Inhuman 5, Ms. Marvel 8

Inhuman 5

The former king of Attilan, whose name has been stricken from the records and is referred to now as the Unspoken for the crimes he committed, has proposed to Medusa in the hopes of helping her lead New Attilan, though really to find more Terrigen. She, of course, rejects him, but does not imprison him, hoping to live up to her new welcoming stance and to find out the location of Black Bolt, which the Unspoken claims to know. As soon as he's left alone, the Unspoken enters a secret passageway which leads to a secret wealth of Terrigen, a depleted but extremely important resource for the Inhuman community and the source of the Unspoken's powers. Medusa, of course, never trusted the Unspoken and followed him down there in the hopes he would lead her to more Terrigen, assuming if anyone knew of any, it would be him. Unfortunately, he's able to take some of the Terrigen, allowing him to access his tremendous powers (he can pretty much do anything when he has the Terrigen) and he quickly takes over the city.

I've talked a lot about how the biggest flaw of this book is simply the timing. After numerous delays on the front end, this book is coming out about a year after the Terrigen Bomb went off in INFINITY, leaving Soule tasked with defining the past of the Inhumans, establishing the present of the Inhumans, and seeding for the future of the Inhumans, all while trying to do it quickly to keep up an overall series pace. The story itself is pretty interesting and the characters, when given a chance to breathe, can mostly hold their own, but the pacing tends to break down a bit as exposition wins out occasionally, like in this issue when Medusa gives a paragraph explanation of the Unspoken that is clearly only for the benefit of the reader and ends up being clunky and forced in the moment. I want to note here, because I don't think I ever really stress this, that isn't necessarily a dig at the writer; it's his job to tell a story and get people to understand that story and take interest in that story. It may even be an editor saying "hey, we need to explain who this guy is and we don't really have time to ease it out." Regardless of whose fault it is, though, it ends up hurting the book as a whole and it happens a couple of times. Hopefully the series will reach its potential as Soule gets the book to a place where he can feel confident just pressing forward.

Total Score: 3/5


Ms. Marvel 8

Ms. Marvel is having no luck finding leads back to the Inventor but is having luck finding giant Inhuman dogs as Lockjaw finds his way to Jersey and Kamala promptly adopts him. She and Bruno use the Facebook of the mutant teenager Wolverine had been looking for to try to learn more about her abduction. They use the location tracking on her last weird post to find where she was abducted and Kamala learns that Lockjaw is more than just a giant dog who likes hugs as he teleports her instantly to the spot. Together, Kamala and Lockjaw investigate the area and end up in a fight against one of the Inventor's big machines, this time powered by one of the kids she found at the house in Greenville. They take down the machine by removing the power source and she brings the protesting guy to the hospital, making her late for school and drawing more suspicion from her friends and classmates. That suspicion, sadly, isn't allayed as the Inventor sends another bot after Kamala at school after dropping a homing beacon in her bag. Will Kamala and the extremely helpful and great Lockjaw be able to save the school and keep her identity secret? Going to be particularly hard as Kamala can't seem to change her appearance!

Another great team-up as Lockjaw finds his way to Kamala on the orders of Medusa. Though he inspires fear and alarm in everyone else who sees the massive dog walking down the street, Kamala instantly takes to him, giving us another great look at the spirit and character of Kamala. One of the most impressive things about this series is that it feels like Kamala has been around forever, even if the story feels new. It's a testament to G. Willow Wilson's writing that Kamala feels so real and deep after just eight issues. Perhaps more interestingly, I'm not a hundred percent sold on the story or the series villain and I'm still totally onboard with this book as a whole. I think there's certainly still intrigue there for the story and villain but that's been a little less defined than Kamala so far, intentionally so but still potentially problematically. However, Kamala carries the book so adeptly that you're absolutely willing to give the plot a pass for a while, happily entertained by the characters in the book.

Total Score: 5/5

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.

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

Uncanny Avengers 16, Avengers Assemble 23, Inhumanity 2

Uncanny Avengers 16
Remender (w) and McNiven, Dell, and Leisten (a) and L. Martin (c)

With most of the Unity Squad pulled into the ark, it's up to Thor, Wasp, and Captain America to stop the ark from leaving with all of the world's mutants and save the world from execution at the hands of the Celestial Exitar. Fortunately, the arrival of Exitar has not gone unnoticed and some of the big science brains in the Marvel Universe (non-mutant) are busy working on solutions. Thor's got his own solution too, which is to find Jarnbjorn and talk with Exitar or, barring that, hopefully kill him before he can attack the Earth. Knowing that the Apocalypse twins have Jarnbjorn, Thor attacks Uriel and Eimin in the ark. He frees Steve from his captivity (Cap-tivity) and together they manage to separate the twins, which stops the biggest of their powers from working. While Thor whales on Uriel, Cap manages to outmaneuver Eimin and launch her out of the spaceship (it was pretty cool you guys). Thor follows Uriel to Jarnbjorn and punches up Uriel some more. Meanwhile, Wasp is trying to shut down the tachyon dam that's keeping Immortus from entering with his reinforcements but gets interrupted by Grim Reaper, who tells her the only way to shut the dam down is to kill him first. Back on the ship, Thor continues to annihilate Uriel, eventually shoving him into an exploding portal, potentially killing him. As Thor follows the explosion to the exterior of the ship, he finds Eimin, holding Jarnbjorn in the shadow of Exitar, ready to fight him for it.

Very intense issue. While I like this whole team and I think Remender's done a good job overall to develop the entire time and to grant focus to everyone at various points, I think this issue benefits from the small remaining team. It's a big issue with lots going on and it really highlights very good one-on-one battles between, particularly, Thor and Uriel and Cap and Eimin (we don't see a lot of Wasp and Grim Reaper). It also gives us a chance to really settle into this plot which has multiple parts. McNiven's art is very good and well suited for the story, particularly with the Cap stuff. Laura Martin holds her own too, giving the art a sense of weight and scale that matches the tone of the story. Even with all of the plot going on and all of the battles, there are some really nice character moments tucked away in this issue, including Cap's admission, while battling exactly the way he intends to battle, that he's maybe a bit past his prime, Thor's deference to Cap as a leader, and Thor's reaction to seeing Scarlet Witch killed. Very good issue all around and this one remains one of the better Avengers titles and, even without the mutants around, one of the better X-titles. Good stuff.

Avengers Assemble 23
DeConnick and W. Ellis (w) and Buffagni (a) and Woodard (c)

Araña and Spider-Woman talk with Maria Hill about the Toxie Doxie situation and Hill sends some information over while the two spiders chat. Shortly, though, Spider-Woman tags out for Wolverine, mostly benched by Cap while he figures out the healing factor business, and he and Anya make for Covington's lab, but not before Wolverine can thoroughly chew out Spider-Girl for unpreparedness. Freshly decked out in a new costume that isn't just her spandex, Anya accompanies Wolverine to the lab and the two of them take down the assistants and looters within, finally getting some answers from one of Covington's assistants who reveals that the man in the cocoon may still be alive. Covington herself has also gotten some answers as well as she's tracked down the man who delivered her the exploding cocoon and learned that it was a New York AIM branch who had it delivered to her. Now powered with some Inhuman DNA, she's ready to make a move.

This book has been a fun one throughout its run (sadly ending soon) and this issue manages to straddle the line of being very fun and pretty serious. After a nice little learning and bonding session from Spider-Woman (with an amazing reference to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, an incredible cartoon also ended before its time though that one was replaced with something far worse and AVENGERS WORLD will likely still be pretty good, though probably pretty different), the tone changes as Wolverine takes charge and demands that Spider-Girl stop treating her life like it's a game. The Wolverine in this book is a really strong one, one who clearly has the weight of his life on his shoulders. He's not incapable of making a joke or two but he has things he needs to say before he can get to it and Spider-Girl, even with her teenage ways, can't help but bow to his requests and understand his reasons for making them. There's an interesting plot going on here but it's really only a backdrop to the great character work and fun writing that's happening in the foreground. Matteo Buffagni's a good choice for the book as his art is both not entirely cartoony and yet not entirely realistic so it fits nicely with the tone. Good work all around.

Inhumanity 2
Fraction (w) and Bradshaw, Nauck, Hanna, and Palmer (a) and Fabela and Mossa (c)

After a bit of a stall in the last couple months (hindered by creator differences and a complicated shipping schedule thanks to the holiday season) INHUMANITY pushes on as we see up close and personal what's going on with the Inhumans themselves as the Terrigenesis Wave spreads through the world. For Medusa, leader of the Inhumans, she must tamp down the presumed loss of her husband (Black Bolt was still in Attilan as it fell and has not been seen since, though we know he's alive) and the disappearance of her son (Ahura and all other Inhuman children have gone missing since the teleports out of the city) as she leads the Inhumans into this new world. To make matters more complicated, the human world is looking for answers and many have reacted in different ways, with some humans experimenting on cocoons or capturing them for study and some thought-gone Inhumans re-emerging to take the cocoons for their own, presumably to build an army against the current throne. There's plenty for Medusa to do and she starts by crashing down with a small team on an AIM base where experiments on the cocoons have taken place and ensures they don't have anything to experiment on and that the fear of Inhumans has been struck in their human hearts.

It's not a bad issue but it's a little hard not to separate from the time between where we've already seen so much happen. Even in books like IRON MAN we've seen Medusa in a proactive role, though this book gives the sense that it took her a bit of time to reach that point. Not a long time, mind, she steps up when she needs to step up, but enough that there are some tensions among her people and even within her own mind. However, the separation between the end of INFINITY and this issue isn't the most jarring thing about this issue; that award goes pretty firmly to Nick Bradshaw's art. All of the women look both sort of anime and super-feminized. All the women, as opposed to the men in the book, have the classic big, bright eyes with completely unblemished skin and big, pouty mouths, none of which seems to work with the tone of the book and none of which works with me on a personal level. With that said, it's hard to take the tone of the book seriously, which is too bad because, removed from the art, it seems to hit on the chords Fraction wants it to hit. Can't really recommend this one because I don't think it's going to give you a huge look at this event or status quo change or whatever this is from an angle we're not seeing done just as well elsewhere and the art really drags this one down.

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 6

Infinity 6
Hickman (w) and Cheung and Morales w/ Weaver, Ortego, Meikis and Livesay (a) and Ponsor w/ Svorcina (c)

The Avengers have burst through the barricade and arrived on Earth as Widow leads her team through the Peak and directs Starbrand to disperse the rest of the ships in local space. With that part of the war won, we look back on Earth as the Illuminati try to stop Supergiant from activating their world-killing bomb. They're too late to stop her powering it up with the unwilling help of Black Bolt, so all that needs doing is to trigger the device. Unfortunately for Supergiant, Maximus the Mad holds the trigger. He's willing to detonate it if Supergiant will recognize that he's the smartest in the room, which he proves when he reveals that Lockjaw has also found his way into the room and transports Supergiant and the bomb itself to another world, destroying that world and presumably Supergiant while Lockjaw goes back home. The Avengers continue their fight against Thanos, which isn't going particularly well. The tables turn a bit as Cap deflects a couple of deadly shots from Proxima Midnight and they hit Corvus Glaive, killing him and horrifying her. Meanwhile, the Ebony Maw has been talking to the trapped Thane and releases him as the fight reaches its most desperate. Thane reaches out and touches Thanos with his right hand before disappearing into the cosmos with the Maw. When the Illuminati arrive to find the mostly unconscious Avengers, they explain that Thane's left hand brings death, as was the case in the village he destroyed, while his right hand brings a living death, revealing that Thanos and Proxima Midnight are trapped in some form of stasis. The threat has, for the moment, passed, and Thanos is conquered again, though Thane seems more powerful than his father and is currently under the thumb of the dangerous Ebony Maw. The epilogue shows the Skrulls, Kree, Shi'ar, and Annihilation Wave returning to their home planets (the Annihilation Wave left a portal open and now have a planet; scary), Black Bolt and Maximus discussing the future of the Inhumans, and the Illuminati taking control of the Thanos in stasis.

Very big, very epic final issue as the fight comes home on all fronts and the Avengers walk away almost entirely successful. No wonder this will give way to books like AVENGERS WORLD and things like that; the Avengers have never been more impressive than they are now, a team, as Reed Richards points out, assembled to do the impossible and which has now accomplished it. Very surprised that, despite all of my brilliant predictions (I got some bad feelings about Doctor Strange midway through this issue too), no one died in this issue. This must be the first event in a long while where Avengers haven't died or even fake-died. Even now I'm so surprised that I'm worrying I forgot someone. Anyway, really solid ending and more than enough to both show off our team and allow us to celebrate while also planting tons and tons of seeds for the future, including the return of the Skrulls, Kree, and of Annihilus, not to mention the rise of Thane. Plenty happening, great event through and through and worthy of the title "event." AND IT'S NOT QUITE OVER JUST YET, IS IT?



Okay, this is where my review for NEW AVENGERS 12 was supposed to be but I haven't gotten ahold of it yet and I'd like to post SOMETHING now, especially before my second batch (which has been finished for a while, you guys, I swear) posts at 6 EST. So, here's this one. NEW AVENGERS will come at some point. Probably. Geez.

Infinity 5, Avengers 22

Infinity 5
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Thor and the Avengers have shown that the Builders can be broken and that message has resonated through the universe, giving the conquered worlds the inspiration they need to fight again. Though there are casualties throughout the universe, the resistance is overwhelmingly a success and many worlds realize the Avengers are to thank and, as a result, become "Avengers worlds." Cap and co are heartened by this but soon receive news from Gladiator that Earth is besieged by Thanos, so their celebration is cut short. Back on Earth, everything is coming up Thanos. His Black Order has secured Wakanda's Necropolis and the world-ending weapon therein, which they're able to activate by scouring the memories of the totally-still-alive Black Bolt (score! Except for the activation codes, that's a bummer). Meanwhile, the Ebony Maw has found Thane, son of Thanos, and immobilized him, delivering him unto Thanos. The Illuminati return to their world to find Wakanda in flames and the Necropolis invaded. Help is on the way, but will it come too late?

I really can't say enough about the pacing of this series. Every issue has felt like it's been worthwhile. You can't say that about too many events these days, yet every one of these seemed to have a structure to them and a piece of the story that was necessary for the whole event. Even insofar as it spanned to Avengers and New Avengers. Perhaps the scale of the story helped that; a story this big was bound to need this many parts, as it really is kind of two events wrapped into one (the Builders in the universe and Thanos on Earth). Still, I don't see that as a coincidence or a fault of the series by any means. It feels instead like really great planning and great execution. It's been a story worth telling and it's been told right. Every issue of Infinity, I've gone into the next wary that there won't be enough story to sustain. Now we enter the last issue with almost too much to tell. Of course, there are two Avengers issues between now and then (one reviewed NEXT) to help push the story along which will certainly help alleviate the burden on Infinity 6 (not to mention a post-Infinty New Avengers issue to wrap up the whole event for good, presumably). Really looking forward to seeing how this goes. There are plenty of events (one ending this week, in fact) that I cannot say that about.

Avengers 22
Hickman (w) and Yu and Alanguilan (a) and Gho w/ Curiel (c)

The Avengers have beaten the Builders back and earned the respect and admiration of the universe in the process, putting them in a rather unfamiliar place as they head back home. It's a good place to be in, though, especially as they'll need help when they get back home in defeating Thanos and his army. We see a little bit of what's going on within the Avengers' ranks as we discover a relationship between Cannonball and Smasher, met with confusion by Sunspot. We also see Manifold, who has played a huge role and is undoubtedly the unsung hero of this whole event, trying to come to terms with what's happened recently. It's easily the biggest event he's been involved in and he's having some trouble making sense of it. The Captains America and Marvel try to downplay it a bit, attempting to remove any sense of fate or faith or destiny attached to it, though Thor comes in and does exactly the opposite, which seems to calm Manifold a bit. Meanwhile, a strike team hits Titan to knock out any reserve troop Thanos might have. There's not too much waiting in the wings but it serves to let Thanos know that they're coming, a message they're not afraid to send.

It's hard not to assign action-adventure tropes to stories like these and a couple, in particular, shine through that make me a little worried about the fate of some of these characters. The Avengers, for their part, have not really lost much of anyone in their time in space, a tremendous outcome considering how total the threat was. Now they return home and will all be very clearly on the front lines. There are no more guerrilla style attacks, no more plotting and quick strikes. This is going to be a straight assault (though, admittedly, with a sneak-attack part of the plan) and it could very well cost the Avengers. It seems events don't happen without some death being attached to them so be prepared. The tropes I was hinting at, by the by, were the idea of the relationship that's developed here, the idea of the two best pals (I've been predicting a Sunspot or Cannonball death since the start of this event and the relationship between Cannonball and Smasher seems only to strengthen that argument), and the idea of the young, tired secret weapon who questions the meaning of it all. Okay, that one's a little more specific. I guess my fear for Eden is that he had so many lines this issue. It's like watching Lost or the The Walking Dead; the moment someone has above average lines, you know they're about to go down. Of all of those mentioned, Eden's the one I want to lose least so this one strikes a particular fear-chord (that's a thing, right? Fear-chords?). Nice to see a little bit more character from the smaller characters here (though I'm still constantly surprised to see Shang-Chi there, maybe we should highlight him some more?) but it comes with the distinct fear that at least one or two of them (or maybe more) are being built up to be killed next time out.

Morbius the Living Vampire 9, Superior Carnage 3

Morbius the Living Vampire 9

Keatinge (w) and Elson (a) and Fabela (c)

The Rose has shot Morbius with the not-quite Ultimate Nullifier and left him for dead. Becky sees him fall but is pulled back from helping him or checking on him (hint: it's comics, that means he's totally alive). He, of course, tracks Rose back to his secret lair and goes berserk there, killing all his guards before finally being led to Rose himself. The two fight and argue about what's going to become of them now that they've outlived their usefulness to the Rose's employers. Morbius admits that he knows what's happening now but enjoys the catharsis of slaughtering Rose. Morbius does end up talking to Rose's employers and learns that they're mostly in it to develop Brownsville now that Morbius has lifted the residents' spirits. One year later, Becky is in Manhattan hosting an art exhibit focused on Brownsville and dating Michael, who is in hiding (if he's seen, it could somehow mean Brownsville won't climb out of its poverty.

I haven't exactly been a fan of this series from its start or, really, even from its inception. I do think this issue helps a bit because it feels a lot more focused, like it always knew it wanted to be here (I don't know that that's true; with cancellations, sometimes you have to cut your story shorter than you'd like, but this feels more focused). That certainly helps the feel and the flow of this book but ultimately we see that the villains are pretty weak (and still a little confusing), which weakens what we had been seeing too. Also, not to ruin the exact ending of this one for you diehard Morbius fans out there, but it ends with an obvious reveal (Michael is alive and dating Becky or at least still pals with Becky) and the even more obvious and cheesy ending of Morbius saying that he's enjoying he's current plan, the one he hasn't tried before...LIVING. I think my eyeballs actually audibly rolled. People could hear my eyes. It was weird, you guys, and I don't appreciate it.

Superior Carnage 3

Shinick (w) and Segovia and Chrisostomo (a) and J.D. Ramos (c)

The transfer of Carnage on to the brilliant surgeon Karl Malus has been successful and it's left Wizard able to control Carnage, though the control is tenuous at best. Malus warns Klaw that he can feel Carnage trying to overpower Wizard and knows that the moment Wizard slips, Carnage will be in control. For the moment, though, they're going to take on Jameson to take over New York in Wizard's attempt to impress Bentley-23. It's a little chaotic and Wizard nearly slips and loses control of Carnage. When they arrive in the mayor's office at City Hall, they find Spider-Man with a couple of his minions waiting for him.

There's a lot of really good stuff here. It's a lot of what we've seen in the first couple issues as the power of Carnage is overwhelming but the plight of Wizard is still real and well-focused. In addition, we build a little more on what Klaw said to Malus about Wizard being family to him. Here, Klaw asks wizard about his mental state and what happened with Black Bolt and Wizard admits that things maybe aren't great but that he's more desperate than ever to show his son the man he is, not the failure he may have seen all of his life. There are real moments there, especially as Wizard drifts into the past tense when talking about himself before sheepishly correcting himself. Still, the threat of Carnage is a real one and it's one that everyone finds compelling enough to hear Wizard out. It'll be interesting to see where Spider-Man takes this book as the series wraps up (I believe that this story ends with issue four but I'm not totally sure and I tend to question myself when I get this way). There's a lot to like here, not just limited to the writing, though the writing is pretty good and the story is perhaps better. The art is solid and the colors remind everyone of the other two Carnage minis we've had in the last couple years (which featured distinctly different art).

Infinity 2, Avengers AI 3, Iron Man 15

Infinity 2
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Another longer-than-average-book which, at least, continues to be pretty full. Thanos' Black Order touched down in the pages of the last New Avengers and we see a little recap of their fight before learning that Corvus Glaive has been sent to Attilan to request tribute from the Inhumans; if they want the rest of the race spared, they must deliver the heads of all Inhumans between ages 16 and 22. Meanwhile, in space, the Builders are still following the now-retreating Galactic Council armada. We don't get any new news of the people left behind (like Quincarrier 2) but we see the ones who did escape pursued by a few more Builder ships and choosing to fight back rather than running. They do so successfully but see the full might of the Builders, who send an Ex Nihilo down to the planet the armada rendezvoused on. The Ex Nihilo commits suicide on the planet, spreading death evenly throughout the planet until the whole place is dead. Back home on Earth, Black Bolt summons the Illuminati to the pocket universe Maximus discovered that allows Black Bolt to speak. He leaves the Illuminati with the hidden archives of the Inhuman leaders, the information Thanos is blackmailing him with. He knows it's better that they hold it when he goes to confront Thanos. He also reveals that Thanos doesn't necessarily desire every child of Attilan dead; what he does desire is the death of his son.

Again an oversized book but, again, it's full, which says a lot about this book. There's enough going on to necessitate a full event as this encompasses the entire Universe (and should). It's not just an occurrence that's passing by the lives of lots of heroes or something along those lines; this is actively impacting most heroes (haven't seen many X-Men yet but the Black Order has attacked the Jean Grey School) and will continue to do so. Most of the characterization is left in word choice and minor actions as there simply isn't enough time in all of these pages to develop characters that we already know. So far, it's still a solid book (with pretty solid art with all-pros Jerome Opeña and Dustin Weaver) and certainly allows for plenty of direction for this book to go. Hopefully it doesn't stagnate because that seems like the one direction that wouldn't be interesting.

Avengers AI 3
Humphries (w) and Araujo (a) and D'Armata (c)

After the attack of the new Sentinel, Vision's body has been destroyed (it's made up of nanites so it is reparable but it will take some time). His AI, though, has been sent to the Diamond, the homeland of the new race of AI spawned from the self-replicating virus Pym created to destroy Ultron. They live there peacefully (for now) and wish, mostly, to keep to themselves but also to survive, despite the humans' insistence that they be destroyed. Speaking of, the people watching the clean-up of DC attack Victor for being a robot (they apparently didn't see The World's End to learn what the word "robot" means) and Alexis flies in, carry the Doombot head, to protect him and carry Monica Chang and Hank Pym back up to the helicarrier. They re-assemble Doom's body and make a plan of action. The current plan is to destroy the Diamond but Pym agrees to help Chang with a tactical strike to protect the Diamond at large. Meanwhile, Vision finds himself quite taken with the Diamond and quickly becomes the leader of the AI (who view him as their distinguished predecessor). Dimitrios and other AI learn of SHIELD's attack plan and demand a response from Vision.

The story here is interesting, if a little similar to what we saw in the last iteration of Secret Avengers. I think it's going to change away from that idea as we get further in, with the AI acting perhaps more defensively than the pure offensive attack of the AI in Secret Avengers' last arc. Still, there are definitely similarities and you can certainly pull out the same ethical decisions from this as you may have during that book. On top of that, the book moves rather slowly. Granted, this is only issue three and there's still a lot of exposition to get out (particularly in this issue, as we're introduced to an entire new race and its homeland) so it's possible that the pacing will even out in the future. I'm hoping that this series takes a bit of a turn away from what Secret Avengers did if just for variety's sake. Not a bad storyline and the questions raised are still interesting ones but I don't really want to read the same story so quickly after reading it in Secret Avengers.

Iron Man 15
Gillen (w) and Pagulayan and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony's heading for his armory but he's only a few steps ahead of 451. In the armory, he adjusts his armors to add PEPPER back in (pre-Voldi PEPPER to avoid the compromise) and puts all of the armors on a closed system, meaning that only entities inside the armor can control the armor. Therefore, 451 has to physically enter the armor to get into the mainframe. To help himself, 451 creates some projections to also attack the suits. When one gets close to entering a separate armor, the armor's failsafe kicks in, destructing the unit. 451 focuses all attacks on Tony's suit, knowing that one can't self-destruct. Meanwhile, PEPPER manages to lock on to 451's hacking unit, allowing Tony to eventually shoot a laser through it, neutralizing the threat that 451 might destroy him from within. With that threat gone, Iron Man releases his biggest guns, a Hulkbuster-like armor, which goes on to destroy the projections and rip off 451's arm. Stopped for the moment, Tony drags 451 to the cockpit to show he can't control the Godkiller. Somewhere, 451 miscalculated and now everything he's done has been for nothing. His mantra of "the ends justify the means" is suddenly worthless as his ends are impossible. The weight of everything he's done begins to crush him and Tony barely manages to get him to stop the Godkiller from hitting Earth. He admits to Tony, though, that the Godkiller is meant to disappear into a fold of the universe, impenetrably sealing the exits as it does so that no monster (like 451) could take advantage of the technology. As Tony realizes he's stuck in the Godkiller, 451 shuts himself down.

Really great weight to this issue. I've loved this series overall and this issue is no exception as we learn, it seems, that 451's battle was real. Whether it was purely altruistic (to protect Earth) is still up for debate but his decision to save Earth certainly helps give some credence to that. However, the really important thing is the weight that crashes down on 451 as he realizes how monstrous he's been, only to find that all of his horrific actions are simply that, horrific actions, since he cannot achieve the goals he set out to achieve. It's a really brilliant scene and the emotional weight is palpable, thanks both to the great writing of Gillen and the art by Pagulayan (and probably helped by the lettering of Joe Caramagna, which carries a weight of its own and influences the reader to read 451's text in a specific way). The rest of the issue is certainly cool, with the slew of armors and Tony's planning brought to the forefront. Really great issue and worth reading to see the change in 451, a change which has been kind of coming as the weight of everything he's done has started to impact him over time.