Superior Foes of Spider-Man 7, Savage Wolverine 13

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 7

Spencer (w) and R. Ellis (a) and Loughridge (c)

The exploits of the new Sinister Six and Boomerang get a day off as the story shifts to giving us the origin of the new Beetle, who we learned recently is the daughter of notorious supervillain Tombstone. She's been honing her criminal mind since she was just a kid but her father refused to allow her to get into full-on supervillainy, preferring that she stick to being a financial lawyer and committing corporate crime. Though she loves her father and (kind of) understands his reasoning, she can't get the idea of being a supervillain out of her head so she jumps at the opportunity when her law firm hands her a case negotiating some sort of settlement between Baron Zemo and the Fixer. It happens just before CAPTAIN AMERICA 606 or so, the first appearance of this new Beetle, and the story ends as Fixer sets her up with her new identity, costume, and weapons.

Very fun issue that develops a nice little personality (of which we've certainly seen bits and pieces) for Beetle. It's also something of an impressive issue as it gives us a good look at her personality that slots really nicely with what we've seen from her already throughout the series and that, honestly, fits pretty well with her first appearance over in CAPTAIN AMERICA in 2010 or so, back when Brubaker was on the title and Bucky had only somewhat recently taken over as Cap. I went back and re-read the few issues she appeared in and the character slides smoothly into place. It's not so easy to go in with an idea of a character based on a quick look at her a few years ago and tailor your series to suit her, but Spencer's done a fine job with it. Continuing the recent trend, this issue is another solid one that moves well, gets its laughs when it needs to, and helps build character. Good issue, certainly one of the top two of this week.

Savage Wolverine 13
Jimenez and Lope (w) and Jimenez, Palmer, Florea, Olliffe, and Green (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Wolverine has discovered that old friend Tyger Tiger is complicit in the hunting and illegal trade of elephant bones and tusks and what-not and is not thrilled about it. As he tears through her men, he demands to know how she's okay with this and she refuses to back down, citing the shut-down of other illegal and arguably worse happenings in Madripoor (slavery, prostitution, etc.) as leaving huge expenses on the rest of the city. She's thrilled those other things have shut down but the city would have collapsed without other forms of income and this one, to her, was far more harmless than, say, child prostitution or whatever else she mentions. He shuts down some branches of the elephant trade and goes back to Africa to inform his elephant, who he's managed to find. Meanwhile, the X-Men have donated all sorts of arms and armor to the rangers protecting the land.

I like several parts of this issue and this little arc but overall it comes off as extraordinarily heavy-handed. There were plenty of times (because there is no shortage of Wolverine lecturing) where I had to put the book down for a minute because I was saying "WE GET IT" too often. There are some interesting ideas here, including Wolverine's passion for the fight, the idea that Tyger Tiger is trying to make the best of a bad situation and that, in turn, she's chosen what she believes is the lesser of two evils to keep the country running (and her argument isn't NOT compelling), and...well, that might be it. I'm torn on the idea that Wolverine can commune with these animals; on the one hand, I like that he's so attuned to nature that he can literally have conversations with these animals he's spent so much time with, but on the other hand I don't know that we really need to add more powers to Wolverine's repertoire. Also, there's this weird disconnect with his character that I felt pretty palpably that shows him this worked up and adamant about the issue (heh, adamant) but doesn't actually make him go berserker or anything. I think the book doesn't really need him to go berserker (besides, how would he make a heavy-handed lecture about the illegal animal trade then?) but it's weird that he's still rationally making all these arguments when everything we know about the character points to the idea that he should be going absolutely crazy over this if he's so angry. In the very least, I'm surprised there was no mention that he was keeping the berserker thing down to make his point. Weird not acknowledging it. Anyway, not a bad book in terms of effort but the execution is a bit lacking.

Amazing Spider-Man 700.2, Amazing Spider-Man 700.3, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6

Amazing Spider-Man 700.2
Morrell (w) and Janson (a) and Buccellato (c)

Peter knows something is wrong with Aunt May, he knows it deep down and his spider sense seems to be confirming it. Despite the freezing and horrible conditions, he leaves to go across the city and help her. However, on his way he finds disaster after disaster that require assistance and he makes his way through all of it, saving lives and helping people but slowing him from getting to Aunt May and weakening him throughout it all. He nearly doesn't make it but a dream of Uncle Ben pushes him to cross the last bit of New York he needs to cross to Aunt May, where he finds her passed out on the floor of her freezing home. He warms her back up and puts her in her bed, wrapping her tightly and watching over her as she recovers. Satisfied when she comes to, he sets to work around the house, boarding up the windows and removing the debris and shoveling out the front. She insists he rests and reminds him that Ben always said that this is nature's way of saying everyone needs to slow down.

Not a bad little story (though still somewhat inexplicable that we've seemingly kicked off a new series not set around the time of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700 but all with that title and starring Peter Parker in different Peter Parkery situations) and it works to show off a little taste of Peter Parker. Overall, though, it still feels weird to have this series going and the story itself isn't anything of such importance or such originality that it feels like it absolutely required an ASM tie-in? I don't even really know how to classify this book. On top of that, as an issue removed from everything else happening with Spider-Man at present, the writing gets a little clunky and insists a little too much on explaining everything that's happening, which might not so much be a flaw in the writing as it is a flaw in Peter Parker, Captain Over-Explain-Your-Feelings over there. Janson's art is strong almost all the way through, but his post-storm Peter looks a bit like a 50 year-old man, which I get in the way of "he's had an incredibly long day" but I don't so much get in the way where it looks like he's gained a bit of weight. Maybe that's too judgmental. WHATEVER. I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS BOOK AND IT'S NOT ABOUT TO GET ANY BETTER BECAUSE...

Amazing Spider-Man 700.3
Casey (w) and Green and Wong (a) and Simpson (c)

So this was the point where I realized this little series was still going. Here we see Spider-Man fight Firebrand in a scrapyard and pretty much win the fight until Firebrand pins him and goes all out, burning him to a crisp but exhausting himself in the process. Firebrand is later picked up by an ambulance team and they see Peter there too, though he's unrecognizable with his burns. Peter awakes to find himself in a hospital bed and eventually realizes (though the audience knows the entire time) that this is an underground hospital specifically designed to treat supervillains who have no where else to go. Peter didn't come in with a costume but did still have his very damaged web shooters on him, which the surgeon general of the hospital takes to examine later. They start fixing him up and, a little healed, he begins to investigate the place. He figures out what it is and knows, despite his injuries, he has to get out because they'll soon figure out who he is. By issue's end, they have, with Firebrand returning to consciousness and revealing who he came in with and the surgeon general identifying the web shooters.

It's a somewhat interesting premise for the story but it's a little heavy-handed, with the extremely heavy-handed surgeon general preaching about fixing these people who have nowhere else to go and constantly talking about how they must do this because WHO ELSE shall look after these people? Despite this and despite the obviously criminal people he starts hanging out with in there, it takes Peter an awfully long time to figure out where he is. I also have some amount of trouble believing that the surgeon general, after years in medical school and presumably years working as a doctor, has the knowledge to identify a web shooter. Moot point, though, since Firebrand also told them. ANYWAY, the story's okay, the writing's not amazing, the art is okay, but frankly the whole story MIGHT JUST be hurt by the fact that the issue comes with an 8-page Black Cat story written by Jen Van Meter, drawn by the amazing Emma Rios (check her out on PRETTY DEADLY, in stores now), and colored by top-of-the-game Jordie Bellaire. It's an interesting story and it's absolutely gorgeous and you read it and kind of go "gee, I wish this had been the whole issue." Ah, well. This little series continues to be weird and out of place for me.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang has made it out of the Owl's hideout with the painting of Von Doom without his mask on, which has a single tear running down it, the insertion of which led to Doom killing the painter and hiding the painting until it was eventually stolen and stolen and stolen. Now Boomerang has it and it's valued, potentially, at upwards of three million dollars, all for him. He assumes that his teammates are dead and, while he has some remorse about that, he's not overly concerned. He takes his new kind-of girlfriend out on a date, he contemplates what he's going to do with the painting, and he ultimately meets with an angry Mach V who informs Boomerang that he was supposed to meet with him and who is suspicious of him, though he can't place just why yet. Meanwhile, Owl interrogates the still-alive Speed Demon, Beetle, and Overdrive. At Beetle's insistence, they don't give up Boomerang (who she still believes must have gotten away with what they wanted and must still be on their side) and Beetle manages to engineer their escape by covertly texting for a rescue to her father, who turns out to be Tombstone.

Another fun little issue here that deals with Boomerang's lies to both his team and to the audience of this book, who believed we were after the head of Silvermane only to find that we were after the painting of Doom and that the head of Silvermane doesn't really exist but it really does and boy sometimes this is confusing. The dialogue and Boomerang's narration continues to be fun and fairly natural and the story is gaining some steam now that we have a few things happening all over. The best scene, probably, comes as Mach V and Boomerang talk to one another about the terms of his probation and about the fact that Boomerang is probably hiding something. It's a pretty fun scene with Boomerang denying that he was the same Boomerang who broke his team out of their potential imprisonment a couple issues ago and Mach V not quite being stupid enough to believe it. There's another fun bit as Mach V prepares to make a menacing exit line as he jumps from the window but finds his wings won't fit and so has to sheepishly wait to say it (at Boomerang's insistence) as he leaves through the door. There's a lot to like about this series at this point (it also made the AV Club's top comics of the year list, which I think was maybe a little crazy given that we're six issues in and that I think it hasn't been as fun as it is now all the way through) and I think it's only going to get stronger as the characters become more defined and as the plot continues to pick up. Should be fun going forward on this one.

Cable and X-Force 8, Thunderbolts 9, Gambit 12

Cable and X-Force 8
Hopeless (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

Abigail Brand sedates Colossus before he can rush out of the Raft and do whatever it is he thinks he might be able to do to stop the alien from taking Domino and the rest of the team. Brand then finds Cable and explains to the two of them that the alien they've released is wanted by tons of alien races and that botching his transfer could result in a whole slew of war coming right to Earth's doorstep. After she's done reaming them out for letting him go, Cable shows her the image that was in his mind, which involves that very war coming to Earth. It turns out more aliens knew his location than Brand thought. By releasing the alien, Cable and his team have saved the Earth. Brand understands but can't let them go. She agrees to help Cable get his team back under the promise that they'll hand themselves in as soon as it's over. Meanwhile, on the alien ship, the alien is trying to intimidate Domino, who seems pretty unbreakable. It turns out that Forge had raised a beacon that broadcast the location of the ship to every enemy of the alien so they'd know where to find him, before wiring a time bomb to the ship's engine. The time bomb explodes as Domino explains and the alien gets really angry, threatening to eat her, even if it's the last thing he'll be able to do. At this moment, Colossus is launched through the side of the ship and throws the alien into space. Colossus has realized what is important, thanks to Domino's capture, but Domino has a nice moment too, making it clear to Colossus that this was simply a job that went bad and that she's not some girl to be rescued. Back aboard Brand's ship, they clearly don't go to SWORD holding, choosing instead to steal her ship from her and leave her adrift in a spacesuit. She contacts SWORD for a pickup and the Uncanny Avengers to bring down Cable.

It's a good resolution to the story as the plan itself and the dangers that required the plan become clear, showing the audience that this X-Force team isn't bad after all. Yes, they still got captured and stuck on the ship, but everything else went off without a problem. Earth is saved, the alien is dead or arrested and off Earth, and the team is back together. Exciting as we look forward to Cable's uncle's team coming after them. They'd already run afoul of them early in the series but there was no resolution there. Seemingly there will have to be one as we press forward. Also nice to return to Earth-based plots. Always nice to come back from space. Another good issue and this book continues to be solid and stay tight.

Thunderbolts 9
Way (w) and Noto (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Thunderbolts find out that whoever is behind this gamma arms dealing has ties to, in the very least, Russia as they have access to the Crimson Dynamo armor plans. The Crimson Dynamos the audience saw at the end of issue seven (I believe) showed us that someone related to Russia was central to this plot, but the Thunderbolts have also now seen them, as a few of them attack the arms deal that the team broke up last issue. Red Hulk takes out a pair of them while Elektra puts down the other. All three of them end up detonating the gamma battery/bomb in their chest. Red Hulk is fine because he's a hulk and Venom saves Punisher and Elektra by throwing the symbiote over the explosion. It knocks him out and sends him into a crazy dream that makes him feel powerless and where he sees Mercy again before waking up mostly healed. Deadpool, too, has been revived by his own healing powers and with some urging from the Leader and manages to get Punisher, Elektra, and Venom out of the area before they're caught on film. He disguises them so they can take a little more time getting Flash to safety but video footage still catches a glimpse of Elektra's eyes, which have been identified by her brother, a Greek novelist. Deadpool seems not to know that it was Elektra who put him down last issue and at least plays that role well this time. Whether or not he does know is still up for debate, but we're working under the assumption he doesn't. Ross calls a briefing and they discuss the next move. He suspects Arthur Vanko, the nephew of the creator of the Crimson Dynamo. The audience knows he's not wrong (we saw him in the beginning) but we also know that there's someone else pulling the strings, which Red Hulk doesn't believe. However, the rest of the team wishes to stay on the path they're on and not just narrow it down to the one guy. The Leader interjects to ask if he should call them, as he trapped the phone number of the guy. Red Hulk is mad that he wasn't told sooner but Venom says that it was likely because the Leader doesn't, and shouldn't, trust Ross.

The book keeps up all of its strongest points while giving us an interesting enough plot to keep up on board. The team drama and the volatility of the team continues to play as large a role as anything with the distrust of Ross from pretty much everyone, the Punisher/Elektra non-romance and Deadpool's jealousy of it, and the fact that the Leader is still a member of this team. There are plenty of problems with the team that could serve to get in the way of their missions. I really like the way those dramas are presented and the team is perfect for them. So far, they haven't jeopardized a mission with their issues and that fact illustrates the team in the right light; at the end of the day, it's a team made up of stone-cold professionals. They could still crack down the road but the times that they choose to react to their problems tells an awful lot about these characters. Good book.

Gambit 12
Asmus (w) and C. Mann, Soy, Kirk, and Leisten (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Gambit and Rogue arrive at the hospital just in time to see Tombstone being thrown out a window by a not-bleeding-out Joelle. Gambit follows Tombstone, who has the Zero Compound, and Rogue goes after Joelle. Rogue and Joelle fight briefly but Joelle quickly gives up and says that she doesn't want this fight or to hurt anyone, she just wants to go after Tombstone. Meanwhile, Gambit and Tombstone wrap up a jet-pack/car chase to find themselves in an abandoned little area wherein Tombstone questions whether Joelle was telling the truth to Gambit when she called the Zero Compound a miracle cure or whether she was telling the truth to Tombstone when she called it liquid death. Some of it is released on the area and it obliterates anything it comes into contact with, to the delight of Tombstone. Joelle and Rogue show up via helicopter and knock Tombstone into the remaining compound on the ground, potentially exploding him (the art is a little tricky to decipher here, so what exactly happened to the guy is up for debate). Joelle and Gambit talk a bit and Joelle reveals that she took a strange man up on his offer to essentially give her eternal life when she was dying so that she could spend more time with her daughter. However, eternal life comes with its drawbacks as now she's had to watch her daughter die and she is powerless to die herself. The Zero Compound was both liquid death and a miracle cure for her, the only thing that could allow her to die. She takes the last drops of it and burns away. Gambit talks things over with Rogue before remembering that he hasn't even checked to see if Fence is okay. He's not. He's lying in a puddle of blood and with robotic pieces all hanging out. Suspense!

It's not a bad ending to this arc and to the Joelle storyline that has pervaded the series so far. I'll be interested to see the direction that Asmus takes the character and the book from here but I'm glad that he was able to wrap this story up pretty cleanly and with an interesting enough plot and conclusion to justify the arc. With Joelle gone, though, we've lost a character who has driven the majority of this series so far so the next few issues will tell us a lot about where Asmus wants the run to go and what he wants to focus on.