This week's picks!

First off, a very happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. I hope that your various children treat you well. If you are one of those children, go wish your mother a happy day. And do something nice for her. Maybe buy her a comic. MAYBE BUY HER ONE OF THESE THREE COMICS.

Avengers 11

I don't know that this is the best issue that Avengers has had yet (in fact, I'd likely argue differently) but I think it's the most different issue they've had. I've been a supporter of this series since Hickman took over and I think that his story has been great and the conceit of the team has been phenomenal. However, this issue went a little more playful than any issue previous and, as a result, gave us a little bit of a deeper look at the characters on the team. I think that he's done a good job mixing in little bits of dialogue and small insights into relationships that tell us a lot about the characters, but this is the first issue where I'd say the focus is really on character (other than the ones early on introducing new characters that clearly had to focus on the histories of those characters). The story was still good and tied to what we've been seeing while also giving us a new avenue to explore. Overall, it was a great little turn from the seriousness of the business to still give a great story with tense moments but to also explore a portion of our very large cast.

Uncanny Avengers 8

The fairly brilliant thing about this team being dubbed the Unity Avengers is that the name both shows the ultimate goal and how far they have yet to come. The team is meant to be the face of A plus X and, instead of taking the easy way and making the team instantly come together and work through their issues or even put them aside to deal with the troubles ahead, this series has made it clear that this team rather hates one another. It's a pretty clear cut line between Avengers and X-Men (not humans and mutants directly, as Wanda tends to side with the Avengers) with poor, good-hearted Alex Summers doing what he can to keep the team together. Remender is writing an extremely interesting and suspenseful story that invokes a lot of Marvel history while making new rules about key players but it still doesn't overpower the story of this team, which is really driving the book. It's impressive that both ideas feel like they're getting equal amounts of attention because they both sorely deserve it. Another solid issue.

Astonishing X-Men 62
I'm very interested to see where this arc goes as Bobby may start realizing exactly how powerful he is while dealing with something otherworldly that seems to be intent on screwing things up for Bobby (or at least for Bobby's ego, maybe not his id). It's a fascinating idea and this issue stepped up to start explaining what we're up for in this arc. On top of that, we got to see Mystique in her rare but powerful somewhat-caring demeanor. She has some feelings for Bobby (or maybe she's concerned with what his powers can do unrestrained) and it shows here as she contacts Gambit to make him aware. Also, Liu delves a little further into Kitty and Bobby's relationship and gives us a delightful scene with Kitty talking to Wolverine (as played by Ron Swanson) about what she wants out of a relationship and her lingering feelings about Peter. So yes, a lot went on in this issue but it never felt chaotic or unbalanced in any way. Looking forward to this arc as we move forward.


Best Cover:

This award comes with a pretty clear bias attached. I love Fantomex. I loved the character throughout Remender's X-Force book and he quickly solidified himself as one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe, even with his extremely limited number of appearances in the 616. Still, he was so new and so different than anything I'd read in comics that he was a delight to read. Unpredictable with unpredictable powers and always fighting against the brain that wanted to hunt mutants. Splitting him into three was an interesting idea, one I'd like to see a little more of before judging if it's better or worse than one Fantomex, and this cover forces us to remember how interesting that idea was. Set on a backdrop of bright colors and kind of pop-Fantomex images, Fantomex Prime and Cluster stand side to side, ready to fight whatever comes up against them. It's a solid cover by Kris Anka that definitely appealed to me particularly as a big fan of the character(s).