Original Sin 3.1 - Hulk vs. Iron Man, Original Sins 2

Original Sin 3.1 - Hulk vs. Iron Man
Waid and Gillen (s) and Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessey (i) and Kieth (c) and Petit (l)

The truth bomb has dropped and, among the many things it revealed, it switches Tony Stark and Bruce Banner's consciousness a bit, giving them both access to some of the other's memories. For Tony, it reminds him of a time when he had revealed to General Ross that Banner was limiting the effectiveness of the gamma bomb, the original Hulk-creating one, while for Bruce, it reveals that Tony later went in and tinkered with the bomb, potentially sabotaging it and, in essence, turning it into a Hulk-creating one. Now, here in the present, a much smarter Hulk, enhanced by the Extremis strand Arno has been working on, beats on Iron Man.

This book was advertised pretty heavily and I think it hurts this issue. Thanks to all of the hype, plenty of people (myself included) knew where this book was going and it therefore felt like it took a long while to get to it. Waid's in a difficult position as he has to tie up some loose ends (summarizing a bit of Gillen's IRON MAN and his own INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK and HULK and explaining what's happened since the last issue of those books) and has to show a relationship for these two and create a new story based on that relationship and on ORIGINAL SIN. As a result, the book moves a little slowly and, as I said above, it's slow when we already know the climax. I want to go on record saying that I don't think this means Waid is necessarily at fault. I think it's just a tough order, asking Waid to create a book wherein he has to do so much. Still, it's a little slow and Bagley's pencils have never really been my favorite anyway.

Total Score: 3/5


Original Sins 2
Black Knight: Tieri (w) and Ienco (a) and B. Anderson (c) and Cowles (l)
Young Avengers: North (w) and Villalobos (a) and J. Gibson (c) and Cowles (l)
Howard the Duck: Templeton (w and a) and Mounts (c) and Cowles (l)

In the first story, a Black Knight biographer/historian visits Dane Whitman to tell him that everyone who has ever used the Ebony Blade has succumbed to it and gone crazy and/or evil and/or killed him/herself. She believes he will be no different and the truth bomb told her that, in fact, he's probably not and that just recently he nearly killed a common criminal and seemingly couldn't stop himself. She wants to help him but he pushes her away, remaining almost naked locked in his room with the blade. The story is mildly interested, though it begs for more (there may even be more in ORIGINAL SINS to come but I can't recall right now). As such, it's a story with no end right now and the question of whether there will be one and, if not, why it went so dark here only to leave us with nothing more.

The Young Avengers return (or three of them do, anyway) as they catch up with the Hood, who had previously turned an entire building's worth of people invisible and knocked them unconscious. When Hulkling takes him down, he explains that he was trying to help these people. They're all addicts and the secrets from the truth bomb had a different effect on them, making them too full of knowledge and giving them too many secrets. Hood turned them invisible and knocked them out to ensure SHIELD wouldn't get its hands on them. His idea, then, to get their knowledge and to stop them from going totally crazy from all of this, is for Prodigy to build a Cerebro so he can read all their minds. The dialogue in this one continues to be fun and natural but the story feels like it's starting to slip a little bit, which is particularly tricky for a book where the art isn't really blowing me away. ORIGINAL SIN seems to be facing the slight problem that everyone is interpreting what the truth bomb can and can't do a little differently and it's conflating things for people who are reading all parts of the event (reviewers especially).

While the truth bomb showed revelations of varying degrees to various people, it tells Howard the Duck something he already knew: he's extraordinarily intelligent naturally. Unfortunately, he also knows that he stuffed that natural intelligence down because it had made him a target of bullying as a child so now he's spent his whole life fighting his nature and not being as smart as he could have been. He calls on his could-be intelligence as he hurtles through the air after a car accident and it saves his life in the moment, though it shows him his wasted potential all over again. Thanks, Watcher.

Total Score: 3/5

Original Sins 1, New Avengers 19

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

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

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

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

Total Score: 4/5


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

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

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

Total Score: 5/5

Black Widow 3, Iron Man 21

Black Widow 3
N. Edmondson (w) and Noto (a and c)

Natasha's been hired to break a man out of a prison sentence in Argentina for crimes he did not commit. The job pays well and it's one that's not particularly hard for someone as good as she is. On her way out the door to head to Argentina from her Little Russia home, she comes across her neighbor Ana, who has a black eye from the husband Natasha has told her to leave. She has no time to dwell on this and goes to Argentina, successfully breaking her charge, a man named Angelo, out of the prison. She takes down every guard in their path non-lethally, refusing even to carry a gun in the situation, telling Angelo that these are good men just doing their jobs and that his wrongful imprisonment is no reason to take it out on them. She has to leave him at a riverbed for a moment while she attends to guards on foot and, while she's gone, Angelo murders one of the guards and tosses him into the river, telling Natasha when she returns that he slipped. When Natasha and Angelo meet up with Angelo's contact and their extraction, Natasha hears the man call Angelo "lobo blanco," the white wolf. As they begin to take off, she realizes who the man is, someone known as the butcher of Argentina. The crimes he was imprisoned for truly weren't his own but there were plenty he wasn't arrested for that were his own. She makes a snap call and drags Angelo out of the rising helicopter, landing them both back in the river. She stabs Angelo and lets the crocodiles eat him as she swims to shore. She's extracted from Argentina by Maria Hill as she's needed for a SHIELD op and requests to stop over at her apartment for some gear. While there, she pushes into Ana's apartment and pins down her husband, swearing to break his spine if she ever touches Ana again.

It's very, very rare to come across a book that I'm so enamored with so quickly, particularly one where I don't have a ton of familiarity with the creative team. I didn't really know Edmondson going in and I knew Noto but hadn't seen him be THIS good before. I think probably the last book that kind of had this feel for me was maybe NEW AVENGERS, which started so dramatically and felt so epic. Even books like X-MEN LEGACY (which I obviously adore but had a bit more of a slow burn for me) and YOUNG AVENGERS (which I loved out of the gate but also rather knew I would given the team behind it) didn't land in quite the same way this one has so quickly. Noto's art is absolutely gorgeous, Edmondson is telling a really compelling story and building a really amazing character out of Natasha, and, well, everything is just going really, really well. Natasha's narration again leads us through the story as she talks about how she doesn't really call any place a home, how she can't because homes are a distraction and she can't afford distractions in her life. Not having a home means that she feels she can belong everywhere but, as she points out, also feels that she belongs nowhere. It's such a wonderful and powerful idea for always traveling, always in exotic locales character and it's made even more tragic when she reveals that her real home is where she finds pain, that that's what's most familiar to her. It's a wonderful story and a wonderful book. GUYS, I haven't even talked about the fact that this is an amazingly strong female character who has spent three books doing nothing but being entirely amazing at her job, passing the Bechdel test, not being a sex symbol, and having real conversations with real people. GUYS. HOW AMAZING IS THIS BOOK?

Iron Man 21
Gillen (w) and Bennett and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Arno and Tony have been trying and trying to track the Mandarin Rings but seem unable to find them when they're not immediately in use. The longer it takes, the more damage Troy suffers, particularly from the Remaker Ring, which keeps turning up to bomb parts of the city. Troy's PR head Marc Kumar meets with ex-girlfriend (and current Mandarin Seven) Abigail "Red Peril" Burns and tells her that she needs to stop acting the terrorist, a role that doesn't fit her. She swears the bombings haven't been her and decides to go see what's so special about the city. Iron Man tracks her and uses his stealth suit to follow her through the city. She finds that Troy is a self-sustaining, self-repairing city, capable even of taking care of its derelict population by creating energy efficient homes for them and everyone else. She realizes that the city she's been fighting against is actually nothing worth fighting against, that for as much as she dislikes Stark and what he stands for, this is a worthwhile place. Her ring leads her to two more rings active in the city, the Remaker, in the possession of the previous would-be warlord of Mandarin City after the fall of the Mandarin, and the Night-Bringer, in the possession of Victor Kohl, the jerk kid who felt so slighted by Iron Man after Kohl was responsible for killing his father in a drunken rage. The three talk and realize how their views perhaps don't really match up, including how the Remaker is preparing to launch a missile at Stark's current HQ, and prepare to fight one another. The rings then identify that Tony's in the room with them and he gets pulled into a fight he wasn't expecting while he's trying to get out to stop the missile and save Arno. The Night-Bringer won't allow him to leave in time and he ends up with a view of the building as the missile hits it, presumably with Arno still inside.

The fight against the Mandarin Rings escalates even further as Tony and Arno become directly involved. Well, even more directly involved than they were. We also get a better sense of the people behind a few of the rings and a better sense, perhaps, of why the rings chose these people. There seems to be some discord out there between the rings' new owners but, perhaps, also between the rings. Burns, for all of her hatred for the establishment and distrust of Tony, isn't a terrorist and has a real belief in her progressive views. The Remaker, meanwhile, wants only to have ruled the city or for no one to rule the city. The Night-Bringer is a punk kid who refuses to be held responsible for his own actions. And these are just three of the ten. Will Arno be okay? Will Troy survive its first arc? The next arc is called "Rings of the Mandarin" and will focus on one new ring-bearer in particular trying to gain control of the other nine. Gillen's already talked about the next arc and who that one new ring-bearer is (click that link to read his pretty good interview with CBR and find out who) and it's got me pretty excited about what's in the near future but there are still some pretty good questions for the immediate future.

This week's picks

Geez, I usually use this space to talk about how hard it was to narrow things down on a week full of comics. Not so, this week. Pretty easy and I had it pretty well in hand from the get-go. Apologies to IRON MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN which were pretty much the closest ones to making it but weren't close enough to warrant further discussion.

Avengers World 1

AVENGERS WORLD feels like Avengers back-to-basics, giving us a look at smaller teams dealing with smaller problems. Don't get me wrong, they're still pretty big problems, big enough to warrant the Avengers' involvement, but it's smaller than what Hickman's done throughout the AVENGERS series. It also breaks the team up into more manageable parts, so hopefully we'll get to see a little more personality out of the team as a whole. Interested to see where this one goes and I think it made the right steps in issue one.

Black Widow 1

Truly gorgeous book on its first time out and one that has the plot power to deliver interesting stories throughout its hopefully long run. I talked a little bit about how BLACK WIDOW books don't tend to last long for one reason or another but I hope that the distinguishing art and the full spy-feel of this book hold reader interest long enough to put this one on the map. With a slew of woman-led books coming out this year (though very few of them still created by women, sadly), it would be a real shame if a couple didn't catch on. High hopes for this one.




Young Avengers 15

One of the best comics of 2013 has, horribly depressing as it is, officially come to a close in the first comics week of 2014 and, while I'm sad to see it go, I'm happy that it got to finish the way it wanted to finish. YOUNG AVENGERS 15 is an homage to the rest of the series, a love note to the title at large that gives a final look at our characters as individuals dealing with their new lives and lets us see them as a team one last time. More gorgeous art out of Becky Cloonan (whose art may be the most impressive in the issue), Ming Doyle, Joe Quinones, Jordie Bellaire, Maris Wicks, Matt Wilson, and, of course, Jamie McKelvie and some top-notch character writing from Kieron Gillen to send this series to archives. Sad time but at least we got more than we could have ever asked from this series.

Young Avengers 15, Avengers World 1, Avengers AI 8

Young Avengers 15
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Cloonan, Doyle, and Quinones (a) and Bellaire, Wicks, and Wilson (c)

The final issue of YOUNG AVENGERS, again, brings a multi-part story in the same general structure as YOUNG AVENGERS 14. This one starts with Noh-Varr lamenting his place in this world in a nice little look at his DJ abilities (and Broo's, in a slightly different way) drawn by Becky Cloonan with Jordie Bellaire colors. Story two shows David following Loki outside of the party to learn that Loki had paid for all of this and that he's leaving before they have a chance to forgive him, as they would because they're nice people. He makes a possibly-joking pass at David and sets out on his new journey, playing the role he's built for himself even if he doesn't really want to any more, in pages drawn by Ming Doyle with Maris Wicks colors. The story (and Maris Wicks) easily then moves into Joe Quinones-drawn David being joined by the Patri-not out on the lawn and trying to figure out who he is. Though the Patri-not doesn't give many answers, David reasons that he's someone from the future created by whatever it is Billy does down the road sent back to ensure that whatever it is that needs to happen to create that future happens. Furthermore, David speculates that he's one of the Young Avengers, who sacrificed him or herself to make sure the world was okay. David also believes that it's him. He doesn't totally care about any of this, though, he just wants to know where Tommy is. In a bit of a strange turn, he kisses the Patri-not who disappears and is replaced by Tommy, who isn't as into the kissing bit and, sensing a party, rushes off to join it. All the storylines from the past two issues converge as the team leaves the party in the new year and decides to go to breakfast.

Another very sweet issue and one that so nicely wraps this incredible series up. A series that was built on mystery and interdimensional drama and feelings ends in much the same sort of portmanteau. This series really couldn't have ended any other way, which is so odd in this day and age. The team didn't fight a big bad or stop any world-ending evils (today), they just went to a party and celebrated a big year. There's no better way for this book to end. I don't have a lot more to say on the subject because I think the book speaks for itself and my previously-formed opinions all hold true. Go read this book. I think it changes the game for comics. Also make sure to check out this last issue and read the various blurbs from everyone who had a hand on the book. Very sweet and nice to see everyone so genuinely care about the book. Really sad to see this one go but an extremely fitting ending for one of the best series of 2013.

Avengers World 1
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)

It's a new day for the Avengers as they've made themselves more accessible to SHIELD. They still don't, per se, answer to SHIELD or, you know, necessarily like SHIELD, but an Avengers team this big allows them to kind of splinter and go after not-quite-Avengers-level threats but also fairly big threats. So AVENGERS WORLD is like having three or four tie-in Avengers titles all in one. This issue finds Captain America and Bruce Banner meeting with Maria Hill on the helicarrier and monitoring the smaller teams on the ground, including Hyperion, Thor, and Captain Marvel investigating suspicious happenings in Canada, Black Widow, Wolverine, Falcon, and Shang Chi trying to find the root of an uprising and riots in Madripoor, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask searching for answers after the residents of an Italian town straight-up disappear, and Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot looking to find out why AIM Island is physically growing. Are all of these events linked? Can the Avengers stop them all?

I'm very onboard with the idea of this series and this first issue is living up to the expectations. There's a lot to like here as we learn the foundation of this book (through the nice little dialogue between Banner and Cap), see our players (it's a big Avengers team but it's extremely manageable in these small pieces), and get a feel for the way this book will go. My biggest complaint about AVENGERS, as it stands, is that we don't really get enough of a look at the personalities of our core team because there are simply too many of them and too big of a plot to deal with to get up close and personal with any specific characters. This book may change that and I have to think that any people who are lamenting the current AVENGERS title (I don't know any, but I could see people being mad about the main book's scale) would find themselves enjoying this book a bit more. Good characters, good writing, good art, fun first issue.

Avengers AI 8
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Dimitrios' quest to destroy the human race continues from the Diamond as he explains to Alexis that he's doing it to try to find the creator of humanity. Elsewhere, Victor and his new friend Gibson flee from those hunting them in the Diamond. Back in the real world, Cap meets with Pym to try to figure out the length of Dimitrios' reach and to ask Pym if he really has this under control, given his recent erratic behavior. It also seems as if Cap was coming in to take the reins on the AI business (which is leading to official laws that would make artificial intelligence property) when Cannonball phones up to say that riots are breaking out all over the world. Vision, Pym, and Doombot trace the source of the riots to a smartphone app that seemingly everyone has that finds the cheapest available gas, particularly useful since Dimitrios destroyed an oil refinery and caused gas prices to skyrocket. The app has been controlling people in very low doses but now that everyone has it, it's leading to widespread riots and the AI Avengers link the app's servers to the Diamond's server map that Vision won from Dimitrios in their last encounter. The only way to stop this is to go inside the Diamond.

Things are starting to heat up a bit for AVENGERS AI and it's coming at the right time. The book has certainly spent a lot of time treading somewhat familiar ground (artificial intelligence taking over Earth, is artificial intelligence sentient and does it therefore deserve its own rights, robot-hunting, etc) but this new wrinkle is pretty interesting as we get a little more modernized with Dimitrios' engineered attack on the oil refinery leading to people's reliance on a smartphone app that he's able to use to manipulate their fear and panic and cause riots. By itself it's a pretty interesting idea and it's helped by Alexis plot line, which has its own appeal already. Pretty good stuff working together and the art is really working for the tone of the book. I will say that the book occasionally drags and gets a little hung up on all of the explaining that it has to do but it's balanced nicely by the artwork and an inherent desire to make these characters human (even the AI). Sometimes that adds a little much to the wordiness of the book but I think it's necessary in keeping the book from getting dry. Should be fun going forward.

Comics this week

Geez, back to a full workload of comics, huh? That might change over the course of the year. Turns out reviewing every single major Marvel comic is EXHAUSTING and maybe not as comprehensive as you want it to be? I don't know. Look, I'm mulling some things over and we don't really have to talk about this now. Anyway, lot of new number ones to kick the year off and one book tragically ending. Let's get into it.

All-New X-Factor 1
GOOD, another book that has two hyphens in it. Thanks for that trend, Marvel. Anyway, excited to see an X-Factor team around again, even if it doesn't have Madrox in it (sad face) and if it will focus on a somewhat corporate team of mutants instead of the easy-going mentality of the detective agency. Should be an interesting team and I'm glad to see Peter David back at it. Hoping this becomes another X-book I can turn to when I'm feeling down on X-books.

Avengers World 1
I'm interested to see how this series plays out as Jonathan Hickman brings us a world where the Avengers have never really been higher. After a few threats that were very clearly not brought about by the superhero community and a big time rescue from said community, it's time to see what benefits the Avengers reap from it. Included in this benefits, presumably, expanded membership and therefore a book needed to check in on the characters who maybe wouldn't get screen time in AVENGERS otherwise.

Black Widow 1
Very glad to see Natasha getting her own book again and really interested to see how she's doing. We've seen her a bunch in AVENGERS and AVENGERS ASSEMBLE but we haven't really gotten any one-on-one time with her since WINTER SOLDIER ended with her losing her memories of Bucky. I'm happy to see her back in the spotlight and I'm hoping this series manages to last a bit longer for her. God knows she's earned a strong series.

Revolutionary War Alpha 1
Too many number ones out this week means that other books that might have made this pre-game (specifically CABLE AND X-FORCE 18, the start of the VENDETTA crossover with UNCANNY X-FORCE, and IRON MAN 20) get kind of pushed to the side so I can only really mention them in entries dedicated to other books I'm excited about. Anyway, REVOLUTIONARY WAR is a new event that will focus on Marvel UK, the delightful UK branch of the Marvel Universe. It's not a full-blown event in that it's not going to span the Marvel Universe but it's nice to see it happening since it will let us see so many characters that have been cast out a bit in recent years. Should be fun.

Young Avengers 15
Contrasting all these number ones is the final issue of the spectacular YOUNG AVENGERS series. Really sad to see this one go (if I hadn't made that abundantly clear by now) but excited to see the manner in which it goes. Plenty still happening over there and we should get another really nice issue with art from Becky Cloonan, Ming Doyle, Joe Quinones, and, of course, series regular/artist extraordinaire Jamie McKelvie. Looking forward to it but then curling up in a ball for the rest of the week so I don't have to think about how there will never be another one.

Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part five of five): 1-5

HERE WE ARE, the best of the best of 2013. A quick note to, again, say thank you to everyone who checked in on the blog even once this year and happy new year to everyone out there. Let's count down.

5. Captain America

This is really pretty much the only book really in this top twenty that I wonder about, wonder if maybe I gave too much credit to because of my fondness for the character. However, when it's all said and done, I think that this is a book that, had it been anything less than exemplary, I wouldn't have been onboard for so the fact it's considered in the top ten, less the top five, means it deserves to be there. Captain America has been around for over 70 years so when I say this is him at his lowest point, know that it's a pretty low point to have to reach to be there. Rick Remender threw Steve into another dimension run by one of his archenemies and kept him there for a decade, re-writing the book on how sad it is to be Steve Rogers. Now, after ten years in Dimension Z, he's just returned to present-day Earth where, according to Marvel time, he's spent less time since being thawed from the ice than he had in Dimension Z and he has the added weight that he's lost the fiancee he just saw for the first time since he was trapped there and the adopted son he raised the entire time he was there. The only person who has any real sense of what it was like there is the daughter of the archenemy they killed and left behind and who is having enough trouble adjusting herself to the new world. On top of it all, Remender has done a phenomenal job showing an injured Cap, making sure that the super soldier is constantly working his way through severe injuries and convincing himself to get back up and keep fighting. It's a great new look at Steve (with a nice, never-before-seen look into his pre-super soldier days) while simultaneously being one of the hardest things to watch him go through. Very interested to see where the coming days take him and glad that Falcon is back in his life as a support and that, presumably, Bucky will be popping up sooner or later (he should be involved in the Iron Nail storyline and he'll have his own mini-series WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH coming soon not to mention ALL-NEW INVADERS next year). Should be fun.

4. New Avengers

NEW AVENGERS was a book that was gunning for number one right from the word go and only really slipped out of it as it had to dedicate too much time to tie-in. Don't get me wrong, the NEW AVENGERS link to INFINITY was very strong and still told a good story, one that was necessary to the event while still focusing on the characters we needed to see in NEW AVENGERS, but ultimately it slowed down a series that was moving at a ridiculous and very exciting pace. Regardless, the combination of this team and story was always going to ensure that NEW AVENGERS landed pretty high up on the best-of list and now HERE IT IS. Every character is extraordinarily interesting and comes off with what feels like the exact amount of weight that's appropriate for their situations. On top of dealing with the book's main threat, incurring worlds that regularly threaten to destroy our own via crashing together (okay, written out it sounds a little stupid but all the more reason for it to be up here because, in practice, it is amazing), we have some of the top egos in the world clashing, particularly as T'Challa and Namor continue to meet and try to figure out ways to stop the incursions while their countries fight a bitter war against one another. As the first year closes out, everything has come to a head with Black Bolt weakened and, if I was reading correctly, thought dead, T'Challa cast out of Wakanda, and everyone still coping with how they're going to stop incursions and how they're going to live with themselves afterwards. There's a ton happening here and this is one of those books that clearly has plenty more to say so I don't anticipate it losing any steam in the months ahead (in fact, a new issue comes out THIS VERY DAY and I'll get around to reviewing it AT SOME POINT).

3. Hawkeye

I think that HAWKEYE has unquestionably changed the way that mainstream comics can run. I'm not saying every mainstream comic has taken up its unique storytelling methods or its run-down and deeply flawed protagonist but there are certainly a number that have (I still look at SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN as something that, in the very least, started out being something of a HAWKEYE clone). On top of that, HAWKEYE has earned itself well-deserved huge critical acclaim and has brushed up against the mainstream with reviews and praise from all over various media. For all the books it's inspired and all of the lenses on it, HAWKEYE has never once backed down and continues to do its brand of character and story and storytelling best of all its competitors. It's an amazing book with an amazing core and a perfectly established cast consisting almost entirely of Clint and Kate. The writing is continually sharp and balanced, the art is always among the best in the business (even now as it oscillates between David Aja's proven style and Annie Wu's newcomer talent), and the characters are Venture Brothers-level depressing (fun fact: Annie Wu also works on The Venture Brothers). The only real reason this book didn't go even higher on this list is a delay in the publishing that meant that we didn't get it for a couple of months in the late summer, early fall. Still, an overall amazing book that's really set a precedent in the Marvel Universe and that's doing it better than anyone else, the only time Hawkeye has ever been able to say that.

2. Young Avengers

Guys, I legitimately had to walk away from the computer for a bit so that I could decide which book belonged in which spot up in the top two and it ended up meaning that I actually walked away from the computer for like, four hours and, frankly, I still haven't really come to a decision. YOUNG AVENGERS did some things that I've never seen done in mainstream books (actually, each of the top three picks here read unlike any other mainstream book I think I've ever read) and brought Kieron Gillen's signature writing excellence and Jamie McKelvie's signature absolutely outstanding artwork to the project. As a book, I think that this one probably merits being number one. There were times that I finished an issue and my mind was just absolutely blown. There were times where I would turn a page and lose my mind because something so gorgeous or so striking or so very different had happened. I came into this book with rather high expectations, given that Gillen was pretty fresh off the amazing JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and that Jamie McKelvie was Jamie McKelvie. Despite raised expectations and a certain amount of attachment to the characters, this book never once disappointed. Brilliant every step of the way and had a cast that rivaled any in comics in likability with a story and artwork to challenge anything I'd ever seen before from Marvel. Simply put, this book was next-level in every single aspect. If you believe it was better than the number one pick and deserved to be there, well, I don't disagree necessarily and please feel free to read these two in any order. So so sad to see this one go next week.

1. X-Men Legacy

Had you asked me at the start of this year, or even several issues into this run, if this book was going to hang around and be such an important book in 2013, I'd've probably shrugged and said "well it's pretty good. Surprisingly good. But I don't know about best of the year good." Still, here it is, December 31st and that's precisely what I'm saying. Like HAWKEYE and YOUNG AVENGERS, this book has done things I've never seen done in books before and given us a character in David Haller who is so challenging to read and so perfectly formed that it feels impossible to read this book and not love every second of it, not get so invested in it that each week it's not released feels like a let down. Just a really impressive title and one that, from the outset, had no right being so impressive. David Haller is not a massive character in the Marvel Universe, despite his power set and despite his lineage. He's had big storylines here and there throughout the X-Wing of the Universe but he's never really reached beyond that. So I can only imagine what it was like to Si Spurrier to jump onto a book where David would be the main character and have to work backwards from the crazed and ultra-powerful being that was Legion and try to make him relatable. I don't know if this was a book Marvel wanted written and pegged Spurrier for it or if it was a pitch that Spurrier made to Marvel but I have to imagine it was the latter because the sheer weight of Spurrier's run and the intricacies with which he plays with David makes me believe that Spurrier was born to write this book. This book may not have been the knockout every issue that YOUNG AVENGERS or HAWKEYE was but its slow-burn and its gutsiness really catapulted it up the chart. This is a book that is entirely unique for Marvel and that works so incredibly well. Every piece of it: the not-entirely likable main character and his extremely human problems despite all of his massive powers, the girl troubles (and the trouble that stems from the idea that she's the only one who has the ability to stop him if things get to their worst inside of him), the prison inside David's head for all of his powers, the amazing idea to have the narration play in loudspeakers inside of David's head whenever we peek in there, the villain of the series, the character interactions, the story itself, the X-Force feel of the lone character, everything, felt so perfectly placed and so well-executed that this series has staying power well beyond its years. This deserves to be in every top ten list and deserves to be the sort of book that's revisited years and years down the line. I wasn't sold on the art it first but it slow-burned just as well and now I can't imagine this book with any other art. Tan Eng Huat and Koi Pham alternated on some issues and both brought such a perfect design to every character and such a sharpness to each situation while also staying appropriately psychedelic when need be. A near perfect full series. Guys, how sad is it that the two top books of this year are both ending in the next couple of months?




So that's that. Enjoy your New Year's Eve everyone and tune in tomorrow for the top ten books to look for THIS COMING YEAR.

This week's picks

FOR THE HOLIDAYS, I GOT YOU GUYS AN EXTRA LONG POST WHERE I PICK THREE BOOKS BUT NOT-SO-SECRETLY ACTUALLY PICK SIX.

This was one of those weeks where it was exceedingly difficult to pick the top three for any number of reasons. Unlike most weeks where that's true, I had to actually break down my full list of comics into ones that could make the top three or at least could snag an honorable mention on here. That brought me down to six titles that were all worthy of some amount of higher praise.

The first one I eliminated from those six was INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK 17, which was a solid and fun book that really managed to tell a good story that ties in to current MU events while also giving us a great breakdown of characters.

The second one down, surprisingly, was UNCANNY AVENGERS 15. I honestly thought going into this post that UNCANNY AVENGERS was a lock as a top pick. It's a huge story that manages to actually ramp up tension after an issue where three major Marvel characters died but it still spends enough time with individual characters to show us their personal stakes, like Wolverine's belief that his violence had rubbed off on Rogue too much or like Cap's belief that his splitting up the Unity Squad led to the deaths of two of his friends and two heroes (he hasn't heard about Rogue yet) or like Thor realizing that the Earth might be executed in retribution for events kicked off by his enchanting Jarnbjorn way back when. Really, really good stuff in here but ultimately I pushed it aside to make room for things that may have been better in different ways.

Astute readers (and ones who are still reading this much-longer-than-average picks post - I felt behind on every single post this week except for this one so I'm relishing it and extending it, okay?) will notice that we've eliminated two contenders from the original six in an attempt to pare down to three, leaving ONE MORE on the chopping block. Unfortunately, this week's final cut went to the surprise "wow, that hung on for a while longer than I'd've predicted" book, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP 8. Chris Yost has a way with looking at characters and getting right down to the most compelling parts of them. There has been something compelling about Doc Ock in Peter's body from the get-go, which is why the series is doing so well, but there's only so much you can do with "egomaniacal sociopathic genius learns value of responsibility and justice" before it starts to feel a bit stale. Yost took a different angle after the first full arc on SSMTU (don't think that acronym is going to catch on) and showed us an egomaniac whose pride has been bruised and who has to deal with the weight of a massive failure with this newfound sense of responsibility. On top of giving us a great look at that character, we get the character who perfectly represents an egomaniac who will almost undoubtedly never feel the weight of a massive failure like this one because he doesn't see himself as a failure in Namor. Really great issue but one that ultimately just barely falls short of my actual list which may seem inexplicable and judged by whimsy and caprice more than fact but SURPRISE, THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING FOR A YEAR NOW.

Daredevil 34
What Mark Waid has done best with DAREDEVIL is hard to say. This is a book led by a character who, since Frank Miller took the reins on him, has been known as an exceedingly dark character. There have been moments of light and he's had a certain playfulness to him but, since Miller, it's been underlined by a distinct rage and violence which had only escalated in the years preceding Waid's run with Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker before culminating in Andy Diggle's finale, SHADOWLAND, which saw Daredevil snap and live out his darkest moment. Mark Waid then jumped onboard (following Diggle's follow-up DAREDEVIL: REBORN) and turned the character back to a far more light-hearted, happy to put down any connections to Daredevil as Matt Murdock (although everyone knew), happy to interact with others character. He still has his darkness and Waid has still put him through his paces but this is a far different character than the one Matt had evolved into while somehow staying entirely the same. If this series hadn't been so extremely good, it would have been a disaster. Instead, here we are, 34 issues later and Waid is still putting out gold for Matt Murdock. This issue adds to the fun and light-heartedness of the series while still showing Matt at a time that's particularly dark for him as he sees his legal system, the one thing that hasn't truly hurt him in the past, in the hands of horrible racists and corruption. Also, Waid has built Kirsten McDuffie into what is already the best Daredevil female supporting character since Echo (who only appeared in two DAREDEVIL arcs and those were separated by a sea of issues). Great book, great fun. Really long post today, huh?

Scarlet Spider 25

Okay, so SCARLET SPIDER has definitely benefitted this week from the bump I tend to give good books as the series closes but, in truth, that bump needed to do less work than you think it did. If anything, it skipped it over UNCANNY AVENGERS and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP. Like with SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP, it's hard not to point to Christopher Yost's mastery of character as the driving point in all of his books. Yost took a character in Kaine who was only ever a bad guy; even when he worked for the right side, he was still something of a jerk about it. Here's the thing of it: after 25 issues of what turned out to be a really good series, I'm not sure I can definitely say that Kaine isn't still just a jerk. That's not to say that the book has been vague about it or his character hasn't gone deep enough; the opposite, in fact. Yost didn't want the audience to come out of this book saying "Kaine is the most morally upstanding citizen, a true hero, in the Marvel Universe." Yost wanted people to come out of this book saying "gee, how about that Kaine guy?" And I think he did it. The fact that this book doesn't wrap cleanly, that Kaine ends up fleeing Houston without the girl, without the friends, without the esteem, and winds up ignoring a street mugging in his new Mexico home is both such a wonderful choice and such a punch in the gut. Back in the Stan Lee days of comics, the idea was to leave every book the way you came into it; at the end of the month (or, as arcs started to grow, the end of every story) the team or the individual would be right back where he started. That's kind of happened with Kaine but now we have a wealth of knowledge about who he's been and who he's capable of being. It's solid work and truly defining for the character and it's the best promotional work I can imagine for Yost's NEW WARRIORS next year.

Young Avengers 14

I think I'm actually incapable of leaving this book off my recommendation lists. Throughout its 14-issue run (concluding in two weeks, as I will not stop reminding you) YOUNG AVENGERS has done thing that no other superhero comic has ever done, and that's coming in an age where you can say that about a handful of books so it's safe to say the medium is stretching out a bit. The story, the self-awareness, the art, the layouts, everything about this book has offered something new to its readers and I think this is the sort of book that will reverberate in the years to come. This issue even goes so far as to do something that isn't entirely uncommon in ending a series with a number of guest artists on a giant-sized issue (the finale is two issues but I have a feeling it'll read just as well as one) but still does it in what feels like a revolutionary way. This is a series of vignettes about our characters as individuals more than it is a closing chapter for a team book. That's not to say that the next issue out, our true finale, won't bring the team together again to let us look on them as one, but this one has skirted that by separating them into the pieces they were when the book started; Billy and Teddy are together, America is alone, Kate is alone, Noh-Varr is alone, David is alone and slinking off, and the book is a team book that featured a team that was, overall, hugely successful. Again, I'd be very surprised if the series doesn't end on a more team-centric feel (I would not be surprised, then, if it ended around a diner's breakfast options) but this issue has seen to it that we get some sense of our team as individuals first and foremost. In addition to great character work, the art of this book is tremendous. I will forever champion Jamie McKelvie but I can't even say I'm upset that this book isn't entirely made up of his art, which is something I can't say about many books he's not even attached to. Emma Vicielli, Christian Ward, and Annie Wu (good God that woman draws a great Kate, what a steal to have her on HAWKEYE too) supply some of the best art I've seen this year in little five page pieces. Amazing stuff.



CHARACTER OF THE WEEK

I know, this post really should be over. The one time my post-game post actually takes longer than my everyday post and I'm LENGTHENING it, something I almost never do these days? Well I couldn't help it because how do you ignore the fact that Dr. Strange, a favorite character in his own right, appeared in FOUR SEPARATE BOOKS that he had almost NO connection to previously. We got to see Dr. Strange in LONGSHOT SAVES THE MARVEL UNIVERSE (which he did, in fact, have a connection to previously), DAREDEVIL (okay, again, he has some long-standing connections to Matt that make him something less than a series regular but something more than a strange appearance) (HA), DEADPOOL, and THUNDERBOLTS ANNUAL. Guys. Four Dr. Strange appearances despite no ongoing Dr. Strange book and no NEW AVENGERS, the only book he's regularly promised in. WHO'S COMPLAINING? I'm willing to speculate right here and now that we're in line for another attempt at a Dr. Strange ongoing in the near future. Between these four appearances and talk of an upcoming movie (nothing official yet but pretty much as official as unofficial can be) in the works for something like 2016 or something, time seems ripe to get someone on that. Hopefully it's Fraction or Gillen/McKelvie's next gig. Or, you know, someone else.

Uncanny Avengers 15, Young Avengers 14

Uncanny Avengers 15
Remender (w) and McNiven and Dell w/ Vines and Leisten (a) and L. Martin (c)

Steve and Alex are rushing forth to stop the Apocalypse twins when Alex is suddenly magicked away. Wolverine duels with Grim Reaper and Daken before also being magicked away while we get a glimpse of all the major mutant establishments and see all of the mutants magicked away together. Unfortunately for the Uncanny Avengers, Uriel and Eimin have seen through Wanda's attempt at treachery and have directed all of the mutants into their transport sarcophagi (not creepy at all) straight out of the teleportation spell, rendering all of them inert and allowing the ark to take off without incident. It does just that as Wasp rounds the corner, hoping to call forth Immortus and his band of powered-up people but failing to do so in time. She battles Sentry who reveals himself to be just absolutely horrifying. Thor shows up in time to provide support but they're not able to bring down Sentry until Jan communicates with some local bugs who tell her of another giant worm deep under the surface. She call it out and gets it to eat Sentry while she and Thor prepare to go to the Apocalypse twins. Cap, meanwhile, overhears the fate of Scarlet Witch, Simon, and Rogue as he prepares to attack the twins and it both causes him to doubt himself as a leader and to attack even more fiercely. Still, he's pretty easily beaten and forced to watch as Exitar the Executioner turns up on Earth to, as the Watcher explains to Thor and Jan, sentence the Earth to death for the killing of a Celestial.

Whoa. So there's a lot going on here and none of it is good for the Unity Squad or, in the least, for mankind. It's probably not great for mutants either but mankind is in a real pickle. One of the treats of this book has been the way that it continually ramps up the stakes without ever making it feel like it's going crazy. This plot, in its entirety, probably should feel like it's gotten absolutely absurd with so many moving parts and such high stakes but it never really gets to the point where you check out. By the same token, with the number of events that the Marvel Universe seems to constantly have, it's almost a little strange to see something this massive and this interesting come as anything less than an event. Such is the problem of events (or one of the problems, anyway): saving your biggest stories for events means that big stories in standalone comics feel somewhat out of place. Still, the story here is great and a lot of the character developments have worked really well for the series, despite being chock-full of characters and plot. Who would have thought that the death of three giant characters in the last issue wouldn't have even been the climax of the story? AS AN ASIDE, I've seen a lot of people accusing Remender of "fridging" Scarlet Witch and Rogue last issue, that their deaths were only there to make Wolverine or the rest of the team feel the stakes by sacrificing a female character. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard, just as the accusations that Remender was fridging Sharon in CAPTAIN AMERICA. In both cases, these were long established characters with huge histories whose deaths, yes, did motivate the males (and females, particularly in UNCANNY AVENGERS) in their lives but also who sacrificed themselves exactly the way that any male could have died. This isn't a new female character killed solely for a reaction. ANYWAY, this is already too long, just let it be on record that I do not agree with these claims whatsoever. Good issue.

Young Avengers 14
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Vieceli, Ward, and Wu (a) and Wilson, Loughridge, Ward, and Bellaire (c)

The foes have been vanquished and now all that's left for the year is the after-party. In an issue littered with excellent artists doing vignettes for our characters, we get to see some resolution (the two-issue arc that will finish out this incredible series, in fact, is called "Resolution") at long last. America and Kate prepare for the party and travel there together, having something of a nice moment together for the first time in the series in pages drawn by Jamie McKelvie and colored by Matthew Wilson. Emma Vieceli and Lee Loughridge provide the art for a nice story that shows Billy and Teddy working their way through their doubts and their worries as Billy gets a nice confidence boost from both David (who admits he would be with Teddy in a heartbeat if Billy were out of the picture) and, somehow even more unexpected, from America. The story transitions nicely into the Christian Ward illustrated story for America, which gives a fair amount of backstory and explains America's childhood to a point, which involves her mothers seemingly giving their lives to close portals into the common multiverse from their home, the Utopian Parallel. The Utopian Parallel is, as it sounds, a utopian parallel to the regular multiverse that was created by, get this, the purest incarnation of the Demiurge's magic. When America learned of her moms' sacrifice, she too leapt into the closing holes to find herself in the multiverse, where she could be the sort of hero her moms were and the Demiurge seemed to be. Now she's met him and, by her own admission, he's an idiot like everyone else. Annie Wu beautifully closes the issue out along with Jordie Bellaire to tell a tale of Kate and Noh-Varr making awkward smalltalk before she chooses to walk away. As they stand apart, looking at one another again, Speed shows up and yanks Kate away, demanding she dance with him. He has no time to answer her questions about where he's been and how he returned and she decides that she doesn't care anyway. They kiss as midnight strikes on the new year.

Look, I've said everything I've ever needed to see about this book and this issue falls right in line. Kieron Gillen continues to absolutely marvel with his stories and his characters and the realism and depth of his dialogue. The twist that America was born from the Demiurge and the events of this book is incredible and really provides the only true story in this issue, leaving the rest to character interactions and resolutions of relationships. To boot, all of the artists were chosen perfectly and each and every one of them brings their A-game to the issue. I'm so looking forward to the next issue to see what else it holds in store; plenty more great artists will be there but looking at this one will truly make you say "well who else could they possibly have for the next one? This one really covered it all." Great issue all around and there's no doubt that these two issues will be the absolute perfect way to wrap this series, if there was any doubt before.

Comics this week!

OKAY GUYS, homestretch of these long release weeks before next week (Christmas Eve is the Wednesday) gives us just TWO NEW BOOKS. AND THEY'LL BOTH BE WORTH READING (prediction: they will both make my pre-game and post-game lists). This week promises a slew of new and interesting options for readers and, for some strange reason, another two AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700.- issues. That is just a strange thing to be happening, you guys. Easy enough to pick out five most-anticipated though, as is this weekly entry's job. QUICK HITS TIME.

Daredevil 34
Barely making the pre-game this week over pleasant surprise LONGSHOT SAVES THE MARVEL UNIVERSE's conclusion, DAREDEVIL has been a phenomenal series overall and it's inching its way to its conclusion...before being renumbered with the same creative team. Okay, so it's not really a conclusion but PRESUMABLY we'll reach an end to an important storyline to justify the renumber. Matt will be back in New York this issue (I would assume) after snagging the magic needed to go after the Sons of the Serpent. Should be fun, this series always is.

Scarlet Spider 25
You want to talk about pleasant surprises, there's no better place to look than SCARLET SPIDER. A 25 issue run concludes as we see what will become of Kaine and his Houston co-stars as Chris Yost wraps up his extremely fun and always-intriguing tale of the dark Spider-Man clone gone good. Excited to see the end of this one, sad that it will be the end.

Thunderbolts Annual 1
Like with DEADPOOL ANNUAL a couple of weeks ago, this one makes the list thanks to its writing team of the Bens, Acker and Blacker, who write, among other things, the incredible THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR podcast (and the graphic novel which I still need to check out). Good news: DEADPOOL ANNUAL did not disappoint after I went in with high hopes for this team. Better news: I like THUNDERBOLTS more than I like DEADPOOL right now and I think, as a series, THUNDERBOLTS has portrayed the better Deadpool. Looking forward to it.

Uncanny Avengers 15
I dare you to find a pre-game list that doesn't include this book (don't look anywhere but this site though, in case it's very easy to find and I'm misinterpreting how important this book is). After the shocking conclusion of the last issue, this issue's importance can't be overstated (unless it can, which goes back to the last parenthetical aside). Not only are we racing towards the conclusion of a really long arc, we saw major characters die the last time out and now we'll have to see the effect of that. Don't miss this one.

Young Avengers 14
It pains me to say that we're only two issues away from the end of this series and the final issue will come just two weeks later. So incredibly sad to see this series, which has done so much in so little time, go. These two issues should be a lot of fun, though, as we get the afterparty for the entire series, with a ton of major young characters in the Marvel Universe heading out to the clubs. On top of that, we'll get a ton of big-name artists and colorists jumping in to highlight these final two issues. Very excited that a book that has changed the way stories can be told in comics will end with a two-part non-standard ending. Really love this book. If you haven't read it, pick up the trades when they're all released.

This week's picks

Slight departure from last week, where I couldn't narrow down to three picks so I cheated and stuck everything in. This week had far more books that I didn't really care for or that I downright didn't like. There were still a good handful that I really liked but it wasn't enough to make me cheat again. That door is closed. Until the next time there are too many good picks.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3

This is kind of my wild card pick this week. In truth, I think that both AVENGERS ANNUAL and INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK ANNUAL were better books, maybe along with IRON MAN and INHUMANITY. Still, it's hard for me to pick a different book than LONGSHOT because this book stuck with me most this week, which is saying a lot. I can't really even explain why it stuck with me except that it was fun. Sometimes comics trying to go whole-heartedly fun and funny can falter and feel so forced (point in case, this week's DEADPOOL). This one didn't. It flowed well, it was funny, it's hitting all of its marks, and it's a really pretty book, overall, with solid art from Camagni. Good stuff all around.

X-Men Legacy 21

Well obviously this book and obviously the next one. X-MEN LEGACY, through Spurrier's Marvel NOW! run has been such a wonderful character study for David Haller. Others have had nice little examinations throughout but the defining factor is David's personality and his very troubled struggles. I don't think there's anyone out there right now writing better, more complete single characters in any comic I'm reading. Between this one and Spurrier's ongoing weekly web-based comic CROSSED: WISH YOU WERE HERE, Spurrier has so tightly developed characters that the comic might as well run itself at this point. What's, perhaps, more impressive is that he's not content to sit on his created character; he's constantly changing David and putting him through new challenges. It's a tremendous series and this issue is no different.

Young Avengers 13

This post is taking me longer than I thought it would and mostly because I keep going back into YOUNG AVENGERS just to look at the art. It's a lot to go through and frankly, the art would be enough to put this book firmly on the pull list even if the story or writing was garbage but GOOD NEWS, this is a fantastic series with an interesting story, awesome writing, and great characters. Just overall phenomenal stuff. Like with X-MEN LEGACY, this is a perfect example of a complete journey, a book that's developed its characters throughout the course of the series to the point where their actions make sense here even as they do things we haven't seen in the series (David revealing his jealousy for Teddy and Billy in his inspiration talk to Teddy, America showing her sentimentality and her care for her teammates, something that's been building for a while, and the Kate and Noh-Varr fight, all perfect, not to even get into the main stories between Billy and Teddy and Loki). Really amazing series and an amazing conclusion to this series-long arc.

Inhumanity 1, Young Avengers 13, Secret Avengers 12

Inhumanity 1
Fraction (w) and Coipel and Morales (a) and L. Martin (c)

The Terrigen Mists have flooded the Earth, revealing new Inhumans all over the planet. To add to the confusion about the new Inhumans, Attilan has fallen and our core Inhumans are spread about the world. Karnak, one of the wisest Inhumans, has gone a little crazy and the Avengers try to talk him down before having to bring him down and contain him at Stark Tower. Hawkeye gets him talking a bit and, as Karnak relates the history of the Inhumans, more Avengers filter in to listen and ask questions, including the Illuminati and Cap, among others. Karnak explains the origin of the Inhumans, the Kree experiments that led one-time neanderthal humans to be enhanced and to evolve faster. He talks about the Terrigen Mists as a way to enhance the new Inhumans further, to prevent the Kree from ever coming back and trying to absorb them into their kingdom. With the Terrigen Mists came the splintering of Inhuman tribes, with many Inhumans refusing the Mists and separating from the core of the people. As they separated and spread further over time, more and more Inhuman children were born and then had children and so on, never exposed to the Mists. Karnak deduces that Black Bolt and Maximus brought down Attilan, an unfortunate side-effect to their true goal: world-wide Terrigenesis of these hidden Inhumans. At this point in the explanation, Medusa has shown up and questions Karnak further. Things start to piece together in Karnak's head faster than he can explain them and he realizes that he's made an error in calculations and that, to survive as the new leader of the Inhumans, Medusa will have to forget everything she knows about their past and their people. As he says this, he bemoans the fact that he was wrong and that he failed her so, all while using his finger to crack the unbreakable Wakandan crystal that the window is made of. The window shatters and before Tony can turn off the forcefield keeping him in, he throws himself from the building. They manage to get in and peer down in time to see his body on the ground below, dead.

Ominous start to this little event. It's a little hard to say what this event is going to entail and how long it's going to last, let alone the effects. The start was pretty strong, with solid writing and, somehow, still enough time for characterization. The INHUMANITY checklist at the back of the issue lists a lot of tie-in books but nothing by way of an event ongoing or anything like that, though I believe there's supposed to be an INHUMANS book coming, from Fraction as well, that will be an ongoing by itself, not serving as an event or anything of the sort. Still, this issue serves as a great introduction to the Inhumans for people who aren't so familiar but covers enough new ground so as to not bore longtime Inhuman fans. As I said, on top of the expanding plot and the need to educate, a solid amount of characterization comes through, helped by the fact this this book is a bit longer than a typical one, just shy of a true double-issue. Nice start to this whole little event and something certainly worth exploring further.

Young Avengers 13
Gillen (w) and McKelvie w/ Norton and Thompson (a) and Wilson (c)

Loki, as Loki does, was manipulating everything. He betrayed Mother, he created all of their resurrected villains (not the ones from the other dimensions, but the ones who directly impacted our heroes, except the Patri-not, who is still mysterious and about), and it's only after America sacrifices herself to save him that he realizes what he's done. It's not a full sacrifice, though the intention was there; she dove in front of the Ultimate Nullifier's ultimate nullifier to protect Loki but, of course, it was eventually revealed to be Loki-created so it goes away when Loki confesses. And Loki does confess; he confesses everything, even up to the fact that he's a copy of the old Loki who was left to destroy the kid Loki (of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY fame), and that he's not the murderer Loki, he's the murderer's weapon Loki. With the confession, there enemies disappear and Loki is able to save Teddy from being a chair. David convinces him to go to Billy and to give him the strength he needs, reassuring him that whatever it is they have, whatever started it, is really love. With their love rekindled, Billy is able to ascend to Demiurge status and look over creation, enough to vanquish Mother once and for all before being pulled back to his real place in the world (had he stayed, he might have fixed everything or, as Loki points out, he might just have broken it more). With the spell gone, the adults of the world would have been able to see the other-dimensional invading villains and so, rather than get destroyed, they all go home. Everyone (including Billy's parents) is restored to normal and Loki disappears, hiding himself away from the rest of the team. It's not the end, it only feels like it.

I'm not sure how much more I have left to say about this series as a whole. It's wonderful. Every issue has a real and defined root in its characters and the story has been built upwards from that. As impressive as the plot has been (or, perhaps, as the characters would likely tell you, as cliche) it's all worked because this book and a sincere love for its characters and for its storytelling, which is sometimes more important than the story itself. The plot of this issue involved everything coming to a head, all of the plots we've already seen including Loki's past, Loki's manipulations, Billy and Teddy, Mother, the Patriot, parents, Kate and Noh-Varr, America's past, and more AND YET, everything I'm taking away from this issue has to do with the characters and the way the story unfolded (and with the art, but that's a different bit entirely). That's not to lessen everything plot-wise that happened here; it's to show how well-formed and important these characters are. Loki has a huge, emotional moment. Billy has a huge, emotional moment. Teddy has a huge, emotional moment. Prodigy has a huge, emotional moment. America has a couple huge, emotional moments. Kate has a huge, emotional moment. Noh-Varr has a huge, emotional moment. This issue is normal length and it never once drags. It could probably have used more space but Gillen and McKelvie made sure it didn't need it. the plots, the characters, the questions, they're all resolved by issue's end. Well, not resolved, maybe, but addressed, certainly. It's a truly wonderful book with some of the most awe-inspiring art I've seen in comics in the last few years. That is to say, it's just another issue of YOUNG AVENGERS.

Secret Avengers 12
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice (a) and Wilson (c)

Mockingbird is still deep undercover at AIM and not exactly sure why. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much time to figure it out as she's expected, in the guise of her AIM officer, to give a presentation on a project she's supposedly working on to the high council. She tries to stumble through it but eventually Scientist Supreme Forson reveals that he knows she's Mockingbird and they bring her to the interrogation room. Forson's show in front of the high council only engenders more distrust towards him, which might be part of why a group of AIM scientists has gone to Maria Hill to try to work out a deal. A faction of AIM, not led by Forson, wants things to go back to the old way but to work with SHIELD more than against, like, as they describe it, Nazi scientists working with American scientists after the war. She's skeptical so they offer her, in exchange, knowledge about Forson's secret underwater base, where he's training his black ops team. She sends Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to check it out and they're quickly set upon by Yelena Belova and her troops and someone who looks and acts an awful lot like Avenger Shang Chi. By the end of the issue, Maria Hill has discovered that these scientists, the ones who don't want to keep working under Forson, are led by someone else: Modok.

Let's talk about SHIELD a bit. I've had some qualms with this series in the past because, by its very mission statement, SHIELD pretty much runs this op. Ask me how many times I've actually sided with SHIELD over the course of a series, let alone wanted to follow their exploits. I'll assume you asked. Twice. Steranko was a legend with them, Hickman was great with them. The thing about SHIELD is that, in most Marvel superhero comics, they're opposing the superhero in question in one way or another. Sure they might work alongside now and again and, perhaps, as an entity, they're not as bad as AIM or someone along those lines. As an entity, they're trying to do good. That doesn't really help the fact that they tend to oppose our favorite superheroes. The other thing about SHIELD is that, typically, there are ulterior motives at play. When done well, this can mean an exciting wheels-within-wheels story, like Hickman developed back in SECRET WARRIORS. When done half-heartedly or with too many irons in the fire, it can weaken what might have already been a fairly weak story. I had the chance to talk recently over Twitter (the only way anyone talks these days, right?) with writer James Asmus about ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD show, which it occurs to me I meant to review at some point and still haven't. Asmus was wondering why he liked the Marvel movies so much but didn't like SHIELD and I raised the points then that I raise now, about SHIELD being pretty terrible in the comics too, aside from Hickman and Steranko. He brought up the fact that there's no espionage element to it, no shady underside, pointing out that Captain America: Winter Soldier looks like it will delve into more (guys, it's seriously gonna be so awesome). He also mentioned that it feels like the show is limited in what it can use and not having something like Hydra or AIM is really hurting it. Why isn't AIM in that show? Seriously. Then I got to the last page of this issue and remembered a discussion my girlfriend and I had had about that very topic and about how Modok exists. Okay, whatever. The point is, this issue STILL DIDN'T HAVE WINTER SOLDIER IN IT.