Iron Man 7, Winter Soldier 16, Red She-Hulk 63

Iron Man 7
Gillen (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and Guru (c)

Geez, two Death's Head appearances in two weeks! Does he have a movie coming out or something that I'm not aware of? Without knowing much of his history, I vote overwhelmingly for a Death's Head movie, okay guys?

Anyway, let's get into it. I'm going to start most basic by saying this was a fun issue. Tony Stark, on trial by the Voldi for killing their god (the Phoenix, way back in AvX) among other crimes, gets assistance from an unlikely source, a Watcher-like robot named 451 meant to record all data for Rigellian scripts (or something of the sort) who has evaded his responsibility as a watcher in favor of a doer. He now travels around to help people and, as he says, Tony is people. 451 has little combat ability but knows about ancient law that can help Tony in this trial. In this case, he suggests Tony ask for Shay-Tah Run, or essentially gladiatorial fights to determine his innocence. If he can outlast his opponents for all charges, he'll be cleared. More than that, 451 says, after enough time the Voldi people might see him as a hero and demand he be released. The Infinite Justicar of the Voldi (the judge, essentially) reiterates 451's thinking and notes that the faith of the people doesn't really go beyond their lips so they'll turn on a dime about who was right and who was wrong in the destruction of the Phoenix. Also, 451 points out to Tony, the gladiators for the people are mostly hobbyists and none have as much experience as Tony. Tony takes them down one by one and is cleared from each crime slowly but surely. The issue ends with Death's Head answering the Justicar's call.

Like I said, this was a very fun issue. There's a lot going on with Tony right now but Gillen makes time for some humor and some fun ideas. There's also no lack of fun in the idea that the opponents Tony faces are all hobbyists and that he can win out pretty easily against each (though he worries that "eventually one of them is going to grasp how head-butts work"). Though we're looking at potentially dangerous situations and we're taking 451 at his word of being a good guy, we're able to look past the dangers to see some of the fun of this book. It's kind of a nice escape from the dark and gritty that pervades comics. It doesn't sacrifice a tense story for a light-hearted tone every now and then.

Winter Soldier 16
Latour (w) and Klein (a and c)

The key to a good villain (or one of them) is to make them parallel your hero. Sure you want some that are exact opposites of your hero, but by and large your villain is better if it's a black mirror for your hero, something that your hero can see himself in if he gets past the darkness. A good set of villains reflect multiple problems within the hero (which is why Spider-Man's rogues gallery is so known). For Winter Soldier, he's largely dealt with demons within himself and problems that he's created. In most cases, this means the past comes back to haunt him, but it also means that he's come up against a lot of villains who were him pre-Cosmic Cube reversion out of brainwashing. This new arc is going along those same lines but maybe even amplified. He apparently created this villain, the Electric Ghost, when he killed her parents as the Winter Soldier. More over, he explains, there are always people who shape lost children to their whims. It's what created him, it's what created Black Widow, it's what created the Orphanage, an island base where children are trained as killers that Bucky has to storm this issue. Everything about this Electric Ghost reflects something about James' past in various forms. The issue even starts with Bucky and his new possible-ally Joe Robards hiding out at one of Natasha's safe-houses. With that, we span decades of Winter Soldier's life (Marvel time continues to be very weird, you guys).

As I said in my pre-game picks this week, I wasn't thrilled by nor hurt by Winter Soldier 15, Latour's first issue. I think, in retrospect, that's a great thing. You don't want Latour to come in and turn the whole series upside down but you also don't want him to copy Brubaker to the letter. You want the book to continue and shape itself the way it will. Latour is letting that happen while also taking the themes inherent to Winter Soldier and building on them. You don't want to erase those themes or change them all around but you also want to invent your own story. That's what Latour's doing. It's also interesting to me the way this kind of parallels Black Widow's story right now in Avengers Assemble in a strange way. They're both working on behalf of someone they've wronged in their miserable past and it opens up a whole new door for pain to them. I'd like to know if this was intentional or if it's just a product of who the characters are that this would make sense for both. Guys, comics are interesting.

Red She-Hulk 63
Parker (w) and Pagulayan and Alves (a) and Staples (c)

Red She-Hulk is suddenly very much in the public eye after a few attacks on Echelon and some appearances to follow up on leads connected to the SHIELD of the past and the effects of the super-soldier program Echelon and the military are working on. On top of that, the military has revealed the identity of Red She-Hulk as Betty Ross so even her alter ego is discoverable. It's really quite the mess for she and Machine Man. It seems like She-Hulk is on her trail somewhere, though no where to be found in this issue, and SHIELD has joined Echelon in trying to bring the apparently rogue Red She-Hulk down while also keeping Bruce Banner, now in SHIELD's employ, unaware of the situation. On top of that, Betty and Machine Man are trying to figure out what has happened to Eleanor, the little girl who has warned her of a future where the super-soldier program works and has subsequently disappeared. Cornered by a SHIELD team that is surprisingly well-equipped and prepared to fight the two runaways, they disappear further and further below an old SHIELD complex until they finally fall into the hands of the Mole Monster, who may or may not be an even more grotesque than normal Mole Man.

What I'm getting at here is that a lot happened in this issue. There's a lot still right on the corners of happening, but there was enough in this issue to keep us talking for a while if we chose. It does look like there's a threat of a whole Hulk reunion somewhere on the outskirts of this comic, with She-Hulk on Red She-Hulk's trail as of last issue and Bruce Banner being kept so far from this (though it's possible they only included that bit to show why he's not joining in the fight, it feels rather Chekhov's gun to me) and mention of Red Hulk (though that could just be so we've covered all Hulks in this book, let alone the gratuitous mentions of Rick Jones and Leonard Samson). There is, of course, also the bigger plot of what Echelon is and whether it's a real threat or not. What I said during last issue's review still holds true for me; I'm interested in what General Fortean is up to. Is he a proponent of the super-soldier program because he wants his soldiers to be in top condition so they're, ideally, not in any harm in battle, or does he want to control a supreme fighting force for his own ends? Everything available seems awfully intriguing.