X-Men Battle of the Atom 1, All-New X-Men 16

X-Men Battle of the Atom 1
Bendis (w) and Cho w/ Immonen and von Grawbadger (a) and Gracia (c)

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I've been a bit wary about events of late. I've tried to maintain that an event, by its nature, isn't a bad thing as long as there's a story worth telling. Marvel has worked for a long time to make a universe that is interconnected so it stands to reason that we should, occasionally, have stories that involve the entire universe. As long as they're good stories. Meanwhile, the future X-Men have shown up to tell the present X-Men to send the past X-Men back home or else we'll get a dystopian future that screams of both Age of Ultron and Days of Future Past. Let's start from the beginning. By which I mean with pages of recap of what's happening. Nevermind, let's not start with that, except to say that the first page shows Illyana jumping into the future to see what becomes of the X-Men (because traveling through time and space is only ripping apart the universe when it's convenient for a story. BENDIS, you wrote Age of Ultron, these are your rules) in a scene that is reminiscent to the opening scenes of Age of Ultron and many scenes in Days of Future Past. Things are going badly and she writes a letter to Scott Summers to sum up what he already knows and that's our lazy, lazy introduction. Anyway, Kitty and her team of All-New X-Men go to identify and either help or bring down a new mutant with dangerous powers in Arizona. Pretty quickly upon their arrival, a score of Sentinels attack followed by the appearance of Cyclops' team, presumably monitoring Sentinel activity. There's the usual Bendis banter and the two teams combined manage to bring down the Sentinels (suddenly, again when it's convenient, Kitty is happy to see Scott; not just in a "we could really use help" way, in a way that seems like "gee how we've all missed you!"). One Sentinel shoots young Scott, knocking him to the edge of death. Old Cyclops disappears until Triage, Cyclops' new mutant healer, saves Scott. Cyclops blips back into existence and everyone goes home. The present-day X-Men vote to send the past X-Men home (finally) when they're interrupted by the X-Men of the future appearing among them.

I feel like if someone were to write a parody of All-New X-Men, it would read a little like this. Actually, it would read almost entirely like this. "The future X-Men have shown up to tell the present X-Men to send the past X-Men back home" is a sentence I actually wrote up there and no one finds that ridiculous? I wasn't thrilled with the opening, loaded with exposition and summation, but I started to try to accept this book even as it started feeling like every other event it could get its hands on. When they voted to send the original X-Men home, I was like "duh, finally." (why it took someone almost dying to realize implications of time travel in a world that has had Back to the Future for over 25 years now is beyond me) Then the future X-Men showed up and I switched off again. Is there a way to make this event interesting and not hacky again? I don't know. Maybe. I sure don't know what it is though. And chapter two of the event, reviewed next, certainly doesn't help things (spoilers).

All-New X-Men 16
Bendis (w) and Immonen and von Grawbadger (a) and Gracia (c)

The future X-Men chat with the present X-Men about sending the past X-Men home (ug, had to write it again) and explain that not sending them home would be a giant mistake, wondering why they haven't done it already. The future X-Men team has older versions of Kitty, Beast, Iceman, Deadpool, and Runaway Molly Hayes, as well as a younger man claiming to be Xavier's grandson (named Xavier) and someone costumed as Xorn, former X-Men teammate and eventual betrayer and killer of Jean Grey. All the basic jokes come out ("I look like that in the future?") before young Jean panics, unable to read the newcomers' minds, and creates a situation wherein chaos ensues and she and young Scott run away. Back at the school, they all talk some more and Xorn reveals herself to be, in fact, Jean Grey, because of course she is. Everyone wonders why young Jean and Scott ran off and Xavier and Jean reveal that it's because they were guarding their thoughts, which makes Wolverine as suspicious as Jean had been. The reveal of Jean as Xorn, though, is where we leave off, seeing as well that young Jean and Scott have beached themselves somewhere removed after Jean reveals that she can't go home because she's afraid her new psychic powers will fight back against their Xavier if he tries to wipe their minds.

Imagine a Sherlock Holmes story where Sherlock leads the police from a recently murdered corpse through a house, following bloody footsteps, to a man holding a bloody knife and a gun (he used the knife, the gun is a clever red herring) talking to himself about the murder he just committed and, upon seeing this, the police yell "By Jove, Holmes, I don't know how but you've done it again!" That's what this kind of feels like. Everyone is suddenly incredibly stupid and we're supposed to accept this as a story because everyone is equally stupid so the tension is exactly the same as it would be if everyone was incredibly intelligent. Here, the biggest idiotic thing we're forced to accept as clever is Jean's panic over the fact that the future X-Men are guarding their minds. You might be able to pass it off as simply an excuse she used to run away before she was sent home but then even Wolverine, when he finds out the future X-Men are guarding their minds, says "Now why would you go and do a thing like that?" This is after nearly FIFTEEN ISSUES of people telling Jean that she shouldn't be reading other people's thoughts without their permission. People are constantly guarding their thoughts from psychics in the Marvel Universe because, if they didn't, there would be no ambiguity. So yes, there is ambiguity of people merely mention that thoughts are being blocked but to use it as a full-on plot device is so stupid. I would talk about more but there really isn't much more. There's one scene where the present X-Men talk to the future X-Men (making jokes and exposition) and then that scene is replayed as the backdrop to Jean trying to convince first Henry, who won't bite, to run away with her and then Scott, who instantly agrees. I BETTER GET NIGHTCRAWLER BACK OUT OF THIS STORY.

Deadpool 8, Deadpool Killustrated 4

Deadpool 8
Duggan and Posehn (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Staples (c)

We return to present day in Deadpool, with Agent Preston living inside of Deadpool's head now (or, as she posits once, being a guilty memory living itself out through Deadpool). He brings her to her house to allow her to see her son briefly before being chased out by her husband. She manages to tell her son that she's in Deadpool's head but makes him promise not to tell his father. They leave and come across Vetis, the shady record executive demon who enlisted Deadpool's help in trying to make Iron Man drunk in issue seven only to be outwitted by Deadpool and sent to Mephisto's punishment. It turns out that Vetis was behind Michael raising all the dead presidents and now is trying to earn his way back out of Mephisto's wrath by trying to deliver more souls. He wraps Deadpool into it by saying that he's still in jeopardy after agreeing to a "satisfaction guaranteed" clause in the contract and leaving Vetis not satisfied. To wipe that smear off of his record, he has to kill five people who traded their souls for some power or another. The first is Corrado Coloruno, a bank robber who traded his soul for invulnerability. Deadpool covers his head in cement, ending him by forcing him to stop breathing (the deal had been that as long as he drew breath he'd be invulnerable). In the meantime, Ben Franklin and Michael had met with Deadpool/Agent Preston to discuss how to get her into a new body. They've decided that one of the bodies Deadpool kills will probably suffice if Michael can muster the magic. She chooses against Corrado, so we'll see where next issue puts us.
The in-jokes were way down this issue, which definitely strengthened the feel of the issue overall. I will say, though, that I got to a point while reading this comic and was like "geez, where is this issue going, it must be almost done already" just to find out I was only on page ten. Very slow going to start. It sped up a bit with the re-introduction of Vetis and the attack on Corrado, but the first ten pages dragged and didn't give us much it felt like we really needed (such as Preston and her son and husband). It's weird that the second arc, like the first arc, will feature Deadpool killing hard-to-kill entities at the behest of someone he doesn't fully trust and doesn't really trust in him. Will Vetis also die and end up in Deadpool's head? Only time will tell. But he's a demon, so I imagine he probably won't? Look, it just feels a bit one-track is all. We'll see if I'm wrong. I hope I am, because the last two issues have at least been better than the first arc. Still not totally impressed, but glad it's going slowly in the right direction.

Deadpool Killustrated 4
Bunn (w) and Lolli and Parsons (a) and Gandini (c)

The Deadpool Killustrated mini-series comes to an end as the fictional universes start caving in on themselves. Deadpool has killed so many literary icons (including the witches of Macbeth, the Poe figure in "The Raven," Dorian Gray, and Gregor Samsa) that it's starting to really have an effect on the landscape. Sherlock Holmes is starting to forget pieces of the case as his forefathers and his world are being erased. Finally he and his team catch up to Deadpool, who himself is starting to lose coherency (more so) as his own predecessors are exterminated. Beowulf and Watson team up to kill the Frankenpool and Mulan severs Deadpool's arm with his time travel device, forcing him to run for HG Wells' time machine (which Holmes' team has been traveling in). Holmes catches up with him and they fight through a void. Holmes eventually pushes Deadpool out into the nothingness, but not before Deadpool makes his point that the ideaverse won't heal properly now that he's planted the seed of heroes dying. After Deadpool falls, wondering what will happen to him, Holmes tries desperately to remember all the literary heroes Deadpool killed, to try to keep them alive and "set the bone properly," as they say. Whether or not it works is up for debate and will possibly be the question with the next teased series, Deadpool Kills Deadpool.
I was pleasantly surprised by this series from the outset, enjoying it far more than things like Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe or others in that line. The idea of the ideaverse was pretty interesting and I loved the glimpses of heroes flashing in front of Deadpool as he killed each new victim. It's a clever little homage to the vast library of fiction that created all our heroes and to the very idea that our heroes are created by a long history of heroes. I'm not totally sure what to make of this ending, as Deadpool floats off into some ill-defined nothingness waiting to disappear. Maybe the next series will start with him discovering that he hasn't disappeared and that Sherlock set the bone properly enough to restore some heroes and now his biggest adversary is himself. Not in a figurative sense, like something within him, like his other selves from other universes. I've no idea. I'm still not totally convinced that the Deadpool Kills Deadpool series is a real thing that will happen. I guess we'll all just find out.

Deadpool Killustrated 3, Morbius the Living Vampire 3

Deadpool Killustrated 3
Bunn (w) and Lolli and Parsons (a) and Gandini (c)

I continue to like this story more than I've liked many other weird, dystopic Marvel worlds (ie Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe vs. the Avengers, etc.). In this issue, Deadpool kills Ebenezer Scrooge, Igor and Doctor Frankenstein, Mowgli and Bagheera, the little mermaid, and Captains Nemo and Ahab. Off-panel, he's also attacked the island of Dr. Moreau, the inhabitants of Lilliput, and Caesar and his government. On top of all that, he's added some backup in the form of Frankenstein's monster (now powered by part of Deadpool's brain, seemingly giving his alternate personality a new and very strong body to inhabit). It's another solid issue where we see a couple more hero-inspirations (Mowgli and Bagheera are Ka-Zar and Zabu, Captain Nemo is Magneto, Dr. Frankenstein is the Jackal and, to Deadpool's delight, the little mermaid is Namor) and we hear a little more about Deadpool's quest. However, it doesn't do a whole lot more than that. It was another fun look into the roots of Marvel characters, something we've seen for the last couple issues. With one issue left, I would have expected more to happen, particularly more with Sherlock Holmes' newly developed anti-Deadpool team. They appear once, investigating the off-panel Deadpool killings and deducing that he has the monster's assistance now (they don't know it's the monster, but Sherlock decides that Deadpool's second personality now has a body). Still, not a ton more to say about this issue that I haven't said in my previous reviews. Still a pretty good idea, if just to show again that fiction is important. The last issue will really define this series. Where does it go from here? Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe ended with Deadpool sneaking up on the creative team responsible for the book. Will this series end in a similarly tongue-in-cheek manner? Will Deadpool get some resolution? Will Deadpool himself be killed, ending this series of books? We have one more issue to find out.

Morbius the Living Vampire 3
Keatinge (w) and Elson (a) and Fabela (c)

Noah lays dying after Morbius ripped out his throat. His gang attacks Morbius as Henry and Becky rush out of there and eventually Noah's girlfriend shoots Morbius in the neck. When Morbius awakens, still having trouble pushing his blood craving down, he's tied up with chains and hanging upside down, being questioned by Noah's girlfriend. He claims he can save Noah but he needs to set to work on it immediately. She allows him to go assist their "field medic," a one-armed, hardly trained guy named Vasquez. Vasquez seems like a decent guy but it soon doesn't matter as Noah snaps to attention and instinctively kills Vasquez before Morbius restrains him again, saying that he needs to lay down or else he won't survive. It's possible that, while throwing Noah back down on the operating table, Morbius killed Noah again. Whoops. Meanwhile, Becky and Henry hide out in her abandoned theater and in a diner while one of Noah's men watches them, ready to strike if Noah's girlfriend gives the order.
The driving force in this issue is Morbius' growing bloodlust, which he constantly remarks on and also tries to stifle. I'll be honest, I wasn't totally sold on this book when it was announced. I've never looked at Morbius before and thought "geez, that's a guy whose story we need told." Is that just me? I don't know. Maybe Marvel is (late) trying to cash in on the vampire craze. Or maybe Morbius is going to make an appearance in the next Spider-Man movie and they're trying to lay bricks early. Or maybe there really is a demand for Morbius stories that I've been set apart from. Maybe this story is set to improve (in case I didn't let on enough here, I am not blown away by anything that's happened so far) and it was the description of the story that encouraged Marvel to take a chance on the book (though that's usually more likely to happen in the case of a limited series, not an ongoing). I don't know. I'm not in Marvel's head or their offices (inexplicably). So your guess is as good as mine and my guess is that this series could end up short-lived if it doesn't start to make significant moves on this character. The move from New York City into Brownsville is an interesting move and puts another anti-hero in a suspect place, which is always kind of a winning idea. Hopefully the book can get the audience to invest a little deeper soon.

Ultimate X-Men 23, Avenging Spider-Man 17, Deadpool Killustrated 2

Ultimate X-Men 23
Wood (w) and Barberi and Ho (a) and Aburtov (c)

A little interlude from our camp of mutants fighting other mutants and humans as we see Storm's most recent trip before arriving with Kitty's Krew. No. I'm sorry. Kitty's crew. After leaving the prison camp that was Camp Angel with Colossus, who had just killed one of their human guards, the two set off into the woods to evade the law. They traveled together for a while before Piotr, wracked with guilt over the killing and over dragging Storm around with him, went off on his own. Storm tried to get her head straight for a bit before being captured and sent to ANOTHER prison camp (geez Storm, get your head in the game), where she meets Blackheath and others. As Kitty's revolution strikes just miles from them, they join in the fight and, for the first time in a long while, Storm feels proud of what mutants are accomplishing. She can see the dream again and she can see that her people are energized and excited about what mutants can do. Then the cure is distributed, decimating their numbers. She goes to the distribution site, needing to know if Piotr took the cure. He hasn't, so Colossus is likely still out there and probably not long from entering this book.

There's not a ton to say as this is largely just past events in these characters' history and it follows the same general mutant line they tend to in the Ultimate Universe. Still, there's a good bit of understanding mutant motivation here, as we get a real glimpse into what an original X-Man is thinking about all of these changes and about what it means to be mutant these days. There's a nice touch where Storm explains that mutants used to feel special, no matter how prejudiced the world was against them; there was always the feeling that they were born with powers because they were special. In the revelation that mutants were created by the government, all of that uniqueness and specialness was lost. Things like that make this book an interesting read, but you won't miss much plot-wise or character-wise if you missed this one.

Avenging Spider-Man 17
Yost (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Avenging Spider-Man tends to be the break book from whatever seriousness might be happening in Spider-Man's main series. In this case, that means Spidey is sent to babysit the Future Foundation while the reigning F4 take a look into problems in the Microverse. While there, members of the Time Variance Authority show up claiming that they must stop the FF from causing "chronal devastation," as it seems their destined to do in about two days. Spider-Man gets right to the source of it, finding Bentley-23 responsible and threatening him to destroy the plans. However, the whole attack of the TVA and their hired hand Death's Head highlights some interesting things about Spider-Man, including the fact they know who he really is and what he'll be responsible for (they do not have the jurisdiction to stop him because his actions will not break time, so, I guess, loophole). As the TVA goes back to their own timestream, leaving Death's Head behind accidentally, we find that Spider-Man has stolen Sandman back from the F4's vaults.

I like Avenging Spider-Man because I think that, with him so prevalent in the universe, a team-up book is a clever way to show him interacting with the society of superheroes. It also, at current, gives us a window into what Doc Ock thinks about heroes he'd never otherwise run across, including Scott Lang, who he deems a thief, She-Hulk, who he deems an ambulance-chasing lawyer, and Medusa, who he deems acceptable (he has no idea who Miss Thing is). It's fun little bits like that that make this book worth reading. I thought the TVA stuff was a little heavy-handed ("BUT SIR, WE KNOW WHAT HE'S GOING TO DO! SHOULDN'T WE STOP HIM! ALL THE LIVES THAT ARE AT STAKE AND ALL THE DANGERS AHEAD??") but I suppose that's the nature of the beast. Overall, not uninteresting and intriguing that he needs Sandman for something else. Guess we'll look into that later. Also, I don't know Death's Head very well, but his five or so lines of dialogue make me happy he's stuck in the 616.

Deadpool Killustrated 2
Bunn (w) and Lolli and Parsons (a) and Gandini (c)

I like the way this book is going about things. I admit, I'm still not a huge fan of the killing literary figures thing in the same way I'm not a fan of watching my favorite heroes die en masse in books like Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe. Even though I think the conceit is pretty interesting, it hurts to watch him pick off every major character. Of course, that's what it's supposed to do. If it didn't the book wouldn't be working. So I guess, good job? Anyway, this book finds Deadpool killing off Tom Sawyer, Dracula and his wives, the headless horseman, and the little women of Little Women. My mom's going to be pissed when she reads that bit. Anyway, it's interesting to watch as each one flickers briefly in Deadpool's mind to the heroes they've spawned in his universe, as that's the whole point. He wants to kill off the fictional multiverse, he has to kill the inspiration for the fictional multiverse, the original heroes. When he attacks Captain Ahab at the beginning of the book (we don't see his death, so I didn't include it above), he flashes to Thunderbolt Ross. When he attacks Dracula, we get a glimpse of the Marvel Universe's Dracula and mention of those like Morbius and Blade, as well as possibly connected heroes like Doctor Strange. He kills the Headless Horseman and sees Ghost Rider and the Green Goblin. With the little women, he sees the likes of Black Widow, Mockingbird, She-Hulk, and Elektra. It's a pretty fantastic idea, if still hard to watch.

The story itself is progressing as he's having more trouble with these characters than with their successors (the heroes of his and other universes). He's still killing them in droves, but he finds himself more challenged by each one, eventually hinting at the end that he might need assistance. On the other end, Sherlock Holmes, having received a message from Deadpool's timeline, prepares his own force to hunt and kill Deadpool. This includes Natty Bumppo, Beowulf, Mulan, and Watson. It'll be interested to see how the story plays out, but I think still less interesting (to me, anyway) then watching how each character represents my heroes. It's stuff I can think about on my own, sure, but it's nice to see it put in front of me, especially for characters and connections I wouldn't think of. I probably SHOULD have previously connected Beowulf and Thor but it's just not really something I think about. Neat to see that stuff coming out of this book.