This week's picks

Geez, didn't quite realize how hard these three would be to choose until I actually started to think about it. Sometimes I'm not particularly confident in my pre-game picks so the pull list is pretty up-for-grabs. This week I was totally sure of my pre-game, barring possible freak inexplicably bad issues from really talented creators, so I had a good feeling that was where the picks would go. With the exception of one possibility jumping into the fray, I'm torn. The worst part is I know two of my three picks already. Alphabetically, though, they're the last two and I just hate working out of order. Well, let's see what I decide! It's a journey for ALL OF US!

She-Hulk 1

GUYS, this was a really tough pick and I'm writing these words without knowing if I'm going to use them or delete them later. SHE-HULK beats out, just by a hair, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 27, which gets lots of points for tying together all of its plots and constructing a very interesting upcoming arc to lead us back to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH, which established an amazing tone and is just a really well-constructed book. SHE-HULK wins the day, though, as it's hard to come away from a first issue with such a good grasp on who this character is and what to expect from this book. I'm not going to say that things won't change or that the book won't be dynamic or anything like that, that we're just going to get this style of issue every time out; quite the opposite, in fact. SHE-HULK shows itself as an interesting and quirky book with a real sense of its main character and of the world she inhabits. I can't imagine how hard it is, though Soule is helped by his many forebears, to take a character who is constantly giant and green (by choice, mind you) and drop her into a real world and make it still relatable and not crazy. Soule does it, though, with absolutely no problems and with a nice little flair for humor and personality through every single character. This book was almost hurt by the next book on the list if only because I don't want to look stupid when I say that "number ones are rarely this good" twice in one post but, hey, whatever, I think I've proven just how stupid I can look already.

X-Force 1

Number ones are rarely this good. This one doesn't have the kind of shock value of the sheer beauty of something like BLACK WIDOW or NEW AVENGERS but it has such a well-defined sense of itself and such a wonderful sense of the narrative that anyone, whether they're new to X-MEN, new to X-FORCE, new to Marvel, or probably even new to comics, can, I would speculate, pick up what's happening in this book so far. Despite the amount of information that kind of comfortability requires, Spurrier makes sure the book isn't loaded with exposition. It leaves us with exactly the right amount of questions and the right tone for this series as it moves forward. Our team is well-established, their purpose even more so. Spurrier even knocks it out of the park with the decision to cast our initial narrator as Marrow, easily the least visible member of the team in recent years. He took the risk of alienating readers by putting in a relative unknown with a relatively unknown point of view and a rather crazed perspective as our narrator and it pays off well, allowing us to understand her better than we would have if it were, say, Psylocke or Cable's more tempered narration, or no narration at all. Rock-He Kim's art flows well with the book and I look forward to the way that Spurrier and Kim continue to improve as they work more and more together. There is, of course, also a measure of trust in this pick. As I said earlier, the book leaves us with exactly the right amount of questions by the end and the trust comes in as I trust Spurrier to eventually reveal those questions before they fade into "does anyone really care any more?" territory. I think one of the big problems with, say, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is that they prodded the watchers to ask so many questions (and like, explicitly told them to ask, unlike something like Lost where the characters were just as in the dark, or lost, even, as the audience) and refused answers that it's gotten fairly monotonous and annoying. I don't want to have to ask questions that I know you have the answers to and that you'll only divulge at the right time. That is, I don't if you don't overstay that time. Like a good mystery novel, the satisfaction is in the figuring it out, not in the asking. I trust Spurrier to lead us to that point because he's done it so masterfully across his other works.

X-Men Legacy 24

If you didn't think this book was going to be on this list after the "review" I posted this week that was less review and more open love letter, I can't help you any more. This is the kind of book that will stay with me for years to come and this issue has been on my mind as much as anything else in the last week. I can't stress enough how much I want you all to read it. I've made just about everyone who's come into contact with me in the last few days read it because I need people to talk to about it or even just to know it exists. Every bit as meaningful as the comic itself was to me, so too was Spurrier's little letter to the audience at the issue's conclusion. There's so much to love about this and it's so hard to be sad that the book's over since, you know, kind of the point of this is that we shouldn't be sad that it's over. David himself told us not to be, you guys. As a whole, this series has been one of the best Marvel, or any publisher out there, has put out in quite some time. David is one of the most well-characterized and, despite all of his power and the scale of his problems, relatable characters I've seen. Check this title out and tell me what you think. Am I overblowing it? Maybe. But I suppose that's my right, isn't it?

X-Men Legacy 24, X-Force 1

X-Men Legacy 24
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

My plan, right, was to lead Wednesday off with AVENGERS and SECRET AVENGERS, as I tend to put Avengers titles out first if I have them. Scheduling forced my hand, though, and had me lead with X-MEN LEGACY, the end of my favorite book of the year, and X-FORCE, the start of what I hope will be a favorite (I'm writing this before I read that one). I think, given the impact of these two stories (and particularly this one), it's the right call to highlight these books as early as I am, middle of the day on a release day, but it also makes me more wary of spoilers. I've toyed, going back and forth, with having reviews that wholly summarize the book and having reviews that vaguely point at things and reviews that are more log lines with analysis of something I refuse to define. I've more or less settled on fully summarization, leaving out some of the finer details to allow potential readers the chance to find those out for themselves.

There's no room for that here.

This book is not only totally spoiler-laden, it's maybe the most incredible story I've read in comics since Gillen's JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY or the Winter Soldier creation. It's meaningful, it's wonderful, and it, above all else, knows exactly what it is. I refuse to spoil it here and I refuse especially to do so on a Wednesday, when plenty of people won't even have a chance to get to it. All I'll do is advise you to go out, buy this book, buy any copy of X-MEN LEGACY you can find, and absorb it all. Drink it all in. As Spurrier says in the traditional final letter to the audience, the book is "a title, a character, a creative team and above all a vibe so bloodymindedly unlike its fellows." If it's not for you, it's not for you. But it's absolutely been for me and it's absolutely been something to watch. It's an incredible departure from any other superhero comic in the way that YOUNG AVENGERS played with the medium and the art form as a whole or the way HAWKEYE insists on not being about superheroes. It's something worth seeing even if it's not what you're looking for. Please take note of it. I'll end this not-quite-review with more of Spurrier's words:

There will be some, I think, angered by these last few pages, on the grounds that a tale's "importance" can only be weighed according to some grand impact on its Universe. I understand but disagree with that view. Instead I wouldn't have chosen quite such a perversely bittersweet ending if I didn't think it the best way to emphasize a very important point: even when nothing else has changed, when all the explodo and punching seems to have been for nothing, it's the lesson learnt - even the merest echo of it - that renders the journey valuable. Our memories remain.

X-Force 1
Spurrier (w) and R. Kim (a and c)

Cable has assembled Psylocke and formerly-powered Marrow to be a part of his new mutant strike team, a "dirty tricks crew" for mutant nation. The reasoning behind this one is more firm than the reasoning behind the most recent couple of X-Force teams, one brought together by threat and one brought together to prevent disasters Cable foresaw. This one is here to do a little bit of everything, including making sure mutants don't get dealt out of the world-building hand. After an attack in Alexandria (which may be linked to why Hope is suddenly strapped up to machines with Doctor Nemesis claiming that she's "theoretically alive") took over three thousand lives with a mutant square in the center of it, Cable wants to figure out what the mutant's tie was to the explosion, hoping to keep people from getting more mad at mutants, and to recover whatever the weapon was, hoping to arm up the mutants. His "broadly trustworthy" informant has discovered that the cyber-weapon that shut down communications in Alexandria was also used in various other countries at various other strikes to gain data. Now this informant is being held by the Chinese and the team needs to get him out before they can advance to the next stage. Of course, to Psylocke's dismay, the informant is Fantomex. Fantomex reports that the weapon is being carried by a plane always airborne over Antarctica (international air) and it's only susceptible to attack when it's being refueled. He also happens to know the refueling schedule. The team dispatches in EVA to attack the refueling plane, hijacking it to allow the formerly-depowered Marrow to hurl herself at the plane with a Doc Nemesis concocted timefreeze grenade, allowing her 30 seconds of unfettered access. She shatters the engine of the plane before sticking a parachute on the weapon container and launching it and herself out of the wreckage in that 30 seconds (real time a few tenths of a second) before the plane blows. Inside the weapon's container is, as Cable suspected, a new mutant.

Very interesting first issue and one that makes completely clear that these characters will all very much have their own distinct personalities and uses. I talked a little bit in my pre-game this week about the upside to having a team that's a little smaller than the recent X-FORCE teams (and really than most teams in general) and, after reading this issue, I have to emphasize again how neat it is. Four people on the team (plus unofficial member Doctor Nemesis) means we get ample time to check in with each character and get a feel for everyone, even in just the first issue. Marrow, the biggest question mark of the roster, handles narration duty and it gives us a look into an adrenaline junkie's mind, one that we can also see through her action and her dialogue. The narration colors her as something more than just a deranged thrill-seeker, which her dialogue may not have done so well. Cable, of course, is the terse general, always plotting and always leading. Psylocke is the most complicated and perhaps the least fleshed out here, though not because Spurrier does a bad job with her. She's probably the most prevalent character in the wider universe from this team right now so there's less need to really get too far into her character but it still sticks the landing (OLYMPICS) by showing her as the uber-powerful and lethal telepath with a complex history and a vow to stop killing. Fantomex gets perhaps the biggest makeover with Spurrier really relishing the dive into his over-the-top personality and his French aspects. Fantomex sometimes confounds writers thanks to his strange origins. He chose to be French when he was raised as part of the Weapon Plus program and it's something that writers don't tend to bring out too much (even Remender didn't focus on it besides a word here or there and Wolverine's insistence that his nickname be "Le Pew," a nickname which Wolvy would be pleased to know carries over here). Spurrier sees it as a key character point and I can't help but agree. The man chose to be French, of course he's going to embrace it. It also gives him the unerring air of smugness and irritation so points to that as well. Really fun first issue, looking forward to this one as it continues and as we start to go deeper into the story and the people.

X-Men Legacy 23, Uncanny X-Force 17

X-Men Legacy 23
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

David's world worm is in full effect as he finds himself trapped in his own mind while the sum of his powers begin to envelop everyone around him, calling forth all mutants to join him, which they do, convinced by David's powers that it's for the best. The only one who isn't called into David is Blindfold, who tries to stop the other mutants from being taken but who also recognizes that she won't be able to. She enters David's mind as her physical body keeps fighting the world worm outside and the two of them talk. It's a surprisingly soft talk with everything that's happening outside and it has a lot to do with his regret that he won't be able to spend more time with Ruth. It's then, though, that the smallest of loopholes occurs to him (particularly notable since he also spends a fair amount of time lamenting that the beautiful people in this world always get loopholes and manage to worm their way out of death but he just worms his way into it. Get it? Worms. Guys, I'm working on LAYERS here): one of the powers he's gestalt-ed into him is the powers of the Chronodon, who can make time stand still. He uses these powers not to stop anything that's about to happen but to give himself and Ruth just a little more time. And then they make love in that time.

This series and this story have been incredible all the way through, highlighted by a very distinct narrator and protagonist but certainly helped by a well-developed and maintained supporting cast. In the end, though, this was always meant to be a love story between David and Ruth and finally, after 23 issues, they get their moment. Albeit, it's a short lived one as they had to literally stop time to have it and their return to time will return their physical forms to fighting with one needing to kill the other to ensure their better future, but it's still a moment. It's a lovely moment at that and it's backed by an issue that gives us exactly what we've come to expect from this book; it's a solid mix of action, high stakes, and character drama with the typical comic book world-ending possibility and, as David knew it would, it all comes down to punching. Really great visual issue too. Striking images and jarring colors (lots of yellow and grey) really help to highlight everything that's happening and give it sort of an epic feel. So excited for the last issue but also so incredibly depressed by the idea of it.

Uncanny X-Force 17
Humphries (w) and Tolibao, Soy, Tadeo, Young, and Paris (a) and Curiel (c)

The conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE, CABLE AND X-FORCE, and the VENDETTA crossover itself kicks off with Hope plunging the psimitar into Bishop's gut. Bishop, though, convinces her to take the psimitar out without actually killing him by again pointing out that he's totally sorry but more so that she shouldn't throw her life away by killing and that she shouldn't throw her life away on him. Not to say he wouldn't deserve it, he admits, but that it's still not worth it (it doesn't hurt that he's not a threat any more). With this, the rest of the X-Force teams locate and attack Stryfe, splitting into two groups, one to attack Stryfe and one to locate their missing teammates. The attack on Stryfe is well-managed by Psylocke but ultimately fails to the omega-level mutant. Stryfe captures everyone in a telekinetic hold except for Spiral, who had left earlier, and Cable, who was still removed from the fight. Spiral, though, hadn't actually left officially but had, instead, gone to pick up Cable and they return to stab Stryfe with the psimitar, which does not kill him but does force him to flee. However, before he goes, he forces Hope to take his powers, knowing she can't contain them and will likely kill them all with the psychic reverb. With Stryfe gone, everyone is free to worry about Hope exploding but, before she can, Bishop rushes forth and talks to her, understanding what she's going through as someone whose powers also rely on absorption and release. Bishop manages to get her to contain the power and then blast it upwards, impacting no one. With everyone safe, the two teams reconvene and hang out a bit, effectively ending the books with Psylocke and Cable walking into the sunset together.

It's not a bad little ending but most of it hinges on Bishop and Hope, which is certainly a worthwhile story and one that's executed as well as anything in these two series has been. However, it also means that the rest of the players in this book kind of get pushed to the side a little and actually end up feeling a little unnecessary. The story was never about them and their rescue of the hostages only ended up serving as a distraction for Cable to get to Stryfe. Kind of a weird way to end the two series, which is kind of what I've been saying since the get-go. I've also been saying that this crossover has hit every beat in a sort of predictable fashion and, with the quality of the issue aside, this issue is no different. Still, like I said, the story of Cable, Hope, and Bishop was one certainly worth telling and I think it's told pretty well here. I don't think either of these series got to end on a particularly strong note with this crossover, sadly, but it's certainly an acceptable note and it paves the way rather nicely for Si Spurrier's X-FORCE next month (woo!).

X-Men Legacy 22, Uncanny X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 22
Spurrier (w) and Pham (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The evil mind-Xavier has launched a missile containing all sorts of nuclear firepower at Washington, knowing that the very act, once it shows on the radar, will cause a chain reaction around the world currently filled with hate that the gold Xavier has permeated. David, though, unknowingly has called for his allies. From Wolverine's team to Cyclops' team to Abigail Brand and Sydren to Pete Wisdom to anyone he's teamed up with and they all show, helping to take apart the nuke before it can cause too much trouble (as David points out, taking apart a nuke was the first thing the X-Men did). The gold Xavier is less a gold Xavier at current and more a giant rock monster thing with crazy seemingly disintegration ray powers so it'll take all the X-Men and David's considerable might to bring him down. There are casualties in the fight that David, as a leader, has to be able to move past, including the apparent deaths of Abigail Brand, Chamber, and Karasu Tengu. David pushes through and gets the X-Men to push through and work together, to put aside the hate they have stored up in them and the hate that Xavier is trying to force to the surface. David destroys the body and pulls the power into the astral plane. It's at this moment that Blindfold wakes up, with the power taken by her brother restored (now that Luca's body is destroyed), and projects herself to the fight while her actual body hurries its way there. David squares off against the gold Xavier, who begins to weaken and transform away from the Xavier image and into something small and sickly, goblin-like, in his mind. David prepares to either cage the personality or destroy it but the personality denies him, asking David how a person with a sickness of the mind cures it. The answer is, of course, that he doesn't: he finds ways to live with it. With that, he dives into David's legion and David, unprepared to take it on, emerges back into the real world and becomes the world worm they knew he would become.

The last time I talked about X-MEN LEGACY it was to name it 2013's best Marvel title. This issue does absolutely nothing to disavow me of that notion, even though last week saw the conclusion and therefore the wrap-up of the amazing YOUNG AVENGERS. This book is just truly something else. There's a feeling with the last year or two of Marvel books that they're all echoing something different out there. I think that has a lot to do with books like HAWKEYE, which really broke the mold of a superhero comic, and the rise of Image comics. Superhero books can be different and they can maybe be a little niche and you can take the superhero world, with all of its tropes and eccentricities and over-the-top action and death and resurrection and superpowers and supervillains, and you can, if you want, stick it in a real-ish world and tell really great, really character-centric stories. It's not necessarily a new idea when it's framed that way but it certainly feels new and the books that are doing it well are doing it with such excellence that they're about the best books I've ever seen. Even books that feel a little more traditional, like DAREDEVIL, are bringing such a level of personality and depth that they're changing the face of superhero comics. X-MEN LEGACY is a book about the mutant son of Charles Xavier who happens to be the most powerful mutant in existence. David himself says that his father thought of him as a mutant with "godlike powers and childlike control." Despite this and despite the amazing stories that Spurrier can be and has told with the character, it's remained remarkably personal and remarkably moving. This issue moves David into a spot (where he's been moving for a while, actually) where the main villain has been the sickness in himself and, instead of the typical superhero solution of "punch down the bad guys," you can't find a cure for every sickness. It's an amazing book. Khoi Pham's art is incredible here and, though his style is a departure from Tan Eng Huat (the other major series artist), gives the book a very distinct feel. Huat's art has really grown on me as the series has progressed and, honestly, it's at the point where I love Pham's art in this book but I can see it just as well as if Huat drew it. That's thanks in no small part, too, to Rachelle Rosenberg's colors, which unify the title and makes it look unlike any other out there. Amazing, amazing book. If we ever get a full omnibus style release for this title, I'd urge everyone to get it. Urge, you guys.

Uncanny X-Force 16
Humphries (w) and Tolibao and Soy (a) and Curiel (c)

Hope and Bishop have been taken by Stryfe and both Cable's X-Force and the Uncanny X-Force are interested in finding them. However, the reasons for their mutual interest don't exactly match up and the two teams begin to fight one another through LA. Cable's team shows up to support their leader as he gets knocked out by Storm and Psylocke and they play a bit of keep away as Cable's team works to get him back. Meanwhile, Bishop tries to convince Hope that he's really changed but nothing he can say, as he well understands, can make up for the horrors he's inflicted on Hope. Stryfe shows up to taunt at them for a bit and because he's sworn revenge on Bishop, who betrayed him and left him stranded in the future the last time they saw each other. He offers Hope a chance at her wildest dreams (to be revealed next issue). Back in LA, the dust settles to find Cable awake again. Cable instructs Dr. Nemesis to give Spiral a nightmare, which he does with one of his drug concoctions. In the midst of Spiral's Mojo-based nightmare, Cable convinces her to teleport him to Stryfe's location, which she somewhat unwittingly does. They arrive to find Stryfe waiting for them.

What I typically like about four-issue crossovers is that there's usually a lot to explain and not a lot of room to do it in, so you tend to get only the exposition that you truly need and the action has to move at a certain pace to convey the entire story of two separate entities (in this case, CABLE AND X-FORCE and UNCANNY X-FORCE) over only four issues. For the most part, VENDETTA is proving to be no different. The fights move pretty quickly, the inciting incident and rising action all move well, and you can feel the story both winding up and preparing to wind down at any point. On the weaker ones, you can usually map out the beats after the first issue. I wouldn't say this is entirely one of the weaker ones; the story there, particularly the story about Hope and Bishop, is intriguing enough to keep the audience guessing and to keep the crossover moving well. I will say, I almost would have preferred it if this issue wasn't a big fight issue. Not only would a quick team-up without the typical big fight be something of a surprise in a crossover of this style, it would make a little more sense. To both Sam Humphries' and Dennis Hopeless' credit, they've created a reason for the fight that's more than just "this is the second beat of a four-issue crossover." Still, these are two teams comprised of people who are friends and unquestionably heroes (well, except for the reformed villains you tend to ruin into) and you'd like to see that, just once, mean something. Still not a bad issue. There's some clunky fight-dialogue sprinkled throughout but the arguments for both side are good enough that you can get past it. Also not complaining that the resolution of this crossover will set us into the February launch of Si Spurrier's (see above review) X-FORCE.

This week's picks

Slight departure from last week, where I couldn't narrow down to three picks so I cheated and stuck everything in. This week had far more books that I didn't really care for or that I downright didn't like. There were still a good handful that I really liked but it wasn't enough to make me cheat again. That door is closed. Until the next time there are too many good picks.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3

This is kind of my wild card pick this week. In truth, I think that both AVENGERS ANNUAL and INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK ANNUAL were better books, maybe along with IRON MAN and INHUMANITY. Still, it's hard for me to pick a different book than LONGSHOT because this book stuck with me most this week, which is saying a lot. I can't really even explain why it stuck with me except that it was fun. Sometimes comics trying to go whole-heartedly fun and funny can falter and feel so forced (point in case, this week's DEADPOOL). This one didn't. It flowed well, it was funny, it's hitting all of its marks, and it's a really pretty book, overall, with solid art from Camagni. Good stuff all around.

X-Men Legacy 21

Well obviously this book and obviously the next one. X-MEN LEGACY, through Spurrier's Marvel NOW! run has been such a wonderful character study for David Haller. Others have had nice little examinations throughout but the defining factor is David's personality and his very troubled struggles. I don't think there's anyone out there right now writing better, more complete single characters in any comic I'm reading. Between this one and Spurrier's ongoing weekly web-based comic CROSSED: WISH YOU WERE HERE, Spurrier has so tightly developed characters that the comic might as well run itself at this point. What's, perhaps, more impressive is that he's not content to sit on his created character; he's constantly changing David and putting him through new challenges. It's a tremendous series and this issue is no different.

Young Avengers 13

This post is taking me longer than I thought it would and mostly because I keep going back into YOUNG AVENGERS just to look at the art. It's a lot to go through and frankly, the art would be enough to put this book firmly on the pull list even if the story or writing was garbage but GOOD NEWS, this is a fantastic series with an interesting story, awesome writing, and great characters. Just overall phenomenal stuff. Like with X-MEN LEGACY, this is a perfect example of a complete journey, a book that's developed its characters throughout the course of the series to the point where their actions make sense here even as they do things we haven't seen in the series (David revealing his jealousy for Teddy and Billy in his inspiration talk to Teddy, America showing her sentimentality and her care for her teammates, something that's been building for a while, and the Kate and Noh-Varr fight, all perfect, not to even get into the main stories between Billy and Teddy and Loki). Really amazing series and an amazing conclusion to this series-long arc.

X-Men Legacy 21, Amazing X-Men 2, Marvel Knights X-Men 2

X-Men Legacy 21
Spurrier (w) and Pham w/ Leisten (a) and Rosenberg (c)

David’s newfound sense of self isn’t exactly thrilling everyone close to him…or really, anyone close to him since Blindfold is the only one close to him. He visits her before he sets off on his journey and he lets her into his mind again, explaining why he has to fight the evil Xavier and where he has to do it. It has a lot to do with the psychosphere, the kind of collective subconscious that Xavier is warping and filling with hate, filling the human hivemind with hate and anger. Ruth understands all of this but doesn’t like that it’s David who has to end it and really doesn’t like that David has become something different and strange as she loves the imperfect David. As ever though, David reveals that his visit, though he loves her, was using her to try to bond his remaining personalities, as he’s always stronger and more complete when he’s around her. It, uh, it doesn’t totally work and he leaves her behind while still bemoaning all of his non-participation medal personalities. He goes to fight the gold-skinned Xavier and, despite his growing power, still can’t best him. Xavier announces that it’s worthless, that he was always the strongest piece of David, whatever he might have been in relation to David. David keeps pleading to his strongest powers to join up with him and they keep refusing. Blindfold, still in her bed at Winchester, pleads too. Xavier makes David watch as his hate bleeds into a man on a nuke-carrying submarine who goes on to kill all of his shipmates and launch the nuke before killing himself.

Despite all of the growing plot and the rising tension as the gold-skinned Xavier starts polluting the world and making humans attack one another to pave the way for mutants, everything that happens here is so fundamentally driven by Spurrier’s insistence to make David a fully realized and wonderfully compelling character. Without David’s character, it’s just another superhero-against-insurmountable-odds story, which can be perfectly fine but right now we have extra levels to it because there’s so much happening with David. In fact, by and large, I’m far more interested in what’s going to become of David as a character than I am about whether or not he’ll stop the gold-skinned Xavier. That’s not a slight on the story nor the threat, both of which are impressive, rather it’s a ringing endorsement of how interesting David is as a character and how invested the audience is in him. More great stuff, looking forward to the last few issues, sad that it’ll be ending.

Amazing X-Men 2
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

After coming through the portal, the X-Men are all separated, with Storm, Iceman, and Firestar landing in what seems to be Hell and Wolverine and Northstar ending up in what seems to be Heaven. Wolverine is contacted by Xavier, who kind of explains where he is and tells him not to let go in his fight against the captain of the ship he’s fighting, Captain Jack (??). He does, of course, let go in the physical sense of the plank he’s holding on to (like, walking the plank sort of plank) and falls into what seems to be nothingness. Storm, Iceman, and Firestar look to fight their way out but pretty quickly realize that they’re not the only target of the demons below, who are also not so thrilled with Azazel. They best their adversaries, though it comes with great exhaustion to Iceman particularly. Firestar tries to help him out of Hell as Storm is captured by some of the red bamfs and the captain of the ship leaving Hell, Captain Kid, as in Billy the Kid (??). Watching the ship and ready to hijack and take it over, though, is Nightcrawler.

It’s probably wrong to say that a book is moving slowly after two issues but, I mean, this book is moving pretty slowly, right guys? It’s not that there haven’t been fights or that there haven’t been big dramatic reveals or villains (kind of, if we’re counting the weird ship captains which I’m still not really counting) because there have been. Still, the book is moving pretty slowly, which might have to do with the amount of narration and character explanations that sometimes come with the beginnings of books. In this case, we get definitions of major X-Men like Wolverine, Iceman, Storm, and Northstar, and a perhaps would-be more useful definition of Firestar if it didn’t basically just say “I don’t really know her.” The narration is from Nightcrawler which makes me wish that the issue was just about Nightcrawler already, and not about this weird Heaven/Hell thing. I’m not totally onboard with that, you guys. The art isn’t bad and I’m less bothered this time out by the similarities between this and the first few issues of NOVA (also drawn by McGuinness) which made everyone look a little more childlike than I would have hoped. I guess ultimately I just wish this book, like Aaron’s time on WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN (which I just found out will be continuing without Aaron and will pass to WINTER SOLDIER writer Jason Latour), was maybe a little less childlike than I’ve seen so far.

Marvel Knights X-Men 2
Revel (w and a) and Peter (c)

Wolverine fights off Sabretooth who reveals him to be Mystique to fight Rogue before being joined by Blob and Pyro and a cadre of Hellfire Guard, all of which rings strange to Wolverine. He realizes that something else must be causing it and sees a girl in the middle of the house, holding a gun and hiding from them. He asks if she’s doing this and she tells him that she’ll shoot him then goes ahead and shoots him. He shakes it off and she cuts her arm, making all of the manifestations disappear. They talk to her and, along with Kitty and the girl they picked up last time, determine to bring her with them until they can figure some more things out. The new girl, Darla, reveals that she can pull out memories from people’s minds and manifest them, which led to the suicide of her mother and abandonment from her father. Wolverine accuses her of killing the mutant they’re there to kill and freaks out a bit at her, which makes Rogue a bit suspicious. They probably all should be suspicious of the other girl they’re with but no one is so the adventure continues!

The story continues to be compelling as we get roped into a backwoods world of mutants and drugs and dirty cops and all sorts of other things that Wolverine, Kitty, and Rogue were never expecting. More compelling than the story and these characters, though, is the art, which continues to stand out and really looks like nothing else in comics today. Between the fluidity of the art and the almost-pastel like colors, the panels look almost like paintings, though not in the same sort of ways you get near-painting-like panels in comics occasionally, like I'd say MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN is kind of looking right now. The story itself is good and the new characters Revel has created are plenty interesting, just as it's interesting to see three core X-Men finding themselves out of their depth in a small town, but it's really the art that's drawing me in, again, not unlike MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN.

This week's picks

Lot of good picks this week and not too many truly bad ones, which is pretty exciting as someone who makes himself read them all. Let's get right into it without any more unnecessary notes from me.

Thunderbolts 18

Another fun issue of THUNDERBOLTS that continues to help build a new feel for this series. This arc probably overall could have been condensed an issue or so but I don't think the extra length really hurts it in any big way. If anything, it gives us a more complete look at the characters and a better feel for the tone. Everything in this first arc from Charles Soule comes to a head as the Thunderbolts succeed in all of their goals (plus a few bonus ones) but not without tensions rising and a bit of a competitive bent shining through (there's a great moment where Deadpool brags about killing the Paguros and doing it without following Punisher's complex plan and then gets to rub it in to Punisher that, since he was helping after all, Punisher's going to be in for a doozy when Deadpool's name comes out of that hat). There's still a romantic thing going on with Elektra and Punisher (that culminates IN THE BATTLE VAN) and there are still plenty of tensions borne from that. And Mercy, this doesn't even mention Mercy! There's so much happening and the book still manages to be fresh and fun. Pretty neat.

X-Men Legacy 20

Speaking of culmination, Si Spurrier's final arc on the book is approaching and he's going into it guns fully blazing, it seems. After an entire series spent with David going back and forth in his power-set and in his own confidence, everything seems to be pretty well sorted as David goes up against his biggest foe yet (and he's been up against the Red Skull, you guys). One of the best and most impressive parts of it all is that it's not coming as a heavy-handed "FINALLY David overcomes all of his issues" sort of story because David has fluctuated so often in the series. He's gone from being among the most powerful to de-powered to looking to be de-powered to being confident to being doubtful to everything in between and, frankly, he's won out in just about every venture he's undertaken, even if it's not the cleanest win. Because of that, it's hard to say that he's needed outwardly to overcome his issues since, without overcoming it, he's been so successful. This is a very emotional and exciting win for David and it's perfectly executed. The art really stands out here and it works perfectly for the tone of the book. Great stuff, really excited for the next arc to start.

Young Avengers 12

Guys, YOUNG AVENGERS is likely to remain on my top picks for the last few issues, just as it's been here for the first 12 or so. This book is reliably among the best of any given week, no matter what happens. For starters, the writing is always top of the game and the characterization is always incredibly intricate and multi-faceted. It's a book that feels fully in sync with itself; the art perfectly represents the writing, the characters will say something and then look amazingly expressive of that thought. Often, they don't even really need to say anything, the look conveys it, and Gillen is a skilled enough writer and trusts McKelvie enough to know that upfront. Gillen said in an interview that one of his biggest goals for the book was to get McKelvie into the spotlight by getting him to draw a fairly big ongoing series with Marvel. He's pretty clearly accomplished that by getting the immensely talented Jamie McKelvie into the comic-reader lexicon and, as anyone who knew him before this or who has seen him since can tell you, it's one hundred percent deserved. This is, hands-down, the best drawn book in a slew of absolutely amazingly drawn books right now. Amazing stuff. Hoping to hear soon that Gillen and McKelvie are picking up another Marvel book.

X-Men Legacy 20, Cable and X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 20
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung w/ Tadeo (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Shadow Phoenix is in David's mind attacking all of the powers that live there as David tries to find a way to defeat it. He thinks back to the things that linked the survivors of the Shadow Phoenix he saw when he was combing around Aarkus' head for clues. His first assumption is that sheer power defeated it, so he tries to rally his strongest and most intimidating powers, though he does so to no avail. They're scared of the Shadow Phoenix, who is picking them apart one by one. His next thought is strength in numbers, so his next move is to attempt to lead the remaining powers in his head. When this continues not to work, it sets in on him. Strength in numbers doesn't matter, it's the ability to work together that saved the Shadow Phoenix's other foes. Knowing this, David opens himself up to bond with his powers, teaming with them instead of simply grabbing and controlling them when he needs. David realizes that his mantra of "I rule me" has never been more true; every human, as he says, is a legion in need of a leader, wishing to be guided and not ruled. As a result, the Shadow Phoenix starts to weaken and even starts to spit back out the powers its swallowed, which David realizes is pretty weird; a predator who doesn't chew its food but keeps it intact. It dawns on David as he expels the Shadow Phoenix and wakes up: the Shadow Phoenix wasn't real, it was all a con. As he emerges from his own mind and awakens again, he begins to accuse Aarkus, who quickly cuts him off and explains it was only for his own good. He needed to learn how to use his powers like this, to become one with them. They needed him scared, not smug. Aarkus, in fact, appreciated that David stepped in to correct his previous views about mutants and wanted to return the favor by opening David's mind to what he could really be. On top of that, they need him whole to face down the golden Xavier. Even this series' first person to turn on David, Karasu Tengu, has realized that her life is, in fact, better for David's interference in it and so she played the role of the Shadow Phoenix. Now David must go and fight, with all of his powers intact.

Really, really lovely book. There are few examples of the sort of "hero realizes his potential" part of the hero's journey that are as well executed as this. All of the pieces start coming together as we see flashes from David of his own memories of this series where, for as successful as he's been, he's used and abused people. He's accomplished most of his own goals but his mistakes and even the problematic perception of him have all come because he's refused to let people in on his plan, preferring to do things himself and let people see too late that maybe he was doing a good thing after all. This issue makes clear that David simply hasn't seen things that way up to now and, even if he realized he wasn't really in any danger from the Shadow Phoenix, it's impossible to argue that he didn't just become far more powerful by leading his powers instead of just controlling them so there's a lesson here for him regardless of how the lesson came to him. The art is gorgeous and fits so well with this book and I continue to read these issues and wonder how I didn't love the art from the start. This issue very much feels like Spurrier's way to wrap it up here as he begins his transition over to his new X-FORCE book (still excited about that, you guys); we've now seen David embrace his powers and his future as well as mending relationships with Aarkus, SWORD, and Karasu. The issue ends with the knowledge that Blindfold was kind of in on this plan from the start but that she refused to be a part of it because she didn't want to see David in so much pain and because she realized that it was the beginning of the end. Brand then promptly wiped Blindfold's memory of it and sent her home. Some has stuck around, though, as she mutters in her sleep that they're going to start the end. So, as Abigail Brand says, go start it, cowboy.

Cable and X-Force 16
Hopeless (w) and Sandoval (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The sudden appearance of another entity in Forge's head has complicated things for the team as a whole. The Sentinel Colossus and Domino were tasked with taking down is not as inert as they were expecting it. Though they eventually manage to shut it down, the initial chase and the ensuing explosion cause an avalanche very near to them. Cable, on the other hand, has found that his new pre-cog powers are working pretty well but that his old powers aren't running properly any more, leaving he and Hope in the middle of a firefight with Reavers without any guns. Hope, though, had accidentally borrowed some of his TK powers when she had to attack him with the psimitar and so has enough to keep them mostly protected, though how far that will go remains to be seen as higher ranking Reavers return with a device that morphs the fallen Reavers into one giant predator. Finally, back at the base, Nemesis has entered Forge's consciousness to try to figure out what's going on inside. While in there, he runs into Forge and the two begin to explore while Forge explains that this entity is known as the Adversary (very clever name) and is a creature of pure chaos who likes to mess with humans (who Nemesis likens to Q from Star Trek: the Next Generation for all you nerds out there, says the guy with a comic blog). As they explore and find no real way to stop the Adversary, Forge realizes that the mind they're in isn't Forge's any more, it's the Adversary's.

A good deal of interesting stuff here as, in typical CABLE AND X-FORCE fashion, things go extremely wrong extremely quickly. There's a lot to contend with and it's almost entirely interesting as Cable's old powers are no longer working, Hope's powers are somewhat amplified by the TK that came pouring out of Cable's mind not long ago, Domino and Colossus have ruined their date night by causing an avalanche when they had to bring down a Sentinel, favorite odd-couple Nemesis and Forge are reunited as they wander through someone's mind, and Boom Boom is stuck at home contending with a god-like being of pure chaos who, in his first moments around her, converted their base into a simulacrum of a night club. As I said, there's a lot happening. The writing continues to be really character-driven, giving us really great moments from...well, from everyone, really. There's not a character in this issue who doesn't have a good few lines. The art fits the tone really well, a somewhat more cartoony feel than what we've seen from this book previously with Gerardo Sandoval  picking up the pencils on this one. There are cute little moments in lettering too as Hope throws a car at some of the Reavers and the sound effect reads "KAR-KRASH," just pages after an avalanche starting made the sound "AVALANCHE." Sometimes little fun games like that can get really distracting and pull you out, but I had to double-check kar-krash before really getting it and I didn't even see "AVALANCHE" on the first read-through. Lots of fun stuff with plenty of plot to keep us motivated for next issue.

This week's picks!

Smaller slate of books out this week means that, unless we hit an improbable 50% amazing books mark, the selection process is more about picking the clear winners and then, the far trickier part, deciding who takes third place. In a week with more books, there's a far greater chance that you have four or five deserving books so the trouble becomes trying to pare down to how those four or five rank. But we should have plenty for this week, right?

Captain Marvel 17

The final entry of this volume of CAPTAIN MARVEL, which has been a truly tremendous run and which I imagine will continue to be tremendous when DeConnick moves to the next volume, starting early next year. I'm interested to see the changes between the two books (Captain Marvel...in SPACE) but, for this book, it's been a near perfect series and this was an absolutely perfect send-off. Very sweet, very character-driven, wonderful book. I don't think this book could have turned out any better than it did and to end this run of it (even if it's just ending for a month or two before kind of restarting) here, in an issue focused on the people in Carol's life as much as on Carol herself, is an absolutely perfect decision. Definitely one of the best series of this year (I know, we're getting to the time of year where people have to start thinking about best of lists. Gross) and a beautiful and meaningful and emotional ending for it. Perhaps the saddest thing about this series ending (particularly saddest in the respect of "it's starting over again soon so don't get too sad") is that it seems the end of DeConnick and Andrade teaming up, which was the most amazing team-up. What an artist, that guy.

X-Men Legacy 19

Okay it was either this or CAPTAIN AMERICA and neither one is ever really off of these pull list picks but I went with X-MEN LEGACY because this one is rather sticking with me more. I talked a lot about how DeConnick made this last issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL more impressive and emotional by playing a long game (long con) and making all of the characters in Carol's life mean something, making it a far bigger impact when she has to fall back on them. Spurrier's done very much the same thing in LEGACY in a very different way; he's built a resourceful, smart, sympathetic, and extremely powerful, if entirely broken (borked, as David would say) character throughout the length of this series only to now show us just how hard it is to be that character. David has such a well-defined personality and such a specific voice that building an entire issue where we see the culmination of all of the events of the series and their repercussions while also watching him battle through those repercussions and try to find a way out. And that's before we even TALK about the evil Xavier and the shadow of the Phoenix. Come on guys, great stuff.

Thor: The Dark World

SURPRISE, this one's not a comic. If I had picked a comic it would have just been CAPTAIN AMERICA and we all would have been like "hey, look at all this diversity Tim's pulling out, X-MEN LEGACY and CAPTAINS MARVEL and AMERICA. Not at all like any other week!" You guys are being awfully judgmental, huh? Anyway, I get the chance to throw a major Marvel movie in my picks once every six months or thereabouts so you can bet I'm taking my chance to do it now. Really fun movie, not without its faults (more tomorrow!) but ultimately a really well-done, exciting, fun movie. Bonus: the casting of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith is pretty well hidden so you very rarely, if ever, think of him as the ninth Doctor while watching the movie. But sometimes you do. And sometimes that hurts. Anyway, lot of fun, can't say much more but I will tomorrow. The idea of the thing, though, is that it makes my top picks of the week because you should really check it out. I'm sure Marvel Studios could use your support.



Best book that was repeatedly mentioned in this post but not actually given a spot

Captain America 13
Pretty good, you guys!

Amazing X-Men 1, X-Men Legacy 19, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1

Amazing X-Men 1
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Nightcrawler is still around in some capacity (whether or not to say he's technically alive, as it were) and has been peering down on his old life from what, for all intents and purposes, is Heaven. As much as he longed to qualify for Heaven as a religious man when he was alive, he finds himself unfulfilled there, wishing he was still back with his friends as an X-Man. We seem to have peeked in on him at the right time, though, as he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a siege on Heaven led by none other than Nightcrawler's father, the demon Azazel. Meanwhile, back at the Jean Grey School, new teacher Firestar is having some problems getting adjusted to the fast-paced style of the school. On her first day, she helps Hank McCoy follow a couple of bamfs to a portal they've built deep within the recesses of the school. They call the rest of the staff down and worry about what the portal is and what it can do when a bunch of red bamfs (Azazel's crew, apparently) jump out of it, trying to keep the X-Men from entering. Eventually, though, the portal pulls a couple in and Wolverine and Northstar find themselves in Heaven, watching Azazel's pirate ship attack and hearing tell of a blue elf.

I wondered what kind of tone Aaron was going to bring to this book. Right now he's writing two major ongoing books at Marvel, THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The two are entirely different books starring entirely different casts of characters (BREAKING NEWS FROM THE MARVELS BLOG: Thor and the X-Men are different!) and, thus, have entirely different tones. I appreciate the difference in tone; if the two books featured entirely different characters and plots but had the same tone, it would seem incredibly incongruous. However, that doesn't guarantee that both tones will fit both books. I have often pointed out that I don't particularly like the tone of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and that it feels more goofy and less serious. I think there's a place for that in comics, a medium birthed from that sort of thing (not with, say, the golden age stuff, just with comics in general, hence the name), but it permeates and leaves a sort of disconnect between characters from one book to another. Again, I think there's a place for it and I think there are ways to make it work even within these titles, but it doesn't work for me as the ongoing feel. This is my roundabout way of saying that that's the feeling I'm getting right from the start from AMAZING X-MEN. I was a little on edge waiting for this book, wondering what approach Aaron was going to take; the seriousness and weight of THOR or the zaniness and comedy of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. It seems the latter and I'm a little put-off already. McGuinness' art is solid though I most recently saw him in NOVA and I can't help but see Nova's face on just about every front-facing character, particularly tricky to see when that face is someone like Azazel. We'll have to see how this one shapes up.

X-Men Legacy 19
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Xavier that was in David's head is loose and wreaking havoc on an unprepared world while David himself is contained at the Peak, the base of SWORD operations, by Abigail Brand. The weight of the situation is expressed to him by one-time foe Aarkus the Aetheric, the original Vision who went a little crazy in his solitude on the moon and decided mutants were a threat that needed to be purged (way back in X-MEN LEGACY 9, true believers). Aarkus has seen the errors of his way and snapped out of it in time to try to help the world defeat the evil Xavier. He explains to a power-suppressed David that Xavier is essentially a manifestation of David's hate and it's spreading that hate all around the world, powered up by its new body. David, though, is doing his best not to listen as he tries to wrangle the powers in his brain, even with his powers being suppressed by SWORD. He manages to take down old standby Tyrannix the Abomanoid and start hunting through Aarkus' head. He can't help but hear the state of the situation from Aarkus as he tries to ignore it and push forward, trying to get any sort of idea of where this is all heading from Aarkus' mind, where he finds Aarkus thinking about "the weapon," something vague and undefined to David but that is clearly the next part of the plan. He eventually pushes his luck and asks Aarkus about it, realizing too late that the weapon is meant to be tested on David before being set loose on evil Xavier. That weapon? Aarkus explains that it is the clutch-mate, rescued by a younger Aarkus himself, of a more powerful bird in the Marvel Universe. It's the shadow of the Phoenix.

More really cool stuff here and my feelings on this book are pretty well-documented. That's why it pains me to say that it seems like this series is officially ending with issue 24, as documented by Si Spurrier both from his own Tumblr and on the X-Men Legacy Tumblr. Okay, I actually want to rephrase that. Nothing is official, first and foremost, and certainly not about the series itself. However, it does seem as if Si Spurrier's run on the book will end with issue 24 and I have to imagine they won't put David on anyone else either. If the book continues past that, I'd expect it to focus on another character or another couple of characters. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I'm getting from Spurrier's responses and just from the conceit of the character on the whole. No one has done more for a severely complicated character than Spurrier has for David, even if it meant complicating him more. This is another stellar issue with David forced to face the consequences of his actions which certainly seem a little less than noble when seen from an outside perspective, as Aarkus displays them here. It's been a phenomenal book and I'm really sad to see that it's ending, though we all kind of knew this was coming and I'd rather have Spurrier leave it on the top of its game instead of letting it stagnate. And it just makes me all the more excited for Spurrier's X-Force.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot, the luck-based superhero born from the Mojoverse and most recently a member of X-Factor, gets his own improbable mini-series helmed by Dr. McNinja writer Christopher Hastings. We get a bit of a look into the day-to-day life of Longshot, who doesn't totally understand the workings of his own luck powers but understands enough to know how to make them work for him. He can use the power to help others and be pure of heart or else he risks the luck turning sour. For example, he considers using his powers to get money to buy a taco (or to be given a taco) and, as his powers begin to activate, an explosion occurs in the house behind him as criminals bust into a safe, a series of events that Longshot claims were put into action by his eventual decision to luck his way into some tacos. Longshot enters the apartment to help the people inside, a woman and her scientist father, who he feels responsible for putting in harm's way. Meanwhile, a strange new villain searches the streets of New York for Longshot, going on a killing spree of people who happened to have good luck any given moment. This does not include an incredibly unlucky Reed Richards and Tony Stark, who have discovered something in their lab and are trying now to get rid of it in a safe way. Eventually, all the storylines converge as the villain tracks Longshot to the apartment and Reed and Tony end up detoured by at the same time. The scientist Longshot saved attacks the villain with his own cosmic radiation gun but the shot goes through him, hitting Reed and causing him to lose control of his shape-shifting and destroying the truck he and Tony were traveling in. A briefcase flies to Longshot's side and reveals a cosmic cube inside, which Longshot inadvertently uses to tell the villain to "get lost." The world reorganizes on the moment and we see a reimagined day where the woman Longshot saved thwarts the explosion in her apartment before it starts, Tony and Reed don't discover anything, and SHIELD has laws in place against unregistered sorcerers that allows a hit squad to attack Longshot.

Wow, that summary went on WAY longer than I expected it to. There are books that do that sometimes, for better or worse, and leave me with a better understanding of what happened or leave me confused as to why it took so long to explain it. I've tried on occasion to tone my summaries down and inevitably end up with long summaries again, maybe after a week or so of doing relatively well with shorter ones. Infinity hasn't helped that, with double long books regularly requiring extra explanation and therefore skewing all of my summaries in general longer. Clever readers might notice that currently I'm stalling for time as I try to think more about my opinions on this book. Here's the thing: it's not a bad book. It's fun enough, there are nice character moments, there are neat little ideas peppered throughout. It just feels...odd. I can't put my finger on it. Part of it might have to do with the wordiness of it; for all of its fun atmosphere and dialogue and characters, it's one of those books where you reach halfway through it and go "geez, there's HOW MUCH more of this left?" Unfortunately for Hastings, I think that's inherent to a book like this, which features a character readers don't know too much about and who hasn't really headlined his own book, even strange mini-series, in a couple decades. Still, the book is fun and the art fits it really well. I'm hoping that the next issue, which will certainly need to explain more of this current plot, will be able to kind of solidify its tone and will have to dedicate less time to simply explaining who Longshot is.

Uncanny X-Men 13, X-Men Legacy 18, Cable and X-Force 15

Uncanny X-Men 13
Bendis (w) and Bachalo, Townsend, Vey, Irwin, Mendoza, and Olazaba (a) and Gracia (c)

Battle of the Atom pushes forward (this is part 8 of 10) with more fights as present-day Scott's team arrives on the scene in time to learn that the first team of future X-Men to come back to the present is made up of frauds and that the second team of future X-Men is the real deal but then they get eaten by Krakoa, controlled by Xavier. Meanwhile, Magik fights alongside Colossus as they try to push into the school while the fraud X-Men team try to send the past X-Men back to the past. They have some trouble with the time cube, though it seems the cube works (they test it with Wolverine and Mystique's son Raze, who jumps back to the past briefly and returns to the present to test it). Beast speculates that the original X-Men have jumped back and forth in time so much that they now kind of exist outside of their own timeline so they can't be forcibly sent back? Look, that's what they said, okay? The issue ends as Scott and his team, having defeated the Krakoa, burst into Hank's lab.

This series, as you can tell from the summary and the fact I have to specify which of the five or six X-Men teams present I'm talking about, is extremely convoluted. Complicated isn't necessarily bad. Convoluted is. Infinity is complicated (apparently I'm planning to link everything back to Infinity this week), with plenty of moving parts and new characters and untold power and consequences. This is convoluted. In addition, this series is clearly just making up rules at this point. The O.G. X-Men exist outside of their own timeline because they've created such a paradox? The problem with time travel (or one of them) as a literary device is that there are no real defined rules because it's a thing that doesn't and really can't exist. Therefore, everyone who gets a turn to play with it has the chance to make up his or her own rules. As a reader, though, I still have to compare the rules of time travel within a given medium; I'm not comparing the time travel in Dr. Who to the time travel in the Marvel Universe but I sure will compare the time travel in Marvel to other time travel in Marvel and there are way more complicated, paradox-inducing time travel stories in the Marvel Universe already. There was already one this year with Age of Ultron and that turned out, obviously, pretty poorly but it still didn't create a paradox that acted like this. The response, of course, is that there are no defined rules of time travel because time travel isn't real, which is infuriating because I'm not looking for rules of real time travel, I'm looking for rules that make sense when measured against the other rules this universe has set forth. Frustrating. Also, this book is built, it seems, only on revealing new X-Men teams and on fight sequences, as just about every issue in this event has ended in either a new X-Men team or a fight sequence. I guess welcome to comics? AND ANOTHER THING (I really didn't want this to go on this long but here we are), I'm getting pretty tired of future people constantly hinting at ridiculous future events that will either never be referenced again or will be erased from the timeline. You don't need to mention the Baxter Building/Stark Tower wars because it's almost certainly not applicable here and you're just getting people to say "well hey, what's that?" without any chance of offering an answer. It feels like the basest form of fanservice, throwing in things that fans never asked for but will no doubt recognize and thaty ou have no intention of showing. It happens constantly in any book that has to do with time travel and by god it is irritating. Okay, next book.

X-Men Legacy 18
Spurrier (w) and Pham w/ Leisten (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Luca has revealed himself, after jumping from body to body watching David all over the world as he prepares to intercede when David loses control of his powers. Luca wants the end of mutantkind and knows, with the abilities he's stolen from Blindfold, that David might be the root of that. He can't accurately see David's future but he recognizes that the best way to ensure Blindfold's failure in stopping David is simply to follow him around everywhere, hopping from body to body. Finally he jumps in as it seems David is set to explode but he quickly realizes that David has been aware that he's been followed. David had released one of his personalities, the Delusionaut, to the site of his battle with Cyclops earlier that day and it had created a scene that drew the X-Men there, which also drew the press and everything else, meaning that David would get a highly publicized fight with Cyclops, publicized enough to make it seem real if he looked like he was losing control. It drew Luca out and now David has caught Luca in his web. The fight with Cyclops was never about hating Cyclops (David recognizes that he couldn't hate Cyclops more than Cyclops hates himself), to Cyclops' surprise; it was about drawing Luca out. However, Cyclops' team had cheated in the battle and poisoned David's mind with a psychic poison that Emma and the Cuckoo's had designed in the case of a foe stronger than they could fight. It takes longer to kick in but now it has and David crumples to the ground, his mental jail in shambles and, worst of all, the Xavier in his head escaping, potentially teaming with Luca for the next step.

Plenty happening here. I swear, I keep coming into each of these reviews planning only to write a little bit but I get complicated book after complicated book. Whether it's Infinity, where every step is important and we're dealing with longer books anyway, or it's Battle of the Atom and I have to spend half of the review explaining which X-Men team I'm talking about, or it's Hawkeye and no real action happens in the classic sense so I feel like I have to describe every inaction because it all seems equally important to the plot, or it's X-Men Legacy where crazy complex things are happening and I have to explain them, I end up here, with a really long summary and the worry that I've ruined the book by boiling it down to text. Bleh. Oh well, this is another solid issue, and one made particularly good by the end of the fight with Cyclops. I liked the fight itself, with David using his powers to wipe the floor with the X-Men and with what seemed legitimate rage but it would be a lie to say it didn't feel a little out of place. David has a very complex relationship with his father so attacking Scott to avenge that father felt more than a little Hamlet-like, though admittedly with less whining. Instead, it was all another part of his plans. I don't really get why I don't see this coming, Spurrier has pulled this off several times now, with the Pete Wisdom adventure and the Church of the Happy Host, and Darwin's Martyr's. Each time I go "no, something must be up," but then I forget that I thought that and buy into the story as it's written before being pulled back again as David cries "something was up!" Really great book that can fool you over and over and not annoy you but, in fact, delight you. Good stuff. Really long review. I swear I'll cut this next one down if it kills me.

Cable and X-Force 15
Hopeless (w) and Sandoval (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Things are returning to "normal" for Cable and his X-Force as the team is working again to prevent threats to mutants before they happen. They're split on three fronts for this issue, with Cable and Hope taking out bomb-wielding Reavers in Australia, Domino and Colossus stopping thieves from accidentally activating a Sentinel at a Trask safehouse in Colorado, and Forge, Dr. Nemesis, and Boom Boom at mission command in Montana. Forge is hacking on a tight schedule between the other two missions while Dr. Nemesis and Boom Boom test out a new device that should be able to enter Cable's mindscape to see the visions he's getting so he no longer has to be bothered relaying them to the team, they can just see them. The plans, which are all going pretty well, go belly-up when Forge is attacked by an enemy who seemed to be biding his time in Forge's own mind, leaving Cable and Hope at the detonation of a bomb, Domino and Colossus at the hands of a fully operational Sentinel, and Dr. Nemesis and Boom Boom squaring off against a Native American demon thing that was inhabiting Forge.

It's another good issue for Cable and X-Force and one that starts to get back at the root of what this book had set out to be. Obviously there were complications here and there as we had to deal with the Uncanny Avengers and some of the ramifications of the team's actions for several issues in there, as well as whether or not Hope belonged with the team, but now we seem squarely back on task of preventing threats to mutants and dealing with internal problems on the team. I'm pretty happy about it; I like the Uncanny Avengers and I thought the series was still telling some pretty good stories but we're reading this book in large part because of the team so to have the team take kind of a backseat to the story seems counterproductive. Here, in just one issue split out among seven team members, we get a good feel for every character as if to re-establish them before diving into this new story. What's particularly great about the way it's handled is that it definitely feels, after the fact, like it's re-establishing the characters, but during the issue you don't get that sense. Sometimes books will take the easy way out and will try to re-establish characters in very much the "tell don't show" method, where someone will come out and say "you're always so bitter, you have to let go of [events in your past]" which very much tells us what's happening instead of showing it over time. Some books, of course, don't have the luxury of time to tell a story but this one makes sure it shows but doesn't tell. Good stuff. Also some choice Dr. Nemesis lines so you know I'm on board. God, I thought this review was going to be shorter.

Uncanny X-Men 12, X-Men Legacy 17, Ultimate X-Men 31

Uncanny X-Men 12
Bendis (w) and Bachalo, Townsend, Irwin, Mendoza, Olazaba, and Vey (a) and Gracia (c)

Jean and young Scott have come to older Scott's X-Men team for help, hoping that his rogue team might offer them an alternative to being sent back to the past, where they belong. After much discussion and thought, Scott says that he will help to protect them from being sent back (Scott of all people should really be against this) though Emma is against it. Meanwhile, Kitty continues to argue with impassioned and nonsensical speeches about allowing people to do what they want with their lives to her X-Men team and the future X-Men team that they should be allowed to stay. Future Jean and Xavier get a lock on young Jean and Scott and everyone goes to Utopia to retrieve them or fight on their behalf. Future Jean freezes the others and knocks young Jean out. Of course, Emma and the Cuckoos are not frozen and Emma tells future Jean that, though she thinks the original team should be sent back, knocking young Jean out while being future Jean is not okay and gets ready to battle her.

I've been pretty harsh on Uncanny X-Men, All-New X-Men, and, most recently, Battle of the Atom. Sometimes I have to pull back and ask if my dislike is warranted or if I don't like, perhaps, some of the conceits or the writing or whatever factor and am now blowing it out of proportion. Uncanny X-Men 12, to me, feels like the proof I need to say "nope, definitely not." I hate this issue. I hate everything about it and it culminates in what seems to be the biggest, dumbest fan service with even a wink, in case we needed it, to say that it's the biggest fan service. Haven't seen Jean and Emma fight in nearly a decade? Worry not, WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED. Want people who see time travel regularly to still be flummoxed by the rules of time travel? Covered. Want to see normally smart characters suddenly turn absurdly dumb? How about if they have impassioned speeches that come from the heart even if they are unbelievably stupid? Covered and covered. Want more of that back-and-forth dialogue that is meant to be fast but, in fact, slows down the flow of the book to a ridiculous degree? Hey. We've got you covered. So yes, I think this book and this event are both terrible and it's hard to see it as anything other than the weakest form of fan service that I can't, in good faith, believe was actually asked for. And this is coming from someone who read Avengers vs. X-Men. I rather wish I wasn't reviewing this with Legacy and Ultimate X-Men, both of which are really good books and which are weakened by being on the same post as Uncanny X-Men. But I already made a schedule and I'm sticking with it.

X-Men Legacy 17
Spurrier (w) and Pham (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Cyclops and David have begun their "no powers" fight and are right in the middle of it as we begin this issue. We get a fair deal of David's inner monologue (and a little bit of fourth wall breaking as he addresses the audience, the people reading his thoughts) and a whole bunch of recap of things that have come before as the two trade blow for blow. Though Scott is a trained martial artist and is stronger and quicker than David, it's a reasonably even fight because, as David points out, Scott doesn't usually get to brawling with people, instead using his powers vs. their powers, and Scott has a code of honor. David doesn't have that, particularly, and he's really, really angry and, he admits, a bit envious of Scott, as he was viewed by Charles. The fight finally ends with, of course, David finally succumbing. Down and out, he uses his powers just enough to incite Scott, who blasts him into the new mutant Scott and his team had found (she fuses living matter together) and this action, thanks to Scott's attack, creates the world worm we've seen David, in his visions of the future, turn into. David becomes a part of the world worm and begins reaching out for more mutant minds. That means mutantkind is doomed unless Blindfold can kill David before things get too out of control. However, before she can strike, she's stopped by what seems to be a robot containing the mind of Blindfold's brother Luca.

There is an awful lot happening here. There'd be plenty to talk about even if this issue was just Scott and David fighting but then we get the whole last half of the book. The recap is maybe a little heavy at times but it's particularly understandable once we get to the end of the issue, which reveals Luca again, not to mention the world worm. There's also a fair amount of monologue, a lot of text, which slows things down a bit at the beginning (thanks, in no small part, to all the recap). Unlike with most books I say that about, here it still flows pretty well. Spurrier has created such an interesting and complex character with David that his thoughts are more than just the usual superhero book fodder. He's not just narrating what's happening and maybe making a quip or an aside or a reference here and there; he's a fully fledged person with a real personality and a lot to think on. It comes with real questions and doubt and confidence and strength and sadness and anger and happiness and love and many other emotions while also incorporating many human tics and behaviors. All around great writing throughout this series. This issue kind of feels a little like it's leading to a series conclusion but, to my knowledge, the book hasn't been cancelled. I'm hoping that stays true and this just feels big because it is big, not because it doesn't have a chance to get bigger.

Ultimate X-Men 31
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Tian has more or less announced war on Utopia and Kitty has made arrangements by deciding to step down as the head and face of Utopia and put Colossus in charge. She's done this, she explains to her conflicted people, to give the world a different face to look at, one they haven't likely seen and one who is more than a little intimidating without the intent to look intimidating. She can now also be a part of the army that's formed on Utopia. We see a little bit more of what will be defending Utopia before we look in on Tian. Storm has eyes on the nation and is wreaking havoc with the weather there. On the island itself, Jimmy Hudson is having some qualms with the way Jean is running things. He lets slip that he still believes in Utopia and she asks him to choose which side he's on. He's locked up shortly thereafter and Jean formulates a plan, based on the announcement of Kitty's resignation. To attack now would make Tian seem like the aggressors (they rather are, but the world doesn't necessarily see it that way). Jean, then, intends to release Jimmy into Tian to murder civilians, looking like a Utopian terrorist. She plays with Jimmy's mind and releases him, warning Tian of the "breakout." She also authorizes Farbird to find and kill Storm.

It's hard to say tensions are still ramping up when the tensions are already so high. I really like this series and I'm continually impressed by the way tension ratchets up in some new way every issue without ever feeling like it's piled too high, high enough that it's broken past the point of believability, even in this world. The only thing that one could possibly point to as a little weird in these dealings is how far gone Jean Grey seems to be, but even that is a weak point at best. Something is clearly going on with Jean and it's hard to say exactly what but it's certainly impacting this story in pretty extreme ways. Still, everything else seems perfectly reasonable within this world. The actions Kitty and Utopia have taken don't seem out of sync with their possibilities; the logic is always there. The same mostly holds true in Tian, where Jean seems unhinged but is still making kind of logical decisions given how unhinged she may be. Really good stuff which moves the book extremely well and never piles too high to wear the reader down. It's enough to keep a lurking sense of dread, which is perfect for this book.