This week's picks

Lot of good comics in another week where a slew of great Marvel NOW Avengers books came out. Let's try to keep this one short and sweet, as much as I'm capable of doing that.

Indestructible Hulk 9

Team-ups with Hulk hardly work this well and I never would have expected this one to yield such immediate results. I guess, thinking about it, that I had figured Daredevil would run into Hulk and, in the typical fashion, would debate helping the monster over trying to bring him in. Instead, the two already have a great working relationship borne out of Banner's genuine preparedness and drive to help out. As a result, we get a solid team-up between the two entirely different superheroes and a couple of really great moments that help develop both characters and help develop this arc, particularly a nice page where Daredevil walks into an underground dive, gets guns pointed at him immediately, and is shortly followed by the Hulk bursting calmly through the wall behind him. Solid issue and a very exciting team-up.

New Avengers 7

We pull away from the ongoing story about the incursions to get a somewhat better grip on our group of heroes and the precarious position they each find themselves in. There's plenty to dissect here but the weight of the issue comes from Black Panther needing to choose whether to take the logical approach of trying to talk Shuri out of war with Atlantis or taking the probably more satisfying route of openly throwing his support behind a war. The Marvel Universe is a complicated place with many alliances constantly fluxing and, among all the nations of the 616, none is more complex than Wakanda. I'm definitely biased in stories about Wakanda as I find the nation and its hero immensely interesting as is, but this brings out a lot of the complications this country provides. Another great issue with spot-on writing and wonderful situations.


X-Men Legacy 12

I mostly go into books without trying to predict what's going to happen next. There are times where it's painfully obvious and I have no option but to subconsciously guess. There are some stories that are so good I can't help but speculate about the way they'll turn out. This one, I knew, couldn't end with David's powers taken away but I kept myself from guessing how exactly he would get out of it because I wanted to be surprised by the twists Spurrier created. On top of that, Spurrier is somewhat dedicated to going against convention, which he proves here again. Not only is David not trying to give up his powers, he's actively attempting to do what he had originally set out to do: end threats to mutants. On top of that, he's doing it by utilizing things he's discovered since taking on this role. The turn is pulled off so masterfully that I'm still shocked even when all the pieces fall beautifully into place and it begins to feel like there was no other way for this to play out. It all comes to a head when David notes that, whatever it is he's meant to cause, he'll solve with his powers because his mantra, "I rule me," still stands.