New Avengers 25

New Avengers 25

After the first two issues of EIGHT MONTHS LATER (I keep writing and/or wanting to write TIME RUNS OUT but I think that's AFTER all this business?) in NEW AVENGERS 24 and AVENGERS 35 (and 36, but that doesn't apply here), we've seen what some of the Illuminati and their new associates are up to, with Amadeus Cho getting captured by the Avengers and SHIELD trying to salvage Stark files, and Black Panther forced to watch as Wakanda falls to the Cabal. Now we see what Beast, Reed Richards, Hulk (DOC GREEN), and Captain Britain are doing these days. Mostly they're trying to figure out what the Avengers are doing and what the Cabal is doing and how the planets are doing and so on and so forth. Things aren't going great. The book ends after the team checks in on the captured and interrogated (by Sue Storm) Amadeus Cho and Black Panther returns, proclaiming that Wakanda has fallen.

There's still a good deal of useful information here but it's on a backdrop of events we've seen already, so most of this issue is soft science and reactions to the things we've seen. Again, that's not to say this isn't still a useful and/or important issue, but it almost serves more to catch readers up on what's been happening since this new event started. Hickman tends to take opportunities like this to give us a sense of the current tone and a little bit more on the characters and I think he does that well here, letting us see Reed's reaction to Sue's pursuit of his team and him specifically and building up the characters of people like Amadeus Cho and Captain Britain. Hickman also does a good job of highlighting while not hitting us over the head with the absences of some major characters in this future. I've had some issues with Kev Walker on some of the NEW AVENGERS art that he's done prior to this but I think he handles this issue admirably. If you're looking to save a bit of money this month and you've read the first couple issues of this mini-event so far, you can probably skip this one without missing too much.

Total Score: 3/5

All-New X-Men 32, Uncanny X-Men 26, Wolverine and the X-Men 9

All-New X-Men 32

The time-displaced X-Men have been sent to the Ultimate Universe by the uncanny powers of a new mutant they overwhelmed because they are just terrible at this and why does anyone leave these dumb kids alone for more than even a minute? Anyway, Beast ends up in Ultimate Latveria, Iceman ends up with Ultimate Mole Man, X-23 ends up in an Ultimate football game and on the run from Ultimate cops, Angel ends up in Ultimate Savage Land with Ultimate Wolverine, and Jean Grey ends up with Ultimate Spider-Man, whose mind she reads to learn where she is and who escorts her to Amadeus Cho, who has been working with the portal to the 616 universe. Of course, it's disappeared by now and the original X-Men, already stuck out of time, are stuck out of their dimension.

On the plus side, now that the X-Men have been stuck out of time and space, there are very few places they can get stuck that would be new to them. Also on the plus side, the issue moves relatively well as the X-Men are separated and largely not back-and-forthing with one another but having somewhat terse conversations with the people around them. The issue also bounces around between the X-Men, who are inexplicably separated after they run into plot-device girl, so the pacing mostly keeps up. On the downside, though, this book continues to feature very few likable characters and very few likable plots. Doesn't really leave them in a particularly good spot.

Total Score: 2/5


Uncanny X-Men 26

Xavier's will has further split his X-Men, with Scott angry that Xavier was a hypocrite for not giving the extraordinarily powerful Matthew Malloy a chance to control his powers and everyone else angry at Scott for being a hypocrite and also for being Scott. Even though Scott doesn't want to, they go to find Malloy, running into SHIELD on the way. SHIELD saw the disaster Malloy just caused (perfect timing, Xavier's will!) and is on their way to try and take him down. Meanwhile, Scott's new X-team runs simulations fighting the Avengers in their Danger Room until healer Christopher muses (that's a pretty dope joke, you guys) that perhaps they're not the good guys if they're training to fight against the good guys, which leads to an equally dumb fight about the mutant revolution.

There are ideas here but they tend to be brought up and argued so clumsily (mostly just that every point is argued so immediately and so clearly ignoring other facts or ignoring reason for their own purposes) that it's easy to roll your eyes at them. I know that from personal experience. Obviously Christopher has the right idea (and whichever Stepford Cuckoo that says he should have picked up on it soon is right too) but it's a complicated issue when thinking about Scott's resentment that the Avengers haven't helped them enough and that SHIELD isn't really on their side and SHIELD tends to work with the Avengers so they may be guilty by association. However, it's brought up by a bunch of teenagers (and the thirty-year-old David) so it has all the tact and grace of a bunch of dumb teenagers arguing then all feeling like they maybe won the argument. That would then almost be excusable if that's not how the grown X-Men fight too.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 9

Quentin Quire has seen his future and isn't thrilled by it so instead ends up sitting on a pile of money from the Phoenix Corporation and an insane amount of telepathic ability. Where go with all of that, plus a substantial resentment of Wolverine and the X-Men (the man and the team, not the series), but the Hellfire Club? He's now the White King of the Hellfire Club and throws himself a lavish birthday part that Wolverine tries to sneak into to have one last talk with Quire. He's found out and beaten pretty mercilessly until Quire hears him out. However, that doesn't go particularly well either as Quentin starts to command the partygoers, dressed as various X-Men, to attack Wolverine while Quentin responds to Wolverine's attempts, laying much of the blame for Quentin's future at his feet (and perhaps rightfully so, perhaps not, it's complicated). Finally Quire lets Wolverine go after forcing him to look inward for the source of the problem and revealing that Quire himself doesn't believe he won, just that Wolverine lost.

It's a tough blow to Wolverine, who has invested so much time on Quire and the other kids (which hasn't gone unnoticed and doesn't go unmentioned by Quire here) only to find that maybe they don't love him for it and maybe, if the future Quire saw is accurate, he didn't necessarily help things. It's a pretty good issue and like a lot of this series it's more complicated than it has to be, for better or worse. It's better because being a little more complicated allows Latour to go deeper and really get into some of the complexities of the characters, but it's also a little worse because it continues at times to be a little hard to keep straight (even writing the summary, which tends to settle out any issues I've had digesting the plot, didn't clear everything up nicely for me, but then maybe it's not meant to). Still, it's been as deep a character study on Quentin Quire as we've seen since his creation and it's not unimpressive for it. Also pretty strong art from Jorge Fornes throughout, and he's asked to draw quite a lot.

Total Score: 4/5

New Avengers 23, Mighty Avengers 12, Secret Avengers 7

New Avengers 23
Hickman (w) and K. Walker (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The next incursion is coming and the Illuminati agree that they can't go through with destroying another world so they resign themselves to their fate instead. As each member of the team consoles themselves as best they can, spending their final moments with loved ones, letting off steam, or pondering, the clock ticks down. Finally the moment of incursion comes...and goes. They reconvene to ask what happened, happy that the universe isn't destroyed but worried they may have gotten some calculation wrong and subsequently have already destroyed a world for nothing. Black Bolt realizes, though, that Namor didn't show up for their meeting and the truth dawns on them, though maybe not the extent of their troubles. Namor has formed the Cabal, consisting of him, Maximus, Black Swan, Thanos, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Terrax, to do what the Illuminati cannot.

Rather a nice issue as Hickman has the team take a step back and analyze what's important to each of them. We see Black Panther returning to Storm (they have a tryst but she calls it a mistake, even as he admits that his only thoughts as the world is about to die were of her), Banner drinking to the thought of his final moments with Hulk, Tony pouring but ultimately turning down a row of shots, and Reed visiting his entire, spread-out family, among other moments. It's a simplistic but very nice idea, watching the heroes resign themselves to going out with a whimper and not a bang, as most superheroes tend to do. The introduction of the Cabal, too, is very interesting and certainly worthy of a gasp as we get the reveal. I think Walker's art is better here than the last one, which relied so much on serious fighting and screaming, but I still think it's wrong for this book, though Martin's colors help ease it on its way.

Total Score: 4/5


Mighty Avengers 12
Ewing (w) and Larroca (a) and Milla (c) and Petit (l)

The Deathwalkers have drained enough out of Blade to start their ritual, though they're interrupted when he breaks free and comes after them. His breaking free also allows Power Man to find Blade's chi in the city, with help from a powerful speech by Cage's father, and direct the Mighty Avengers plus Kaluu and Constance Molina to his side. They fight a bunch of Ani-Men and try to attack the four Deathwalkers destined to divvy up the Earth but aren't able to get to them before they can finish their ritual, which bonds the four into one who is surely destined to take over the world. I mean, nothing can probably stop something that powerful, right?

Man, leave it to a regular, unpowered human to lecture about the difference a regular person can make and then to be left behind by the superpowers because he's old and would probably just die anyway. But we can agree, he'd probably die, right? Anyway, that's what happens to Cage's dad here but he does get to meet little Danielle while the adults go attack. Also interesting: Spitfire and Blade are apparently together. Did not know that, but I'm a Spitfire fan and I guess I can see that, though I'm sad she doesn't seem to be rushing to the rescue on this occasion. STILL, not an awful issue, though I still think the tone could use a bit of regulation here, choosing whether it should be fun or tough or maybe if the heroes should just focus on the potential world-ending fight instead of idle chit-chat at times. Not bad, though.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 7
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

Black Widow has traveled through a black hole, Fury is still in a coma, Maria Hill admits to Spider-Woman, who is having something of a bad day herself, that MODOK is on the team, Coulson is tracking mysterious leads, and Hawkeye has been brought in by Deadpool and a pair of AIM agents and Deadpool has revealed to his new Avenging pal that they're in a comic book. Lots of fourth wall breaking here and very explicit about it. The issue ends as Hill reveals to Spider-Woman about MODOK and reveals that she has reasons.

Little inside baseball here: I read and reviewed NEW AVENGERS pretty immediately, then read MIGHTY AVENGERS, SECRET AVENGERS, and a handful of other books (the ones most likely to get extended reviews this week), then I reviewed MIGHTY AVENGERS, then I showered and praised myself for my ability to keep the above two reviews pretty tight and decided if I could do that with SECRET AVENGERS, I really ought to be proud. Fortunately, I reasoned, that wouldn't be too hard since I have no idea what's happening in this book and the Deadpool explicit fourth wall breaking really tends to take me out of it. I don't mind slight nods to it here and again in this day and age or full-on reference to it in strange side-books (like the DEADPOOL KILLS- series), but I don't think it really fits into current Marvel continuity and I think, therefore, it's very strange here just as I think the overall tone of this book is very strange. BUT HERE'S THE THING, MY FRIENDS: I'm accepting it really well today. Can't promise next time won't be worse (though I've gotten better with this book each issue, I think), but it's hard not to think that maybe, just MAYBE, every book shouldn't be for me. Presumably if every book were for me I'd be incredibly happy but plenty of people (probably people I wouldn't get along with but PEOPLE NONETHELESS) wouldn't be reading comics. So this issue, and probably this series, isn't for me. And that's fine.

Total Score: 2/5*

*But, as with most other scores, that's just what I think and...actually, there's no way to finish this thought without implicitly recommending you stop reading this blog so NEVER MIND, WHAT I THINK IS BEST.

Uncanny X-Men 24, X-Men 17

Uncanny X-Men 24
Bendis (w) and Anka (a and c) and Caramagna (l)

Beast, using Cerebro, knows where Cyclops and his group are. He's been unwilling to disclose such up to now because he doesn't want to deal with Cyclops any more but now the team gets on a jet and flies to the old Weapon X facility to gather their old teammate. They tell him what's happening and head back home with Cyclops, Emma, Magik, and Kitty following via teleport. Amidst fears that Xavier may have left the school to Cyclops, She-Hulk begins to read the will, which reveals a marriage to Mystique and a chip with a video recorded message from Xavier that promises a big secret reveal.

You know those complaints I occasionally lodge about a story REALLY dragging forward? Well here ya go. It also plays to my more specific criticisms of this rift in the X-Men Universe being a rift in name only since they're ALWAYS hanging out together. ALSO, while we're on the subject of issues I'm having, I roll my eyes every time I see that cover and remember the punk (is that what we'd even call it? Just terrible, is what I'd call it) makeover of Dazzler. Look, what I'm saying is that there are real issues with this issue. There are some upsides, particularly in that it looks like Bendis might actually be ready to go a little deeper with some of the characters he's had in his control for the last two years or so, including Ice Man and, maybe, Beast. Still, more bad than good for my own tastes.

Total Score: 3/5


X-Men 17
Wood (w) and Diaz and Briones (a) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The X-Men have brought the fight to The Future only to be stopped in their tracks by The Future's defense mechanism Bloodline, which allows only people with The Future's DNA to enter. At Kymera's request, Beast has brought Shogo to the fight scene. Using her future knowledge and begging the trust of her mother and the other X-Men, she brings Shogo to the edge of Bloodline and cuts his finger, wiping the baby's blood on one of the plants in the forest. Bloodline, needing to adjust, shuts down for enough time to allow Jubilee out of her prison and the X-Men into the forest. However, even Jubilee is too slow as the forest rips through the ground and kills The Future itself. Not all is well, though, as Shogo is poisoned by the foliage. Beast is forced to admit that he used Arkea to save Primal and Sprite and asks Storm to trust him as well as he injects the strain into Shogo, which he does and it saves his life. The X-Men all head home relatively happy, though Kymera sets off to live in the world, understanding that her mother didn't ask to suddenly have a teenage daughter and that the two would likely butt heads to no end. She'll still be around, ready to help and to protect the baby Shogo (her best friend in the future), but she won't be at the school.

The Future's storyline is interesting and ends up being almost more of a story for Kymera, who saves the day with some risky maneuvers and the sort of decisiveness we've come to expect from a Munroe. It's not a bad issue (a particular highlight is an unleashed Storm, prepared and able to raze the forest to stop The Future) and the art is pretty solid throughout. It does feel a little anticlimactic for a villain who, just a couple issues ago, seemed so untouchable, to die horribly tucked away from all of our heroes. Still not a bad issue, just a strange ending and one that doesn't sit particularly well, as if Wood had to rush out to finish up the other storylines and check in with all of our key characters before the issue officially ended.

Total Score: 4/5

Storm 1

Storm 1
Pak (w) and V. Ibañez (a) and Redmond (c) and Petit (l)

Storm kicks off her solo series by aiding the small African village of Santo Marco right on the brink of a tsunami (I sat here for a WHILE trying to get a better sentence than that but it's just not happening, sorry guys). It's hard, but she holds the tsunami off to protect the villagers, though she draws the ire of the anti-mutant government forces in the village and is forced, with Beast in her ear, to leave before she upends the mutant community's work to get the anti-mutant government ousted. She returns home to find new mutant student Flourish deciding on the new name Creep, bequeathed to her by the other kids, and accusing the Jean Grey School of indoctrinating kids and brainwashing them before calling Storm a sellout. The insult and the tone of the teenager cuts at Storm, who leaves and, against Henry's wishes and perhaps her better instincts, returns to Santo Marco to aid in the cleanup. She's well-liked by the community but the government jerks come back and threaten her, goading her into conflict, which she, you know, annihilates. It's caught on camera but it seems like it may lead to better conditions in the village as it empowers the villagers and shines a light on local politician greed and corruption. She returns home, apologizes to Creep, and returns her to her home in Mexico, where she happily reunites with her family.

It's a very solid first issue for Greg Pak and Victor Ibañez on the new STORM ongoing. I was nervous at first as Pak started to give more background history on Storm than I think we needed but he quickly righted the ship and made the narration work to the story's benefit and to Storm's benefit. I was surprised, in fact, when I realized how quickly the story was reading despite what I saw as a rather slow start. It became a compelling story, one that really got right to the core of Storm and managed to show her in a few different lights, particularly important as Storm is the sort of character who's lived a very complex and very accomplished life. Looking forward to see where the series goes next.

Total Score: 5/5

Uncanny X-Men 23, X-Men 16

Uncanny X-Men 23
Bendis (w) and Anka (a and c) and Caramagna (l)

As the team recovers from the most recent attack of the future evil brotherhood, She-Hulk receives a startling package. While Cyclops tries to talk to Eva about whatever it is she's hiding and her suddenly faster aging and as Emma, Magik, and Magneto try to help Dazzler track down Mystique, She-Hulk heads to the Jean Grey School and calls together Storm, Beast, and Iceman, waiting only for Cyclops to turn up so that she can read the last will and testament of Charles Xavier.

The issue serves as both the start to a new arc and a bit of a rest issue after the last arc. It drags a little bit in its own way, combatted well by Bendis by jumping around the X-Universe a bit. As the team settles back in, welcoming recent overpowered hero Hijack back into their midst, Bendis sets up the new story which will, he promises, rattle the X-World to its core. That said, it comes as a big sort of GASP moment at the end when She-Hulk informs the three X-Men around her that they'll need to get Cyclops to hear the reading of the will, which would probably be more effective if the two rival teams didn't see each other every third book or so. For someone who has sort of been excommunicated by the X-Men, Cyclops has still made a number of appearances, met with varying degrees of anger and I think it's weakened the series and the death of Charles Xavier a bit. I'd have liked it more if they could have kept this Uncanny X-Men team from the X-Men team or the Wolverine and the X-Men team or whatever entirely, really giving a sense of isolation. Instead, Cyclops has appeared in every major X-Men story, it feels like, and Bendis has even gone so far as to send the O5 X-Men with Kitty Pryde to Cyclops' side. Hardly feels as dramatic. Anyway, the total score/review for this issue is only for this issue, not for the faults I'm expressing about the series as a whole. So...

Total Score: 4/5


X-Men 16
Wood (w) and Buffagni and Sandoval (a) and Mounts (c) and Eliopoulos and Caramagna (l)

The Future, thrown a bit by Kymera's appearance and actions, has altered his plan and captured Jubilee instead of killing her and trying to take Shogo himself. He retreats to a safehouse in the Adirondacks and waits for the X-Men's response. They prepare an assault, readying even the students for the fight, despite the notion that students should stay away from the fighting and acknowledging that the kidnapping of an X-Man and the brutal attacks on their home are more serious than most things they face. As they begin their attack, they learn that The Future has all manner of futuristic defenses, including a sort of bio-coded forest which would only allow entrance to people with the same DNA as The Future, stopping even the powerful Monet in her tracks. When The Future makes an offer of a trade, Jubilee for Shogo, to Storm, sure that she will give up the baby that he believes means nothing to her, she declares war.

Things are getting heated against The Future and I think that the only problem with the story as a whole is that The Future is still such a foreign entity. That isn't altogether bad; the idea that the X-Men don't really know who they're facing and that they've never faced him before opens the door for plenty of fear and poor decisions. However, it does make it kind of hard to see how much of a threat he is. Obviously Wood has done his part, showing The Future effortlessly attacking the Jean Grey School and incapacitating Psylocke (actually hard) and kidnapping Jubilee (ehhhhhh, not so hard once you're IN the school). Even with that, though, it's hard to get a read on this guy. This is where the continuity of comics hurts the current comics because the X-Men, appropriately, are treating this as one of the biggest threats they've faced but long-time X-Readers are undoubtedly thinking of all the other villains in the team's rogues gallery and wondering why The Future stacks up so high suddenly. Again, not necessarily Wood's fault or the fault of this book but it is a problem when reading this story. Still, strong issue overall, harkens back to Wood's ULTIMATE X-MEN with the sentient seed and the forest that fought on behalf of the mutants of Utopia, even if now a pseudo-sentient seed is fighting against the X-Men.

Total Score: 4/5

Uncanny X-Men 22, X-Men 15

Uncanny X-Men 22
Bendis (w) and Bachalo (p) and Townsend, Deering, Irwin, Mendoza, Vey, and Olazaba (i) and Bachalo and Villarrubia (c) and Caramagna (l)

The helicarrier continues to attack the X-Mansion while Hank brings Scott to the perpetrator and Magneto shows up with the drained Dazzler in tow. While Triage helps Dazzler, Hijack reappears, hoping to join up with the Jean Grey School, and manages to take control of the helicarriers again. Beast reveals to Cyclops that the person behind all of this is, in fact, Dark Beast, from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Cyclops kind of inadvertently kills him when he blasts open his big suit that DB claimed was keeping him alive. Cyclops and Maria Hill have an argument on the front lawn and SHIELD and the X-Men's relationship gets a little rockier.

Things have ramped up quickly in the SHIELD Sentinels' attack on the X-Men as suddenly everything is converging on the Jean Grey School, just as Hijack deus ex machinas his way over to the campus. Overall, the action is pretty solid and the book reads a little faster for it though it's hard not to feel like simply too much happened. Between the attack and Magneto+Dazzler and SHIELD and Dark Beast, it feels like there was zero chance for the story to have meaningful impact because we're jumping too quickly from one thing to another. How can you worry about the implications of Dark Beast's actions when you're busy thinking about how SHIELD let this happen? How can you question the limits of Hijack's powers when you're busy trying to remember if there was some dumb subplot about Maria Hill being attracted to Cyclops in just another example of Hill's character being weakened by Bendis? How can you wonder about what Dazzler's going to do next when you're thinking about how terrible Maria Hill is? Too much happening, though it doesn't necessarily make the book unreadable, just smaller than it feels it should be.

Total Score: 3/5


X-Men 15
Wood (w) and Buffagni (a) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Future, who has trained for everything and who will, according to Kymera, manage to separate Jubilee and Shogo, is taken aback momentarily by the fact that someone in the X-Mansion killed one of his men. It doesn't line up with what he believes about the X-Men and it gives him pause about how to proceed, recognizing that there's at least one wild card out there. However, it doesn't give him much pause as he manages to take out Psylocke on the front lawn and proceed inside, where he finds Jubilee and shoots at her, grazing her head with the bullet and knocking her out to take her, though he doesn't quite take Shogo. MEANWHILE, the BROMO-SUPERIOR Wood/Briones mini-story wraps up as Psylocke saves her students by killing her danger room boyfriend (weird) in a big teaching moment.

The Future, though something of an inexplicable villain right now, becomes a little more interesting as he gets a bit of narration in this one. We don't necessarily get anything of his motive or his personality, but we start to see just how dangerous he is. He continues the theme that Arkea started, the idea that knowledge is real power and that his knowledge of a situation makes him a far more impressive villain than simply being a strong combatant. Wood also does a good job to settle out some of the team issues by having Ororo show a little more strength here, coming back to a place where the others respect her more. There's also a really nice moment in this issue where Jubilee, talking to Beast while he tries, perhaps ill-advisedly, to save Teon and Sprite with a bit of Arkea, boosts Beast up by talking about how much of a rock he is and how she knows he'll always be there to protect him. PERHAPS some ominous foreshadowing but, in the here and now, it's a nice win for Beast as a guy who hasn't had a lot of those recently.

Total Score: 4/5

Original Sins 1, New Avengers 19

Original Sins 1
Deathlok: Edmondson (w) and Perkins (a) and Troy (c) and Cowles (l)
Young Avengers: North (w) and Villalobos (a) and Gibson (c) and Cowles (l)
Lockjaw: S. Moore (w) and Geary (a) and Svorcina (c) and Cowles (l)

Three stories to kick off our ORIGINAL SIN tie-in book which here is two-thirds ORIGINAL SIN tie-in and one third promotional. The first third is the promotional, with a short story by Nathan Edmondson (BLACK WIDOW, PUNISHER) and Mike Perkins (CAPTAIN AMERICA, UNION JACK) featuring Henry Hayes, a new Deathlok, unbeknownst to Hayes. Seemingly leaping right out of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Hayes is war vet with bionic parts and who is, on occasion, mind controlled to execute missions at the behest of his handlers, whereafter he is dumped back where he started with no memory of the mission. He has just such a mission when a SHIELD agent approaches him in a train station and tells him that he's Deathlok, as was revealed to him by the Watcher's truth-bomb. As the SHIELD agent leaves, Hayes' handlers send Deathlok to execute the man. Though there is a clear tie-in to ORIGINAL SIN, the key of this book is building excitement for October's DEATHLOK, also written by Edmondson and illustrated by Perkins. It's not an awful test-run and it's certainly an easy enough premise to kick things off. Right now, Edmondson can do no wrong by me so let's hope that even a series spawned by (though with no connection to) a show I find almost entirely boring will separate itself the way BLACK WIDOW and PUNISHER have.

The second story finds three members of the Young Avengers, Hulkling, Noh-Varr, and Prodigy, teaming up to investigate what's happening in Manhattan. When Hulkling sees footage from the fight and recognizes Exterminatrix in the middle of it, he gets Prodigy to hijack Noh-Varr's shuttle so it will pick them up and bring them to their friend (who isn't leaving his space station home and also isn't picking up his phone). They convince him to come along and, in the course of their investigation, they run into a somehow un-evacuated woman being held hostage by the Hood, who needs the help of these three Young Avengers. Ryan North, who writes MIDAS FLESH and ADVENTURE TIME for BOOM! Studios and has countless other adventures in comics and other text (like his great Dinosaur Comics or like the choose-your-own-adventure Hamlet or his upcoming choose-your-own-adventure Romeo and Juliet), brings his usual playfulness and fun, natural, conversational style of writing to this project and it really works for the Young Avengers. Looking forward to where this goes.

Finally, Stuart Moore and Rick Geary bring us a short tale of Lockjaw uncovering a secret from the Watcher's truth treasure trove and, after trying a number of other heroes, conveying the importance of said secret to Iron Man, who accompanies him to the moon where he digs up a bone he'd left there. Fun little story which must have given a slight break from all those gorgeous painted THOR interiors to Eisner-nominated colorist Ive Svorcina.

Total Score: 4/5


New Avengers 19
Hickman (w) and Schiti (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Illuminati travel to Earth-4,290,001, the home of the Great Society (Boundless, Dr. Spectrum, Sun God, The Rider, The Jovian, and The Norn) to discuss what's coming. They reveal that they have a doomsday device, something capable of destroying a world, but would much rather not have to use it. While they argue about how they would use such a device (in the case they can't figure something out, one world has to be destroyed to save the other world and to save both universes; the incursion going off as planned would mean the end of both worlds and both universes), Maximus runs some experiments on the frozen Corvus Glaive, locked away with his master Thanos. Back on Earth-4,290,001, the Illuminati try to justify their actions to the Great Society and continue to ask for help coming up with a way to save both worlds before they have to move on to worst-case scenarios but Namor, tired of the indecision, attacks The Rider, prepared to be what the incursion will make them all and provoking a fight between the two once-heroic groups.

One of the things I'd been saying since the start of this series was that NEW AVENGERS feels like a movie or a television show (its presentation, particularly at the beginning, felt more like gorgeous cinema but its episodic nature makes it more like a television show) and it seems to be sticking with that feeling. Hickman knows how to write scenes and how to present them and the artists attached to this book (including series colorist Frank Martin) really know how to make everything feel big and grand. In this issue (as in the last several) we get a number of recent flashbacks that add context and weight to the actions of the present while also allowing us to move on with the story in a way that maybe isn't so dry or straightforward. Some of those flashbacks involve Bruce and Hank talking about morality and the choices they face, Reed talking with Black Swan about the things they can do to help push forward, and Tony telling Reed that Cap knows and soon the most powerful Avengers team ever assembled will be coming for them. It's a strong story and the flashbacks allow the book an opportunity to remind you just how many threads are still out there and how intricate this situation is. I've also been looking for a way to plug this some more and so, while it's only tangentially related, it feels as big and grand, at times (though not always so gripping), as Hickman's EAST OF WEST, which is an absolutely phenomenal book I can't recommend enough. Val Schiti does the art on this issue and really brings great emotion to the characters, from hubris to fear to arrogance to sadness to resignation (guys, most of those descriptions are just for Namor).

Total Score: 5/5

All-New X-Men 25, All-New X-Factor 6

All-New X-Men 25
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c) w/ Timm, L. Martin, A. Adams, Mack, Young, J. Keith, R. Rodriguez, Bermejo, Gracia, K. Williams, JG Jones, Del Carmen, J. S. Campbell, Ruffino, Wicks, Shiga, Hipp, Wittert, J. Parker, M. Wilson, J. Thompson, P. Smith, Wiacek, and Bellaire (a and c)

Beast (present day Beast, not Beast of the past in the present) lays in bed being lectured by the Watcher about how his decision to bring the original X-Men to the present was so bad that it's ruined the chance of happiness for mutants ever again. We see a ton of different possible timelines from a slew of guest artists (seen above) with a brief close-up on every one of the original X-Men and see all the bad futures they could have and all the good futures they can't have before Beast asks for help resetting things and Watcher tells him that he's deplorable and that he only watches and can't act.

Okay, so this is a weird little boy-who-cried-wolf situation because I tend to spend a lot of time not enjoying ALL-NEW X-MEN (I spend a lot of time actively not liking it which shows just how sad I am) and then this issue comes out. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like this issue but I dislike it for more reasons than normal and I even don't like it for the message Watcher's sending, although it's the message I've wanted sent since day one. No, what I don't like about this one is the fanfare. It's an oversized issue with what the cover claims is "the greatest artist roster ever assembled." I have no qualms with that claim and the art is pretty impressive throughout (though it takes some questionable turns here and there) but I don't understand why it has such a roster. It's the 25th issue of an X-MEN book. It's not like people are surprised it made it to 25. Even with Marvel's sometimes flagrant renumbering, 25 isn't a huge, huge mark to reach. DEADPOOL celebrates issue 27 this week. THUNDERBOLTS and IRON MAN are both on issue 24 this week and I'd be quite sure neither will pull out all the stops for issue 25. Even a book like X-MEN LEGACY that must have been constantly on the bubble numbers-wise hit 24 before the big 300th issue. Even putting that aside because why should I complain if comics get celebrated every once in a while, this story simply isn't that good. Like, it's a perfectly serviceable story but it feels perfectly serviceable as a .1 or something. It lands between arcs and it gives something of a recap of what's happening to give readers a jumping on point. The story, then, is fine for what it is but let's not act like what it is is something absolutely groundbreaking and worthy of the attention this book wants from everyone. Look. I shouldn't complain, this book has some great art in it (I particularly shouldn't complain because David Mack and Skottie Young each get a page and I adore them both). I just hate fanfare that feels so cynical. And I just flat-out don't like this book.

All-New X-Factor 6
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c)

The team goes to see Doug Ramsey, AKA Cypher, in the hopes that he'll shed some light on Warlock's current situation. Doug's been having some bad dreams wherein he becomes an incredibly powerful villain and kills all of his friends and he's decided he's going to throw himself off a cliff to prevent it happening. However, X-Factor shows up in time to shake him from that notion though it's still clearly sitting in the back of his mind. Danger scans him and discovers that he has a piece of Warlock tech in him and, despite his protestations, removes it to show it to him. He discovers that it's been sending transmissions about him to Warlock. The team and Doug go to find Warlock and the Magus, following the transmission from the piece of Warlock previously in Doug. When there, they're welcomed by the Magus who reveals that he's just trying to carve out a life for himself in the wake of the destruction of his home planet. The techno-organic virus that had infected him before gave him the ability to break from traditions once held by the Technarchy, meaning that he was able to set aside his enmity for his son and work together with him to promote their race. Now the Magus really is just a businessman trying to live life on Earth. He allows Warlock, who explains that the machinery in Cypher was just to ensure he didn't hurt himself as he'd been thinking of doing, to leave with X-Factor and the two former New Mutants join the team.

The book is coming together more and more and as these two new members join up with the team we can start to see that there are plenty of plot lines waiting to be unraveled. On top of the Quicksilver+the Uncanny Avengers storyline, there are burgeoning details about Cypher, about Danger and Warlock (Warlock quickly falls in love with Danger) on top of the Danger and Gambit weird thing that's happening, about Polaris' mental state, about the whole Serval thing, and even about Harrison Snow's affair with his personal assistant and his newly introduced and troubling wife in this issue. The characters are starting to come alive in their own way now too and it seems like things are really starting to fall into place for this book. Now there are a number of threads to be pulled, all of which could seemingly unravel everything, and still, presumably, plenty of other plots to build on going forward. Peter David lasted as long as he did with a book like the previous X-FACTOR because he write a solid team book and knows how to layer in problems for his characters as well as anyone in the business. They don't always work and sometimes the characters start to sound a little similar but by and large he manages to build a team that has a lot of heart and personality and a story that is barely keeping itself together in the best of ways. That's starting to come through here and ALL-NEW X-FACTOR could be primed for a nice run.

X-Men 11, Uncanny X-Men 17, Amazing X-Men 4

X-Men 11
Wood (w) and Anka (a) and Keith (c)
AND Wood (w) and C. Mann and S. Mann (a) and Mounts (c)

A story in two parts as part one, the significantly longer part, finds the majority of the team working to try to figure out what Arkea's plan is and why they've come across an empty boat. They actually do a pretty good job of figuring out what Arkea is up to, based on who she's allied herself with and where the money's coming from, tracing Arkea even to the resurrection of Selene Galio and Madelyne Pryor. Their solid deductions still don't stop the infighting amongst them, of course, not helped by the fact that now the always argumentative Monet is on the team. They also realize that the boat being out there has lured all of them out to it, leaving whatever other targets they might be at unprotected. CUT TO the second part of the story, illustrated by the Manns, which focuses on Jubilee leading the fight against the restored and constantly healing Sentinels. The fight goes well enough but Jubilee does the "vampire mist thing" and suddenly no one can trace where she's gone.

The X-Men aren't the only ones with infighting as Ana Cortes pleads with Typhoid Mary to kill her, worrying about the implications of the things she's done and knowing that she won't be able to keep up with the supervillains as their plans progress. On top of that, John Sublime is asking some pointed questions to Quentin Quire, the care of whom he has been not-so-lovingly placed under. There's a lot here to enjoy and a lot to think about as this book suddenly has real steam. The characters are all strong, the relationships between them are already pretty defined and are growing more defined by the issue, and the threat is becoming more and more real. In truth, the threat and the plot are still the vaguest part about this book, but that's a little to be expected with a new villain and a new team finding its way. It's rare that a team book features a team that feels so fleshed out so early on. Wood is deftly drawing on years of backstory from each of these characters to show that this isn't some randomly assembled team, it's a team meant to work together and who know better than to get hung up on their relationships. Lots of good stuff here and the art (I'm particularly fond of Kris Anka's) is matching the writing really well.

Uncanny X-Men 17
Bendis (w) and Bachalo and Townsend w/ Vey and Mendoza (a) and Bachalo (c)

It's training day for the new X-Men and Magik dumps them off in Tabula Rasa, the section of Montana that Archangel deposited a life seed in back in UNCANNY X-FORCE (but, you know, not the last UNCANNY X-FORCE. Thanks, comics). Everyone toys with their powers a bit and some of them have to square off against highly evolved life-forms. Eva goes through something serious that she refuses to talk about and it's possible she's aged a bit out there. Hijack's cellphone, which he refused to give up, alerts SHIELD to their whereabouts and, after a little bit of time, they show up and attempt to escort them out. Hijack turns their armor against them and they manage to escape before Magik brings them home. Cyclops is unimpressed by the way they handled themselves and particularly by the fact that Hijack didn't relinquish his phone and allowed SHIELD to track them, then didn't admit to his mistake when pressed about it. Unwilling to allow that kind of careless attitude, he kicks Hijack off the team and sends him home.

Here's the thing that's a little impossible to explain. I get why training is necessary and why showing the kids here training is necessary. I also get that they're kids and that they're unexperienced and even that they're very new to their powers. However, I can't believe that these kids would get dumped into some foreign situation and all immediately start back-and-forth dialoguing and talking about who Eva has a crush on (GUYS, it's Cyclops because Bendis can't go five seconds without throwing in a hundred love triangles with a lead male protagonist in his book!) and debating where they are. Of those things, the last one is the only thing I am willing to buy. The rest is just...it's kind of unbearable to read. I've talked at length about back-and-forth dialogue slowing scenes but the worst part is it's not even doing the job it's actually effective at doing, which is creating chaos. If someone who doesn't use that style of dialogue regularly starts using it, it makes a scene more out of control. More word bubbles, depending on the word count inside, can make things seem out of control and harried. If there are too many words, though, it just makes things slow down tremendously. It does that here and it makes everyone fairly unlikeable because everyone is the same and everyone is making this book a treacherous and slow read.

Amazing X-Men 4
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Nightcrawler and Storm work to free Beast from his rage and manage it just before he strangles Nightcrawler. From there, they set sail in their new boat and Nightcrawler and his legion of bamfs spread out to find the others, first rescuing Firestar and Iceman from Hell, where Iceman had tried to freeze the whole place and Firestar had tried to burn the whole place, before tracking down Wolverine and Northstar in the horrible icy lands of maybe-limbo. There are plenty of reunions and Kurt even explains the history of the bamfs, claiming that they were born in Hell of a union between a giant maggot and a shapeshifter and Azazel found them all starving and fed them his blood, binding them to him. Kurt, however, made a dark deal with them, one that has yet to be revealed, to bring them (or many of them, anyway) to his side and they, in turn, have helped him find his friends here in the afterlife to wage his war against Azazel.

I have combatting feelings about all of this, just as I did with Aaron's WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The comic landscape right now is a very different one than its ever been, allowing for books that are extremely dark, books that are much lighter, books that are deeper than ever, and books that are none of the above. I can't necessarily fit AMAZING X-MEN into any of these places and I'm not sure I should be trying to. It's absolutely its own book and I'd like to judge it on its own grounds and not weigh it against a greater universe. At the same time, though, it is undoubtedly part of a greater universe and that reality makes it very hard if not impossible to distinguish it. That greater universe, while certainly not having a unified tone, thus allowing books like X-MEN LEGACY or YOUNG AVENGERS or HAWKEYE or SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN in, tends to feel...I don't know, more grown-up than this book. ON THE CONTRARY AGAIN, comics started in the hands of children and it is sad that, aside from specific made-for-a-younger-audience books, there are no major titles out that kids can really read and get into (maybe SPIDER-MAN but that strays pretty dark occasionally too...like how Peter Parker's archnemesis killed him that time and took over his body). So it's hard for me to get into this book and hard for me to find a place in my brain for this book, as it was for WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. I like to think I'm still capable of fun and whimsy but GEEZ, it's starting to look like maybe not so much. Oh, and I rather have decided that I don't care for Ed McGuinness' art style after seeing it here and in NOVA and finding all the same problems with it. Gracia's color work is solid here, though, and shows really great range as the issue traverses just about every imaginable landscape and lighting.

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."

A+X 15, Inhumanity: The Awakening 1

Sorry about the lateness of this post! Busy week and I couldn't get my hands on A+X until late so I almost skipped this post entirely. Look for my picks of the week shortly.

A+X 15
Dr. Strange and Beast - Nitz (w) and Smallwood (a and c)
Captain America and Cyclops - Duggan (w) and Yardin and C. Smith (a) and Mossa (c)

In our first story, Doctor Strange teams with Beast to investigate a strange and somewhat haunted yoga session in Greenwich. Beast, given his attachment to science, believes it to be alien technology while Strange, of course, believes it to be magic. The two bicker as they visit Dormammu's realm to find more. There, they meet their counterparts from another dimension, Dr. S of the Strange-Men and Sorcerer Supreme Beast, both of whom want to destroy the 616 because of the yoga business. Our Strange and Beast distract them and get away. Given a moment's respite, they realize this must be the work of the Impossible Man and visit him and manage to convince him to set things right. They return back to their home world, neither of them any more accepting of the other's business. Not a bad little story. Definitely fun, even if it treads a lot of the same ground A+X has been treading (people with differences bickering, mostly).

Meanwhile, the Cap + Cyclops storyline continues as they bring the shot-Skrull back to their base. The LMD there informs the two that the Skrull is still alive, having shifted his organs in his body right before being shot and that he is, in fact, conscious. The Skrull wants fast food at a specific restaurant but promises that afterwards he'll take them to a Skrull secret base. Cap and Cyclops each call in their own help, with Cyclops calling Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos to help give them a telepathic edge and Cap calling in Ant-Man to help destroy the Skrulls guns, as the fast food place ends up being the secret base and they attack pretty immediately. Ant-Man and Emma agree to tag along for the rest of the adventure. Together, they all realize that part of the plan of Cadre K is to take over the cattle industry and poison the meat. The story is starting to gain some legs but, more importantly, the characters are starting to take some shape. They still snap at each other here and there but they're getting more tolerant of their work, which is pretty neat and leads to some nice little lines here and there. Not a bad issue overall, two fairly fun stories. More than I could say about other issues of the series.

Inhumanity: The Awakening 1
Kindt (w) and Davidson (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Following right on the heels of INFINITY THE HUNT, this mini-series picks up with the students of the American schools cleaning up in New York after INFINITY. Pixie is monitoring social networks and realizes there's a newly-Inhuman girl who may be about to kill herself from bullying and her transformation. Pixie leads Quentin Quire, Striker, and Finesse to the girl and see her flying high in the sky. Pixie realizes that she's not flying, she's falling, and saves her. The girl tells her story through Instagram pictures and their comments, where she's been examining her life even before transforming into a feathered and winged Inhuman, which she also documents. Her jerk brother's friends tortured her at one point and she's harassed by a troll online and it's all become to ouch for her. Striker talks about his time in the spotlight and what it's meant for him and how he deals with it and it seems to straighten her out a bit. She reveals to them that her brother also cocooned and they go to see him only to find that he's burst out and is now wreaking havoc in the world.

Followers of this blog will probably notice that I did not care for INFINITY THE HUNT and it seems like I may care for this mini-series EVEN LESS. This one is obsessed with showing all of the recent events (INFINITY and, now, INHUMANITY) through the eyes of social media. So on top of the story being told through a series of Instagram pictures and their comments (not to mention through her narration over the pictures), there's a running Twitter feed at the top of every single page. It's unbearable. There are probably people out there who would be more forgiving about this than I am but I absolutely hate the layout of this issue. Here's the thing: YOUNG AVENGERS has done something like this throughout their series. Each issue starts with a Tumblr-like recap page, which works for this series and, importantly, is one mostly-inconsequential page that's loaded with neat little bits and, again, are not important overall. They also did a set of Instagram pictures to explain away their in-between-issues adventures. It worked and it made sense. Here there's way too much of it and it permeates the entire book. I read online someone saying that it was a powerful book that addressed bullying and other important teenage problems but I can't even really say that. There's obviously a lot of bullying, but it's almost too much a parody of bullying to be taken seriously and it seems like Kindt wants to do too much else in the book to really fully examine bullying or something. Just...not a fun book, you guys. The downside of actually getting my hands on A+X was that I suddenly found myself needing to both read the rest of this issue and review it without just dutifully ignoring it. Oh well, right?

New Avengers 12, Infinity: Heist 3, Infinity the Hunt 4

New Avengers 12
Hickman (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

Infinity officially wraps up (about three days later, sorry guys) as we see the aftermath in Wakanda, the biggest strike zone for Thanos' troops. With Thanos and his troops withdrawing, dead, or captured, Shuri can't help but notice T'Challa's absence in the fight. She goes to question him on it in Necropolis, where, he says, he also had to fight Thanos and his Black Order. She demands to know what it is he's been doing and he deflects, but he's quickly betrayed by the royal guards, the Hatut Zaraze, and his once faithful personal guards, the Dora Milaje, who tell Shuri that he's been bringing foreigners in and that one of those foreigners is Namor, king of the land Wakanda is battling. T'Challa continues to deflect accusations and questions and Shuri bans him from entering Wakanda. As they leave, Namor himself appears and applauds T'Challa for the bravery he's shown in refusing to give up the Illuminati, no matter the cost. Meanwhile, Reed, Tony, and Hank go to chat with Black Swan, who laughs at their fight with the Builders, saying that you don't mind a dog when facing a demon. Back at his Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr. Strange is ready give up everything he believed in himself to take a more active role in defending the Earth.

The problem that I tend to have with events (well, one of them) is that I don't think the need to focus on huge plots gives enough chance to see what these events are doing to the characters. Sometimes we'll see their reactions in the aftermath or very briefly in the moment but by and large we don't get a true look at the characters as humans in their moment, one of Marvel's long-time biggest strengths. This issue, though, helps to prove that wrong. There's a ton going on and it gives us a look at nearly everyone in the Illuminati and the issues they're each dealing with. It's actually painful watching Black Panther get cast out of his beloved Wakanda simply because he can't tell Shuri what's happening. It's even painful from Shuri's perspective, as she throws out her brother, who she's always loved and admired. I'd say that Panther is helped by the fact that I adore T'Challa and understand his relationship to Shuri and Wakanda but I also felt pained by Namor's speech to Black Panther and by Dr. Strange's somewhat useless feeling and his sudden change in response to the Ebony Maw's recent takeover. Okay, I love both of those characters too but I think the point is still the same. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and every one of these characters has a crown of some sort, as was the conceit of the team. Really well done and some of my favorite Deodato art in a book lately.

Infinity: Heist 3
Tieri (w) and Barrionuevo w/ Olliffe (a) and Sotocolor (c)

Spymaster's assembled team breaks into Stark Tower, currently guarded by what MIGHT be the Mighty Avengers while the Avengers are in space, and manage to, after a little bit of in-fighting, open the door to the armor-vault. Once inside, Blizzard, Firebrand, and Whirlwind attack the other team members, knowing that they'll end up dead in the vault if they don't take action first. After the brief attack, Blizzard lets up and tells the other members that he's ready to finish the job but that he does't want to end up dead afterwards. They agree, for the moment, to these terms and Spymaster tags all of the armor, sending it to the buyer directly before sending himself away too, intending to take all of the payment for himself. By this point, the Mighty Avengers have been alerted and attack, leaving the team angry and needing an escape. Titanium Man offers a chance to resolve both, offering to bring them to the buyer as well. They reluctantly accept and get transported to the buyer, who is, of course, Titanium Man, who takes off his helmet to reveal Captain Atlas of the Kree empire.

Pretty hard to follow this one, in some terms. Not that the plot is particularly difficult; no, you could pretty easily follow each step without any complications. That's definitely good, though, as everyone is wearing excessive armor and things and it gets pretty hard to tell who everyone is at any time. The villains aren't the only ones; I emphasized "might" in that first sentence because I'm still not totally sure it was the Mighty Avengers. The art isn't exactly bad, I would say, but it is exactly bad in the sense that it's hard to keep up with the story and the characters when you're not entirely sure who each character is. As I said, the story itself isn't that complicated which really saves it in a way because it would be hard to tell what was happening if the story wasn't so easy. However, it comes at the expense of the story continuing to be a little less than exciting. Now the Kree are involved, so let's see what happens the next time out.

Infinity the Hunt 4
Kindt (w) and Sanders w/ P. Diaz and D. Donovan (a) and Campbell w/ Silva (C)

The kids heading to Atlantis find themselves caught inside a giant whale but, well, it's not as bad as it seems. The whale creature, named Leviathan, is psychically linked with a girl from Atlantis named Whalesong and is actually saving them. Whalesong lets them know, from more psychic images, that Atlantis is relatively safe now and that Thanos has brought his legion to Wakanda. The kids, with the help of Leviathan, go to Wakanda after some argument and immediately join the fray there, hoping to help Shuri. Shuri won't accept their help, refusing to put kids in danger and feeling that Wakanda can still handle itself. Some of the monsters, though, are too much to handle and it requires everyone pitching in. Thanks in large part to the strategic mind of Gang, the kids win out and manage to help protect Wakanda. The games have been a failure but everyone still learned a valuable lesson about...um, working together, I guess?

I hate to bring this up again but AVENGERS ARENA wouldn't have worked nearly as well, if at all, if Hopeless hadn't insisted on dedicating full issues to individual characters, building up who each was before showing what they were all up against and how they were going to survive (or not survive, as the case may be). INFINITY THE HUNT doesn't have the benefit of 18 issues to let everyone in on every character and I think it suffers for it. Kindt makes the savvy decision to make Quentin Quire the narrator of this issue, even though he's not overly important to the issue or the story as a whole (in truth, Gang probably has the most to do here), because he's probably the one we know best, meaning Kindt doesn't have to worry too much about establishing him, he's already there. Still, it's hard to feel a weight to this story because you just can't care about all of the characters. Sure, you don't want anyone to die but you also can't really concern yourself if they do in this case. It makes the lesson feel forced and cliché (well, it is cliché, which doesn't help) and it makes you lose any sort of attachment. I'd be okay if this annual game thing wasn't really an annual game thing we had to see.

Infinity: Heist 1, A+X 12

Infinity: Heist 1
Tieri (w) and Barrionuevo (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The Avengers are up in space which means it's open season for the supervillains of Earth. Of course, it's not quite as straightforward as that because there are still a number of heroes left on the planet but that's the mentality of the supervillains. That mentality is out in full force as Blizzard and Whirlwind plan an attack on the Wakandan embassy, which just received a shipment of gold. They successfully break in and fight their way past the Wakandans only to find Spymaster waiting for them in the vault. He's already stolen the gold (and diamonds!) and sold them but he has another job for them, one that is even better paying. They meet him at a supervillain nightclub (these pop up pretty frequently) and find their team, adding Whiplash, Unicorn, and Firebrand to the duo. Spymaster explains that they're going to rip off Tony Stark then introduces the last member of their team, Titanium Man. As soon as Titanium Man bursts into the room, Blizzard has some sort of attack and can't breathe, collapsing to the floor.

It's a little hard not to compare this to Superior Foes of Spider-Man because there are some obvious similarities. First and foremost, we're focusing on the supervillains. I'd also put Whirlwind and Blizzard on the same level as Boomerang and company (okay, maybe a tiny step up, if only because "whirlwind" and "blizzard" are both Pokémon moves and therefore more dangerous while "Boomerang" is not. If his name was "Bonemarang," maybe he'd have a case). The tones aren't dissimilar, though I'd say that Spencer's book aims for the funny more than this one does (though there are comedy bits in here too). However, with the similarities come the same overall problems. A book like this relies very heavily on characterization of these villains, who have only ever been characterized as villains before. Some may have more nuances to them, depending on how long they've been around and who's handled them before, while some may have fewer. However, they're not, for most people, the characters we've long been rooting for. As a writer, you have to make the villains sympathetic enough that you want them to kind of succeed, or at least not die trying to fight the hero we're actually rooting for. Because, in most cases, the reader goes in rooting against your protagonist and the antagonist is the hero your reader does care about. Tricky stuff here. We'll have to let this one carry on a bit further before any judgement can be made.

A+X 12
Wonder Man and Beast: Gage (w) and D. Williams (a) and Gandini (c)
Captain America and Jubilee: Jordan (w) and Unzueta (a) and Mason (c)

This issue of A+X feels a little more like the form this book should be taking, or at least one of the forms it should be taking. The first story re-teams former Avengers and former best pals Wonder Man and Beast as they decide to meet up for drinks at a bar. The two reminisce a bit before each expresses disappointment in what the other has become. For Beast, Wonder Man going crazy and attacking Avengers before becoming a superhero pacifist is a strange turn and for Wonder Man, Beast bringing the original X-Men forward in time to relive the past is completely out of character. And guess what, I agree on both counts. Wholeheartedly. Anyway, the two wonder if they can recover their friendship and decide to go out on the town like they used to. It's a nice night out for the two of them and they return to the bar toward the end of it, only to walk home drunkenly singing like they used to. It's not a bad story (and this is coming from someone who doesn't really care for Wonder Man) and finally shows characters in the Marvel Universe making some sense. Wonder Man's a pacifist? Beast, the scientific genius who would like nothing more than to talk about the dangers of time travel, bringing the original X-Men to the present? It's a crazy, crazy, sometimes ridiculous plot-driven world out there and someone is finally highlighting it. Christos Gage, even in his random one-shot appearances here and again, writes some compelling characters and relationships, I tell you what. Hoping to meet him tomorrow at Granite State Comic-Con but THAT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER HERE, DOES IT?

The second story is one of the more unusual team-ups we've seen as Captain America pairs with Jubilee to take down a sunken submarine of Nazi vampires, a sentence I just wrote. Cap's actually had a couple of weird team-ups, notably this one and one with Quentin Quire in maybe issue five or six. They work in similar ways, in truth, as Cap again pulls a younger hero out from the X-Men and guides him or her somewhere (subterranean, no less) to show the kind of positive impact they could have on the world. In this case, Cap was hoping that the Nazi vampires would give up their fight, realizing that their war was well over, and would see Jubilee and realize that vampires don't have to be evil. It doesn't quite work out but it still leaves a nice impression on Jubilee, who realizes Captain America has respect for her, enough that he wanted to bring her as a role model, in essence. I suppose, in a book like this, that's what Cap's role is going to be, a guiding hand for younger heroes. He teamed up with Wolverine as more or less equals and next issue will team him, likely uncomfortably, with Cyclops, but there are certain characters who break down in certain ways and Cap is either the leader, the teammate, or the kind of guiding hand. That's him throughout his appearances in this series. Not a bad story and a better full issue overall than we've seen in a bit from this book.

Gambit 11, A+X 7

Gambit 11
Asmus (w) and S. Mann, C. Mann, Vlasco, and Medina (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Things are happening a little too swiftly for Gambit after a nice little interlude sleeping with Joelle in a snowbank. Rogue shows up, prompting a hostile response from Joelle, which Gambit eventually stops, after letting it last long enough to see if it was still his dream (that's weird, Gambit). Things settle down a bit and Rogue asks to speak with Gambit privately well Joelle waits on the ship. Gambit and Rogue talk for a bit about their feelings and about how she's worried that Gambit is getting himself into more than he can handle. She proves correct as Tombstone's men descend on them and Joelle takes off in the ship. Tombstone has been probing Fence for information back on the mainland. Fence has given up Gambit's coordinates, confident that Gambit can get himself out of trouble. Tombstone prompts him to look deeper into Joelle's history, which Fence is willing to do as he has no loyalty to her. It turns out she's far older than she's letting on and that she's been around for a long time. The item that she stole, Tombstone informs him, is a WMD, not a cure for whatever child she's convinced Gambit she has. We see Joelle at her child's bed at the end of the issue (her child is an elderly woman now), swearing vengeance on the world in lieu of a cure. Tombstone meets her there (with the information Fence learned) and cuts her throat as the issue ends.
So there are intriguing things happening with Gambit right now. Tombstone, though he seems to realize Gambit didn't really know what he was getting into with Joelle, is still out for blood against our Cajun hero for stealing from him and destroying the wall of his night club. The team he sent after Gambit and Joelle, too, are unaware of who it is they're chasing, knowing only that it's one male and one female. Unfortunately for Rogue, she and Gambit fit under that banner so she's tied up in this beyond her attachment to Gambit now. On top of that, they have their own relationship problems to work out, having broken up previous to this series so Rogue could get a little bit of space and "find herself" before jumping back into another relationship. The twist of Joelle being older than she appears and fighting for a daughter who is in her twilight is a neat little twist, reminiscent of what I've read of Brubaker's Fatale series. I need to read more of that series (just nominated for a couple Eisners) but this kind of does fit that bill. Still, Fatale works, among other reasons, because that's a solid premise so a little pilfering (if that's what this is) doesn't hurt Gambit. I'll be interested to see where this goes.

A+X 7
Iron Man and Beast: Wells (w) and Keown and Lee (a) and Hollowell (c)
Thor and Iceman: Yost (w) and Bernales and Turcotte (a and c)

Another couple fun stories from A+X, which has really carried on longer than I'd have expected. It's kind of a glorified Marvel Team-Up but without a story that runs through it. Anyway, the first story is Iron Man and Beast, who team up at the behest of SHIELD to create a protection system in case Hulk should ever turn on his new employers. SHIELD has come up with, essentially, a new version of Tony's Hulkbuster armor while Beast had come up with a serum to try to make SHIELD officers temporarily Hulk-like (it did not work). They bring in Tony to stop hostile code from overtaking their Hulkbuster armor, as it's threatening to do. Tony brings down the safeguards in place so he can eliminate the code, but it moves faster than he anticipates. Before long, the Hulkbuster armor is completely compromised and starts attacking them. At the last second, Hulk himself jumps in and crushes the armor before powering down into Banner. As Tony and Beast leave with their tails between their legs, Banner reveals that he had planted the code just to show Tony and Beast who's smarter. It's a fun story with a lot of fun banter. When I told my girlfriend about the team-up, she accurately pointed out that it sounds like it would be obnoxious. It is, but Wells clearly knows it would be so is smart enough to make the obnoxious banter fun. He also is smart to make sure neither character "wins," as it means each has to kind of back off on their bravado. Overall a pretty fun story for fans of the two characters with a couple of real fun moments (like Beast faulting Tony for creating a helmet that splits down the middle simply because it looked cool and Tony accusing Beast of calling him "dude" in the middle of their fight).

The second story is my favorite of the two. The art style is completely different than any other comic I know and makes the story feel very much like a Pixar film, specifically the Pixar film The Incredibles. It doesn't hurt that Thor serves as a good stand-in for Mr. Incredible and Iceman makes a good Frozone (as those two characters in the movie were based heavily on at least the types of characters like Thor and Iceman, particularly Frozone-Iceman). Ymir and the Frost Giants are attacking Earth with the newly made casket of future winters, accidentally activated by Thor when Ymir goads him into using his lightning. Thor is angry with the Frost Giants but perhaps angrier with Iceman, who is joking throughout the entire issue. Finally he snaps at him and Iceman calmly explains that he jokes to keep everyone sane because the Avengers and X-Men already have "grim, stoic, and angsty" pretty well covered. He also explains that he's not taking this threat seriously because they've turned the world into ice and he's Iceman. He uses the ice to power himself up and take the Frost Giants down pretty handily. As the winter starts to disappear, his powers start decreasing and he gets weaker, cracking a final joke (about the Jotuns needing to be careful about licking their wounds, lest they freeze to themselves) that Thor actually laughs at and says is "truly funny." The writing is tight and solid and the questions from Thor are valid, is as the response from Iceman. It's not exactly a world shattering revelation (all the joking type heroes in the universe eventually have to answer for why they joke and it's always that answer) but the story itself is well done and Iceman is truly funny in it. Good book, pretty fantastic art, particularly the full-page spread of the reveal of the Frost Giants.