Black Widow 11, Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier 1

Black Widow 11

Black Widow knows her attorney's gone missing and she is not thrilled about it. With the suspicious intel of Tori Raven and the help of X-23 (who, I suspect, has teamed up with Natasha thanks to events that we maybe were already supposed to know about from the aftermath of DEATH OF WOLVERINE, though I don't know that that's true and I certainly don't want to do research on such a thing), she storms the casino where Isaiah is being held and makes it up to the top floor, where she finds that Isaiah has been taken away by his captors and a bomb has been left in their place. Natasha and Laura manage to evade the bomb and catch up with the helicopter leaving the casino. Natasha keeps X-23 from killing one of the men, hoping for answers, and keeps Isaiah from keeping Rashid, the man Natasha once saved long ago. However, Rashid forces her to let him go from the helicopter, plunging into a pool below and surviving, but not before muttering that "they hadn't told him about this part," leading Natasha to suspect something about CHAOS, assuming it is them behind this, has to do with some sort of precognitive ability. This seems confirmed when we see, after Natasha, Laura, and Isaiah have successfully left the casino area, Tori take a call from the people at CHAOS and imply once more that they have access to future information.

On top of the gorgeous art of this book which, hopefully, you have checked out by now, one of the great things about this book is the tone and atmosphere of the story. I've already talked at length (perhaps ironically) about the terse dialogue and narration of the book, which makes the book move really quickly and keeps Natasha's character pretty well-defined while still ensuring to keep things decidedly close to the vest, even with the ever-present and unseen audience. However, in the broader sense, Edmondson is doing a fantastic job keeping CHAOS out there and somewhere on the outskirts. It's the same sort of thing you see in a lot of spy or crime series. One notable example is the tandem of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the first two Daniel Craig James Bond movies. The end of Casino Royale introduces this new apparently anti-MI6 terrorist group called Quantum and then Quantum of Solace, which picks up just minutes after the end of Casino Royale, goes on to illustrate them as this ubiquitous group that hides in plain sight, showing Bond that he can't trust anyone and forcing him to rely only on himself and anyone he can tangibly prove isn't working with the organization. In just 11 short issues (and far fewer concerning CHAOS), Edmondson has nicely planted the seeds to view this group in that sort of light, some sort of ubiquitous but unseen enemy that is constantly closing in on Natasha. It's a perfect adversary for her and it's presented brilliantly by both Edmondson and Noto. It's classic spy stuff and it's so far striking the perfect balance that makes them a massive threat but not something that requires Avengers attention on it (always a worry in a shared universe: why didn't so-and-so just call the Avengers? They can't ALWAYS be off-world!). Really great book just doing what it does, continuing to be really great.

Total Score: 5/5


Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier 1

Bucky Barnes has taken on Nick Fury's role as "man on the Wall," the guy who protects the planet from interstellar threats before they can even make it to Earth. This first issue finds him all over the galaxy with his chosen sidekick-who-isn't-a-sidekick Daisy Johnson. They start on a planet, kill a dude, take a weird little pet off the planet, investigate a drug trade through Atlantis, and team up with Namor only to find that the drug dealer's middle man was Loki and then the drug dealer is killed by someone else who seems impossible to identify in the murkiness of the final page.

I hate to say "I told you so" but I especially hate to say "I told you so" to myself, who was really starting to eagerly anticipate this book. I have had my problems with Kot in the past (I think SECRET AVENGERS is all over the place and certainly has become a book that isn't for me, a thing I hate dealing with because I still force myself to read every book like some dummy. I also think Kot really wants you to know that he's smart and thoughtful and progressive, something I would honestly have believed if he just wrote books I like because I think writers who can make good books ARE smart and thoughtful and progressive and don't always need to have an agenda LOOK, we're on a tangent again) and they're all coming right to a head here as he loads each page with dialogue and exposition and throws it all at us over Marco Rudy's really specific art style. One of the problems with that is that Rudy's art style involves using space on the page in a way that's very rarely, if ever, done. There are a lot of circular panels in the middle of a page that kind of branch out to create the rest of the page's layout and, when used effectively, create a really neat and unique sort of page. Here, though, it's really hard to follow the art because the words are so very present and it's a struggle just to find your way around the story, meaning you can't really make room for the art. Hopefully this is something that will settle out as the book continues (which is certainly a possibility as the two become more comfortable working with one another) because I still want to believe this book has potential. I just need to stop rolling my eyes at it.

Total Score: 2/5

New Avengers 24, Mighty Avengers 14, Secret Avengers 8

New Avengers 24

We're eight months in the future and Namor comes to Doom for help getting rid of his cabal, who he has realized are maybe a little too violent and bloodthirsty for his liking, and for help with the incursions. Doom provides neither, resentful that he is Namor's second choice. Meanwhile, Black Panther and Shuri use the distraction of another incursion to attempt to steal back all the anti-matter bombs housed in Wakanda, currently occupied by the Cabal, but find themselves facing Maximus and Proxima Midnight, left behind to guard. They barely escape and Black Panther teleports back to the Illuminati but Shuri chooses to stay behind and fight for Wakanda. Back in Latveria, Doom explains to Kristoff that he didn't accept Namor's offer because it's clear he understands more of what's going on than Namor does, so he wouldn't benefit from an alliance. Instead, the Mad Thinker has been working for Doom to study the piece of a world the Mapmakers left behind and finally Thinker has used it to map out all of the marked worlds and to trace it back to its originator, the person behind all this. Doom intends to turn the tables on this person, hoping to use the Molecule Man to strike back at the incursions.

As with AVENGERS, this book has leapt eight months into the future and now has 30+ pages to get us somewhat caught up on the state of the world. Also like AVENGERS, it does a pretty good job of it. Hickman delicately balances things we need to know now with things that can wait, meaning that we largely get good explanation without over-exposition. We also get a glimpse at what the Cabal is doing to other worlds, annihilating their people and relishing the opportunity to destroy their incurring worlds. Where everything seemed slightly askew and mildly threatening in AVENGERS, everything in this book seems horrible, like every plan ever devised has gone wrong,w which seems to be Hickman's intent. Valerio Schiti does an excellent job on the art front and overall it's an engaging and exciting finished project. NEW AVENGERS brings the last two years of stories to a head masterfully, never hand-holding and never over-explaining, illustrating a world that came about naturally well down the line.

Total Score: 5/5


Mighty Avengers 14

The Deathwalker Prime begins to transmit nightmares to every living being on the planet, causing everyone to kneel to it, but Luke Cage stands against the nightmares, fighting back and ultimately securing the ceremonial goblet in which the blood was combined and passing it on to a similarly breaking-free Kaluu, who manages to use the goblet himself to create the Avenger Prime, a mighty being with the combined strengths of the entire Mighty Avengers (except for Cage, who remains out of it) and which manages to defeat the Deathwalker Prime, freeing everyone on Earth. Cage destroys the goblet and the team decides to take a little vacation, primed to return in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS.

It's a pretty strong ending to a book I mostly found middling. Most of my problems with the book have been tonal dissonance or inside jokes or whatever you'd call the captions strewn about the book and that sort of thing kind of continues here but mostly reins it in to let the story and the characters do the talking. When the book got out of its own way, I liked it more. As with my feelings toward SECRET AVENGERS (we'll get to that), it's entirely possible those captions and other little bits strewn here and there appealed to a great number of people. They weren't my thing and they got int he way of the book for me, taking what could have been a personal and strong tone and muddying it with a need for forced laughs. Still, that's more a critique of the series and less a critique of this issue, which remains rather strong, though I have little connection to the main villain so it's a little difficult to feel the weight of the story. Ewing does what he can by showing that the entire planet is affected by the attack but it's a global threat that feels like it came out of nowhere, so its actual threat-level is hard to take seriously (okay, it's comics, seriously is CLEARLY "comics seriously" here). Kind of nitpicky but you have to believe the villains just as much as you believe the heroes. Still a good book.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 8

Maria Hill believes that MODOK is behind everything and explains, bit by bit, why to Spider-Woman, who has more questions than answers. We also flash back to various points in the last eight months or so to see MODOK working with head scientist Snapper to plan their allegiance switch to SHIELD and to quickly rise through the ranks and take it over from Hill, a plan that is slightly stalled as he reveals by issue's end that he's, in fact, in love with Maria Hill.

Nope, still don't get and/or like this one. It's not helped that one of the key contributors to the series is Maria Hill, who I cannot come around to. Right now, we're talking about a personal, intimate battle of wits between Maria Hill and MODOK and I don't understand who that sentence appeals to.

Total Score: 1/5

New Avengers 23, Mighty Avengers 12, Secret Avengers 7

New Avengers 23
Hickman (w) and K. Walker (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The next incursion is coming and the Illuminati agree that they can't go through with destroying another world so they resign themselves to their fate instead. As each member of the team consoles themselves as best they can, spending their final moments with loved ones, letting off steam, or pondering, the clock ticks down. Finally the moment of incursion comes...and goes. They reconvene to ask what happened, happy that the universe isn't destroyed but worried they may have gotten some calculation wrong and subsequently have already destroyed a world for nothing. Black Bolt realizes, though, that Namor didn't show up for their meeting and the truth dawns on them, though maybe not the extent of their troubles. Namor has formed the Cabal, consisting of him, Maximus, Black Swan, Thanos, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Terrax, to do what the Illuminati cannot.

Rather a nice issue as Hickman has the team take a step back and analyze what's important to each of them. We see Black Panther returning to Storm (they have a tryst but she calls it a mistake, even as he admits that his only thoughts as the world is about to die were of her), Banner drinking to the thought of his final moments with Hulk, Tony pouring but ultimately turning down a row of shots, and Reed visiting his entire, spread-out family, among other moments. It's a simplistic but very nice idea, watching the heroes resign themselves to going out with a whimper and not a bang, as most superheroes tend to do. The introduction of the Cabal, too, is very interesting and certainly worthy of a gasp as we get the reveal. I think Walker's art is better here than the last one, which relied so much on serious fighting and screaming, but I still think it's wrong for this book, though Martin's colors help ease it on its way.

Total Score: 4/5


Mighty Avengers 12
Ewing (w) and Larroca (a) and Milla (c) and Petit (l)

The Deathwalkers have drained enough out of Blade to start their ritual, though they're interrupted when he breaks free and comes after them. His breaking free also allows Power Man to find Blade's chi in the city, with help from a powerful speech by Cage's father, and direct the Mighty Avengers plus Kaluu and Constance Molina to his side. They fight a bunch of Ani-Men and try to attack the four Deathwalkers destined to divvy up the Earth but aren't able to get to them before they can finish their ritual, which bonds the four into one who is surely destined to take over the world. I mean, nothing can probably stop something that powerful, right?

Man, leave it to a regular, unpowered human to lecture about the difference a regular person can make and then to be left behind by the superpowers because he's old and would probably just die anyway. But we can agree, he'd probably die, right? Anyway, that's what happens to Cage's dad here but he does get to meet little Danielle while the adults go attack. Also interesting: Spitfire and Blade are apparently together. Did not know that, but I'm a Spitfire fan and I guess I can see that, though I'm sad she doesn't seem to be rushing to the rescue on this occasion. STILL, not an awful issue, though I still think the tone could use a bit of regulation here, choosing whether it should be fun or tough or maybe if the heroes should just focus on the potential world-ending fight instead of idle chit-chat at times. Not bad, though.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 7
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

Black Widow has traveled through a black hole, Fury is still in a coma, Maria Hill admits to Spider-Woman, who is having something of a bad day herself, that MODOK is on the team, Coulson is tracking mysterious leads, and Hawkeye has been brought in by Deadpool and a pair of AIM agents and Deadpool has revealed to his new Avenging pal that they're in a comic book. Lots of fourth wall breaking here and very explicit about it. The issue ends as Hill reveals to Spider-Woman about MODOK and reveals that she has reasons.

Little inside baseball here: I read and reviewed NEW AVENGERS pretty immediately, then read MIGHTY AVENGERS, SECRET AVENGERS, and a handful of other books (the ones most likely to get extended reviews this week), then I reviewed MIGHTY AVENGERS, then I showered and praised myself for my ability to keep the above two reviews pretty tight and decided if I could do that with SECRET AVENGERS, I really ought to be proud. Fortunately, I reasoned, that wouldn't be too hard since I have no idea what's happening in this book and the Deadpool explicit fourth wall breaking really tends to take me out of it. I don't mind slight nods to it here and again in this day and age or full-on reference to it in strange side-books (like the DEADPOOL KILLS- series), but I don't think it really fits into current Marvel continuity and I think, therefore, it's very strange here just as I think the overall tone of this book is very strange. BUT HERE'S THE THING, MY FRIENDS: I'm accepting it really well today. Can't promise next time won't be worse (though I've gotten better with this book each issue, I think), but it's hard not to think that maybe, just MAYBE, every book shouldn't be for me. Presumably if every book were for me I'd be incredibly happy but plenty of people (probably people I wouldn't get along with but PEOPLE NONETHELESS) wouldn't be reading comics. So this issue, and probably this series, isn't for me. And that's fine.

Total Score: 2/5*

*But, as with most other scores, that's just what I think and...actually, there's no way to finish this thought without implicitly recommending you stop reading this blog so NEVER MIND, WHAT I THINK IS BEST.

New Avengers 22

New Avengers 22
Hickman (w) and K. Walker (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Illuminati have done the unthinkable as Namor has used their bomb to destroy and incurring Earth. They take a moment to examine the men they've become with Namor as unsympathetic and cold as ever, which sends Black Panther into a rage over the decision Namor made and therefore took from him. The two fight hand-to-hand before Reed pulls them apart but Namor then reveals that he had sold Wakanda out to Thanos, leading to another rage from T'Challa, only stopped when the Hulk separates them. The team heads in its separate directions but they'll be pulled together sooner rather than later as another incursion is coming in just under eight hours.

The fight we've been waiting for between Black Panther and Namor has finally come as Panther reels from his very recent disowning and the bomb going off in the hands of his new sworn enemy. Unfortunately, it maybe falls a little flat at the hands of Kev Walker, who I typically like well enough and have really liked on AVENGERS ARENA and AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. I don't know, maybe it's that this book has set itself up as something so grand and cinematic and Walker's style doesn't really carry the sort of weight that original series artist Steve Epting established as the norm. So instead, the art becomes almost a distraction. Still, the issue is big for the book as the terms of what they're doing have changed a bit with the first actual instance of destroying a thriving world. I also appreciate Hickman's built-in tension builder (used a-plenty in this series already) of showing that an incursion is once again coming to end an issue.

Total Score: 3/5

Original Sins 1, New Avengers 19

Original Sins 1
Deathlok: Edmondson (w) and Perkins (a) and Troy (c) and Cowles (l)
Young Avengers: North (w) and Villalobos (a) and Gibson (c) and Cowles (l)
Lockjaw: S. Moore (w) and Geary (a) and Svorcina (c) and Cowles (l)

Three stories to kick off our ORIGINAL SIN tie-in book which here is two-thirds ORIGINAL SIN tie-in and one third promotional. The first third is the promotional, with a short story by Nathan Edmondson (BLACK WIDOW, PUNISHER) and Mike Perkins (CAPTAIN AMERICA, UNION JACK) featuring Henry Hayes, a new Deathlok, unbeknownst to Hayes. Seemingly leaping right out of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Hayes is war vet with bionic parts and who is, on occasion, mind controlled to execute missions at the behest of his handlers, whereafter he is dumped back where he started with no memory of the mission. He has just such a mission when a SHIELD agent approaches him in a train station and tells him that he's Deathlok, as was revealed to him by the Watcher's truth-bomb. As the SHIELD agent leaves, Hayes' handlers send Deathlok to execute the man. Though there is a clear tie-in to ORIGINAL SIN, the key of this book is building excitement for October's DEATHLOK, also written by Edmondson and illustrated by Perkins. It's not an awful test-run and it's certainly an easy enough premise to kick things off. Right now, Edmondson can do no wrong by me so let's hope that even a series spawned by (though with no connection to) a show I find almost entirely boring will separate itself the way BLACK WIDOW and PUNISHER have.

The second story finds three members of the Young Avengers, Hulkling, Noh-Varr, and Prodigy, teaming up to investigate what's happening in Manhattan. When Hulkling sees footage from the fight and recognizes Exterminatrix in the middle of it, he gets Prodigy to hijack Noh-Varr's shuttle so it will pick them up and bring them to their friend (who isn't leaving his space station home and also isn't picking up his phone). They convince him to come along and, in the course of their investigation, they run into a somehow un-evacuated woman being held hostage by the Hood, who needs the help of these three Young Avengers. Ryan North, who writes MIDAS FLESH and ADVENTURE TIME for BOOM! Studios and has countless other adventures in comics and other text (like his great Dinosaur Comics or like the choose-your-own-adventure Hamlet or his upcoming choose-your-own-adventure Romeo and Juliet), brings his usual playfulness and fun, natural, conversational style of writing to this project and it really works for the Young Avengers. Looking forward to where this goes.

Finally, Stuart Moore and Rick Geary bring us a short tale of Lockjaw uncovering a secret from the Watcher's truth treasure trove and, after trying a number of other heroes, conveying the importance of said secret to Iron Man, who accompanies him to the moon where he digs up a bone he'd left there. Fun little story which must have given a slight break from all those gorgeous painted THOR interiors to Eisner-nominated colorist Ive Svorcina.

Total Score: 4/5


New Avengers 19
Hickman (w) and Schiti (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Illuminati travel to Earth-4,290,001, the home of the Great Society (Boundless, Dr. Spectrum, Sun God, The Rider, The Jovian, and The Norn) to discuss what's coming. They reveal that they have a doomsday device, something capable of destroying a world, but would much rather not have to use it. While they argue about how they would use such a device (in the case they can't figure something out, one world has to be destroyed to save the other world and to save both universes; the incursion going off as planned would mean the end of both worlds and both universes), Maximus runs some experiments on the frozen Corvus Glaive, locked away with his master Thanos. Back on Earth-4,290,001, the Illuminati try to justify their actions to the Great Society and continue to ask for help coming up with a way to save both worlds before they have to move on to worst-case scenarios but Namor, tired of the indecision, attacks The Rider, prepared to be what the incursion will make them all and provoking a fight between the two once-heroic groups.

One of the things I'd been saying since the start of this series was that NEW AVENGERS feels like a movie or a television show (its presentation, particularly at the beginning, felt more like gorgeous cinema but its episodic nature makes it more like a television show) and it seems to be sticking with that feeling. Hickman knows how to write scenes and how to present them and the artists attached to this book (including series colorist Frank Martin) really know how to make everything feel big and grand. In this issue (as in the last several) we get a number of recent flashbacks that add context and weight to the actions of the present while also allowing us to move on with the story in a way that maybe isn't so dry or straightforward. Some of those flashbacks involve Bruce and Hank talking about morality and the choices they face, Reed talking with Black Swan about the things they can do to help push forward, and Tony telling Reed that Cap knows and soon the most powerful Avengers team ever assembled will be coming for them. It's a strong story and the flashbacks allow the book an opportunity to remind you just how many threads are still out there and how intricate this situation is. I've also been looking for a way to plug this some more and so, while it's only tangentially related, it feels as big and grand, at times (though not always so gripping), as Hickman's EAST OF WEST, which is an absolutely phenomenal book I can't recommend enough. Val Schiti does the art on this issue and really brings great emotion to the characters, from hubris to fear to arrogance to sadness to resignation (guys, most of those descriptions are just for Namor).

Total Score: 5/5

All-New Invaders 5, Fantastic Four 5

All-New Invaders 5
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c) and Petit (l)

Everything works out because Winter Soldier breaks out Aarkus and he and another Eternal find the God's Whisper while Torch knocks out the watching Kree soldiers and Steve uses a computer virus laced shield (??) to shut down the Supremor for a time while they make their way off-planet. Back on Earth, Namor returns to the deep, Bucky goes back to wherever it is Bucky goes, and Cap recruits Jim to SHIELD while they muse over what Aarkus could be doing with the Eternals (hint: controlling Galactus in the Negative Zone with the God's Whisper if they should ever need him).

That "everything works out" bit above is only there partly because I'm lazy. Moreover, though, it's there because that's the spirit of this issue. It's very much a book that revolves around the old school style "I only wanted you to THINK I'd missed when, in fact, I was aiming at that device above you that's currently toppling on you" or some such that I swear happened in every other issue of AVENGERS back near the start of its run. Here it's all meaningless misdirect as Bucky buys time, Cap has a computer virus on his shield (not how that works, for the record, don't care what kind of comic book technology you have), and Torch ups the radiation in the room with Cap waving it off by literally saying "I'm immune." If the solutions are ridiculous then the stakes are meaningless. It's like being in an imaginary shootout with a child who keeps saying "no, you didn't hit me! I have a forcefield and the shot bounced and hit you!" You can make up the rules all you want, that doesn't mean I'm going to be on board with it. Pugh's art is pretty good though.

Total Score: 2/5


Fantastic Four 5
J. Robinson (w) and Kirk (p) and Leisten and Magyar (i) and Aburtov (c) and Cowles (l)

The Fantastic Four are on trial and the prosecutor is dragging them through the mud about every major superhero thing they've played a role in and how many people it hurt and it ends with a ruling that we don't get the full sense of yet but means the kids of the FF are shipped off to Camp Hammond to be watched by new SHIELD agent Jim Hammond (very quickly making his first SHIELD appearance from above). Oh, and in other news on this book, it made me as angry as any other book I've read in the past year and a half and I can't believe Marvel decided to charge five dollars for a book with five extra pages in it (albeit with art from all sorts of different artists).

Seriously. The courtroom superhero drama hasn't been compelling since the first time it was done and, when it's done this poorly, it throws everything into question. There's a writing trick wherein a writer knows exactly how a sane character would get out of a problem but dutifully ignores that solution because there's no drama in it. That's what Robinson's doing but it's not just Robinson who knows how to get out of it, it's every single person reading this book ever. The prosecutor has the shakiest grasp on how to prosecute and his terribleness and the terribleness of the entire plot draws the lawyering abilities of She-Hulk, the F4's lawyer, into severe question. It's a rare book that can take a completely separate book that I really like (SHE-HULK) and call it into question by painting its protagonist so weak. It's choppy writing at best and it's a terrible and cliche story that's executed about as badly as it could be. It feels like it was an excuse to get a bunch of guest artists in (who all do admirable work, though it sometimes feels like it's Marvel trying to hard sell their other books as Samnee draws some Daredevil related business and the Allred's pop in to draw Galactus and the Silver Surfer) and to charge an extra dollar for five extra pages and the book is garbage. Literally within the first three pages I was angry at this book.

Total Score: 1/5

SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: Ultimate FF 2, Miracleman 6

Ultimate FF 2
Fialkov (w) and Guevara (p) and Vlasco, Hanna, Pennington, and Leisten (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

The FF, complete with new member Victor Van Damme, are tasked with finding out what happened to group of disappeared rich people living in an underwater luxury destination built near the ruins of Lemuria. Falcon and Stark speculate that the abrupt disappearance has to do with dimensional shifts but they have to put their theories aside when suddenly Namor, the thought-dead emperor of Atlantis, appears, as does apparently the entire population of Atlantis, all of whom have super strength because everyone seems to be from a different dimension.

It's a little hard to follow some of the different dimension talk because the theories start to ask if just about everyone they stumble upon isn't from a different dimension but nothing is ever really confirmed. Some of the bickering between the team is fun (a good Doom is typically a welcome addition to any sort of team book or, you know, any book) but some of it feels a little out of place and forced. Still, the book has an energy and a sense of fun to it that's certainly welcome. I should mention that Tom Grummett is credited with layout work on the art in this book but I didn't want to double use the letter "L" above.

Total Score: 4/5


Miracleman 6
Moore (w) and A. Davis and Ridgway (a) and Oliff (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miracleman and Evelyn Cream head to Paraguay to find Gargunza, who Miracleman suspects has his wife. While Cream wrestles with his motivations for all of his actions, Miracleman stays decidedly quiet, seemingly scared. Gargunza, meanwhile, runs some tests on Liz thinking about how neat it's going to be to be immortal. We also get a flash to the past of Gargunza and MM as, back in the testing days of the '60s, Gargunza observed and experimented on Miracleman. One particular set of tests, though, started to see Miracleman's subconscious begin to try to rouse him from his sleep, to set him to the task of stopping Gargunza. Gargunza manages to set his mind at ease at the last moment but the fear he raised is palpable.

Another strong issue, though this one feels almost like a rest issue, giving us a chance to kind of catch up with the story and prep for the upcoming encounter between Miracleman and Gargunza. There are interesting things happening with Cream that we're only kind of privy to but dishing it out slowly is an effective way to keep us interested. Plenty of cool things still happening in this book and it continues to be a worthwhile read even for those not so interested in the re-release.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers 28, New Avengers 17

Avengers 28
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin w/Mossa (c) and Petit (l)

AIM has taken back the Avengers from another world, hoping to send them away because they seriously do not need two Avengers teams out there. However, the Banner that seemed to be the other world's Banner asks the Scientist Supreme why worlds are dying. With nothing to lose from this conversation, Forson admits that they believe the multiverse is dying and that Earth is the center point. It turns out that this Banner is actually our Banner, though, and he escapes AIM, doing a bunch of damage on the way out, before making his way to Avengers Tower. He interrogates Tony and, with a smart line of questioning, realizes what's been happening and realizes that Tony has re-formed the Illuminati, the same Illuminati that launched Hulk into space so long ago. Banner pumps himself full of tranquilizers to keep from hulking out while Tony explains and while Tony invites him to join the team, which he reluctantly does, understanding how big the threat is. Tony hands off the other universe's Banner to SHIELD and the Avengers, who are looking to dole out punishment for attacking the Avengers and Avengers Tower, and the Illuminati meets its newest member. OH, and also the Adapoids that went out to explore the multiverse meet up with the Mapmakers and it turns out that they're all one and the same.

Story
Really great story here as Hickman preps for ORIGINAL SIN and props up his amazing NEW AVENGERS work with a new and crucial addition to the team. It's a wonderful idea, putting the worldbreaker Hulk and the genius scientist Banner into this situation wherein worlds may need to be broken if science can't answer these questions. On top of that, it's executed perfectly; there's plenty of time at the beginning where you don't know if Banner is our Banner or the other universe's and we figure out definitively that it's ours just as the other drama of the plot, the idea that Banner has figured everything out, is coming to the head of the story. It's extremely well done and it's a huge step for this series and for NEW AVENGERS. Plus, as if Cap wasn't going to be mad ENOUGH at Tony and crew for wiping his memories when he finds out in ORIGINAL SIN, he's now had an innocent(ish) Bruce Banner handed to him in lieu of the real deal. 5/5

Character
AVENGERS hasn't had a ton of room for character because the plots have been so sweeping and the team has been so big. It's nice to have an issue that pulls back to just two major characters to give us a better look at those two guys and BOY what a great look it is. It's Banner at his most tense, a perfect portrait of someone right on the brink of hulking out with one false step, and it's Tony at his most duplicitous and covert, the weapons maker returned. It's incredibly tense and it's incredibly well-crafted, two could-be/have-been allies in a conversation that could turn them into quick enemies, another thing they have been. It's a dynamic built on decades of discontent and it's perfect. 5/5

Writing
This is one of those issues whose writing score is based on the perfect execution of story and character more than any one thing in the dialogue. That's not to say the dialogue isn't sharp. In fact, the dialogue is extremely well-balanced as the audience knows Tony is hiding something and Banner is pretty sure Tony is hiding something all while we're not sure if Banner is Banner and as we and Tony try to figure out what's in the case. There's so much happening here and it's all done in service to the tone, which, in turn, builds our story and our character. It's all a circle and it all feeds itself. 5/5

Art
I often have issues with Salvador Larroca's art but he does solid work here. Larroca uses a mix of close-ups and wide shots to help establish the tone as two people snipe back and forth trying to outwit one another. I don't know that it's the best possible art for this book but that way madness lies so we're not going to worry about that. In this case, it works perfectly well. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I've been back and forth on this AVENGERS series for a while. It's largely good but sometimes the long con style game Hickman and company tend to play makes it a little harder to get into as a whole series. When it's said and done, though, I think this series will read extremely well as one long volume. Solid work here and BOY was this issue good.

Total score: 5/5


New Avengers 17
Hickman (w) and Morales (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

Namor and T'Challa continue to watch Earth-4290001 to learn how they deal with their incursion. With the help of the Norn, they've defeated the incurring world but not before four Mapmakers land on their planet. Their hero Boundless manages to destroy the AI of one but is stopped before she can damage the rest but their leader Sun God, warning everyone to take cover under Dr. Spectrum's shielding, unleashes his full power and destroys the others. T'Challa and Namor watch as the heroes, all surviving the fight recover a bit until they realize that another incursion is already underway. Namor steps away from the screen to have a drink, complaining that it seems an unwinnable scenario; they're up against not just incurring planets but the Mapmakers, the Black Priests, and the Ivory Kings. He jokes darkly about their chances and he and T'Challa have some real talk about hope and honor and nobility and share a laugh about their survival before T'Challa is pulled back to the screen to find that, in two hours time (thanks to the window's strange effect on time), the world incurring on Earth-4290001 is their own Earth.

Story
Hickman's created an interesting batch of characters from this alternate Earth and, though we can't care about them in the same way we care about characters we've known for decades, it's hard not to root for them. They're pointedly the opposite of our heroes; they're still fighting the incursions and they still hope to see their Earth win but they refuse to give up hope that this is unwinnable. Sun God himself kicked off their mission by saying "Everything lives" in the same way that Reed Richards continues to say "Everything dies." So it's hope against despair as the theme here, even as T'Challa and Namor discuss it as two kings with no kingdoms. Solid story and quite a cliffhanger. 5/5

Character
The Namor-Black Panther dynamic has been one of the more interesting stories in this book all the way around. From the time this series kicked off, Atlantis and Wakanda have been at war with one another, putting their champions at odds even as they're forced to work together for the survival of the world. It's also worth pointing out that we are rather rooting for Earth-4290001's champions despite their relative obscurity, to the credit of Hickman. 5/5

Writing
The hope/despair theme prevails and plays well as Hickman particularly focuses us on Namor, a character for whom the difference between himself and everyone else is hope. It's a great tool and it's explored really well here as Namor keeps up his personality even against T'Challa, his equal in power but someone who fights because he has hope, among other reasons. It's smart writing. 5/5

Art
Rags Morales has some really incredible art and the expressiveness and the emotion of these characters really stands out in these particularly emotional times. An artist who wasn't as capable of showing the minute emotional turns of these two pretty calculated characters, even if they did better action or something (which is just an example, by the way, I think Morales' action has been pretty cool so far), wouldn't be nearly as successful. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I should have seen the twist at the end coming and I didn't and it still made me go "ohhhhhhhhhhhh wowwwwwwwww."

Total score: 5/5

All-New Invaders 4, Fantastic Four 3

All-New Invaders 4
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c) and Petit (l)

The Invaders have been captured by Tanalth and the Kree with the help of Ikaris, the Eternal they control with the God's Whisper. The Supreme Intelligence wants to dissect the Vision (already off in another chamber for testing), Human Torch, and Captain America to try to make their own forces stronger but they have no plans for Bucky, who launches forth as if to try to escape. He is shot and pronounced dead by the Human Torch. Namor is brought back to them and Tanalth and the Supreme Intelligence demand they fight Ikaris for the amusement of all present. Cap, Torch, and Namor manage to hold off Ikaris long enough for Bucky, obviously not dead, to sneak away and break Vision out, which had been the plan all along.

Story
For the first time, all our players are generally in the same area and rather aware of the situation. The story right now is the fight against the Kree and against the God's Whisper which gives everything something of an old-fashioned feel, sending this team away from the perils of Earth for a minute to deal with a possible alien war before it can become one. Okay, that's not really what makes it feel so old-fashioned but we'll get to that. The twist of Bucky being alive isn't so much a twist as it is another sort of call-back to a simpler times in comics (specifically to the time when everyone would go "I only wanted you to THINK I'd missed!" before a shield/arrow/Mjolnir/avalanche hit its intended strategic target. The God's Whisper is certainly compelling but even that can only take us so far. 4/5

Character
Cap's the strategist, Torch is proud of being more human, and Bucky doesn't want to be made a mindless slave as he relates in an all-too-long tirade while he's trying to enact an "escape" that would cause his "death." You can very nearly give him a pass for that strange and sudden speech because maybe he's just overacting but it is still a jarring sort of speech. Namor shows real emotion as he admits that it was his pride that put them all in this position and killed Bucky (he was not aware of the plan). It's an okay moment to see him open up to the only people would who really call him a friend but it still seems rather out of place, even in the midst of all of this. Namor isn't really a character who apologizes or recognizes his own pride. Honestly maybe a little too easy to get a grip on these characters. 3/5

Writing
The old-fashionedness I was talking about above comes out most of all in the writing. There's a lot of over-explanation for a plot that I have to imagine everyone understood as soon as Bucky was pronounced dead. It's like in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Voldemort (spoiler) thinks he kills Harry and has one person whose been grumpy with him all book check to confirm, then goes "WELL THAT OUGHTA DO IT." But even worse here for the brilliant strategist Kree, they let one of their ENEMIES check on their other ENEMY and totally believe him. It's the kind of basic suspension of disbelief that pulls you out of any sort of story. On top of that, the characters do feel so sort of cut-and-paste copies of themselves that it's hard to really be worried about any of them, which is particularly sad because I love the Invaders. This isn't me coming from a place of "oh, these characters are okay, I guess, I don't really know much about them or know why I should care." I love these characters through and through and I'm not invested in a single thing that happens to them in this book. Ugh. Whatever. 1/5

Art
Art's fine. Maybe a little too reliant on face lines for me but it gets the point across. I'm just depressed, okay? 4/5

Miscellaneous
Oh, who cares?

Total score: 2/5


Fantastic Four
J. Robinson (w) and Kirk (p) and Kesel (i) and Aburtov (c) and Cowles (l)

Johnny's powers have been wiped out since science. Something about the Negative Zone and Johnny's time there and the antigens in the bomb Reed had to make on the fly. Either way, his powers are gone now and Reed will work on getting them back but, you know, no promises. Meanwhile, Fury has detained all of the inert monsters from that other zone and plans on disposing of them until Reed learns that, underneath their monstrous exteriors, they're all humans. While Sue takes the kids on a field trip through Atlantis, Johnny and Ben walk through Times Square talking about his power loss only to be attacked by the new Frightful Four, led by an apparently healed Wizard.

Story
There's something specific going on for each F4 member, meaning that they're all more or less on their own as this story starts to take shape. While all of this is happening at home, Valeria has left for Latveria to spend some time away from her family and to hang out with ol' Uncle Doom. The Fantastic Four has always been about unity and family so keeping them apart as the series starts to really move could lead to something more interesting. There are hints that we'll be examining the love life of everyone as the story progresses as Ben and Alicia rekindle a relationship, Johnny mentions the Skrull Lyja he once loved and explains that he searched the Negative Zone for her but couldn't find her, and Namor guides the field trip Sue sets up while also looking adoringly at her. While the rest of the story is starting to take some shape, I'm not a huge, huge fan of multi-faceted love stories? So I have some concerns about that. We'll air those when we get to it though. 4/5

Character
Like with the above ALL-NEW INVADERS, it feels almost like these characters are too easy to grasp. These ones are maybe a little less carbon copy of the normal F4 representation (mostly in that Ben seems quieter and Johnny is more wistful than powerful) than the ANI are of the Invaders so far, but it's still not making for an altogether engaging story. I just don't have a strong enough connection to these characters right now to make much of what they go through dramatic for me. Now, I admit that that may have more to do with these characters over the long haul (I've never been a huge F4 fan) than about Robinson's new run, which is still very young. Still, I'll need to see more out of these characters to get behind this series. 2/5

Writing
References to the rest of the F4 Universe seem to be the order of the day for FANTASTIC FOUR as Nick Fury drops in and everything from the FF's encounter with Doom at the end of the recently ended FF series to Wyatt Wingfoot, Darla Deering, Lyja, Doom, Namor, and the Negative Zone are all referenced. Certainly Robinson wants to establish the depth of this corner of the world but references like these seem often to  be there just for fan service and that ends up being tricky. Of course, a lot of it, I'm sure, is sowing seeds for the future of this book but there's no need to put it all here in issue three. Let the book find its footing before you start plotting out its future. 3/5

Art
The art sometimes looks a little too soft for me but i tend to project what I'm feeling about a book onto its art so maybe I'm not the best judge of this one. I think the book is moving a little slowly in its tone, even for one that's seen so much action and life-shifting in just three issues. There was an issue of HAWKEYE where Clint set up a DVR and it was more engaging than any of these three issues where there's been an invasion of Earth, powers lost, and shocking revelations. Tone means everything. The art helps too, I guess, since we're in the art section, right? Look, I'm maybe not on my game today. 3/5

Miscellaneous
This book feels very much like it wants to be darker than it's currently coming off. Right from the get-go this creative team has promised major changes to this world, including Johnny's lost powers and the possible arrests of Ben and Dragon Man, not to mention the harsher red costumes instead of the classic blue ones. Still, there's very nearly nothing dark about this tone through three issues. It's hard to tell a great story if you can't get your tone, writing, and story to match up.

Total score: 3/5

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.

All-New Invaders 3, Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2

All-New Invaders 3
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c)

We start with a quick flashback to just three days before as Namor is captured by Tanalth, who uses his pride and arrogance against him before using a weapon that drains the moisture from him, effectively weakening him entirely before she brings him back to Hala. Jump to the present to find the Supreme Intelligence searching his mind for the location of the Gods' Whisper. Fortunately, or so the team thinks, Thor and the other Asgardians are immune to the Gods' Whisper these days, having already created protection to shield from it as soon as they heard of its existence. Thor tells Captain America and the Human Torch this as they prepare to embark from Avengers Mansion on the next step of their journey. That next step is meeting up with Bucky, who has tracked down Aarkus in what is addressed as a particularly hard job but is only a couple panels' worth of work in practice, in New Mexico so they can create a bunch of smoke on which they can all travel with Aarkus to Hala. When they arrive, they find Tanalth waiting for them and she surprises them with a god already under their control, Ikaris of the Eternals.

I think this series would be twice as good with half the words. Right now, it can't seem to get out of its way with exposition and unnecessary and clunky dialogue. The following is a generalization and likely not a fair one at that: sometimes, comic writers brought up in a different age won't easily break from that age. James Robinson comes from a time in comics where exposition and linking the universe were the orders of the day and so he clearly wants to keep every potential new reader in the know about the Marvel Universe. However, it's something comics have broken from more recently. Sure, Marvel wants every person with any disposable income to buy any or all of their books but there is a realism to it that they can't assume anyone is buying or reading every book and they certainly can't cater to the person that knows everything that's happening in the universe. Each book needs to work on its own because, as you can pretty clearly see in this issue and the preceding two issues (though not as much as here), it just doesn't work when you try to tell the reader everything. You have Cap explaining things to Torch that Torch clearly already knows, even going so far as to say "as you know" in his sentences. Therefore, that dialogue is ONLY there to help the audience but it's posing as actual natural dialogue between two characters. Things like that or references to other books in the Marvel Universe are everywhere in this issue. When things don't need explaining, they're over-explained. When things do need explaining, they're under-explained. It's just something of a mess, which is a shame because I do love these characters and this team and I think even the story has real potential (though it continues to be hard, as someone who does read every book, to understand why the Kree are so set on attacking Earth at this particular moment; sure they're a warring race and MAN is Earth annoying to anyone not on Earth but you'd think the Builders would have bought Earth a little bit of time). Overall, though, the writing comes off as completely unnatural and long-winded. Hopefully once the plot is mostly laid out, Robinson will settle in a little more and cut back on some of the exposition.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2
Remender (w) and Boschi (a) and Chuckry (c)

Ran Shen has managed to keep the scientists alive through three days in the forest with the Winter Soldier lurking around somewhere in pursuit of them. He makes his first appearance when Shen finds a town and uses a phone to get in touch with SHIELD. Shen arranges an extraction with Horace Littleton (he who would be Mindbubble) but Littleton tells him that he has to get out of the country and make it to West Berlin before they can safely pick him up. Unfortunately for Shen, this is where Winter Soldier finds them and forces them to flee from the town. They barely make it out when Shen uses one of his wrist arrows to detonate on Winter Soldier's arm, giving them a chance to escape. Shen and the two scientists find their way onto a train heading out of country but while Shen and Mila discuss politics and flirt, Peter makes a secret meeting with Hydra aboard the train. Everything comes to a head suddenly when Winter Soldier bursts into the train and attacks Shen just as Hydra shows up to take back the scientists and, presumably, kill the other two.

There is an insane amount of stuff happening in this book and I'm going to go ahead and praise my own scheduling when I put this book alongside ALL-NEW INVADERS in the review circuit this week because it provides a pretty perfect counter. There's a lot happening over in CAPTAIN AMERICA and obviously this story, though a precursor in continuity, is driven very much by events over there. However, you can very easily read this story by itself and it reads well and it's interesting and exciting. The dialogue works and you can see all of the story threads here but it's not all over-explained. Granted, this is a prequel of sorts so Remender has to say all of this without saying anything specific, which could make it easier or harder than trying to load exposition about things that have happened into a book. But this book nails it on tone, on dialogue, and on laying out the sort of stuff it needs to lay out, even on top of creating a story that is perfectly readable as a Winter Soldier story in its own right. Well done all around.

All-New Invaders 2, Captain America 16

All-New Invaders 2
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Bucky was doing a job for the original Nick Fury, a job that went surprisingly well, when the Kree found him like they'd go on to find Human Torch. After evading the Kree and managing to interrogate one of them, Bucky called Steve to let him know what was happening and the two of them went together to Torch in the midwest. Back where the first issue left off, the Invaders manage to hold off the Kree and their leader Tanalth long enough that she gets called back by the Kree with the information that they seem to have all the pieces of the Gods' Whisper. After she leaves, Bucky and Torch exposit a bit about the scene that both Bucky and Torch were made to remember, explaining that it happened on a mission when Cap was busy elsewhere and that they defeated the Nazis and broke the Gods' Whisper into three parts with each of them tasked with burying a part and not revealing its location to the others. After they did that, they called on Aarkus, the original Vision, to wipe their memory of the device and its location. Now they all agree to go after the Kree in the hopes of both stopping them from using the Whisper and saving Namor.

It's a good enough plot and one that justifies this once-upon-a-team getting back together (also, as Cap himself intimates, they're just about the only group aside from maybe Atlanteans who would care about rescuing Namor). The characters all play their roles this issue as Bucky gets to be the younger-seeming and more brash wetworks guy while Steve plays the morally definite inspirational leader and Torch plays Steve. That's one of the faults that a lot of people tend to fall into writing Invaders stories: Namor and Bucky are very much not Steve but Torch doesn't really get his own personality unless he's made somewhat angsty by the fact that he's an android and doesn't fit in (don't misread any tone in there, that sort of story is still compelling and the character changes it requires work well for Torch but it's not really one that can sustain all the time). Hopefully this series will last long enough and Robinson will be compelled enough to develop Torch into a character wholly his own. For now, though, the plot continues to suffice and the characters are ones we can pretty easily understand, so even if you're not brushed up on your Invaders, it's an easy enough book to jump into. Hopefully it stays a book worth having jumped into.

Captain America 16
Remender (w) and Alixe (a) and Delgado w/ Fabela and Silva (c)

With Steve across the globe on a mission taking down Nuke, readers may be wondering how Jet Black is faring in this new world. Turns out it's about as well as you would expect. She loathes the world and kind of loathes herself for helping to stop her father from taking it over when he so easily could have and, in her estimation, would have improved it. She's perplexed by the kindness and compassion she sees in the midst of all the horrible parts of the city and she can't quite guarantee it's a good thing. She finds herself doing her first very-nearly heroic thing when she intercedes on the behalf of a shopkeeper being beaten to death by a couple of men he threw out of his store. Of course, she waits until the shopkeeper is very badly beaten before scaring the assailants off. When asked by the man why she didn't help, she asks him why he didn't help himself and goes on to say that if he cannot defeat life, life will defeat him. She soon finds herself being addressed by a man who calls himself a friend and who reveals himself to be an S-Man. Anyone reading UNCANNY AVENGERS will know where this is heading, though we haven't been on that plot in quite some time. He brings her to none other than the Red Skull, who assures her that he is a friend of her father's and calls on her to join him and rule like a Zola over these people who are begging to be ruled. Overwhelmed by all the images he's showing her (such as the image of a Captain America on his knees, admitting that he's fighting for ideals he doesn't believe in and the image of her father), she panics a little and "escapes" only to find that the whole thing has been playing in her head as she stands over the beaten shopkeeper.

Plenty of things happening here and Remender again shows elements of the long game he's playing in so many books right now. It's still fairly impossible to get a read on Jet Black, who has shown signs of compassion dating back to her Dimension Z days but who ultimately seems unconvinced by it. The last thing Steve needs is for her to be teamed with Red Skull, especially the Red Skull who has Charles Xavier's mind in his head. There are a lot of things in this issue that call back to UNCANNY AVENGERS but I don't think you have to be a reader of both books to understand exactly what's happening (though I'd hazard that there's a good crossover between readers of CAPTAIN AMERICA and readers of UNCANNY AVENGERS). Even going so far as showing the Captain America that Skull shows to Jet, which is obviously not the real Cap but is something that was hinted at by Skull when he dug around Cap's mind early in UNCANNY AVENGERS, is a nice touch. The art is solid here and works particularly well in the outdoor scenes as Alixe's art and Delgado's colors work well together to create the sort of miserable New York winter day. That said, I won't be upset if Pacheco's back next time out, really been liking his stuff in the book. Next time: more about Dr. Mindbubble. Dr. Mindbubble. Still can't really wrap my head around it.

Captain America 15, All-New Invaders 1, Black Widow 2

Captain America 15
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Taibo (a) and Rosenberg w/ Beredo and Staples (c)

Cap, Falcon, and Fury make the trip home with Nuke in tow. On the way, Nuke talks about how he never liked his nickname, that "Nuke" implies he was dropped into wars and brought back, but he was always on the ground with other soldiers. Fury and Cap commend him on it and talk about how wrong his recent orders had been, promising to clear his name as someone who would rather risk his life saving American soldiers than killing enemy ones until whoever was behind this reprogrammed him to be unable to do anything but follow orders. Nuke promises to try to help remember what these people did to him and who they were. When they return to the States, Falcon drops Cap off at home and they have a nice talk before Falcon sets off again to help interrogate Nuke at a SHIELD hub in the Grand Canyon. While there, the Iron Nail listens to everything said with his own surveillance. As Nuke talks to SHIELD agent Lamia, whose father Nuke risked his life to save in the war, while Falcon and Fury talk outside, Iron Nail detonates Nuke, who apparently has a real nuke or some other powerful bomb inside. Fury and Falcon escape but only just. Meanwhile, the doors to the Weapon Minus program have been cracked and new supervillain, Horace Littleton AKA Dr. Mindbubble, waltzes out as Iron Nail explains to the audience that Littleton had perfected a super soldier serum laced with LSD and, after his funding was cut, had used it on himself and been locked away for his troubles.

There's a lot of really good and interesting stuff happening here and it's balanced by, as you can probably guess by the last sentence up there, a lot of stuff we're going to have to wait and see on. The most interesting stuff is the humanity from Nuke and Cap's sort-of pep talk to him. Cap is still pulling himself back from the edge of what he almost did to Nuke and Pacheco's art and Remender's writing make it clear just how hard it is on him. Still he does a good job talking to Nuke and trying to get him to understand what's happening and encouraging him about finding his place in the world. There's a lot of really good stuff between Cap, Fury, and Nuke and later there's more good stuff between Cap and Falcon and Falcon and Fury. Each and every one of them comes off as real and well established. The Iron Nail is definitely still someone we're going to have to get used to. Remender kicks the issue off with a scene where we see some of the world's wealthiest men forced into mines by Iron Nail and made to work there until they're 65 so they can see what they put the rest of the world through. Then there's the Dr. Mindbubble business. So I think there are some good ideas here and there's a real political message in here particularly apropos for today's audiences as the class gap widens and more people start to notice it. I'm just not sure it's realized enough and I'm not instantly sold on Dr. Mindbubble (he literally has a tube shooting bubbles out of his brain) so we'll have to see where it all goes before any judgements are made. Otherwise more really good stuff.

All-New Invaders 1
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) Guru eFX (c)

Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, was last seen betraying the AI uprising of Rick Remender's SECRET AVENGERS (which was one, soon-to-be two SECRET AVENGERSes ago) in order to save humanity. Since then, he's disappeared into Blaketon, Illinois, where he's free to live a normal life. Trouble comes calling, though, in the form of a Kree warrior named Tanalth the Pursuer who is trying to find three hidden pieces of an artifact called the Gods' Whisper, something that apparently can summon Hela to you (in the very least) and use her power. Tanalth uses a Kree weapon to dig a memory out of Torch, one he's not familiar with, which shows Baron Strucker in WWII using the device to have Hela kill attacking troops. From the memory and the recesses of Jim's mind, Tanalth gets what she wants and relays the information to her men. Before she can finish the job and kill Torch, though, Cap and Bucky show up to defend him. Meanwhile, the Kree Supreme Intelligence holds Namor captive, alluding to the idea that he's unintentionally betrayed his former allies.

Interesting first issue. There's a lot of information here and a lot of ground to cover but Robinson covers it pretty well, giving enough focus to Jim's current state of mind and how upset he is when his new home is attacked to successfully push us into Jim's shoes. That's particularly important since, as the splash-page character descriptions tell us, Jim's the least known of the Invaders these days so it's kind of an interesting decision to start with him as our focal point. There's also something interesting building with the Kree and the Gods' Whisper as it brings up something I wonder about occasionally, which is the relation to the Nine Realms and Marvel Cosmic. Obviously Thor has interacted with plenty of bits and pieces of Marvel Cosmic for some time but the Kree's desire to have Hela's powers on their side is an interesting choice. As I said, there's a lot to cover here for Robinson's first issue but he handles it pretty well. There's a bit of oddly choppy writing at times and I'd like to see how the other characters' voices come along as the series presses forward but it's certainly a worthwhile first issue. I'd love for this book to really find its place and give us a brand-new Invaders series to really dig into.

Black Widow 2
Edmondson (w) and Noto (a and c)

Natasha has been re-hired by an old client to find a missing colleague and rescue him. Despite her lawyer Isaiah Ross' wishes, she goes and immediately finds herself embroiled in something a little bigger than a typical kidnapping job. It's a job that impacts her directly, someone kidnapping the son of one of her old clients knowing that he would call her and that she would come to help. By her own admission, she was sloppy in not seeing anything weird about the situation and it leads her to finding the man's son too late and barely escaping with her own life. When she returns to her client, she also finds him dead and the man responsible waiting for her. It kicks off a fight that ends in a marketplace in Shanghai (which is where the issue begins before sending us back in time to the roots of the problem and then eventually makes its way back) when Widow surprises her would-be killer, going by the Iron Scorpion (apparently Asian villains are going by the old Russian naming system of focusing on a specific words these days, but replacing "Red" with "Iron"), and manages to injure him enough that he is forced to scamper away. Meanwhile, Ross has had trouble at home with someone attempting to blackmail Natasha and plotting to kill Ross to get to her. Ross, though, apparently isn't just the office worker we thought he was; he tracks and kills the blackmailers before Natasha returns.

Another very cool issue as Edmondson plays with the timeline of the story, which is a very common practice these days but is often done less well than it is here. HAWKEYE is the ultimate pro at it right now and this book certainly feels more like that one than some of the lesser examples. I'd like to have a few more issues under the belt before deeming the writing on this one particularly good but so far I'm really enjoying the voice of Natasha. It's hard to establish a voice this early into a series, especially for a character who writers seem to have a hard time giving a concrete voice to and so usually go for one of the tropes she's somewhat associated with (stone cold killer, slightly mad murderer, etc.). So far, though, Edmondson has done a good job giving her a voice in the narrative that's very human and much more real than much we've seen from her in the last few years. I'm also happy it's coming out so much in the narrative which leaves her somewhat more tight-lipped in dialogue. Not to say she's not talking or not sustaining a voice in her dialogue because she still is but she's not one of the really chatty characters in the Marvel Universe and so far Edmondson isn't changing that. Again the art is absolutely gorgeous and, frankly, you should be reading this book with each new release just for that. I worry that I'll get too complacent with it over time and forget to mention it but take it for granted that Noto isn't going to slip up. Check this new book out everyone. Give it to everyone you know.

Superior Spider-Man 24, Scarlet Spider 25, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 8

Superior Spider-Man 24
Slott and Gage (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado, Fabela, and Gandini (c)

The Venom symbiote has jumped on to Spider-Man and Flash tries to call it back, hoping he can coax it back to familiar territory before Spider-Man loses control. Doc Ock, though, assures everyone he can control it and attacks anyone who thinks otherwise, namely Cardiac. He points out that, if he couldn't control the symbiote, Cardiac would be dead instead of just seriously wounded. Sound logic. He decides to show the world his control of the symbiote by tracking down some crimes and brutally and efficiently stopping them. In the midst of doing this, Anna Maria calls him and he hurries to her, where she's upset that she's damaged his relationship with Aunt May. He vows to take care of it and storms to May and Jay's, where he immediately begins yelling at her for bombarding Anna Maria with questions. She relents but things get crazier as MJ, trying to obey Carlie's wishes on her voicemail, goes to warn May and Jay to stay away from Peter and also gets screamed at by Peter, who reveals the Venom symbiote and leaves. MJ contacts the Avengers as Carlier, deep underground with the Goblins, gets sprayed with the goblin serum.

There's almost too much happening here. There's not and it actually works pretty well as a coherent storyline and as a good example of Doc teaming with Venom but, for someone trying to summarize, there's almost too much happening here. Still, the majority of this issue is dedicated to showing Doc Ock with the Venom symbiote and the effects it's had on him. Though he swears he can control it and loves the additional power it grants him, it's clear that he's extremely unbalanced with the symbiote. Well, more so than usual. He's at everyone's throat and his rage is bubbling at the slightest provocation. Calling the Avengers in on him is certainly going to shake things up as they'll be tasked with taking down Spider-Man, already a worthy foe, powered up by the symbiote, a worthy foe in its own right. Interesting storyline and one that lets us see a slightly different side of Doc Ock, or perhaps an amplified side of him. I'd like to, before I wrap this review up, thank my incredibly aggressive autocorrect for not trying even once to correct the word "symbiote," even though its repeated use is clearly driving autocorrect nuts.

Scarlet Spider 25
Yost (w) and Baldeon (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The final issue of SCARLET SPIDER fluctuates between showing us the immediate aftermath of the explosion in Kaine's hotel and his new life in Mexico with Aracely. He was forced to flee Houston after saving the lives of everyone in the hotel room and below by webbing them all up and webbing up the falling debris on its way to Earth. When he hit the ground, he was attacked by Shathra, the Spider-Wasp that has had run-ins in the past with Peter but who was posing most recently as Annabelle to get close to Kaine. She's seemingly unstoppable and ready to kill anyone in between her and Kaine, namely Wally who tries to step up and protect him. Kaine refuses to let it happen and unleashes Prey, who dispatches Shathra quickly and extremely brutally. Everyone is horrified and Wally tells Kaine he has to leave, promising to take care of the police in Houston but that he cannot stay. So began Kaine and Aracely's journey into Mexico on the hunt for her parents. Kaine is back to where he started, albeit with the addition of Aracely and a world of now painful memories. He doesn't consider himself a hero and he doesn't believe he can get a happy ending. Fortunately, it's not entirely an ending for him as he'll pop up again in Chris Yost's NEW WARRIORS.

Fitting end to a really surprising series. Yost has really nailed down Kaine's character through the course of this book and has been sure to never stray too far from it. He had given Kaine friends and relationships and grudging amounts of friendship but he'd never allowed the darkness in Kaine to leave him or for him to feel fully comfortable in his new life. There was always the chance that Kaine would pick up and leave Houston at any given second but there was also always the chance that he'd stay forever, making his eventual forced exit all the more painful. Even still, in a somewhat depressing final note for the series, there are fun moments here and there, including a moment where Kaine, in Houston, yells that he's not a superhero before watching his Scarlet Spider costume, still impervious to the flames that are hanging around it, float down to him. There's a lot to really like about this series as a character study for Kaine and the book ends in exactly the sort of fashion it should. You like your superhero books to typically end on an up-note, telling us that the hero has done may worthwhile things and has learned from them and made a better world for everyone else, but this book would have felt a little wrong if it ended that way. The truth is Kaine ended up being pretty right. Maybe he's not a hero. Maybe he can't have a normal life. Maybe the evil clone of Spider-Man was never meant to do more. Good series, solid ending.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 8
Yost (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c)

Fresh off the disappointment of losing control of his reformed Sinister Six and the fact that his arrogance nearly caused the death of millions, Spider-Man is in a bit of a more somber mood than we've found him since the death of Peter Parker. After examining himself and being thrust into self-doubt (wondering how Doc thought he could have done any better than Peter, who constantly beat him, among so many others), he's decided he's going to go to the Avengers and hand himself in, explain everything, and hope that they can reverse it still somehow (which would be the absolute cleanest way to get Peter back). On his way to Avengers Tower, he comes across Namor, hunted by invisible-to-the-naked-eye Hatut Zeraze in the war between Atlantis and Wakanda. Despite his negative feelings for Namor, Spider-Man jumps into the fight (able to see the Hatut Zaraze with his lenses) and gets the injured and protesting Namor out of harm's way. They bicker for a bit but eventually sit for a spell under the Brooklyn Bridge where Spider-Man reveals his doubts to Namor and Namor laughs at them, reminding Spider-Man that they are always more important and more powerful than the sheep they protect. The Hatut Zeraze show up there and Spider-Man again dispatches them but quickly learns that these aren't actually Hatut Zeraze, or at least not authorized by T'Challa or Shuri; these ones have been sent by some coward wishing to use the war as a way to attack Namor. These fighters are actually robots with self-destruct options inside, options that will destroy the bridge if they go off. Namor doesn't really care, saying that the perpetrators will face justice at some point, but Spider-Man wills himself to stop the bomb, reminding himself of the promise he made a dying Peter. Namor shares a moment with Spider-Man, telling him that he's shown true bravery and that his display here was superiority. Spider-Man punches him and tells him not to come back to his city, emboldened by his recent victory and even by Namor's words.

Okay, of the three books here, this shouldn't have been the longest summary. I do tend to slip into longer summaries when I'm excited about a book or when I get really interested in a book. This was just such a case as I found just about every beat of this issue to be delightful and a really well-thought out look into Ock's mind. Take Doctor Octopus, a crazy megalomaniac who believes himself to be the smartest person in any room. Now give him morals somewhat based on Peter Parker's unflinchingly good guy mentality. Now make that ego solely responsible for nearly destroying New York City. It wracks Ock with guilt and doubt and it's absolutely a perfect and logical step. However, it also means that Yost may have dug himself a hole because how do you make anyone break out of that? Who out there can both be considered a hero and can support the way the Superior Spider-Man parades himself? Who can have that same sort of ego and talk him out of his perceived inferiority? Well, Namor, of course. It's a great issue with a great premise and near perfect dialogue throughout. It's a much deeper look into this character than we're thus used to and, maybe, than we've had so far. Even the ending, which could very well have just copped out and had Spider-Man swinging away while Namor flies away as grudging allies, is pitch perfect as Spider-Man retakes his pride and punches Namor before demanding that he leave the city. Great issue, solid art and writing and character.