Nova 4, Ultimate Spider-Man 23, Wolverine MAX 7

Nova 4
Loeb (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Finding himself faced off against a fleet of Chitauri ships with no way to really scout, Nova attacks head on, going after the mothership first. He is quickly stopped, though, as he crashes through to find Titus, former Black Nova and friend of his father, now aligned with the Chitauri. Titus tells the story that the audience saw in the very first issue, about Jesse being sent home for the birth of his son and to find reinforcements, only Titus tells a different story. In his version, Jesse abandons them there and leaves them squared off against Chitauri all by themselves. Titus bargains with them, offering the Rigellian recorder for his life. With the recorder, they've built an Ultimate Nullifier. Titus also says that he fought and killed Jesse just a week ago. Sam refuses to believe him and manages to escape and snag the Nullifier on his way out. He blasts back home still without word from Gamora or Rocket and returns to his house to hide the Nullifier and wait for the Guardians. When someone appears, he goes to investigate, only to find Titus there, threatening his home.

Usually I dive right into my analysis of a comic. By the time I've finished reading and summarizing a comic, I'm ready to talk about it. Sometimes I'm not because I really need to let it sink in and I need to give my brain a chance to process everything. That's happened with Uncanny Avengers before, where I needed time to get through the darkness. Typically in that situation, I won't even start the review until I've had time to make my way through it all. However, I'm kind of stumped for things to say here, and not in a "I need time to process because I'm so blown away" kind of way. As I've kind of hinted at in the last few reviews for this book, I think that these stories have followed a pretty standard trajectory, starting at put-upon, seemingly non-special teenager who discovers that he's the chosen one and then goes through a montage about being chosen from people who guide him and now he's in the fight of his life. So this issue has simply added that there are conflicting reports about whether or not his father was an honorable man. It's hard not to feel a little like someone is phoning it in on this book but I don't even really understand why. Who was this book marketed to? Was someone dying for a Nova book that didn't feature the Nova we cared about? Was there an outcry of support from fans of the unbearably obnoxious new Nova in Ultimate Spider-Man, an unbearably obnoxious show? It's hard for me to follow the logic here but the magic is certainly wearing off on this book.

Ultimate Spider-Man 23
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c)

The issue flings us into the story one year after the death of Miles' mother and the attack on his father. Miles has been true to his word about giving up Spider-Man the whole time and simply wants a quiet existence. He's dating the girl that he was making eyes with a few issues ago who turns out to be Ultimate Kate Bishop (very undecided on that) and he's still chums with Ganke, who is, in turn, still annoying. Both Ganke and Jessica Drew (he hasn't told Kate yet) want him to get back on the horse and start Spider-Manning again but he continues to refuse. He sneaks back home from the school to go to dinner with his dad. On the walk to a Chinese restaurant, they discuss the lawsuit that Jefferson has pending which would make the police station pay the family after the officer inadvertently shot Rio. Jefferson and his lawyer are confident that the city will pay up, giving enough to put Miles through college and for them to either take a trip or move. Miles is uncomfortable with the situation but drops the subject as they arrive at the restaurant. There's a bit more small talk before their waitress Gwen Stacy comes over to take their order. Miles excuses himself from the table to talk to her and her attempt at getting him to confide in her upsets him, so he and Jefferson decide to leave. Before they can exit the restaurant, though, there's an explosion outside caused by the villain Bombshell fighting new heroes Cloak and Dagger.

Somehow, Miles Morales has become an almost entirely likable character. I can't even put my finger on why. I think he's quieter than these books would make you believe (he tends to have far fewer lines than Ganke and other supporting cast, or it certainly feels like he does. I'm not going back to check) and he's clearly very good-natured and a bit of a thinker. I find myself not particularly drawn in by the stories or the supporting characters but fairly sold on Miles even when I can't explain it. The writing still bothers me in the majority of the book, as we have far too much back-and-forth throughout but Miles is playing an interesting role. He's still grieving and will not be talked out of his grieving. Will the attack in front of this restaurant, putting his father and his friend in harm's way, be enough to snap him out of it? I guess we'll have to find out. I'm not sold on the introduction of Kate Bishop as Miles' new love interest (or, for that matter, Gwen's job at the Chinese restaurant they happen to trek out to. Peter Parker's world was always incredibly strung together but sometimes it openly feels like plot devices) but I guess we'll also have to see how that plays out. I am, admittedly, a bit excited about Cloak and Dagger showing up. Lots of things we'll have to see about. Far more of a set-up issue here, which is bound to be true on a book that jumps a year ahead.

Wolverine MAX 7
Starr (w) and Ruiz, Mogorron, Ruggiero, and Wong (a) and Brown w/ Loughridge (c)

Wolverine buries Dog the dog while trying to get Candy out of the area. Somehow Franky's men have tracked her and he can't figure out which side of this she's on, but he needs her to tell him about Franky and he wants to protect her, even if he's not sure about her role in this. Franky's goons find them in the Hills, where he's burying Dog, and take Candy before Wolverine can stop them. He searches his car and finds a GPS tracker, which he destroys before heading back out to Franky's place. There, Franky talks to him and asks who would be so stupid to attack him unarmed, with his tons of guards. Wolverine again says that he's going to kill him and gets shot like crazy before, right as he's going out, he sees Franky embrace Candy and tell her she did good work.

Like with Nova, I'm not entirely sure what this book's purpose is. Admittedly, I think there's more of one than Nova has because I understand that there is probably a decent chunk of Wolverine fans who want to see Wolverine being as brutal as Wolverine can be, which is pretty brutal. So I can understand the use of this book but don't forget that Wolverine being brutal is pretty much the goal of Savage Wolverine too. Is there really a big enough chunk of people who want to see Wolverine being brutal that it requires multiple books? In truth, Wolverine totally fits as a MAX character because his brutality and his animal nature, among other things, justifies MAX's existence, essentially. So maybe we just don't need both MAX and Savage. I don't know though, I'm not in charge of sales. Maybe we do need both. Maybe they keep afloat in their little corner of the Universe and no one should complain. Oh well, I suppose. More carnage for everyone.