Guardians of the Galaxy 14, Thunderbolts 25

Guardians of the Galaxy 14
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw w/Masters, Nauck, and Wong (a) and Ponsor w/Keith (c) and Petit (l)

The Guardians are being picked off one-by-one and separated. Rocket, Groot, and Starlord are attacked in the ship by Spartax warships while Gamora is chased down elsewhere by the assassin who had previously tried to capture her and while Drax and Venom (??) shop for new weapons on Knowhere. All Guardians are captured, leaving Venom behind on Knowhere and leaving Starlord to have an uncomfortable talk with his dad, who promises that they'll all be dealt with and that no one is coming to save them just as Captain Marvel takes to space. Also featured in this double-sized anniversary issue are stories from legendary GUARDIANS scribes Andy Lanning (who "writes" a story about Groot's origin. Hint: he is Groot) and Dan Abnett, who tells a tale set a thousand years in the future about the future Guardians of the Galaxy needing to go back in time to stop some stuff happening that would ruin their future.

Story
The best way to describe this story is abrupt. For thirteen issues, the Guardians have been wreaking havoc and staying a step ahead of the Spartax Empire and fighting the good fight through the galaxy. Until they weren't. Just today. No hand wrapping around them, no strategy employed to cut their engines and leave them defenseless. Just...caught. I legitimately had to wonder if I had missed an issue where something happened that allowed them to be caught or that explained why Venom was there. Turns out: NOPE, the last issue was still in the midst of that crappy TRIAL OF JEAN GREY crossover and so everything happening here IS still as abrupt as it seems. It feels like we're missing an issue and it's KIND OF an important issue we've missed? Like, we can still catch up, I suppose, but there's a lot of "I guess this is happening now?" feeling to the book. 3/5

Character
Peter Quill has some insomnia and thinks about why and thinks about what women he has crushes on and what ones he doesn't and ugggggh. Then Drax and Venom go and banter at a weapons seller showing that Drax doesn't know the word "cool" and uggggggh. Look, I have some problems here as ever. Also, Venom acts very nearly goofy out in space which, you know, granted it's a pretty big deal to him but Flash is a decorated vet and one who has to maintain control over his symbiote all the time. Maybe he wouldn't be so goofy all the time? 2/5

Writing
A bit of back-and-forth here but everyone's separated and there's too much abrupt story happening for it to really hurt anything. The opening ongoing narration from Quill is as close to that as it gets and it it GRATING though the case can be made that it's just a mind drifting while it does anything but sleep. Putting aside the strange character problems and the abrupt story, there's nothing particularly wrong with the writing, though it's kind of like grading a student's paper with a bad or non-existent thesis: it doesn't matter if the support is great or in-depth or whatever, there's no way it can be proving what it sets out to prove because a bad thesis means there's nothing there to prove (yeah, I've graded some PAPERS, yo). 3/5

Art
I was a little nervous about Bradshaw on this issue. He's clearly a pretty good artist but I've seen him most recently on one of the INHUMAN titles that Fraction wrote prior to Soule's entrance on INHUMANS and it upset me in the way that Medusa looked so feminized in that kind of "big eyes, soft features, bursting breasts (horrifying, that wording) etc." way. No such issues here though the armored Gamora is the only female until the last page reveal of Captain Marvel. Still, good work across the board this time out. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Seriously, were we missing an issue?

Total score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 25
Soule (w) and Diaz (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

The woman who arrived on the boat at the end of the last issue, Helen, was part of the team Ross sent out but only insofar as she was the researcher who told them about the artifact and was then left behind. They have a thing. Anyway, the sea monsters aren't quite done attacking and they start to pull apart the ship. Ghost Rider manages to get them to shore by using his chain to pull the ship away. However, Leader whispers an incantation that makes his demonic fire go out before he himself can get off the ship and he's ripped apart by the monsters while everyone else looks on. The other T-Bolts push on but their guide Cordoba reveals to Leader that he knows he's responsible for Ghost Rider's death. Leader admits it but also reveals that he knows Cordoba's men are in the woods following them. They form an alliance for all of two minutes before Leader outs him to his team, causing them all to flee. The rest continue to the temple, where Red Hulk demands Leader wait outside (with guard Deadpool) and guide them over the walkie. He quickly betrays them and Elektra and Punisher end up in a death trap themselves.

Story
Tons going on here, enough that I kept wanting to shorten the summary and couldn't figure out where to do it. In fact, I should have PROBABLY gone deeper than I did but GUYS, read the book instead. There's so much happening and it's largely really interesting. The Ghost Rider twist was something unexpected and sharp, brutal and efficient enough to be jarring without feeling like a hook. The Leader has some great moments as his long con continues to play out at the expense of the team. Plenty happening but without ever getting too absurd or too abrupt. 5/5

Character
Everyone has a couple of good looks here but the main focus is on Leader and his sudden but inevitable betrayals. It's crafty and it's clever and it's hard, thanks to his movements with Cordoba, to figure out what his angles are, which is exactly how we should be seeing Leader since he's smarter than all people ever, more or less, so we should never know his true motives. It's the kind of sharp characterization that drove Hickman's SECRET WARRIORS series and others like it. 5/5

Writing
Thanks in large part to the characterization of Leader and the way that he drives the plot here, the tone is always a little bit uncomfortable, which is perfect. You're never supposed to know exactly how to feel about what's happening. The abruptness of Ghost Rider's death, the turn on Leader by Cordoba and the turn on Cordoba by Leader, all of it keeps the reader off-guard and it keeps the tone from settling in to something either too fun or too serious and it instead sticks into this strange "how should I feel?" place that fits everything Soule wants to do. 5/5

Art
The art looks maybe a little more cartoony than it has been but it steps it up to make sure things are tense as the big moments occur, like Ghost Rider being ripped apart or the fall of Punisher and Elektra and their caress as the walls close in on them (slower than haunted house spiked walls but not as slow as evil scientist spiked walls). Overall it fits the tone and feel of the book pretty nicely. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I like the cover on this one but it's the first time in quite some time that I haven't absolutely loved the cover on a THUNDERBOLTS issue. Sigh. All good things, I suppose. Strange that the 25th issue of THUNDERBOLTS, a far riskier book than something with X-MEN in the name written by one of the biggest names in comics over the past decade doesn't get a celebration.

Total score: 5/5

Iron Man 24, Captain Marvel 2

Iron Man 24
Gillen (w) and Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony's trip into Svartalfheim is not off to a great start as he has been quickly spotted. He's able to fight off the first wave of Dark Elves but his stealth suit isn't really made for combat and so he's forced to flee when Malekith attacks and before Shevaun can send the weapon he needs. He escapes into the woods and hides out, hoping that he left enough of a trail for his pursuers to track him. Malekith, who holds four rings (Spectral, Incandescence, Remaker, and Lightning), divvies up his rings among the search parties, giving the leader of each a different ring and keeping the Remaker for himself. Shevaun sends the gun, tailor made to defeat elves and rings alike, to Tony's new location and he's able to use it to put down the holder of the Incandescence ring, taking it back, but he's forced to cloak again when the others arrive. Malekith taunts him, knowing that he's around, and really cuts to the core of Tony. When he and the rest of the elves leave, preferring to wait for Tony's eventual emergence rather than searching him out. Shevaun suggests that Tony use the third and final available portal to come home with a partial mission success but he refuses, furious with Malekith. Instead, he has Shevaun send his big, dwarf-killing armor to him.

It's a real culture clash over here as Tony learns that the Dark Elves are maybe a little bit more than he bargained for and that maybe he's not entirely prepared to wage war against them. Just when those thoughts are settling though, Malekith, who used Tony's flesh to see into his heart, starts talking about Tony being an unwanted child and how the Dark Elves are no strangers to unwanted children; they just tend to eat them because, as Malekith puts it, what else are they good for? It calls back on some of the thoughts that Tony has had to put aside in order to deal with his city and the Mandarin rings but that are clearly still pretty powerful in his mind. That alone would make for an interesting story but putting Tony in Svartalfheim up against a vicious enemy powerful already wielding three rings that make him much more powerful seems like the recipe for success. We'll see next how the Dark Elves, with a notable hatred for iron, deal with one of Tony's offensive suits instead of his defensive one. Plenty of good stuff happening here and I think the adrenaline is really about to start pumping.

Captain Marvel 2
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c)

Captain Marvel is transporting the Nowlian girl Tic to the planet Torfa, where supposedly the rest of her people have been moved after the Builders destroyed their home planet. She and her ship, with an AI named Harrison, and her cat Chewie who, apparently every single person on Earth refused to watch (not that unbelievable), are intercepted by two smuggler ships guarded by a mercenary ship. She explains her mission but the mercenaries, on the order of their client, fire on her anyway. The ship takes damage quickly and Carol is forced into the fight herself, directing Harrison to protect the medical bay and get the thrusters up while she deals with and/or distracts the ships. Out in space she begins to tear apart the smuggler ships. The mercenary ship flees as the Guardians of the Galaxy show up to dispatch the ship on her tail. Carol's ship and the Guardians' ship link so that Rocket can help with the repairs but he pretty quickly starts attacking Chewie, swearing that it's a Flerken and not a cat. Carol and Star-Lord separate them and she finds out that Torfa seems to be a poisonous planet so perhaps bringing the girl there isn't the best plan. Meanwhile, the gunfire as Rocket attacked Chewie woke up Tic and she emerges as Star-Lord reveals to Carol that he's the son of J-Son, which isn't what Tic wanted to hear. She flees into Carol's ship, locking them all on the Guardians' ship in the hopes that she'll be able to steal it. Captain Marvel sets out after her by herself in the depths of space, anxious to get her ship back and to rescue her cat.

Good introduction of the Guardians here, with whom Carol is primed to spend a good amount of time. She's immediately accepted and the DeConnick does a pretty good job writing all of the Guardians, though we really only get extended dialogue and looks at Star-Lord and Rocket. In addition, any thought that the book might suffer unduly from the loss of Carol's supporting cast (Wendy, Spider-Woman, Tracy, Kit, Frank, etc) should be more or less assuaged here. We're only an issue removed from her leaving them all behind and going into space but it's clear that DeConnick's take on Carol and her character alone are certainly capable of carrying a book. Obviously the introduction of the Guardians and the hint from the first issue that Captain Marvel will form a team of her own don't hurt things but regardless, Carol has returned to this book as the same strong and confident character, totally able to drive a book, that she left the last series as. David Lopez's art is remarkably good and he draws a mean Carol as well as a mean suited-up Captain Marvel, all of which I was happy about and, admittedly, a little relieved about because I did not particularly care for Lopez's cover. Fans of the last series should absolutely be picking this one up. It has the same heart and the same enthusiasm as the first series, not to mention that there are already a couple of irons in the fire for story ideas and new characters. Even if you didn't read the first series, check this one out, see if the tone is for you. I find it hard to think it isn't.

Guardians of the Galaxy 8, Cataclysm 0.1

Guardians of the Galaxy 8
Bendis (w) and Francavilla (a and c)

The Guardians of the Galaxy are approaching Earth and have discovered, then, that Thanos' army is pretty well in control of its airspace about now. Gamora insists that they charge in and show her dad (Thanos, you guys) who's boss but Quill prefers they make a plan, which they do after some amount of tension and Gamora setting out on her own to attack Thanos himself. They receive a distress call from Abigail Brand at the Peak and Quill decides it's not a trap and that they have to save her and the Peak before it's turned on the Earth. He and Rocket stealth their way in and bust her out before attempting to fight their way to the command center, counting on air support from Drax and Groot. Unfortunately, by the time they call those two in, they're rather busy and embroiled in their own fight. Plus side, though, when it looks as if all is lost, Angela shows up and busts her way into the space station to save them (probably).

Solid action here as the Guardians get involved in the universe-spanning events of Infinity, albeit in the part that doesn't span the universe but rather just Earth. There's some decent characterization though occasionally it swings hard on an emotion and it comes up just a little short. In this case, it's Gamora bursting with anger at Quill for wanting to plan their attack on Thanos. Of course, there's more to Gamora's emotions than simply the need for haste, adding on the turmoil she feels about her father and the imminent threat he poses, but it does seem more than a little sudden and rash for Gamora. Again, though, Bendis' strength comes out of dropping some of the back-and-forth dialogue here as we have a bit of a faster paced and more coherent book, one that doesn't lose its focus and its tone while those elements battle for control over snappy, out-of-place dialogue. There's a bit here but, as I've said in the past, a bit doesn't hurt. A bit establishes character and the like. It's when you have more than a bit that things go downhill. Instead, it's another solid Guardians issue that brings the Guardians themselves to the fight against Thanos, a place they're rather used to being.

Cataclysm 0.1
Fialkov (w) and Suayan, Pierfederici, and Kirk (a) and Woodard (c)

Galactus is in the Ultimate Universe and it could spell the end for that branch of Marvel. The Vision of that universe, a female android, if we're applying genders, was built to detect and protect the world from the Gah Lak Tus swarm and so is shocked to find that a piece of that swarm ended up beached in the Bahamas during the Hunger event without her notice. She and boyfriend Sam Wilson go to investigate and Vision interfaces with the swarm member, learning of Galactus' arrival in the Ultimate Universe and learning of his history in the 616. She immediately recognizes the threat and needs to go see for herself, understanding that it will likely mean her death. There's a scene where she weighs her Earth's chances against Galactus, given its history, that compares the Ultimate Universe to the 616 and boy does it highlight some things. She eventually arrives by Galactus and urges him to stand down. When he refuses, she attacks with her impressive weaponry. It backfires, though, as he absorbs her shots and turns them on her, ultimately destroying her and leaving her floating in space. Before her system shuts down, she sends a message back to Earth, primarily to Sam Wilson who she realized, in the end, that she truly loved and warning them that they'll need everybody's help to stave off Galactus, including and perhaps centered on the incarcerated and absolutely crazy Reed Richards.

Certainly a nice little book to set the stage for us and Fialkov again delivers on his mantra of showing characters on their absolute worst days. Despite the fact that this story is one mostly meant to illustrate the dangers posed to the Ultimate Universe with Galactus' arrival and, as an aside to that, to establish the differences between the universe Galactus came from and this one, Fialkov does a solid job in one regular-sized issue, creating a full character in Vision, who has a crisis of self (or as much of one as an android can have) and realizes who she really is in her dying moments. On top of that, as I mentioned above, there was a nice little summation of the differences between the two major universes under Marvel's umbrella, particularly highlighting the plight of the mutant in this world, the loss of Spider-Man, the craziness of Reed Richards, the decimation of the superhero community, and the flaws of the Ultimates vs. the Avengers. Really helps put things in perspective while giving off the distinct feeling of "aw man, it's going to be pretty tricky for them to fight off Galactus." Good book, nice way to build interest for the event.

Avengers Arena 15, Infinity the Hunt 1

Avengers Arena 15
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Cullen's monster, released when Cullen took off his Bloodstone ring to protect Aiden, is putting up a solid fight against the thought-unkillable X-23. She seems to snap out of her bloodlust and admits she doesn't know how to stop the monster. She's saved as Reptil, Darkhawk, and Nico come out of the woods to protect her and to engage the new and unknown monster. Cammi, Nara, and Aiden start looking desperately around for the Bloodstone ring, which is eventually found by Cammi but inevitably knocked away and into the ocean by a flung Reptil. Nara dives after it while Cammi and Aiden talk about whether or not Aiden will have to kill Cullen to stop the monster. Both are morally against it but Cullen had told Aiden how to do it if he needed to and had made him promise to do it if he lost himself. As Aiden is about to strike, Nara bursts out of the water with the ring, managing to get the monsters attention and eventually touching the ring to its skin, pulling Cullen out and making the monster disappear, but not before the struggle with the monster kills Nara.

There's a ton happening in this issue and even more on the horizon because of this issue. It's easy to forget, given how many contenders are still alive and the depth of personality each of these characters has demonstrated, that issue 18 is the final issue, putting us officially at three remaining issues following this one. There's so much to resolve and so much fear that it won't be resolved. That's been the best thing about this book, in truth. I'm not following it to see who survives or who "wins," though I'm certainly interested in that. There's so much more here and it's more that I want to know about. Where does/do the survivor/s go after this? What of the relationships formed here or that were brought in from various other books here? What of the mental scarring? I think every character in this book has been, at one point or another, a risk for turning evil. Avengers Academy was built so that kids Norman Osborn "created" didn't follow in his footsteps. Apex kind of is evil, very conniving and mastermind-y. Kid Briton was an arrogant bully. Anachronism has rage issues. Cullen was left in a horrible monster dimension for years and years. X-23 was created to be an assassin. The Runaways are the children of supervillains. Death Locket is a female Deathlok. Cammi was abandoned by the her favorite person and father figure, the assassin Drax the Destroyer. In this issue (narrated by Nara), we learn that Nara was the daughter of two Atlantean traitors, who followed Attuma and rebelled against Namor, leading to their death at his hands. Red Raven believed Namor killed her father. Darkhawk was the son of a dirty cop. Juston's only friend was a mutant-hating Sentinel (reprogrammed somewhat successfully). Have I made a point? Plenty of superheroes have these tragic backstories but these ones are all young enough to still potentially be turned with the right scarring. In fact, I'd even hazard that the least damaged ones, the ones most likely to err on the hero's side, are the ones who died first (Mettle, Red Raven, Darkhawk, Juston), just as Arcade predicted in issue one (telling them that, in essence, being the villain would be the only thing to save them here). It's all really fascinating, and all of that doesn't even get into Nara's complex emotions and backstory or the change we'll see in Aiden with his new girlfriend dead saving him and his best friend. Really stellar book, as ever.

Infinity the Hunt 1
Kindt (w) and Sanders (a) and Campbell (c)

A new mini-series spawned out of Infinity and also a multitude of other books. This book focuses on the heads of various superhero schools across the globe deciding to band together to create an intramural competition between all of their students. The games themselves, called the Contest of Champions, haven't been established yet as this issue chooses instead to focus more on introducing the schools and the key students we'll likely see. The schools represent places all over Marvel, with the Jean Grey School, Avengers Academy (where this takes place), the Future Foundation, the Braddock Academy, a Pan-Asian school, a Wakandan school, a Latverian school, and an Atlantean school (not participating, given the tensions between Wakanda and Atlantis right now). We get a brief overview of each school and an introduction to a couple characters from each as well as a thought bubble from each character giving a small window into their personalities and motivations. It's perhaps a bit heavy-handed but it gets the point across. The opening ceremonies are interrupted, though, when an emergency broadcast from the Atlantean school shows the destruction in Atlantis and an attack starts on LA from Thanos' army.

As I said, the introductions are a little ham-fisted as they prefer text over subtext ("you know how I'm your brother?") but it gets the job done. The real story here, presumably, will be the way these adults running the school and these kid heroes band together to push back Thanos. It's all hands on deck right now on Earth as the Avengers are off-planet so it makes sense that we'd see the young heroes and their guardians getting in on the fight, I guess I just didn't expect them to all be banded together while they do it. There are an impressive amount of new heroes introduced with new powers pretty laid out for us though, again, I think it's a little heavy-handed. Not to keep coming back to Avengers Arena, but Avengers Arena created all-new characters without me even realizing they were all-new. The first few issues, I just nodded and assumed they were already established and that the Braddock Academy was already a thing, not all stuff that Hopeless created for the series. Granted, Kindt has far less time here to establish the sort of things Hopeless (who just won a Harvey Award, I believe) has been able to do over in Arena. Fairly ambitious book, we'll see if it leads to anything.

FF 8, Guardians of the Galaxy 4

FF 8
Fraction (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

The Baxter Building has reappeared in New York, fresh out of the Negative Zone and carrying, unbeknownst to our team, a hitchhiking Annihilus. Alex Power sees the report in the newspaper and tells Doom that he should probably be heading home now to help those kids deal with what happened. Doom strikes him and drags him to a holding cell, where he's keeping Alex's parents. Alex will do what Doom says from now on, Doom decrees. Meanwhile, the FF leave Dragon Man in charge of the kids and head to Himalayas, former site of the Inhumans' Attilan. There Medusa offers herself up for challenge from any Inhuman who thinks he or she could protect the children of the FF better than Medusa has, given her recent brainwashing. No one challenges her, which frustrates She-Hulk. She-Hulk views the Inhumans at this little tribunal as a bunch of yes-men and she believes that they should consider replacing Medusa for this. Medusa herself seems a little unsure of whether she's qualified or not but it's She-Hulk who really drives the point home. Back home, Bentley-23 and Ahura have returned to the Baxter Building and are promptly set upon by the other children, who call them "bad guys." Traps have been set all around the building and Bentley-23 and Ahura must try to navigate them while explaining that they're not bad. Or rather, that he is, he was born to be, but he's no different than before. Ahura is increasingly annoyed by everything but Bentley is pretty patient with everyone, eventually winning them over and complimenting Tong's new lifestyle choice. Later, in the Inhumans' flying city, Medusa comes to She-Hulk in her bedroom and gives her the chance to speak more as no one else will. It goes badly and the two end up in a scuffle. The two crash through several walls, including into what seems to be a hallway that Scott is walking down on his cellphone. He breaks the two up and tells them that Dragon Man has reported that Alex Power has returned home. Back home, old John Storm wakes up again, still screaming about Doom, and we find out that Doom, joined by Annihilus now, is getting information from an outside source: a young Kang the Conqueror, sometime in his life between Iron Lad and Kang and going by Immortus (changed from Kid Immortus by his girlfriend Ravonna).

A lot happened here, which seems to be the norm for this book. They don't match up against villains every issue or even every few issues but plenty continues to go on behind the scenes for our heroes. Here we've set up a rift in the FF, a spy among them, questions about worthiness on the team, and a few key villains teaming up with their eyes on the FF. Immortus is an interesting choice of villain and one I hadn't seen coming. Yes, Kang is kind of all over the Marvel Universe right now but he's in a great spot here. If this is at a time where we've somewhat recently left Iron Lad of the Young Avengers behind, which his attitude and youth seem to point at, his last bit of time on Earth saw his then girlfriend killed in front of him while the Avengers refused to let him go into the future to try to save her, as he'll eventually attempt with Ravonna (fifty year old spoiler). That girlfriend? Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott. Who killed her? Dr. Doom. All kinds of questions come up with this villain team-up and it's exciting to see where it's all going to end up.

Guardians of the Galaxy 4
Bendis (w) and Pichelli (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians have escaped the Spartax guard and now celebrate at a shady bar, especially praising Groot who saved them all. Drax is drinking a fair amount and getting pretty belligerent, Peter is trying to attract a woman he found, and Tony is still fretting a bit about Earth. Rocket gives him a sort of phone that will allow him to call back to Earth from pretty much anywhere. Tony and Gamora flirt briefly and pretty quickly end up back in a room on the ship together. We flash from the bar to post-coitus and Gamora decides she's going back to the bar. On her way back, she's targeted by an assassin and shot in the back. The shot stuns her and her attacker, Maxilin the Accuser, comes to brag a bit about how she didn't even seem to realize there was a bounty on her head and how he so easily brought her down. She, of course, gets up and beats the crap out of him, only being brought down again when she tries to use his gun which will only work for him. Down again and this time with fewer tricks left, she's surprised to find Maxilin shot instead of her, as Rocket and the rest of the Guardians come around the corner, fleeing the bar which is quickly filling up with Spartax royal guard. They head back for the ship, where Tony has just called home to ask Pepper how things are going and if Earth is okay (it is). As they make their way to the ship, the audience sees Maxilin, still alive, slink away.

It seems if anyone is enlightened by Peter's announcement to the Spartax about they're corrupt king, it's not the Spartax royal guard and so we haven't eliminated any sort of fugitive feel for the team. Add on the bounty hunter(s) who will no doubt be coming after Gamora and the intrigue of whatever has caused those hunters to come after her and we have a bit of a story developing. The issue moves pretty well and Pichelli's art continues to stand out. There's a little of the back-and-forth dialogue but "a little" isn't detrimental. I think I can pretty easily say this is my favorite Bendis book coming out right now (I'll be ranting about two others tomorrow), though it's still too early for me to deem it a particularly successful book. I like a lot of where it's going and what it's doing but we'll have to let it feel itself out more.