Thor: God of Thunder 25, Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor: God of Thunder 25

Thor's granddaughters, by order of King Thor, must spend time daily in the library honing their minds just as they hone their bodies. One day in their required library time, they read the origin story of Malekith, watching him grow from a shy and scared young elf to the hateful and powerful magician he is today. They next read a story about young Thor, along with an army of humans, stopping Frost Giants from resurrecting Laufey, though they came awfully close and the king's head is still out there ready to be pushed the extra step. Finally, a hidden and chained book falls on to their table, which they eagerly dive into, learning of a dark time in Thor's history when he was deemed unworthy and an all-new Thor took up Mjolnir. King Thor bursts in and closes the book, sending his granddaughters out and closing the book again.

Jason Aaron ends this volume of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER in the sort of classic series ending way, where he tells a few single-shot stories with the ability to be extended later, and teases the next volume, but he does it well enough to keep the reader interested and invested and artists like Esad Ribic, Simon Bisley, and RM Guera provide an extraordinarily good looking book to go along with the stories. It's a nice ending for the series that brought us the epic Gorr storyline and created a couple of new and powerful supervillains like Gorr and Roxxon CEO Dario Agger AKA The Minotaur and it certainly builds a bit of hype (if there wasn't enough out there for you already) for the new THOR and the new Thor. Pretty good series, this one.

Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor is free and wreaking havoc on Heven as Loki, having betrayed his new sisterhood in record time, leads Odin back into the tenth realm to end this fight once and for all. As Thor and Angela prepare to kill one another, Odin arrives and demands his son stop, revealing that Angela is very clearly his daughter Aldrif, alive after so much time thought dead. The news is pretty quickly met as true but isn't received well otherwise, as Angela is banished from Heven and swears she'll kill Odin the next time she sees him, leaving her out in the galaxy somewhere, trying to find a place she's welcome and wants to be.

As I said from the get-go, maybe some of the drama was ripped from this one given that the very first images of this book, that asked who Thor's sister was as it's main question, were images of Angela standing between Thor and Loki, as if shocked by some recent revelation. Kind of a give away and it takes a bit of the tension out for the reader, though it was likely a measured choice, with Marvel likely deciding that fans would figure it out early into the series even without the reveal and hoping that fans would still be interested in learning about how this could be possible and in learning more about Angela, Asgard, and Heven. It pays off well enough; though it's not something that particularly blows the reader away, it serves its purpose and establishes something of a new status quo in the Thor universe (which, coincidentally, is going to have all manner of status quo changes to contend with in no time at all). Solid Simone Bianchi art, teamed with Lee Garbett, Szymon Kudranski, and Marco Checchetto, carries this issue.

Total Score: 4/5

Comics this week

Hey everybody, pretty busy week for comics with a few books that you'll definitely want to keep an eye on (and a few that I'm certainly not going to tell you to). Here are some examples!

Avengers 35
This recommendation comes with a bit of a caution: this will start Hickman's grand conclusion to his AVENGERS time (if memory serves and I'm not just making that up) called TIME RUNS OUT, so it's bound to be a pretty big issue but it's also $4.99. Don't get me wrong, it's meant to be an extra-sized issue so it may be worth that extra dollar after all. I just tend to be wary (and everyone else should be too) of Marvel putting out so many extra-priced books. I'm all for people getting paid appropriately for their work but I worry what all of these releases could mean for my wallet going forward.


Daredevil 8
We're back in San Francisco after a brief New York/Wakanda detour for the ORIGINAL SIN tie-in and this issue will kick off a new arc about THE PURPLE CHILDREN, seemingly the many offspring of persuasive villain Purple Man (or perhaps just some dumb kids under his thrall, though illegitimate love children makes more sense to me for a guy who has persuasive powers and is a real creep). Purple Man, despite being a real creep, obviously has some scary potential and Daredevil fighting children should be fun. Wait, maybe I could word that better.


Edge of Spider-Verse 2
I think this event has the makings of some really interesting stories (I do tend to like well-done alternate dimension stuff, we'll see if this falls into that camp) and this, I believe, is the debut of the much advertised Spider-Gwen, the alternate universe Gwen Stacy Spider-Person. Could be fun!


Elektra 6
I really like this book, you guys. Give it a shot, willya?


Thor: God of Thunder 25
This one edges out UNCANNY AVENGERS, AVENGERS WORLD, and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN as it marks the start to a really monumental shift for Thor, who we last saw in ORIGINAL SIN being told some secret by Fury that caused his hammer to IMMEDIATELY deem him not worthy and drag him down to the moon's surface. What was that secret? Who will be deemed worthy? What's the secret origin of Malekith? Possibly all that and maybe some more, up this week!

And the rest

Another review dump. I'd expect this sort of thing to be the norm for a bit, you guys. Don't necessarily think that the books that are saved for Saturday aren't worthy of your time: still trust the little blurbs and the total scores. As with everything else on this blog, the decision that forces books on to a Saturday dump are practically arbitrary. Look, you get it, I don't know why I'm explaining it more except that, obviously, all I ever do is ramble. Let's just get to it.

All-New X-Factor 10
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c) and Petit (l)

Georgia has been taken by her supervillain father Memento Mori and the team is eager to get her back. Mori treats his daughter well, showing her his five-star hotel and giant mall, but also demands she use her powers in his service, which puts them at odds. With the team reassembled, they manage to get to Georgia. They teleport away with her with the help of a Serval Industries matter transporter which just so happens to leave Gambit, who inadvertently slept with Snow's wife, behind. Some strong parts in this that are maybe a little clouded by somewhat forced pop culture arguments (something David loves and I don't want to begrudge him but I will) and humor that occasionally hits but occasionally tries too hard. 4/5






Daredevil Road Warrior 0.1
Waid (w) and Krause (a) and Kalisz (c) and Sabino (l)

This is just the motion comic that came out not long ago that preceded Daredevil's move to San Francisco. Pretty sure I already reviewed it all (or at least parts of it!) but I had it on my list so here it is! Still alright, interesting to see a motion comic re-translated into a regular comic. I dunno, 4/5?

Deadpool vs. X-Force 1
Swierczynski (w) and Larraz (a) and Woodard (c) and Sabino (l)

After obsessed-with-time-travel millionaire Francis Talbot's grandson dies in a firefight in Desert Storm (this story is set pre-X-Force and all), he hires Deadpool, a hitherto unknown mercenary, to go back and save him. Cable, keeping tabs on Talbot, is disappointed that he would mess with the time stream so but agrees to go back with the new mutants (soon-to-be-X-Force) and retrieve Deadpool, who, of course, went off-mission to the American Revolution. After messing around in the 1700s for a bit and finding himself at odds with X-Force, Deadpool jumps to the Civil War. Kind of an interesting story developing here (that wreaks just a bit of havoc with the Marvel timeline) but perhaps a bit too much exposition here in the first issue to set everything up which, albeit, is a lot to set up. 3/5

Fantastic Four 100th Anniversary 1
Van Meter (w) and Estep (a and c) and Sabino (l)

The first in Marvel's new experimental line that asks what might be happening in decades to come for some key Marvel titles. First stop, FANTASTIC FOUR. The original F4 have been separated and/or lost in timespace for 15 years and Val leads the new F4 (including two of her own children and two other young heroes) from a control center. Visions reach out to her and she teams with her mother Sue to pull the other original members back into the real world. Hard to really summarize a standalone book of all-new made up things. Still, easy enough to get into, drags a little bit but that probably has more to do with not knowing what's happening and the exposition needed to establish all of that. Sort of interesting idea, best to just group this sort of thing with WHAT IFs though. 3/5

Guardians of the Galaxy: Galaxy's Most Wanted 1
Corona Pilgrim (w) and Di Vito (a) and Villari (c) and Cowles (l)

Movie tie-in that finds Rocket and Groot short-changed on a bounty when Groot realizes that Rocket has a bounty on his head. As a slew of bounty hunters turn on Rocket, Groot protects him (though his attempts at protection are first mistaken for betrayal by Rocket) and the pair manage to confront the rival hunter who placed the bounty, demanding he take it down. Predictable and rather cookie-cutter, which is often what you expect from a movie tie-in. It moves relatively well, but I think mostly it's because you can skip almost all of the dialogue and know what's happening. 2/5

Magneto 6
Bunn (w) and J. Fernandez (a) and D. Brown (c) and Petit (l)

Armed with his new information from Briar Raleigh, Magneto strikes and strikes and strikes at the Marauders, who, as it happens, are mostly clones of the key Marauders. He goes through legions of clones while the SHIELD agents on his tail try to piece together what they can from one of the Scalphunters he didn't fully kill, just horribly maim. Magneto, though, finds his way to one of the Marauder control centers and realizes he may just be able to reprogram the clones to work for a new master. Interesting stuff as Magneto may just be ready to build himself an army. Maybe a little less introspective than the rest of the series has been so far but still with the driving justice theme behind it holding the series up pretty well. 4/5






Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 3
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c) and Petit (l)

Miles reveals to Kate that he's Spider-Man and she runs off. Before he can chase her, homicide detective Maria Hill shows up to question him about the appearance of the other Spider-Men, who are now responsible for at least one death. Meanwhile, news gets out that Norman Osborn is alive and Monica Chang, ex-leader of SHIELD, leads a team to Oscorp to try to track him. He is there as they arrive and he decimates the team, including probably murdering Chang (certainly at least burning her face off). Miles hears that Goblin is alive and speeds off to Peter Parker's house, worried that Goblin will come for Aunt May. Of course, right as Miles realizes how unprepared he is for this fight (being a less-experienced Spidey than the original who died at Goblin's hands and now lacking his web shooters thanks to the somehow also alive Peter Parker), Goblin shows up. Pretty strong issue. I think that the dialogue once again bogs down what is an interesting and compelling story but there's enough happening right now and you can't help but care about Miles enough that it holds pretty well. 4/5

Miracleman 8
A. Moore (w) and Austen (a) and Oliff (c) and Caramagna (l)

Pluto has destroyed Cream and now leaps at Michael Moran, eating the gun out of his hand and taking two fingers with it. As he plays with his would-be victim, Moran comes enough to his senses to shout "Steppenwolf," the keyword that changes Pluto back to a regular dog, and bashes the dog's head in with a rock. After the hour passes, Moran changes back into Miracleman and hunts down Gargunza, grabbing him by the throat and bringing him to the edge of space before tossing him down to burn through the atmosphere. Dark ending, that, but a good look at what a full-powered and rage-filled Miracleman is capable of as he plows through trees and people alike, unyielding in his fury. 5/5

New Warriors 7
Yost (w) and To (a) and Redmond (c) and Cowles (l)

The new Inhumans who have taken Haechi's family hostage, waiting for his return, attack the New Warriors upon their entrance. They manage to capture Haechi and Sun Girl in their dark energy teleportation, leaving Justice behind to call the rest of the team, who are, in the case of Speedball and Jake Waffles, looking for traces of celestial energy and, in the case of Scarlet Spider, Aracely, and Mr. Whiskers, looking for demons surrounding them. With the help of old New Warrior Silhouette Chord, they trace the dark energy signature and find Haechi and Sun Girl. Haechi is tied up and unable to transform and the other Inhumans, disciples of Lash (from INHUMAN), are preparing to kill Sun Girl when she manages to shoot Haechi's chains off. They're safe for the moment but Lash himself finally appears and it's a whole different story. Meanwhile, the team's teleport is manipulated from an outside source and they land in a warehouse full of armed bad guys. Strong story, plenty going on but still enough time for the talented Yost to establish more about our characters. 5/5

Punisher 8
Maurer and Edmondson (w) and Carnero (p) and Pallot (i) and Fabela (c) and Petit (l)

With some amount of struggle and a fair amount of injury and losses (including Ortiz at the hands of an irritated Crossbones), Punisher manages to buy enough time for Special Forces Tom to get what remains of his troop out, sacrificing himself to be caught by Crossbones in the process. It's more a story about the Special Forces group and Frank's tangential relation to them (and the impact he would have on them in the time to come) than about Punisher himself, though it does put him firmly in Crossbones' grasp at the end. There's a little too much going on to make this a really clean read and a lot of the new soldiers look a little too much alike to separate particularly well, making the whole read somewhat chaotic and confusing. 2/5

Thor: God of Thunder 24
Aaron (w) and Alessio w/Ribic (a) and Alessio w/Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

Dario Agger managed to get away from the authorities to absolve himself of any blame and now, at a press conference, pins all of the blame on the fact that Asgardia stays in the sky above Broxton. The Congress of Worlds meets in Asgardia to decide if Asgard should move elsewhere on the World Tree and, of course, they decide that they should, despite Thor's protestations. Before they go, the gods do what they can to help Broxton clear out the rubble, leaving mounds of Asgardian gold and other gifts behind as well. Thor, disappointed with the way things turned out and mad that all he's done is destroy, just as he did when he was young, also delivers his own personal castle, his home on Asgardia, to Broxton so that the displaced people might live there while the town rebuilds. He also nominates Jane Foster to the Congress of Worlds to represent Midgard. Dario Agger, for his part, eyes the other realms for his own conquest. In the far future, King Thor and his daughters rebuild Earth but who knows for how long, as the All-Black merges with Galactus. The issue ends up being immensely powerful as Thor has plenty of time for introspection and finds himself depressed in the result. It's a very strong issue and a solid conclusion to an arc that could have gone either way. 5/5

Thor: God of Thunder 23, Silver Surfer 3

Thor: God of Thunder 23
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

Thor fights the Minotaur, now fully transformed, and a legion of trolls with some help from Roz Solomon while, far into the future, King Thor teams with All-Black the Necrosword and, with the aid of his granddaughters, fights off Galactus. In the present, the more pressing storyline, Thor, able to unleash his true power on the Minotaur without the worry of Agger's lawyers or perception as a good guy, defeats Minotaur, though loses track of him, allowing Agger to return to human form and move on.

Strong issue for the book to pause on as THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD are put on hold to team together for THOR AND LOKI: THE TENTH REALM. Though Agger is not yet out of Thor's hair, it's a nice win for the thunder god as he realizes how hard corporations can be to beat. Some of the writing in this issue is exceptional, some is a little choppy at times, but it's overall certainly an easy and worthwhile read, not least because of Ribic and Svorcina.

Total Score: 4/5


Silver Surfer 3
Slott (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c) and Cowles (l)

Dawn leads Silver Surfer to the Never Queen's heart and Silver Surfer uses the power cosmic to keep the Impericon together while the civilians and hostages therein flee. Dawn is tasked with bringing the heart back to the Never Queen and, with the help of some of the freed hostages, succeeds as Surfer bests the Incredulous Zed in combat, unintentionally killing him in the process. Eh, couldn't be helped, right? Anyhow, Surfer and Dawn set off to return to Earth as the Never Queen and her beloved Eternity are reunited.

In just its third issue, Slott and the Allreds continue to make a push to keep this book rather light and fun, even if there are dark moments or tones. It embraces the fantastical and demands the audience revel in it rather than be confused or overwhelmed by it. It's a book that knows itself and both wants to give the audience something worth reading but also not take itself too seriously (as such, you get nods to how crazy it is that the power cosmic ends up occasionally being some sort of undefined panacea). Sometimes the tone of, say, Silver Surfer gets a little muddled in this, unsure if he's that classic, seemingly cold character or if he has a sense of humor that rarely comes out, but I think that's something that will define itself more in time (though, you could also argue, it's already defined itself because the past doesn't matter, that what's in this book is the definition). Slott is very clearly having fun with this new series and the Allreds were a perfect team for this blend of fun and fantastical.

Total Score: 5/5

SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: Thor: God of Thunder 22, Hulk 3

Thor: God of Thunder 22
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

Dario Agger continues to pillage Broxton with his Roxxon factories and, to add to the problems, massive sinkholes have begun opening up in the small town. To make even those matters worse, Roz Solomon has discovered those sinkholes are full of trolls. Though Thor has been banned from the area (and gotten a stern talking to from Roz), he returns to beg Agger to stop, saying that his care and concern for the people of Broxton is greater than his pride. As he says all this, though, Agger opens more of the ground, killing even his lawyers, and he goes minotaur while some trolls hold Thor. Meanwhile, in the distant future, Thor's granddaughters fight a charged up (from eating the Earth) Galactus in the hopes of finding Thor, while Thor himself races to the black hole in which he tossed Gorr's weapon, the Necrosword.

The key to this issue is seeing Broxton fall apart and, subsequently, both seeing how devastating and fast Agger can be while also seeing what Thor is willing to do to stop it. As Coulson points out to Solomon, this is the threat of the new age. It's not Nazi's and decoder rings any more, it's billionaire CEOs. It's a problem Thor can't so easily punch away. It's a problem Thor has to think his way out of which, as Loki would point out, is not particularly a strong suit. At the same time, Agger seems every issue to sink lower and lower into full-on psychopath, which makes it a little harder, in this case, to find him as compelling for me. The King Thor vs Old Galactus storyline is still engaging enough, watching the fight, but the stakes are still a bit strange as it's hard to feel connected to it. I think it's there to show how much Thor loves Earth but it's still hard to feel that seeing Earth as a cold, dead place. Still, it's engaging to read and I guess we can't ask for much more than that.

Total Score: 4/5


Hulk 3
Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

The Abomination has been set loose in the small Colorado town Banner has been hidden in and Maria Hill wants answers. She gets them from a small attack force sent to grab her who find themselves outmatched. She learns that Abomination is nothing more than a zombie reanimated with brain tissue from the Hulk but before she can learn more, the force is teleported away. The Avengers (Captains America and Marvel, Iron Man, and Sunspot) show up on the case, having been looking for Hulk since he disappeared, and begin to drive Abomination back, though they can't hold him without Hulk's help. Out of the fight, Hulk reverts to Banner and we see that his brain has healed a little more. Hill warns that switching back and forth like this will do more harm than good though and that the brain needs time to adjust and to mend. However, Banner refuses to leave the Avengers on their own and takes the risk, hulking out to help.

There are still perhaps more questions than answers here as the explanation for the healing of Banner's brain helps but also feels more than a little like "hey, hang on, these are very clearly made-up rules." Okay, so OBVIOUSLY they're made up rules, Hulk doesn't exist in a place where we study brains, just as an accelerated healing factor doesn't exist in a place where we study brains. Still, typically you can allow for a bit of soft science and either have it hit you so hard that you go "ugh, shut up Reed, I believe you" or you go "hey, you know what, sure, that seems right." I'm not feeling either of those here and it's making it harder to buy into the storyline. On top of that, we still need to learn a little more about this villain with all his crazy resources and his absolute disregard for morals. Also, the Avengers really booked it to Colorado, huh? WHATEVER, it still reads fine and the art is fine.

Total Score: 3/5

Ms. Marvel 3, Thor: God of Thunder 21

Ms. Marvel 3
GW Wilson (w) and Alphona (a) and Herring (c) and Caramagna (l)

Kamala has been grounded and, more to the point, has realized she has some sort of super powers. Being grounded is making it particularly hard to learn more about these powers just as refusing to talk to her friend Bruno since he ratted her out to her parents is making it harder for her to talk to anyone about it. She goes to the girl's locker room when she feels her hand starting to shrink and she begins to try to control her powers. She manages to grow large enough to bring part of the ceiling down and to even change her appearance to look like her mother before she's discovered and given detention for being in the locker room when she's not supposed to be. After detention, she goes to talk to Bruno at the Circle Q only to find a robber holding him up. Unbeknownst to Kamala, the robber is Bruno's brother Vick and Bruno finds the whole robbery ridiculous. Kamala changes her appearance to that of Captain Marvel and tries to stop the robbery, mostly succeeding until, amidst all the chaos, Vick shoots her in the gut.

Story
Things certainly are starting to move for Kamala as news reports from the previous night start to surface and the new Ms. Marvel has been sighted. We also get the introduction of Bruno's deadbeat brother and the idea that Bruno, a science whiz, is creating a sort of polymer that would stretch material to which it was bonded (more than a little happily convenient there). The story takes a very sudden turn as Kamala, attempting to use her powers intentionally to help people, is shot in the gut. Bit of an abrupt twist there. 4/5

Character
The way writer G. Willow Wilson is setting this new story is to create Kamala's world before really sending us out on adventures (though the last page of this issue would beg to differ). As a result, we're going to get a good sense of the personality of Kamala, Nakio, and Bruno before things can really advance and I think that's the best way to handle it, even if it means the plot has to move in slightly quicker brush strokes (Bruno, a high schooler, happens to be creating an unbelievable polymer that would make material stretch, Kamala is shot in the gut by Bruno's brother, etc.). Still, we're getting a pretty good sense of who Kamala is and of who her friends are, all of which will be most important as we move forward. 5/5

Writing
As I said, the focus on character, while overall working, does mean that Wilson has to make a couple of leaps here and there to keep the story interesting and fresh while she develops the world. The writing itself, the tone and the dialogue and all, are still strong but the plot is rushing maybe a little bit. 4/5

Art
Adrian Alphona's art is a departure from most of the other art styles out there. His style and his colors are much more faded and almost pastel-colored than most anything out there in comics, which gives everything almost a sort of surreal feel. I think that it works well with this book and it means that the reader's eye isn't necessarily drawn to the action or the surroundings, but to the expressive faces of the characters. Where Wilson's goal is to set up a strong focus on character rather than action to start, this approach feels like the best possible approach. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be going well. I am stuck a little bit on some of the plot points (the gunshot seems very abrupt as does the "well geez, look at this fabric I'm making." Look, I get hung up on some things) and the book tends to kind of slow down and speed up at weird times but I think those sorts of kinks will largely work themselves out as the creative team grows more comfortable with one another and as Kamala becomes more and more established. Also, what a great Jamie McKelvie cover (McKelvie also designed Kamala's costume because, presumably, everyone saw Captain Marvel's new duds and went "hey, maybe we should let Jamie McKelvie design everything forever." It's the right call). Get ready for a line of those. Annie Wu also had a nice variant cover this week.

Total score: 4/5


Thor: God of Thunder 21
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

The world saved from the INFINITY crisis and the Builders, Thor returns home to find that Roxxon has built floating factories (much like Dr. Robotnik) over Broxton, Oklahoma, home of the Asgardians (or very near to it). Thor, of course, is not happy. Roz Solomon tries to stop him from attacking, promising that they'll stop Dario Agger with the help of the law but Thor refuses to hear it and goes to the floating factories. Agger and his team quickly slap a lawsuit on Thor for his attacks and promise that he'll have to pay all sorts of money while they get to stay in the air, and Thor realizes there's nothing he can do that won't make the situation far worse, though it seems things are about to get far worse as Agger has hired Ulik the Troll to take down Thor.

Story
I really like the idea of putting Thor up against big business and up against capitalism because corporations are such major businesses these days. Like in Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA with the origin of the Winter Soldier and everything, someone with this much power going up against a corporation that has the ability to make money is always going to be a compelling fight because it's not just something you can punch and it's not something that's easy to bring down or to find allies to fight. Of course, Thor is a little different than Captain America in that he doesn't wear the flag on his chest and he doesn't have to worry about a whole ton of retribution. You know, he's Thor. He could kill Roxxon from the ground up and people might be pissed but, you know, he's Thor. Still, let's suspend that disbelief because this story is interesting enough to carry. 4/5

Character
What baffles me about this arc so far is that, alongside the Roxxon trouble Thor is having, we're still getting a look into the future where King Thor is battling Galactus for the remains of Earth. Typically you're fairly invested when Galactus shows up because it very likely will mean the destruction of a planet or a fight for said planet. Here there's almost no attachment because everyone on Earth is already dead except that King Thor is sad about it. That doesn't feel enough like character development to me to keep it attached here so hopefully it will lead to a little more revelation-wise. Otherwise, Thor of the present is doing pretty well since he's trying to navigate the world of business, a world he can't possibly understand, nor be thrilled about. 3/5

Writing
Dario Agger continues to be complete comic book supervillain, an immoral jerk who no one but our hero can keep in check. Though that still makes for a compelling enough villain because he's willing to go to any length to defeat our hero, I tend to prefer a little more nuance. Still, the rest of the book is solid and even the scenes between Galactus and King Thor, though they get a little repetitive because there's only so much the two can bicker about at this point, stand pretty well on their own. 4/5

Art
Esad Ribic continues to be outstanding and Eisner nominated Ive Svorcina continues to make the book stand out with his painted colors, which I've been attributing to Ribic this whole time only to find that Svorcina is really carrying that tone. It all works really well with the tone of the writing and of the story and continues to really impress. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be back on track after taking an arc off to deal with Malekith and troubles in the nine realms. Thor's love for Earth and his attachment to humanity shine through but it'll be interesting to see how that all feels after spending so much time with Agger.

Total score: 4/5

Iron Man 23, Thor: God of Thunder 20

Iron Man 23
Gillen (w) and L. Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Iron Man is on the hunt for the Mandarins out there and happens to find that one of them is the fired director behind a musical based on Iron Man that created Tony to be a pervert. Of course, Tony's people fired him and now a ring has made its way to the disgruntled artist. Tony tries to put him down softly but, before he's able to, Malekith appears and straight up murders the guy, taking the ring and disappearing before Tony gets his bearings. Tony now knows who's behind the capture of the rings and so he turns to his new specialist on magical affairs, Shevaun Haldane, Dark Angel. He explains to her that he doesn't want to go to Malekith expert Thor because then his attack on Malekith ends up being political between Asgard and Svartalfheim as opposed to being simply about the rings and he doesn't want to put that on Thor. Shevaun builds him a weapon that she thinks should render the rings inert temporarily and creates three magical one-use doors that will, if all goes according to plan, drop him in Svartalfheim, drop the weapon next to him, and return him home from Svartalfheim when it's finished. Wearing the stealth suit with the hopes that he can sneak through Svartalfheim without alerting too many people to his presence, Tony is sent through the first door only to find that he's been dropped right into the center of Malekith's hall.

Plenty going on right now and the book moves really quickly as a result, even despite the amount of explaining and backstory they have to give. On top of the A plot summarized above, there's a B plot involving a relationship developing between Arno and Abigail Burns, the Red Peril who just lost her hands to Malekith's attack. There's a good chance that none of this is ideal news for Tony but you can't help but feel good that Arno's making friends. Anyway, there's always the chance that a story like this, one that crosses a couple of different mythologies, can come off feeling really forced and leaving the audience feeling cynical about the motives behind the crossover, as it were. Here though, Gillen nicely threads the needle between the science vs. magic and the Iron Man vs. Malekith so that the story feels like a really solid one developing instead of some kind of weird opportunistic cash grab. Pretty neat, you guys.

Thor: God of Thunder 20
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

Thor and Rosalind Solomon are out to stop Roxxon, whatever it takes, as Rosalind hates them and what they're doing to the environment and Thor is pretty sure that Earth hates them and also he likes Rosalind. Thor has taken several books out from the godly library he's visited in recent days about the death of many different worlds and he's prepared to do what it takes to bring Roxxon down. In this case, it means blowing up a few of their plants in an "Act of God" manner that means insurance won't pay for it. Of course, increasingly evil Dario Agger knows who is behind it and insists that his men find a way to hurt Thor, to strike back in this new war. Their suggestion to the evil man who is both nicknamed and physically, on occasion, "minotaur" is that they strike at Broxton, Oklahoma. MEANWHILE, in the far-off future, King Thor tries to talk with Galactus about maybe not eating Earth and then, when words don't work, prepares to fight.

There are parts of this story I like and am intrigued by and there are parts that I can't help kind of rolling my eyes at. For example, I like the idea that Thor wants to get into the conservationist mindset because he just straight up loves Earth and anything that harms it, whether it's Dr. Doom trying to take it over, Ultron attempting to kill everyone on it, or Roxxon actually killing it, is in for a fight. The idea that he'd be behind the "hey, let's make nature be great!" kind of fight is one that I both get and that I like for his character. On the other hand, Dario Agger is eye-rolling villainous. He admits that he's caused chemical spills just to kill wildlife, that he's introduced predators who don't belong in certain places to be in those certain places, and that he's altered several bears to completely deplete the salmon population in certain rivers, all so that Roxxon can provide the solutions eventually. While I don't doubt that there are evil people out there, this is so frustratingly comic book evil that I can't help but be a little disappointed by it. I tend to prefer my villains either untouchable and evil or even a little more complicated. It does seem as if they're ready to build up a sad backstory for him but I think it may already be too late. Anyway, King Thor calls Galactus rude so I GUESS I'm saying you should check out this issue?

Thor: God of Thunder 19, Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1

Thor: God of Thunder 19
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

King Thor examines Earth millennia in the future, now a cold, dead rock, with his three granddaughters, who are less enamored of Midgard than Thor was. As King Thor laments the way the world defeated itself, we turn back the clock to see what's happening with Thor the Avenger. It turns out he's trying to land a date with SHIELD agent Roz Solomon, who is, herself, trying to bring down the somehow constantly re-formed Roxxon. Thor helps her bring down some whalers before the two of them head for a new Roxxon unveiling with new Roxxon head Dario Agger. Agger has led an expedition to drill ice from Jupiter to try to "cure thirst" or something along those lines but Solomon knows that it's just a way to control the profits of Jupiter water. Thor arrives at the press conference with way more ice straight from Jotunheim, killing a lot of Agger's profits (business, am I right, guys?) and putting Thor and Solomon right on the map for Agger. After this act, Solomon agrees to go for coffee with Thor. Now we go back...to the FUTURE to see King Thor and his granddaughters on Earth as Galactus approaches.

Very clear set-up issue as plenty of seeds for the new arc are planted. There's something remarkably endearing about Thor trying to win a date with Agent Solomon that's worth seeing in this book and, of course, Esad Ribic's art flourishes here as he gets to draw giant underwater scenes and some big Asgardian style scenes. The issue starts to lose a little bit of steam as Roxxon gets involved, as Aaron is tasked with setting up a new agenda for Roxxon and a new CEO for the always always always corrupt company. I'd say that the Jupiter ice thing falls a little bit flat too since it's such a specific thing and it's hard to really see the point of it (though I suppose you could make the case that it's readily available water that Agger, like the villain in Quantum of Solace, would have at his control but, unlike that villain, Agger doesn't control the entire region's supply of water). Likewise, it's a little hard to muster up some sort of feelings for the Midgard of the future as it's far out enough that it's, you know, kind of expected that it will eventually die. Like, Thor HAD to have been told this at some point, right? Still, the seeds could harvest interesting fruit (just how I like my fruit) given just a little more time.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1
Remender (w) and Boschi (a) and Chuckry (c)

It's 1966 and Fury and SHIELD have learned that Hydra has captured Nazi scientists who have perfected the alchemy formula, which would allow Hydra untold resources if they're able to glean the formula for themselves. It's up to Fury and SHIELD's number two agent Ran Shen to break into a secure Hydra facility (Castle Hydra on a sheer cliff face in a snowy, remote locale) and capture the Nazi scientists or, if they can't manage capture, kill them. Shen and Fury wager on who will find the fastest way into the castle and Shen goes in the front door, counting on his smarts and ability to blend in to get him through, while Fury scales the side of the castle and goes in the drainage pipe. Shen seems to blend in okay and ends up hitting it off with a woman who seems to know something about Hydra's inner workings. The pair of them leave the party to be alone and the woman reveals herself to be the absolutely horrible new creation Madam Worm. With worms crawling out of her and into and all over Shen, designed to show Shen the beauty of Hydra, Fury appears and flamethrowers her into a big ol' pit. They manage to find the scientists and escape, to Fury's chagrin, up through the castle. They manage to avoid all guards going that way and make it outside only to have their new charges instantly stolen from them by none other than the Winter Soldier. Shen and Fury pursue him, all three essentially hang-gliding away from the castle. Shen distracts Winter Soldier while Fury attacks, causing him to drop the two targets. Shen manages to catch them and land but Fury is shot in the chest and falls elsewhere. Winter Soldier's wings are damaged and he, too, falls into the forest. Shen lands with the two scientists in the forest, realizing that he's up against a man thought only to be a myth, on foot with two Nazis, in the middle of a frozen forest.

All of our players are here, all of our plot is right here, laid out for us for this limited series, as we get our first real, extended look at a Cold War-era Winter Soldier. It's a really neat idea and the idea of three superpowers, SHIELD, Hydra, and Russia, vying for the formula tucked away in the heads of a pair of old Nazis, is a compelling story in and of itself. Throw in the fact that it'll both pit Shen and Fury against Winter Soldier and will establish the relationship that Shen has with all the players today (appearing in CAPTAIN AMERICA as the villain Iron Nail) and we have a pretty fascinating limited series on our hands. The art and the tone of the book hit their mark, feeling like a pretty solid spy story (too bad I spent so much time talking about James Bond in my THOR review, huh? Requisite Bond time has already been taken up). Matching that tone perfectly, by the by, are Andrew Robinson's covers for the series. SECRET AVENGERS has been trying to go for a spy, '70s era feel with its covers and fonts and things for a little while now and I think they've been okay but often a little convoluted for my tastes. These ones are much cleaner and the cover for issue two is pretty astounding, really looking forward to that one. Of course, I say all this but I still ended up with Chris Eliopoulos' animal variant (seen at right) for this issue ANYWAY. Look, it had Batroc as a fox, what was I supposed to do, not buy it?

Comics this week

Rarely is it as easy as recording the list of comics out this week to find my top five. Sure a couple will come from a cursory glance; titles I like, events, big issues I remember are big, number ones, final issues, etc., but they don't typically all congregate like this. This week found an important launch title, a good series starting a new year, a personal favorite character of mine headlining a new limited series, and two issues I can safely say are two of my most highly anticipated issues of the year, one kicking off a probably great new series and one finishing an amazing series. Did I give it all away yet? What if I say that, alphabetically, this entire post begins at "s?"

She-Hulk 1

Surprise, you guys, I love Marvel. I also love gender parity. So it was a tough couple of years (okay, decades and decades) where Marvel wasn't trusting in female-led books. I'm not going to say "okay, we got a few, all better" but it's very clear that Marvel is taking real, legitimate steps to righting the wrong. SHE-HULK is another example, adding to MS. MARVEL, CAPTAIN MARVEL, BLACK WIDOW, and...god, I could swear there's another one. It'll come to me (or it doesn't exist and so won't). You could even lump HAWKEYE in there as Kate takes center stage aaa much or more than Clint and is just as much the titular Hawkeye as the avenging archer. Throw Charles Soule, savior of THUNDERBOLTS and up-and-coming comics star from both sides of the big two and we should have a solid book in store (FUN FACT: Soule is a lawyer himself so expect some solid law to make its way into the title). WAIT, it's ELEKTRA. That's the other one I was thinking of. That one should be fun too.

Thor: God of Thunder 19

For as old as this series sometimes seems, it's really only gone through two separate story lines since Aaron took over on the title. Thor(s) fought Gorr and Thor fought Malekith. Two stories in three acts and one bonus self-contained story last time out. Now present Thor finds himself embroiled in intrigue on Earth and with SHIELD, no less, as King Thor hangs out with old Galactus (okay, probably "hangs out with" is the wrong turn of phrase here but I'd also read that series). Esad Ribic rejoins Jason Aaron to take our resident god of thunder back to Midgard in what should be another defining run for the series, firmly planted now in its sophomore year.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1

Winter Soldier returns in a limited series set sometime between Bucky's "death" and Cap's re-emergence, AKA true Winter Soldier days. So why check out the brainwashed Russian hitman trying to, probably, destabilize America in or around the Cold War? Because it's bound to go a bit deeper than that. Rick Remender tries his hand at Winter Soldier, a character who, despite his popularity and now with about five+ years under his belt,  has only really been handled by Brubaker and Latour, as he tells a story of drama and intrigue that will tie into the events of today, particularly in Remender's CAPTAIN AMERICA. Keep an eye out for the Iron Nail and the corruption of SHIELD as we kick off a limited series that should, presuming it's coming in monthly installments and not, say, bi-weekly, take us right up to Captain America: Winter Soldier. Sound like it might relate? Guess we'll find out.

X-Force 1

Hot on the heels of the conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE and CABLE AND X-FORCE, Si Spurrier launches the new underground mutant wet works team. Featuring a considerably smaller roster than its predecessors (even all the way back to Remender's terrific put-him-on-the-map run), X-FORCE promises to be a top-flight series full of twists and turns with exciting character pieces and lots of depth. Looking forward to it immensely and I can't stress enough how much Si Spurrier has totally won me over with his work on X-MEN LEGACY (not to mention the thrilling web/print series CROSSED: WISH YOU WERE HERE). And now Spurrier has Fantomex to control. It's come to my attention lately that Fantomex is a very polarizing character either very loved or very hated. Readers of this blog should know I'm in the first camp and I can't really imagine anyone being in the second. If you are, though, give this series a shot. I'm willing to bet, with almost no indication of the way Spurrier is going to write him, that Fantomex will have something of a fascinating character this time out. Worth giving him another shot, you strange, probably non-existent Fantomex haters.

X-Men Legacy 24

This is it, dear readers. The first comics week of this year saw the end of YOUNG AVENGERS, the book I named my second best book of 2013. Now, as we enter into the second week of the second month of 2014, the top book ends. Both books are unique in that they both seemed to wind down to their finales more based on the writer's wishes than the usual business of it (I don't officially know that that's the case with LEGACY but Spurrier has intimated all along that a story isn't a story without an end). Regardless, it's time to say a very reluctant goodbye to this beautiful and wildly creative book that Spurrier has crafted with such love and such deftness as to make even the woe-begotten son of Charles Xavier and the stammering, oft-nonsensical young Blindfold two of the most complicated and tragic characters in the Marvel Universe. It's a testament to the power of a really well-written and well-executed character study and it's, for my money, one of the best and most satisfying examples of the superhero genre in the past decade, if not longer. Everyone involved deserves untold credit, from Spurrier's mad writing to Tan Eng Huat and Khoi Pham's alternating artistic approaches to José Villarrubia and Rachelle Rosenberg's colors to the amazing Mike del Mundo covers each and every issue. I'm so sad to see it go but so thrilled that it ever existed.

Superior Spider-Man 26, Thor: God of Thunder 18

Superior Spider-Man 26
Slott (w) and Ramos, Rodriguez, Martin, Olazaba, and Lopez (a) and Delgado, Rodriguez, and Martin (c)

It's a story on three fronts as Goblin fights Hobgoblin, the Avengers demand answers from Spider-Man, and Peter Parker tries to navigate his way through a now barren mindscape. Each story is rather self-contained (though obviously part of the bigger story that's happening) and each one is illustrated by a different artist. Goblin and Hobgoblin battle mano y mano to decide who will lead New York's Goblins. The battle culminates in Hobgoblin deciding, after seeing a scar on Goblin's chest, that Goblin really is Norman Osborn and then promptly getting his head cut off. Good news for Roderick Kingsley, though, it wasn't really Roderick Kingsley but a surrogate he had trained just like the new one he's training. Story two has Spider-Man answering questions from the Avengers about why he'd delete the tests the Avengers ran and the camera footage of his tests. He rebuts these questions by saying that he doesn't want people to know his identity more than they have to and wasn't that the point of Civil War and also he's done weird stuff in the past and they haven't asked questions so why should it be any different now and oh, it's because he's an Avenger now, well he quits. So that's that. Meanwhile, in Spider-Man's mindscape, Peter wanders around, weak as he's ever been and missing the memories that made him him. The only memories of Peter that remain are the ones Otto had to look at back when he had the full range of them. Fortunately, these are all memories of great strength for Peter and it gives him the inspiration to keep moving forward and to find a way to retake his body.

OKAY, so apparently we're NOT actually fully at GOBLIN NATION yet and somehow this is lasting longer than the buildup to INHUMANITY and other such stories (but it's not as long as FEAR ITSELF, nothing is as long as FEAR ITSELF). Despite that, all three stories are interesting and important, not to mention well-presented. The secret of the Green Goblin's identity persists, even if Hobgoblin is sold, and Slott clearly wants us to keep asking. On top of that, only former Hobgoblin associate Phil Urich knows that the Hobgoblin his new boss killed isn't Kingsley and he can't spread the news around without Goblin losing claim to Hobgoblin's men. Back to Spider-Man, it seems like the Avengers are more suspicious than ever and things may be turning in that direction soon. Finally, there's the added twist that, even when Peter gets his body back, he likely won't have his full range of memories available to him so his messy life may not get cleared up quite so quickly. Good issue, plenty happening and lots to look forward to.

Thor: God of Thunder 18
Aaron (w) and Pastoras (a and c)

A one-off issue (though we've said that before only to have that one-off come back and mean everything in other series) as Jason Aaron closes out arc three with a tale of young Thor attempting to assist some worshippers on Midgard by finding out who has been attacking their dogs and their crops. The worshippers blame the dragon Skabgagg but Thor discovered that Skabgagg wasn't the problem, a group of trolls were. He and Skabgagg teamed up to defeat them then were both celebrated by the worshippers (a tribe of viking women). They return a few days later to their respective homes where Thor rests and recovers and presumably gets reamed out by Odin. Skabgagg, meanwhile, goes home and immediately fights with his father about what it is to be a dragon. He storms off and goes back to the vikings to keep partying. However, his drunken spiral gets worse and worse and the vikings have to call Thor back to deal with it all. He tries to talk the dragon down but the dragon won't be talked down and Thor has to fight Skabgagg with, if you know Thor, pretty predictable result. Thor returns home a bit sobered by the experience.

It's not a bad little story and Dan Pastoras' art is certainly a good fit for it. Unless Skabgagg and the other dragons of Skabgagg's family return down the line, I can't say this will have a lot of bearing on the title as a whole but it's another in a seemingly endless supply of "Thor grows up" issues littered through his history. The fact we've seen these lessons before, though, doesn't preclude the possibility that this one is worth reading. It's still a pretty good story, maybe a little heavy-handed at times, and the art shines through on Pastoras' little one-shot issue. We get a bit more of Thor's character as he grows up just a little bit and edges ever closer to the Thor we know. Next issue, Jason Aaron promises in a somewhat oddly timed letter to the audience afterwards (the letter itself is pretty neat, in terms of replacing a fan letter page with a letter from the writer to kind of say where we are and where we're going but it's a somewhat unusual thing for a Marvel book to have and it almost makes it feel like Aaron is asking fans to stick with the book), we'll see another big storyline that pits Thor against a threat to Earth and teams him with SHIELD agent Roz Solomon (from WAAAAAY back in issue twelve) and will also bring back King Thor and introduce us to Old Galactus all with the incredible art of original series artist Esad Ribic. Should be neat.

All-New X-Men 21, Uncanny X-Men 16, Amazing X-Men 3

All-New X-Men 21
Bendis (w) and Peterson and B. Anderson w/J. Campbell (a) and Silva (c)

The ANXM have been captured and chained up by the Purifiers who are discussing what they should do with the original X-Men. For the son of Reverend William Stryker, it's a chance to kill these powerful mutants before they ever gain influence, creating a paradox but also ridding the world of a whole ton of mutants. It doesn't make a lot of sense but, good news, it's time for another long lesson in time travel as the Purifiers debate the butterfly effect and how bad it would be if everything changed and paradoxes and so on. Eventually they call in Dr. Monica Rappaccini of AIM to sort things out and she says that the mutants should be released (after they've taken samples from them) because a paradox is "the best thing [killing them] could do." She also is confused by the young X-Men and spends the same amount of time everyone for 21 issues has spent being surprised by the youth of the X-Men. She determines that the Purifiers can kill Kitty Pryde if they want since she wouldn't harm the timeline but, before they can do it, Kitty wakes up and phases out of her chains. She breaks everyone else out and they fight everybody and they all get away. The only kind of lasting damage stuff that happens is that a.) the ANXM know about the Purifiers and AIM, and b.) X-23 has seen that the AVENGERS ARENA footage has gone live to the internet and has jumped into Scott's arms while Jean was watching (because it wouldn't be a Bendis book without a love triangle where two girls fight over one guy, even if that guy is oatmeal).

I did an experiment with this book this issue. In the experiment, I flipped through the pages of the book doing my darndest not to pick up any of the words and just looking at the art to see if I could figure out what was happening without the trouble of all the words. When I eventually went back and read it, I was astounding to find that not only was I pretty close, I had mostly only missed another reiteration of how time travel might work and the shock of finding out these X-Men are young. Guess I should have assumed that was all mentioned here since it comes up in seemingly every issue. It's probably not a fair experiment, there are likely plenty of books where this same experiment would hold mostly true (though I imagine that there would be some bits I'd be a bit more confused by) and it might just be a shining recommendation of the art (which is fine in this book). Still, it kind of begs the question why we have to have just so much dialogue in the book when so little of it is really necessary. Also, the one thing that wasn't over-explained was who this guy is, since the only 616 son of William Stryker I'm aware of is dead. There's one over in the Ultimate Universe (or was, knowing that universe, he's probably dead. I think maybe Rogue killed him?) but Jason is the only one I know here and he died immediately after birth. Unless we're getting ready for retcons! Wooooooooo.

Uncanny X-Men 16
Bendis (w) and Bachalo and Townsend w/Vey, Irwin, and Olazaba (a) and Bachalo (c)

Magneto visits the same pro-mutant rally-area the Uncanny X-Men had visited not so long ago in Michigan to meet with Dazzler and try to find information on the Sentinels SHIELD seems to have. She doesn't so much help him as direct him to Madripoor where, she claims, a mutant seems to be running things. Magneto goes to check it out and sees everyone running around with mutant growth hormone. Eventually he's ushered to the top of what used to be Hydra tower where he meets up with a bunch of old school evil mutants like Blob, Sabretooth, and Silver Samurai. As they talk, Dazzler arrives as well, revealing herself to be Mystique and telling Magneto that this new Madripoor is all for him. It's a place where mutants can hold power and have their own little world. Magneto is disgusted by it, angry that it neither fulfills Xavier's dream of a world with both mutants and humans living together nor fulfills Magneto's dream of mutants rising up to be the dominant species. Instead, it's a pit of an island where MGH is everywhere. He uses Silver Samurai to attack Mystique and controls a horde of bullets to attack the others as he makes his escape on the helicopter, wrecking the building behind him. The issue promises that his adventures will continue in the upcoming MAGNETO series, written by Cullen Bunn.

This is both a one-off issue to set up MAGNETO and, seemingly, an important piece to the UNCANNY X-MEN canon, assuming that it reveals Mystique as Dazzler for good and not as a "oh, Magneto knows but he didn't tell anyone so she goes back to it" kind of deal. In that respect, it's not bad. There are still some obnoxious pieces of dialogue from Mystique (who can never quite decide if she's evil and cold or evil and playfully obnoxious, a problem that isn't held to just this issue) and from background characters here and there. Magneto's done well and it certainly goes a ways to establishing the new series. I typically like Chris Bachalo's art and I don't think it all-out doesn't work here or anything but I will say that I don't think this is him at his best. I think his best, anyway, isn't this sort of story or this sort of seriousness. In a way, his style is a little too cartoony to go with the grim feel of this issue. Hopefully the MAGNETO book carries this momentum and finds itself in a pretty solid place.

Amazing X-Men 3
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Azazel reveals his plan to the audience in great detail as he, for whatever reason, reiterates it to his shipmates. They listen dutifully as he explains that he's saving them from the tortures of hell, the nothingness of purgatory, and the boredom of heaven so that they can ride with him in a life of piracy and doin' stuff. Some of the bamfs drag a listening Hank McCoy out and drop him overboard to the delight of the pirates. After he claims his way back up, he begins to attack the pirates and Azazel, with whom he has an EXTREMELY long fight-conversation which AGAIN reiterates Azazel's plan and debates the merits of it and of just about everything else Azazel's ever done. Like with THOR: GOD OF THUNDER earlier this week, it also involves a whole bunch of name-checking and little random fact-dropping that feels unnatural and forced, though at least this time it's coming from Hank McCoy who is known for his long-windedness. Eventually Azazel stabs him in the side and throws him overboard again. Before the focus of the issue shifts, we see his hand cling to the side of the boat again. On a nearby Azazel pirate ship, a group of Azazel's pirates talk about what to do with Storm before Nightcrawler shows up and begins to dispatch them. Ororo is extremely pleased to see Nightcrawler and the two pick up arms together and get awfully close to one another. After they've done away with all of the pirates on the ship, they're greeted by none other than a feral Hank McCoy who seems pretty impossible to relax.

I think there's a story here that, while a little over-the-top and fanfic-like, might well be worth telling. What better way to get Nightcrawler back into the world than with a rip-roaring pirate tale that pits father against son and X-Men against pirates? Okay, there may be better ways but this is the one we've got (and for anyone checking, it does indeed seem as if Nightcrawler is back for good as he's getting his own solo title in April, written by none other than legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont). Like my complaints with THOR this week, I can't help feeling like this is maybe a little too reader's-first-comic for me. That's fine, I suppose, maybe I'm not the target audience on books like this or WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. I will say it feels weird if that's true since that's not really Marvel's style but it's hard to argue with the excessive amounts of name-checks and current-plot summarization next to brief Marvel history lessons and the oddly colorful and playful Ed McGuinness art (I felt this way a little on the opening issues of NOVA, too, which found McGuinness on art duties again. I think it's shaped up a bit since then, still having something of a younger vibe but only because Nova is a younger hero, not because it's written for a younger audience). It means that the darker moments don't have any real weight to them and I don't see any stakes just about anywhere. But again, as with anything ever written on this blog because it is a blog about opinions, this is just my opinion and maybe someone else out there is far less snooty about it.

Daredevil 35, Thor: God of Thunder 17

Daredevil 35
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt rushes to the hospital with the news that Foggy's cancer has taken a turn for the worst. He gets there to find a new doctor treating him with a highly illegal but potentially life-saving drug. The doctor claims that he's associated with people who would rather keep Foggy alive and moves aside to allow high-ranking Serpent Society members in. They reveal to Matt that they have done extensive research on him and have figured out his entire backstory, right up to the moment he became Daredevil, meaning they know definitively who he is and how his powers work. Between that and the repercussions of them letting his identity and his weaknesses out into the world (not to mention leaving him disbarred and unemployed and therefore unable to foot the cost of the health insurance Foggy so desperately needs), they feel they have him pretty under their thumb, enough so, anyway, that they are prepared to hire him to defend one of their sons, who is charged with arson and twelve counts of murder. The fire that caused the deaths was a Serpent job but, the men maintain, Donald was not involved. So Daredevil has to choose to take the case and protect an innocent yet not-innocent man or walk away and potentially lose everything. He calls up Elektra to try to make up his mind, hoping that she'll spar with him to get him thinking. Before they can start, though, they run into a pair from the Serpent Society (unrelated to the Sons of the Serpent but clearly hired by the Sons of the Serpent in this case) guarding the ashes of the building Daredevil's investigating. After a quick fight, Elektra imparts some solid wisdom on DD that helps clear his mind and helps him make an unexpected decision. When Matt and Kirsten go into the courtroom the next day, he pulls off a gutsy move on the Serpents as he turns over lead defender duties to Kirsten and she sends him to the stand as their first witness. When she asks Matt's name, he offers "Daredevil."

Huge, huge shakeup to the DAREDEVIL book as this run comes to a close and gives way to another Waid/Samnee run. At least there's no doubt that the new run will be significantly different to this one now, huh? It's a bold choice for Waid and I think it's absolutely the right one to make. Waid came into a book that, as I've detailed plenty of times (most recently in my Top Books of 2013 list), was kind of a mess. Not that it was bad, just that it left its protagonist an angry shell of his former self, exposed but refusing to seem exposed, and very much on his own both by choice and by his actions. Instead of continuing the cycle, Waid broke from recent tradition and made Daredevil fun again. Of course, Waid's artists, from Paolo Rivera to Chris Samnee to Javier Rodriguez, were perfect fits and deserve much of the credit here as their crisp pictures and very sharply defined characters and bright colors went a long way to cement DAREDEVIL as something very different from its Alex Maleev/Michael Lark predecessors (for the record, I very much like both artists and they fit very well for the book at their respective times). Even in this issue, Elektra remarks that Daredevil is very "jocular," a big difference from the last time they met (which would be, if I'm not forgetting anything, SHADOWLAND, the height of angry DD). It's very true and it's perfect and now, even in this giant debacle, we're seeing a smart Daredevil who refuses to be played and who is playing his own game and still manages to have a good couple of moments with Elektra. Really nice issue, very interested to see how this last issue will play out.

Thor: God of Thunder 17
Aaron (w) and Lupacchino and Garney (a) and Svorcina and Loughridge (c)

Thor was the traitor to the League of Realms after all, with a bug slipped into him by one of Malekith's spies at the pub they went to. Fortunately, Thor had the foresight to realize that the Realm of Leagues may be better served if they banded together and used some sorcery of his own (which he offhandedly says he learned from Loki at some point) when he apparently killed Ud the troll. Sir Honeyshot and Screwbeard found Ud wandering the forests with a note from Thor on his back that explained everything and they followed Thor to Midgard, saving him and Lady Waziria from Malekith just as things looked their worst. After a long fight with Malekith and his band of dark elves, the hiding elves of Svartalfheim call on Thor to stop just short of killing Malekith, as they've come to a decision about their future. They've made Malekith their king, which, of course, enrages Thor but the Congress of Worlds has no choice but to accept. The All-Mother demand that Malekith serve the remainder of his time first unless he finds a proxy to do it for him. Lady Waziria steps forth, explaining that this is the only way to stop further bloodshed for her people. Thor knows, of course, that it only means more problems for the rest of the realms but it makes sense for Svartalfheim. Sir Honeyshot encourages Thor, though, saying that his ability to bring the League together as he did is as impressive as anything Malekith could have done. Of course, it won't necessarily help things when Malekith teams with Jotunheim and Muspelheim to form his own league, as the epilogue of the story hints.

Bold move by Aaron as the book ends and one that leaves him no end of stories to tell. I still don't love this arc as a whole but I can respect and appreciate the ending of it. I still a little feel like it's impossible to separate the book from the fantasy trope (thanks Lord of the Rings) of the unlikely banding together of heroes from different fantasy archetypes. It's also, as if there weren't enough things to compare it to, drawn to the audience's attention that this League of Realms is not entirely unlike Thor and the Warriors Three, which did not make things better (despite my affection for that group). Still, I suppose it's worth putting aside my boredom with that aspect of this issue (though not with this arc) to make way for the plot twist that is Malekith being named king of the dark elves. One of my issues with Aaron over in books like WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and the newer AMAZING X-MEN is that it often feels like the books talk down a little to the reader. Not necessarily the ideas or the characters, but the actual writing. I didn't think it was happening so much in the first two arcs of this series so I was pleased with that but this arc has gone for it a bit, with this issue particularly summarizing and name-dropping like a pro. Every character gets a name-check and, more obviously, a quick heritage-check which feels very forced and incredibly strange as it's the last issue of a five issue arc. Trust that the audience knows these people and where they come from and why it's so crazy they're together. If someone is picking up this issue as their very first THOR: GOD OF THUNDER issue, trust that they have the internet and can look it up or throw a better splash page on the book to briefly catch people up. Otherwise it makes the dialogue seem more than a little unnatural and slows the pace of the book. In the end, it's a nice little set-up that maybe took a little longer than I'd've liked getting ether. Should be some big things coming for Thor.

Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part one of five): Not quite the best

It's that time of year again, the time when everyone starts pulling up the year-in-review lists and begins to wave away the year with little blurbs about bits of it. Hm. That wasn't exactly poetic. Whatever, moving on. LAST YEAR, I wrote this year-in-review list about five days into this new blog with nothing but a shoddy memory and a love of comics. This year I'm coming at it with much of the same in my arsenal but ALSO, fortunately, armed with a YEAR'S WORTH OF BLOG POSTS ON THIS VERY SUBJECT so suddenly I remember far more comics deserving of this list.

Marvel put out an awful lot of books this year and I reviewed just about every single one of them (this is my way of patting myself on the back, obviously). What's particularly impressive about that is that I genuinely liked PROBABLY the majority of them. There were still a distinct number of books that did not really move me or did not carry a lot of weight with me or that I fully did not like (the X-Wing of the Marvel Universe will be not-so-mysteriously absent in this countdown) but by and large, I really enjoyed this year at Marvel comics. Considering that, I decided to stretch this review to the top TWENTY books released by Marvel this year. I figured I would just end up with a section of "these books only didn't make it because there wasn't room" that was as long or longer than the top ten so why not just expand? Guys, I have the authority to make that call. That said, let's start with the "these books only didn't make it because..." section (even this ended up being long enough that I wanted to separate the 16-20 picks into a different post...geez guys).

Books not appearing in this list for, you know, reasons

Avengers Assemble
Really fun book, the most fun of the AVENGERS titles but one that ultimately couldn't crack the top twenty in a stacked competition

Cable and X-Force
You guys, this one was really close after a really strong opening. I felt that it kind of stumbled in the middle and I don't think, in retrospect, that Salvador Larroca's art really fit the book well enough to give it that last little push. Still a fun book, for sure, and one I'm sad to see end but one that was ultimately just a hair too weak.

Dark Avengers
I can see this making the top twenty with very little effort if it had continued a bit longer. Really fun spin by Jeff Parker with an intriguing cast and an ever-interesting story behind it.

Indestructible Hulk
This one's another one right on the cusp but I think it was really hurt by event tie-ins. I'll temper that by saying it had consistently interesting tie-ins but, in the end, it wasn't able to spend enough time telling its own story and had to waste too much telling everyone else's.

Thor: God of Thunder
I think the incredibly strong opening arc (led by Esad Ribic's great art and an interesting premise from Jason Aaron) overstayed its welcome just a bit and then led into a considerably weaker second arc. I would say that telling two stories in a little over twelve months was a downside to the book but there's a book that cracked the top ten that's pretty much on par with that so it's not really a valid excuse.

Daredevil 34, Indestructible Hulk 17, Thor: God of Thunder 16

Daredevil 34
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt brings the piece of sacred text he took to Dr. Strange who admonishes him for stealing from Satana, swearing that will catch up to him. Strange also informs him that the text holds a secret word, a name that, when uttered, can have intense persuasive abilities but warns him that he'd have to research the word before saying if it had a harm on the user. Matt comes up with a plan to bring out the Serpents but he needs Kirsten McDuffie's help for it so he drops the not-Daredevil act and enlists her for her fearlessness. With the help of former Serpent Nate Hackett and favors called in (off-panel) to various Avengers, they put together a city-wide broadcast system for Matt to call out all of the Serpents. As he demands Jester be released to him alive, Kirsten reads the word out to prove they mean business. The Serpents comply but try to leave a trap for Daredevil, which he easily bests. However, Kirsten goes off book while Daredevil's roaming the streets and puts herself in harm's way while delivering an important message about the Serpents. The Serpents find her (tracking her from the wind behind her in the broadcast) and try to shoot her but Nate tackles her, saving them both long enough for Daredevil to bring the helicopter down. As they prepare to celebrate (seems like Matt and Kirsten may be getting back together), Kirsten gets a call from the office and tells Matt it has to do with Foggy.

Another really solid issue. Daredevil is on top of his game after a stretch of self-doubt and seemingly overwhelming odds. This one strikes again at the heart of Waid's run, showing Daredevil as resourceful, clever, fearless as ever, and just a ton of fun. The height of fun comes as Matt officially outs himself to Kirsten in the most show-off way ever, jogging backwards alongside her in the park, skipping over roots and obstacles, and, still as Matt Murdock, stopping a mugging under a bridge they cross. If Matt's going to reveal himself, this is how you want him to do it, particularly this iteration of Matt. Great story, solid cast, fun writing, and really incredible art. Even with Samnee off the book for a bit, it's been amazing to see Javier Rodriguez step so comfortably into the artist role and match the tone and pace of the book so perfectly. Also glad that Kirsten McDuffie doesn't even really mildly annoy me, which has been a downfall of Matt's typical love interest (other super-people very obviously excluded). Anxious about the word on Foggy but couldn't help laughing when the book ended with the worry about Foggy juxtaposed against the words "Next: Elektra." Oh boy, I'd love to see more Foggy-Elektra team-ups.

Indestructible Hulk 17
Waid (w) and C. Mann, S. Mann, and Sepulveda (a) and Staples (c)

INHUMANITY has struck and the big scientists of the Marvel Universe are out in force trying to learn more about the Terrigenesis and its effects. Banner demands Stark and Pym, who turn up in his lab, and the rest give him a 24-hour window to look into it alone, as the de facto expert on "monstrous physiological changes brought about by radiation." They give him his start but quickly take it back as things go south for Banner, who prepares to bring his team into the field only to find that they've been grounded by Maria Hill because at least one of them may undergo Terrigenesis. Pym and Stark return, now with Beast, before the window closes and see that Banner's project is in the form of a bomb, which immediately puts them on edge and they prepare to shut him down without listening to him. Banner can't stop himself and transforms, taking the bomb and leaping out of the lab. The other heroes chase him and fight valiantly to stop him before Beast and Pym point out that this is rather all Tony's fault for belittling Banner and Beast points out that maybe this bomb things will work. It's Tony's call, as the scientist who's known Banner longest, on whether they keep fighting or give up. After a moment's hesitation Tony shoots the bomb himself.

I really like this issue and it continues to play to the themes Waid has built up (something, judging solely by this issue and the above DAREDEVIL, that Waid is phenomenal at doing). Everything is here, making this a pretty solid jumping-on point if you're thinking about getting into this new HULK series. You can get a good sense of Banner's desire to impact the world with his science more, you get the way that the science and superhero community view Banner and the way he's been ostracized, you get a good quick look into his team, you get some solid action and some good writing, you get some good art, just a lot of really good things to this issue. I think, and this may sound like a weird sort of slight but isn't, that Waid might be the best at creating natural jumping-on points for readers. A lot of the would-be jumping-on points for books (which comics are constantly doing because it can be incredibly overwhelming to get new readers into a series that's had 50 years of history go into it) fall short because the writing is stunted, giving way too much exposition for new readers to follow or old readers to care about, or because it's such a basic introduction that it doesn't really tell anything about the character. Waid creates jumping-on points by rehashing themes of the book and establishing characters with little glances here and there, not with full-on stares. Great work overall, which is more than I can say about my attempts to quick-hit these things.

Thor: God of Thunder 16
Aaron (w) and Garney and Lupacchino (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith, having proven his point with the appearance of his new Frost Giant allies, disappears, leaving the League of Realms to sulk and stew and to point fingers. Everyone begins to believe there's a traitor in their midst, someone feeding information to Malekith. The most fingers start pointing at Lady Waziria and most of the League wants her burned alive. Thor, though, has his eyes set on the troll as their traitor and knocks him out before executing him. The League, somewhat in horror and not really believing he was the traitor (not to mention this won't please the troll community), disbands. Thor has a plan, though, and brings Waziria with him to Midgard to a hidden Dark Elf guard station. Shortly after their arrival, Malekith again strikes, leading Thor to assume that Waziria is indeed a traitor. However, Malekith reveals that Thor is the traitor by calling forth a horrible worm thing from his body.

The fight against Malekith rages on and it continues to be just a little bit boring. The actual fight stuff isn't that bad and some of the interactions aren't awful but the League of Realms stuff continues to feel a little too Lord of the Rings for me and it kind of cheapens the whole thing. I don't know if that's entirely fair to say since THOR: GOD OF THUNDER is a little too easily put into that fantasy camp, as the realms are populated almost entirely by fantasy tropes which kind of all spring from LOTR, meaning that any sort of team-up will have an LOTR feel to it regardless of its content. However, there is a cynical part of me viewing this arc as a cash in on November's Thor: The Dark World and a cash in on The Hobbit and the new one (with that dragon, you guys). I imagine the creative team was working on this book and then went to see the movie and was disappointed to learn that Malekith's role in the movie was less a cunning psychopath and more a set piece with maybe a total of five lines in two hours. Oh well, guess you should have put more Jane Foster and more...Kat Dennings character in this one. So I guess what I'm saying is "it could be worse."