New Avengers 14, Mighty Avengers 6, Avengers AI 9

New Avengers 14
Hickman (w) and Bianchi (a) and Dall'Alpi (c)

The Illuminati, in their quest to find some solution that's a little more permanent, continue to watch other worlds be invaded by the Mapmakers and deal with Incursions of their own only to find that even the most prepared worlds fall with very little resistance. This time out they find a world, Earth-2319, that has been separated pretty firmly into humans and mutants (with all of the mutants following their savior Magneto's example and setting up a new utopia for themselves in the mutant-established country of Tian) but one willing to work to stop the incursions and the Mapmakers. While they watch, every hero they observe dies, even the ones to whom the Mapmakers give the opportunity to flee. The alternate Reed Richards dies sacrificing himself to (very temporarily) save Dr. Doom, who was actually capable of destroying one of the Mapmakers. No closer to any answers, the Illuminati look away. MEANWHILE, the descent of Dr. Stephen Strange continues as he seeks a way to help more with the problems of these incursions. With his soul already seemingly in jeopardy from the way the Illuminati have been forced to deal with the incursions, he goes to the Sinner's Market (a Black Arts Market, essentially) and asks for a transaction that will grant him the power he needs to unseat planets from the skies. When brought to the throne and asked how much of his soul he is selling to gain the power he seeks (for the power he's asked about, he'll need to give up a fifth of his soul), he replies "all of it."

While seeing the destruction of Earth-2319 at the hands of the Mapmakers was interesting and certainly pushes our own Illuminati further into doubt and madness, the Dr. Strange storyline is the more compelling one to me at the moment. I don't know that we gain a lot more out of the Earth-2319 story than we did from the last issue, seeing the destruction of Earth-23099, except that we see Doom defeat one of the Mapmakers proving them beatable (at least in an individual sense) and, weirdly, a little bit sentimental about the loss. Back to Strange, though. Hickman's played kind of a long game with Strange and it's beginning to pay off. He obviously belongs with the Illuminati, given his expertise in magic and his position as Sorcerer Supreme but he's found that his particular brand of combat and problem-solving hasn't been entirely useful in the fight thus far. Now he appears willing and ready to give himself up to be the power he claims to be, a no-holds-barred version of the most powerful magician on the planet. It's the idea that Dumbledore would have dwarfed Voldemort if he had been willing to use the Dark Arts. It's been a real journey, mostly in tiny little snippets, for Strange to get to this point in the book and it's coming across wonderfully now. It's also a fundamental change for a character with a rich history and with a potentially richer future (there's plenty of talk of a Dr. Strange movie in Marvel Studios' Phase Three). Should be real interesting.

Mighty Avengers 6
Ewing (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke and Jessica are swapping apartments with Dave Griffith, operator of the Gem Theater, so that Dave gets to live in the Gem, which he loves, and Luke and Jessica and Danielle have a home removed from the action that the Mighty Avengers hotline will bring to the Gem. Helping with the move are Blue Marvel, Iron Fist, and White Tiger. Blue Marvel gets along amicably with everyone, though none of them are too familiar with one another, until he and Luke begin to argue about their pasts, with Blue Marvel holding Cage's criminal past against him and Cage holding Blue Marvel accountable for retiring and hiding instead of providing a seemingly all-powerful role model for African-Americans. It's a good argument and one that, particularly from Luke's vantage point, holds water. Across town, Spectrum and She-Hulk work with Power Man to increase his strength, learning that if he studies and feels a connection with the spot he's in (they test this on Liberty Island) he is able to draw more chi from the spot and therefore is more powerful. Elsewhere, Falcon uses his bird connections to follow a far-right nutjob responsible for burning down a bookstore that he claimed promoted Marxism and who Falcon suspects is working with Gideon Mace, former Cage villain and, more recently, murderer of practically the entire family of the current White Tiger (including the past White Tiger).

There's a good amount happening here despite the lack of immediate action and I'm happy to say that this one is, for my money, easily the best issue of MIGHTY AVENGERS thus far. We're starting to get a better look at the personalities of our individual team members and understand a little where each one is coming from. Cage makes a nice speech (that could easily have gone a little far into preachy but managed to avoid that line) about his visibility (though he fails to mention that he spent the better part of his career doing it to make money, it still hits the mark exactly where it needs to) and how meaningful it would have been to know that there was someone out there for decades even before him who was a shining, unbeatable force and who happened to be black. We see a little of Ava's personality as we can pretty easily see her dedication to being a hero (which we've gotten little tastes of already) and the guilt and hurt that remains over the deaths of her family members and, as referenced in the issue, even the kidnapping and deaths of plenty of her Avengers Academy friends during the events of AVENGERS ARENA. We get Monica as a teacher, Power Man as a reluctant student (not the first time he's been there, am I right Iron Fist?), and Falcon as a total pro at his job. For as much character work as I liked in the book, the bit that was maybe coolest for me, as a big ol' Falcon fan, was seeing Sam so perfectly use his advantage and come off almost as a Batman-esque character (though less angsty and less murdered-parentsy). Some very cool stuff in here, hope this tone continues and I also wouldn't mind seeing a bit more Iron Fist, if he's going to be around longer than just as a babysitter (though I also wouldn't mind seeing that).

Avengers AI 9
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Pym, Doombot, Vision, Captain America, and Rogue (pre-UNCANNY AVENGERS 14, as evidenced by the fact that she's not a charred corpse) have been pulled into the Diamond to fight Dimitrios' troops. They have to adjust to the inner workings of the Diamond where they're only limited by what they can imagine. Victor and new friend Gibson are elsewhere in the Diamond, being interrogated by anti-Dimitrios AI but manage to convince them that the Avengers, just arrived, are there to help and to fight Dimitrios so they reluctantly go to help and, with their powers combined, manage to defeat the horde of Dimitrios' troops. Vision and one of the other AIs work together to try to find the source of Gascheck, the app that's driving the world insane, but have to swear to the anti-Dimitrios group that the Avengers will help them in their fight against Dimitrios before they are able to get a lock on the app. Meanwhile, Alexis meets with her first-six sister, the gardener Eton, in the hopes of unlocking her memories further. Back on the surface, Maria Hill has given Monica Chang and new partner Jocasta their first mission and Jocasta introduces Chang to the rest of the team, a handful of varied-ability Jocastas.

This is a tricky series because it's hard to pinpoint exactly what isn't working about it for me. When I pull back and examine the story as a whole (little Inside Baseball here: I've been thinking of changing up the format of these reviews to break down the various elements a little better and to focus what I talk about with each book to make it a little more standardized, but that's unrelated to what I'm saying oh god why did I start talking about this?) it works as a fairly interesting story. I don't think it's the best out there or the most revolutionary out there but it's certainly one that's capable of holding my interest. However, when I actually read the issues, something gets lost in the translation (or the step before the translation. In this case, it rather feels like the translation is the better part). I don't even think Humphries' writing is bad, per se, I think it just kind of gets in its own way a bit. It feels like there's a lot of dialogue there that must be unnecessary as you kind of keep losing the thread of what's happening. Until you pull back and think about the story by itself, it's very easy to miss the forest for the trees. That puts this whole series into some weird in-between space where I want to like it and want to ignore it ALL AT THE SAME TIME. There have been issues, too, that felt a little less bogged down and therefore read a bit better. Come to think of it, I think I mostly felt similarly (though I couldn't express it as well) about Humphries' UNCANNY X-FORCE. There was something there and also something missing.

Punisher 1, Wolverine 1

Punisher 1
Edmondson (w) and Gerads (a and c)

Punisher has moved his operation to the west coast in order to stop some crime out there and to stay off the Avengers radar after things didn't end so well with them on the east coast. He's been out there a little while now and his first major mission is shutting down a drug running ring that ends with a big cartel named Dos Sols. He's made some contacts out in LA too, including an army officer capable of smuggling weapons to him named Tuggs, a young female police officer named Sam, and Louie, a local diner owner. While it seems Tuggs knows Frank's true identity, it's tricky to say whether or not Louie or Sam does (more likely Louie than Sam, who works the Punisher beat). When Frank ends up finding an HQ of Dos Sols and promptly blowing it up, it separates his supporters from his detractors, with some cops, Sam included, lauding him for taking down Dos Sols and some swearing to catch him, including the apparently deputized Howling Commandos.

I had to think about this issue for a while after I read it to try to figure out where I stand on it. Of course, it's kind of a fool's errand to try to figure out where you stand on a series after one issue but we're certainly getting a groundwork to base our future assessment on here. The thing that's most apparent is that Edmondson is very clearly creating a network for Frank to go to, something comprised of people on the ground (like Louie, capable of gossip and someone who supports Punisher because the kinds of crime he sets out to stop are run by criminals who wouldn't fear the Avengers the way they fear the Punisher), people in high arms places (like Tuggs, who seems to genuinely like Frank on top of a clear sympathy to the cause, illustrated by his willingness to smuggle arms out of a military base, an act the discovery of which would ruin him), and cops (like Sam, who has apparently taken a liking to Frank and understands the Punisher's place in the city). In fact, I think probably Frank is the person developed least in this issue but that's got a purpose too: this is still Punisher, the one we've seen for so many years now. Frank Castle wasn't about to come back with some kind of new set of beliefs so why spend too much time establishing what those beliefs are? Good issue and I think that it's more a groundwork laying issue (with some solid action and a couple of kind of fun beats) than many number ones are.

Wolverine 1
Cornell (w) and Stegman and Morales (a) and Curiel (c)

Wolverine is back after getting January off (haha, just kidding, I looked it up and WOLVERINE 13 was less than a month ago) and he's only a couple months removed from the loss of his healing factor and his subsequent beatdown at the hands of Sabretooth. Weeks earlier, he met with Storm to talk about (or distinctly not talk about) his new life as someone who will age and will weaken (if you believe that he's not getting his healing factor back, as he is currently forced to believe). He's averse to using armor and other weaponry at first but then decides he's okay with it and trains with Black Widow on using a sidearm and adopts new armor to protect him. In the present again, he's working with a team comprised of never-before-seen super-powered people named Fuel, Pinch, and Lost Boy to do various jobs for an overseer calling himself "The Offer" because he always makes offers to people that, in a line this book didn't use but very CLEARLY wanted to, they can't refuse. Someone from the Daily Bugle shows up to The Offer, claiming to be a contact from Sabretooth, and finds his life threatened only to be killed by Wolverine.

As I said above, it's a fool's errand to try to figure out where you stand based on the first issue of a book but it's also a little hard to consider this the first issue of a book when it's not even a month removed from the last issue of the book that preceded it and it's written by the same writer telling what boils down to the same story. So all the things I didn't really love about Cornell's "previous" WOLVERINE title are back in force here, including a shoe-horning of support characters who quickly go underdeveloped and an odd almost entirely humorless (not for lack of trying in some cases) protagonist and, frankly, some rather boring dialogue. In this story specifically, we'll have to wait a bit longer as some of the details as to Wolverine's switch from the X-Men to a weird team which headlines with a character named "Lost Boy" whose costume is simply an open hoodie with no shirt on underneath and a big chest tattoo that says "FIGHT EVIL WITH EVIL" become a little more clear, but I'm also going to be a little more willing to write off the series if it has a start so slow. I was hoping Stegman's art would infuse a little life into the book I found so lifeless with Cornell, Farmer, and Davis but I think it will take a little more than that to really get into this one.

Ms. Marvel 1, Loki: Agent of Asgard 1

Ms. Marvel 1
G. W. Wilson (w) and Alphona (a) and Herring (c)

Kamala Khan is a Muslim-American Pakistani from Jersey City who can't help but feel a little tied down by her family and her religion and culture. While she adheres to her culture and loves her family, she feels it's keeping her from her would-be normal life. In the spirit of rebellion and frustration, she sneaks out of her room to go to a party on the waterfront with a bunch of other high schoolers (led by blonde, attractive popular girl and purportedly fake-nice "concern troll" Zoe Zimmer). She's handed a cup of orange juice (not realizing it's spiked with vodka) and takes a sip, immediately spitting it back out but quickly realizing she's not really in the right place for her. As she leaves the party, irritated by Zimmer and others like her as well as by her friend Bruno's attempts to protect her, the Terrigen Mists sweep through the city and she's suddenly wrapped up in a cocoon. While inside, Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel come to her and begin speaking Urdu to her. They talk with her about her problems and she reveals that, if she had her ultimate wish, she'd be "beautiful and awesome and butt-kicking and less complicated," like Captain Marvel but preferring the old Ms. Marvel costume. Captain Marvel reveals to her that she's about to get her wish but that it's not going to work the way she thinks it will. She awakens to find herself trapped in the cocoon and punches her way out, shocked to find herself garbed as Ms. Marvel with long, blonde hair.

Very interesting introduction to Kamala Khan, the most talked about new superhero in quite some time (even as I write this "Ms. Marvel" is the top trend on Twitter). The book faces something of an uphill battle as writer G. Willow Wilson has to not only introduce the readers to Kamala, but to establish a lot about Kamala's culture and family. With plenty of other new characters, it's enough to throw them into their origin story and show us a couple of one-liners or fights or something else because we can basically assume they grew up in a certain environment. Here, Kamala's upbringing is core to who she is and, while that's true for everyone, it's an upbringing with which plenty of readers aren't familiar. In that way, the first handful of pages move a tiny bit slowly as there's a lot of set-up and a lot of dialogue but it all serves a really important point and it doesn't drag in the way you'd almost expect it to, which is to the book's credit. We come away from the first five or six pages with a pretty good idea of who Kamala is and what her status is as a teenager in school. The characters are all, in fact, pretty well-defined pretty quickly and it clears the way to focus on the story for the rest of the issue. It's rare to have a book that defines its brand new character so quickly but this one is certainly hitting that mark. The art, too, is a great fit for the book and the art style and colors give it a somewhat softer feel than most books of today. There's a lot to really like about this first issue and I'd trust it only goes up from here. Looking forward to what this book has in store and, for all the hype around this issue, I think it's living up to its billing.

Loki: Agent of Asgard 1
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c)

Loki, in his new body, is under the employ (if you can call it that) of the All-Mother to act as an agent of Asgard (hence the name of his new series). His newest mission? To break into Avengers tower and purge Thor of some sort of spirit inhabiting him that is making him base and bullying, turning him into...well, his younger self. Loki gets into Avengers Tower and has soon drawn the attention of every Avenger in the place (the movie team). His silver tongue and his misdirection, though, get him out of a jam long enough to go to the Avengers database and erase his file from its memory, vowing that he is not the same Loki who has attacked the Avengers so often in the past. The Avengers find him there and Thor attacks but Loki manages to stab him through the back with Sigurd's sword, a sword infused with magic that will make you suffer the truths you've ignored. In this case, it means that Thor has to look inward and realize there is, in fact, something in there with him, and it is expelled, Loki catching it in a cup of his own design. He and Thor talk it out a little while later (before Loki breaks out of holding) and Loki returns to Asgard to deliver the news and the cup to the All-Mother. As Loki leaves, the All-Mother opens the cup to find the old Loki, the original Marvel Universe Loki, inside, wishing to discuss the future.

I will say that I was a bit hesitant about this book. I didn't know Al Ewing before he came to Marvel but I liked his couple of issues on AVENGERS ASSEMBLE and then haven't quite liked his run so far on MIGHTY AVENGERS, leaving me more recently with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, a taste that thought maybe he was trying a bit too hard. Here, though, he's created a really interesting first issue that includes a lot of things that I'm eager to see more of. On the one hand, he seems to have restored a modicum of Loki's Gillen-reimagined character. I loved JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and YOUNG AVENGERS but JIM ended with the old Loki in Kid Loki's body with Kid Loki's newfound innocence in the world. YOUNG AVENGERS was a little tough to get a read on Loki, who fought himself throughout and left the reader a little unsure what Loki would be coming into this book. This one deals a lot with stories and roles. Loki, in his very first appearance in the Marvel Universe, took on the role of god of evil, warping it enough from god of mischief to a burning evil. For Asgardians, the role they take is as important as any other decision they might make and Loki, then, was locked into this evil role until his death. And so he died and now here he is with a chance to set things right. He's still Loki, he's still the god of mischief, but he has the choice to not fall into the god of evil role. Of course, that will likely be made more difficult with the OG Loki lurking around but it's a great start to this book. As anyone who read my DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED reviews or who has picked up on the fact that I quite like Neil Gaiman will probably realize, I'm a fan of the idea that the power of stories is great (also that I review comics for FUN - or profit, if anyone wants to hire me to do this). So I like the turn this series is taking to make Loki and Asgard mythical in the storied sense, especially on the heels of a book like JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY which focused very much on that idea. I hope this book continues in that manner, it should be a good run.

Marvel Super Bowl spots

Been a while since I've had any posts relating to Marvel across other media, driven, perhaps, by the fact that I don't care for any of the Marvel animated stuff out right now (whereas I'd been so happy with it just a few short years ago between Spectacular Spider-Man and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, replaced by the far lesser Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble. Don't know if that Hulk show is any good) and I keep tuning in and out (more recently out) of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. But here we go, the start of 2014 has brought us ample reason to talk about the huge year this will be for movies, with Captain America: Winter Soldier debuting in April, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past coming in May, and Guardians of the Galaxy set to kick off August (also allegedly in production is Big Hero Six, a Marvel property and another Marvel Studios film but launched by Disney and there's been very little talk of it so it's hard to say if it will really happen by November, as it's showing on IMDb). While plenty of those titles are still pretty far out and even the closest one is still a couple of months away, the most one-sided Super Bowl ever gave us a chance to see tiny, tiny clips of what's to come. Fortunately, the internet gave us a little more so LET'S GAB.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fans of this blog or my friends and family or the manager of my local comic shop or strangers passing by me can tell you that I'm a pretty big Captain America fan. Many of that same number can probably also tell you I'm a big ol' Winter Soldier fan. The WINTER SOLDIER storyline in Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA run isn't just my favorite Cap storyline ever, it's one of my favorite storylines in comics, period. So I'm particularly excited about this movie and hearing people like Ed Brubaker himself saying that Captain America: Winter Soldier is the "best movie that Marvel has ever made"only furthers that excitement (I KNOW, Brubaker's not exactly an unbiased opinion but he's also a pretty outspoken comics creator who no longer has any contractual obligation to Marvel and, while I'm sure there are certain benefits to the movie doing well for him, I truly believe that he wouldn't be heaping praise on it if he didn't mean that praise). It doesn't hurt that they put out a trailer like this one to get people ready:

Comics this week

Geez, lot of new books out there this week. Plenty to look forward to and more than enough to make up a top five pre-game book. Lotta number ones out there this week and they're just about all worth checking out. GUYS, this week of 16 new releases is SURPRISINGLY TOUGH to narrow down.

All-New Invaders 2
Still looking to see where this series is going to end up. I feel like the first issue was okay as far as introductions go and for getting a feel on the story but now we're primed to actually see the start of a team-up here and as an Invaders fan, I'm hoping that it goes the way I'd like it to go rather than the way I fear it going. Was that broad enough for you?

Black Widow 3
With so many number ones out there this week and so many other books deserving attention that surely won't get it because series launches are just more important in terms of an anticipatory pre-game post, it's crazy to me that I'm starting this post off with two books that are past number one but not fully established yet. This one though, unlike ALL-NEW INVADERS, gets the call because it's been absolutely great so far and so, while I'm excited to see how Edmondson and Noto keep creating Natasha's world, this one gets the pick because it's perhaps the one I'm most looking forward to this week as a comic I know will be good. Very cool to have that in a book so early into its run.

Ms. Marvel 1
Finally the long-awaited Kamala Khan, star of newspaper articles the country over when she was announced, debuts in the Marvel Universe officially as the new Ms. Marvel. I'm really interested to check this book out and you should be too. There are people out there saying this is just a big PR move, meant to force diversity into books. To that I say wait 'til the story comes out to show it was a story worth telling. I ALSO say that comics NEED more diversity so whatever the reason for putting more diversity in a book, as long as we end up with more diversity I'm happy. Looking forward to the introduction of a new character to lead a book. Everyone check it out, give it a couple issues, then decide.

New Avengers 14
I almost scrapped this one on the list for CAPTAIN AMERICA which, of course, I love or LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD which debuts this week from writer Al Ewing and puts the new decidedly older than Kid Loki but decidedly younger than grumps Loki and more a Tom Hiddleston-based Loki in a new role as an...well, agent of Asgard but, at the end of the day, I'm very excited to see NEW AVENGERS again. I refuse to get sick of this book and, along with HAWKEYE, I feel like it's one we've seen less and less of as time has gone by, like we had a surge at the start of the series and then an incredible drought. Oh well, it's out this week, go buy it.

Punisher 1
My fondness for the new BLACK WIDOW series carries over here as I'm genuinely interested in the new PUNISHER series written by BLACK WIDOW scribe Nathan Edmondson. This is a character I've never truly liked in the Marvel Universe (though I've found myself liking certain writers' takes on him) and I'm recommending checking out the new series over, say, the conclusion of MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, a series I've very much enjoyed, or the start of the new WOLVERINE series, based on a series I very much did not enjoy, or X-MEN 10, another presumably crucial piece of the only core X-MEN book I'm actually getting into, or IRON MAN 21, another step in the very intriguing Ten Rings storyline, or AVENGERS 25, a book that I'm sure will be very cool, or SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 8, a return to the main story after a brief interlude seeing Beetle's origin. I think that about covers all the books I needed to cover in this post. Anyway, this PUNISHER series could be good.

This week's picks

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of post yesterday. Time got a little bit away from me and suddenly I found myself across state lines and away from my computer watching a truly awful Super Bowl and a truly amazing Captain America: Winter Soldier trailer (why they didn't show the full amazing trailer on television is beyond me but WHATEVER). ANYWAY, here are the picks for this week on this special Monday edition of PICKS.

Superior Spider-Man 26

This one just edges out AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, which was a delightful little romp mixed with seriousness and fun, and THUNDERBOLTS, which I think is hurt a little bit by the fact it's been so good of late that a slightly slower issue looks weaker in comparison but still strong to everything else. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN was a nice travel through three separate storylines expertly guided by Dan Slott and a trio of artists perfectly matched to their portion of the issue. Really nice book, covers a lot of ground and gives us a sense of what we can expect in the coming months leading to the April resurrection of Peter Parker, just in time for May's Amazing Spider-Man 2 (the full trailer of which I also liked more than I thought I would. I think that Garfield's a pretty strong Spider-Man and I like the world they've created about him. Time will tell about the influx of villains and the look of said villains). Should be a nice little time coming up and it's presented and set-up well here.

Uncanny Avengers 16
Another issue separated into three or so storylines but this one with McNiven art throughout (I like Steve McNiven a lot and he's obviously a pro in the industry but I will say I still kind of miss Daniel Acuña after three issues without) and with the storylines merging and separating and merging and separating. I'd also say this has some of the best fighting I've seen in a book in a while with some great Cap moments and some great Thor moments (including Thor yelling "I CARE NOT" about a hundred times at varying degrees of intensity). There's been a lot happening in this book for a long time (Remender can get into some long arcs but they almost always prove worthwhile, as he's shown in books like UNCANNY X-FORCE and CAPTAIN AMERICA) and this issue might be the first time where you can really start to see that there could be an ending. It's been a great story but no story should go un-ended in comics (I know, crazy thing to say considering the nature of comics and the way I'll mourn, for example, the next book on this list). This was one of the books where I came away after reading it and felt like I needed to instantly read it again and make my girlfriend read it so that I could talk to someone about it.

X-Men Legacy 23

Spurrier again manages to do something completely unexpected and pause the game a little bit for something exceedingly necessary in the penultimate issue of David's run. This issue, typically reserved for part of the big battle or the culmination of the big battle or the wind-up of a series, finds David and Ruth finally officially getting together while the fight scene, which envelops much of the world, rages on outside. I don't know that pausing everything for this works with any other book or any other character but it not only works here, after reading the issue it feels like it was the only way this could have gone. It's a great story and, no matter the outcome of the final issue of this epic tale of the world's most powerful mutant, you can't help but adore the fact that David finally got something nice here. Also some wonderful Tan Eng Huat art and some great and appropriately jarring Jose Villarrubia colors to match it. Amazing stuff, waiting with bated breath for the final issue, as everyone should be.

Cataclysm - Ultimates' Last Stand 4, Revolutionary War - Knights of Pendragon 1, Night of the Living Deadpool 2

Cataclysm - Ultimates' Last Stand 4
Bendis (w) and Bagley and Hennessy (a) and Keith (c)

The Ultimates have recruited the X-Men in the fight against Galactus and their newest, perhaps most desperate, plan revolves around Kitty Pryde. Their hope is to use Pym Particles to allow her to grow to near-Galactus size (or at least nearer-Galactus size) and get her close to the cosmic entity before she phases through him and, if all goes well, disrupts all of his technology inside. It's a gambit but it's the best they can do on such a short schedule. They inject Kitty with the particles but can't actually get her moving just yet as Jean Grey, who Stark had trying to probe Galactus' mind for any useful information, is noticed by Galactus and he turns his attentions towards the helicarrier. While they start to abandon ship, Captain America jumps into a jet and flies straight at Galactus, ramming the jet into Galactus' mouth as Cap attempts to bail. The helicarrier goes down, hopefully after a number of people were able to escape with the distraction Cap provided, and Galactus remains.

The cover would have you believe that Cap doesn't make it from his jump out of the jet but the pages inside don't indicate anything specific and, with comics, specifics are everything. Without a body, you can almost guarantee an alive body will turn up sometime soon. This event is still interesting and still worthy of, it would appear, the possible conclusion of the ULTIMATE line (by the way, I think we've covered but it's not the conclusion as they've already solicited and talked about new parts of the all-new Ultimate line or whatever they're calling it) but I think, for how small and contained the Ultimate Universe feels compared to the main universe, the sheer volume of books about this event has hurt the tension of it. With so many books and an entire universe tied to its outcome, it's starting to feel, even amidst all the action and all of the big set pieces, that the event is dragging. Almost every event at this point seems to reach that threshold, an invisible line where the reader's interest inevitably begins to wane. I do wonder if there are readers out there who are just reading the Ultimate Universe stuff and have been following this event with bated breath. Do you, mysterious reader, feel like it's still moving really well? Am I tainted because I've read every major Marvel book in between all of these CATACLYSM books? I don't know but it's the inherent problem (or one of the inherent problems) with these events and I think this whole event would be wise to start reaching its conclusion.

Revolutionary War - Knights of Pendragon 1
R. Williams (w) and Sliney (a) and Gandini (c)

Dai Thomas and Kate McLellan go to investigate an old underground Mys-Tech base while Pete Wisdom and Union Jack go to Avalon to warn Albion about Mys-Tech's re-emergence. Both pairs run into problems as Dai and Kate run afoul of the zombies of King Arthur's court, intent on returning to run Britain. Wisdom and Jack find that Mys-Tech beat them to Avalon and overran the Green Knight and possibly Albion. The stories converge as Albion falls out of Avalon and into the underground base (they were together the whole time, practically!) and manages to lead the Knights of Pendragon again. However, it's short lived as their overrun again fairly quickly. Fortunately, Wisdom snags zombie Excalibur and uses it to awaken the Green Knight, turning him into a knight for today (something like a marathon runner that's PROBABLY a British reference but I'm not about to understand it) and saving everyone, even resurrecting Dai, who had kind of died during the battle.

I was rather looking forward to this part of REVOLUTIONARY WAR because, on top of continuing the plot that I'm having a bit of trouble really getting into, it was bringing in characters I like and know a bit better in Pete Wisdom and Union Jack. It, instead, didn't really end up working for me and I found the whole thing something of a headache and often more grating than entertaining. It does a lot of the "clever, too-cool-for-this" captions thing I've taken such issue with over the last year or so and goes SO FAR out of its way to make sure we know the key points of these characters. Pete Wisdom calls himself a cynical guy, like, a hundred times in this issue (I didn't actually count but it FEELS like a hundred) and there's nothing I like LESS than a sarcastic or cynical person constantly asserting how cynical or sarcastic they are. UGH. Anyway, the plot doesn't clear up at all here as we only tangentially see what Mys-Tech is up to and the issue serves as just a way to show off a couple more characters and to point out who's Welsh and who isn't (?).

Night of the Living Deadpool 2
Bunn (w) and Rosanas (a and c)

Check it everyone, I can write this review SO FAST and you'll still get a PERFECT sense of this book. Deadpool and his team of humans travel through the zombies and typical zombie stuff happens, with the one person in their group who was already bitten turning and going on to turn someone else before Deadpool kills them both, then the other three people with him get bitten one after the other after Deadpool and company visit a slew of classic zombie-media locales (ie Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, oodles of Walking Dead, others I'm less familiar with, etc). Deadpool, now alone, finds himself near a human commune ready to be invaded by a group of other humans.

This series is a loving homage to zombies and everything zombie in media and, as such, straddles a fine line between nostalgia, hamfisted reference, and Deadpool. The art is really the standout of the book, particularly as we already have something sort of this nature with Headpool from MARVEL ZOMBIES, but it still can't really cover the fact that this book is only going to be for the true Deadpool fans out there and MAYBE for the true zombie fans out there. The problem is that zombie Marvel was already done better in the aforementioned MARVEL ZOMBIES and zombies in general have already been done better in...well, everything they mention from Night of the Living Dead to the amazing Shaun of the Dead to The Walking Dead. So every beat is predictable in some fashion, meaning that the allure of these Deadpool-centric series, the draw of seeing some new idea, is kind of gone. I liked DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED best of all of these little series and that one introduced the most original ideas. After a turn through Deadpool fighting Deadpools (and at least the neat idea of a Deadpool alternate-costume for every hero they could fit on the page), we get to this. I don't know. I think the most I can say is that you'll probably know if you'll like it right from the get-go and if it's not for you in its design than it's not going to ever be for you.