Thunderbolts 19, Nova 11, Marvel Knights Hulk 1

Thunderbolts 19
Soule (w) and Walta (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Thunderbolts are taking a road trip as they make their way to the next base. Deadpool is dead in the backseat (he'll be fine, he wanted it to pass the time) but everyone else is merely waiting out the car ride. Leader asks Ross for a cigarette lighter, wanting to re-center himself. Ross allows it and quickly Leader figures out a plan to dispatch with everyone in the van, including using his radiation emissions to knock Ross out before lighting Deadpool ablaze and using the magnesium in a road flare to neutralize the Venom symbiote while stabbing Flash through the chest, ultimately sending Punisher and Elektra to their death by directing them to save the others and tossing a bag of grenades in after them. He nixes the plan, though, when he realizes that then Mercy would show up and undoubtedly kill him. He also admits that he's not sure he's thinking clearly and that he's not seeing all the variables so he decides to wait it out, knowing that every team needs a leader.

Pretty fun little book. Despite it being a kind of "it was all a dream" issue, there's a lot to be gained. First and foremost, Leader seems to be moving quickly back to his old ways despite putting on a good show to the contrary. We, of course, have known something was up since we saw him willingly let Mercy out of captivity on the sub and force them to ground but now we can see his plans in their entirety and he's giving us a rare first person look into his mind and his plans and his goals. It's a very interesting issue and one that's certainly interesting to read even if it ends in the somewhat predictable "he's not actually doing any of this" way. Still a story that needs telling to show us exactly where Leader is right now and what he's thinking. Also, Gabriel Walta's first issue on the book brings some pretty impressive and very unique art to the series, not too far removed from Jefte Palo but also definitely its own style. Nice issue, great cover.

Nova 11
Duggan (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova's getting readjusted to his normal life on Earth and trying to get it to fit in with his life as Nova. After believing that he was going blind upon returning home last time and seeing bright lights all across his vision, he visits their family doctor who tells him it's probably just temporary blindness brought on by stress and maybe a little by any recent hits to the head he's taken recently. While in one of his classes, Sam realizes that the lights he had been seeing are a map. That night, he flies to the nearest light and finds a dead Nova there. Also there are a horde of giant spiders hanging around that he manages to take down one-by-one. He hears the log from the dead Nova and it shows him an even bigger spider who gored this Nova throw the chest. Sam figures it out just in time and flies up and blasts the giant one from the safety of space. Realizing that the dots are all dead Novas, he decides to go home for the night. However, new enemy Cadivan, apparently a hunter or gladiator or something from deep space has kept a Nova helmet just in case some others should appear for him to kill and take as trophies. Now his helmet has flickered showing that someone is still out there.

Not a bad start for Duggan on his first full NOVA issue. Little bit of a slow start here as we get some time with Sam at school and Sam still trying to deal with his father running out on them and his mother looking for a job. Still, those things aren't bad things to have; the best characters are the ones who are deeper than what happens under the mask, in the vein of Peter Parker or Tony Stark. It does feel a little like this book wants to create the new Spider-Man, someone who lost the man who initially taught him about power and responsibility but he's still left with a strong if slightly helpless role model and support system all while navigating the treacherous waters of high school. Sam's voice still isn't bad here; it's maybe not as free-flowing or imaginative as Zeb Wells' but that may not be fair to judge after one issue. Not a bad issue and retaining the solid art team of Medina, Vlasco, and Curiel helps keep the tone pretty consistent, as the art of a book has as much to do with tone as any other aspect. It'll be interesting to see how a full arc progresses here.

Marvel Knights Hulk 1
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

Banner is face down in a river as this book starts and pulled out by a woman who saw him earlier that day on the metro (they're in Paris) having something of a freak out. She pulls him out and sees that he's got gunshot wounds. The woman, named Dyane, brings him to her apartment and gets to work trying to fix him up a bit and letting him rest. He wakes later and the two of them walk about the city as he tries to get his bearings. He remembers hulking out at some point but doesn't know where he is or who he is. As they walk around the city and she tries to get him to remember things, two mysterious men in trench coats track down Dyane's uncle George and show him a picture of Banner, asking if he's been seen. George says he has and answers all of their questions without hesitation but they gun him down anyway. They manage to find Banner and try to fight him, trying to bring the Hulk out. On the orders of their superior, they both inject themselves with some sort of serum and turn into something like hulks themselves, wrecking their way through the city on his trail. Finally, after scores of casualties, they explode in a blinding light right on top of Banner.

The first image in this issue is a full page panel of Banner face down in the water and I got flashbacks to Keatinge's first scene back on MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE, which found Morbius chased through the streets and getting "killed" brutally within the first issue. Apparently Keatinge has something of a theme going here. This issue, somewhat unlike MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN, seems to be hitting some clichéd ground, including the face-down man in the river, the mysterious but helpful stranger, the amnesia, the trench coat guys, etc. On top of that, the art isn't bad but it's not as experimental as it is in the other new MARVEL KNIGHTS books which really sets them apart from the more mainstream titles. So I guess maybe this one isn't going to be my favorite of the bunch; it moved a bit slowly and you could probably play a drinking game with the beats of this book. If he has a memory of hulking out but tries to downplay it, take a drink. If he has amnesia, take a drink. If he inexplicably gets asked out by the girl who really knows nothing about him except that he ends up face down in lakes, take a drink. If the men in trench coats have sunglasses, hats, and dark motives, take a drink. If you're bored by the end of the issue, take a drink. Thirst should be pretty well-quenched by the end of this one.

Thunderbolts 18, A+X 14, Cataclysm: Ultimates 1

Thunderbolts 18
Soule (w) and Palo (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher's quest to kill the Paguros continues as the Terrigen mists and Thanos' attack on Earth continues to rain down. Punisher, Elektra, and Venom are making quick work of all of the mobsters and get some unexpected help from the transformed Nobili after one of the Nobili children is shot through the head by a mobster. Flash tags the Paguros as they attempt to slink away and the three of them begin to make their way after the family. Things aren't going as well for the Nobili, though, as the other Nobili son, believing he'll never be able to re-enter society, kills himself. The elder Nobili is devastated but quickly realizes his power is borne from the strength of his family, meaning that he has all of his lineage in his new body with him, and they convince him to go after Punisher (another day, it seems, as that's the last we see of them this issue). Meanwhile, Red Hulk convinces Mercy that, if she helps him now by killing alien threats and leaving behind even the most desperately wishing-for-death humans, he can provide her with more death than she could ever need. She believes him and heads out, doing a number on the alien invasion by herself. Back on the streets, Deadpool has found his pizza and is ready to dig in. It's, sadly enough, not as good as he remembers it being, which causes him to wonder why he was so fixated on this particular pizza place. As he does, the Paguros walk in. Deadpool sees their pictures on the wall, proclaims "ohhhhhh, right," and shoots the three of them, confusing Punisher to no end when he and the others arrive. The team reunites and they set off for their new base, with the sub destroyed, via 16 hour road trip.

Another fantastic issue and a nice finish to the tie-in arc that I had worried was slowing. The remaining Nobili provides a threat for the coming issues while the threats here are resolved without too much stress but with a lot of interesting twists and turns. Mercy remains a concern and, by the end of the issue, Ross is forced to tell the rest of the team about her. Flash and Frank have some more tension as Flash continues to protest against Frank's "kill everyone, they're all guilty" mentality and Frank gets angry with Flash when he believes Flash watched the Paguros leave the safehouse without mentioning it to anyone. That puts at least two (probably three, if you count Leader, though he's likely not counted) of the Thunderbolts at odds with Castle and suddenly makes I'm the most reviled character on a team that also has a supervillain on it. The twist of Deadpool eating at a pizza place apparently owned by the Paguros is a great one; you knew all along that Deadpool was going to get back into the action at some point but it was hard to know exactly how. This was kind of the perfect way to do it and it resulted in an actual burst of laughter when Deadpool connects the pieces and abruptly shoots the Paguros, after all of Frank's hard work. There are some other fun moments in the relationship of the team and the book continues to be a solid one. I'm excited to see how Soule's first non-tie-in issues go.

A+X 14
Spider-Man and Magneto: Bemis (w) and Lafuente (a) and Delgado (c)
Captain America and Cyclops: Duggan (w) and Yardin (a) and Mossa (c)

The first team-up finds Spider-Man meeting Magneto, after what seemed to be a general summons from Magneto, underground at an AIM base. The two fight their way through a complex and trick-filled facility while discussing the shortcomings of supervillains, who Magneto particularly detests. Spider-Man clearly believes many of them to be inferior but has trouble wholly agreeing to Magneto's diatribe as it conflicts with his own memories as a supervillain. Eventually they face down MODOK and soundly defeat him before arriving at a young, kidnapped mutant, the true reason for the mission. The young mutant hates the idea of being a mutant and vows that he will grow up strong just to stop all mutants and leaves. Magneto basically just says that you win some, you lose some, and they part ways. Bit of an anti-climax, that, but it's most an acceptable ending. The story drags on a bit as Magneto does what basically amounts to a stand-up comedian's routine about supervillains but without any of the humor (for the record, that's not what he's going for so no humor is appropriate but the sentiment remains the same). Hard not to be a bit bored by that, particularly knowing that there's not going to be a huge pay-off because this is A+X, not a book with consequences or continuity. SPEAKING OF CONTINUITY...

Cap and Cyclops continue their quest to find the sleeper cell Skrulls. Cap tried to leave Cyclops behind in cuffs but Cyclops busted his way out of them and rejoins Cap, at least showing some amount of dedication to the mission. The two arrive at a SHIELD safehouse and Cap asks the LMD watching over it helps pull up records of where the Skrulls have been. They also learn that Latverian scientists might have a captured Skrull on site for study. The two set off with a new Skrull detector in hand for Latveria and things go pretty much how you'd expect, as the pair are discovered and they have to fight their way through a slew of Doombots (where Cap discovers Cyclops' powers aren't exactly up to snuff) before ending up on the radar of Doom himself. They convince Doom to release the Skrull to them as another Skrull war would hurt Latveria as well and Doom reluctantly agrees, claiming his scientists have studied him as much as they can but, of course, killing the Skrull just to be a jerk about it. It's not an awful story but, again, I think the nature of A+X kind of hurts just about any story. On top of that, I get Cap's righteous indignation about Cyclops here but it's getting a little old already, which makes it rather feel like more issues of this will wear pretty thin. Oh well, just...a million more A+X issues to go, right? Inexplicably?

Cataclysm: Ultimates 1
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Quintana (c)

Galactus' approach and the arrival of the first of the Gah Lak Tus swarm has some unexpected consequences as the swarm seems to have infected humans, currently the ones in Belarus who are rising up and hailing Galactus and Gah Lak Tus in direct defiance of the onsite SHIELD team, which is comprised of Fury's new super-powered SHIELD team. They're not totally sure how the swarm spreads but they're hoping to contain this without any casualties, realizing that these people are being controlled by the swarm and possibly by AIM, who clearly has a hand in this as well. They get to the ground to try to restrain the people but they're quickly overrun and have to withdraw, but not before Abigail Brand is touched by a swarm member and transforms into one herself. Fury finally calls it and decides to drop their final weapon into play, a weapon AIM assumed they'd use: the Hulk. Hulk touches down and begins to get angry but is quickly overrun by the swarm and, like Brand, is transformed into another piece of Galactus' puzzle. This, of course, is all happening while Galactus himself towers over head and causes his own wave of destruction.

So, as yet, calling this series CATACLYSM: ULTIMATES is a bit of a misnomer because these guys aren't technically the Ultimates, though maybe they were dubbed the back-up Ultimates when the real Ultimates were captured by Reed Richards. Even still, this probably isn't the team you were expecting when you picked up this book. Regardless, it's an interesting enough story and certainly a threat that needs to be examined, given the sheer weight of the situation and the virus-like spreading of the swarm. It does feel a little like maybe Fury should have pieced some things together about these guys before dropping the Hulk in but, as AIM points out, if a problem gets too big for them, they always just throw a Hulk at it. This one got out of hand fast and apparently dropping a Hulk into the middle of situations doesn't always require knowing too much about that situation, letting Hulk kind of piece it together for himself. Fialkov and company are doing a good job to point out just how dangerous this swarm and Galactus himself could be, certainly something worth worrying about and something worthy of being deemed such a threat that it might END THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE.

Nova 9, Thunderbolts 17

Nova 9
Wells (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova has arrived home to find that Kaldera, the slave of Proxima Midnight, has invaded and taken his mother and sister hostage. Kaldera's offer to Nova is that they fight for the lives of his loved ones without their powers. He agrees and promptly starts getting beaten. Of course, he's not particularly beholden to fighting fair with the psycho who attacked his family so he quickly puts the helmet back on, beginning to gain an edge in the fight again. As he attacks her, the two are teleported back to Thanos' ship, where Sam finds another Nova helmet (Kaldera had taken it as a prize after she had killed its owner) and it uploads itself into his. He goes on to strike down Kaldera before being sent him by her attendants, who worry that her failure to kill him will mar them all if Thanos discovers Nova was on the ship. Sam returns home triumphant while Kaldera is punished in space for her failures.

This was, I believe, Zeb Wells' last issue of Nova before handing the reigns off to Gerry Duggan. I'm a bit sad about this because I think Wells found a really good tone for Sam and his cast, one that won't be so easily replicated. I hope I'm wrong; I want to be reading a good book as much or more than the next person. Regardless, it's still a bit of a sad change for me. It's a nice final issue for Wells, though, as Sam bests someone it seems he had no right besting and is able to show his mom that he's a hero worthy of joining a team, even if she refused to allow him to join the Avengers. She changes her tone just a bit here as she excitedly asks him about the new team he's set to join, the New Warriors (which Speedball clearly gushed to her about while Sam was in space). There are nice pieces in this issue for sure, with more big moments for Sam and a couple of fun lines here and there. There's more focus on Kaldera here so we have a little less of the supporting cast who kind of had to sit in the background of this one, though they still have their moments, albeit fewer. Pretty good issue, nice little wrap-up for the arc.

Thunderbolts 17
Soule (w) and Palo (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher and his team strike the Paguros' warehouse while Red Hulk and Leader try to deal with the invasion in the city as well as the new threat of Mercy in a city during an alien invasion, where people are wishing for death left and right. Leader's having some issues of his own and needs to connect to the internet to reboot his mind. Red Hulk gets him an iPhone with a connection and waits him out while his mind reconnects. It's then Leader's idea to get Mercy to attack Thanos' ship by making the people inside wish for death, something Red Hulk is able to do with relative ease. Meanwhile, Deadpool finally arrives at the pizza place and gets his much sought-after pizza as the Terrigen Mists flood the Earth. Among those they transform are the cowardly Nobili family, hiding out with the Paguros as Punisher, Elektra, and Venom attack.

This is a fairly long tie-in, maybe the longest that's not directly related to Infinity (like Avengers and New Avengers). Honestly, it might be longer than those. Regardless, it's still a pretty good story and a story that has mostly kept up its momentum. If anything, I'd say this issue is the weakest of the arc but only because Punisher's attack on the Paguros' safehouse has taken us this long to get to. It is exciting, at least, because now he's finally there and the three of them are really wrecking the place. In truth, though, I'd say that this plot ranks third of the three plots in order of interest for this issue, and that includes one plot where a guy gets pizza. Still, third of three good plots isn't a horrible place to be in and the characterizations still hold strong here as we get a pretty good look at, particularly, Red Hulk, Leader, Mercy, and Deadpool. Flash gets another pretty good look as he continues to argue (somewhat half-heartedly) on behalf of some of the criminals but it's a characterization we've seen pretty consistently in this arc from him. Still a strong book with very strong art and writing. My mild impatience with this one might stem more from wanting to see what Soule does with the team when he's not writing a tie-in, though, as far as long tie-ins go, this has been a good one. I'm anxious to see what happens next when we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Deadpool 13, Nova 6, Thunderbolts 13

Deadpool 13
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)

It's another flashback issue for Deadpool as we get a brand new story from Deadpool's made-up past, this one placing him in the '70s and trying to ingratiate himself with Luke Cage and Iron Fist as the Heroes for Hire. Along the way, he beats up some random people on the street and in the bathroom, he annoys the Heroes for Hire, and he follows predictable plot point to predictable plot point. The issue ends, like the last flashback, with the reveal that the villain he defeated in the past is coming back out of the woodwork to fight in the present.

I've had no limit of problems with this series but I had somewhat higher hopes for this one. The last flashback issue was better than, I think, most of the issues of this series so far, and this Deadpool is at his best when there are other heroes around because they can play straight man to him. Despite that, the issue drags like crazy and is so stalled by all its references to life in the '70s and its desire to nudge you with its elbow as if to say "do you get it? This is a part of Marvel history! Deadpool knows it!" that it negates any good bits from the Heroes for Hire, instead boiling them down to the over-the-top blaxploitation attitude Luke Cage was back then and spending way too much time comparing Iron Fist's iron fist to predictable sex jokes. Predictable is the word I need to keep coming back to because, although the jokes aren't for me, I get that the jokes are supposed to be what's driving this book. You don't choose a comedian to co-write this without making sure it focuses on jokes. So people who are fans of this book could rage at me all they want about how we're not here for the plot, we're here because it's funny, and I'd still deny that in both parts. First, if you're just here for the jokes, why does this have to be a full-fledged series that will run through, at least, two years of issues (they've confirmed it will at least run through issue 21 already, giving me the sense that this book is doing pretty well) doing nothing but cracking jokes with the occasional plot point? Why couldn't that have just been some sort of mini or something that happens in the back of a real issue of Deadpool or something? More than that, though, the jokes are entirely predictable, seen from a mile away and created so awkwardly by supporting characters that they don't give any semblance of cleverness or with to Deadpool, just the guy who keeps yelling "that's what she said!" to inevitably hit on a real one at some point. Why am I reading this book? More to the point, why are you reading this book? Deadpool's an interesting character with seemingly real stories to tell (granted, not as interesting as some of the other characters in the long haul, but he's more popular so whatever) and we're throwing that away by encouraging this series. The art was pretty spot on here though. Nice touch.

Nova 6
Wells (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

We appear to be up to full present as Nova has defeated Titus and established himself as the new Nova in this universe and he's now officially, in this series, been asked to join the Avengers by Thor (hearkening back to AvX, which will seemingly still not leave us alone). He's also been gone for some time, though, as his mother has been worrying about him non-stop. He returns home to a lecture and to misinterpret a lesson from his mother before flying off again to be Nova in New York.

Bit of a break issue here for Nova as new writer Zeb Wells hops on to the book and establishes his own voice for the character. I will say, I liked this issue more than I've liked previous issues and it seems thanks to the new tone. It feels like a better written teenage character, which is such an important and difficult voice to nail down when you're not a teenager yourself. It often comes off as the stereotypical kind of teenager that you see in TV and movies that doesn't quite give you the sense of being a real person. Gillen and McKelvie are doing a great job over on Young Avengers with it but they also have plenty of characters to bounce back and forth between. Here it's even more difficult because Nova has to find a nice voice and keep it with no one to fall back on. If even one of the Young Avengers isn't written well (purely hypothetical, they're all written well), we would still have good characters surrounding them. Here, Marvel has invented a brand new teenage character and given no support system while he finds his feet. Wells' voice seems less predictable and a little more childlike while still maintaining the personality that Loeb left for him. This one is definitely an issue meant to reset us a bit, now that we're aware Nova can mostly handle his Nova powers and he's finished his first big fight, and to set up our next arc in very vague terms. Sam wants to go help the world as Nova and he might actually be able to do it. I'll be interested to see where this one goes.

Thunderbolts 13
Soule (w) and Noto (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Finally we get some answers about the mysterious Mercy in this issue as Flash confronts her and, finding that a little out of his league, goes and confronts Ross about her. Her origin is still pretty covered up, though Ross reveals to Flash that she was a regular-Hulk enemy back in the day (and a Wikipedia check confirms it, you guys) before going on to explain how he dug her up and why he brought her along. The conceit of Mercy is that she is incredibly powerful and she tries to help people who can't help themselves. Sounds good, but the "helping people" bit is more "helping people who want to die but don't have the strength to kill themselves" than it is "find somebody a job" or something. Her power levels are pretty through the roof and Ross admits to Flash that she's on the team because he wants to be able to keep an eye on her but, in truth, she might be more than he can handle.

It's an interesting issue and it starts to bring out a lot of new information for this team, which is useful. In addition to learning a little bit about Mercy's powers and her goals, we get a very brief look into why she's staying here, if she's more powerful than Red Hulk. He thinks that it's because she simply hasn't realized yet that she has a bit of the upperhand here but it seems more driven by her own goals than that. She tells Flash at the start of the issue that he's not interesting to her any more, explaining that she would have helped him commit suicide when he was at his lowest in life, when he considered it. Now he doesn't consider it (which is at the root of Ross' argument against her; everyone can have a bad day, week, year, etc. and be at the end of their rope but it doesn't mean people don't pull through it) but it seems like she's still interested in the rest of the team. It not only gives us more interest in Mercy, it really makes you look at the rest of the team that Ross has assembled. At first, they were all just stone-cold mercenaries, right for the job and willing to do whatever it took. Now, knowing that Mercy has interest in them, it's hard not to see them as the darkness they each have inside of themselves. Really interesting way to recast the team and give us a little bit more as we push forward. Good issue, solid series building.