Mighty Avengers 9, Secret Avengers 2

Mighty Avengers 9
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata w/ Delgado (c)

Blue Marvel tries to reason with his son Max while his other son Kevin, larger than life, begins to come out of the portal. Kevin is too unstable to bring back into this world and he's primed to explode if he's not sent back into the portal, taking the solar system with him. Max refuses to believe it and thinks that he can stabilize Kevin with just a little more time and so refuses to lower the forcefield. Spectrum becomes gamma radiation and enters She-Hulk to power her up more, giving her the strength to break through the forcefield and, when the two separate again, they manage to force Kevin back into the portal. Max is still furious with his father and Adam is more depressed than ever. Meanwhile, Ronin fights off one of some enemies looking to get their hands on the talisman he took and finally reveals himself to be Blade.

There's a lot of Brashear family backstory here as we see Adam's relationship with Kevin as the two fought off major threats on the down low and we see the circumstances of Kevin's disappearance right at the start of the Marvel Age. It's very clear that Adam loves his family and is full of regret for Kevin's loss, as well as his wife's death and the subsequent anger from Max that separated them. So like, it's easy to see how much he loves them but it's also not hard to extrapolate that maybe he's the problem? Anyway, it's a big moment for Blue Marvel in this issue and a tiny universe-threatening problem defeated but not a ton more to deal with on this front. Ronin is Blade, something probably pretty evident considering how often they kept saying Deathwalkers and, well, not hard to switch that on over to Daywalker. So that's that. Not an awful book and certainly it keeps with the tone of this series so far but there just kind of feels like there isn't a whole lot here this time out.

Secret Avengers 2
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c)

Coulson and Fury are drifting through space as the Fury (not Fury) drifts into the sun. At the same time, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Hawkeye use the SHIELD car to drive to the space station to repair the console to stop more satellites from falling out of the sky and killing more people. All this while an assassin comes to kill Maria Hill for actions she's taken that led to deaths. So it's a busy day for the Secret Avengers as Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Hawkeye make it to the space station and stop the satellites, MODOK sends a lab rat with a syringe on its back to take out the assassin from the vents, and the saved Maria Hill uses one of MODOK's designs, the nanobot blanket, to have her team rescue Fury and Coulson from impending doom.

Readers of my first review of this series will know that I was not so onboard with it. It felt like it was gratuitous and trying way too hard to be something it simply can't be. Kot himself compared the series to a Michael Bay movie, a Breaking Bad episode, and an Arrested Development episode. I said that in the first review too and I bring it up again here because it felt to me too much like it's trying to be too many things at once all the while trying to be different from other comics but trying to ape some similar styles. It's hard not to read any HAWKEYE influence into books like this one, ones that are maybe more chaotic with more personal risks than universal risks and that's probably not fair. However, it's also hard not to read those influences into THIS book particularly as the first issue took the Hawkeye-face-covers-exposed-genitals and and second issue finds Clint out of costume with bandages all over his face, a la HAWKEYE. I also talked in the first review about not writing this book off because it's so early and I'm going to continue to not write it off. I lodged some of these same complaints against SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN at the start of its series and I think that one has nicely carved out its own little niche. Here's hoping that Kot can do the same thing though I'm maybe secretly a little more skeptical. This one just seems so derivative to kick things off. LOOK, I'll stop talking about it now because I'M NOT WRITING ANYTHING OFF.

Avenging Spider-Man 20, Alpha Big Time 4

Avenging Spider-Man 20
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man, in his quest to gather the Sinister Six for some no doubt sinister plan, has struck the SHIELD helicarrier to try to free Chameleon. Black Widow and Hawkeye also appear, alongside Agent Coulson (whose nickname in this book and in Secret Avengers this week has been revealed to, inexplicably, be "Cheese" in what feels a little desperately like saying "Accept this movie character into your comic book world!"), fresh off an off-panel Secret Avengers mission. All heroes and new Nick Fury are brought into the debriefing room when Ock's plan to use his mini-spiderbots goes into effect. The power aboard the helicarrier goes down and Spider-Man starts to use it as a way to track down Chameleon before discovering that there are other villains breaking onto the helicarrier following the power surge also looking for Chameleon. They're two previously unseen villains, both wearing masks and one who has the power to kill with his touch. While the heroes fight them, Spider-Man slinks off to look for Chameleon only to find that Chameleon has killed his guards and escaped his cell. Doc starts to realize that his bringing the power down allowed the other killer villains on board and allowed Chameleon to escape and kill the guards so he is ostensibly responsible, despite his feelings that he's the better and more responsible Spider-Man than Peter Parker. He thus pushes the thoughts out of his head and starts to fight the villains, who have also made their way to where Chameleon should be, before Hulk shows up (Banner was also somewhere on the helicarrier.

Avenging Spider-Man (which, I should mention, is technically going to be cancelled I believe after next month's issue but will be relaunched, with Yost still at its helm, in July as Superior Spider-Man Team-Up or some such) continues to be as compelling as Superior Spider-Man, which is especially interesting given how the series started. I'm not saying it was a bad series to start but it was certainly a more puff piece kind of series. The team-ups were fun and no one's going to complain about getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal, but there wasn't a point to it beyond getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal. That's okay, but a full story is almost always going to make for a more compelling series. Doc Ock capturing the Sinister Six for some unknown purpose is certainly compelling enough, added to the fact that he's had his own interesting team-ups and complicated relationships with other heroes in this world as Superior Spider-Man. It's been a solid book and hopefully it will continue to be as, presumably, this Sinister Six arc reveals itself to us with the book rebranding in July.

Alpha Big Time 4
Fialkov (w) and Plati (a) and Rauch (c)

Alpha Big Time, the surprisingly good mini-series about the boy Peter Parker accidentally imbued with godlike powers before limiting them down severely for a bit of time, is roaring along to its conclusion (issue five). There's still plenty to get through, though, as the mugger whose face Alpha kind of smashed in at the end of issue one is now mutating and absorbing energy in the form of over four hundred people all the while growing larger and larger makes his presence known to Alpha, who can't successfully fight him. He has to leave midfight, though, as he hears his mom screaming from their house. He pushes his powers to the limit to race there only to find it on fire, a threat from the mysterious Boss Cohen who has been setting fires throughout Pittsburgh. Add to that the typical teenage angst Alpha is feeling (including girl trouble, as always) and the questions about his powers that are looming ever bigger and Joshua Fialkov has engineered a pretty solid book about a character that, when he debuted, nobody liked. I think people might have liked the idea of Alpha but he was designed to be unlikable and Slott made sure he was. Now, with his powers a fraction of what they could be (and eventually will be), Alpha has learned a bit about maturity and has a bit of a cooler head with these things.

I said that he has a bit more maturity but that still doesn't make him mature. He confesses to guest star of this issue Thor that he can't help but feel like everyone is so small compared to him (which is, on top of being remarkably conceited, supervillain sort of talk). Thor is the right guy to talk to and he admits that it's sometimes challenging even for him to keep his mind on task. He talks about the brash and arrogant young Thor but reveals that he has since learned that they feel bigger and so need to raise up everyone else. It's a nice message and definitely one that Alpha will have to take heed of if he intends to continue as a superhero. Despite what I said about it being supervillain talk, Alpha doesn't act like a supervillain. Sure he's young and cynicism and horrible events could turn him into a villain down the road, but he seems mostly good-natured throughout this series, even going so far as visiting the mugger in the hospital between almost killing him and him turning into a giant monster. Still, there are plenty of directions for this last issue to go and, though I wouldn't have expected to be saying this when the first book was on the schedule, I'm excited to see what the conclusion brings.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Journey into Mystery 651, Fury MAX 11

Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Bendis (w) and McNiven, Pichelli, Dell, and Morales (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians go into London to stop the Badoon attack. The Badoon have cut off all types of communication to and from the city, leaving the Guardians as the only ones available to fend off the invasion (aside from possibly Captain Britain, but Iron Man waves off the suggestion inexplicably). The team splits up and each hero, aside from Groot who is still regrowing, takes a Badoon ship to take out. They do pretty well, with Rocket perhaps doing the best. He storms through a ship, killing off anyone in his way, before setting the ship to self-destruct and crash into another ship. Drax is on that ship and only barely, with the aid of Gamora and Iron Man, escapes the explosion. When they land, they ask if he's okay and he waves them off angrily. Meanwhile, the Spartax King (Quill's father) holds a meeting with the Kree Supreme Intelligence, Young Annihilus, Gladiator of the Shi'ar, the queen of the Brood, Freyja the all-mother of Asgardia, and Y'Gaaar of the Badoon in the Negative Zone, which apparently can just be opened and closed at will. They meet to discuss Earth, which J-Son says is likely one generation from space travel and is a constant pain in everybody's butt just by staying where they are. He cites the numberous times they've rebuffed Galactus, the Phoenix, Thanos, the Kree, the Skrull, and so many others. He asks to hear if anyone is on his side and everyone except Freyja seems to be. Freyja says that declaring war on Earth is tantamount to declaring war on Asgard. J-Son and Y'Gaaar share a knowing glance. Back in London, the Spartax army descends on the Guardians and declares them prisoners of war for supporting and protecting Earth.
I'm still not totally sold on this premise as it all revolves around the many aliens in the Marvel Universe feeling as if Earth is such a threat it's worth destroying at this point. While the argument that Earth is a formidable enemy is a solid enough one, given how often they've stopped threats, it seems silly to not welcome them into space and assume they won't send many conquering forces. Sure you have to be ready for their abilities if you're J-Son, in case they're not so amenable, but it feels like the types of leaders these guys are (well, maybe not the evil ones like Annihilus and the Badoon) would at least offer a chance. That's what Freyja says too. I'm glad Freyja didn't agree with them because then I'd have some real issues with the premise feeling like everyone does it just to advance the story. Still, it's enough to push the story and the characters are compelling enough as it stands. I worry about Rocket, who has the most obviously funny lines, turning into something like Deadpool. I suppose he could pan out that way logically, but it worries me anyway. The dialogue works best in short bursts from characters and works worst, I would say, when it's snappy back and forth. That's the way it goes. It's largely bursts, which helps and helps differentiate the characters. We'll see where three takes us.

Journey into Mystery 651
Immonen (w) and Larraz (a) and Bellaire (c)

I admit to being a little confused but pleased with this one. I don't really know enough Asgardian lore to comment particularly much on Fenris, the great wolf who has troubled Asgard in the past, or on what the dwarves are doing. That's all on me, I accept that. However, the issue is certainly still paced well enough and is fun enough to cover any sort of confusion there might be. The issue revolves around Volstagg's daughter Hilde bringing Heimdall's dog (one of Loki's litter from his JiM run) out for a walk in the dead of night and running across the Fenris wolf, being brought by Asgardia by two dwarves. Hilde runs and gets Volstagg, who is awake having a midnight snack. Volstagg rushes to rouse the other two of the Warriors Three before they together get Thor and Sif. There's a lot of really fun dialogue between the characters, making them all feel close, closer than we usually get a chance to see them in the midst of battle in these Asgard books. The relationships feel effortless, simply like they've been happening behind the scenes for years and are coming out naturally. It's a lot of fun stuff, even as they have to battle against Fenris and try to get, essentially, his leash back on him. They eventually listen to his demands and allow, as he requests, Hilde to bring him a golden apple from Idunn's tree. Hilde, cleverer than anyone anticipated, apparently gets the leash on him via sleight of hand.
There's not a ton here if you're looking for plot or an extended story, as this seems like a one-off. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong and they're going to bring this issue back later, but it seems like a solo shot. Still, the characters are a lot of fun and the dialogue is delightful. I can't stress enough how nice it is to see the characters interacting like a family. Volstagg and Hilde have a great father-daughter relationship and everyone else has a great sibling-like relationship to one another (except Sif and Thor, who are definitely NOT acting like siblings in this issue). It's a lot of fun. Definitely worth reading if you're up for a fun issue of character relationships and dialogue.

Fury MAX 11
Ennis (w) and Parlov (a) and Loughridge (c)

Fury MAX has another pretty solid issue as Fury and Hatherly try to get to the bottom of America's involvement in the drug trade in Nicaragua. It turns out the officer who committed "suicide" left a note, which sounds way too forced and like it was written in honor of Fury far too much. Both Fury and Hatherly sniff it out but choose to act like they're buying it. Fury sends Hatherly to check on a fake lead from the note which he expects will lead to the things Barracuda will want them to see while Fury secretly goes after Barricuda. He throws the pilots of his helicopter off his scent before booby-trapping the chopper, giving them no way to communicate with the base. He tells the pilots to stick around the site while he tries to go find Barracuda and the rest. He stakes them out and hears what he needs to hear. Barracuda, though, hears from his man that they THINK Fury and Hatherly drove off, but that a later outpost wasn't sure if Fury was in the transport. Fury slinks off from the area and sees a nearby village Barracuda's crew already hit. He's disgusted to find that they've burned the town and mutilated all the people. Meanwhile, Pug and Shirley have a fight about infidelity and Pug talks about how helpless Shirley is without him.
Though the plot is still interesting and a real world sort of story is incredibly intriguing to watch. However, I do feel like this one went far further to earn its MAX designation than ones in the past have. Lots of swears, lots of dirty images and things. I'm not sure it really improves the issue. In terms of grounding it in realism, I'm not totally sure it works either. I'm not really sold on over-saturating work with swears because it feels too forced and, after a bit, tends to pull the audience out of the story. Otherwise, solid story with some really graphic imagery to get past.

Gambit 10, Thunderbolts 7, Fury MAX 10

Gambit 10
Asmus (w) and C. Mann w/ Kirk and S. Mann and Leisten (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Gambit and Fence make a plan with Joelle to get to the secret HYDRA base that, according to information from an ex-HYDRA officer, was used by Baron Von Strucker to defeat death. Joelle's stated plan is to find whatever serum or formula HYDRA came up with and use it on her dying daughter. Gambit and Joelle travel to the base, a skull-shaped snow base in Canada, and use the access codes the ex-HYDRA officer gave them (or rather, the ones Gambit stole when he got involved at the villain club last issue). The deeper they go into the base, they begin to realize that their HYDRA officer wasn't exactly the highest-ranking, so his codes stop working at a certain point and leave Gambit and Joelle fighting their way through horrible defensive abominations. They make their way to the serum, take it, and manage to escape by snowmobile. After camping out in the snow together overnight, Gambit and Joelle wake up to find Rogue standing over them. Meanwhile, Tombstone has tracked down Fence and demanded the whereabouts of Joelle and Gambit. Fence tries, to his credit, to get Tombstone to back off, citing Joelle's daughter. Tombstone reveals that Joelle is not what she claims to be.
This was a fun issue, sure, with all the staples of Gambit books so far. There's a bit of repetition throughout that gets a little stale (Gambit constantly reminds everyone that he's been in situations like this before, and he and Joelle constantly affirm that they're trusting each other in this) but overall the book's enjoyable enough. Tombstone seems intent on bringing us somewhere in this Joelle storyline, which is something of a relief. I'm interested to see how the introduction of Rogue to this story will play out. Frankly there's not much else to say about the issue. It reads like every other issue of Gambit so far, which is neither a bad thing nor a particularly ringing endorsement. The book has been fun so far but ten issues that feel like they're spinning their wheels a bit makes you worry about the longevity of a title like this. I'm on its side, though, for now. It's a fun book with an interesting main character, though Gambit books don't have a history of lasting. We'll see how the next few issues shape up.

Thunderbolts 7
Way (w) and Noto (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The key to this book, at least in my mind, is the team itself. When the first issue came out, I absolutely picked it up because of the team presented on the cover. I was very interested in this black-and-red team because it was so clearly not a team. Everyone in the book is used to working by him or herself primarily (with the possible exception of Flash, but Venom tends not to get along with people). The first arc was interesting because it took that team and physically divided them while creating emotional divides between them. We left the first arc with no one trusting team leader Red Hulk, Deadpool angry with Punisher for his fling with Elektra, Punisher angry at Red Hulk for bringing Leader on to the team, and Venom particularly angry with their time in Kata Jaya. Issue seven takes a well-planned turn by putting the team in the same place again and making that place a submarine. Is there still a story happening here? Sure. But I don't really care about it, not yet anyway. Deadpool has an uncomfortable exchange with Elektra, which leads to Deadpool assuming her relationship with Punisher has continued though it hasn't (or at least, not by way of an actual relationship). As a result, Deadpool has spent time in the not-Danger Room (pretty much just a Danger Room) killing Punisher 300 times, according to Red Hulk. Meanwhile, Red Hulk has to deal with a mutiny as the rest of the team gets sick of his lies and one another. He handles it easily enough and explains the coming plot; the transport that left Kata Jaya just before them was carrying the materials, Ross explains, for a Gamma bomb. He has Leader looking over the schematics in the hopes that he'll be able to prove or disprove his theory. This is all going on with the backdrop of a CIA issue wherein a terrorist cell they didn't know existed seems to have blown itself up or, as they privately suspect, was dismantled by something (there's a great appearance by the Uncanny Avengers as the CIA tries to figure out who was responsible. "Look at what I'm carrying...does it look like a broom to you?" Captain America says, holding his shield. "Clean up your own mess." He then returns to fighting AIM, riding giant, rocket-propelled gorillas. THAT'S the story I want to read). Leader bursts in to Ross' briefing saying that it's not a bomb they're building; it's a battery. Enter gamma-powered robotic suits as the upcoming villains.
I like the way this book has been structured, especially as the pieces start to come together on the heels of the first arc. I think, looking back, that I got a little dismayed by how little the team, which had interested me in the book in the first place, was interacting with one another. Have faith though, says Daniel Way. We simply went through all of that to make it more important for the team to be trapped in a submarine together. Good issue and the foundations are all there for a good book. I have to say, too, I was a big fan of the Noto art over the Dillon art. I could stand to look at the characters' faces.

Fury MAX 10
Ennis (w) and Parlov (a) and Loughridge (c)

I like the Fury MAX book because it feels like an indie comic with the backdrop of a "normal" Marvel world. It's nice to occasionally pull back from the capes of the superhero world and read a book about a mostly normal (though pretty darn crafty) guy somewhere in the espionage world. I do think that there's too much swearing.
Let's step back and take a look at that line real quick, shall we? It occurs to me that I've complained about swearing in several books. I complain about excessive swearing in books where excessive swearing appears, I've complained about Bendis' fake swears in Guardians of the Galaxy, I've complained about Humphries' black-box swearing in Uncanny X-Force, etc. I'm not opposed to swears. I'm not on some campaign to remove swears from modern day society. I swear somewhat frequently myself. I don't do it in this blog so much because it's typically not necessary and usually sloppy writing. There are typically better words to use. I think it's fair to toss it into fiction occasionally because you're creating human characters and humans swear. I don't really like it when people swear non-stop in fiction because I tend not to run into people who swear that much and it takes me out of the book when you throw that many unnecessary words at me. Swears don't upset me. Bad writing does. Let's head back to Fury MAX 10.
So a problem with the MAX line is the ability to swear pretty much at will. I can usually get past that but by and large I find it overdone. Still, there's an interesting story happening here, and one that's not so outrageous you have to suspend disbelief. I love comics (obviously) and I love superhero comics, but clearly you go in with a level of suspended disbelief. It's nice occasionally to have a story that seems like it might be real. In this case, Fury is recounting his time surveying an American armed support group in Nicaragua in 1984. The questions and plot mostly revolve around whether or not the American forces are getting into the drug-dealing game with material from Nicaragua. It's a compelling story that seems to be going in a very interesting place as a captain on the base has just been found dead, holding a gun in front of a pile of cocaine. It's a compelling story set in a compelling world that isn't particularly foreign to readers (unless it's a child reading, in which case STOP READING THE MAX LINE). Good place to start this arc.