Captain America Living Legend 2
Diggle and Granov (s) Diggle (w) and Alessio (a and c)

Cap has been sent to Russia to find the crashed DEUS Project and any survivors of the crash. He manages to get there in time to find Dr. Lauren Fox but worries that the Russians must be hot on their trail. She tells him what happened in space and they speculate that maybe the Russians have a little less to do with this than it would appear, given that the area where DEUS was brought down doesn't seem to be constantly patrolled already. The Russians are reactive here, not proactive. There's also a bit of a moral question as Cap informs Fox that her attempt at finding clean, renewable energy has been secretly bankrolled by the Department of Defense, who clearly intend to weaponize whatever she finds. She's mad about it and indicts Cap too, saying that the serum that created him could have been used for peace, not soldiers. They don't really have time to argue, though, as they're attacked by what seems to have been a Russian patrol at some point but is now a mess of metal controlled by some unseen force. Of course, that would be Volkov, eagerly awaiting Cap's return to Russia.

Another neat little issue (though Granov doesn't provide the art for this one, as I had previously assumed; Alessio still does a fantastic job, keeping with the feel of the book Granov had created while clearly making the art his own) that, again, impressive goes out of its way to characterize people who aren't our main characters. In fact, again they're Russian and they die almost immediately after their characterization. I know, that seems like a small thing to bring up, especially to lead an analysis paragraph, but it's really not. It both makes it feel like a real situation (not just comic book villains everywhere, there are real people really dying as a result of...okay, as a result of the comic book villain) and it makes me feel better as an American that there is a depiction of normal Russians as just people. Diggle's not American, sure, but it's still nice to see. Like, all of our war games that make, you know, untold billions of dollars seem to feature Russians as the enemy these days because we still think maybe we can win the Cold War or something (more like the COD War, am I right? Classic) and it's honestly a little uncomfortable. Comics (good ones, anyway) tend to be pretty good about spreading the right message in these sorts of situations; there's a Captain America book from just after 9-11 that depicted Americans surrounding an innocent Middle Eastern man before Cap steps in. The Middle Eastern man comes off looking great and the Americans look like jerks which was a pretty big statement for a country that wanted nothing more than war. Anyway, getting a little off-topic, I didn't mean for this point to carry on throughout the whole paragraph. I guess I can let it do that because Diggle's a solid writer and he's writing a good Cap and a good story, leaving me with time to talk about the little things instead of talking about what doesn't feel right. Sure the obvious antagonist is still a Russian and, perhaps, a more Russia-obssessed Russian, but Diggle has gone out of his way to make sure we know that he is not your typical Russian. And it makes a difference.

Avengers 3, Uncanny X-Force 1, Winter Soldier 14, Young Avengers 1

Boy, weird that on a day that isn't an X-Men centric day, the majority of my reviewed comics come so far down alphabetically.

Avengers 3
Hickman (w) and Opeña (a)

Much of the things I love about New Avengers so far are among the things I'm having some trouble with in Avengers so far. New Avengers instantly grabbed me because I loved the idea of the Illuminati and who was on the team and the story that had come out of those characters. Avengers is very different. Instead of an established team of people who know each other and have worked together in some form or another through their histories, Avengers has shown a group of core Avengers (the movie Avengers, even) backed up by a bunch of people who may or may not know one another. Yes, there are the old stand-bys in that group (Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman), but there are also less-known faces like Hyperion, Sunspot, Manifold, Captain Universe, and Smasher. Then there are people I know I'm at least more familiar with (of that last group, I'm probably most familiar with Manifold but even that is from Secret Warriors and boy has it been a while since I read that) like Shang-Chi, Falcon, and Cannonball. And two of THEIR first names are Sam.

Look, what I'm getting at in my roundabout and convoluted way is that this team is hard. Especially early, thrown into a story abruptly, it's hard to kind of get the bearings of the team. It's a little hard to understand how big the team is mid-battle and it's tough to know everyone's powers if you don't already. Presumably this will clear a bit as the story progresses. I really like that Hickman doesn't hold your hand while you're reading. It makes this book, which really SHOULD feel kind of like the most comic-y book Marvel has, feel like a real historic comic. Avengers is so ingrained in the Marvel Universe, so exhaustively woven into the thread of Marvel comics, that it really ought to be, for better or worse, one of the least accessible books on the shelves. I love that this runs with Avengers Assemble for that reason; one is a great jumping-on point without sacrificing characters while the other is just an absolutely horrible jumping-on point that invokes every corner of the Marvel Universe.

So yes. I like this book a lot for what it is. I hope it pushes forward exactly this way, weaving narratives and characters together in the quieter moments without needing to explicitly state who everyone is and what they do while making it clear that they've all been around the Marvel U long enough to know what's up. I'm comparing it to Young Avengers: Children's Crusade in my head because my girlfriend and I just went back and read all of that at once to prep for the new series. In that book, every issue has the same plot re-explained just about each issue. Each issue someone reminds us why Scarlet Witch is seen with such contempt and each issue has her say, with regret, "no more mutants." This Avengers book wouldn't be caught dead doing that. Or alive, because it's a book and not a living thing, but that's beside the point. Was I confused by this arc? Yes. Did it hinder some enjoyment of this book? Maybe a tiny bit. Do I love it anyway? Absolutely.

Uncanny X-Force 1
Humphries (w) and Garney (a)

This was kind of similar to Avengers in the "throw the audience in and see what happens" kind of vein. We get flashes of backstory here and there but by and large we're waiting to see what's happened with Betsy and Fantomex since the last iteration of X-Force tragically ended. There was certainly more backstory than in any of the three first issues of Avengers but I think it's more necessary. Betsy and Storm have both gone through tremendous life events so, even though they're hugely established characters (unlike some of the Avengers), we have to understand why more than we have to understand who each Avenger is right away. And that's the last comparison I'll make between the two.

Betsy's a bit unhinged post-X-Force and, apparently, post-Fantomex. Storm is re-mohawked and ready to hit something post-Black Panther. I appreciate the way both of these characters act in this book. They are two of the stronger women in 616 and so it's definitely more fitting for them to be out and maybe a little more aggressive upon break-ups of some sort than to be moping around or horribly saddened. Wolverine fires Betsy from the school (she'd be an awful teacher anyway) and she and Storm set out to meet Wolverine's contact, Puck, for a new mission that involves Spiral. I know little about Spiral so I won't go into much there. At the end of the issue, we find out how things ended with Fantomex and Betsy. There's a new love in Fantomex's life, or maybe an old one, as the issue ends with him and his lady-clone Cluster making out in Paris.

It was definitely a moment where I went "aw, gross, no, that's not what-" and then I thought about it and said "yeah, nevermind, that's exactly what Fantomex would be doing." No sight of the third Fantomex yet, but I'm sure we'll see him some time soon. I'm excited for him to pop up, mutant hater as he probably is (Sentinel brain will probably do that to you). The series seems to have stories lined up, as Storm and Puck discover Spiral has a child locked up in a vault (reminiscent of the surprise child Apocalypse in Remender's early X-Force days) and as Bishop has returned from the future he was abandoned in. Here's hoping the series knows where it wants to go from here.

Winter Soldier 14
Brubaker (w) and Guice (a)

Brubaker's final Winter Soldier book, and quite possibly his final book ever at Marvel, is sad for a number of reasons. As I've said before, I came into comics in the middle of Brubaker's run on Captain America and he was a big part of what pushed my interest in comics and in Cap and Bucky. Now, years later, he's ending his time there and I'm as in love with Marvel and those two characters particularly as I've ever been. So while the characters will no doubt survive his leaving (I've already talked about how much I'm enjoying Remender's new take on Cap and I'm excited about the new era of Winter Soldier), it still cuts deep. Thank you for everything you've brought to this Universe, Brubaker. And thank you for still writing your several creator-owned series, which are all great and I highly recommend but aren't Marvel so I won't be talking about on a blog called "Marvels" at readmarvel.blogspot.com.

The other major reason it's sad is that it's a very sad issue. One of the more enjoyable romances in the Marvel Universe (of which there are just so, so many) has been Black Widow and Bucky's. Two people with a somewhat shared history (and the only two who can share it with one another) and a similar experience, with similar "powers" (which is to say no powers) and similar roles tied to similar personalities was always going to lead to just a delightful romance. And of course, because Brubaker can never let us just be happy, now it's not. The Black Widow Hunt arc ends with Bucky saving her from former Winter Soldier program assassin Leo Novokov and SHIELD restoring all of her memories except her memories of Bucky. Novokov surely would have preferred these people all died but barring that he had a plan to ruin Bucky as best he could even in the case of his success. Instead of allowing more people to tamper with her head in the hope of restoring those memories, Bucky lets Natasha go so she can be happily ignorant of him while he suffers.

This series under Brubaker was phenomenal. A great little spy/noir book with amazing art and colors throughout (Bettie Breitweiser and Jordie Bellaire colored this one. I tend to love Breitweiser's work all around and she's one of the few I'm usually able to pick out without looking it up and Bellaire has popped up on tons of books I've really enjoyed so clearly she's doing a bang-up job too) and great storytelling at every juncture. Bucky's becoming a big player in this world with nowhere to go but up, especially with Cap 2 coming out next year. This series has done a great job showing his skills and his off-the-charts coolness. I'm eager for Jason Latour's run to start to see where Bucky goes next.

Young Avengers 1
Gillen (w) and McKelvie (a)

After spending the last two days reading the entire Young Avengers back catalogue over again (it is not NEARLY as long as I thought it was. I had it in my head somehow that maybe they had come around in the 90s and had been on and off the radar for a while, but instead they originated in 2009-2010. I've had a huge Avengers poster with them on it throughout almost their entire existence) and reading Kieron Gillen's "Meet the Team" series on Tumblr, I came in with a fair grip on these characters. Unlike Avengers, it's not totally necessary to know much about this team coming in. Gillen lays a lot of it out on the table in a way that's easy to comprehend without feeling like forced exposition. Anything he doesn't lay out on the table is for us to discover along the way. By the end of the first issue, we've seen a bit of Noh-Varr's powers, a bit of Loki's powers, a bit of Ms. America's powers, a bit of Teddy's powers, and a bit of Wiccan's powers. Sharp readers know that's everyone bound for the team aside from Kate, who is the only unpowered member so it seems a good decision she's the one we don't see anything from but from whom we see maybe the most personality in limited space.

McKelvie's art is something I could rave about all day but it's particularly nice here as we see different forms of magic, of shape-shifting, of alien technology, and of whatever else you can think of in comics but none of it ever seems too hectic or unidentifiable. It's useful because, although plenty happens in this comic, nothing seems out of our grasp of understanding. It's a solid first entry from both Gillen and McKelvie. I expect it to only get better going forward, as there are plenty of irons in the fire, both in terms of the team's personalities and the conflict bound to arise. I also always love seeing writers and artists who have worked closely together in the past join up on a book. There's a level of comfort you can kind of feel emanating out of the book, leaving no confusion in terms of book real-estate or plot-holes (though SUDDENLY "Caplan" is spelled with a "C" instead of the usual "K." I hope we hear the exciting tale of why they changed their names. OR MAYBE we'll see why Teddy pronounces their name with a "C" instead of a "K." Maybe it was completely intentional!). This and Winter Soldier both ended with my girlfriend and I saying "wait, that's it? How are there no pages left?" which is always a good place to be. Well, a bad-good place.

Comics this week!

We press forward with Marvel NOW! as my pre-picks this week include two number ones and one number 14 which is NOT really part of Marvel NOW! though it very well COULD have been Avengers 3 or FF 3 if I had gone that way. SPOILERS: I didn't.


Uncanny X-Force 1
I was more on the fence about this one hot off the heels of the last X-Force. Not because I didn't love the past X-Force; I think I've gone to some great lengths to prove how much I loved it. It was that love that made me skeptical about this X-Force incarnation. I didn't see how it could match up. We'll see if it does. Sam Humphries has done himself well to make me interested in interviews and the like and because Fantomex has come back. Previously, I had said "boy, I like Psylocke and Storm, but there's no one that REALLY draws me to this book" until they revived Fantomex and split him into three. NOW I'm really interested.

Winter Soldier 14
As a huge Cap fan, I am also a huge Winter Soldier fan. I'm also a huge Brubaker fan and this is his final Marvel book I imagine. He loves his own stuff and it's all great and, I'm sure, very freeing. Still, he clearly didn't take MY advice into account. So this is the end of that era, his time with his character at Marvel in his little corner of the universe finished, likely forever. I've loved his run here and with Bucky as a whole and I'm heartbroken tomorrow finishes the whole thing. I wish only the best for Jason Latour but that doesn't make this issue any easier. ALSO, it's probably going to be intense. Hopefully everyone's okay on the other side.

Young Avengers 1
This is another book I was trying to not be excited about simply because I don't want to feel like I need to spend millions on comics each week but BOY is that not happening here. I was, of course, foiled from the start by the fact that this is Gillen and McKelvie teamed up. I like Phonogram, I loved Journey into Mystery and I adore anything McKelvie has ever drawn. I'm interested in the team and I've greedily drank up every bit of "Meet the Team" Gillen has posted on his tumblr and I'm pretty gosh-darn excited. I trust this writer/artist team and I'm excited to see what they can do on a long-form Marvel book together.


Like I said, Avengers and FF could have been on this list and I'm happy for a handful of other releases, but these three are what I'm most looking forward to. Another good week from Marvel.