Ultimate X-Men 23, Avenging Spider-Man 17, Deadpool Killustrated 2

Ultimate X-Men 23
Wood (w) and Barberi and Ho (a) and Aburtov (c)

A little interlude from our camp of mutants fighting other mutants and humans as we see Storm's most recent trip before arriving with Kitty's Krew. No. I'm sorry. Kitty's crew. After leaving the prison camp that was Camp Angel with Colossus, who had just killed one of their human guards, the two set off into the woods to evade the law. They traveled together for a while before Piotr, wracked with guilt over the killing and over dragging Storm around with him, went off on his own. Storm tried to get her head straight for a bit before being captured and sent to ANOTHER prison camp (geez Storm, get your head in the game), where she meets Blackheath and others. As Kitty's revolution strikes just miles from them, they join in the fight and, for the first time in a long while, Storm feels proud of what mutants are accomplishing. She can see the dream again and she can see that her people are energized and excited about what mutants can do. Then the cure is distributed, decimating their numbers. She goes to the distribution site, needing to know if Piotr took the cure. He hasn't, so Colossus is likely still out there and probably not long from entering this book.

There's not a ton to say as this is largely just past events in these characters' history and it follows the same general mutant line they tend to in the Ultimate Universe. Still, there's a good bit of understanding mutant motivation here, as we get a real glimpse into what an original X-Man is thinking about all of these changes and about what it means to be mutant these days. There's a nice touch where Storm explains that mutants used to feel special, no matter how prejudiced the world was against them; there was always the feeling that they were born with powers because they were special. In the revelation that mutants were created by the government, all of that uniqueness and specialness was lost. Things like that make this book an interesting read, but you won't miss much plot-wise or character-wise if you missed this one.

Avenging Spider-Man 17
Yost (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Avenging Spider-Man tends to be the break book from whatever seriousness might be happening in Spider-Man's main series. In this case, that means Spidey is sent to babysit the Future Foundation while the reigning F4 take a look into problems in the Microverse. While there, members of the Time Variance Authority show up claiming that they must stop the FF from causing "chronal devastation," as it seems their destined to do in about two days. Spider-Man gets right to the source of it, finding Bentley-23 responsible and threatening him to destroy the plans. However, the whole attack of the TVA and their hired hand Death's Head highlights some interesting things about Spider-Man, including the fact they know who he really is and what he'll be responsible for (they do not have the jurisdiction to stop him because his actions will not break time, so, I guess, loophole). As the TVA goes back to their own timestream, leaving Death's Head behind accidentally, we find that Spider-Man has stolen Sandman back from the F4's vaults.

I like Avenging Spider-Man because I think that, with him so prevalent in the universe, a team-up book is a clever way to show him interacting with the society of superheroes. It also, at current, gives us a window into what Doc Ock thinks about heroes he'd never otherwise run across, including Scott Lang, who he deems a thief, She-Hulk, who he deems an ambulance-chasing lawyer, and Medusa, who he deems acceptable (he has no idea who Miss Thing is). It's fun little bits like that that make this book worth reading. I thought the TVA stuff was a little heavy-handed ("BUT SIR, WE KNOW WHAT HE'S GOING TO DO! SHOULDN'T WE STOP HIM! ALL THE LIVES THAT ARE AT STAKE AND ALL THE DANGERS AHEAD??") but I suppose that's the nature of the beast. Overall, not uninteresting and intriguing that he needs Sandman for something else. Guess we'll look into that later. Also, I don't know Death's Head very well, but his five or so lines of dialogue make me happy he's stuck in the 616.

Deadpool Killustrated 2
Bunn (w) and Lolli and Parsons (a) and Gandini (c)

I like the way this book is going about things. I admit, I'm still not a huge fan of the killing literary figures thing in the same way I'm not a fan of watching my favorite heroes die en masse in books like Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe. Even though I think the conceit is pretty interesting, it hurts to watch him pick off every major character. Of course, that's what it's supposed to do. If it didn't the book wouldn't be working. So I guess, good job? Anyway, this book finds Deadpool killing off Tom Sawyer, Dracula and his wives, the headless horseman, and the little women of Little Women. My mom's going to be pissed when she reads that bit. Anyway, it's interesting to watch as each one flickers briefly in Deadpool's mind to the heroes they've spawned in his universe, as that's the whole point. He wants to kill off the fictional multiverse, he has to kill the inspiration for the fictional multiverse, the original heroes. When he attacks Captain Ahab at the beginning of the book (we don't see his death, so I didn't include it above), he flashes to Thunderbolt Ross. When he attacks Dracula, we get a glimpse of the Marvel Universe's Dracula and mention of those like Morbius and Blade, as well as possibly connected heroes like Doctor Strange. He kills the Headless Horseman and sees Ghost Rider and the Green Goblin. With the little women, he sees the likes of Black Widow, Mockingbird, She-Hulk, and Elektra. It's a pretty fantastic idea, if still hard to watch.

The story itself is progressing as he's having more trouble with these characters than with their successors (the heroes of his and other universes). He's still killing them in droves, but he finds himself more challenged by each one, eventually hinting at the end that he might need assistance. On the other end, Sherlock Holmes, having received a message from Deadpool's timeline, prepares his own force to hunt and kill Deadpool. This includes Natty Bumppo, Beowulf, Mulan, and Watson. It'll be interested to see how the story plays out, but I think still less interesting (to me, anyway) then watching how each character represents my heroes. It's stuff I can think about on my own, sure, but it's nice to see it put in front of me, especially for characters and connections I wouldn't think of. I probably SHOULD have previously connected Beowulf and Thor but it's just not really something I think about. Neat to see that stuff coming out of this book.