Avengers AI 11, Avengers Undercover 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avengers Undercover 1, Deadpool 25

Avengers Undercover 1
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker (a) and Beaulieu (c)

The survivors of AVENGERS ARENA are dealing with their new lives in their own ways, with Hazmat trying to keep her head down (though she can't help punishing some jerks commenting on the videos), Chase making a new living on the interview circuit, Nico trying to keep to their shared promise of NOT making a new living on the interview circuit, Death Locket trying to get her Deathlok soft and hardware removed, Cammi returning home, and Cullen hunting Arcade wherever he may be, to the chagrin of Anachronism. They're each trying to return to civilization but it's made infinitely more difficult by the release of the videos by Arcade, which has played into the world's love of reality television and the like. After one of Cullen's most recent online videos in a line of videos he's posted where he searches and torches a number of Arcade's hideout, it's become clear that he's bitten off a bit more than he can chew when he attacked Baron Zemo's new Masters of Evil and been captured. The other survivors (minus X-23 who is out galavanting with the O5 X-Men) agree to go try and help Cullen.

Really strong first entry into this new series as Hopeless and Walker move directly from AVENGERS ARENA to AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. The personalities are still fresh in their minds just as the events of AVENGERS ARENA are fresh in ours. It's a really interesting and compelling idea to have the entirety of AVENGERS ARENA available to view in this universe, giving regular people a chance to watch it all and ignore the horror, instead focusing on the competition and the strategies where there were strategies. Suddenly, people like Hazmat who weren't even on the radar of normal people find themselves endlessly talked about and discussed and critiqued when all they want to do is forget that part of their past. It's huge and inescapable and really fascinating to see already. Excited to see how this one progresses, particularly given how strong this opener was.

Deadpool 25
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Bellaire (c)

Deadpool chats with Crossbones for a while over a few beers before they eventually take to the streets to battle. Crossbones, of course, is furious with Deadpool for leaving him up in a hot air balloon and Deadpool is sick of everything in his life right now and goaded into even more violence by the Preston voice in his head, though the Preston voice seems to actually just be another voice in his head as the real Preston, alongside Coulson and Adsit, shows up just in time to keep Deadpool from completely murdering Crossbones. The SHIELD agents have also brought Deadpool's money with them, giving him a chance to take off on vacation out to Europe to get away for a little while.

For a fight issue, this one definitely moves a little slower than the average. It's not a bad issue, per se, but typically when you have an issue that's almost entirely made up of fighting it moves a little quicker than this. If a fight comic does move this slowly, it's usually saying a little bit more. There's some weight here as we start to see just how much the recent events have impacted Deadpool's already fragile state of mind and how much it may mean to him going forward. Still, it's maybe a little heavy-handed in its presentation of a depressed Deadpool, though it doesn't cross the line to boring at any point. On top of it, posehn and Duggan wrap up, if a little anti-climactically and abruptly, the Gorman storyline as he drops into the fight randomly and gets thrown into a trash compactor for his efforts. Bit of a weird way to wrap it up there. Still, certainly the way has been paved for Deadpool's next adventure.

Avengers Arena 13, Secret Avengers 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avengers Arena 12, Secret Avengers 6, Young Avengers 7

Avengers Arena 12
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Katy is seemingly in charge of Murder World at this point and she's building to become better. She still has the Sentinel she stole from Juston, as well as complete control over Death Locket and Chase's Darkhawk. She debates internally whether or not she's the villain here but recognizes that it doesn't matter. Games don't have villains; they have winners and losers and she's winning. Unfortunately for her, not everyone is ready to lose. Nico Minoru, killed two issues ago, is going through something of a transformation out in the snow. Her hand, cut off by Chasehawk, is grafting back on to her body, her wounds are sealing, and the Staff of One is returned to her. In addition to returning to full health, she seems to have powered up enormously. Arcade watches and deduces that the loss of blood is responsible for her rebirth. To summon the Staff of One, Nico has to shed blood, usually done with a little cut or something else minor. This time, she's lost her hand and lost so much blood that the Staff recognizes her great sacrifice by upping her power and, as she called with her dying breath, helping her. She flies out to Katy and co and shows off her new power. She absorbs the forest fire that Katy has started to keep people away and instantly blows up the Sentinel. Katy, surprised by all of this, begins to fight back but is quickly running out of weapons. After Nico destroys the Sentinel, she disables Death Locket and delivers a couple of lighter blows to Chasehawk. Katy tells Nico that the only way to stop her is to kill Chase, which Nico won't do. Instead, Katy continues to use Chasehawk to attack Nico and Nico begins to lose her stamina again. Finally she deals a couple of blows to Chasehawk that take him out of the fight enough for her to focus on Katy and Death Locket. She uses a spell that pulls them underground, successfully ending the fight. Chase, free of Katy's influence, immediately begins apologizing to Nico, telling her that he's back in control now, and asking if she's in control. She hasn't said anything but spells since this whole thing started and Arcade speculated that her mind wasn't entirely there. Nico, though, assures Chase she's in control and okay and would rather fight with him later, if it's okay. Meanwhile, Katy and Death Locket have arrived underground, seemingly in Arcade's base. Death Locket is up and about but Katy has yet to move. Looking through a door's window into a room, Death Locket finds what appears to be Murder World's morgue.

Wow, big issue. For such a big issue, though, there's not a lot to add that you didn't see in the plot description. That doesn't make this a bad issue or anything along those lines, it just means it was a fight scene issue. Super important to plot, little bits about character here and there and maybe about story overall, but not huge character developments (aside from Nico being not dead, of course). There's still plenty to like about this issue and fight issues are a big part of superhero books so it's not like it's anything unexpected and jarring. Still, we get a good look at Nico's true potential with the new knowledge that a major blood sacrifice means bigger power for her. The plot advances a lot here and the art and colors are pretty huge so it's a certainly a book worth reading. Next issue we'll get the one that I made vague reference to in my pre-game this week about Hank Pym noticing that some of his Academy kids have gone missing and trying to piece together where they are in a guest book by Christos Gage and Karl Moline.

Secret Avengers 6
Spencer (w) and Guice and Magyar (a) and M. Wilson (c)

Last issue showed the team, led by Nick Fury, killing AIM's Scientist Supreme before revealing that AIM's Scientist Supreme is alive and well and representing AIM Island at the UN. So the question, the review page asks, is what really happened on AIM Island? Look, I'm still not sure. What I am sure of is what actually happened in this issue. Okay, I'm not that sure on that but I'm more sure on that than on what happened on AIM Island. The issue takes place before and during the events of last issue. We see former MI13 official Charles Dalton becoming the new UN Security Council liaison to SHIELD and telling Maria Hill that they want to install her as the official director of SHIELD, replacing Daisy Johnson. There is a good moment for Maria here, few and far between, where she does throw some support Daisy's way before apparently accepting Dalton's support. Meanwhile, Coulson has brought in James Rhodes to talk to be patched in and linked with the AIM created Iron Patriots. To do that, though, they need Mockingbird and Taskmaster to patch them through the communications hub of AIM Island. Mockingbird arrives on Barbuda only to find that Taskmaster has seemingly no recollection of their mission (hearkening back to recent days where we've learned Taskmaster's abilities have pretty much overridden his memories). Daisy, back in the SHIELD helicarrier Iliad, is working with Agent Ellis Love of the Psy-Ops department to try to reestablish a link with Taskmaster to try to unearth those memories of his assistance to this cause. She manages to do it as Mockingbird is about to put him down (after putting down his little team). He remembers what he needs to remember and they go off to the comm hub to link Rhodey in. Rhodey berates the Iron Patriots and manages to convince them to install him as their new leader, which they do, sending a new suit to him. Finally, Maria and Dalton learn that Daisy has an operation running on AIM Island (to catch up with the start of last issue) and deem that it's enough for the Security Council to remove Daisy as head of SHIELD

It's hard to keep up with this book if just because it bounces around so often between so many different plots. I've seen some books do that and work (Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble in the Enemy Within storyline are the most recent I can think of) but here it's a little jarring because we've also jumped back in time, forcing the reader to remember what's come before and to work with what's happening now. I would say that maybe this will feel firmer when it's collected in a trade but I'm not sure that it will, particularly with the time jumping. In a trade, it will just feel a little out of place. That's kind of how this book feels at the worst of times: out of place. Something isn't quite working for this book. There have been times where it's been solid and it's done a good job explaining its purpose and giving us an interesting story but it gets too muddled down by its own premises to really stick to its strengths. Instead, it highlights its weaknesses more and more. Butch Guice has some solid art and I do tend to like his work but overall this book remains a little too obsessed with trying to build a secret, covert feel. It should maybe try to stick to a single narrative or maybe two next time, putting fewer quick jumps between scenes and letting the reader get comfortable with a series that is still trying to establish itself.

Young Avengers 7
Gillen (w) and McKelvie (a) and M. Wilson (c)

The Young Avengers have been out and about for three months now, with their time out and about wonderfully broken down by Instagram-ish posts from Loki detailing some of their escapades in the time since we saw them last. Mostly, they've been on the trail of a handful of Skrulls who have been wreaking some amount of havoc ever since they attacked Kate and Noh-Varr in issue one. Finally, after three months, they've caught up with these Skrulls and taken them down only to find that they're not Skrulls at all. They're a different race of shapeshifters who have decided to live like Skrulls because they hero-worship Skrulls. After the six Skifflefuffles are picked up by galactic police, Loki can't help pointing out the similarities between the YA hero-worshipping the Avengers and acting as them. Meanwhile, Teddy and Noh-Varr have a rather lovely talk about Teddy's fear (thanks to Loki) that maybe Billy is accidentally reality-warping Teddy into loving him. Noh-Varr doesn't buy into it and comforts Teddy as the group makes their way back to Earth for breakfast. At their regular diner, they run into Prodigy who has been waiting for them to return. He tells them how he's been tracking them and why and they go with him to the warehouse where Speed was taken by the weird force. Loki manages to trace the entity that took Speed but determines that he's skipped dimensions, which would require lots of time to prepare and to teach Billy the proper spells (he's been helping Billy master his magic in the three months since last issue), unless, he says, there's someone who can speed the process of dimension hopping up. America steps up and opens their way into the multiverse with her mysterious multiverse-hopping powers which had hitherto been unknown to the team (aside from, apparently, Loki). They fall through the hole into the multiverse America has created and find the not-Patriot waiting for them there, Speed still trapped behind his eyes. He beckons to them and runs into another portal that seems to enter into another universe(s).

This book is pretty phenomenal all around. I know I've said that consistently since issue one but it holds true every issue. One of the best things about this book is that the characters don't come off as fake nor as caricatures of themselves or of what a teenager is constantly shown as in mediums written by non-teenagers. There is a real honesty to them and it's an honesty that keeps them both beholden to their several years of established character and to what it is to be that age. Every decision this issue made is a pretty perfect one, from a Skifflefuffle narrating the open in a Young Avengers sort of fashion (it's no mistake that there are six Skifflefuffles) and being quietly extremely similar in their makeup to the YA, to the Instagram breakdown of the last three months (complete with comments on the pictures from every member of the team except America, who doesn't have an account), to their seemingly constant decision to go to breakfast together, to the reveal that, though the team has grown relatively close off-camera, no one really knows America even after these three months together, to the subtle inclusion of Prodigy to the story. It all works beautifully and it all comes together perfectly. The Instagram page-spread had me wary on the look of it but it works amazingly well. It ties back to Gillen's decision in Journey into Mystery to make Kid Loki someone who loves the internet and to make everyone else (except, decidedly, America) act their age in the comments but not in a condescending sort of way. More than that, it's an easy and effective way to show that three months have passed, which is particularly good to see because we can jump right back into the book, knowing that these people have spent three months with one another and gotten over the sort of "how will this team work together" building phase of the typical team-book. No wasted space seems to be the theory of this book and it's working out wonderfully. Every character gets at least one or two moments to really shine here. If you're not reading this book, you're missing out on one of the best constructed books the Marvel Universe has to offer. Amazing.

Avengers 13, Avengers Arena 10

Avengers 13
Hickman w/ Spencer (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

Avengers 13 continues where Avengers 12 left off as the team in the Savage Land (comprised of Hyperion, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Captain Universe, and the Spiders-Man and -Woman) sets out in search of the stolen children. Captain Universe comes across a Watcher of the land (Garokk, the Petrified Man) he leads them to the High Evolutionary, who has found a use for the children. As the Avengers are dealing with a handful of Savage Land evolved beasts, the High Evolutionary wakes Terminus, who had been defeated and unable to rise until he put the children, a seemingly limitless power source, behind it. Hyperion discovers this as he goes on ahead to fight the High Evolutionary while Thor and the team deal with Terminus (who had already crushed Iron Man, the empty armor Tony is controlling from space). Thor is on the verge of completely wrecking Terminus with a massive thunderbolt as Hyperion flies out of the High Evolutionary's inner sanctum and through the head of Terminus, rescuing the children attached to the platform within. With Terminus defeated and the children saved, Hyperion and Thor again retreat to the mountain they had been on last issue to talk more. Thor warns Hyperion about what family means to warriors (usually some sort of flaw in the armor), citing the dangerous events on the horizon, but Hyperion will not hear of it. In Hyperion's narration, we find that the most important memory of his life is no longer the destruction of his world but the discovery of this new one.

This is a very sweet issue for Hyperion particularly, who, as I mentioned last review, could easily have gone a pseudo-Doctor Manhattan kind of way. Instead, he seems to be going the exact opposite, gaining strength from the people in his life and the the new family and world he's found. Add to that character arc a few fun lines from the increasingly cynical Spider-Man and some nice Avengers moments as a whole and this is a very satisfying two issue arc. The children don't feature in this one nearly as much except as a plot device and a sort of save-the-cat moment but they still have the weight they gained last issue and, I mean, they're kids. No one wants to watch kids in peril and everyone's rooting for the guy who saves them. So now we're rooting for Hyperion. The Hyperion-Thor relationship continues to be interesting to watch as Thor finally has a new, non-Asgardian god buddy. Rooting for that guy too, pretty constantly. Solid issue, nice two-issue story.

Avengers Arena 10
Hopeless (w) and Burchielli (a) and Beaulieu (c)

As my girlfriend just pointed out, I finish reading about half of these by involuntarily going "oh noooooooooo" at various volumes. This book is heating up like crazy now that Katy has been outed as a strategic technopathic monster with, now that Juston is dead, a Sentinel at her disposal. She still has Death Locket under her command and she's out to win Murder World. Nico, as the only one who knows Katy is back in control, wakes X-23 and tells her what happened. Laura hunts down Katy and Death Locket by herself and ends up taking a beating from the Sentinel. Darkhawk, who had been exiled from the group, finds himself there as well and attacks unsuccessfully after X-23 is defeated. Laura is delivered back to the group in very weak condition and Nico does what she can to hold off Katy and the Sentinel. It gives them enough time to make a break for it and exit the desert. Nico's teleportation spells haven't been working but she tries another one, instead trying to teleport them somewhere else in Murder World. This one does work and everyone jumps through the portal, unsure where it will put them. Just as Nico is about to exit, Katy shows up again and blasts her, breaking her leg. Nico closes the portal and stays behind to face Katy on her own before Darkhawk shows up. Unfortunately for Nico, Katy is now also controlling Darkhawk and he blasts her hand off, knocking away the Staff of One as well. She tumbles down a mountain after it and struggles to reach to it. As the issue ends, her last health bar disappears. Oh noooooooooooooo.

This book alternates between a great and pretty fun read and one of the darkest books Marvel has ever put out. It never feels like it's reaching to try to fit in either corner, which makes it a thoroughly enjoyable, if tense, series. The action scenes are peppered with the knowledge that everybody seems able to die (as much as I hate watching characters die, what a change it is to feel like there are consequences to the battles) and, in fact, rather on the brink of death at any given moment. The less action-y scenes, depending on who they focus on, feel appropriately sinister or appropriately light-hearted. I've already positively said a ton about this book but I really can't seem to say enough. I caught myself, in the middle of this book (in one of the less action-y scenes but knowing that action was on the horizon), stopping to say "gee, I'm really enjoying this book." Young Avengers occasionally gets me to do that but very few others make me actively aware of how into the book I am while I'm reading it. This book probably scared people who weren't fans of the young'uns in Marvel away but I really hope it didn't. I don't think you need to go in knowing anyone in this place. They're well-explained without the need for too much exposition and they're really well-developed across the board (well, except for Red Raven). This book has been fantastic and I'm looking forward to it as long as it keeps going.