Avengers Arena 13, Secret Avengers 7

Avengers Arena 13
Gage (w) and Moline and Pennington (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Someone outside of the Arena suspects that something's wrong. Unfortunately for the people in the Arena, the person who suspects something is wrong is 12 year-old Molly Hayes (is she 12? I'm pretty sure that's the last age I remember her being but it's entirely possible I made that up, you guys. Don't tell anyone). Molly doesn't believe that her fellow Runaways Nico and Chase have, as they reported it, simply disappeared to try to work some things out away from home. Molly doesn't believe the texts they keep getting or even the phone calls they occasionally receive. She brings her problem to Avengers Academy head Hank Pym who promises to look into it. He works out a few pieces of the problem, realizing that he lost kids (Juston, who went back home allegedly, and Hazmat and Mettle, who ran away so they could stay in a relationship Hazmat's parents didn't approve of) the same time the Runaways ran away. With a little investigating, he finds out that X-23 and some of the Braddock Academy kids disappeared at the same time. All of it bothers Pym tremendously but he can't seem to convince anyone else something is wrong and, more than that, he can't find any substantial evidence. Arcade has done a truly phenomenal job (or, in truth, Miss Coriander has) covering his bases and only pulling kids likely to disappear for one reason or another and maintaining a presence for them within their communities. Eventually Pym has to give up the fight when he's met by Mettle (Arcade's trump card, cybernetics hidden under what appears to be, disgustingly, Mettle's real skin) and assured that everything is okay but that they still have to lay low because Hazmat's parents are trying to call it a kidnapping. Is there anyone else out there looking for the young heroes?

Solid explanation of why no one has become suspicious in the world and, given everything else that Miss Coriander has arranged for Arcade, it fits well within the scope of the story. It's also rather nice to see Christos Gage writing another story that ties so nicely to Avengers Academy, which was a deceptively good book, surprising in the same way this book is but probably a little less action heavy. Minor complaint to start (and it's incredibly minor and petty but it's been bugging me so WHATEVER): Tigra appears in this book (she's number two at Avengers Academy and romantically linked to Hank right now) and her caption calls her a were-woman, which is entirely wrong on a couple fronts. First off, "were-," as in "werewolf" translates to "man," hence why it's werewolf and not wereman or manwere. So calling her a were-woman is saying she's a man-woman which complicates PLENTY and she's already complicated, okay? Secondly, it implies that she transforms back and forth and I'm pretty sure she doesn't, she's just all Tigra all the time. That's PRETTY MUCH my only complaint though so I guess it evens out. Nice explanation, slows down the series a little bit from all the high-action we've seen lately but certainly a necessary addition to the book.

Secret Avengers 7
Spencer (w) and Guice and Magyar with Epting and Theis (a) and M. Wilson (c)

Maria Hill continues her unbeaten streak of being my least favorite Marvel character in existence. There are plenty of contenders in that race, including Wonder Man and Milla Murdock (okay, some are more relevant than others), but no one ever holds a candle to Maria Hill. Maybe its my own biases here but I have real trouble believing, as the recap page says, that Hill had to make a terrible decision. I don't think she ever thought it was terrible, having Daisy removed from SHIELD. Just like I have my doubts that she had problems making this call. Sure, give her a look like it was a really hard decision and soften her up later but I'll never buy it. Man. Maria Hill, am I right? Anyway, we flash over to Barbuda to find that the strike team needs a way out and that Mockingbird has a shot at the real Scientist Supreme (AIM had warning of the attack and got their man out of the way). Hill shuts her down, wipes the memory of her being on this mission from the team, and gets them out of there. So Mockingbird is stuck on AIM Island with no idea what she's doing or why she's there. Maria Hill, ladies and gentlemen.

This was, admittedly, the first issue in a while for Secret Avengers where I was surprised and intrigued by the ending. I'm still not totally onboard with this Avengers team that has chosen to work for SHIELD (SHIELD and Avengers notoriously don't get along and many could say it's because of issues like this and YES, "issues" there is a double meaning because I'm a great writer and I want you all to know it) and chosen to have their memories played with by SHIELD. It just doesn't feel entirely right, largely, I think, because all of these heroes (and that is an all-encompassing "all") are broken and they all (all) have trust issues and frankly they probably could have figured out that AIM Island was bad news without SHIELD's help. On top of that, I have trouble viewing SHIELD with any real constructive eye; they're always sort of backups to the Avengers or blocking the Avengers in some way  (because their literary function isn't to be the heroes, that the hero's job, it's to throw up more roadblocks or, best case, to assist the hero in some minor capacity) so it's hard to view them as doing anything competently. Despite them being the focus of the book in a way, it's hard still to say they're doing anything competently, which makes it far harder to like them which, in turn, makes it harder to like a book driven by their actions. Tricky scenario Nick Spencer has worked himself into. Let's see if he can get out of it (maybe throw Winter Soldier on the team, hm?).

Age of Ultron 10 AI, Ultimate X-Men 28

Age of Ultron 10 AI
Waid (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Age of Ultron is over and has left our universe in much the same place as it was before. Sure, Ultron is gone now, possibly for good (though probably not, amirite?), and there are cracks in the space-time continuum but we'll probably get to that later. For our purposes, everything is pretty much back to normal. But I know what you were asking yourself: what does that mean for Hank Pym? Haha, just kidding, you weren't asking yourself that and I knew all along you weren't. Good news, though, Marvel has an answer anyway. Pym has seen what happens (kind of?) in a world without him. Frankly, both worlds are in trouble. However, after some serious existential crisis-ing, he realizes that the world he's in is very slightly better than the world he's not in, but not really because of Pym the straight-laced inventor. It's better because of the hero he's been when he's unleashed his creativity and imagination. We get a look back into his life where his parents, simple, hard-working folk, try to get Hank to focus on practical problems, preferring he ignore anything imaginative for imaginative's sake. His grandmother though, a science-fiction writer, fosters that creativity and applauds it. After her death that, as a child, Hank could not stop, he settled in to doing uncreative science, which is likely a bit of an offense to scientists. We get a little run-through of his life that culminates in an examination of his need to fit in and to live his life by the standards set by others for him. Enough of that, he decides, and chooses to improve lives with science and with hero-ing again, after a bit of a vacation from that life. Get ready for ol' Hank Pym to join the greater Marvel scene again! You're excited, right? No, I know.

Despite everything snarky I said above (which was largely directed at Hank Pym, except for the uncreative science being offensive to scientists. That's kind of a real qualm but super minor because I am not a scientist), this was a pretty good comic. Mark Waid is getting a lot of well-deserved praise for everything he touches these days and this book is no different. He's writing probably the best Hank Pym in the Universe right now, maybe ever, between this and Daredevil. Obviously Tom DeFalco is a comic-writing pro/legend, but it kind of made me wish that Waid had written Ant-Man Season One back when that came out. He clearly has such a defined sense of the character, even if it's a little different than any sense anyone else may have had. I know I go on about this a fair amount but the show Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was a pretty fantastic representation of Hank Pym. It's easy to look at Pym and see someone who has kind of a crappy superpower and real psychological problems but, as horrible as this sounds, not very interesting ones. Also, he hit his wife that time which really has gone a long way to scarring his reputation. However, looks like EMH gave him and like Mark Waid has set aside for him makes him a far more interesting player on the Marvel field. He's due for a little resurgence, especially with Avengers A.I. on the way (which this book is certainly a prelude to, even going so far as to show Pym fiddling with an old Doombot head) and with Edgar Wright's very exciting movie seemingly confirmed for a 2015 release. If Waid or someone with a similar grip on the character can keep writing him, we could be in for a nice reversal on Pym soon.

Ultimate X-Men 28
Wood (w) and Asrar and Vlasco (a) and Bellaire (c)

Okay, so Psylocke wasn't officially dead after Farbird dropped on her. But she was dying. As she dies, she leaves Jean Grey with some ominous words; her mission had been to oversee the extinction of mutant-kind and, though she failed in her death, she sees in Jean a mutant who could oversee that extinction anyway. With Psylocke dead, the tensions dissipate quickly. General Ross sees what's been happening (they've also lost quite a few men as a result of the sentient seed's actions) and knows this has gone beyond anything he wants a part in. He says that if the government still wants to take down Utopia, they'll have to find another way, hopefully a more diplomatic one. He advises Kitty to keep her head down and stop scaring people, even if it's just with great innovations like the sentient seed and with a peaceful community. Kitty refuses his advice and they part. Jean is astounded to find no one upset in the wake of this attack; instead, everyone seems genuinely happy that the attacker has been discovered and stopped and forgiving of those who had been under Psylocke's control (there's a panel that shows, from a distance, Kitty and Mach Two embracing). Kitty calls Jean in to talk and reveals that they've known she was Jean Grey since the moment she came to Utopia and that they have no plan to be absorbed by Tian. She says that they might have been intrigued by a collaboration, two sister nations, but that the deception Jean used and her insistence that Tian is the superior nation and the way of the future has all but pushed that out the window. Jean is furious with Kitty and thinks it's a stupid move. Jean, enraged, lights into the Phoenix, which does not frighten Kitty, who still asks her to leave. As the issue closes, we see Farbird, acting under Jean's orders, returning to Tian to activate "Project Supersonic," a project that will bring us into our next arc, "World War X."

I've been a big fan of Ultimate X-Men all around and I think this ending was something pretty astounding. After months of priming readers for a big fight between Utopia and the military, Kitty ends up able to stay true to her word of fighting back without fighting (though the sentient seed certainly does a bit). This is the Utopia that she had promised, one that is peaceful and just wants to exist as a safe-haven for mutants, a community. Of course, readers hungry for action out of this book will likely get their fill with the next arc which seems like it will be led by someone decidedly less hopeful than General Ross (weird to say that, but we're talking about Ultimate Ross, not regular type Red Hulk). This book moves with expert timing and is one of the best out there for creating tension and a real atmosphere. I also get the feeling, though this is hard to promise as someone who is pretty invested in all these books, that it would be an easy book to jump into. It might be a little tricky if you've never heard anything about the Ultimate Unvierse before, just as anything now would be, but there are only a couple of basic facts you need to know and they come out pretty naturally every issue or so. And yes, that is a recommendation, you guys.

Daredevil 24, Deadpool 6

Daredevil 24
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

I like Foggy Nelson a lot. I think he's one of the better supporting-cast characters in comics. He's a great friend and he's perfect for someone like Matt and there's never a fear of him turning into a supervillain or a superhero because he's simply not in shape for it. He has cancer right now, Ewing's Sarcoma, and I really hope he lives through it, but I have to say that I think it's a pretty good time in the book's run to give it to him. Where Daredevil has only just started to regain his bearings after snapping in Shadowland, he's now faced with a problem that he can't acrobat around. He's faced with a problem that all of his lawyering and all of his investigating and all of his senses and all of his punching can't help. On top of that, he's come up against a meticulously planned attack from some unknown assailant that has involved uprooting as much of Matt's life as he can. Will Matt walk down the Shadowland path again and snap when he figures out who is behind all of this at such a delicate time? Will he stay above it for Foggy and his own sake? Next issue, if the closing panels are to be believed, will bring Matt to the mastermind behind everything that's been going on, from Klaw to the Spot to Matt's dad's boxing gloves to Milla appearing in his room to the recent outbreak of prisoners and dogs who have been given Matt's enhanced senses.

I like some of the other touches that Waid has put on this series as well. One thing that I wouldn't have expected to enjoy so much but clearly am enjoying is the budding friendship between Hank Pym and Daredevil. Hank is useful in this stage of the game as a biological expert, what with the chemical attack on Matt and with Foggy's cancer, but he's also become something of a shoulder for Matt, who hasn't really had one except Foggy in the past. Obviously Matt isn't going to Hank for everything, but he's in contact with him enough and Hank knows enough about Matt's life that he's able to understand some of what Matt is going through. I don't know if it will spring into a full-fledged friendship or if the extent of their relationship will be like any other two superheroes, but it's a nice touch that I didn't expect and certainly didn't expect to like. For as long as Daredevil's been around, he has very few inroads in the superhero community. Only since Fear Itself has he been an Avenger (and only popped up in New Avengers whenever Bendis seemed to remember him) and he's not really a team-up kind of guy. He's closer to the street level heroes, like Spider-Man and Iron Fist and Luke Cage, who also don't have a ton of sway in the superhero community. It's nice to see him building into a relationship with a long-time Avenger like Pym and maybe even a nicer touch that it's someone who, for as long as he's been an Avenger, has always been kind of on the outside. It's just another example of Waid having a real feel for this character and for the people with whom he connects.

Deadpool 6
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Moore (a) and Staples (c)

The dead presidents opening arc of this new Deadpool series ends with Deadpool killing George Washington in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Then he doesn't get paid and SHIELD is mad at him and Agent Preston, who died last issue, is sharing his mind with him because Michael the necromancer brought her back and put her in Deadpool. Deadpool seems happy about it as he feels, and tells us repeatedly this issue, that Agent Preston was the only person who believed in him. I never once got that sense. There were times, in the last issue, that she said it but I never felt like she actually believed in him. Deadpool was brought on because it was an ugly operation and needed to be kept quiet and brutal and he fit the bill. Maybe she did legitimately believe he could do it, but there never seemed to be a real friendship between the two until it was shoved at us last issue so she could die and he could be upset about it. Other than that, I feel like Preston has watched Deadpool do what Deadpool does, all the while going "oh brother" as he makes some quip or other. I'm not sure if they were going for a Lethal Weapon style buddy cop team-up with those two but it never read that way until Deadpool, this issue, tried to tell us that it read that way. Who knows, maybe that will come back as the twist; Deadpool considers them friends and she doesn't. Even that feels weak because I don't believe in the Deadpool that this easily sees friendships.

Beyond that, I don't have a lot to say. I think my feelings on this book are pretty evident and nothing about this issue or the conclusion of this arc made me change my mind on it. Five presidents were killed outside of Deadpool's watch, three by a bus and two by an LA gang. That kind of made it feel like Deadpool's not that elite after all. He had trouble with these guys who can be killed without even really trying, let alone one of the world's foremost mercenaries trying. It feels like their deaths were just shoehorned in, at that point. Washington wasn't a real threat for Deadpool, even after taking on the powers of two other presidents, but rather was a typical villain espousing lines about how Deadpool's no hero and he's actually dead like them and no one likes him and so forth. It didn't feel tongue-in-cheek, it felt like the things he was saying were supposed to be some new revelation about Deadpool. I suppose if you jumped on board this new Deadpool book without any background knowledge that might come as something of a surprise to you, but I feel like the last five issues would have given enough of that anyway. So that's that. One arc down. Let's see where the next one goes, with hijinks no doubt set to ensue.