Captain America 22, Black Widow 8

Captain America 22
Remender (w) and Pacheco (p) and Taibo (i) and White w/Loughridge (c) and Caramagna (l)

Everyone needs a rest once in a while and I can't think of anyone in the Marvel Universe after the past few months who needs one as badly as Captain America. The serum-less and frail Steve Rogers spends a day in his big bed at Avengers Mansion watching his reputation be tarnished and his ethics questioned by a number of SHIELD critics in the wake of Nrosvekistan and watching Louie while Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and (kind of) Thor try to find some trace of the serum in his blood and to restore him to Cap status. Steve is roused from his bed at last, though, when a portal to Dimension Z opens and Zola's minions come pouring out with Zola himself discussing his plans with the Red Skull.

I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again: every book needs a sort of rest issue now and again to slow things down and to keep the intensity of the action-based issues high by giving something to compare against. That's what this is for CAPTAIN AMERICA, a solid rest issue that establishes where we stand right now and what we should be thinking about as the series continues (mostly Zola, Red Skull, the serum-less Cap, and the fact that Jet and Falcon have, against Falcon's better impulses, started up some sort of a relationship following a wine-fueled night). It's a very good book and one that manages to reset the pace and tone, exactly what Remender set out to do, while still not resting on its laurels, preferring to still push the plot forward.

Total Score: 5/5


Black Widow 8
Edmondson (w) and Noto (a and c) and Cowles (l)

While Isaiah tries to secure some funds for their operation, Black Widow has a new job: stealing back some key data for a client from a courier on a train in Prague, or a reverse train heist, as she calls it. She easily makes it on to the train and recovers the package but she's surprised when Winter Soldier turns up, hired to stop an international gang from robbing the train. They work together well to get off the train and evade the attacking gang but Natasha is shot in the leg in the process and the two make their way to an empty house for Bucky to patch her up and for them to plan the next move. Bucky insists that she leaves before the gang catches up to them, arguing that her job was to secure the briefcase and that his was to handle the gang. She accepts reluctantly and begins to leave before Bucky calls out to her again. Unable to say anything to her about their one-time relationship (thanks to Natasha's complete amnesia of it), he wishes her luck and she leaves. She returns home to find a new lead waiting for her from Maria Hill while Isaiah has been taken by some anonymous party.

It's no surprise for me to say that I absolutely adore this book and that this issue, one that teased a Winter Soldier appearance that would team the two for the first time since Natasha's memory wipe at the hands of Leo Novokov, had a particular draw for me. Edmondson and Noto deliver as the book is appropriately exciting and fast while also being layered and heart-breaking. Edmondson handles the team-up extraordinarily well, not letting on (save for a few quick lines that could go either way) until the very end that something is on Bucky's mind while making their interaction feel like two spies who are really good at their jobs and who have an obvious chemistry together. Noto continues to amaze as both Natasha and Winter Soldier look incredible (my girlfriend pointed out how consistent Noto is in Natasha's appearance, something that you can't always expect from this medium) and setting their fight against some gorgeous backgrounds and colors. Another month, another great BLACK WIDOW issue.

Total Score: 5/5

This week's picks!

Another long week filled with long comics and some that felt too long and some that felt too short. Honestly, more that felt too long than ones that felt too short. I feel like I have to note here that CABLE AND X-FORCE barely didn't make the cut this week, which would have made this an incredibly easy list of picks to find in the comic book shop as they would have been all perfectly in a row on the shelves.

Captain America 14

Rick Remender continues to push Cap to his absolute limits and we're seeing it out there. It's rare that Cap is put through such unquestionable tragedy and put through something that maybe even he, who has seen just about every sort of horror, can't get past but it's possible Remender has found something of that sort here and it's coming through in very intense ways. One of the debates that has raged for a while with Bucky-Cap carrying a gun and whether or not Cap kills people and so on but I've always landed on the side of "Steve Rogers is a soldier. He has done these things. He's a great guy and has an unflinching moral compass but he does what needs to be done." That starts to come out in this issue with the idea that he might kill Nuke, with his rational brain saying that it's this or all of Nuke's future rampages are on his head but we can see as an audience that there is no rational brain here. On top of that, Falcon has some good moments and has to ask some questions himself. Just a lot of strong stuff happening here.

Captain America Living Legend 4

I've really liked this mini throughout and I think it ended just as strongly as it started. Throughout, I lauded this book for creating real-feeling peripheral characters who created sympathy for an entire nation and for the civilians in these crazy situations. It continues right up to the end as Colonel Gridenko immediately develops into a strong character when he's brought to the forefront of the story. It's a really interesting story and it's got solid writing and absolutely phenomenal art, making the whole of this series totally worth reading. Always nice to see writers I've not seen write Cap before write him really well. Sometimes you run into popular writers or people you've seen before take him and really just blow it. I didn't see that at all here. It didn't hurt that everyone had a good role in this series.





Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6

This one makes the cut over CABLE AND X-FORCE and THUNDERBOLTS, particularly, because of its sense of fun and it's pretty quick-paced tone. There's a lot happening here in terms of story and character but the fun of it all really comes out in the dialogue. I mentioned in my actual full review that the best scene came in the argument between Boomerang and Mach V as Mach V accuses Boomerang of breaking his parole and suspects him of continued supervillainy. One thing that's been obvious throughout this series is that Spencer has a real voice in his head for Boomerang and that's really been the driving factor of the book as a whole. As intriguing as parts of the plot have been (even when they move somewhat slowly) the key to the series has been the distinct voice and the tone of the book as a result. It's at its strongest here and it makes the book strong in turn.


Best Cover
Thunderbolts 19

I mean, look at this cover. Hilarious. Compare it to the first issue of THUNDERBOLTS and you can probably see the change in tone for the book, a change that I think has made the book far better and far more unique.

Captain America 14, Captain America Living Legend 4

Captain America 14
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Taibo (a) and White (c)

Captain America and Nuke have been fighting for quite some time before Cap starts to get through to him, explaining how his orders are wrong and how they have to go back to America and set things right. Nuke relents and helps Cap up as the American journalist who has seen the whole thing unfold takes another picture and reveals herself, setting Nuke off again. It takes all the remaining might of Cap and Falcon to slow him enough to give the journalist a head start and Falcon, after getting slashed across the stomach by Nuke and berated for being a civilian, still has to fly off a cliff to rescue her. When they land, he asks to have the camera to follow his orders and to make sure the pictures can't be skewed to look like America as a whole has anything to do with it but the journalist makes an impassioned plea to Falcon about freedom of the press and the orders he's following, which leads to him allowing her to keep the camera. Meanwhile, Cap has attacked Nuke again and finally hits his breaking point, something he knew he was reaching during the whole fight. He wails on Nuke and puts him down brutally before preparing to land a killshot, fearing that allowing Nuke to live only means allowing more wars to start and more innocents to die. Falcon shows up and takes the shield from Cap's hand just before he can bring it down on Nuke and Nuke falls unconscious, but not before he reveals that he did it all to make Cap and the other soldiers proud. Fury shows up to take Nuke away and to bring the heroes home and reveals that the journalist released the picture of Cap and Nuke shaking hands and framed it in such a way that it seemed like American operatives attacked the country, not just the broken Nuke. In China, the Iron Nail swears that America will be better for these attacks and that he needs to topple SHIELD to really start things rolling.

This is another emotionally charged issue that sits really well in this series. When Ed Brubaker started his already-legendary run on CAPTAIN AMERICA back in 2005, he started with a Captain America who was particularly aggressive and angry with the ways things had been falling and put more pressure on him by launching him into the epic Winter Soldier storyline. Steve was a little unhinged, though always in his "still morally better than you" way. He was strong in his convictions and he, of course, ended up being right but he didn't necessarily go about things the right way, rushing in half-cocked to certain delicate situations. We're seeing a bit of that Steve here, though maybe even more amplified, which makes sense. Brubaker's Steve had been worn down over time where this Steve has seen real personal tragedy and ten years of his life erased in the course of a week and, guess what, he's still in that week. Cap openly admits in his narration that he's tapping into a rage he hasn't felt before, something that's been hidden in him and brought out by the recent goings-on. He also is able to see that it makes him a worse fighter and a worse soldier so he continues to try to tamp it down, but it comes out in full as he pounds Nuke at the end. On top of the amazing character work that we're seeing and the decidedly different while also true-to-history Cap, there's a really interesting plot happening here with a world that is turning on SHIELD, if it was ever on SHIELD's side. Foreign powers working against America or working to smear America isn't new but the idea that a foreign power would want to, in whatever way, improve America by breaking it down first and allowing it to rebuild (he compares it to the re-birth of Germany after the fall of the evil reich) free from its corrupt government and SHIELD is a somewhat new twist on it and it comes at a time when the American people have less faith in their government and more suspicions than ever before. Really compelling story that's highlighted by phenomenal character work and really great art. Can't complain as Cap continues to grow.

Captain America Living Legend 4
Diggle and Granov (s) and Diggle and Robson (w) and Alessio (a and c)

Cap is being taken in by the dark energy entity before Volkov, deep within the base, manages to grasp control of it and pull Steve out. The energy keeps attacking and, with Cap's shield off in the distance, they have no weapons to defeat it. Cap rushes to his shield while the others buy a second's time, throwing it back in just as it prepares to overtake them. He leaves the shield with Dr. Fox and tasks Colonel Gridenko and his men with getting her to the Deus device so she can shut it down and stop the dark energy once and for all while he makes his way to Volkov. Gridenko knows that usually means death but lets him go all the same. Cap manages to reach Volkov, who tells him that he should have died that day Cap saved him and that his survival set in place a course of action that led to all of this. Even now, he cannot manage to die and the dark energy that's lived in him since his time in space consumes him, both of them hoping to die but unable to do so. He tells Cap that it's taken him 40 years to control the energy enough to allow a moment's respite and asks Cap to kill him in that time. Cap declines, wishing to get him to medical and scientific help but Volkov is adamant that it cannot save him, it will only kill any who'd get close enough. Finally Cap relents and prepares to shoot the soldier. He does and, for a second, it seems not to work. At that moment, though, Fox manages to activate the Deus device and pulls all of the dark energy in, destroying it there and leaving Volkov to peacefully die. Cap, Fox, and Gridenko leave the station with Cap still mourning Volkov and Gridenko essentially telling him not to waste his breath. Gridenko regrets what's become of Russia and its army as, to underline his point, a Russian bureaucrat shows up to question Gridenko on what's happened and why the Americans aren't being detained and so forth. Gridenko ignores him as Cap blows up the station. The Colonel then throws the bureaucrat to the ground and asks Cap for political asylum in America, which Cap happily informs him they can offer.

A pretty nice ending to the book, really powered by some great art, a compelling story, and nicely developed characters despite the length of the book. This is a shining example of a solid writer telling a good story but doing just enough to make sure the characters are all fully-fleshed out even without the benefit of a long series. So it is possible, you guys, and you don't have to sacrifice much to get it. Granted, I think Alessio's art really cemented this book; I think the writing was tight and the story was good but I may as well have just been distracted the whole time by the visuals. Still this is one of those stories that I think would be a good complete set to show someone who wasn't sold on Captain America or who didn't know a lot of comics, a really good beginner arc. There is an amount of soft science and the kind of stuff that will gain you some blank stares when you explain it out loud to non-comic readers but good luck finding any comic story worth its salt that won't. I don't actually know what the phrase "worth its salt" means because, I mean, it's salt, right? This day and age, that's not worth all that much. Anyway, I'm fairly certain it is a saying (please don't correct me if it's not, I don't need that you guys, just all assume I'm right). So another good issue to round out a good mini!

This week's picks

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

Captain America 12

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

Deadpool 18

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

Infinity 4

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

Captain America 12, Deadpool 18, Wolverine 10

Captain America 18
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Janson (a) and White and Rosenberg (c)

Cap has burned all his souvenirs from bygone ages and is trying to step forward in his life. Of course, this isn't any sort of easy step. It's harder, even, then being frozen in ice and reawakened because now he's also just in the last day, practically, lost a son and a wife. One of Steve's closest friends, the Falcon, comes to talk with him about it, wanting to get him out of the house. The two move around the city talking until Steve finally cracks and breaks down as much as Steve Rogers can. Meanwhile, we find out that Nuke has been set loose on the world (in plenty of places where America has lost soldiers) by someone who apparently abhors America (unbeknownst to Nuke, though much is unbeknownst to Nuke) and  who seems to have mystical powers all his own.

The story for the arc is certainly still coming. The intrigue of Nuke and the former SHIELD agent who hates America and its capitalist ways and has powers borne from some mystical dragon is very present in this issue, if still rather unexplained, but that's, for the second straight issue, not our focus with Steve. And I don't blame the book for it. Steve went through 16 issues of just about the worst things that have ever happened to him. Of course, in those ten years in Dimension Z, some truly wonderful things happened to him, mostly to do with him and Ian, but he was fighting a horrible and seemingly impossible to defeat overlord and it culminated in the death of the two people closest to him and in returning to a world he no longer recognizes hot on the heels of those deaths. Let's give him a couple issues to let some of that emotion out. These are really difficult issues for Cap and this one perhaps even more so than the last. He's got a lot going on and it's, to Remender and Pacheco's credit, very evident and palpable here. It hurts to watch Cap go through what he's going through, the rock of the Marvel Universe so shaken to his core by what's happened. You may know Cap is the unflappable leader of the Avengers without even really realizing it. I've read plenty of Captain America and seen him at low points, needing to gather himself or needing to let the fear and doubt and tragedy out of him but this, right here and now, still resonates on a different level. It's a powerful issue for Cap, who is at his lowest right now, and (segue) he's not the only character feeling that way at the moment.

Deadpool 18
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Shalvey (a) and Bellaire (c)

Deadpool, Cap, and Wolverine are leading the North Korean experiment mutants out of the camp and are on pace to try to save their families from destruction at the hands of the North Koreans. It's not an easy task but they at least have the upper hand in terms of powers and, at least briefly, the element of surprise. They plan their strike and move and, surprisingly, it goes rather well. They manage, in no small part thanks to Deadpool, to decimate the army on-hand and rescue the surviving family members, though there are plenty who were killed even before this strike. Deadpool realizes, despite Wolverine's attempts to get him to stay back, that his baby's mother and, quite probably, his baby are among that number. It shatters Deadpool, who went into the fight more serious than, as Wolverine commented, we've seen him and who was perhaps more dedicated to the fight than ever before. The issue ends with Deadpool pronouncing this all his fault and crying over the loss of his family.

It's a tough issue for Deadpool and, as this arc continues to show, pretty strong writing and ideas. There are jokes that are well-timed, there are fun bits to the action that keep this firmly in the "This is a Deadpool book" camp, but it all cedes to an emotional core for the book. Gone are the non-stop terrible jokes and references, gone are the ineffectual crude jokes and baseline humor tactics, gone are the meaningless support and villainous characters this book has often found itself littered with (though Preston is still kicking around; more on that in a minute). In its place is a smart and thoughtful book that knows when to put in jokes and knows when to keep jokes out of the way. I think I may have talked about this before but I certainly can't be bothered to look that up to confirm so I'll say it again, Preston remains a weak point for the book. She's filling the same sort of role in Deadpool's mind that the loose Peter Parker consciousness filled in the first several issues of Superior Spider-Man; she's saying things we totally expect her to say when we don't need those things to be said. Peter would see Doc Ock doing something morally ambiguous in his body and would start saying over and over "oh come on, don't do that, I would never do that," a sentiment that the audience was well-aware of. This is much the same case, where Preston is saying things right along those lines only to be ignored by Deadpool or even for him to consent but in a way where I honestly believe he would have consented without her needing to say anything. I think her inclusion here slows down what is otherwise a truly very good issue though, in truth, this issue is strong enough and her role so limited that it still stands well in spite of her. Also some more great Declan Shalvey art.

Wolverine 10
Cornell (w) and A. Davis and M. Farmer (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Wolverine is still on the trail of Sabretooth, which has led him to the place where he was born, now a strip mall, while Fury and SHIELD work with the Host to try to counteract the Virus' effects. One of Wolverine's unnecessary supporting characters (back from when we met them all at the bar way back when) has apparently created a sort of filter to keep the Virus out but it's a limited range and their too expensive and difficult to produce en masse and so they're only being used by the supporting characters, SHIELD, and heads of state. Fury, who is working with the Host to try to find some sort of way to stop the Virus, asks the Host if there's anything she can do to reverse what the Virus did to Wolverine. The Host admits there isn't but says that the Virus might be able to (bet that won't come up again) if it was so inclined. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Kitty have investigated the mall and, while trying to get the security guards to clear out, watch as Sabretooth's small branch of the Hand, Mystique, Lord Deathstrike, and the Silver Samurai enter the mall to close in around them. Up on the helicarrier, SHIELD has realized that the Virus is launching its full attack and that it's much more widespread than they thought, already beginning to infect the globe.

Hopefully this set up yields results as we have what will have to be a rather fast-paced and action-packed conclusion coming up on this arc (we're on part three of six so maybe it will be a little drawn out, rather like this series as a whole). Still, we find Wolverine still being awfully cautious for the first time in...ever, and we see the Virus putting its plans into motion. There are some books where a ten issue+ arc feels right (like in Captain America, Young Avengers, and, to perhaps a lesser extent, Thor), like the book has still moved extremely well and the story was ultimately worth telling. In this case, it feels like we've gotten maybe six issues combined of story out of ten physical issues. That's not even necessarily because of the ideas; there's a virus that's essentially possessing people inhabiting the Earth and which has made Wolverine susceptible to injury, which has spun off into its own story which, in all likelihood, will tie back into the virus story. That's plenty of story for ten books. Cap got more than ten really great issues out of one prolonged fight with Zola. Still, the pacing and the writing feels slow which makes the story feel lethargic. I feel like it's gotten a little better as we've introduced more compelling characters with more compelling reasons to be there (throwing Kitty in alongside Wolverine helps because we see the impact he's had on people and we get to see the little quirks of his being mortal from an outside perspective) but this book still feels like it's been around for a long time, and not in a good, it feels classic sort of way. It's more like "good god, this story is still going, isn't it?" kind of way. Not really where you want to be ten issues in.