Comics this week

Plenty of comics this week but I'm not sure anyone will be surprised by the ones I'm highlighting here. Doesn't make them the wrong ones to highlight.

Avengers Undercover 7
Fairly certain that I've read recently that this series is actually more of a miniseries, one that I want to say is ending with issue ten. It's a shame as this series already is showing that it has some legs. By the same token, it's a shame that I'm so tired and don't feel like looking up if that's true or not. I mean, I'm pretty sure. Ah well. Let's take it issue-by-issue and enjoy it while we can because, even if number ten isn't the final issue, we're all dying, Melissa.

Captain Marvel 5
We're creeping towards the end of the first arc of this new series, one that has found Carol Danvers in space and making new friends and some new enemies, as well as new people (aliens) who regard her with indifference. So a little of everything. That said, I think one of the strengths of the last series was DeConnick's insistence on shining a light on Carol's life outside of her work so that she was a fully fleshed out person and her allies were fully fleshed out people. I think she's doing a rush job with that here and I don't think it will have the weight when the time does finally come. Still, it beats out AVENGERS 32 because they're still time-traveling, which is more interesting out of Hickman but still is only so interesting.

Daredevil 5
After somewhat middling praise for the first two books on this list that seem to highlight perhaps a slower release week this week, our last three books come with full and unwavering recommendation. DAREDEVIL continues to be fun and fresh and to feel new, even though it was the same creative team who took the man without fear out of New York and brought him to California to start a new book. Go take a look, pals.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 5
The conclusion of the pretty fantastic WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH limited series from Rick Remender comes out on a week when Remender himself is facing some controversy for a scene in the most recent CAPTAIN AMERICA, one that I didn't even realize was a controversy and the controversy of which seems largely to stem out of unhappy fans annoyed with the breadth of Remender's run. The controversy seems to come from Jet and Falcon's newfound affair with some (wrong) people calling it "statutory rape," which seems ignorant at best and offensive and hateful at worst. Talking about the reaction, not the scene, because, as you may have gathered, I don't buy it. It feels very much like looking for problems and drama and spewing hate and un-researched opinions (complete with its own Fire Rick Remender hashtag on social media). Instead of listening to me, listen to Marvel editor Tom Brennan and writer Kieron Gillen, both of whom are better at this sort of thing than me and who aren't supposed to be writing about WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH right this very instant. Look, just read this one, okay? And support Rick Remender. He's done great work the last few years at Marvel.

X-Force 7
Geez, that last post went on SO LONG and didn't even talk about WINTER SOLDIER! Let's do half of the opposite here and write a post that's SO SHORT while still not talking about the book at hand. Go buy it Wednesday, this series is great.

This week's picks

Tough week to pick the top three. There were a handful worthy of consideration and plenty that weren't (actually, I suppose, that makes it rather not tough to pick the top three). There are a couple books out there not on this list that I'd heartily recommend anyway (MS. MARVEL and IRON PATRIOT come to mind), but here are the ones I'd raise just a little above the rest.

Thunderbolts 26

I liked this one a lot anyway but it gets a special nod this week because it's Charles Soule's last issue on the book he helped really turn around and that he made enjoyable every single issue. It's been a fun team from the start but it felt like Soule took that team and decided to make the book match it, making the book more fun and setting it more in the true THUNDERBOLTS vein instead of trying to go too dark/mysterious intrigue. Check out this issue to see every member die (they get better) and to see a pretty good sendoff for, in the very least, Deadpool, before the book turns over. I have high hopes for Ben Acker and Ben Blacker as they take over on the series (my love for them is well-documented on this site, even if they've only written two Marvel comic books prior to this) but I can't help feeling like it was Soule who helped this book survive to 26 issues as is. Solid issue, great series.

Uncanny Avengers 20

The more I've thought about it, the more I've appreciated what I talked about in my review for this book: the idea that an ongoing is keeping to itself. UNCANNY AVENGERS has blasted past a couple of major line-wide events and shifts and not veered from its course (even though it was spawned from an event itself) and that feels really refreshing in this day and age. I don't want to bash the feeling of a connected universe because I think that can be really cool (though too often the events take advantage of that feeling and steer books off-course while they scoop up tie-in after tie-in) but sometimes it's nice to see a series just stick to its own story. And what a story this one is, huge and sweeping with plenty of characters and possible-version characters and threats as big as the destruction of Earth and the extermination of the human race. With all of that, Remender still makes sure there's time for character moments and quieter beats and it's led him to a really strong book overall.

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 4

This issue (and this series as a whole so far) kept me invested from the very first page. It's a big action issue with the train crashing and a fight between Winter Soldier and the Drain and between the Drain and Ran Shen and the Winter Soldier and Ran Shen and, you know what, just everyone was fighting, and with the Drain making sure Mila can't fall into enemy hands even if it means losing the formula. Action issues have a tendency, for better or worse (kind of case-by-case there), to kind of lose focus on the characters in the fight. In this issue, though, Remender makes sure the audience is always aware of what everyone's fighting for and how the fight is affecting everyone. It's a really strong series for Ran Shen that gives us a look at the darkness within him and the start of his fallout with SHIELD and it also manages to be a strong series for brainwashed assassin Winter Soldier, who snaps out of it here for what will undoubtedly be a really depressing final installment. Remender's writing is complemented perfectly by Roland Boschi and Chris Chuckry on art and colors. This limited series is absolutely worth picking up.

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 4, Wolverine 7, B-B-B-BONUS Savage Wolverine 19

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March 4
Remender (w) and Boschi (a) and Chuckry (c) and Cowles (l)

As the train goes crashing into a small village, Ran Shen and Mila manage to use a grappling hook to stay above the explosion, just as Winter Soldier and the Drain hover out of it on Bucky's jetpack. The Drain starts to open Winter Soldier's mind to his past, draining his will to live by showing him what he's become after what he'd been. Bucky is barely able to keep from killing himself but jettisons the Drain on to the village, blasting himself a bit away from his influence. The Drain calls out to Shen and Mila, appealing to Mila's desire to help people by making the villagers kill themselves and draining their willpower. When she shows herself to make him stop, he does the same to Shen, calling him out as someone whose given everything to a country he no longer believes in and citing a mission that went wrong and led to plenty of innocent deaths. As Shen is beginning to believe that he should kill himself, the Winter Soldier shows up again and punches the Drain, forcing him to flee with Mila and giving Bucky a chance to appeal to Shen for his help. As they advance, he tells Shen that his memories are blurry and that the Hydra psychic opened something up in him. When they catch up to the Drain, the psychic convinces Mila to kill herself, preferring she die than fall into enemy hands. As Shen attacks the Drain, Winter Soldier dives off the cliff and catches Mila.

I've been writing shorter reviews this week rather pointedly but between this and the earlier THUNDERBOLTS issue, I just can't stop telling you the plot. That's sometimes not a great thing because sometimes it means there's too much plot told through too much exposition and I have to relate it all for the summary to make sense. In this case (as with THUNDERBOLTS though probably more here), it's because I'm excited by the story and because so much happened in 22 pages that I want to say it all. It's a pretty phenomenal issue and it's such an interesting limited series as we get to see a Cold War-era Winter Soldier remember who he is and temporarily break out of his programming. Remender has so much happening but it never bogs him down; instead, the pacing is near-perfect and the characters all get their moment and it's all compelling. Roland Boschi's art is great and Chris Chuckry's colors complement it perfectly. Really phenomenal book and I'm sad but excited to see the way it all ends next time. This has, so far, been one of the most satisfying limited series I've read in a long time.

Total Score: 5/5


Wolverine 7
Cornell (w) and Sandoval (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Some monkeys steal the orb that Wolverine needs to get for MI-6 before Sabretooth can get it while he plays his team and pretends that he's still trying to get the orb for Offer so he can make a deal with Sabretooth. As Sabretooth goes in pursuit of the Orb, the Hand bring Wolverine down with poisoned arrows. Faiza shows up to extract the poison and save Wolverine before withdrawing, but she can't leave before Pinch sees her and it confirms Pinch's fears about Logan. They finally get their hands on the orb and it fights Logan, who can't get the passcode, with his opposite Logan. When the doppleganger's been put down by Pinch, who, with the help of Fuel, can interact more successfully with the Orb, she and the team leave Wolverine behind. Captain Britain extracts him but Sabretooth finds Pinch and the others, kills Fuel, and shows Pinch that he has her daughter.

There's a lot of fairly interesting stuff here that's tied together by a somewhat loose few strings. The first loose string is that the orb is rather a convenient plot device of a weapon, one that announces to Pinch that Wolverine is a hero and pulls his opposite version, a feral villain, out of the ether to fight him to further confirm things (also that it needs a passcode, which is weird for an orb). The second and probably more important string for the big character moment of this issue is that I don't buy Pinch and Wolverine's relationship. Granted, Cornell may not have had a couple years to cement their relationship as something that seemed real before this arc but it still feels like their relationship was something wispy and hardly there and now it's the crux of this entire emotional journey. It feels weak from both sides so using it to raise up the entire story causes the whole thing to rather collapse. There are some interesting ideas in here and I like Sandoval's art for the story (makes things look a lot more dynamic than anything in Cornell's first WOLVERINE story and feels maybe a little more cartoonish in the action than Stegman's stuff, though Stegman didn't have as much action to draw), but it all falls somewhat flat on their relationship (and, to a lesser extent, on the convenient orb).

Total Score: 3/5


Savage Wolverine 19
Simone (w) and N. Edwards (p) and Pallot (i) and Sotomayor (c) and Petit (l)

Note: This is a b-b-b-bonus review insofar as it came out last week but I didn't get my hands on it until pretty late so I rather put it off more than I should have. So, not so much bonus as "here it is, late." Here it is either way though, SAVAGE WOLVERINE 19 written by the incomparable Gail Simone (I wrote this blurb before I read the issue so hopefully I have only good things to say about Simone afterwards)

Wolverine dreams of a home under the Northern Lights, removed from people, with Jean. Of course, it's too good to be true and Professor X communicates with him to break him out of the dream, reminding him that he and Jubilee have been captured by AIM for testing. They're trying to get a hold of where the two are but for now, he has to get out of his restraints and find Jubilee. He manages it and learns that they're under a new sedation method that makes them dream of something they really want, meaning that they don't really fight the sedation and the brain does all the work for them. Though Wolverine broke out of his, Jubilee remains attached to hers (where she's one of the most powerful X-Men, even with her powers, and Wolverine is her sidekick) even when he breaks her out. Professor X informs Logan that they're closing in and that he shouldn't break Jubilee's illusion in the fear that it's strong enough to do real damage to her mentally if she comes out unexpectedly. So Wolverine, acting like Jubilee's sidekick, follows her as she storms through the compound being ineffective. Finally she does get smart to what's really happening but, as it happened softly enough, she's okay, just a little hurt by how bad her powers are. However, as Wolverine gets blasted, she manages to hold off AIM long enough for him to recover and for them to get out of there. He cheers her up as they leave, telling her that her powers, in his eyes, are some of the best around (he harkens back to the Northern Lights as he compliments them).

It's a rather sweet issue and an overall very fun issue. One of the things that I really like about Gail Simone (though I haven't read too much by her as she's mostly with DC these days) is that she gets into the head of a character so well and that she seems to understand the humanity of a character. On top of that, she's not afraid to pull punches. In this issue, she teams Wolverine, someone who claims to be the best there is at what he does, with Jubilee, someone with the power of fireworks (the only way you can be more '80s/'90s is by dressing like Jubilee did in the '80s/'90s). Jubilee's happy place is a place where she is more powerful than she actually believes she is. On top of it, she snaps out of it and almost immediately says "my powers suck," which is rather true but also rather cutting. You don't see that sort of self-awareness from a lot of characters. On top of that, Simone cuts right to the core of things (very important for a self-contained issue) and teams Wolverine and Jubilee, two characters who don't particularly see themselves fitting in with the X-Men at any point. It's immediately a compelling story and one that instantly works. Obviously she's not the first person to team the two and it's a duo that's worked to varying degrees in the past but she dives right in and makes it her own here. Solid book, definitely worth a look.

Total Score: 4/5

Comics this week

Another fairly busy week this week with 17 new releases scheduled to hit and some fairly big ones to boot. Still, five stand out, as they ever seem to, from the rest of the pack.

Avengers 30
AVENGERS had slipped somewhat out of my top titles to look for lists but the last couple issues, detailing Banner and Captain America finding out about the reformed Illuminati (or finding out again, as the case may have been), have brought an incredible tension to the book and have kept me on the edge of my seat (does that cliche work when you're reading? I don't really need to lean forward to get a closer look). With AVENGERS 30, I'm looking for more of that.

Inhuman 2
I'm not so sure what to make of this series still but Charles Soule has been good to us since he made his way to Marvel and I don't expect that to change. The biggest flaws in the series thus far have been on the business end; problems launching and shipping have led to a somewhat stagnant feeling behind the main message. Still, hopefully Soule will be able to pull us in with this series as it's clear Marvel has some big plans for the Inhumans.

Ms. Marvel 4
If you're not reading this book yet, it's time to get on board. It's drawing comparisons to books like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, which is one that people still reference as one of their favorite books all time. Get into this one before you've missed the rush of it and while it's still retailing, miraculously, for $2.99. Also, if the characters, writing, and interior art weren't enough (note: they are), Jamie McKelvie is doing the covers for this series at current and they are amazing.

Uncanny Avengers 20
While the Marvel Universe shifts into ORIGINAL SIN, UNCANNY AVENGERS stays its course, continuing to tell the story it's been telling for a solid 15 issues or so at this point. It's a true epic of a tale, something that's almost impossible to see in Marvel these days. More impressively, it remains good and compelling. Time to head back to Planet X while we push towards the end.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 4
I've really been enjoying this book so far, an extremely interesting story in its own right but clearly a story that's working to a greater end (it continues to be a story both about the Winter Soldier, always worth reading, and about Ran Shen, current villain of CAPTAIN AMERICA, well before he was a villain and back when he was a high-ranking SHIELD officer). The gorgeous covers and the fantastic interior art have set a tone for this limited series that is rarely seen from Marvel.

This week's picks

Sorry for the no-post yesterday everyone. Festivities kind of snuck up on me and i only realized halfway through an Italian feast that I had made no post. Guys. My bad. Anyway, let's talk about the best of the week.

Superior Spider-Man 31

SPIDER-MAN is always a tricky book to name top book of the week if just because I tend to think it over-explains and sometimes has choppy writing for it. I don't think this week's issue was the smoothest issue but there was a real sense of love to it, which shines through overall and carries the book. That's what you want from a SPIDER-MAN book; the characters are some of our favorite at Marvel, the stories endure, and Spider-Man continues to make the great power=great responsibility theme matter even after all of these years. So it may not have technically been the best book out there this week but Peter Parker is back and the creative team here is thrilled about it. It shines through and it makes this book absolutely worth reading.



Winter Soldier: Bitter March 3

This was a tough one to put on the list, barely beating out ULTIMATE FF and NOVA (which I had thought would be a sure thing this week when I was reading it because it was so fun and so sure of itself), but it largely made it here because of its art, which I think is fitting this book so well and deserves recognition. The story is pretty great, the characters are compelling to watch, and the writing is sharp, but it's really the art putting this one over the top, particularly the way the art works with the tone of the book and the story of the book. It also benefits from, for the second issue in a row, a somewhat weaker release week. Still, you could definitely do worse than checking this limited series out.


X-Force 3

Very little makes me happier than a book that I want/expect to be good being great. I've been burned in the past by books I've wanted nothing more than to love but then I just couldn't be excited about. It's nice to have things work out this way instead. X-FORCE is already proving itself to be a strong, character-driven title. The special thing about a character-driven book is that the plot can falter and we'll still be sucked in because we want to see what these characters are up to. Spurrier does some of the best character stuff out there right now, between his work on X-MEN LEGACY and his web/print comic CROSSED: WISH YOU WERE HERE and now on X-FORCE. Even this early on, it's hard not to recognize that Spurrier is weaving narratives together and building up some really interesting players for this book. We've had a look at three of our four characters from their own perspectives (though this week's Psylocke perspective was admittedly more guarded, though she laid out her thoughts to her teammates well) and it's building a definite tone for the series. The writing, the art, the tone, the story, it's all working right now.

This week's picks

A lot of strong books out this week that landed probably somewhere in that above average to great line but a limited number of truly great books and a fair amount of "I'm finding it hard to get through this one" books. Good thing we don't highlight the latter here over at Marvels so LET'S FIND THOSE GOOD'UNS.

Daredevil 1

How much will change for everyone's favorite blind lawyer/superhero in the wake of his major identity reveal and subsequent move to San Francisco? Well probably a lot. We just don't have the time or the desire to see it all here because that would be crappy writing. What we do see is a clear shift in some of Daredevil's normal actions as he adjusts to his new life, including acting almost as more of a detective with the police, able to reveal how he knows as much as he does about certain situations, and his getting acclimated to a vastly different San Francisco skyline. There's a lot to like in this first issue and I think there's a lot to build on for Waid and Samnee as they move forward with this new new look for DAREDEVIL (their new look was already with the last DAREDEVIL launch so this is new new).

Thunderbolts 23

This one narrowly won out this week over other titles like IRON MAN, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL, and AVENGERS WORLD, in part because I think this one was just about the most fun book to read this week, on top of giving a level of depth to our much loved team. Obviously it's a somewhat big issue on its own as Venom leaves the team but there are also revelations about how the team views one another (though we've seen a good amount of that already) and how the team works as a team (or, perhaps, specifically how it doesn't). It also continues to be one of the best books at infusing humor into whatever dark (or light) scene. It's not heavy-handed, it's not a joke for a joke's sake, it's just there, in the words or actions of characters from whom you believe the humor. THUNDERBOLTS continues to be both fun and exciting while altogether maintaining a complete comic book.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2

I'm very impressed with the workmanship of this book. Remender is threading plot lines back and forth between this not-quite-prequel to the current events of CAPTAIN AMERICA and CAPTAIN AMERICA and he's making it look easy. We're getting a taste of everything here, between Ran Shen's history with SHIELD and his blossoming thoughts on how the world should work (thoughts that would eventually lead him to his new persona as the Iron Nail), Horace Littleton and his work (that would eventually lead him to his new persona as Dr. Mindbubble), and a taste of the hatred between SHIELD and Hydra/other factions of the world. It's doing all of that, which is neat enough on its own, but more than that it's a really interesting WINTER SOLDIER story by itself. I feel confident that if you weren't reading CAPTAIN AMERICA right now and you picked this up because you were like "oh hey, that Winter Soldier seems like a pretty cool cat and by golly he's the star of an upcoming movie I take it," you'd still be reading a book that you can completely understand and one that still holds your interest. Great stuff. And look at that cover. Just really cool.

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.

Comics this week

Buncha new comics out this week, ranging from pretty exciting to not so exciting for me. As is the Marvels way, I'll be highlighting the ones I am excited about. Let's get to it.

Daredevil 1
Daredevil has moved out west and is presumably about to settle in as a new number one drops this week. Excited to see how Waid and Samnee are going to shake things up for everyone's favorite blind lawyer/superhero as he makes his home in a new and alien city. Matt's journey, of course, wasn't without its own trials as has been documented in the infinite comic DAREDEVIL: ROAD WARRIOR, which I've been reading but not reviewing. I'll...I'll cover it if it matters. Super Adaptoid and the likes, you know?

Iron Man 23
Iron Man vs. Malekith in what should be a very interesting battle. Well, that's what's coming, anyway. I would guess we won't see too much of that right away because Tony still doesn't know who it is that's orchestrating the sudden capture of several of the Mandarin Rings. So with Tony hunting down Malekith and Arno left to run Troy, where will those Stark boys go next?

Ms. Marvel 2
The expectations were high for MS. MARVEL 1, a book that would create a new character, a Muslim superhero teenage girl. Most of those words, as far as publishers go, are risky ventures. I thought MS. MARVEL 1 was good but not amazing so I think the onus will really be on issue two to set up the world a little more and to show us our new hero in action.

New Avengers 15
Hey guys, is Dr. Strange going to be okay?

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2
I really enjoyed the first issue of this series, which introduced a compelling plot, some interesting characters (perhaps made more interesting by the fact that we know who these characters will turn into), and a really swell layout and feel for the comic. I'm looking forward to this one for all those reasons and for a cover that, when I saw it last time, totally blew me away. In that way, it edges out THUNDERBOLTS 23 for my excitement, though I'm sure that cover is going to be amazing too.

Thor: God of Thunder 19, Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1

Thor: God of Thunder 19
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

King Thor examines Earth millennia in the future, now a cold, dead rock, with his three granddaughters, who are less enamored of Midgard than Thor was. As King Thor laments the way the world defeated itself, we turn back the clock to see what's happening with Thor the Avenger. It turns out he's trying to land a date with SHIELD agent Roz Solomon, who is, herself, trying to bring down the somehow constantly re-formed Roxxon. Thor helps her bring down some whalers before the two of them head for a new Roxxon unveiling with new Roxxon head Dario Agger. Agger has led an expedition to drill ice from Jupiter to try to "cure thirst" or something along those lines but Solomon knows that it's just a way to control the profits of Jupiter water. Thor arrives at the press conference with way more ice straight from Jotunheim, killing a lot of Agger's profits (business, am I right, guys?) and putting Thor and Solomon right on the map for Agger. After this act, Solomon agrees to go for coffee with Thor. Now we go back...to the FUTURE to see King Thor and his granddaughters on Earth as Galactus approaches.

Very clear set-up issue as plenty of seeds for the new arc are planted. There's something remarkably endearing about Thor trying to win a date with Agent Solomon that's worth seeing in this book and, of course, Esad Ribic's art flourishes here as he gets to draw giant underwater scenes and some big Asgardian style scenes. The issue starts to lose a little bit of steam as Roxxon gets involved, as Aaron is tasked with setting up a new agenda for Roxxon and a new CEO for the always always always corrupt company. I'd say that the Jupiter ice thing falls a little bit flat too since it's such a specific thing and it's hard to really see the point of it (though I suppose you could make the case that it's readily available water that Agger, like the villain in Quantum of Solace, would have at his control but, unlike that villain, Agger doesn't control the entire region's supply of water). Likewise, it's a little hard to muster up some sort of feelings for the Midgard of the future as it's far out enough that it's, you know, kind of expected that it will eventually die. Like, Thor HAD to have been told this at some point, right? Still, the seeds could harvest interesting fruit (just how I like my fruit) given just a little more time.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1
Remender (w) and Boschi (a) and Chuckry (c)

It's 1966 and Fury and SHIELD have learned that Hydra has captured Nazi scientists who have perfected the alchemy formula, which would allow Hydra untold resources if they're able to glean the formula for themselves. It's up to Fury and SHIELD's number two agent Ran Shen to break into a secure Hydra facility (Castle Hydra on a sheer cliff face in a snowy, remote locale) and capture the Nazi scientists or, if they can't manage capture, kill them. Shen and Fury wager on who will find the fastest way into the castle and Shen goes in the front door, counting on his smarts and ability to blend in to get him through, while Fury scales the side of the castle and goes in the drainage pipe. Shen seems to blend in okay and ends up hitting it off with a woman who seems to know something about Hydra's inner workings. The pair of them leave the party to be alone and the woman reveals herself to be the absolutely horrible new creation Madam Worm. With worms crawling out of her and into and all over Shen, designed to show Shen the beauty of Hydra, Fury appears and flamethrowers her into a big ol' pit. They manage to find the scientists and escape, to Fury's chagrin, up through the castle. They manage to avoid all guards going that way and make it outside only to have their new charges instantly stolen from them by none other than the Winter Soldier. Shen and Fury pursue him, all three essentially hang-gliding away from the castle. Shen distracts Winter Soldier while Fury attacks, causing him to drop the two targets. Shen manages to catch them and land but Fury is shot in the chest and falls elsewhere. Winter Soldier's wings are damaged and he, too, falls into the forest. Shen lands with the two scientists in the forest, realizing that he's up against a man thought only to be a myth, on foot with two Nazis, in the middle of a frozen forest.

All of our players are here, all of our plot is right here, laid out for us for this limited series, as we get our first real, extended look at a Cold War-era Winter Soldier. It's a really neat idea and the idea of three superpowers, SHIELD, Hydra, and Russia, vying for the formula tucked away in the heads of a pair of old Nazis, is a compelling story in and of itself. Throw in the fact that it'll both pit Shen and Fury against Winter Soldier and will establish the relationship that Shen has with all the players today (appearing in CAPTAIN AMERICA as the villain Iron Nail) and we have a pretty fascinating limited series on our hands. The art and the tone of the book hit their mark, feeling like a pretty solid spy story (too bad I spent so much time talking about James Bond in my THOR review, huh? Requisite Bond time has already been taken up). Matching that tone perfectly, by the by, are Andrew Robinson's covers for the series. SECRET AVENGERS has been trying to go for a spy, '70s era feel with its covers and fonts and things for a little while now and I think they've been okay but often a little convoluted for my tastes. These ones are much cleaner and the cover for issue two is pretty astounding, really looking forward to that one. Of course, I say all this but I still ended up with Chris Eliopoulos' animal variant (seen at right) for this issue ANYWAY. Look, it had Batroc as a fox, what was I supposed to do, not buy it?

Comics this week

Rarely is it as easy as recording the list of comics out this week to find my top five. Sure a couple will come from a cursory glance; titles I like, events, big issues I remember are big, number ones, final issues, etc., but they don't typically all congregate like this. This week found an important launch title, a good series starting a new year, a personal favorite character of mine headlining a new limited series, and two issues I can safely say are two of my most highly anticipated issues of the year, one kicking off a probably great new series and one finishing an amazing series. Did I give it all away yet? What if I say that, alphabetically, this entire post begins at "s?"

She-Hulk 1

Surprise, you guys, I love Marvel. I also love gender parity. So it was a tough couple of years (okay, decades and decades) where Marvel wasn't trusting in female-led books. I'm not going to say "okay, we got a few, all better" but it's very clear that Marvel is taking real, legitimate steps to righting the wrong. SHE-HULK is another example, adding to MS. MARVEL, CAPTAIN MARVEL, BLACK WIDOW, and...god, I could swear there's another one. It'll come to me (or it doesn't exist and so won't). You could even lump HAWKEYE in there as Kate takes center stage aaa much or more than Clint and is just as much the titular Hawkeye as the avenging archer. Throw Charles Soule, savior of THUNDERBOLTS and up-and-coming comics star from both sides of the big two and we should have a solid book in store (FUN FACT: Soule is a lawyer himself so expect some solid law to make its way into the title). WAIT, it's ELEKTRA. That's the other one I was thinking of. That one should be fun too.

Thor: God of Thunder 19

For as old as this series sometimes seems, it's really only gone through two separate story lines since Aaron took over on the title. Thor(s) fought Gorr and Thor fought Malekith. Two stories in three acts and one bonus self-contained story last time out. Now present Thor finds himself embroiled in intrigue on Earth and with SHIELD, no less, as King Thor hangs out with old Galactus (okay, probably "hangs out with" is the wrong turn of phrase here but I'd also read that series). Esad Ribic rejoins Jason Aaron to take our resident god of thunder back to Midgard in what should be another defining run for the series, firmly planted now in its sophomore year.

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 1

Winter Soldier returns in a limited series set sometime between Bucky's "death" and Cap's re-emergence, AKA true Winter Soldier days. So why check out the brainwashed Russian hitman trying to, probably, destabilize America in or around the Cold War? Because it's bound to go a bit deeper than that. Rick Remender tries his hand at Winter Soldier, a character who, despite his popularity and now with about five+ years under his belt,  has only really been handled by Brubaker and Latour, as he tells a story of drama and intrigue that will tie into the events of today, particularly in Remender's CAPTAIN AMERICA. Keep an eye out for the Iron Nail and the corruption of SHIELD as we kick off a limited series that should, presuming it's coming in monthly installments and not, say, bi-weekly, take us right up to Captain America: Winter Soldier. Sound like it might relate? Guess we'll find out.

X-Force 1

Hot on the heels of the conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE and CABLE AND X-FORCE, Si Spurrier launches the new underground mutant wet works team. Featuring a considerably smaller roster than its predecessors (even all the way back to Remender's terrific put-him-on-the-map run), X-FORCE promises to be a top-flight series full of twists and turns with exciting character pieces and lots of depth. Looking forward to it immensely and I can't stress enough how much Si Spurrier has totally won me over with his work on X-MEN LEGACY (not to mention the thrilling web/print series CROSSED: WISH YOU WERE HERE). And now Spurrier has Fantomex to control. It's come to my attention lately that Fantomex is a very polarizing character either very loved or very hated. Readers of this blog should know I'm in the first camp and I can't really imagine anyone being in the second. If you are, though, give this series a shot. I'm willing to bet, with almost no indication of the way Spurrier is going to write him, that Fantomex will have something of a fascinating character this time out. Worth giving him another shot, you strange, probably non-existent Fantomex haters.

X-Men Legacy 24

This is it, dear readers. The first comics week of this year saw the end of YOUNG AVENGERS, the book I named my second best book of 2013. Now, as we enter into the second week of the second month of 2014, the top book ends. Both books are unique in that they both seemed to wind down to their finales more based on the writer's wishes than the usual business of it (I don't officially know that that's the case with LEGACY but Spurrier has intimated all along that a story isn't a story without an end). Regardless, it's time to say a very reluctant goodbye to this beautiful and wildly creative book that Spurrier has crafted with such love and such deftness as to make even the woe-begotten son of Charles Xavier and the stammering, oft-nonsensical young Blindfold two of the most complicated and tragic characters in the Marvel Universe. It's a testament to the power of a really well-written and well-executed character study and it's, for my money, one of the best and most satisfying examples of the superhero genre in the past decade, if not longer. Everyone involved deserves untold credit, from Spurrier's mad writing to Tan Eng Huat and Khoi Pham's alternating artistic approaches to José Villarrubia and Rachelle Rosenberg's colors to the amazing Mike del Mundo covers each and every issue. I'm so sad to see it go but so thrilled that it ever existed.

Top 10 new comics to keep an eye on in 2014

ANOTHER SUBJECTIVE LIST! You thought I was done but I CAN MAKE LISTS ALLLLLLLL DAY. Anyway, I find myself really excited by some of the prospects of this coming year from Marvel so let's dive in. I'm only going to be mentioning the new comics that are coming even though I am excited for a lot of continuing comics - you can read my last few days' posts to find out which ones those are. I'm not planning this one out as rigidly as I planned out last year's top 20 so LET'S SEE IF I ACTUALLY HAVE 10.

All-New Invaders
A new Invaders book starring the original Invaders? Dude, I am so onboard with that. The first arc (or one of the first arcs, promises to even bring in Aarkus, the original Vision most recently seen in X-MEN LEGACY and an original INVADER himself. Plus Bucky, Cap, Namor, and Human Torch! Ahhhh, so excited.












Black Widow
Black Widow's one of those characters who, for some reason or another, struggles to sustain a solo book. I'm hoping she's able to sustain this one as she's certainly a character worthy of more airtime in the Marvel Universe and someone that I think fans would connect to more if she had some time to spread her wings. She's also just one of a handful of new female-driven books to be excited about, which in and of itself is exciting.











Inhuman

This one's been pushed back a bit to accommodate a change in writers as Matt Fraction, previously confirmed to the book, has stepped back, leaving Charles Soule in charge. As much as I enjoy Fraction and think he'd've brought something special to the book, Soule has done a bang-up job on THUNDERBOLTS and I think he'll likely do a similar job on INHUMAN. This Axel Alonso column from CBR goes into further detail about the switch and it seems like it's probably for the best (Marvel and Fraction weren't really seeing eye-to-eye on how the story needed to go so it's probably better that Fraction stepped down rather than work on the project he didn't want to work on, though I'm sure his would have been amazing anyway).







Ms. Marvel
Really excited to see a book spawning from CAPTAIN MARVEL, and another female-led book (this one actually booted ELEKTRA from the list when I remembered it too was coming). This one has been all over the place, with various news outlets covering the arrival of a new woman teenage, Muslim superhero. Should be really interesting, looking forward to it.











Moon Knight

I love Moon Knight as a character so I was glad to see that he was getting back into an ongoing. I was even more glad when it was announced that his book would improbably be done by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire. What an amazing creative team. Very excited to see where it goes.














New Warriors

With SCARLET SPIDER gone and Yost seemingly stepping down from SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP (in the very least, the latest PREVIEWS has Kevin Shinick by issue 11) where am I going to get my Chris Yost fix now? Why, NEW WARRIORS! Also, Scarlet Spider will be joining with that team so I'M COVERED EVERY WHICH WAY.













She-Hulk

I know, I'm as surprised as you that this book is here! Still, She-Hulk is a pretty well-liked character and books that came out in the last year with "She-Hulk" in the name somewhere served me well so I'm happy to give this one a look. On top of that, Charles Soule will also be taking the reins on this one and, on top of a fun writing style he brings to the game, Soule runs his own small law practice so he'll know what he's talking about in the lawyer-parts of the book.











Silver Surfer

Dan Slott and Michael Allred team up to bring us a brand new SILVER SURFER series. I'm a Silver Surfer fan so I'm glad we'll get to see a bit more of him and I'm very interested to see Dan Slott as the writer for another ongoing as he's stuck so firmly to Spider-Man over the last few years. His writing history, of course, is much more varied so it's not like this is only the second book he'll ever have done but it's been quite some time. Here's hoping it's neat!











Winter Soldier: Bitter March

I considered not putting this book on this list in favor of putting another ongoing on here but, I mean, I'm pretty excited for this one and it's my blog so, you know, whatever man. Glad to see Winter Soldier getting a story of his own, a spy story set in the 1960s as the brainwashed Bucky does his business for Russia in something that will tie into Remender's CAPTAIN AMERICA series in some way or another (Remender will also be the writer of this one). Should be a good time.











X-Force

So glad that this worked out so appropriately even in alphabetical order. I get to bookend this list with the two upcoming books I'm most excited about as ALL-NEW INVADERS brings one of my all-time favorite teams back into the mainstream and X-FORCE will bring one of my favorite teams with a solid (and surprisingly small) roster and a phenomenal writer. Si Spurrier working with, among others, Fantomex? Totally sold.











Should be a fun 2014, you guys. And that's just from the books that have been announced for the early part of the year. AND, oh man, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men Days of Future Past and eventually Guardians of the Galaxy are all slated for release this year. Whaaaaaaaat?