Captain Marvel 4, Hulk 4

Captain Marvel 4
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c) and Caramagna (l)

With no easy solution in sight to the plight of the new Torfans, Captain Marvel tries to think up ways to transport everyone off the planet, as opposed to J-Son's offer of relocating the thousand strongest and leaving the others behind. While she bounces ideas off of Tic, Gil, a Sentimault named B-Bop, and chief engineer/defense minister Ja Kyee Lrurt (nicknamed Jackie), the Haffensye attack again. Captain Marvel and her new band set off after them to pillage them back, succeeding in at least one sector and hoping to salvage some more parts to make more ships.

Captain Marvel as a space pirate for righteousness? I'm not going to turn this idea down, you guys. My pre-game this week and my analysis last time out said that part of the fun of this new arc would be seeing Carol up against a problem she can't punch away. That problem and therefore that tension still remains in large part, particularly as she's got the shadowy dealings of J-Son to contend with, but this is, after all, still a superhero comic book and punching is rather the norm so DeConnick has found a way that allows Carol to punch and to problem solve. Still, for all the excitement of this book, if you're coming into this issue looking for some serious pirate action, there's not a lot to be had, with the book revolving mostly along dialogue and explanations and arguments. A times that slows things down but it's also a little necessary at this point as we get to know an entirely new cast of characters. Still solid stuff overall and certainly enough to get this series rolling.

Total Score: 4/5


Hulk 4
Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

Maria Hill explains to the onsite Avengers what's happening with Banner and Hulk and they attempt to aid him in his fight against Abomination while Iron Man reconfigures a teleportation device Maria got off one of the crew sent to take her out. With some luck and plenty of skill, they manage to teleport Abomination pretty well away (Tony estimates Jupiter) and have time to deal with the situation. Stark takes Banner and brings him to Troy, where he and Arno plan to put a little extremis in him to help heal his brain. Meanwhile, Maria Hill is forced to tell Daredevil about Banner's condition, possibly compromising the information Banner had given to his lawyer in case he should ever wind up harmed at SHIELD's request.

There are plenty of plots swirling around (particularly interesting as I believe this is one of the books soon to go on a little break while ORIGINAL SIN mixes things up a bit, though I could be wrong) but sometimes it feels like they're not held together terribly well. The teleportation device feels like a deus ex machina, particularly when Tony is able to rejigger it to teleport on contact and they attach it to Cap's shield which Hulk is convinced to throw and still the shield doesn't teleport (as does, for that matter, the fact that it just so happened to be Sunspot and Captain Marvel, capable of absorbing Abomination's radioactivity, that Iron Man and Captain America brought with them on this mission). Still, as abruptly as the end of the fight came and as maybe conveniently as it came, there are plenty of good and interesting plot movements out there, ready to be expanded on. And guys, Hulk has an improved version of extremis? Who thought that was a good plan?

Total Score: 3/5

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

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

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

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

Total Score: 4/5


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

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

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

Total Score: 3/5

Silver Surfer 2, Hulk 2

Silver Surfer 2
Slott (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c) and Cowles (l)

Silver Surfer briefly gets his first up-close glimpse of Dawn Greenwood as she's pulled into the Impericon's holding cells. He agrees to fight on her behalf and goes forth to battle the Never Queen. If he should flee or somehow abandon the fight, Zed and the others will kill Dawn. As Surfer approaches, he's almost immediately nearly torn apart by the information the Never Queen has at her disposal: the information of every possible timeline all at once forced into Surfer's head. The battle changes, though, as Dawn enacts an escape plan with her fellow prisoners and they manage to make their way to the main power source of the Impericon, which turns out to be the Never Queen's heart. As Dawn makes a new wish on the Never Queen's heart (to explore everything), it distracts the Never Queen and she stops her attack on Surfer. She explains what's happened and Surfer realizes he's been duped and that the Never Queen is the victim here. He vows to help her and begins his return to the Impericon, where he quickly runs into Dawn. She vows to help rescue him.

Story
Lots happening here as we learn a little more about Dawn and the kind of person she is and as we see a little more of the improbable situation in which she's found herself as well as learning a bit more about the Never Queen. The only real problem with the story so far is that Zed and the other inhabitants of the Impericon that we've met are all sort of goofy, either explicitly or just in their actions, which makes it difficult to really take their threat seriously. Obviously the pose a threat but we only really know it because we've been told it's so. I like, in a way, that they're not your standard dark and dreary villains but when you see villains like this, it can be easy to see why most villains end up dark and dreary or sociopathic or something because these villains just don't seem competent enough to have pulled off a threat this huge. 3/5

Character
The biggest character developments we're seeing right now are from the new Dawn Greenwood. We see a bit of new characterization out of Silver Surfer but Slott is more concerned with establishing who Dawn is, particularly necessary because she begins to really drive the plot here. Slott's doing a pretty good job already to show Dawn as something more than just your stereotypical strong female lead sort of character (it still would have been a welcome relief even to see that). She's more specific than that. She's capable of getting herself out of the prison and doesn't need to wait for Surfer to turn up or anything but we know that she's capable of it because she's the sort of person who fixes problems. She practically runs the B&B back home and overcomes any sort of obstacles that crop up here, as we saw in the first issue, and she's quick on her feet and takes charge instantly here in the second issue. It's important to start to establish that sort of thing now so that she doesn't just suddenly become a strong character when the plot needs it. 5/5

Writing
As I said in the story section, it's not bad writing, per se, but it is a little incongruent to have this giant threat posed by these ridiculous people. Of course, we've only seen a couple of them so it's entirely possible that the people pulling the strings of the likes of Zed are more competent than he is and that would negate some of these issues, but right now it hurts the book a little to have Silver Surfer falling to a few kind of stupid villains. 3/5

Art
Michael Allred's art is ever Michael Allred's art. It doesn't look like almost anything else out there and you can almost immediately tell if it's for you or not. He's a very strong artist and the book has a very specific look to it and a very specific feel for that look. I think that Allred may be, along with wife Laura, the only one who can slot someone's very colorful outfit and the very imaginative Impericon into a comic and make it all work. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I'm still a little hung up on the tone of this book but that kind of thing usually takes a few issues to develop anyway.

Total score: 4/5


Hulk 2
Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

Maria Hill has come to check up on Banner. He's been placed in a small town with a couple of members of that community in the hopes that keeping him off the grid will keep him (and everyone else) safe. The mystery surrounding his shooting is still out there but Bruce himself is removed from the decision-making as he's effectively turned into Lennie from Of Mice and Men. Hiding him from whoever is after him hasn't stopped them from searching though and the shady organization after Hulk has another trick in its arsenal as they send Abomination, who has been rebuilt by those same people and who is drawn to Hulk by that rebuild. Maria gets Bruce to Hulk out just in time but the fight crashes through the small town like nothing and assassins from the organization appear to try to take Hill out.

Story
There are still a lot of mysteries surrounding the story of this issue and this new series and it's making it a little difficult to get wrapped up into the plot. Obviously the mystery is the plot but it's still a little bit meaning that we're not seeing the forest through the trees. There's a bigger story here but the emphasis on the mystery and all of these new characters aren't quite compelling enough to overcome the confusion of what's happening. I'm reminded a little of the final arc of DARK AVENGERS, where the Dark Avengers were transported to another timeline or dimension or something where everything had gone completely backwards and the superheroes were divided into bitter factions. We had no idea what was happening, thrust into this brand new universe, but the mystery of it was made more interesting by the fact that the story was readable without having to wonder about that. We'd like to know, sure, but the story stood without knowing. This one feels like it's not quite hitting that point and the overall issues are worse off for it. Of course, that could all turn around as things start to come to light but it likely won't change the way these issues look. 3/5

Character
It's perhaps a bit hard to judge what are character developments are here as we see more of Bruce but he really does read like Lennie (that's about the best comparison I can make) and so we're not likely to see much character evolution until such time as Waid has established that. Hopefully that means next issue we start to see more but who could really know? Hill has a tiny bit of character as she attempts to keep Bruce safe and shows genuine regret that she'll have to resort to bullying to get him to Hulk and save himself but there's ultimately not that much that needs to be looked at here. 3/5

Writing
Most of what I'd have to say about writing in this issue has been said in the story section. I think that the issue overall suffers from a sort of lack of focus where the mystery has already become a little convoluted and it's mystery for a mystery's sake and so everything feels less important than it should feel. SPEAKING OF LACK OF FOCUS, that last sentence. ANYWAY, I guess this issue was kind of like that sentence. 2/5

Art
Bagley's Hulk continues to be the strongest part of the issue. His other characters are pretty good but the Hulk really does come off huge and impressive, as does his Abomination. Jason Keith's colors are also top quality here and the fight scene, which is intentionally big and brutal, feels like a huge fight between two monsters while a small town suffers. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Guys, I taught Of Mice and Men, alright? This is like reverse that, where he gets shot at the beginning.

Total score: 3/5

Avengers 28, New Avengers 17

Avengers 28
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin w/Mossa (c) and Petit (l)

AIM has taken back the Avengers from another world, hoping to send them away because they seriously do not need two Avengers teams out there. However, the Banner that seemed to be the other world's Banner asks the Scientist Supreme why worlds are dying. With nothing to lose from this conversation, Forson admits that they believe the multiverse is dying and that Earth is the center point. It turns out that this Banner is actually our Banner, though, and he escapes AIM, doing a bunch of damage on the way out, before making his way to Avengers Tower. He interrogates Tony and, with a smart line of questioning, realizes what's been happening and realizes that Tony has re-formed the Illuminati, the same Illuminati that launched Hulk into space so long ago. Banner pumps himself full of tranquilizers to keep from hulking out while Tony explains and while Tony invites him to join the team, which he reluctantly does, understanding how big the threat is. Tony hands off the other universe's Banner to SHIELD and the Avengers, who are looking to dole out punishment for attacking the Avengers and Avengers Tower, and the Illuminati meets its newest member. OH, and also the Adapoids that went out to explore the multiverse meet up with the Mapmakers and it turns out that they're all one and the same.

Story
Really great story here as Hickman preps for ORIGINAL SIN and props up his amazing NEW AVENGERS work with a new and crucial addition to the team. It's a wonderful idea, putting the worldbreaker Hulk and the genius scientist Banner into this situation wherein worlds may need to be broken if science can't answer these questions. On top of that, it's executed perfectly; there's plenty of time at the beginning where you don't know if Banner is our Banner or the other universe's and we figure out definitively that it's ours just as the other drama of the plot, the idea that Banner has figured everything out, is coming to the head of the story. It's extremely well done and it's a huge step for this series and for NEW AVENGERS. Plus, as if Cap wasn't going to be mad ENOUGH at Tony and crew for wiping his memories when he finds out in ORIGINAL SIN, he's now had an innocent(ish) Bruce Banner handed to him in lieu of the real deal. 5/5

Character
AVENGERS hasn't had a ton of room for character because the plots have been so sweeping and the team has been so big. It's nice to have an issue that pulls back to just two major characters to give us a better look at those two guys and BOY what a great look it is. It's Banner at his most tense, a perfect portrait of someone right on the brink of hulking out with one false step, and it's Tony at his most duplicitous and covert, the weapons maker returned. It's incredibly tense and it's incredibly well-crafted, two could-be/have-been allies in a conversation that could turn them into quick enemies, another thing they have been. It's a dynamic built on decades of discontent and it's perfect. 5/5

Writing
This is one of those issues whose writing score is based on the perfect execution of story and character more than any one thing in the dialogue. That's not to say the dialogue isn't sharp. In fact, the dialogue is extremely well-balanced as the audience knows Tony is hiding something and Banner is pretty sure Tony is hiding something all while we're not sure if Banner is Banner and as we and Tony try to figure out what's in the case. There's so much happening here and it's all done in service to the tone, which, in turn, builds our story and our character. It's all a circle and it all feeds itself. 5/5

Art
I often have issues with Salvador Larroca's art but he does solid work here. Larroca uses a mix of close-ups and wide shots to help establish the tone as two people snipe back and forth trying to outwit one another. I don't know that it's the best possible art for this book but that way madness lies so we're not going to worry about that. In this case, it works perfectly well. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I've been back and forth on this AVENGERS series for a while. It's largely good but sometimes the long con style game Hickman and company tend to play makes it a little harder to get into as a whole series. When it's said and done, though, I think this series will read extremely well as one long volume. Solid work here and BOY was this issue good.

Total score: 5/5


New Avengers 17
Hickman (w) and Morales (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

Namor and T'Challa continue to watch Earth-4290001 to learn how they deal with their incursion. With the help of the Norn, they've defeated the incurring world but not before four Mapmakers land on their planet. Their hero Boundless manages to destroy the AI of one but is stopped before she can damage the rest but their leader Sun God, warning everyone to take cover under Dr. Spectrum's shielding, unleashes his full power and destroys the others. T'Challa and Namor watch as the heroes, all surviving the fight recover a bit until they realize that another incursion is already underway. Namor steps away from the screen to have a drink, complaining that it seems an unwinnable scenario; they're up against not just incurring planets but the Mapmakers, the Black Priests, and the Ivory Kings. He jokes darkly about their chances and he and T'Challa have some real talk about hope and honor and nobility and share a laugh about their survival before T'Challa is pulled back to the screen to find that, in two hours time (thanks to the window's strange effect on time), the world incurring on Earth-4290001 is their own Earth.

Story
Hickman's created an interesting batch of characters from this alternate Earth and, though we can't care about them in the same way we care about characters we've known for decades, it's hard not to root for them. They're pointedly the opposite of our heroes; they're still fighting the incursions and they still hope to see their Earth win but they refuse to give up hope that this is unwinnable. Sun God himself kicked off their mission by saying "Everything lives" in the same way that Reed Richards continues to say "Everything dies." So it's hope against despair as the theme here, even as T'Challa and Namor discuss it as two kings with no kingdoms. Solid story and quite a cliffhanger. 5/5

Character
The Namor-Black Panther dynamic has been one of the more interesting stories in this book all the way around. From the time this series kicked off, Atlantis and Wakanda have been at war with one another, putting their champions at odds even as they're forced to work together for the survival of the world. It's also worth pointing out that we are rather rooting for Earth-4290001's champions despite their relative obscurity, to the credit of Hickman. 5/5

Writing
The hope/despair theme prevails and plays well as Hickman particularly focuses us on Namor, a character for whom the difference between himself and everyone else is hope. It's a great tool and it's explored really well here as Namor keeps up his personality even against T'Challa, his equal in power but someone who fights because he has hope, among other reasons. It's smart writing. 5/5

Art
Rags Morales has some really incredible art and the expressiveness and the emotion of these characters really stands out in these particularly emotional times. An artist who wasn't as capable of showing the minute emotional turns of these two pretty calculated characters, even if they did better action or something (which is just an example, by the way, I think Morales' action has been pretty cool so far), wouldn't be nearly as successful. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I should have seen the twist at the end coming and I didn't and it still made me go "ohhhhhhhhhhhh wowwwwwwwww."

Total score: 5/5

Hulk 1, Wolverine 4

Hulk 1
Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

Bruce Banner has been shot by a mysterious marksman who had been hired to land a perfect shot in the back of Banner's head so it would shut his brain down before Hulk could come out. With Banner down, he's been delivered to the secret organization that hired the marksman in the first place. They've also recruited the world's foremost brain surgeon, a contemporary of Banner's, to remove the bullet from his brain and save the man. The doctor manages to do it but refuses to implant the device the organization wants him to implant, which would allow them to trigger a Hulk-out. When he refuses, he considers killing Banner to spare him from this but doesn't have to worry about the moral implications long since his anesthesiologist, a woman who was, as a child, was saved by the Hulk, revives him in time for Hulk to appear and get out of the area. With Banner out in the world somewhere, Coulson and Maria Hill set out to find him. They eventually do, only to find that Banner is badly brain damaged and, according to his doctor, will never be smart again.

Story
Waid's previous INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK run found the genius Banner using the weapon Hulk as a means to work in a lab and deliver amazing scientific advancements while creating a legacy for himself. Now the roles are drastically changed as Hulk rescues Banner from probable death but not before Banner's brain is severely damaged. No one can argue that this changes things pretty radically. We still have plenty left to understand about the new situation but we're off to an interesting start. 5/5

Character
It's a little hard to get a big read on "character" in an issue where the main character is only conscious and present for a couple of pages. There's still some interesting character work insofar as the brain surgeon goes and insofar as that brain surgeon knows Banner and how he views Banner. It's a sort of third hand look at Banner where we see the surgeon's opinion of Banner from back when they were in school together and from newspaper articles he's read since. Not a ton to be gained with a character like Hulk, who has been around for so long. This is just kind of an interesting way to re-establish our character and his place in the world at the start of a new series. 4/5

Writing
We're still a little too much in the story for a lot to have been explained so far but the writing works pretty well for what it needs to do here. It catches the reader and draws him or her in while still not giving too much information to put the reader off. As I said, it rehashes a little bit about Banner that we don't necessarily need if we're longtime Hulk readers but it at least presents it differently to keep things a little new while still welcoming new readers onboard without much problem. 5/5

Art
Bagley's art works here as he draws lots of characters who will likely never appear again. It gets the point across; there are plenty of people around. Interested to see how the series continues as his Hulk looks pretty great. 5/5

Miscellaneous
It's a bold new direction for the book and one that I think we'll have to wait a little longer on to really make a judgement about it. I liked Waid's last direction and the focus it put on Banner so I'm wary of this new approach but I'm willing to follow Waid as he continues.

Total score: 4/5


Wolverine 4
Cornell (w) and Stegman w/ Baldeon (p) and Morales, Stegman, and Hanna (i) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Before Wolverine set off to join Offer's gang, he cut his ties with the X-Men, angry that they're all over him while he tries to figure himself out, and even goes to Kitty Pryde with Scott's team (the location of which he apparently knows) so he can threaten her for some weird reason. He then meets up with SHIELD Agent Monkton to discuss going undercover in Offer's group. Monkton will go in, as an LMD, to allow Wolverine to kill him in front of Offer to establish his loyalty, hence why Wolverine killed the reporter in the first issue. Now he's firmly established himself as an ally to Offer, who is trying to get into Sabretooth's good books.

Story
Wolverine is a spy for Maria Hill but there is always the worry that he'll grow to like his new teammates (as Monkton warns him) enough to not want to harm them if the time should come. Still, it's a better story than "Wolverine has joined up with a crime boss because he's having a midlife crisis." 4/5

Character
I've found some of the character decisions strange so far but I'd written it off as some sort of unknown plot point to that point. I was right and now I do like what's happening a bit more, though I cannot get past the threatening Kitty business. I just don't follow it. Maybe he's trying to burn his bridges to make his alibi more believable but I'm just not sure who would have checked? This way, he just comes off like a crazy old man. In a way, these sort of freak outs make more sense because you put them in context of a wounded man who has been severely shaken but it almost doesn't go big enough to give that. Instead, he almost comes off as petty and strange. 3/5

Writing
There is still a little over-explanation here, even as the series needs over-explanation to say what's going on. That's not the sort of over-explanation I'm talking about. There's over-explanation in people explaining Wolverine's current behavior. I don't need to hear five different people talking about why Wolverine is so defensive right now. Still, happy to see now that the story is going somewhere rather than just trying to be gritty and different. 4/5

Art
I like Stegman's work a good deal and I like the way he draws action particularly, an important aspect for a Wolverine title. I was a little put off at how ugly Wolverine tended to be in this book but then thought about it more and actually almost preferred it. Wolverine was never meant to be a poster boy sort of good looking guy. Bob Hoskins was nearly cast to play him in a movie, you guys. Like everyone, his look changes frequently, but it has certainly erred more towards good-looking and gruff or animalistic in recent days. Making him kind of ugly doesn't hurt this book. I still, though, hate the new design of Sabretooth and don't understand why every would-be crime boss has to be a GIANT. 4/5

Miscellaneous
Still a little bit slower than I'd like this book to be moving but I am happy that it's moving in some sort of direction. It's hard to get past the somewhat slower tone of the book still but knowing that it's not trying too hard to reinvent the wheel certainly helps things.

Total score: 3/5

Hawkeye 18, Indestructible Hulk 20

Hawkeye 18
Fraction (w) and Wu (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Kate's mysterious friend from the cat food aisle is on his way out of LA, despite Kate's objections. Before he goes, he gives her his demon cat, which she immediately wants to return. Hoping against hope that he hasn't left yet, she and her neighbors Marcus and Finch go to the address on the cat's carrier to return it, finding an unexpected mansion of a home. Inside, they find Kate's friend, Harold H. Harold (the H. also stands for Harold) bleeding on the couch, muttering that he's going to die in LA. They take care of him and hear his story, which explains just a whole bunch about him. He was a crime writer out in LA to search all the weird crime beats and to uncover crazy stories. When he sold one of his stories to Hollywood, he got wrapped into all new intrigue and inadvertently ended up on the radar of Count Nefaria and his daughter Madam Masque. He accidentally discovered that they've been involved in murder and re-creation, Frankensteining people together from their Hollywood features. With the secret revealed to Harold, he's never been able to leave LA. Every time he tries, he gets run off the road or beat up or something. This time was no exception. Kate buys a ticket in his name out of the city and accompanies him to LAX in the hopes that she will see him on the plane personally, or at least gets a sense of the people after him. While trying to watch over him, none other than Flynt Ward the weed lord (from way back in HAWKEYE 14) turns up and escorts him out with his jackbooted thugs. Kate, Marcus, and Finch try to follow but eventually lose sight of him. Kate, who had learned that her police "contact" had actually been friends with Harold from Harold's crime writer experience, goes to see Officer Caudle about Harold's story and his subsequent disappearance. She tells him everything she knows and he tells her to disentangle herself from it before she winds up hurt. Madam Masque sends a threatening note along to Kate as well as a serious message when Harold winds up dead, arrowed to the Hollywood sign, and Kate's trailer ends up ablaze (Lucky and the cat are okay).

Another phenomenal issue of HAWKEYE and it's hard not to point out here just how impressive this series continues to be. Beyond all the things we already know about how great this series is, one of the things that I haven't talked about too much is just how different the Clint and Kate issues are. Not just that they are in different places with different casts and different artists, it's a wholly different writing style. Kate, of course, is more loquacious and more outgoing than Clint but even beyond that; there's a greater focus on the story and the backstory. There's just so much happening and Fraction so clearly understands his characters and is able to shift almost effortlessly between them, developing completely different voices for each one and building stories that suit each character and that very clearly change depending on which character is leading the book. Wonderful and well-done. The decision to swap between Aja and Wu for the art, while almost startling at first considering how great David Aja is and how great he's been for this book, has been nothing but the most amazing decision as Annie Wu absolutely kills it each and every time out.

Indestructible Hulk 20
Waid (w) and J. Bennett and R. Jose w/ Hanna (a) and Staples (c)

As the kidnapped Jessup is told about the operation that his kidnapper, Ted Goodrich, is running, the rest of Banner's team is forced to work with Hulk to try to get him back. Jessup immediately understands that Goodrich's setup, based on the work of underground experimental scientists who failed badly, is incredibly dangerous and tries to plot a way to stop it. Meanwhile, Hulk's team manages to breach Goodrich's hideaway while Jessup sacrifices himself to his new Inhuman so that he and Hulk can attack the biggest concern, a massive and unstable power source. Eventually Jessup drains all of Hulk's strength, powering himself up incredibly, and takes the brunt of the explosion. It reverts him back down to his human self and Banner commands they stay in Goodrich's lab (Goodrich and his assistant died trying to rip open a cocoon they had stolen) to help Jessup instead of returning to SHIELD only to draw the ire of Maria Hill. Banner returns and explains what happened to Hill but tells her that the team was lost and that he had no idea what happened at the end. She doesn't believe him and is sick of dealing with him. He returns to his lab and is promptly shot in the back of the head.

Geez, pretty abrupt ending to that one, huh? Anyway, the story of Jessup and Banner's lab team as a whole comes to an end here as Banner releases them into the wild. Banner also has made some revelations here, realizing that maybe his "Hulk destroys, Banner builds" mantra isn't as applicable as he thought it was; throughout the series, for all the good Banner has tried to do, he's done just as much destroying as Hulk thanks to his ego and his desperation. It's a real "Who Shot Mr. Burns" ending to this one as we're likely to rejoin this story at the start of its new "season," a rebooted Hulk series coming with the rest of the ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW! relaunches. This one continues to baffle me a bit as Hulk seemed to start in the midst of the ALL-NEW relaunches, or certainly close enough and, while the change seems pretty obvious, it doesn't sound like it's a change the size of, say, Daredevil moving to San Francisco or Captain Marvel moving to space. We'll just have to see. Still, if this is the wrap-up to this series, it's certainly been a worthwhile one. There have been ups and downs but a pretty good core throughout, one that shined the spotlight on Banner and only used Hulk in a more limited capacity. Interesting idea and Mark Waid certainly did a solid job getting his point across.

Marvel Knights Hulk 4, Revolutionary War - Warheads 1

Marvel Knights Hulk 4
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

Nikoleta Harrow has brought Banner to the site of the first gamma bomb, the site where Hulk was born. She brings him underground and he realizes that she's allowed AIM to trace them and to follow them there before she reveals that she's also gotten her hands on another gamma bomb and left it on the surface. It goes off and wrecks through AIM's forces. As Banner hulks out, she injects herself with the serum they've created and attacks Hulk as a Hulk herself. she momentarily stops him but he ultimately brings her down and she dies, as she knew she would when she brought him there. SHIELD agent Molly Fitzgerald shows up to bring Banner back in and to answer his questions about the damage he's done. He returns to Paris briefly to apologize to the woman who found him and took care of him before his life returns to what it had been.

I will admit, I was somewhat distracted reading this issue wondering why I hadn't figured out Nikoleta Harrow before this issue. MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE wasn't that long ago and I clearly knew that Keatinge had written both. I should have recognized Harrow from her brief role in Morbius' adventures. Maybe I would have cared a little more about this series if I had some minor background for its villain. It's hard to say, though, because it takes a special HULK book to make me care too much about people trying to replicate the Hulk conditions and become Hulks. I just can't bring myself to care (I also have trouble with the "I want to recreate the super soldier serum!" storylines and anything all along those lines. Not as much trouble, mind you, and there certainly can be good stories centered around those but by and large they're mostly kind of tired storylines). Keatinge wrote a wrap-up letter at the end that talks about he and artist Piotr Kowalski's desire to get into Banner as a character, to get into what separates him and the weirdness inside of both him and Hulk. I don't think they really hit it. I wonder if a longer series would have given them the chance but this one just felt too rushed and too bogged down in its own story to really care about character until the very end.

Revolutionary War - Warheads 1
Lanning and Cowsill (w) and Erskine (a) and Zamor (c)

Colonel Tigon Liger has been hearing voices calling to him from Hell, the voices of Kether Troop, the team he had to leave behind the last time they stopped Mys-Tech. He goes to one of the Master Keys, a wizard who can open a portal provided he has some information on it first, to try to get him to open a portal to Hell to pull his team out after all this time. Agent Keller meets them at the SHIELD building in England only to find that someone's been building a portal on a missing thirteenth floor. It turns out, unfortunately for Liger, that the builder was none other than Keller himself, possessed by a Psycho-Wraith and prepared to use the captured British heroes (including Captain Britain and Dark Angel, plus others) as surrogates for the Mys-Tech board to open the gate to Hell and unleash a revolution on Britain and the world. Liger is unable to stop Keller now that he has a Master Key there and the portal is reared up and ready to go. It's not Mys-Tech coming out, though, it's Hell's new "liege lord" and Mephisto's chosen champion Killpower.

I've been a bit hard on REVOLUTIONARY WAR as a whole but I stand behind just about everything I've said so far. I think that the tone, by and large, hasn't corresponded with the intended drama of the book and I think that the exposition of who everyone is and the history of these characters has interfered with the storytelling of this book. That aside for this review, I think WARHEADS was just about the most coherent and best standalone issue of this event (aside from maybe DARK ANGEL, which read extremely well even without a lot of context). It really felt dedicated to telling the story and to keeping a consistent tone, which was a huge difference maker. I still think there was a bundle of exposition, maybe bordering on too much, but I've always understood why that was going to happen in this series, even if I wasn't in favor of it. This one, once it starts to get away from the history of the Kether Troop, does a solid job presenting a threat and making us understand why it's a threat. It's still a little confusing but I'm willing to take the blame on being confused. Solid work. Hopefully it's paved the way enough to make the upcoming conclusion, REVOLUTIONARY WAR - OMEGA, powerful and meaningful.

New Avengers 15, Avengers World 4

New Avengers 15
Hickman (w) and Bianchi w/ Pieruccini (a) and Dall'Alpi (c)

The team has been using the bridge that Black Swan advised them to create in order to look into other worlds and see how they've combatted the incursions or, in many more cases, who they failed to combat incursions. However, that's not all they've been able to do with the bridge. They've realized that they can actually use the bridge to see through time, like looking at a star in the sky that's millennia old. It doesn't work great on the future but it's pretty good at looking at the past so they've decided to try to learn a few things about the threats they face, including looking into Black Swan's past, which reveals a glimpse at some of the people she's misled and betrayed (including alternate versions of Reed and Tony) to get where she is. They promptly go and fight her, managing to get her caged again in what they believe to be an unbreakable cage, though it still leaves her a chance to speak with Terrax, who tells her that he believes there are no constants and that these men will fall.

Friends, I'm going to level with you here. I haven't been sleeping particularly well lately and last night was no exception. I woke up several hours before I intended this morning after falling asleep several hours after I intended. And now, here I am reviewing this comic just about as quickly as I can. after its release. Any person reading this book can probably tell you that it is not best read when weary and sleep-deprived. I had to read the various parts of this one a few times over and, were I closer to my copies of the rest of the series (and were I not afraid that retrieving them would just land me in my bed from which I would not move again the rest of the day), I'd likely be referring back to them to try to straighten some things out. I really like this book and I think it's doing a lot of really interesting things. I will say that at this point I think that reading this by trades isn't a bad idea. It's a lot to keep in your head from moment to moment and week to week. That said, I'm still enjoying the way that the characters interact with one another and I'm looking forward to seeing where this whole story goes, particularly as it's been revealed of late that Captain America will have his memories of the Illuminati and the incursions restored in the upcoming ORIGINAL SIN event. Should be a good time. Well, not really good, per se, but certainly interesting. Should be a time, anyway.

Avengers World 4
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and Mossa (c)

The team of Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Nightmask, and Starbrand have accidentally found their way into the City of the Dead under Velletri, Italy. Well, one of the cities of the dead, as Sebastian Druid explains to Captain America and Bruce Banner back at the Iliad. Under Velletri, Starbrand is called away from the rest of the team by voices only he can hear beckoning to him while his team fights some spirits emerging from the rivers. Kevin finds that the voices are all the souls of the people he killed back when he first got his powers in AVENGERS and that they're not particularly thrilled with him. He's overcome with fear and guilt and the spirits take him to their leader, who Sebastian explains would have to be someone pretty powerful to hold sway in the city of the dead. "Powerful" doesn't seem to be an issue for the ruler of this city of the dead, as Morgan Le Fay returns to the Marvel Universe.

Another pretty interesting turn as Hickman and Spencer continue to break in this new title that is living up to its promise of shining a light on the Avengers in smaller groups and as individuals. It's also another nice little reunion for Hickman as former Secret Warrior Druid returns to shed some light on the City of the Dead and to get involved with the Avengers right as Banner points out to Cap that, with all of their new hires, they're sorely lacking people who represent the magical element of the Marvel Universe. His concerns, it seems are totally warranted and it's nice to see another Secret Warrior back in the fold, raising the total up from Manifold in Hickman's AVENGERS and Quake in Spencer's SECRET AVENGERS. Also can't help but like Stefano Caselli's work with one of the old Secret Warriors and his work in general on this issue. It's a very compelling idea and one that had to come to a head at some point; regardless of how little Kevin may have interacted with the students at his school, regardless of how ignored he may have been, he still killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people when he got his powers. As one of the souls he recognizes points out, it's not the kind of superhero origin that makes you Captain America. Should be interesting when this one picks up again, likely after we've revisited the other AVENGERS WORLD stories.

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."

Thunderbolts 19, Nova 11, Marvel Knights Hulk 1

Thunderbolts 19
Soule (w) and Walta (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Thunderbolts are taking a road trip as they make their way to the next base. Deadpool is dead in the backseat (he'll be fine, he wanted it to pass the time) but everyone else is merely waiting out the car ride. Leader asks Ross for a cigarette lighter, wanting to re-center himself. Ross allows it and quickly Leader figures out a plan to dispatch with everyone in the van, including using his radiation emissions to knock Ross out before lighting Deadpool ablaze and using the magnesium in a road flare to neutralize the Venom symbiote while stabbing Flash through the chest, ultimately sending Punisher and Elektra to their death by directing them to save the others and tossing a bag of grenades in after them. He nixes the plan, though, when he realizes that then Mercy would show up and undoubtedly kill him. He also admits that he's not sure he's thinking clearly and that he's not seeing all the variables so he decides to wait it out, knowing that every team needs a leader.

Pretty fun little book. Despite it being a kind of "it was all a dream" issue, there's a lot to be gained. First and foremost, Leader seems to be moving quickly back to his old ways despite putting on a good show to the contrary. We, of course, have known something was up since we saw him willingly let Mercy out of captivity on the sub and force them to ground but now we can see his plans in their entirety and he's giving us a rare first person look into his mind and his plans and his goals. It's a very interesting issue and one that's certainly interesting to read even if it ends in the somewhat predictable "he's not actually doing any of this" way. Still a story that needs telling to show us exactly where Leader is right now and what he's thinking. Also, Gabriel Walta's first issue on the book brings some pretty impressive and very unique art to the series, not too far removed from Jefte Palo but also definitely its own style. Nice issue, great cover.

Nova 11
Duggan (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova's getting readjusted to his normal life on Earth and trying to get it to fit in with his life as Nova. After believing that he was going blind upon returning home last time and seeing bright lights all across his vision, he visits their family doctor who tells him it's probably just temporary blindness brought on by stress and maybe a little by any recent hits to the head he's taken recently. While in one of his classes, Sam realizes that the lights he had been seeing are a map. That night, he flies to the nearest light and finds a dead Nova there. Also there are a horde of giant spiders hanging around that he manages to take down one-by-one. He hears the log from the dead Nova and it shows him an even bigger spider who gored this Nova throw the chest. Sam figures it out just in time and flies up and blasts the giant one from the safety of space. Realizing that the dots are all dead Novas, he decides to go home for the night. However, new enemy Cadivan, apparently a hunter or gladiator or something from deep space has kept a Nova helmet just in case some others should appear for him to kill and take as trophies. Now his helmet has flickered showing that someone is still out there.

Not a bad start for Duggan on his first full NOVA issue. Little bit of a slow start here as we get some time with Sam at school and Sam still trying to deal with his father running out on them and his mother looking for a job. Still, those things aren't bad things to have; the best characters are the ones who are deeper than what happens under the mask, in the vein of Peter Parker or Tony Stark. It does feel a little like this book wants to create the new Spider-Man, someone who lost the man who initially taught him about power and responsibility but he's still left with a strong if slightly helpless role model and support system all while navigating the treacherous waters of high school. Sam's voice still isn't bad here; it's maybe not as free-flowing or imaginative as Zeb Wells' but that may not be fair to judge after one issue. Not a bad issue and retaining the solid art team of Medina, Vlasco, and Curiel helps keep the tone pretty consistent, as the art of a book has as much to do with tone as any other aspect. It'll be interesting to see how a full arc progresses here.

Marvel Knights Hulk 1
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

Banner is face down in a river as this book starts and pulled out by a woman who saw him earlier that day on the metro (they're in Paris) having something of a freak out. She pulls him out and sees that he's got gunshot wounds. The woman, named Dyane, brings him to her apartment and gets to work trying to fix him up a bit and letting him rest. He wakes later and the two of them walk about the city as he tries to get his bearings. He remembers hulking out at some point but doesn't know where he is or who he is. As they walk around the city and she tries to get him to remember things, two mysterious men in trench coats track down Dyane's uncle George and show him a picture of Banner, asking if he's been seen. George says he has and answers all of their questions without hesitation but they gun him down anyway. They manage to find Banner and try to fight him, trying to bring the Hulk out. On the orders of their superior, they both inject themselves with some sort of serum and turn into something like hulks themselves, wrecking their way through the city on his trail. Finally, after scores of casualties, they explode in a blinding light right on top of Banner.

The first image in this issue is a full page panel of Banner face down in the water and I got flashbacks to Keatinge's first scene back on MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE, which found Morbius chased through the streets and getting "killed" brutally within the first issue. Apparently Keatinge has something of a theme going here. This issue, somewhat unlike MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN, seems to be hitting some clichéd ground, including the face-down man in the river, the mysterious but helpful stranger, the amnesia, the trench coat guys, etc. On top of that, the art isn't bad but it's not as experimental as it is in the other new MARVEL KNIGHTS books which really sets them apart from the more mainstream titles. So I guess maybe this one isn't going to be my favorite of the bunch; it moved a bit slowly and you could probably play a drinking game with the beats of this book. If he has a memory of hulking out but tries to downplay it, take a drink. If he has amnesia, take a drink. If he inexplicably gets asked out by the girl who really knows nothing about him except that he ends up face down in lakes, take a drink. If the men in trench coats have sunglasses, hats, and dark motives, take a drink. If you're bored by the end of the issue, take a drink. Thirst should be pretty well-quenched by the end of this one.

Avengers Annual 1, Iron Man 19

Avengers Annual 1
K. Immonen (w) and Lafuente (a) and Beredo w/ Loughridge (c)

Shang-Chi is taking some kids who may or may not have powers and who may or may not be delinquents of some kind (different Avengers seem to have different perspectives on the issue) on a tour of Avengers Tower. It's just before Christmas and most of the Avengers have gone elsewhere for the holidays, leaving only Shang-Chi, Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark behind. Shang-Chi's tour is something of a failure, as all of the Avengers present a not so clean look at what it is to be super powered. Manifold turns up to help Shang bring all of the kids away but one, unbeknownst to the Avengers and the other kids, sneaks away and stays at the tower. Everyone sets off to their own holiday plans except Cap, who has volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on the tower. He locks up and goes to help at a local kitchen, where he spends a good amount of time chatting with another vet about days gone by. He returns to the Tower later  and is alerted to a break-in in Tony's lab. The girl who stayed behind, an eager and excited girl named Zamira, has the power to manifest voices with alarming accuracy, meaning that she creates versions of herself that have the voices of the people they're meant to represent. FOR EXAMPLE, she manifests a Tony Stark who can access his lab with voice recognition and who speaks not dissimilarly to someone's perception of Tony Stark. Apparently she tends to lose control and create these voices when she gets anxious and she's super anxious now. Her voices run amok, issuing voice commands throughout Avengers Tower from Tony's lab. Cap goes to check it out and is quickly joined by Natasha and Hulk, both of whom ended up staying behind in the Tower after all. They try to calm Zamira down and, particularly Widow, try to get her to use her perceived liability as an asset. Tony, who also apparently stayed behind, joins in the action and things start to go crazy as too many voices start issuing commands and one of them accidentally sets off the self-destruct command. Zamira pulls herself together just in time to help set everything right, issuing other commands with other voices to stop the countdown. All of them clean things up and decide to spend the evening together, eating and talking.

It's a goofy issue, breaking very much from the current feel of Hickman's AVENGERS, but it's well-placed and extremely well-executed. I was excited to see Kathryn Immonen's name on the cover for this one, knowing we'd get a good dose of character and some solid dialogue. Between her fast-paced and chaotic story and David Lafuente's art, this Annual stands up on its own as a perfectly pleasant and easily read standalone story. I'm a big fan of showing off character and this one is pretty much just a showcase of that, giving us a really nice look at some of our core Avengers in their downtime. It's a little like DeConnick's AVENGERS ASSEMBLE in the way that it focuses on the more familial feel of the Avengers but manages to let itself be a little goofier and a little less story-driven. The story is still clearly important but one of the nice things about an Annual is that it doesn't require a story that's going to keep going beyond its one issue; sometimes you'll get one that sets up the future of a book but by and large Annuals tend to be a chance to let someone else take the characters for a spin and see what comes out of it. It was really nice to see a break from the super-serious feel of the current line of Avengers books and I hope, if it leads to anything, it leads to Kathryn Immonen on another book.

Iron Man 19
Gillen (w) and Bennett and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony has a surprise for Pepper. Well, a couple of them. He introduces her to Arno and gives the briefest of explanations of what's happening. He also inadvertently introduces her to his newest suit operating system, PEPPER, which is a bit awkward (he quickly promotes PEPPER to running the new city and renames her HELEN, giving her a Troy to look after). He also tells her of his plan to take over and rebuild Mandarin City, feral since the death of Mandarin over a year ago (back at the end of Fraction's run on IRON MAN). She's worried about him and about this whole plan, which seems entirely like an overreaction to something deeper. He admits that she's probably right but isn't too bothered by it, preferring to overreact and do something good with it than to overreact and become an alcoholic again. She convinces him to hire her new fiancee as PR person for the whole undertaking, which would probably go relatively well if not for an attack by Mandarin Ring 1 (in the presence of Mandarin Ring 7 and Abigail Burns, who we met last time) at the time of his press conference.

Plenty going on in this series still but it's rather underlined by the somewhat sweet moments of this issue. There's a relief to Tony and Arno both knowing that they're overreaching a bit and that they're trying something so big, meaning that if they have a fall during this, it won't come with full issues of "oh my hubris!" but rather with something like "well, it would have been pretty cool if it had worked!" There are also sweet and very human moments between Tony and Pepper as he explains why it's maybe not as creepy as she thinks it is that he built and named his AI after her, something that we kind of already knew but that she deserves to hear as well. He, of course, does try to hide it from her, but it's sweet and creepy nonetheless. The idea, for those who missed it in the beginning of Gillen's run, is that Pepper is Tony's best friend and that he wasn't trying to replace her or obsess over her or anything like that, but that he needed something to remind him of her and to keep him balanced as he traversed the infinite space he was going to enter. Look, I think it's sweet, okay? There's also a moment in here where Tony's narration kind of apologizes for leaving Mandarin City in shambles and justifies it by saying "I was in space, guys." Anyone who's read even, like, one post from this blog will note my love of talking to an audience and referring to it as "guys" so WHAT AN EASY WAY TO WIN ME OVER.

Hawkeye 14, Indestructible Hulk 16, FF 14

Hawkeye 14
Fraction (w) and Wu (a) and Hollingsworth (c)


Kate Bishop is officially moved into LA (as we already know from the Annual) and just about out of money. Realizing that she has skills that are maybe a little harder to market, she starts to try to put herself out there as a hero for hire and gets her first case as she uses her neighbor's printer to print her flyers out. Her neighbors, a gay couple, are getting married and the florist shop set to handle the wedding has been most burned down, burning almost all of the flowers. Kate goes to investigate and the florist points her to Flynt Ward and tells her that Ward burned everything but the orchids he had for the wedding, which Ward took himself and which Kate's neighbors were most insistent about, as one of them saw orchids specifically in a vision of the wedding. Kate tries to get the police involved and then stakes out Ward herself, who immediately recognizes what she's doing and keeps her out of his way. She decides to stalk him and take pictures of his drug dealing ways but is quickly found out and Ward chases her down in his car, knocking her off her bike before driving away. She snaps a few more pictures and goes back to the police, who inform her that marijuana is legal and so he's not really a dealer but that the hit and run will land him in prison, as will illegal possession of a firearm they found in the car. She recovers the last of the orchids and brings them to the wedding, accomplishing her first mission though also getting into a bit of an antagonistic relationship with her police contact. Ward, meanwhile, makes his first call from prison to none other than Madam Masque, enemy of our hero.

Very solid first Kate-in-LA issue (not counting the Annual which was ALSO extremely good) and it sets a nice tone for the book. Fraction clearly has a very strong voice for Kate, one that's maybe a little less grown-up than the Kate we typically see in books like YOUNG AVENGERS where she's kind of forced to be mature one by the immaturity of her teammates. Here, she's a little more free and a little more stream of consciousness than we've seen her. Though the voice might not totally match the voice we've seen somewhat established for her (I would say previous voices for Kate aren't particularly well-established in and of themselves) but they certainly stay consistent and I think you can absolutely see that voice in any iteration of Kate. Annie Wu hops on the book on art and it's phenomenal. Her Kate is outstanding and it's especially emotive. Hollingsworth's colors are great again and incredibly varied from the darker and somewhat grittier colors we've seen throughout HAWKEYE, giving way to lighter and more vibrant colors for Kate. Really fun intro to our Kate issues arc, very excited to see it. Perhaps the best explanation of the art comes from Matt Fraction's Twitter:

@AnnieW gonna get super-esoteric in the scripts just to see how you draw her: "she just remembered something but is about to sneeze" etc
— BUTT STUFF WEREWOLF (@mattfraction) October 31, 2013

Indestructible Hulk 16
Waid (w) and Asrar (a) and Staples (c)

Hulk is back to Hulking and Banner is back to Bannering after the cross-time adventures of the last arc and after the events of INFINITY. Banner is upset at having fallen behind on his promise of a new world-changing invention or discovery each Friday and plans to recoup some time with a couple of pet projects he's been working on, only to find each one invented or discovered just hours before he would have by the other big brains of the Marvel Universe. His frustration forces Hulk out and he hopes to get a mission from Hill but finds out, with the help of team-member Randall Jessup, that Hill doesn't want him on her newest big mission exploring an Aztec ruin for a potential new renewable energy found there. Frustrated more, Banner starts to Hulk but Jessup manages to talk him down and sneak him into the mission anyway. The two of them go down to Mexico and infiltrate the pyramid, where Banner starts to give way to Hulk again. Jessup earns his stripes again as he controls Hulk enough to get him clear from bringing the whole pyramid down and points him at the thing he needs to fight. Jessup also gives Hulk a successful plan of action, which does result in bringing the whole pyramid down but allows the SHIELD team to get out in time and Jessup to smuggle out the source of the renewable energy, which he shows to Banner. The issue ends with a foreshadowing line explaining that Banner knew he could trust Jessup to his death...seven days later.

Really nice issue of this book. I mentioned in my INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK review last week that Banner's team was the only consistent supporting cast created for its book that I really found myself missing over the course of an arc (thinking especially about Wolverine's dumb science cadre in WOLVERINE). Here Waid brings them back in a big way, even though it only really highlights Jessup. It reminded me a little bit of Dennis Hopeless' early run on AVENGERS ARENA, which made sure to give flashbacks of individuals on Murder World juxtaposed with what was happening with the character currently. The same thing happens here as we see a bit of Jessup's past with a tough upbringing that eventually led to him leaving his family behind a bit only to later find that his father had apparently murder-suicided his mother. It's given Jessup a need to stay with the ones he cares about and resolve to never let them down, which comes out strong with Banner in this issue. Though it's not a bad cliffhanger, I'll be a bit disappointed if Jessup does die next issue. I'd also like more issues like this one, which teams Banner up with members of his think-tank to better get to know them as individuals, which was AVENGERS ARENA's true biggest strength and which paid such dividends as the series went on. Still, very good issue, nice solid core to it and it's setting us up to care about a character who will no doubt be in some danger next time out.

FF 14
Fraction and Lee Allred (s) and Lee Allred (w) and M. Allred (a) and Laura Allred (c)

The FF are regrouping after Doom's interference with Alex Power and their subsequent trip through the portal to the moon and Uatu's base. As they regroup, they plan their next attack, hoping to gain more allies in their fight against Doom, Immortus, and Annihilus. They manage to swipe a slew of bots to go up against Doom's army of Doombots, leaving the replacement F4, along with old John Storm and young Ahura and Alex to go after Doom himself. Scott also appeals to Uatu to do more than watch and it seems to get through on some level, but we'll likely have to see about that later. Scott also admits to Darla that he was forced to kill in prison and that he's worried that side of him, the killer who rather enjoyed the act (though it was clear self-defense), will come out against Doom. There's hijinx and tomfoolery and what-have-you as the team prepares to leave the kids on the moon while they strike. Meanwhile, Doom realizes Lang is about to strike but has more on his mind. As we saw in the last FANTASTIC FOUR, he has figured out that the Negative Zone is connected to every universe and he wishes to control that himself, knocking Annihilus out of his plans and eventually causing it to knock Immortus out of his plans, again as we saw in FANTASTIC FOUR.

Plenty happening as the book heads towards it battle royale finale. Some interesting stuff and some nice character moments for a couple of our heroes but overall the book drags a bit in places that I don't think it needs to drag. This series has long wanted to have a different feel to it, one accomplished by charm and wit and fun as much as it is accomplished by Michael Allred's fresh art and Laura Allred's vibrant colors. I think it still has that but it's running into problems here as it wants to have it both ways, trading off fun and carefree with serious and sometimes dark. It's a very tricky line to balance on and I think Lee Allred is having a little more trouble walking it than Fraction, who has had plenty of experience in a lot of his books, had. I think it's because of that that the book turns extra wordy and starts to feel really off-track at certain points as Allred tries to sprinkle enough of everything in and ends up putting in a little too much of each. The funny thing was that I read maybe a little over half the book before needing to attend to other duties, saving the rest for later. When I came back to it and skimmed the first half to remember my place then continued reading the second half, I found it a better read. It felt a little less wordy in the second half and a lot of the fluff and the mixed tone was in the first half, it turned out. Not an awful book, just not one that I'd have as many recommendations for.

Captain America 11, Fantastic Four 12, Indestructible Hulk 13

Captain America 11
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Janson (a) and White (c)

Cap has returned twelve years later back to the present day of Earth. Drs. Banner and Pym run all sorts of test on him and do what they can to remove any remaining Zola influence and fix any remaining injuries Steve has while Maria Hill questions him on his time in the other dimension and the whereabouts of Sharon. Hill recommends Cap stay in touch with SHIELD to help him recover but he prefers to get back in the field. In another room, Fury is questioning Jet Black who is proving difficult. Eventually Cap retrieves her and takes her back to his old home, which is stuffed with memorabilia of his past. He promises he'll help her start a new life here and tells her that she has to let go of the past. She points out the irony in this as they stand in his museum-like house and he concedes the point. Not one to be a hypocrite, Cap gathers everything and piles it on the roof, setting it aflame in the rain. Meanwhile, broken Weapon Plus Program participant Nuke has decided to continue a war America thought failed in Eastern Europe, which will no doubt come to a head in the next issue.

There's a lot of memory out of Steve here as he recalls the death of his mother and the lessons she left him with, including letting go of the past and never giving up the optimism that this country brings. It's a really nice backstory to make Steve's family not that far removed from immigrants so they have the hope and ideals of the country so ready, even if they haven't particularly succeeded yet. It gives a nice optimism to Steve's history and puts him closer to the classic idea of the American dream than a lot of other heroes have been. The memories also serve as a nice story for Steve to fall back on to ground him again in the present after so much in his life has, once more, changed. He's able to use the memories of his mother and what she instilled in him to reorient himself in this different world. It's, presumably, what he had to fall back on to find himself when he was unfrozen after WWII. Overall, it's a nice characterization and it fits with Steve's longstanding character as well as the character that's been established with memories and the like by Remender in his short time on the book. Putting him against Nuke and alongside Jet will be an interesting storyline as it gives Cap someone on his side (hopefully) who knows what he's been through and who is dealing with similar problems of her own while pitting him against someone who feels abandoned and has fought all of his life for ideals. Exciting things to come.

Fantastic Four 12
Fraction w/ Sebela (w) and Bagley and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

The Fantastic Four is still separated, with the Johnnys, Reed, and Val stuck in Celeritas' past and Sue, Ben, and Franklin looking for them with the not-so-helpful help of the Preservation Front. Eventually the two groups find one another, meeting up pretty far back, between the Big Bang and the dawn of man on Celeritas. Of course, that means dinosaur fights, so there's a good amount of that. The Preservation Front, preferring not to be arrested, leave without the F4, stranding them in the past up against a slew of dinosaurs with their powers going in and out. Ben's rock skin starts to break, Sue has an episode which allows the Front to leave, the Johnnys seem okay but the air  in Celeritas is different than they're used to, etc. The team manages to hold off just long enough for help to arrive in the form of the grandchildren of the Preservation Front who detest their grandparents' ways and love the F4, going so far as to repair their ship for them and bring it back to this point in time, as time travel is readily accessible in Celeritas' future. The issue ends with a lot of question marks, still mostly regarding the powers of the F4 and future John Storm, with the immediate problem being Ben's rapidly breaking down body.

The powers going haywire continues to make for some compelling storytelling and Ben's rocks breaking off makes him a weaker (physically) character more prone to injury and fatigue while still looking like Thing. Kind of the worst of both worlds, if it keeps up. The question of John Storm is the more intriguing one, though, as he keeps hinting to events in the future, both of the team and kind of of his own future. It's particularly interesting because we also have the future John Storm in FF. Is this John Storm from a point before or after that John Storm? Is this one who knows the outcome of the team? Is this, in fact, a completely different entity also posing as (or believing itself to be) another John Storm? No questions have really been answered about him with any sort of definition; both Johns have been identified by people close to them (Wyatt Wingfoot for the FF's John Storm, Johnny himself for the F4's John Storm) but even that's not a definite. Still a lot of places to go with this book even as Fraction's time on the book winds down (not sure if he's still providing story or some scripting from this point on; my thought was that he was off the book but I thought he was off after this one and he's still listed on the preview of the next one).

Indestructible Hulk 13
Waid (w) and Scalera w/ Jacinto (a) and Staples (c)

Hulk and the Bannerbot have arrived in the time of King Arthur to find that the Chronarchists have expelled Arthur and his knights from Camelot in an attempt to take over Europe at a very formative time for the world. Holding power now, he could completely alter major events following the Middle Ages. On top of that, he's upped his game from bringing dinosaurs as weapons to bring major warriors and weapons from all over the timestream to defend his new kingdom. Working alongside Arthur, Merlin, and the knights, Bannerbot gets Hulk in position to attack the Chronarchist and, with the help of the Ebony Blade, rips this one back into the timestream as well, restoring the legend. As Bannerbot tries to keep Hulk enraged (to keep him as Hulk), he's interested to learn that Hulk is staying Hulked out but seems to have a higher intellect, which makes him believe the Chronarchist is toying in Hulks timeline now. This proves true as we see some tampering at the gamma bomb site where Hulk was created.

Another interesting issue that deals with the ramifications of past events on the future. There's maybe a little overkill in explaining that and, in truth, a bit much by way of summarization of where we are and why we're doing what we're doing. It's not so much that it's particularly bothersome but it's enough that it starts to pull the reader out far enough to say "hey, yeah, we get it." The same is true, I would think with most comic readers, as we keep getting into the butterfly effect, though it's toned down well enough to simply serve as a reminder of what's at stake. Otherwise, the issue is another solid one as Waid continues a team-up of Banner and Hulk and as we start to see Banner becoming more comfortable working with Hulk. It's a weird sort of buddy cop plot in that the two are so different but that the straight man knows the wild one so intimately. It's a neat little formula and it's working out so far. I expect it to move nicely forward into the next issue. It will be interesting to see if Hulk has Banner smarts at this point in his timeline and if the two get along worse for it. In and of itself it's a cool idea, putting Hulk and Banner inside their own timeline as the Chronarchists attack their attacker a little more aggressively. Neat story.