Cataclysm - The Ultimates' Last Stand 1, Daredevil Dark Nights 6, Fantomex MAX 2

Cataclysm - The Ultimates' Last Stand 1
Bendis (w) and Bagley and Hennessy (a) and Keith (c)

Galactus is in the Ultimates Universe and he's ready to eat some worlds up, specifically Ultimate Earth. He shows up and Miles Morales is the first one on the scene, wondering what he can possibly do against the behemoth standing over the world. Fortunately, it's not long before the other Ultimates show up but, unfortunately, it's after Galactus blows up a sizable portion of New Jersey. Iron Man's readings on Galactus reveal that he's come from the 616 and Tony has legitimately no idea how to stop him, particularly as the combined might of their heroes seems to weigh not at all on Galactus. Tough fight incoming for the Ultimates and the rest of the world.

Not too much to this issue but pretty much exactly what there needed to be. We don't get a ton of character or depth of plot or anything like that; what we get is the immensity of the threat Galactus presents and the impact that the Ultimates, this Earth's greatest superhero team, has on them. It's a very worrying prospect for the universe and for the team and, though there's not much else to say about what happened in the issue, the threat speaks volumes. I think that CATACLYSM 0.1 last week was a better issue for characterization and the theoretical threat Galactus poses to the Ultimate Universe, exploring the idea in the differences between the 1610 and the 616 and how difficult it's always been for the 616 to stave off Galactus while highlighting just how much better equipped they've always been to deal with it. This issue is important, then, for showing the physical threat of Galactus. No more theoretical, no more "oh geez, this could go badly;" this issue needs to show "oh geez, this is going really badly." I think it accomplishes that pretty well. We'll see where the event goes from here.

Daredevil Dark Nights 6
Palmiotti (w) and Silas and Decastro (a) and Fabela (c)

Matt, alongside a random FBI agent named Keller, is escorting witness Nestor Canosa, a New York dishwasher who happened to see known drug lord Oscar Gomez stab popular DJ Brian Adams in a back alley, to Miami to testify against Gomez. We'll get back to this ridiculous summary sentence in the analysis just...just keep in mind how convoluted it sounds, even in the writing of it (sorry). When the group lands, they stop off at their hotel where Matt finds New York superhero friend Misty Knight lounging by the pool. They don't have a ton of time to catch up (though the sheer volume of words might make you think differently) as Agent Keller crashes out of a window and into the pool. He surfaces to tell Matt that Canosa is under attack. Matt and Misty run up to find a couple of attackers in the hotel room. Matt, now costumed, sends Canosa out of the room where Keller picks him up to try to protect him. However, the two separate groups are swarmed by backup and Keller is shot repeatedly, leaving the men no resistance in taking Canosa. Matt and Misty continue their investigation and track the kidnappers by their getaway car, crashing the party and finding out that Canosa is already gone, possibly still alive.

Jimmy Palmiotti has been around for awhile but I mostly know him as an inker. He's been on plenty of good books and he frequently worked alongside Joe Quesada, most notably (for me) on Quesada's artistic run on DAREDEVIL. I haven't seen a ton of his writing work; really my only experience with it is this year's WHAT IF...AVX. Between that and this first issue of Palmiotti's three on DAREDEVIL DARK NIGHTS, I think it's safe to say he is a pretty awful writer. I'm not thrilled with the story, which is both cliché and overly convoluted, but it's his exposition and his dialogue that are real killers. My first sentence in my summary paragraph was actually not far off from what's written, though it's about 15 sentences shorter. It's an incredibly slow book, one that really should be over by word count maybe ten pages in, again, particularly when the story is so cliché. Even THAT doesn't really cover it, though, as the writing is simply awkward. There's a distinct lack of, and I know this is going to sound weird and petty, contractions and it throws off every line of dialogue. Contractions are really something that you don't notice until they're not there. The phrasing of every contraction-lacking line suddenly becomes remarkably robotic and stiff which then, in turn, makes the would-be more natural lines sound out of place. It's just a mess. And I'm not particularly a fan of the art, to make matters worse. It's a little upsetting, assuming this trend will continue (and I'm willing to make that assumption after similarities between this and the writing of WHAT IF...AVX), that this arc will end what has been, in the least, an enjoyable Daredevil series.

Fantomex MAX 2
Hope (w) and Crystal (a) and Loughridge (c)

I changed my mind, I don't want to review this one, you guys. One of the extremely few joys of not getting to do this for a living is that I can pretty well pick-and-choose what "review every Marvel book" means by my own personal standards. There are, of course, a handful of books I've skipped because they didn't really fit the superhero brand I'm looking for on this blog and there are a handful that rank somewhere below my level of noticing (there was a weird tie-in between Wolverine and some, I don't know, Kitchen Nightmares like TV show? I, uh, I skipped that one and just didn't tell you guys). This one I'm begging out of, despite absolutely adoring Fantomex as a character and being, in the very least, mildly interested in the art of the book (and more than mildly interested by the amazing Francesco Francavilla covers on the series), because I find the book so ridiculously gratuitous. Here's the thing that's kind of hard for me, as a self-proclaimed reviewer, to justify though: I've complained about MAX books not going far enough simply because it made the MAX line feel unnecessary to be used to tell a story that any other book could tell. It seems like Hope and Crystal are giving us a book meant for a MAX line with ridiculous amounts of swearing, sex (both implied and not-implied and consensual and not consensual), and violence. But that doesn't mean it's worth reading. I think gratuitous is probably the word that most fits and it's something I don't really want to get into. If you want this book, read it. If you don't, I don't blame you one bit. I don't and so, fortunately, I won't.

All-New X-Men 17, Savage Wolverine 9, Fantomex MAX 1

All-New X-Men 17
Bendis (w) and Immonen and von Grawbadger (a) and Gracia (c)

Young Bobby and Hank have gone with Magik to the future to meet the future X-Men only to find that perhaps THINGS ARE NOT QUITE WHAT THEY SEEM as the future seems okay for mutants, though one-time elected president (of the United States) Dazzler was shot on her inauguration day. The team that's gone back in time is a rogue team led by Hank McCoy to fix things.

This post should direct you to my thoughts on Battle of the Atom which continue to be unchanged by this issue, which shows more X-Men teams and more "twists and turns" that all signify nothing.







Savage Wolverine 9
Jock (w and a) and Loughridge (c)

Wolverine has gotten himself into another scrape as he's been kidnapped and drugged and dropped off on a foreign planet (Mars? Probably Mars). After nearly burning up on re-entry, Wolverine has landed and nearly immediately gets into a fight with a giant bug. He manages to down it and climb out of the pit the two of them fell into only to find a child sent by a mysterious organization to recover him, claiming that he's just one of many created to be Wolverine-like. The boy presents Wolvy with a serum saying that it could save them.

Definitely an intriguing story without a ton of info to start with. We know Wolverine's not on Earth and that something pretty weird is going on but this is more a showcase of tone, character, and art. It works for all of those parts, particularly tone and art. The book moves extremely well and the narration and dialogue are both incredibly limited. It's a solid start for Jock's arc as he plays both writer and artist on this one. I've never seen Jock doing any writing and I haven't seen him on interiors since the Losers (he might have written already and he may have done interiors since Losers but I haven't seen him on either) and it's certainly an encouraging start. I love Jock's art, both on interiors and on covers so I'm definitely excited to get a bunch of that and the writing is off to a strong start in both tone and story. Should be a fun one moving forward.

Fantomex MAX 1
Hope (w) and Crystal (a) and Loughridge (c)

International super thief Fantomex is at it again, though he's being trailed by US Department of Justice agent Rhona Flemyng. The tail isn't exactly an issue for Fantomex, who seems to be losing her at will. He is still enticed by her, though, and he makes contact with her after she's been reamed out by her superiors and moved off as the primary agent on the case; she now serves as a consultant to agents Stuart Stirling, Alexandra Macready, and Richard Gaunt. She finds out pretty quickly that the three are super agents of some sort and clearly have their own motives. Meanwhile, Fantomex is dealing with his own issues as he investigates an alien life form he stole which appears to be dying mysteriously. He's interrupted in his autopsy as Stirling contacts him, aware of his connection to Flemyng, and informs him that they'll kill her if he doesn't meet with them.

Fantomex gets his own MAX series and, as I said in my pre-game this week, he's pretty deserving of it. International super thief known for his amazing powers and his womanizing; it seems to line up clearly with the MAX line. WITH THAT SAID, I'd like to note that I think some of the characterization is a bit weird. In truth, I think Fantomex is pretty well cast here so far. It's really his ship EVA that comes off a little strange. She has something just short (if at all short) of complete obsession with Fantomex which is a bit weird. On the one hand, she's supposed to be a manifestation of his nervous system. On top of that, she's always been more of a quiet presence, perhaps flirting with Fantomex at time but in far more of a playful way than in the overtly sexual way we see in this issue. I suppose there are different ways to interpret that but it seems a little character-breaking. I also considered that maybe, like the other MAX books, this was set in an alternate universe but, not to get too nerdy (haha, jk, I run a comics blog), I think Captain Britain revealed in Uncanny X-Force that Fantomex is the only one of his kind in the multiverse so that seems a little unlikely. I do get the appeal in writing a fairly sexploitation book with a character who, in truth, kind of calls for it but it's a little weird to have the EVA plot thrown in. The art is pretty MAX, showing off scantily clad and impractically designed women at every turn, but it is definitely intentional and fits with the tone of the writing pretty nicely. I haven't seen much of Shawn Crystal's art before this (though I just discovered his Ink Pulp podcast and it's pretty awesome, when you actually get to the interviews) but it impresses here without a doubt. There's enough to like about this book to come back but it's still kind of hovering on that line of too-over-the-top. We'll see how it progresses.

Comics this week

Very interesting week as I am bereft of any of my normal pre-game picks this week. That's right, no New/Young/Uncanny Avengers, no X-Men Legacy, no Captains Marvel nor America, no Hawkeye (still), no Daredevil, etc. So what do I pick on a week when the books are a little different? Well, still Iron Man, right?

Captain America Living Legend 1
Andy Diggle returns to the Marvel Universe for the first time since Shadowland and with him, he brings a top-secret Captain America mission. I like Diggle a lot and found Shadowland and the trek up to it pretty compelling (even if I found it dragging at points) and, of course, I love me some Captain America action. This is one I've known about for a while because Diggle has mentioned it on Twitter a fair amount and I'm interested to see what it's leading us to.

Fantomex MAX 1
Keen-eyed readers of this blog know that I love Fantomex. They may also know I go back and forth on MAX titles. Some are really good and are, perhaps, deserving of the MAX line. Fantomex seems like a character worthy of some MAX action (sex and violence are kind of both in his wheelhouse) and I'm looking forward to simply having a book, even if it's not set in the 616 as it is with so many of the MAX stories, dedicated to Fantomex. Should be a really good time.

Iron Man 16
Well okay, this is normally in my picks and it's coming out this week but really, it's still just one of five. I really love this series and I think each issue has managed to pull an even more emotional punch than the last. Of course, this storyline is winding to a close after a solid ten or so issues (more or less) dedicated to it. It's just as intriguing to see the finish as it was to get the beginning and, quite frankly, the middle. There's been a ton happening to the armored avengers and I'm excited to see what it all leads to, both in the immediate and in the grand scheme of things.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 1
Unlike with Captain America Living Legend, I had no idea what this was until I looked over the new list of comics for the week. Real talk: I still am not 100% convinced it's a book I should be reviewing. For example, I don't review the "Marvel Universe" branded books that correlate to the cartoons or anything (as much as I loved Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes). I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be that but it's also been a long time since a true Marvel Knights book came out so I'm a little surprised if it's that idea again. Marvel Knights is kind of in the mid-range between the regular Marvel Universe and the MAX series, largely done away with because mainstream comics have gotten a bit edgier so there's less gap there. The teaser, though, calls Spidey "the Amazing Spider-Man" so I'm hoping we see a brief glimmer of Peter again.

Thunderbolts 16
I've really, really enjoyed this book since Charles Soule and Jeffte Palo took over on it. The tone has unquestionably changed and I think it's for the better. On top of that, the art and the writing seem in sync and the story for this Infinity tie-in has been both compelling and removed enough from Infinity, so far, that it doesn't feel like it's being forced on us. This issue is more likely to deal with the Infinity related stuff (just as last issue had a little more to do with it than the issue before that) but it's eased its way in just right so it feels like their true mission really is being interrupted by this, not that everything is ending and HEY, this is what the T-Bolts are doing. Really neat stuff so far, very much looking forward to this one.