This week's picks* and apologies

Hey everyone, sorry the last few days have been a little busy and found me far from a computer or from some new comic releases. Though it's rare that this is the case, I actually couldn't get my hands on a few new books in time for my release schedule (SHE-HULK, DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU, and ALL-NEW ULTIMATES) so I ended up not reviewing them (or ALL-NEW INVADERS, because I didn't want to just have a standalone review for that one because I'm a little OCD). I'll get to them in the coming days. Therefore, this week's "this week's picks" is a little lackluster because we may have some additions once I've actually read them all and, you know, also because it's a gorgeous day outside and you should all go celebrate Father's Day or simply gorgeous days. Hopefully it's gorgeous where you are and you weren't banking on this being a giant post to really gorge yourself on (though it's certainly shaping up that way despite my intentions). ALSO, what's the deal with the page boost spike yesterday? I didn't post anything yesterday, you guys! I'm *this* close to being a little hurt by that.


Avengers Undercover 5

There are some GOOD Madam Masque's
being written these days.

I'm really liking the vibe of this book right now and I think Hopeless is setting it up well to really kill as we move forward.


















New Avengers 19

Why does my shortest post have full
page screen grabs? Because I'm GREAT

Just another classic NEW AVENGERS hard-to-read-because-who-is-really-in-the-right-in-this-book kind of issue. My love for this book has slowed somewhat from its crazy and cinematic start but it's still certainly a consistently fantastic book.
















Hawkeye 1-18

From my own collection!

AH HA, GOTCHA, in lieu of a third book (it probably would have just been CAPTAIN MARVEL anyway) I'm fully recommending you go out and read or re-read all of the current HAWKEYE series again. I did it over the last day and BOY it's well worth it. All of the praise you've read for this book is well-deserved.

Comics this week

Another fairly busy week this week with 17 new releases scheduled to hit and some fairly big ones to boot. Still, five stand out, as they ever seem to, from the rest of the pack.

Avengers 30
AVENGERS had slipped somewhat out of my top titles to look for lists but the last couple issues, detailing Banner and Captain America finding out about the reformed Illuminati (or finding out again, as the case may have been), have brought an incredible tension to the book and have kept me on the edge of my seat (does that cliche work when you're reading? I don't really need to lean forward to get a closer look). With AVENGERS 30, I'm looking for more of that.

Inhuman 2
I'm not so sure what to make of this series still but Charles Soule has been good to us since he made his way to Marvel and I don't expect that to change. The biggest flaws in the series thus far have been on the business end; problems launching and shipping have led to a somewhat stagnant feeling behind the main message. Still, hopefully Soule will be able to pull us in with this series as it's clear Marvel has some big plans for the Inhumans.

Ms. Marvel 4
If you're not reading this book yet, it's time to get on board. It's drawing comparisons to books like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, which is one that people still reference as one of their favorite books all time. Get into this one before you've missed the rush of it and while it's still retailing, miraculously, for $2.99. Also, if the characters, writing, and interior art weren't enough (note: they are), Jamie McKelvie is doing the covers for this series at current and they are amazing.

Uncanny Avengers 20
While the Marvel Universe shifts into ORIGINAL SIN, UNCANNY AVENGERS stays its course, continuing to tell the story it's been telling for a solid 15 issues or so at this point. It's a true epic of a tale, something that's almost impossible to see in Marvel these days. More impressively, it remains good and compelling. Time to head back to Planet X while we push towards the end.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 4
I've really been enjoying this book so far, an extremely interesting story in its own right but clearly a story that's working to a greater end (it continues to be a story both about the Winter Soldier, always worth reading, and about Ran Shen, current villain of CAPTAIN AMERICA, well before he was a villain and back when he was a high-ranking SHIELD officer). The gorgeous covers and the fantastic interior art have set a tone for this limited series that is rarely seen from Marvel.

This week's picks

Hey all my buddies! Sorry for all of those SUPER QUICK REVIEWS this week. GUYS, why did I say "sorry?" It was probably better for EVERYONE. I'm still planning to do full reviews for a number of books but, as I intimated earlier this week, I may do these more often (unless, and this is a pretty big unless potential investors, someone starts paying me for this blog). But THAT'S not what the Sunday post is for. The Sunday post is for BEST OF. So what was the best of this week? Well I'd certainly recommend the following.

Avengers 29

Am I still a little sore that this book was $4.99? And that this extra dollar came from an extra ten pages plenty of readers have already read or that could have been covered in maybe an extra page-long recap? Yes. Duh. I just mentioned it all, clearly I've been thinking about it. THAT SAID, I do really love this issue. Jonathan Hickman has two AVENGERS books in a row that feature key Avengers members (one of the original Avengers and one of the "IT ONLY TOOK ME FOUR ISSUES TO GET HERE TOO" Avengers) discovering something about other key member Tony Stark and wanting rip him apart for it. Unlike the last one, which sort of disperses as Banner agrees reluctantly to join up with the world-saving and not kill the Illuminati (yet), Cap won't be so easily swayed. It's wonderful and incredibly tense, somehow managing to be tense despite being a different version of AVENGERS 28. Lots of fun if you find remarkably tense moments between dudes who were friends but also have been pretty bitter enemies PERHAPS a bit more recently "fun." I do. Check it out.

Captain America 20

This one was a tough choice (and probably my Cap bias is out in full here) between, particularly, this one, CAPTAIN MARVEL, NEW AVENGERS, and AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. This one ultimately wins out because Rick Remender has made it his mission this whole series to break Steve Rogers in every way possible and BOY does it come out in force here. If you're looking around going "geez, I think superheroes at Marvel don't get beat up enough," you will love this book. I'm...I'm not sure anyone should be looking for that? But if the idea doesn't turn you off, you should check this book out. You should probably check it out anyway. Remender's doing astonishing stuff breaking down the most unbreakable character in this modern day Job-like story. But also with punching and superheroes and world-level threats.

X-Force 5

Si Spurrier is regularly putting out really thought-provoking, human books even as he puts people up against incredibly powerful or even ridiculous villains (Spurrier recognizes in the book that Volga is crazily over-the-top but he's not really who we care about). X-FORCE is just another in a line of phenomenal releases from Spurrier (even outside of his Marvel work) that make you really care about the characters and that keep you aware of who everyone is and what everyone's going through at all times. This is very heavily a Marrow-centric issue but it's impossible to not acknowledge what's happening with Cable and with Psylocke and with Fantomex. It's excellently done and it's, to this point, everything I want this series to be.

New Avengers 16, Uncanny Avengers 18

New Avengers 16
Hickman (w) and R. Morales (a) and F. Martin (c)

Namor has returned to the Illuminati to see how the research is faring. He's not particularly into the research aspect, not being one of the many geniuses on the team, and believes that preparing to destroy worlds rather than studying ones that have been destroyed is the way to go in this situation. He enters one of the observation rooms where Black Panther is recording data and the two trade barbs very briefly before getting into business. In this case, the business is T'Challa showing Namor that, in the forty worlds they've observed, one has survived incursions twice in different manners than the Illuminati have used. The world in question, Earth-4,290,001, has seen its share of invasions and super-powered coups, the most recent of which has left a team of six in charge of protecting the world. Those six, Boundless, Doctor Spectrum, the Rider, the Jovian, the Norn, and Sun God, have banded together to save the people of Earth multiple times and have been called to do so twice more during incursions. As individuals, they are powerful enough to withstands many attacks, including those of the Mapmakers (who they seem familiar with) but as a team they're able to even stop the incurring worlds. The Norn, though it does him great personal harm, is able to use his magics to destroy the incurring world on his own.

For a while now, the book has been more about gathering research and strategies and seeing worlds fall as if to drive the point home to the Illuminati that their attempts are futile and that, as has been the mantra of the entire series, everything dies. Panther's latest discovery, though, seems to point in another direction. Not only does this team withstand two incursions, shattering planets that would destroy their own, Sun God himself even makes a speech á la Reed Richards wherein he says "Everything lives. It lives before it dies, and we are judged by what we do during that time." It's a pretty powerful speech and it's one that shifts, ever so slightly, the running speech and tone of this book. It's very clear that these heroes have seen tremendous hardship - Hickman makes that clear in a little scene between Sun God and the Rider - but their outlook is the glass-half-full side of Reed's continual glass-half-empty approach of "Everything dies. I accept that." It'll be interesting to see where this new data leads. On top of that, as an issue in and of itself, I think Hickman does a pretty fantastic job once again writing the Namor-Black Panther dynamic. It's very clear that these two do not like each other but they are acting very professionally as they discuss matters bigger than either of them. It's one of the things I like about the kings of the Marvel Universe (Namor, Black Panther, and Black Bolt chief among them): each and every one of them cares more for the protection of their people and act accordingly. Here they put aside their feud because, although their people are at war with one another, the destruction of Earth is the bigger threat to their kingdoms. Solid stuff. Rags Morales does a solid job bringing it to the page as well.

Uncanny Avengers 18
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

Smash cut to Planet X, the new mutant planet, several years down the line. Among all the mutants who have created their new planet, full of beautiful and impressive architecture and seemingly a more functional government, are two enemies of the state. Havok still feels responsible for the death of the Earth and refuses to allow Eimin's propaganda, which explains to the populace that Thor and the Avengers were responsible for the death of their world and for holding back mutants, to color his view of the Earth that was. He knows how the final battle happened, as does his wife, the human stowaway Wasp. It's been several years since the loss of Earth and the two have a child now, though parenthood has not stopped them from working to restore their home planet. With the help of Hank McCoy, fellow human supporter, they've realized that their only hope is to bring down the tachyon dam still around the planet. They have no idea if their plan will work as all experiments rely on the wall being down before they can be tested but Alex and Janet set off anyway, pursued by Blob (whose X-gene was reignited), Toad, and Magneto. They manage, after a long and exciting chase scene, to bring down the dam but Janet is captured in the process. Alex returns to his home to find that Kang has finally been able to bring his reinforcements.

After months of teasing, Planet X is here and it's everything you might have imagined. Remender, who is so fond of abruptly jumping forward in time as evidenced by CAPTAIN AMERICA, here jumps maybe five years forward or so onto this planet, where the guilt that drives Alex is palpable and we can really see what a planet full of mutants would look like. It's not that much of a stretch to believe that, upon waking from their pods, the mutants were easily convinced that their life now and here was better. Eimin probably didn't have to do too much propaganda spreading, which is kind of the beauty of this whole conceit. Things probably are better for mutants here. They have a whole planet which, sure, at first was probably jarring but now that it's been several years, they're starting to come into their own. Remender's done a solid job here and the decision to send us into the future as well as off-planet really pays off. The first instinct is to think that the followers of Xavier would want to save Earth and even the humans on it. However, it makes a whole lot of sense that once they settled in, it's everything even the staunchest human supporter could want. The only reason Havok and Wasp haven't decided to just hedge their bets and settle down (other than the reason that Wasp is a human and probably not well liked for it) is that they know the truth of what's happened and the truth about Eimin, not to mention the guilt each of them feels for the loss of the Earth and their teammates. Hank, of course, is just a pretty swell guy so he wants his planet back too. Really interesting stuff here and a great call to skip ahead of the kind of shock and awe phase of the new planet. Daniel Acuña continues to do phenomenal work on the title and really drives home the tone and look of the new world. Very good book all around.

Avengers 26, She-Hulk 1

Avengers 26
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

After the events in Perth right on the front end of INFINITY, AIM had managed to get DNA from many of the unconscious Avengers. Now they're putting it to use in the form of new and improved Adaptoids, which is never never never never NEVER a good idea and I don't know why everyone continues to think it is. More of the story from AVENGERS 25 comes to light as the new Adaptoids are set upon the dimension-hopping Avengers in the middle of New York right around when they're putting a big old crater into the city. The factions fight with the Adaptoids containing the majority of the Avengers, killing their Pym, and destroying the device that Wasp used to control Hulk. With that device destroyed, their Banner returns to his normal self and we can see that he's not really there of his own will. He wanders off and, realizing that he's in another dimension, makes for Avengers Tower in the hope that things are roughly the same there as in his world. It is and he runs across the other Banner. ANYHOW, the fight breaks up as the other Avengers flee the scene and the Adaptoids return home from testing. While AIM evaluates the information and the real Avengers try to put the pieces together, the Adaptoids do what they always every single time do and adapt, becoming something more powerful and gaining self-awareness.

I know, you were settling in to a story that was maybe a little LESS complicated than INFINITY. Sure, we had to deal with two different Avengers teams, one from some alternate dimension, but we can handle that, we're savvy, smart, regular AVENGERS readers, we had worse to contend with in issue one. BOOM, Adaptoids are back on the scene and they kind of look like Avengers, or like those toys that the back of every single Marvel comic seems to want us to care about, the ones where you can interchange parts to create an inexplicable new mash-up of a hero (GUYS, those things are clearly a scam and I don't have to tell you that but I kind of resent that this issue practically makes them canon). Anyway, things are a bit more complicated (though helped by the fact that the Adaptoids lose the mash-up Avengers look by the end of the issue) than they had seemed and now we're fully embroiled in a big story involving robots and AIM and parallel dimensions and SHIELD being terrible and multiple Banners. Geez, this got a lot bigger a lot faster than I anticipated.

She-Hulk 1
Soule (w) and Pulido (a) and Vicente (c)

Jennifer Walters finds herself out on the street after leaving a terrible employment with a jerky law firm that, though she performed admirably in her year there, expected her to bring in more superhero clientele. She leaves the law firm (with the promise of intrigue about a "blue file" she's forced to take with her) but almost immediately picks up another case in the form of Holly Harrow, wife to the late criminal Jonas Harrow, who claims that her husband's designs were stolen by none other than Tony Stark and Stark Industries and that they haven't seen a dime of the money. She-Hulk promises to talk with Tony and get it worked out but ends up being routed through Stark's impressive and heartless legal counsel. Unable to actually reach Tony, Jen ends up in court with Stark's men, who are content with simply delaying the case for as long as need be. She-Hulk manages to go to Jonas' old warehouse, filled with weapons and old tech, and find the evidence she needs, a tape recording of Harrow's meeting with one of Stark's engineering heads. She brings the evidence straight to Tony, preferring to fight through robots that try to keep her from reaching him in the matters of legal counsel and shows Tony the evidence. Tony hadn't been trying specifically to keep her out but anything to do with "legal matters" has been practically automated so he didn't even know about the case. She finally talks with him and he agrees to send a sizable check to Holly, who pays She-Hulk a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her help. Jen quickly uses the money to set up a law office of her own in New York.

I called an audible here, folks. Hopefully I'm able to get my hands on SECRET AVENGERS in order to slot it where SHE-HULK had previously been slotted (second post Thursday, see, I have a plan typically). Anyway, this was worthy of making its way to a day-one review as Charles Soule brings the same sort of fun and natural dialogue and exquisite characterization that he's brought to his other current major Marvel product THUNDERBOLTS (hoping for similar results when he kicks off INHUMANS). Jen has a definite personality here, one matching the confidence and competence she's always brought to the table but one that ultimately distinguishes itself from its past. It's a smart book with a fun core and one that I think really has a lot of potential. Not too often we get a rip-roaring legal tale (though it's one of television's favorite genres) with a confident and powerful superhero as its star. I mean, not too often ASIDE from DAREDEVIL. Look, it's still pretty fun is all. Check it out. Should be fun.

Comics this week

Bunch of new books out highlighted by one new number one and a couple of number twos to new and promising books AND a book that has decided sequential numbering isn't really its bag.

All-New Invaders 1

Guys, I love the Invaders as a team and I love every member of the Invaders as individuals and I'm really looking forward to a new ongoing about them. The launch seems to be coming at a good time as we're right on the brink of a new and probably amazing Captain America movie that will feature two of the Invaders, so it's just up to the book to be great. Let's hope it is.

Avengers 25

Our first new issue of AVENGERS since the events surrounding INFINITY (not counting last issue's celebration issue, which I still tie to INFINITY, thanks). Where will Marvel's flagship title go next? Well the solicit for it is awful strange but WHO KNOWS what it actually means. Anyway, look for a start to a new big story.

Black Widow 2

After a stellar first outing from Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto, we'll dive back into BLACK WIDOW only a couple of weeks later. Really looking forward to seeing where this series goes and if the writing and the art can keep pace like it did the last time out. If the first issue is any example, this has the potential to be a really great book.

Captain America 15

The first book since Cap nearly killed a broken man in cold blood to stop future atrocities and out of his rage. As if we weren't seeing enough problems from Cap, we also have the Iron Nail out there somewhere and the trouble caused by Falcon allowing the reporter to leave with her camera damning America and SHIELD. Plenty happening here to keep an eye on.

Hawkeye 16

Who needs HAWKEYE 15? Well, we do, and we'll get it eventually, but the way that HAWKEYE is working right now, with Fraction and Wu telling Kate's tale on the even numbered books and Fraction and Aja telling Clint's tale in the odd ones, we shouldn't need 15 to understand 16, which is good because, as I implied, we don't yet have 15. As Fraction put it, one book is ready, one book isn't. I'm still excited to read it because this book, as slow as it sometimes is in its releases, is amazing.

This week's picks

Geez, I usually use this space to talk about how hard it was to narrow things down on a week full of comics. Not so, this week. Pretty easy and I had it pretty well in hand from the get-go. Apologies to IRON MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN which were pretty much the closest ones to making it but weren't close enough to warrant further discussion.

Avengers World 1

AVENGERS WORLD feels like Avengers back-to-basics, giving us a look at smaller teams dealing with smaller problems. Don't get me wrong, they're still pretty big problems, big enough to warrant the Avengers' involvement, but it's smaller than what Hickman's done throughout the AVENGERS series. It also breaks the team up into more manageable parts, so hopefully we'll get to see a little more personality out of the team as a whole. Interested to see where this one goes and I think it made the right steps in issue one.

Black Widow 1

Truly gorgeous book on its first time out and one that has the plot power to deliver interesting stories throughout its hopefully long run. I talked a little bit about how BLACK WIDOW books don't tend to last long for one reason or another but I hope that the distinguishing art and the full spy-feel of this book hold reader interest long enough to put this one on the map. With a slew of woman-led books coming out this year (though very few of them still created by women, sadly), it would be a real shame if a couple didn't catch on. High hopes for this one.




Young Avengers 15

One of the best comics of 2013 has, horribly depressing as it is, officially come to a close in the first comics week of 2014 and, while I'm sad to see it go, I'm happy that it got to finish the way it wanted to finish. YOUNG AVENGERS 15 is an homage to the rest of the series, a love note to the title at large that gives a final look at our characters as individuals dealing with their new lives and lets us see them as a team one last time. More gorgeous art out of Becky Cloonan (whose art may be the most impressive in the issue), Ming Doyle, Joe Quinones, Jordie Bellaire, Maris Wicks, Matt Wilson, and, of course, Jamie McKelvie and some top-notch character writing from Kieron Gillen to send this series to archives. Sad time but at least we got more than we could have ever asked from this series.

This week's picks!

Okay look, this post doesn't need to exist but I also feel like it's tradition and so it has to. However, picking three of the four books out this week (in keeping with my normal number of picks) seems petty so I'm only going to pick two. And anyone who read either of the last two posts know which two I'm picking so let's keep this short.

New Avengers 13

Solid book, great series, plenty to look forward to. Really complex and neat mythology that Hickman's built for the foes over in this one. As impressive if not more (time will tell) as the Builders.





Superior Foes of Spider-Man 7

Really fun issue, slots impressively with the (small) existing history of the Beetle. This book has been moving up and I'm glad to see it's finding its niche and its footing.

Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part five of five): 1-5

HERE WE ARE, the best of the best of 2013. A quick note to, again, say thank you to everyone who checked in on the blog even once this year and happy new year to everyone out there. Let's count down.

5. Captain America

This is really pretty much the only book really in this top twenty that I wonder about, wonder if maybe I gave too much credit to because of my fondness for the character. However, when it's all said and done, I think that this is a book that, had it been anything less than exemplary, I wouldn't have been onboard for so the fact it's considered in the top ten, less the top five, means it deserves to be there. Captain America has been around for over 70 years so when I say this is him at his lowest point, know that it's a pretty low point to have to reach to be there. Rick Remender threw Steve into another dimension run by one of his archenemies and kept him there for a decade, re-writing the book on how sad it is to be Steve Rogers. Now, after ten years in Dimension Z, he's just returned to present-day Earth where, according to Marvel time, he's spent less time since being thawed from the ice than he had in Dimension Z and he has the added weight that he's lost the fiancee he just saw for the first time since he was trapped there and the adopted son he raised the entire time he was there. The only person who has any real sense of what it was like there is the daughter of the archenemy they killed and left behind and who is having enough trouble adjusting herself to the new world. On top of it all, Remender has done a phenomenal job showing an injured Cap, making sure that the super soldier is constantly working his way through severe injuries and convincing himself to get back up and keep fighting. It's a great new look at Steve (with a nice, never-before-seen look into his pre-super soldier days) while simultaneously being one of the hardest things to watch him go through. Very interested to see where the coming days take him and glad that Falcon is back in his life as a support and that, presumably, Bucky will be popping up sooner or later (he should be involved in the Iron Nail storyline and he'll have his own mini-series WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH coming soon not to mention ALL-NEW INVADERS next year). Should be fun.

4. New Avengers

NEW AVENGERS was a book that was gunning for number one right from the word go and only really slipped out of it as it had to dedicate too much time to tie-in. Don't get me wrong, the NEW AVENGERS link to INFINITY was very strong and still told a good story, one that was necessary to the event while still focusing on the characters we needed to see in NEW AVENGERS, but ultimately it slowed down a series that was moving at a ridiculous and very exciting pace. Regardless, the combination of this team and story was always going to ensure that NEW AVENGERS landed pretty high up on the best-of list and now HERE IT IS. Every character is extraordinarily interesting and comes off with what feels like the exact amount of weight that's appropriate for their situations. On top of dealing with the book's main threat, incurring worlds that regularly threaten to destroy our own via crashing together (okay, written out it sounds a little stupid but all the more reason for it to be up here because, in practice, it is amazing), we have some of the top egos in the world clashing, particularly as T'Challa and Namor continue to meet and try to figure out ways to stop the incursions while their countries fight a bitter war against one another. As the first year closes out, everything has come to a head with Black Bolt weakened and, if I was reading correctly, thought dead, T'Challa cast out of Wakanda, and everyone still coping with how they're going to stop incursions and how they're going to live with themselves afterwards. There's a ton happening here and this is one of those books that clearly has plenty more to say so I don't anticipate it losing any steam in the months ahead (in fact, a new issue comes out THIS VERY DAY and I'll get around to reviewing it AT SOME POINT).

3. Hawkeye

I think that HAWKEYE has unquestionably changed the way that mainstream comics can run. I'm not saying every mainstream comic has taken up its unique storytelling methods or its run-down and deeply flawed protagonist but there are certainly a number that have (I still look at SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN as something that, in the very least, started out being something of a HAWKEYE clone). On top of that, HAWKEYE has earned itself well-deserved huge critical acclaim and has brushed up against the mainstream with reviews and praise from all over various media. For all the books it's inspired and all of the lenses on it, HAWKEYE has never once backed down and continues to do its brand of character and story and storytelling best of all its competitors. It's an amazing book with an amazing core and a perfectly established cast consisting almost entirely of Clint and Kate. The writing is continually sharp and balanced, the art is always among the best in the business (even now as it oscillates between David Aja's proven style and Annie Wu's newcomer talent), and the characters are Venture Brothers-level depressing (fun fact: Annie Wu also works on The Venture Brothers). The only real reason this book didn't go even higher on this list is a delay in the publishing that meant that we didn't get it for a couple of months in the late summer, early fall. Still, an overall amazing book that's really set a precedent in the Marvel Universe and that's doing it better than anyone else, the only time Hawkeye has ever been able to say that.

2. Young Avengers

Guys, I legitimately had to walk away from the computer for a bit so that I could decide which book belonged in which spot up in the top two and it ended up meaning that I actually walked away from the computer for like, four hours and, frankly, I still haven't really come to a decision. YOUNG AVENGERS did some things that I've never seen done in mainstream books (actually, each of the top three picks here read unlike any other mainstream book I think I've ever read) and brought Kieron Gillen's signature writing excellence and Jamie McKelvie's signature absolutely outstanding artwork to the project. As a book, I think that this one probably merits being number one. There were times that I finished an issue and my mind was just absolutely blown. There were times where I would turn a page and lose my mind because something so gorgeous or so striking or so very different had happened. I came into this book with rather high expectations, given that Gillen was pretty fresh off the amazing JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and that Jamie McKelvie was Jamie McKelvie. Despite raised expectations and a certain amount of attachment to the characters, this book never once disappointed. Brilliant every step of the way and had a cast that rivaled any in comics in likability with a story and artwork to challenge anything I'd ever seen before from Marvel. Simply put, this book was next-level in every single aspect. If you believe it was better than the number one pick and deserved to be there, well, I don't disagree necessarily and please feel free to read these two in any order. So so sad to see this one go next week.

1. X-Men Legacy

Had you asked me at the start of this year, or even several issues into this run, if this book was going to hang around and be such an important book in 2013, I'd've probably shrugged and said "well it's pretty good. Surprisingly good. But I don't know about best of the year good." Still, here it is, December 31st and that's precisely what I'm saying. Like HAWKEYE and YOUNG AVENGERS, this book has done things I've never seen done in books before and given us a character in David Haller who is so challenging to read and so perfectly formed that it feels impossible to read this book and not love every second of it, not get so invested in it that each week it's not released feels like a let down. Just a really impressive title and one that, from the outset, had no right being so impressive. David Haller is not a massive character in the Marvel Universe, despite his power set and despite his lineage. He's had big storylines here and there throughout the X-Wing of the Universe but he's never really reached beyond that. So I can only imagine what it was like to Si Spurrier to jump onto a book where David would be the main character and have to work backwards from the crazed and ultra-powerful being that was Legion and try to make him relatable. I don't know if this was a book Marvel wanted written and pegged Spurrier for it or if it was a pitch that Spurrier made to Marvel but I have to imagine it was the latter because the sheer weight of Spurrier's run and the intricacies with which he plays with David makes me believe that Spurrier was born to write this book. This book may not have been the knockout every issue that YOUNG AVENGERS or HAWKEYE was but its slow-burn and its gutsiness really catapulted it up the chart. This is a book that is entirely unique for Marvel and that works so incredibly well. Every piece of it: the not-entirely likable main character and his extremely human problems despite all of his massive powers, the girl troubles (and the trouble that stems from the idea that she's the only one who has the ability to stop him if things get to their worst inside of him), the prison inside David's head for all of his powers, the amazing idea to have the narration play in loudspeakers inside of David's head whenever we peek in there, the villain of the series, the character interactions, the story itself, the X-Force feel of the lone character, everything, felt so perfectly placed and so well-executed that this series has staying power well beyond its years. This deserves to be in every top ten list and deserves to be the sort of book that's revisited years and years down the line. I wasn't sold on the art it first but it slow-burned just as well and now I can't imagine this book with any other art. Tan Eng Huat and Koi Pham alternated on some issues and both brought such a perfect design to every character and such a sharpness to each situation while also staying appropriately psychedelic when need be. A near perfect full series. Guys, how sad is it that the two top books of this year are both ending in the next couple of months?




So that's that. Enjoy your New Year's Eve everyone and tune in tomorrow for the top ten books to look for THIS COMING YEAR.

Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part three of five): 11-15

Let's keep it rolling with picks 11-15.

15. Scarlet Spider

One of the real surprises on the list even though it probably shouldn't have been. Writer Chris Yost has an impressive resumé and 2013 saw issues 13-25 of SCARLET SPIDER so it's not like we hadn't had a year's worth of comics to deem this one "good" already. Even still, I think there's a part of me that still believes this book had no right being good. An evil clone version of Peter Parker flees New York to start a new life in Mexico and gets held up doing good in Houston with a whole new cast of characters doesn't really sounds like the best pitch. Yost never gave it up, though, and showed us what a well-written and well-established Kaine can do. The character was great, the writing was fun, the story was engaging, the fights were impressive and unique, and the ending was appropriately brutal for Kaine. After establishing himself as a reluctant hero in Houston, a city that apparently desperately needed one, and finding himself a slew of new friends in the city, Kaine's life was turned upside down by none other than Kraven the Hunter, the man who most recently killed Kaine, and things spiraled out of control quickly from there, culminating in an unhappy ending as Kaine finally reaches Mexico after all. Sad to see the series go, glad that Yost will pick up Kaine's reins again on NEW WARRIORS in the coming year.

14. Venom

This is another one of those books that lasted far longer than I would have predicted going in. This book kicked off a few years ago with Rick Remender at the helm of a Flash-Thompson-is-Venom story where the high school bully of Peter Parker turned war hero turned paraplegic alcoholic is called back into duty as a newly weaponized military-controlled Venom. Solid start to the series back then and Cullen Bunn this year managed to take the helm and still tell a worthwhile story with some worthwhile characters. As everything starts to crash down around Venom from his new home in Philadelphia, Flash is put up against challenges in the form of Toxin, Carnage, and his own demons. That's not a metaphor, he really did get his own personal demon fighting for control of the Venom symbiote somewhere along the line. On top of that, he lost longtime girlfriend Betty Brant and he gained new pseudo-sidekick Mania after he tossed some symbiote to her to protect her from the attack of his kind-of archnemesis Jack O'Lantern. A more angry and wild new symbiote-wielding character, Mania had the demon transferred to her and began fighting like the dickens (if that's what the dickens does) to avenge her father's death while Flash struggled with the morality of allowing this girl to be a symbiote and a killer. Nice book all the way around and one that allowed Cullen Bunn to play around a little in the Spider-Man world and come out of it with a successful book after all was said and done.

13. Red She-Hulk
For as much as I said I couldn't really believe SCARLET SPIDER worked, RED SHE-HULK certainly shouldn't have worked, at least for me. I was never the biggest Hulk fan (though my top-ten books to watch list early this year will describe my turnaround on the character) and I didn't know these characters very well. Jeff Parker, though, did a phenomenal job creating and developing a wonderful friendship between the rather new character Red She-Hulk and the older but not particularly used X-51. The two had really distinct personalities and their team-up came about incredibly naturally as X-51 was tasked with keeping tabs on Red She-Hulk and bringing her down when the Avengers decided she was a hazard. X-51 analyzed his own findings and decided there was something more to her than what the Avengers had seen and chose to intervene on her behalf, eventually siding with her in the fight against the sketchier branches of SHIELD and General Fortean. Really good characterization supported by an intriguing story that took the pair all over the world and eventually into an alternate reality where Betty Ross became the Hulk back at the test site when Banner should have. This series certainly would have ranked higher if it had continued past the summer but what we did get was a really great book that was able to very clearly do what it set out to do and tell a story worth telling with characters that mattered. Very fun book.

12. Superior Spider-Man

The way I went about constructing this list was to first list off every book I thought worthy of consideration for the top (then) ten. When the list got too long, I adjusted it to the top twenty. Then I looked a little deeper into it and started to arrange by "top ten" and "bottom ten," finally beginning after that to sort more directly within those lists. As we near the top ten, only two books have really switched sides, one jumping out of the bottom ten and into the top ten (to be revealed TOMORROW) and the other sinking down to number 11, only to eventually fall to number 12. That was THIS VERY BOOK. I really love the way that SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN started this year, giving us a look at the brand-new Superior Spider-Man, Doc Ock with the powers and (kind of) the responsibilities of Peter Parker. It was a real separation from the Peter Parker Amazing Spider-Man, someone who leapt headfirst into danger to help and save those who needed helping and saving, no matter if he was playing into a villain's hands. The Superior Spider-Man, meanwhile, plotted and planned, rapidly developing his own methods for protecting the city and doing it with such aplomb and vigor that...well, that he was put on probation from the Avengers. Regardless, it was a great new look at a new type of Spider-Man and one that Dan Slott really stuck with despite plenty of hate tweets and death threats (still illegal, you guys). It slipped out of the top ten with the last few months of 2013 as it started to get into weaker arcs (notably one that stranded Spider-Man 2099 in the present) and started to present more of Doc's personality than I think we really needed at this point. Still, the series never became a bad read, necessarily (okay, it got a little tedious in the late months there) and it seems to be coming out of its spin a bit but the first half of this year with the new Spider-Man really solidified its place somewhere in this list; then it just became where it would land.

11. Avengers

Jonathan Hickman has taken over the major part of the Avengers wing of the Marvel Universe and has really done absolutely phenomenal things with it. I said in that very same top ten list at the start of this year that I wasn't really onboard with what Bendis had been doing in Avengers the last few years (as I'm suddenly even more vehemently against the happenings over in the majority of the X-books now) and that I was hoping for a solid change out of Hickman. Well I got it and I couldn't really be happier about it. All three of Hickman's AVENGERS related titles (INFINITY, AVENGERS, and, spoilers, NEW AVENGERS) will have made this list when it's all said and done and everything about that part of the universe seems to be on the upswing. AVENGERS has been a really interesting book, one that hoped you'd be following along but wasn't ultimately too concerned if you missed a beat or two. There were a lot of really cool single issues at the start of the series to establish some of our newer characters (like Smasher and Hyperion) and eventually the whole series got wrapped into INFINITY and told the tale of the story with a focus on the fight against the Builders. It was a pretty masterfully executed event and all of the groundwork was laid here, in AVENGERS. Looking forward to the next movements by Hickman as the Avengers celebrate one of their biggest victories with no doubt larger foes on the horizon.

Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part two of five): 16-20

NOW, after that teaser first post, we're on to the actual top twenty. Let's not tarry any longer...ranked from 20 right down to 16 (I broke the top twenty into four separate posts to save you scrolling down too far to find out everything after I inevitably talked for TOO LONG), the list of my best 2013 Marvel books starts HERE.

20. Winter Soldier

This one BARELY squeaked by the not-quite-the-best list, where it would have landed only for the inconvenient timing it had for 2013. It only went from issue 14 to issue 19 in 2013 but they were, upon further inspection, very solid issues. We kicked the year off with Ed Brubaker's final issue with the character he created not so very long ago and it really rather changed the game, showing a depressed Bucky telling SHIELD to stop trying to restore Natasha's memory of him, as she's been through enough. One of the ways that I know this blog has made me a better comic reader in general is that, in going back to fetch a picture for this entry, I re-read the comic and it broke my heart in far more ways than it had the first time through. Beautiful work. Jason Latour did a fine job in his short time on the book but ended up stalling a little out of the gate and only picking up steam as the end was in sight. Very strong book showcasing one of the most popular new characters in his first (but undoubtedly not last) shot at a solo book. No one really gets it in one, Bucky, chin up.

19. Thunderbolts

THUNDERBOLTS absolutely made the list on the strength of newcomer Charles Soule when he took over the book with THUNDERBOLTS 12 and when he started his first full arc back in THUNDERBOLTS 14. Soule brought a new feel to the book and took a series that was promising but a bit forgettable and made it into something worth reading for various reasons each and every time out. The team was already extremely interesting on paper back when it kicked off but Daniel Way had taken it in a bit of a more gritty way than I think was necessary, which is weird to say about a book that consists of Flash-Venom, Elektra, and Punisher. Of course, the rest of the team is Deadpool, Red Hulk, and the Leader, so maybe the cold-blooded coup feel of the book wasn't ever going to work. Soule has done a great job revitalizing the book and making it a refreshing and fun read issue to issue or as a full arc. Looking forward to this one going forward and, even more surprisingly, looking forward to Soule's addition of the new Ghost Rider to the team next year.

18. Infinity

I'm as surprised as you are to find that a mini-series, no less an EVENT, has made the top twenty but here it is. In fact, the only reason Jonathan Hickman's INFINITY is so low in the top twenty is that I found it hard to divorce it entirely from the fundamental help it got from the titans that were AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS, not to mention the various tie-ins throughout the universe. I wonder if this book stands up as strong if read by itself. I have a feeling it still stands up pretty well but the other books in the sort of required reading elevated the event as a whole. That was by design, sure, but I can't award this mini-series those points. INFINITY lands on the list for being an entirely engaging read and an event worthy of being an event. The other two major events (AGE OF ULTRON and BATTLE OF THE ATOM) this year were total busts for me and events in the last few years have really fallen flat even as they grow more popular than ever within the business. INFINITY was a breath of fresh air as we got an event big enough to really be called an event and to warrant the action with real implications that we'll be seeing through the coming year(s). Also, no one from our casts died, which was an exceedingly bold choice in this day and age (throughout, I was predicting the shock value deaths we'd get only to be disappointed and equally not disappointed when they did not come to pass). Hopefully Hickman helms any other major events in the near future.

17. Journey into Mystery

This is another book that landed this low only after a mid-year cancellation stopped it short of contending all year long. As someone who truly loved Kieron Gillen's run on the book that turned the ever-devious Loki into a lovable rapscallion only to see him destroyed and have his true nature take the credit, I was both looking forward to Kathryn Immonen's look at Lady Sif and a little wary of it replacing a book that was a long-form love story to the form. After it was all said and done, though, Immonen took us on one of the most fun and most thoroughly engaging treks through Asgard I think we've ever seen. Sif is a character who is typically explored through the eyes of Thor or Loki or someone bigger in that Marvel-style pantheon but we got a book here that viewed her as every bit the warrior we hope she'd be outside of the pages of THOR or any other Asgardian based book. Immonen gave a real character to Sif and stuck to it. The final art, featuring Valerio Schiti art, really solidified the greatness of this book, one of those rare occasions where the perfect people teamed with the perfect character for them and really made it shine. Solid stuff all the way through.

16. Ultimate X-Men

ULTIMATE X-MEN surprised me when it appeared on my own top-ten list last year so this year I was a bit more ready for it and it didn't disappoint. Things in the Ultimate Universe are almost unquestionably worse all the way around than they are in the 616 and it was never so obvious as it was with the ULTIMATE X-MEN this year (unless we're talking about book quality, am I right you guys? Ha, I am though, which is sad). Sure, things aren't great for mutants in the 616 but Brian Wood showed us a tremendously diminished mutant population being given practically desert land and not much else and being left to sort out their problems themselves. These problems included questioned leadership, limited resources, hate and paranoia from the country surrounding them (which was just full to the brim with the stuff), and secret infiltrators. Whenever things started to look up for the X-Men, something interfered and pushed them two steps back. They're given a new place to start over, free of US jurisdiction? An omega-level telepath hidden amongst them works in secret to overthrow their new leading party. They create the sentient seed? The US government claims ownership over mutants and their creations and nearly starts a war to get its property back. They begin to succeed as a little nation all their own? Tian, a jealous sister country, instigates war and pretends that Utopia started it. Tensions were CONSTANTLY up in Utopia and Brian Wood never once backed down. The pacing, the characters, the story, the art, it all added up to a superb book overall, and certainly the best that the Ultimate Universe had to offer this past year, and maybe ever.

Infinity 5, Avengers 22

Infinity 5
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Thor and the Avengers have shown that the Builders can be broken and that message has resonated through the universe, giving the conquered worlds the inspiration they need to fight again. Though there are casualties throughout the universe, the resistance is overwhelmingly a success and many worlds realize the Avengers are to thank and, as a result, become "Avengers worlds." Cap and co are heartened by this but soon receive news from Gladiator that Earth is besieged by Thanos, so their celebration is cut short. Back on Earth, everything is coming up Thanos. His Black Order has secured Wakanda's Necropolis and the world-ending weapon therein, which they're able to activate by scouring the memories of the totally-still-alive Black Bolt (score! Except for the activation codes, that's a bummer). Meanwhile, the Ebony Maw has found Thane, son of Thanos, and immobilized him, delivering him unto Thanos. The Illuminati return to their world to find Wakanda in flames and the Necropolis invaded. Help is on the way, but will it come too late?

I really can't say enough about the pacing of this series. Every issue has felt like it's been worthwhile. You can't say that about too many events these days, yet every one of these seemed to have a structure to them and a piece of the story that was necessary for the whole event. Even insofar as it spanned to Avengers and New Avengers. Perhaps the scale of the story helped that; a story this big was bound to need this many parts, as it really is kind of two events wrapped into one (the Builders in the universe and Thanos on Earth). Still, I don't see that as a coincidence or a fault of the series by any means. It feels instead like really great planning and great execution. It's been a story worth telling and it's been told right. Every issue of Infinity, I've gone into the next wary that there won't be enough story to sustain. Now we enter the last issue with almost too much to tell. Of course, there are two Avengers issues between now and then (one reviewed NEXT) to help push the story along which will certainly help alleviate the burden on Infinity 6 (not to mention a post-Infinty New Avengers issue to wrap up the whole event for good, presumably). Really looking forward to seeing how this goes. There are plenty of events (one ending this week, in fact) that I cannot say that about.

Avengers 22
Hickman (w) and Yu and Alanguilan (a) and Gho w/ Curiel (c)

The Avengers have beaten the Builders back and earned the respect and admiration of the universe in the process, putting them in a rather unfamiliar place as they head back home. It's a good place to be in, though, especially as they'll need help when they get back home in defeating Thanos and his army. We see a little bit of what's going on within the Avengers' ranks as we discover a relationship between Cannonball and Smasher, met with confusion by Sunspot. We also see Manifold, who has played a huge role and is undoubtedly the unsung hero of this whole event, trying to come to terms with what's happened recently. It's easily the biggest event he's been involved in and he's having some trouble making sense of it. The Captains America and Marvel try to downplay it a bit, attempting to remove any sense of fate or faith or destiny attached to it, though Thor comes in and does exactly the opposite, which seems to calm Manifold a bit. Meanwhile, a strike team hits Titan to knock out any reserve troop Thanos might have. There's not too much waiting in the wings but it serves to let Thanos know that they're coming, a message they're not afraid to send.

It's hard not to assign action-adventure tropes to stories like these and a couple, in particular, shine through that make me a little worried about the fate of some of these characters. The Avengers, for their part, have not really lost much of anyone in their time in space, a tremendous outcome considering how total the threat was. Now they return home and will all be very clearly on the front lines. There are no more guerrilla style attacks, no more plotting and quick strikes. This is going to be a straight assault (though, admittedly, with a sneak-attack part of the plan) and it could very well cost the Avengers. It seems events don't happen without some death being attached to them so be prepared. The tropes I was hinting at, by the by, were the idea of the relationship that's developed here, the idea of the two best pals (I've been predicting a Sunspot or Cannonball death since the start of this event and the relationship between Cannonball and Smasher seems only to strengthen that argument), and the idea of the young, tired secret weapon who questions the meaning of it all. Okay, that one's a little more specific. I guess my fear for Eden is that he had so many lines this issue. It's like watching Lost or the The Walking Dead; the moment someone has above average lines, you know they're about to go down. Of all of those mentioned, Eden's the one I want to lose least so this one strikes a particular fear-chord (that's a thing, right? Fear-chords?). Nice to see a little bit more character from the smaller characters here (though I'm still constantly surprised to see Shang-Chi there, maybe we should highlight him some more?) but it comes with the distinct fear that at least one or two of them (or maybe more) are being built up to be killed next time out.

Comics this week

Plenty of big books out this week. But which ones are the BIGGEST? I don't really know. Well, okay, I have some ideas. I usually do. QUICK HITS.

Avengers 22
Infinity presses on in two major books this week, Avengers 22 and Infinity 5 (SPOILERS: guess what other book is on this list). We're rapidly reaching the end of this big event and I'm certainly excited to see how it plays out. Look for a focus on the Builders' story in this one, hot off the heels of what was, essentially, the defeat of the Builders themselves.

Captain America Living Legend 2
I really liked the first issue of this mini-series, penned by Andy Diggle and drawn wonderfully by Adi Granov. There's a solid characterization of both Cap and some of the Russians we saw the first time out. Downside, of course, is that we won't see most of those Russians this time out. Plus side is that it was still good writing and good characterization of clearly non-essential characters. That should give some encouragement going into issue two.

Infinity 5
I said pretty much what I needed to say up above, right? Except, of course, to note that this will give us more information about everything that's happening throughout the event, not just the events up in space. I'm really liking this event and I hope to see it go out strong. A lot of events lately have gotten complaints about slowing down in the middle. I don't think this one really has but I'd hate to see it stagnate now.

Scarlet Spider 23
We're getting close to the end of Scarlet Spider (sad, and so close to losing Venom. Where are our non-Spider-Man Spider-Man books going?) and I'm excited to see how this all goes down. I thought the last issue was pretty powerful, showing Kaine, despite the urging of Prey and the intense situation, fighting back against Kraven without killing. Of course, the twist now is that Kraven wants to be dead, so, you know, tricky.

Ultimate X-Men 33
This spot was almost given to Battle of the Atom 2 because I'm that excited for that event to be over, but, ultimately, I'm still not looking forward to actually reading that book. This one, though, I'm very much looking forward to. This continues to be one of the strongest books out there and the strongest Ultimate Universe book right now, maybe ever. Very strong story, great characters, incredible pacing, smart writing, good art, just a very good book all around. Every arc feels like an event without the downsides that tend to come with events.

This week's picks

Last week I got fairly lucky; there were a handful of deserving books but three books, as soon as I read them, jumped out at me. This week, not so much luck. A lot of good books and only three spots (well, really two once you realize Hawkeye was always going to be on this list) for them all. Let's get at it like the Red Sox got at the Tigers last night, hm?

Hawkeye 13
It's really great to have this book back after a bit of a late summer break as Matt Fraction fulfilled his altogether too numerous other duties. How this guy puts out fantastic book after fantastic book is beyond me but I'm not going to complain about it. Solid work diving back in with an issue that's part recap and part filling-in-blanks without feeling like it's too much of either. Just a really great issue with, of course, amazing David Aja art and Matt Hollingsworth colors, nothing less than what we've come to expect out of the series as a whole. Fraction's toying with time comes back around in a big way here as we jump from moment to moment in Clint's recent life, tying together the narrative we already mostly know. It's an impressive book that can take a story we already know and a character the book has already well-established and create a new story that feels fresh and fits the feel so perfectly while not really telling much new. Great work. Also, as a note, really hard to pick a single panel to showcase for this issue. There were three or four that really fit wonderfully.

Avengers 21 AND New Avengers 11
I know, it's totally a cheat but bear with me here, I'm going somewhere with this. I'm now officially on record as saying that I'm really enjoying Infinity. It's a smart event that doesn't seem like it's going to overstay its welcome and that consists of a story that both feels big enough to be told in such grand manner and could have really big ramifications as the universe pushes on. The structure and the flow of the event, tying directly to Avengers and New Avengers, matches well with the seriousness of the situation and makes this an event well worth reading. However, it feels even more impressive right now, this week, as Avengers and NewAvengers both come out, tying directly into Infinity but, more than that, harvesting seeds that had been planted long before this event in both individual title. Hickman has done a great job working up to this event in direct pieces (Ex Nihilo, Abyss, and the Gardeners, the infinity gems, etc.) but now we're also seeing how intricately he's connected these books to the events we're now getting.

Now we're seeing Captain Universe unleashing tremendous power after being revived by a legion of Ex Nihili, we're seeing war strike Wakanda on the end of Namor's pointing finger, we're seeing incursions, we're seeing the Builders of other universes, we're seeing Captains America and Marvel stepping into universe leadership roles as simply as they did in Avengers. Everything is coming together perfectly and it strengthens both these individual titles and the event as a whole. No reader can look at this event, whether they like it or not, and say that it feels sudden or abrupt. Ultron didn't just happen to show up and take over. Galactus isn't making a beeline for Earth because he's hungry. This is a big event made possible by seemingly every sentence leading up to it in these books. Really well done.

X-Men Legacy 18

Okay, so maybe that was a cheat so I could put X-Men Legacy on this list. Whatever, guys. This was kind of a toss-up between Legacy and Cable and X-Force, which really pulled back and renewed its sense of fun and spirit after what felt a little like a drought in there. Ultimately the choice went to Legacy for a couple of reasons. One, the story is already in full swing and it's a good one, giving Legacy the edge over Cable because Cable has to introduce its story before we can decide if it's a really good one or not. Two, as I said in my review, this is not the first time that I've trusted the Spurrier was telling the story that it outwardly looked like he was telling (David is getting revenge on Cyclops for the death of his father and, in a nutshell, for being his father's favorite son) before realizing that, in fact, he was telling the same story he's been telling since issue one (David is stopping a threat to mutants before it can manifest, no matter the cost). I'm not, despite any snarky remarks you may have, the worst reader who's ever existed; I should really see this coming. But I don't. I haven't any of the other times and I didn't now. The writing is superb, the characters are flawlessly flawed, the story is appropriately huge and quiet at the same time, everything comes together for this book yet again. Really hard to beat it.

This week's picks

Some real good comics came out this week. Sometimes it's hard to pick just three, even in a week when that's nearly a quarter of the comics that came out. So what made the cut this week? FIND OUT, BELOW.

Captain America 12

This was a pretty powerful issue for Cap as a character. Character matters an awful lot to comics and it matters an awful lot to me as a reader. I've said plenty of times before that Captain America is my favorite character, which could make this something of a biased pick, but really I'm in favor of seeing a somewhat new side of any character, as long as it fits within their established character. Remender has done that well throughout the series, giving Cap a full history that changes what we know about the character but doesn't change the perception of the character. In fact, it strengthens it. This issue beautifully shows the aftermath of Dimension Z for Steve and shows us just how hard the stoic Cap is taking everything. Tough issue as a Cap fan because he's in a real pain, one that it feels like we haven't seen from him since he figured out Bucky was the Winter Soldier. The Nuke storyline is still establishing itself and stays in the background of this one again, almost to the issue's detriment, but it will surely help the arc in the long run.

Deadpool 18

Deadpool cracks the top picks after its writing team earned my ire way, way back in the very first issues. They've turned things around, changing the tone of the book particularly for this arc, but even for arcs before it, and changing the humor from something that was almost entirely stupid reference driven into something that fits a little better. Like with Cap this week, we see a new side of Deadpool, one that realizes the consequences to his actions and one who is clearly in emotional pain, something we don't see out of the wild card Deadpool very often. The book is quick, it's smart, and it's well-written, for Deadpool and for supporting characters Wolverine and Captain America. Solid stuff. Deadpool this week beats out Avengers Arena, Ultimate X-Men, and even the final issue of Astonishing X-Men.

Infinity 4

Another impressive showing from this year's major event (good god, Age of Ultron happened this year, didn't it? It feels like that was years ago and also terrible. One of those statements is correct). The resistance comes up with a plan to hurt the Builders while, on Earth (and just above it), Black Bolt seemingly sacrifices himself to protect the rest of the Inhumans and to create many, many more. It feels like this event, unlike some in the recent past, will have long-lasting effects, perhaps even ones that are interesting as we push forward. I'll be real sad if Black Bolt is dead but, you know, this is comics so don't count on it. If he is, though, it certainly creates some interesting plot points going forward, both within the Inhumans and within the superhero community. Also, guys, Thor threw Mjolnir so far it crashed into a star and came back and burst through one of the creators of the universe. That was, you know, pretty gratifying.

Infinity 4

Infinity 4
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Cap and the resistance have decided to come to the Builders to surrender while, on Earth, Thanos fights Black Bolt to find his son. Let's deal with Earth first, though the stories are mingled in the book. On Earth, the machine Maximus the Mad has built has been activated by Black Bolt's scream. The machine's purpose is to convert the incredibly powerful sound to light which then carries the power of the Terrigen crystals, which activate Terrigenesis, the process by which Inhumans develop their powers, all over the world. Anyone on the planet, then, who has Inhuman DNA in their line somewhere (and there is a great number of people to whom that applies) is transformed, including Thanos' son, who lives with a sect of Inhumans who do not have access to a full Terrigen crystal. Thane, the son of Thanos, had been a healer for his people. As his powers manifest, he accidentally kills seemingly everyone in the village. Meanwhile, Thanos not-so-accidentally seemingly kills Black Bolt. :(  Back in space, the Builders have agreed to meet with a sole representative to accept surrender from the resistance, an act which the Builders will broadcast throughout Hala, where the surrender will take place, and to all the other worlds. Cap sends his best representative, Thor, who is told to disarm himself, which he does with a quick prayer to Mjolnir and an awfully impressive throw into the atmosphere. When Thor is met by the Builder controlling Hala, he explains that they are planning to surrender but that he demands certain assurances. The Builder slaps him and demands he kneel instead. Thor does kneel and we get a little Avengers as the Builder gives him the Loki speech of "is this not your rightful place?" As Thor is reprimanded by the Builder and told of humanity's fate, Mjolnir zooms through the cosmos, going so far as to charge itself through a sun before turning back. Clever readers may see where this is going. The villain keeps soliloquizing and we get a few more shots of Mjolnir (seriously, I'm laying this out for you) before finally, Thor responds saying to the Builder's threat that mankind is done by saying that he is not a man before Mjolnir hurtles back to his hand, crashing through the Builder and killing him. It is telegraphed. It is not a secret. And it is amazing.

Man, I really did intend to write a shorter review here but an awful lot happened and then we got into that whole Terrigenesis explanation and Mjolnir and speeches and geez, here we are. Really solid issue. The decision to split the issue up explicitly with white title pages separating chapters continues to be a really great decision, as it gives the reader more than enough time to settle between each story and reset a bit, which is pretty necessary in a weighty book like this. Black Bolt's heroics are meaningful and well-executed and gee I hope he's not dead. If he is dead, though, he died the way you'd expect him to, which certainly counts for a lot in an event. Meanwhile, the space plot keeps building steam and the seeds planted by Hala's surrender bear wonderful fruit as we get to see Thor and the resistance's mighty answer. Like I said above, there's nothing about this, particularly when Thor is shown as the representative and when he tosses Mjolnir into the sky with a quick prayer, that wasn't foreseeable but it still really pays off in a big way, both physically (with the great artwork and fantastic layout) and emotionally (with the idea of the triumphant freeing of a conquered land and its people). Really excellent issue with as strong an ending as any event of recent. I'm genuinely excited to see what comes next.


Single review today for a few reasons. I meant to team this with Avengers Arena and AI but I couldn't get my hands on Arena. I considered teaming it with Cap and Thor but I already have those set for later in the week and splitting Avengers Arena and AI didn't work for me. Also, it's already pretty late and I'm real tired so the rest will come in the coming days. Isn't this one long enough for you guys? Let's pretend I had planned this so you could marvel (Marvel) over this book. Love you guys, see you tomorrow.