Wolverine 5, Origin II 5, What If? Age of Ultron 5

Wolverine 5
Cornell (w) and Sandoval (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Wolverine, new girlfriend Pinch, and the Lost Boy go out into the city on a night off while Wolverine gets drugs that keep his metal skeleton from poisoning him. Afterwards, the three of them go to a tattoo parlor where Wolverine gets a tattoo from a superpowered tattoo artist, who has the ability to instantly know what tattoo best fits a person (??). He chooses a rose for Wolverine and, though he doesn't necessarily know why it fits, instantly tattoos it onto his arm. Then the three of them head to Wolverine's favorite bar wherein some of his old pals tend to gather. Tonight, though, Thor is among those old pals and he's not thrilled to see Wolverine. Logan tries to show him the tattoo but it doesn't seem to have an impact on Thor and the three are forced to hustle away. Their next mission will take them to Madripoor in search of Sabretooth.

Story
This issue is more dedicated to character than to story as it's something of a break in the spy work storyline, though a few things are made very slightly more clear story wise. In this case, Wolverine's "I take drugs to stop my skeleton poisoning me" clears that question up with literally the tiniest of explanations (WHATEVER, we're not really reading for the science of this, are we?) and Wolverine sort of reaching out to Thor as if to try to get him to be understand is a neat little story twist, though it's negated somewhat by the fact that SOMEHOW Pinch figures it out. We don't know much about Pinch but I'm willing to believe she's a pretty smart, pretty capable woman. However, the leaps she makes to start to suspect Wolverine's true motive in showing Thor his tattoo feel really convenient, very much like an advance-the-plot kind of thing. 3/5

Character
The focus of this issue is Pinch, which is good because we're five issues in with Wolverine's new team and I feel like we don't know a thing about any of them. I have literally no connection to anyone regularly appearing in this book who isn't named Logan (or Wolverine or James or whatever, you get it). Now Pinch is starting to get a little more personality but, as I mentioned above, I'm not sure it's any more personality than just what's capable of driving the plot forward. The key for Cornell right now is clearly to make Wolverine feel attached to his teammates so he's conflicted when the time comes to turn evidence on them and so most of Pinch's narrative and dialogue this issue can be chalked up to a desire to only do exactly that, drive the plot ahead or tell us more about Wolverine. She's slightly more defined but it's done in such a way that she feels like a plot device as much as anything else. Also, Wolverine's new rose tattoo (meant to symbolize Rose, his childhood friend he ended up accidentally killing as told back in ORIGIN) doesn't so much characterize anything new as it does hit us over the head with the old. 2/5

Writing
There's no big tone to establish here as it's something of a rest issue, meant instead to establish characters over story. As such, I covered most of the writing of the book with my complaints in the above two sections, particularly in character. Not entirely onboard with the writing here. 2/5

Art
Gerardo Sandoval's art isn't totally dissimilar to Ryan Stegman's but it's not totally similar either. Everyone has a rather similar look and build but Sandoval's art seems to be sharper, giving Wolverine's mask and almost Batman Beyond feel. I don't love Wolverine's new costume (reminds me almost too much of someone like Constrictor, weirdly) but I do like Sandoval's much sharper cowl sort of thing. I can't really explain why, just appreciate it aesthetically. And guess what, the art gets full marks because of it. I've gone mad with power! 5/5

Miscellaneous
Whatever.

Total score: 3/5


Origin II 5
Gillen (w) and Adam Kubert (a) and F. Martin w/Beredo (c) and Caramagna (l)

With Clara thought dead, Logan and Victor plan to raid Essex's compound and kill Nathaniel Essex. Logan leads the way, plowing through mines and gunfire and soldiers before reaching the building. He makes his way to Essex, who informs him that Creed tipped them off to where Logan would be. Logan guts Essex then goes to find Creed. The two fight and Creed tells Logan that he ought to kill himself now, or at least take some of Essex's poison, because he can never live as a human. Everyone he loves will leave him somehow. Before the fight concludes, Clara shows up wielding a rifle. She explains to Logan that the Creeds are also mutants with varying skills and tries to convince him not to kill Victor. Logan, not wanting to hear that, holds Creed's head in a vat of Essex's concoction until he seems pretty dead. Clara demands he leave, rebuking him for the act and not seeing him again. Four months later, a more animalistic Creed has re-emerged and finds Clara only for Clara to tell him that their little brother Saul is dead.

Story
The conclusion of ORIGIN II is a nice finish as it brings up all the regular Wolverine themes, animal vs. man, Creed vs. Logan, the price of killing people, etc., while leaving a certain amount of ambiguity to the story. Clara, who has some experience both with dealing with animals (it's apparently her mutant power, along with healing) and dealing with broken people (being a Creed), seems the perfect judge of Wolverine's character and rebukes him not for his animal side but for his cold-blooded killer man side. It's a blow to Logan but it's not inaccurate and it puts this story firmly in the camp of interesting Wolverine stories that make a reader wonder what's really going on in there. The story's ending is a little abrupt and feels like it could lead into another story all its own but without any announcement of that (unless I've missed it) or without knowing what already existing story it might refer to (whatever, I don't know it all, okay?), it feels a little strange. 4/5

Character
It's still a relatively young Wolverine and a young Victor Creed we're dealing with here and Gillen is sure to keep that in mind in each issue. Logan isn't someone at this point who weighs his decisions and thinks carefully about the cost of killing. That ends up being the driving force behind the story of this book but it's also the driving force behind the creation of his character in this book, molded as someone who knows he doesn't fit in the human world but also hasn't really had that pointed out to him so he's not even really pondering why. By the end of the miniseries, he's forced to do exactly that, wondering if he's Essex's bear, the grey family wolf, the lone wolf, or something different. Clara puts it in no uncertain terms: he's something else, something worse than any of those. He's a man who has the ability to have a different nature but doesn't. 5/5

Writing
The story and character sections cover a lot of this nicely, though it's worth noting that there are times where the exposition feels a little rushed (Clara is an exposition machine out there) because there are so many ideas Gillen would rather get across than plot points. Still, it's overall a very solid issue and a good conclusion to the series. 4/5

Art
I've liked Adam Kubert's art throughout and continue to really like his portrayal of this pre-serum Sabretooth. His post-serum Sabretooth is strong too but falls more in line with the current look of Sabretooth (albeit lacking the stupid suit. Man, I am really not onboard with many of these new creative decisions in Cornell's book. Sabretooth wears a suit, Wolverine has a rose tattoo, there's a tattooed guy whose costume is just an unzipped hoodie with no shirt underneath named the Lost Boy? All TERRIBLE). The action is good and smooth while still looking brutal and efficient. Martin's colors continue to shine throughout. No complaints here. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I don't think it was an easy job to come in here and tell another Wolverine ORIGIN after the first one had been so big and after we've uncovered so much of Wolverine's history already. Still, Gillen and Kubert came in with a goal and they clearly achieved what they wanted to achieve. Strong stuff.

Total score: 5/5


What If? Age of Ultron 5
Keatinge (w) and Doyle, Villalobos, Ienco, Edwards, and Magyar (a) and Rosenberg, Serrano, Redmond, Beaulieu, and Major (c) and Sabino (l)

In another universe, Hank Pym begins to consider the possibilities of AI when he's hit with the timeline snap and, though it doesn't harm him physically, the thought disappears from his mind entirely. It's a world without Ultron and Ultron from the first issue of this series, the one where Hank is the only human even sort of left, realizes that Earth is prime for the taking. Portals open up all through the multiverse as Ultrons flood past to shatter a new world. Everyone we've seen so far, from Asgardian Natasha to a new Captain America to Wolverine and Ghost Rider is summoned into the world without Ultron to fight these invading Ultrons. As the world verges on defeat, Hank of the first world finds Jan and directs her and the other remaining Avengers to his old, dead world as one that won't have any Ultrons left on it, a world where they can all start over. They rush through and discover it abandoned, leaving them with a whole new world to try to make better than the worlds they left, a new world where they can ask...wait for...WHAT IF?

Story
It's an incredibly convoluted way to tie everything up, if you can call it that, in this limited series. The rips across space-time start to open up and suddenly everyone we've seen in this inexplicably long series comes together and manages to escape the Ultrons out there. If you're left wondering what the point of this all was, you're not alone. 2/5

Character
There's not a lot to look at character-wise as we've already seen the majority of these characters before and we're not really here to see them evolve, just to see how they end up, I suppose. There's nothing more remarkable about them and it's clearly not Keatinge's intent to improve on them, just to push them through a story. 1/5

Writing
There's exposition aplenty in here but it somehow still never really explains what's happening or why. Ultron just has a need to conquer worlds and his other Ultrons want to conquer them too and portals open up that bond all of these worlds together and now these peole we've seen survive for probably nothing. It's convoluted and rather all over the place. 1/5

Art
The art changes throughout the book with Ming Doyle providing the new universe with art and the other artists from this series rejoining to illustrate their respective universes for one more time. It clashes a little but overall you get the point and it helps to differentiate this confusing plot. 4/5

Miscellaneous
No, I don't know why it existed either.

Total score: 2/5

Avengers AI 12, Avengers World 5, Uncanny Avengers Annual 1

Avengers AI 12
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c) and Cowles (l)

The future is in peril as Dimitrios prepares to defeat the last uprising and the last bits of the universe 10,000 years later with only the remaining AI Avengers to stop him (Victor, Doombot, Vision, and Alexis). Doombot opens up his black hole chest and attempts to send Dimitrios, feeding off of Galactus, into it, but Dimitrios nearly escapes even that. In the present, though, Monica Chang makes the correct decision to sever Clatterbuck's link to the SHIELD network for deactivation, thereby stopping Dimitrios' virus from getting ahold of SHIELD's systems and giving the team the chance to officially defeat Dimitrios within. Though the AI Avengers are through, per Maria Hill's orders, they have succeeded (though all may not be well as hint that Ultron may yet have survived has emerged).

Story
Like in THOR: GOD OF THUNDER right now, I have a little bit of trouble feeling compassion or excitement for these sorts of "we need to do the right thing now or else the world will be gone in 10,000 years!" stories. I feel rather like the universe surviving for 10,000 years more is kind of a stretch goal anyway; I mean, we're bound to destroy the planet by then, what are the chances we don't take the universe down with us? So like with THOR, it's hard to see the real stakes here and I think the idea is clouded by the presentation, in a way. The idea to AVENGERS AI's final threat is that Dimitrios' virus will instantly turn SHIELD against humanity and SHIELD's weaponry will quickly decimate the Earth is more compelling, even if it's maybe a bit more cliche, than saying "in 10,000 years, everyone will be dead!" because that's kind of already what we're believing. So the story that's buried here is okay but the way it's presented is less compelling. 3/5

Character
There's a little too much going on with the plot right now to settle out characters and final issues always get a little bit of a pass for this from me. This book was cancelled so clearly Humphries had to squeeze down a bit to fit everything and maybe some development had to be canned because there was no time and it's not like he was developing characters for later issues. Monica has some characterization as Humphries goes a little deeper into her religion and her ethics and the ethics of killing AI, but that's really all we have time for aside from a couple of quick lines to cement the characterization of other characters (an excitable Hank Pym, a happy Victor Mancha, an irritated Doombot, etc.). 3/5

Writing
This, too, falls a little under the "rushed" category. There's not much time for Humphries to create a really pervasive tone or to keep the dialogue particularly sharp. With the final issue, Humphries has time to get some exposition out and to explain what happens to our characters and not much else. There's little the writing can do to add to anything else at this point and I'm not sure that should really be counted against Humphries. 3/5

Art
Araújo kind of has me split down the middle. I like a lot of his scenes and I think that overall he carries the book pretty well but there are very strange and distorted faces here and there. He still nails down a lot of the virtual world stuff, bridging an interesting gap between realism and surrealism. Still, you probably know what direction this category is headed...3/5

Miscellaneous
Goodbye to AVENGERS AI, a bold premise that, for me, never really found its footing and never really broke out of what we've seen other AI-based books do already. Also kinda weird that the cover to this final issue doesn't have Vision on it, right?

Total score: 3/5


Avengers World 5
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and Mossa (c) and Caramagna (l)

AIM still has Cannonball and Sunspot and they've transformed Smasher into their own messenger. To top it off, the capital city of AIM Island has been completely locked off from the outside world with incredibly impressive and unknown force fields. Captain America sends Tony Stark to convince Manifold to teleport in. The field stops most teleporters but Manifold's style of teleportation, bending space, is different and they suspect he'll be able to breach. Unfortunately, his powers have been out of whack since the war with the Builders. He reaches out to Captain Universe to try to understand the problem and she transports him to a place outside the world, which helps reorient his place in the universe, necessary for a manifold. With that settled, he returns to the helicarrier and brings in the big gun team, Thor, Hyperion, and Captain Marvel, to Barbuda.

Story
The bigger story, the isolation of AIM Island and the capture of Cannonball, Sunspot, and Smasher, takes a backseat to Manifold's story. Of course, being on the backseat doesn't mean it doesn't still drive the story. We know that's the end goal and it's brought to the forefront occasionally here as Bruce Banner tries to get a team of SHIELD scientists to find a way to enter the forcefield and as Tony's objective is, of course, to breach the forcefield with Eden, but the story is really Eden's and why his powers aren't working. It's a compelling story because Eden is a compelling character and the idea that his powers aren't working properly is a pretty big blow for the Avengers, who have utilized those powers a lot recently. It's maybe not as compelling as a siege on AIM Island but it's certainly not worthless. 4/5

Character
There are character moments for everyone from Banner to Tony to Cap but the real driving force behind the issue is Manifold, who knows enough to meditate and try to reach out to Captain Universe (or the Universe as a whole) to find a solution for his problem. Eden is characterized by the way he reacts to dangers and the way he throws himself into heroing even as he's taken to another universe and his powers stop working (Manifolds cannot work outside of their own universe because their powers are dependent on their universe). We learn a good deal about him both as a person and as a super powered being and it's stuff that's pretty readable for how expository it could be. 4/5

Writing
The tone here is noticeably different than the tone in, say, AVENGERS or NEW AVENGERS and it's hard not to put that down to Nick Spencer's involvement. Spencer's books tend to have a little more quippy humor in them than Hickman's (of course, I have no idea how this issue was scripted, but that's my call on it) and it works well enough here, seeing as this is rather a separate book with separate aims (AIMs) than those books. I think it needs a little more humor than AVENGERS or NEW AVENGERS. It wears a little but it does still get some genuine laughs here and there. It will just be a tricky line to walk as the series continues and as they have to decide how far into humor they want these characters to go. 4/5

Art
Stefano Caselli's art is very strong, drawing both masked and unmasked people with a full range of emotions and with the impressiveness comic books require. Andres Mossa contributes nicely as he has some really impressive colors on scenes with Eden in the Australian outback and as Manifold and Captain Universe look at their own universe from afar. Beautiful and majestic and great for the tone of the book as well as for the story. 5/5

Miscellaneous
AVENGERS WORLD still has me a little off-center. I think it's a solid book, particularly as far as showcasing some other Avengers goes and as getting into other stories goes. The tone is a bit different than the other books but still not so far different (as its predecessor AVENGERS ASSEMBLE was) that it's hard to say if it's brilliant because it keeps a somewhat consistent tone or almost unnecessary because it feels too similar. Give it a few more issues and maybe I'll come up with something.

Total score: 4/5


Uncanny Avengers Annual 1
Remender (w) and Renaud (a and c) and Cowles (l)

Back in the slightly less world-exploded days of the Avengers Unity squad, Mojo had them all captured for a one-off adventure in the Mojoverse, using a team of already captured heroes and villains called the Avengers of the Supernatural (Doc Strange, Satana, Blade, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, and Manphibian) and put them in his new television show. The capture of the heroes was act one, act two finds them all playing stereotypical roles in a high school, and act three has them snap out of it when Ghost Rider goes off-script and crazy, beginning to seek vengeance on everyone in the Mojoverse before the other heroes, now freed from their own captures, manage to stop him. The executives behind Mojo's new show are left to debate whether there was anything of substance in his new offering or if it was meaningless distraction in a world so full of them as the Uncanny Avengers return home.

Story
The story here is a clever little satire (that maybe drags a little long) of plenty of different things. On top of the outwardly satirical representation of the high school drama and even of the comic book form, we get little digs at pop culture and audiences and a dearth of intelligent programming (it's both a golden age for television and a horrible and inescapable dark age for television right now - THANKS CBS) and the state of executives and producers and everything else you could think of. It's often clever, though sometimes it borders on heavy-handed here (it would have been hard not to), and it may ultimately carry on a bit too long. 4/5

Character
There's not a ton to look for character-wise here because, for as long as the characters are in the Mojoverse, all typical bets are off. Remender isn't looking to make profound character statements. This is more in line with the recent DEADPOOL ANNUAL or THUNDERBOLTS ANNUAL (both written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker) wherein a standalone story was told and it was more for the development of a fun story than for an ongoing development of characters. Remender still plays with the characters in a reasonable sandbox here and follows what needs to be followed but he's not going for any sort of deeper meaning here. 4/5

Writing
Satire can be a hard thing to pull off but Remender does fine work with it throughout the book as he lashes out at just about everything. It's easy to read plenty of digs into plenty of people in plenty of spots and it's done well enough that it feels bold for a Marvel comic. It's rare to see a Marvel book go so hard after the satire, often preferring to go very hamfisted or more parody-based when it does something like this instead of doing something that really cuts. Remender unleashes here and it's very strong, though, as I said above, it may carry on too long and occasionally, as is the wont of satire, sometimes gets a little heavy-handed. 4/5

Art
Paul Renaud's art is solid throughout, particularly tricky as he's drawing a huge cast of characters for an extra long issue and with all sorts of action, both physical and magical. It's a pretty great showcase for the talented Renaud and gives him a chance to flex a little bit. He steps up to the challenge and does a very strong job with it. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Fun issue and there's not anyone reading it who shouldn't feel a little shamed by it (Remender and company included, as he isn't willing to leave creators out of his jabs), which is typically the mark of a good satire.

Total score: 4/5

Avengers AI 11, Avengers Undercover 2

Avengers AI 11
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Alexis, transported to the year 12,000 AD, has been told that she needs to save Jessie Clatterbuck from deactivation by SHIELD. She's caught a glimpse of the future, one where Dimitrios has destroyed mankind and many other species and is only really challenged by the Avengers Empire, a traveling Avengers team composed entirely of AI. Her older self sends her back in time with explicit directions and she returns and delivers them. Dimitrios has created a Trojan Horse around Clatterbuck; if SHIELD deactivates her, a virus will run through their systems granting him access to all of their weaponry. The future Alexis saw had Dimitrios controlling all of that hardware and even a secret nanobot weapon that would devastate mankind before Dimitrios, in the form of a new start-up company, would offer everyone nanobot-repelling rings that would sterilize humanity. It's a dark future and one that can only be prevented by stopping SHIELD from taking Clatterbuck. Unfortunately, Jocasta has just pressed the button to deactivate the LMD.

As this book heads towards its conclusion next issue, the plot has really ramped forward. Alexis sees the future and learns how to stop it. It's an interesting idea and puts SHIELD in the place that SHIELD so often finds itself: the cause of the entire world's problems. Despite the rapid dissemination of plot here, Humphries still manages to get a couple of character moments thrown in, although he has no time for subtlety here. Victor returns to a body and he and Doombot bond the tiniest bit as he accuses Doombot of staying because he wants to and not because he feels like he's stuck. Hank continues to worry that he has been more of a harm to society than a help and is allayed by Vision, who assures him that he's done far more good than bad. Future Alexis demands that Alexis save the world then go see Steve Rogers because, apparently, she's in love with Steve Rogers, etc. If this issue is any indication, the finale should be pretty solid with a lot of plot and only a little time to get through it all.

Avengers Undercover 2
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker (a) Beaulieu (c)

The Murder World survivors head down into the pit entrance of a giant villainous underground city in Bagalia in the hopes of finding Cullen Bloodstone. They're spotted almost immediately and are forced to fight their way through a few minor bad guys on their way to Cullen on Cammi's tracker. When they're through the bad guys, they push into a bar owned by Arcade where Cullen supposedly is. As they arrive, they're shocked to find that Cullen has accepted the way of life proffered by the villains below. They try to talk him into leaving with them but he refuses. He's not evil, he says, just happy to be in a place where people aren't afraid of him all the time. The kids get comfortable for a bit while they see if Cullen's okay (Cullen explains who they are to everyone and everyone is excited to meet them). Hazmat and Anachronism dance for a bit, Death Locket is examined by mad scientists before Excavator (who she had wailed on outside) comes to buy her a taco, Chase makes out with a villainess, and Cullen introduces Nico to Daimon Hellstrom, who helped him control his powers and has some experience in controlling black magic and distancing himself from his parents. Cammi gets sick of it and attempts to finally pull them out of there but Cullen insists they go elsewhere. Daimon magics them away and puts them in nicer clothes, sending them to a fancy dinner party where Arcade is introduced as the guest of honor.

Really neat turn here for this series. AVENGERS UNDERCOVER was advertised as as a book where the survivors from AVENGERS ARENA go undercover in the new Masters of Evil. I think that's probably still coming but I didn't expect it to go this way. I really like this interpretation, one where these survivors go what seems to be the natural way. They're all good kids (with maybe varying levels of good); that's why Arcade stole them away and that's why there's a conflict here. However, it's not unreasonable to believe that this would be the next logical step. Hopeless throwing in Daimon Hellstrom as one of their first contacts in this seedy underworld is another great "writes itself" sort of move. Hellstrom isn't all bad for sure. He constantly finds himself assisting heroes or working at odds against villains and the ties to black magic and bad influences makes him a natural fit to hang out with these kids. There's so much that this book can do and I think it's off to a good start, taking things in a new and interesting direction. Pretty great second issue, helps to confirm that things are moving the right way.

Avengers AI 10, New Warriors 2

Avengers AI 10
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

In the physical world, the Gascheck app is still driving people crazy while, in the virtual world of the Diamond, the Avengers team still has to find the root of the problem. With the help of the Lovelace Army and Gibson, they find the giant monstrous being that is Gascheck. After Doombot's failed attempt to attack it, Pym talks with it and explains what's happening in the physical world. Gascheck reveals that Dimitrios hijacked his programming and that he only wants to help humans, not hurt them. To ensure everyone's safety, Gascheck deactivates itself, saving the people of Earth from themselves. After seeing Hank deal with the situation and seeing all the wonders of the Diamond, Captain America announces that he'll back Hank with whatever he thinks is right, even if it puts him at odds with SHIELD or the president or whoever. Meanwhile, SHIELD has sent the AI-hunting unit of Monica Chang and Jocasta to capture Jessie Clatterbuck, the AI who played a part in Dimitrios' first attack. They manage to capture her but Chang can't help feeling that something is wrong. Alexis, down in the Diamond with her sister Eton, realizes that she needs to prevent Clatterbuck from capture if she wants to save the world.

This is the first issue of AVENGERS AI since the cancellation announcement, so maybe it's just knowing that it is being cancelled and that it's going to end soon but there is a sort of rushed sense of finality to the issue. Obviously some of the pieces for the conclusion are just falling into place now or just starting to be realized now but some of the smaller pieces, that stuff that needs to get out of the way (like Cap and his Avengers' tie to this team) is getting out of the way pretty abruptly. I still can't totally get a feel for this team and I don't have a really distinct sense of any of the characters (aside from Doombot who doesn't have a whole lot to him), something that will be really hard to clear up as we race to the finish. It's hard to sustain interest in a book, particularly a book driven by lesser known characters, if we don't really understand our characters. Ah well, let's hope for a mighty conclusion as we head towards 13.

New Warriors 2
Yost (w) and To (a) and Curiel (c)

The Evolutionaries are striking at multiple locations and our heroes are finding out just how difficult they can be to fight. Their targets seem to be mutants, Inhumans, and other heroes or people somehow different on a biological level. This includes both Justice and Speedball and pretty much the entire population of New Salem in Colorado, Kaine, Aracely, and Faira Sar Namora in Mexico, and a new Inhuman named Mark in the sewers of New York, though it does not include Sun Girl, whose powers are derived from the technology on her back and not a power within. After Justice and Speedball force the Evolutionaries out of Colorado, they speed to Avengers Tower to access the database on these things, getting a bit of exposition out of a recording from Cyclops. When they've learned a little bit, they hear the fight in the sewer and join in, giving enough backup to Sun Girl and Mark that they force those Evolutionaries to leave. Meanwhile, Nova has been captured by the High Evolutionary and put into a containment field deep in Wundagore Mountain. The High Evolutionary explains that the Celestials are coming back to judge Earth and that he and Nova are the only chance for humanity's survival.

Things keep on racing along here as now two of our New Warrior pairs have met up and Kaine and Aracely have met up with Faira Sar Namora. The team is quickly coming together and we're starting to learn a little bit more of why they need to come together so quickly. Oftentimes a team like this, one made up of smaller heroes or more inexperienced and unknown characters, will start off stopping some sort of important but far smaller problem. Maybe they tangle with an AIM branch or something and stop civilian casualties. Maybe they team up during a big Marvel event when everyone is coming together and they decide to stick it out. Maybe they have a misunderstanding but realize their both actually fighting the same guys. But no, Chris Yost has decided he's going to put them up against the Celestials and the High Evolutionary, about as big as you can go in any direction. It's a bold choice and one that will have to play out fully before we really know if it was the best choice. The problem, of course, with a big foe like this is that it's harder to characterize if you have to spend so much time establishing. Yost is doing okay with it right now as he's mostly characterized Speedball and Justice with a touch of characterization for everyone else and he's at the point where the plot will still carry the book for a bit but soon we're going to need to get deeper into character if we're going to stay on this journey. I have no doubt that the characterization will come though and we'll be left with a pretty solid book.

New Avengers 14, Mighty Avengers 6, Avengers AI 9

New Avengers 14
Hickman (w) and Bianchi (a) and Dall'Alpi (c)

The Illuminati, in their quest to find some solution that's a little more permanent, continue to watch other worlds be invaded by the Mapmakers and deal with Incursions of their own only to find that even the most prepared worlds fall with very little resistance. This time out they find a world, Earth-2319, that has been separated pretty firmly into humans and mutants (with all of the mutants following their savior Magneto's example and setting up a new utopia for themselves in the mutant-established country of Tian) but one willing to work to stop the incursions and the Mapmakers. While they watch, every hero they observe dies, even the ones to whom the Mapmakers give the opportunity to flee. The alternate Reed Richards dies sacrificing himself to (very temporarily) save Dr. Doom, who was actually capable of destroying one of the Mapmakers. No closer to any answers, the Illuminati look away. MEANWHILE, the descent of Dr. Stephen Strange continues as he seeks a way to help more with the problems of these incursions. With his soul already seemingly in jeopardy from the way the Illuminati have been forced to deal with the incursions, he goes to the Sinner's Market (a Black Arts Market, essentially) and asks for a transaction that will grant him the power he needs to unseat planets from the skies. When brought to the throne and asked how much of his soul he is selling to gain the power he seeks (for the power he's asked about, he'll need to give up a fifth of his soul), he replies "all of it."

While seeing the destruction of Earth-2319 at the hands of the Mapmakers was interesting and certainly pushes our own Illuminati further into doubt and madness, the Dr. Strange storyline is the more compelling one to me at the moment. I don't know that we gain a lot more out of the Earth-2319 story than we did from the last issue, seeing the destruction of Earth-23099, except that we see Doom defeat one of the Mapmakers proving them beatable (at least in an individual sense) and, weirdly, a little bit sentimental about the loss. Back to Strange, though. Hickman's played kind of a long game with Strange and it's beginning to pay off. He obviously belongs with the Illuminati, given his expertise in magic and his position as Sorcerer Supreme but he's found that his particular brand of combat and problem-solving hasn't been entirely useful in the fight thus far. Now he appears willing and ready to give himself up to be the power he claims to be, a no-holds-barred version of the most powerful magician on the planet. It's the idea that Dumbledore would have dwarfed Voldemort if he had been willing to use the Dark Arts. It's been a real journey, mostly in tiny little snippets, for Strange to get to this point in the book and it's coming across wonderfully now. It's also a fundamental change for a character with a rich history and with a potentially richer future (there's plenty of talk of a Dr. Strange movie in Marvel Studios' Phase Three). Should be real interesting.

Mighty Avengers 6
Ewing (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke and Jessica are swapping apartments with Dave Griffith, operator of the Gem Theater, so that Dave gets to live in the Gem, which he loves, and Luke and Jessica and Danielle have a home removed from the action that the Mighty Avengers hotline will bring to the Gem. Helping with the move are Blue Marvel, Iron Fist, and White Tiger. Blue Marvel gets along amicably with everyone, though none of them are too familiar with one another, until he and Luke begin to argue about their pasts, with Blue Marvel holding Cage's criminal past against him and Cage holding Blue Marvel accountable for retiring and hiding instead of providing a seemingly all-powerful role model for African-Americans. It's a good argument and one that, particularly from Luke's vantage point, holds water. Across town, Spectrum and She-Hulk work with Power Man to increase his strength, learning that if he studies and feels a connection with the spot he's in (they test this on Liberty Island) he is able to draw more chi from the spot and therefore is more powerful. Elsewhere, Falcon uses his bird connections to follow a far-right nutjob responsible for burning down a bookstore that he claimed promoted Marxism and who Falcon suspects is working with Gideon Mace, former Cage villain and, more recently, murderer of practically the entire family of the current White Tiger (including the past White Tiger).

There's a good amount happening here despite the lack of immediate action and I'm happy to say that this one is, for my money, easily the best issue of MIGHTY AVENGERS thus far. We're starting to get a better look at the personalities of our individual team members and understand a little where each one is coming from. Cage makes a nice speech (that could easily have gone a little far into preachy but managed to avoid that line) about his visibility (though he fails to mention that he spent the better part of his career doing it to make money, it still hits the mark exactly where it needs to) and how meaningful it would have been to know that there was someone out there for decades even before him who was a shining, unbeatable force and who happened to be black. We see a little of Ava's personality as we can pretty easily see her dedication to being a hero (which we've gotten little tastes of already) and the guilt and hurt that remains over the deaths of her family members and, as referenced in the issue, even the kidnapping and deaths of plenty of her Avengers Academy friends during the events of AVENGERS ARENA. We get Monica as a teacher, Power Man as a reluctant student (not the first time he's been there, am I right Iron Fist?), and Falcon as a total pro at his job. For as much character work as I liked in the book, the bit that was maybe coolest for me, as a big ol' Falcon fan, was seeing Sam so perfectly use his advantage and come off almost as a Batman-esque character (though less angsty and less murdered-parentsy). Some very cool stuff in here, hope this tone continues and I also wouldn't mind seeing a bit more Iron Fist, if he's going to be around longer than just as a babysitter (though I also wouldn't mind seeing that).

Avengers AI 9
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Pym, Doombot, Vision, Captain America, and Rogue (pre-UNCANNY AVENGERS 14, as evidenced by the fact that she's not a charred corpse) have been pulled into the Diamond to fight Dimitrios' troops. They have to adjust to the inner workings of the Diamond where they're only limited by what they can imagine. Victor and new friend Gibson are elsewhere in the Diamond, being interrogated by anti-Dimitrios AI but manage to convince them that the Avengers, just arrived, are there to help and to fight Dimitrios so they reluctantly go to help and, with their powers combined, manage to defeat the horde of Dimitrios' troops. Vision and one of the other AIs work together to try to find the source of Gascheck, the app that's driving the world insane, but have to swear to the anti-Dimitrios group that the Avengers will help them in their fight against Dimitrios before they are able to get a lock on the app. Meanwhile, Alexis meets with her first-six sister, the gardener Eton, in the hopes of unlocking her memories further. Back on the surface, Maria Hill has given Monica Chang and new partner Jocasta their first mission and Jocasta introduces Chang to the rest of the team, a handful of varied-ability Jocastas.

This is a tricky series because it's hard to pinpoint exactly what isn't working about it for me. When I pull back and examine the story as a whole (little Inside Baseball here: I've been thinking of changing up the format of these reviews to break down the various elements a little better and to focus what I talk about with each book to make it a little more standardized, but that's unrelated to what I'm saying oh god why did I start talking about this?) it works as a fairly interesting story. I don't think it's the best out there or the most revolutionary out there but it's certainly one that's capable of holding my interest. However, when I actually read the issues, something gets lost in the translation (or the step before the translation. In this case, it rather feels like the translation is the better part). I don't even think Humphries' writing is bad, per se, I think it just kind of gets in its own way a bit. It feels like there's a lot of dialogue there that must be unnecessary as you kind of keep losing the thread of what's happening. Until you pull back and think about the story by itself, it's very easy to miss the forest for the trees. That puts this whole series into some weird in-between space where I want to like it and want to ignore it ALL AT THE SAME TIME. There have been issues, too, that felt a little less bogged down and therefore read a bit better. Come to think of it, I think I mostly felt similarly (though I couldn't express it as well) about Humphries' UNCANNY X-FORCE. There was something there and also something missing.

Hawkeye 16, Iron Man 20, Indestructible Hulk 18

Hawkeye 16
Fraction (w) and Wu (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Kate is still out in LA and still short on cash and most everything else. She finds a seemingly kindred spirit wandering the highway as she rides her bike down it and agrees to help him get back something he claims was stolen from him. She soon finds out that the old hobo is actually '60s musical sensation Will Bryson and that he's not actually an old hobo at all. Will claims that his brother Grey, his one time recording partner, stole the masters of Will's long-awaited masterpiece album Wishes and that he released them bit by bit to the public. Kate is quickly embroiled in this little family feud despite the urgings of her extremely reluctant police contact and vows to help Will get his recordings back and figure out who is, in fact, behind it. Kate's investigation leads her into a fight with Bryson nurses/bodyguards and eventually she talks with Grey and realizes he did steal it but that there's not much she can do about it, nor, perhaps, that she should do about it. Will holds a concert to play bits of Wishes and Kate attends with her new LA friends and, for a moment, feels like she's going to be okay. Then Madame Masque pops up behind her, whispers "found you" and disappears again.

I said last week that THUNDERBOLTS might just be the most fun book that Marvel is putting out these days. While I stand by the sentiment that it is certainly fun, it's hard not to read this book and hand the title right on over. If THUNDERBOLTS is the book that's trying to be the most fun (and pretty much succeeding), Kate might still be the most fun character, so I have to say that HAWKEYE might just win out. I think THUNDERBOLTS is going for a lighter feel in general than HAWKEYE (which might be harder to say right now considering we haven't seen a Clint-centered issue in a while) but geez, this book is a non-stop fun ride. Kate's voice is absolutely unique and delightful and the book manages to be chock-full of references without ever feeling bogged down. That's a really important and specific type of writing to hit and it's the difference between, say, the amazing Venture Brothers and the deplorable other reference-centric comedy like Family Guy or The Big Bang Theory. This is a lovely little issue and it again highlights the beautiful differences between David Aja and Annie Wu. Fraction answered a question on his tumblr that pretty perfectly encapsulated what makes this little switch-off so great, saying that if he was only going to be allowed access to Aja for the Kate stories he wanted to tell, he probably wouldn't have sent her to LA. Obviously Aja's art is amazing but it's incredibly different from Annie Wu's, though Matt Hollingsworth's colors also deserve mention for still linking the stories so well. Wonderful book, nice story, great character, and amazing art. Can't ever go wrong with this book.

Iron Man 20
Gillen (w) and Padilla and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

IRON MAN jumps into INHUMANITY as Tony and Arno continue searching for the Mandarin rings only to find one, the Nightbringer, alighting on a human with a whole flight of issues already. This human, Victor Kohl, has had plenty of personal problems and his most recent one, a distrust of his father and brothers and a suspicion that he's not really his father's son, is exacerbated when the Terrigen mists hit and his family all cocoon and he doesn't. The government comes to take the cocoons away and Victor watches the news, discovering that the Inhuman DNA is passed through bloodline so it appears he was right and he wasn't part of their bloodline. He drinks himself into a stupor and goes to attack the Inhuman Nativity Center his family was brought to. The Nightbringer finds him there and rests on him, happy with his desire for vengeance and his anger. As soon as the Nightbringer goes active, Tony and Arno spot it on their equipment and Tony goes to recover it. He and Kohl fight and Kohl damages the cocoons before Iron Man gets a clean shot off on him. Nightbringer recognizes that they're incapacitated and teleport away before Tony can get his hands on him. Transported underground, Kohl is surprised to find himself suddenly cocooning. When he breaks free in his new Inhuman form, Medusa arrives to show him the remains of his father's cocoon, destroyed by Kohl. She also informs him that his family was living in the same place when the Terrigen bomb was detonated and so had the same level of exposure and therefore all changed at once but he lived elsewhere at the time and so changed later but he's still of their blood. However, she admonishes him for killing an Inhuman and exiles him from Inhuman society. The Nightbringer convinces Kohl that it's really Iron Man's fault (not a hard sell for Kohl) and he swears revenge, taking the new name The Exile.

Pretty cool little tie-in here and one that manages to show us the Marvel Universe at large but still keeps the story rather contained to Iron Man's world. It's a nice play by Gillen as he constructs an issue that works to achieve both ends well. The sentient rings continue to be a really cool idea and the idea of Tony and Arno searching them out but only able to find them when they go active adds a layer of depth and intrigue that's worth acknowledging and that keeps the reader on his toes. There's also a nice talk between Tony and Arno about INHUMANITY which feels like something of an admission on Marvel's part that GEEZ it feels like this has been going on a while already and it has barely even started. There's also talk about Bruce Banner trying to find a cure (as we'll see below) and Tony wondering if it's really necessary to worry about. Lot of good bigger universe stuff in here, which is the sort of thing that Gillen's IRON MAN has avoided diligently and it's yielded good results, yet here we are with a solid tie-in that really works. Can't complain.

Indestructible Hulk 18
Waid (w) and Raapack and Sepulveda w/ Grummett (a) and Staples (c)

Banner's bomb goes off too low over Tulsa and things immediately descend into chaos. Hank Pym would have been caught in the explosion but managed to shrink down to microscopic size and actually avoid the particles as they flew by. It's a good thing he did since he starts to figure out what's happening before anyone else. The bomb itself integrated tech that Banner recovered from the Chronarchists int he hope that he could create time fields that would accelerate the Terrigen particles so they were spent almost instantly, keeping them from everyone else. It's a good idea and one that Pym particularly is impressed by but he finds a cocoon amidst the chaotic time fields and realizes it must not have worked. After everything is set straight again in the town below the bomb's detonation, the super scientists determine that there were too many variables with the Terrigen particles that no one could have foreseen. It doesn't make Banner feel any better. He plans to hitch a ride back with his team, who broke out of the lab despite Hill's orders, only to see them nearly go down before reaching him as Randall Jessup cocoons and turns into some sort of monster, which seems to emit some sort of almost sedative rays, to the point that he calms the raging Hulk back into Banner and throws him from the jet.

The bomb storyline was only a two piece arc but it worked for me. I think that I enjoyed the first part more, which really delves into what's happening with Banner and what's at stake for him pride-wise. Waid did a really good job (as he's done all series) characterizing Banner and giving us a sense of what these kinds of things mean to him (it seems like there are big changes coming for the series as it moves into its new ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW launch and I think Waid's done an excellent job facilitating the shift). This issue was a little more dedicated to the action and the science of it, which maybe slowed down the character-driven bits a little, though it does shine a bit of a light on Hank Pym's character for anyone looking for that. The transformation of Jessup is something that Waid's been working to but we'll have to wait until next issue to really see what it means. Entertaining and engaging book all the same.

More Ant-Man movie details

So this is a new bit. I don't actually know if I talked about it when it started to come up last month but Paul Rudd is confirmed as Edgar Wright's Ant-Man in the 2015 Marvel movie Ant-Man. This still left Marvel fans wondering which Ant-Man Rudd would be playing, as there were three options for the role (but really two major options, no one was really banking on it being Eric O'Grady). Well it seems as if Marvel and Wright are ready to close the doors on those questions as they've just cast Hollywood legend Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, leaving Rudd in the Scott Lang role. The way Lang has worked in the past, for those unfamiliar, is that he becomes Ant-Man after stealing Pym's suit to use it to try to save his daughter Cassie who has a lung condition and requires expensive treatment. Eventually it gets sorted and Pym gives Lang his blessing to become Ant-Man full time, leading to Lang's affiliation with the Fantastic Four (as seen most recently in the current FF series) and to membership on the Avengers. To give away a little too much, probably, he's killed in the AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED storyline that would lead to the major HOUSE OF M business when Scarlet Witch goes a little crazy and ends up accidentally killing members of the Avengers including Lang. He's brought back in the events of 2011's YOUNG AVENGERS: CHILDREN'S CRUSADE when...okay, maybe I'm getting a little too deep into something that does not matter considering this post was originally just about casting news and its implications. Let's get to that then.

So obviously the biggest news of this whole announcement is that Michael Douglas, who will be 70 this year, seems to age Hank Pym out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, like or dislike Pym, it's hard to argue that he's an important character in the Marvel Universe. In the comics, he's a founding Avenger, he invented Pym particles, and he created Ultron, among other things (probably too bad for him that he's pretty well-known for striking his wife on a particularly bad occasion). He's also not 70 years old in the comics. This changes a lot of what people (me) may have been predicting about the movie. It's almost weirder that they're leaving Pym in but making him 70 than it is to just make it Lang and kind of combine the two characters. I suppose this is a way to keep Pym in the MCU but to de-complicate things a bit instead of having two potential Ant-Mans running around. There are also some other rumors floating around after Edgar Wright posted posted a screencap from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on his website which showed a character grabbing for the Ant-Man mask. The episode the shot was taken from is entitled "To Steal an Ant-Man" and features Lang's first appearance on the show, wherein he steals the Ant-Man costume, which caused plenty of people to think a week ago that Rudd would play Lang and not Pym. However, sources like Hollywood Reporter speculated it might mean more than that, as that particular episode also invoked, for the first time in that series, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. I waved that off at first as maybe reaching a little far, even after the article went on to link the whole thing to Iron Fist and Luke Cage's upcoming Netflix series, but I'm not as convinced now. First and foremost: can Ant-Man sustain his own movie? Second: Avengers: EMH was very clearly a sort of testing ground for future MCU concepts so it's not entirely farfetched. Third: Lang, in the comics, had a relationship with Jessica Jones for a time, also slated to get her own Netflix series, which could potentially tie everything together pretty nicely. OKAY, maybe I'm getting a little farfetched now, but maybe-OH MAN, EDGAR WRIGHT DIRECTING A MOVIE WITH IRON FIST IN IT WOULD BE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED.

Young Avengers 15, Avengers World 1, Avengers AI 8

Young Avengers 15
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Cloonan, Doyle, and Quinones (a) and Bellaire, Wicks, and Wilson (c)

The final issue of YOUNG AVENGERS, again, brings a multi-part story in the same general structure as YOUNG AVENGERS 14. This one starts with Noh-Varr lamenting his place in this world in a nice little look at his DJ abilities (and Broo's, in a slightly different way) drawn by Becky Cloonan with Jordie Bellaire colors. Story two shows David following Loki outside of the party to learn that Loki had paid for all of this and that he's leaving before they have a chance to forgive him, as they would because they're nice people. He makes a possibly-joking pass at David and sets out on his new journey, playing the role he's built for himself even if he doesn't really want to any more, in pages drawn by Ming Doyle with Maris Wicks colors. The story (and Maris Wicks) easily then moves into Joe Quinones-drawn David being joined by the Patri-not out on the lawn and trying to figure out who he is. Though the Patri-not doesn't give many answers, David reasons that he's someone from the future created by whatever it is Billy does down the road sent back to ensure that whatever it is that needs to happen to create that future happens. Furthermore, David speculates that he's one of the Young Avengers, who sacrificed him or herself to make sure the world was okay. David also believes that it's him. He doesn't totally care about any of this, though, he just wants to know where Tommy is. In a bit of a strange turn, he kisses the Patri-not who disappears and is replaced by Tommy, who isn't as into the kissing bit and, sensing a party, rushes off to join it. All the storylines from the past two issues converge as the team leaves the party in the new year and decides to go to breakfast.

Another very sweet issue and one that so nicely wraps this incredible series up. A series that was built on mystery and interdimensional drama and feelings ends in much the same sort of portmanteau. This series really couldn't have ended any other way, which is so odd in this day and age. The team didn't fight a big bad or stop any world-ending evils (today), they just went to a party and celebrated a big year. There's no better way for this book to end. I don't have a lot more to say on the subject because I think the book speaks for itself and my previously-formed opinions all hold true. Go read this book. I think it changes the game for comics. Also make sure to check out this last issue and read the various blurbs from everyone who had a hand on the book. Very sweet and nice to see everyone so genuinely care about the book. Really sad to see this one go but an extremely fitting ending for one of the best series of 2013.

Avengers World 1
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)

It's a new day for the Avengers as they've made themselves more accessible to SHIELD. They still don't, per se, answer to SHIELD or, you know, necessarily like SHIELD, but an Avengers team this big allows them to kind of splinter and go after not-quite-Avengers-level threats but also fairly big threats. So AVENGERS WORLD is like having three or four tie-in Avengers titles all in one. This issue finds Captain America and Bruce Banner meeting with Maria Hill on the helicarrier and monitoring the smaller teams on the ground, including Hyperion, Thor, and Captain Marvel investigating suspicious happenings in Canada, Black Widow, Wolverine, Falcon, and Shang Chi trying to find the root of an uprising and riots in Madripoor, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask searching for answers after the residents of an Italian town straight-up disappear, and Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot looking to find out why AIM Island is physically growing. Are all of these events linked? Can the Avengers stop them all?

I'm very onboard with the idea of this series and this first issue is living up to the expectations. There's a lot to like here as we learn the foundation of this book (through the nice little dialogue between Banner and Cap), see our players (it's a big Avengers team but it's extremely manageable in these small pieces), and get a feel for the way this book will go. My biggest complaint about AVENGERS, as it stands, is that we don't really get enough of a look at the personalities of our core team because there are simply too many of them and too big of a plot to deal with to get up close and personal with any specific characters. This book may change that and I have to think that any people who are lamenting the current AVENGERS title (I don't know any, but I could see people being mad about the main book's scale) would find themselves enjoying this book a bit more. Good characters, good writing, good art, fun first issue.

Avengers AI 8
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Dimitrios' quest to destroy the human race continues from the Diamond as he explains to Alexis that he's doing it to try to find the creator of humanity. Elsewhere, Victor and his new friend Gibson flee from those hunting them in the Diamond. Back in the real world, Cap meets with Pym to try to figure out the length of Dimitrios' reach and to ask Pym if he really has this under control, given his recent erratic behavior. It also seems as if Cap was coming in to take the reins on the AI business (which is leading to official laws that would make artificial intelligence property) when Cannonball phones up to say that riots are breaking out all over the world. Vision, Pym, and Doombot trace the source of the riots to a smartphone app that seemingly everyone has that finds the cheapest available gas, particularly useful since Dimitrios destroyed an oil refinery and caused gas prices to skyrocket. The app has been controlling people in very low doses but now that everyone has it, it's leading to widespread riots and the AI Avengers link the app's servers to the Diamond's server map that Vision won from Dimitrios in their last encounter. The only way to stop this is to go inside the Diamond.

Things are starting to heat up a bit for AVENGERS AI and it's coming at the right time. The book has certainly spent a lot of time treading somewhat familiar ground (artificial intelligence taking over Earth, is artificial intelligence sentient and does it therefore deserve its own rights, robot-hunting, etc) but this new wrinkle is pretty interesting as we get a little more modernized with Dimitrios' engineered attack on the oil refinery leading to people's reliance on a smartphone app that he's able to use to manipulate their fear and panic and cause riots. By itself it's a pretty interesting idea and it's helped by Alexis plot line, which has its own appeal already. Pretty good stuff working together and the art is really working for the tone of the book. I will say that the book occasionally drags and gets a little hung up on all of the explaining that it has to do but it's balanced nicely by the artwork and an inherent desire to make these characters human (even the AI). Sometimes that adds a little much to the wordiness of the book but I think it's necessary in keeping the book from getting dry. Should be fun going forward.

Daredevil 34, Indestructible Hulk 17, Thor: God of Thunder 16

Daredevil 34
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt brings the piece of sacred text he took to Dr. Strange who admonishes him for stealing from Satana, swearing that will catch up to him. Strange also informs him that the text holds a secret word, a name that, when uttered, can have intense persuasive abilities but warns him that he'd have to research the word before saying if it had a harm on the user. Matt comes up with a plan to bring out the Serpents but he needs Kirsten McDuffie's help for it so he drops the not-Daredevil act and enlists her for her fearlessness. With the help of former Serpent Nate Hackett and favors called in (off-panel) to various Avengers, they put together a city-wide broadcast system for Matt to call out all of the Serpents. As he demands Jester be released to him alive, Kirsten reads the word out to prove they mean business. The Serpents comply but try to leave a trap for Daredevil, which he easily bests. However, Kirsten goes off book while Daredevil's roaming the streets and puts herself in harm's way while delivering an important message about the Serpents. The Serpents find her (tracking her from the wind behind her in the broadcast) and try to shoot her but Nate tackles her, saving them both long enough for Daredevil to bring the helicopter down. As they prepare to celebrate (seems like Matt and Kirsten may be getting back together), Kirsten gets a call from the office and tells Matt it has to do with Foggy.

Another really solid issue. Daredevil is on top of his game after a stretch of self-doubt and seemingly overwhelming odds. This one strikes again at the heart of Waid's run, showing Daredevil as resourceful, clever, fearless as ever, and just a ton of fun. The height of fun comes as Matt officially outs himself to Kirsten in the most show-off way ever, jogging backwards alongside her in the park, skipping over roots and obstacles, and, still as Matt Murdock, stopping a mugging under a bridge they cross. If Matt's going to reveal himself, this is how you want him to do it, particularly this iteration of Matt. Great story, solid cast, fun writing, and really incredible art. Even with Samnee off the book for a bit, it's been amazing to see Javier Rodriguez step so comfortably into the artist role and match the tone and pace of the book so perfectly. Also glad that Kirsten McDuffie doesn't even really mildly annoy me, which has been a downfall of Matt's typical love interest (other super-people very obviously excluded). Anxious about the word on Foggy but couldn't help laughing when the book ended with the worry about Foggy juxtaposed against the words "Next: Elektra." Oh boy, I'd love to see more Foggy-Elektra team-ups.

Indestructible Hulk 17
Waid (w) and C. Mann, S. Mann, and Sepulveda (a) and Staples (c)

INHUMANITY has struck and the big scientists of the Marvel Universe are out in force trying to learn more about the Terrigenesis and its effects. Banner demands Stark and Pym, who turn up in his lab, and the rest give him a 24-hour window to look into it alone, as the de facto expert on "monstrous physiological changes brought about by radiation." They give him his start but quickly take it back as things go south for Banner, who prepares to bring his team into the field only to find that they've been grounded by Maria Hill because at least one of them may undergo Terrigenesis. Pym and Stark return, now with Beast, before the window closes and see that Banner's project is in the form of a bomb, which immediately puts them on edge and they prepare to shut him down without listening to him. Banner can't stop himself and transforms, taking the bomb and leaping out of the lab. The other heroes chase him and fight valiantly to stop him before Beast and Pym point out that this is rather all Tony's fault for belittling Banner and Beast points out that maybe this bomb things will work. It's Tony's call, as the scientist who's known Banner longest, on whether they keep fighting or give up. After a moment's hesitation Tony shoots the bomb himself.

I really like this issue and it continues to play to the themes Waid has built up (something, judging solely by this issue and the above DAREDEVIL, that Waid is phenomenal at doing). Everything is here, making this a pretty solid jumping-on point if you're thinking about getting into this new HULK series. You can get a good sense of Banner's desire to impact the world with his science more, you get the way that the science and superhero community view Banner and the way he's been ostracized, you get a good quick look into his team, you get some solid action and some good writing, you get some good art, just a lot of really good things to this issue. I think, and this may sound like a weird sort of slight but isn't, that Waid might be the best at creating natural jumping-on points for readers. A lot of the would-be jumping-on points for books (which comics are constantly doing because it can be incredibly overwhelming to get new readers into a series that's had 50 years of history go into it) fall short because the writing is stunted, giving way too much exposition for new readers to follow or old readers to care about, or because it's such a basic introduction that it doesn't really tell anything about the character. Waid creates jumping-on points by rehashing themes of the book and establishing characters with little glances here and there, not with full-on stares. Great work overall, which is more than I can say about my attempts to quick-hit these things.

Thor: God of Thunder 16
Aaron (w) and Garney and Lupacchino (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith, having proven his point with the appearance of his new Frost Giant allies, disappears, leaving the League of Realms to sulk and stew and to point fingers. Everyone begins to believe there's a traitor in their midst, someone feeding information to Malekith. The most fingers start pointing at Lady Waziria and most of the League wants her burned alive. Thor, though, has his eyes set on the troll as their traitor and knocks him out before executing him. The League, somewhat in horror and not really believing he was the traitor (not to mention this won't please the troll community), disbands. Thor has a plan, though, and brings Waziria with him to Midgard to a hidden Dark Elf guard station. Shortly after their arrival, Malekith again strikes, leading Thor to assume that Waziria is indeed a traitor. However, Malekith reveals that Thor is the traitor by calling forth a horrible worm thing from his body.

The fight against Malekith rages on and it continues to be just a little bit boring. The actual fight stuff isn't that bad and some of the interactions aren't awful but the League of Realms stuff continues to feel a little too Lord of the Rings for me and it kind of cheapens the whole thing. I don't know if that's entirely fair to say since THOR: GOD OF THUNDER is a little too easily put into that fantasy camp, as the realms are populated almost entirely by fantasy tropes which kind of all spring from LOTR, meaning that any sort of team-up will have an LOTR feel to it regardless of its content. However, there is a cynical part of me viewing this arc as a cash in on November's Thor: The Dark World and a cash in on The Hobbit and the new one (with that dragon, you guys). I imagine the creative team was working on this book and then went to see the movie and was disappointed to learn that Malekith's role in the movie was less a cunning psychopath and more a set piece with maybe a total of five lines in two hours. Oh well, guess you should have put more Jane Foster and more...Kat Dennings character in this one. So I guess what I'm saying is "it could be worse."

Avengers AI 7, Mighty Avengers 4

Avengers AI 7

Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

INHUMANITY has hit and, with it, Inhumans have started sprouting up all over and Attilan is in the the Hudson. Hank and his team are first responders and are out to investigate the fallen city to make sure there aren't harmful toxins or any weapons or anything lying around. As Hank and Doombot, overseen by Vision, search the city, Daredevil drops in and attacks Doombot, thinking, quite reasonably, that he's a bad guy. Pym convinces him otherwise and Daredevil explains that he's there looking for a client of his, an older lady who's having a hard time with a bank. As they talk about things, a green small Cthulu-like creature shows up and attacks them. As it yells for them to leave it alone, Matt identifies the voice as the woman he's trying to help. They talk her down from her rampage and Medusa and Lockjaw show up to help her acclimate to her new Inhuman life. After a talk with Doombot, she agrees to join the Inhumans and start over. Meanwhile, Monica Chang is spending her last moments not on the robot-kill-squad trying to figure out how to hack into the Diamond. Maria Hill sends Chang's first new operative to her: Jocasta.

There are things here that are likable about this issue but they aren't necessarily worth the story. I kind of like the Daredevil-Hank Pym relationship that's developed through, particularly, DAREDEVIL but here it feels somewhat forced, with Daredevil throwing his arm around Pym and commenting on his Ant-Man costume, playfully punching one another and what-not. Doombot's stuff is fun and somewhat interesting but it also kind of oscillates between fun and serious in a strange way. I also typically like Andre Araújo but I wasn't too onboard with his stuff on this one. There are a number of full body shots and they distort the characters in strange ways. The Chang stuff was the most interesting and it happened within maybe two pages. Also, Chang is drifting into "every SHIELD woman sounds like Maria Hill" territory. Still not my favorite series but sometimes this is a stall that event tie-in books have. Still hopeful for the series as a whole.

Mighty Avengers 4

Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke has officially set the Mighty Avengers up in the Gem Theater, Cage's old home, and established their protocols to a point. They're a volunteer organization taking calls from people who may need a hero's help. Things are starting up as Falcon joins up with the team too, promising to pull double-duty with both Avengers teams he's dedicated to. The Spider Hero has his own thing going on and is in contact with a magical being who is helping him to track and take down a group called Deathwalkers, who are seemingly also investigating Attilan, along with a clearly-villainous guy who talks about bottling power. Back with the Mighty Avengers, Cage digs up Hawkeye's old Ronin costume and gives it to the Spider Hero to change into, officially making him the new Ronin. Cage sends out the team to check out Attilan while he stays behind, preferring to stay out of the field when possible. Spider-Man turns up again to demand that Cage install him as leader of the team.

So this book has suffered from starting in the middle of an event, meaning that it had to dedicate its origin to tie-in. Now it's in a similar spot as it's moving into the newest event. There is an interesting conceit to this book which would put a street-level Avengers team out in New York to help average people in this new world where the Avengers only really come out to face world-ending threats. However, I don't find the rest of the book all that compelling. Right now it's a tough spot because we're not getting to really see the characters all that deeply but I think the problem is more systemic than that. I think the writing is a little strange and it suffers from the same weird tonal issues that I thought FEARLESS DEFENDERS did, where it both wants to be a serious story with serious threats and points of view but also wants "wacky" captions and "unique" humor that kind of break flow. Overall, it's more boring than it is weak, per se, and that's something that, like with AVENGERS AI, I hope will improve as we move away from some of these events.

Young Avengers 12, Avengers AI 6

Young Avengers 12
Gillen (w) and McKelvie and Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

The Young Avengers are preparing for an unprecedented attack on 616's Earth without the aid of any of the adult superheroes as they continue to be unaware of the problem, thanks to Mother's interference. In response, the YA have assembled a legion of young superheroes to fight off the invading hordes while they press into Mother's home dimension to battle her and their assorted specific enemies. The biggest and most consequential fight of all of this is Billy fighting against Mother, using all of his not inconsiderable power to try to hold her back while the others do what they can to save Teddy. In the midst of all of this, Loki finds out that he's fallen victim to the same sort of mind games he put into Teddy's head early in this series that rather set off this chain of events; the reality warper (in this case, Loki) created his biggest fantasy (Leah) and made it his worst enemy (imbuing her with his missing power).

Another great issue and another fantastic twist all while being a solid lead-in to our arc finale, which will certainly need the cool down two issues we'll get to (still sadly) end the series. I read and re-read the end of this issue a few times to make sure I was getting it all and to yell at myself for missing it all again. I talked about things like this a little while ago when we learned in X-MEN LEGACY that Legion's battle against Cyclops was all a ploy to lure Luca out and was, in fact, still totally in line with the mission he'd set for himself to start the series. The hints are there throughout the series and of course Loki created this Leah just like Hela created that Leah and of course that's where his missing power is and of course it's all spawned from his guilty conscience and of course it's genius and wonderful and thought-provoking. So much here and there still feels like there's so much to cover in this series and so very few issues to get to it all. Even here, the complicated Kate-Noh-Varr/Noh-Varr-all other lovers dynamic still get a nod, David's complicated feelings towards this team, towards being in control, towards Billy and Teddy, and everything else come out a little, Miss America's shady past has a very small light shined on it, and so on and so forth and yet we didn't even talk about that because Loki created Leah and inspired their own downfall while powering her up to defeat him and the team. Geez, this is a good book.

Avengers AI 6
Humphries (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

The war with AI is growing more certain by the moment and Maria Hill sits down with Monica Chang to put her on a new team, one built to take down potential robotic threats. Meanwhile, Vision aims to out-duel Dimitrios in a new game, one based around Pym's video game. The art gets decidedly more video game-esque as Vision defeats Dimitrios by showing him something Pym and Vision worked up together, hoping to prove that the world is in better shape if humans and machines work together as opposed to fighting for dominance. It doesn't convince Dimitrios, but it allows Vision to leave and to gain strategic advantage over the AI. Back in Pym's lab, Pym and Doombot find the source of a buzzing that's been bothering Hank and Hank is able to decode it and realize it's a secret message from Victor, meaning that he's still alive. Finally, Alexis pays a visit to Dimitrios and it's revealed that he's one of the First Six and is the brother of the mysterious Alexis.

The story here isn't necessarily a bad one, though it continues to be a little convoluted for my liking, both over-explained and under-explained. We're still not totally sure of the history of the Diamond or of Dimitrios (things that will likely be explained soon) but we're also getting a lot of motivation, which isn't that hard to understand yet it sometimes comes across as really watered down. Anyway, Humphries really emphasizes the idea of the team here while also separating them; everyone gets at least a few pages in this issue but only a maximum of two of them appear together at any time. It's a team that is working towards the same goals but doing what they do best to achieve those goals and being able to split up the time effectively is both important for Humphries and pretty well executed. Vision gets the most time, both in a fun little section with he and Hank and in his fight against Dimitrios, which has to take a little bit longer and strays a little too far into the cutesy for my liking (there's a huge emphasis on creating it like a video game with art to match which is both entertaining and a little grating). Valerio Schiti, stepping in for series regular Andre Araujo, provides good art and Frank D'Armata's colors continue to be impressive. Not a bad book but one that does tend to drone a little as motivations get rehashed.