Captain Marvel 14, Guardians of the Galaxy 5, Ultimates 28

Captain Marvel 14
DeConnick (w) and Hepburn w/ Sandoval (a) and Troy (c)

The Enemy Within storyline ends as Carol discovers that the the source to all of Yon-Rogg's power, to his return, is a piece of him stored away in her mind all these years. With that piece, now amplified by the sentries Yon-Rogg has put into place, the former Kree commander has used the psyche-magnitron to bring all manner of Kree weaponry and haunts from Carol's past to real existence. That includes the dinosaurs we've seen, Deathbird, the Brood attack, and everything else strange in this crossover recently. For the finale, Yon-Rogg has whipped up his biggest creation: a duplicate of Kree-La, the capital city of the Kree home world, which he intends to bring down on New York City. Will the Avengers stop the signal from the sentries or will Carol have to take matters into her own hands?

You should read this book. I know I've been a staunch supporter of this series since its inception and have done nothing but recommend it on this blog but really, you should read this book. It's another good story with a lot of great art and amazing character moments. Captain Marvel has become one of the best defined characters of the Marvel Universe in an immensely short time. My girlfriend and I were talking about her character the other day and she felt, as the one who has read more of the Ms. Marvel back-catalogue, that this series was very slightly a departure from the character we've seen. There are aspects there for sure, like her loyalty and her dedication to duty, but she's stronger and more decisive, more strong-willed in this series. It's not anything that DeConnick has hit us over the head with but it's certainly there and it's certainly defined. Unlike other writers, DeConnick doesn't have someone piping in to say "gee Carol, you're so strong-willed!" every five minutes, preferring instead to show and not tell with her characters and their actions. Be prepared for some changes in the Captain Marvel Universe, which spans particularly across Captain Marvel, Avengers Assemble, and Avengers. If you want to get in on the ground floor of understanding what she's going through, pick up this issue. No spoilers here, at least not yet. But boy is it hard not to spoil things. Another great issue, solid event overall. This event isn't in the style of a really big, universe spanning event. Instead, it's an event in that it spans two separate books telling the same story. A crossover, really. I would argue, though, that it was a necessary one and a well-executed one. It's not an event in the same way Marvel does where the plot takes precedence and everyone's just along for the ride. Here this story has very specifically to do with Captain Marvel and the Avengers Assemble team is her team, so they're there because the threat requires them but also because their teammate requires them. One of the nice things about Avengers Assemble has been DeConnick's dedication to showing them as a real team who likes each other and who works well together. Of course they needed to be in this storyline as one of their own is directly threatened. Good choices all the way through.

Guardians of the Galaxy 5
Bendis (w) and Pichelli (a) and Ponsor (c)

Peter Quill felt the rip in space-time from issue ten of Age of Ultron and it's haunting him. Despite being wanted by the Spartax armada, he makes his way to Rigel 7 to talk to Mantis, hoping she has some knowledge of this or that she's heard something in her travels. She hasn't but she recommends he talk to someone more connected than she, though also significantly more dangerous, if he wants answers. Meanwhile, Neil Gaiman's creation Angela from the Spawn comics has been dumped unceremoniously into the Marvel Universe and, though she doesn't know why she's here, she wants revenge for it.

The issue starts with a long scene between Rocket and Tony about fixing his armor and about Gamora, which gives us a little more insight into both of their characters. It's rife with that snappy dialogue Bendis loves (working slightly better here since both characters are supposed to be snappy-ish throughout their histories) and Bendis uses Rocket to straight up tell the audience what the characters are about (humans are unimpressive and unevolved, Gamora has daddy issues, etc.). From there, they discover Angela, leaving Peter back on Rigel 7 (they don't know where he and Drax are) so they can fly back towards Earth to stop her from getting too close. Finally, Peter takes a trip across the galaxy to talk to the mysterious and dangerous foe who, if you've been paying any attention to Marvel in the last year, you will probably immediately identify, though the book doesn't reveal it officially until the last page, dragging a few pages worth of dialogue out first. Neil Gaiman is credited as a consultant on this issue, which signifies his "return" to Marvel, as Marvel has been thrilled to repeatedly announce. Not sure if he's actually going to come back in a role greater than that as we continue with Angela, his creation and for whom he got involved in a long legal battle with Todd McFarlane. The rips in space time are clearly going to be a big deal in the upcoming Infinity event and in this series presumably among others so it's useful to see them discussed and actually weighing on a character, but overall the issue moved a bit predictably.

Ultimates 28
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Charalampidis (c)

Things are as bad as they've been for the Ultimates with Reed Richards, Hulk, Quicksilver, and Kang (revealed to be Wanda Maximoff) gathering the Infinity Gems one by one, now only one away from having the entire set. Meanwhile, Tony Stark appears dead, Cap, Thor, and Hawkeye have all been injured, captured, and contained. Fury has a team prepped and ready to move but Reed's team is more powerful and is backed up by patrolling Herbietrons. All is not lost, though, as Iron Man has safeties built into his armor that even Reed didn't foresee and that begin wreaking havoc the minute Reed attempts to synch with the armory. To make matters more complicated, Reed's team is at odds with one another and unhappy to need to work together. Will the Ultimates be able to stop Reed et al before they send their newest recruit to the center of the Earth to recover the last gem?

Another solid issue of this arc from Fialkov as everything is falling apart for everyone. Somehow Tony's death seems to have helped the team and hurt Reed at the same time and we're really starting to see more of the cracks in the armor for Reed's team. Reed has started creating doppelgängers out of his own flesh (weird) and Pietro points out, pretty accurately, that those are the only people Reed could ever love. Meanwhile, Hulk is angrier than ever with humanity but kept in check by the Herbietrons. Pietro and Wanda, as always, are their own entity and hard to classify. I will say, as someone who isn't as familiar with the Ultimate Universe as with the 616, Reed's attitude is a strange one. He's far more flippant and casual than the Reed of any other dimension we've seen, which is a little weirdly jarring. Still, the writing is good and the story is better. Each character seems to be getting his due (not so much her due since there are only like, three women currently appearing among all the men and only two of them have lines in this book...one of those women is simply nagging) and the plot is moving well enough to keep readers interested. Should be interesting. Don't be surprised if it ties into Fialkov's other Marvel book Hunger, as both take place in the Ultimate Universe and have to do with the possible destruction of the world and more.

Comics this week

For anyone who happened to stop by the blog yesterday at some point (hopefully no other times) and found it down, my apologies. Something was going on with my Google account that was shutting down most everything connected to it. Really hoping we don't have any more of those any time soon. Anyways, onwards we march.

Captain Marvel 14
The likely climactic conclusion of The Enemy Within storyline as Carol confronts Yon-Rogg and the Avengers back her up. I honestly can say I don't know what's coming in this story but it, so far, has shown me again that events are best left in small and capable hands only involving a couple of titles and with a very limited run. This has essentially just been an arc that's run through two books for four issues, not a full-scale event in the way Marvel makes them these days. Still hoping Infinity pans out; I'm not sitting here waiting for Infinity to be bad because it benefits me to have something to write about beside my usual "pretty interesting!" tag. I'd much rather be boring and have great stuff to read than be more controversial and have crappy books. Oh yeah, but this Captain Marvel is the book we're talking about right now and I bet it's going to be a good one.

Daredevil 29
This book almost didn't make the cut because, as much as I love this book, it always makes the cut and this seemed like one of the few times where I genuinely wasn't as interested in the story as I have been every other time. It seemed like a prime opportunity to get another book in, like X-Men or Venom or Hulk. However, after I'd written my other four entries and was picking out my fifth book, I looked back and decided that I'm not going to leave a book out for being too good all the time. Instead, we should celebrate how lucky we are to have a really great Daredevil book that examines his character without throwing him through the worst of the worst at all times. We have an undoubtedly fantastic issue coming to us as Daredevil examines his own character through the eyes of former bully Hackett, a man he hated before he was gunned down in front of him by someone with ties to the Sons of the Serpent. Should be a nice entry to the series, like every other one. This book is just good reading all the way through.

FF 10
This book continues to be fun and fresh and the plot is going to an interesting place right now as the FF jump into the timestream to try to find the Fantastic Four. The Julius Caesar alien was a pretty neat guy back in his F4 introduction and hopefully will continue to be so here as he guides the FF on to their next adventure. This book has been surprisingly fun as its continued and it's worth reading every new issue as the team finds out more about itself and as Fraction shows us more and more about the workings of these kids and these adults. Solid book, should be another neat, new issue. And don't forget, somewhere out there, Doctor Doom is still holding Alex Power's parents and using him as a spy on the FF.

Ultimates 28
The Ultimates Disassembled storyline continues as it reaches all kinds of crazy new heights. Following the apparent death of Antonio Stark, the villains of this book seem to only need one more Infinity Gem to really reshape the universe in its entirety to their whim. Cap and Hawkeye are captured, Ben Grimm appears also to have died, Sue is separated, and Fury's strike-force team is preparing but is probably a bit untrained and certainly not on the level of the Ultimates, who were already handily defeated by these guys. They have a Hulk with Infinity Gems. Formidable.

X-Men Legacy 14
Hopefully here we'll find out a little bit more of what Legion is up to in this arc as he's now taken control, without any sort of permission, of several British/United Kingdom superheroes and appears to have decided that he has to do what he has to do, even if the people he needs don't cooperate. It's not exactly what the X-Men and others worried about with Legion but it's certainly along those same lines as his tremendous power makes him a worry for everyone else in the superhero community and in the world at large. As someone who has loved David throughout this run, I'm very interested to see what's going on in his mind; we didn't get that last time as we focused the lens through Pete Wisdom. I'm not sure we'll get it this issue but boy, I'd like to know a little more about what's happening.

Movie Review: The Wolverine

Movie Review: The Wolverine

Maybe the difference between Iron Man 3 and The Wolverine is that, as much as I tried to clear my mind, I went into Iron Man 3 with expectations. I didn't have specific expectations but I had some expectations about the way Tony Stark was going to be perceived and the way that Iron Man himself would come across. As a result, I couldn't help being disappointed by seeing Tony Stark play "Tony Stark," a caricature of the snappy but heartfelt character from the the first movie in the series. Audiences picked up something in Iron Man about Tony Stark that resonated, something fun but real. It was then misinterpreted as simply "fun" for the next two movies and it weakened his character as a result. I went into The Wolverine expecting an over-the-top Wolverine movie that may have been campy fun or may have been endlessly painful. X-Men Origins: Wolverine had both of those aspects. There were moments where the action, as over-the-top as it was, was fun and exactly what people going to a Wolverine movie wanted to see (when your main character heals, the stakes of each fight have to be raised). Overall, though, the movie had plenty of moments that were really bad and shoe-horned in characters that normal moviegoers didn't need to see and that fans of the comics weren't going to be happy about. My friend Phil runs a Youtube channel and recently reviewed this movie for himself and he touched upon a lot of the same stuff I'm going to be talking about. However, the biggest point he made is that this is a Wolverine movie.


The movie is set in Japan where Wolverine returns after being a prisoner of war in WWII. He was kept on the outskirts of Nagasaki when the bomb was dropped there but saved the life of one Japanese officer, showing off his healing factor and (then) bone claws to the man as they waited out the explosion and the aftermath in a deep rock well. Years later, with the Japanese officer on his deathbed, Logan returns to say his goodbyes but quickly gets wrapped up in several different plots for and against the family. It's an interesting story with multiple twists and turns and enough beats to keep an audience interested. More than that, though, it does a solid job to establish Wolverine as his own character. Sure, the burden isn't really on this movie to do that, as Wolverine is perhaps the most popular character from the very popular set of X-Men films but it's nice to see him away from other superheroes for a bit. Even Origins found Wolverine fighting alongside a group of mutant mercenaries only to inevitably break free a slew of mutant children and have a climactic fight beside his mutant sort-of-brother against another mutant. Here, there are three "superpowered" characters in the movie and everyone else is just skilled in some way or another, leaving Wolverine more on an island. Fans of Wolverine comics, though, will recognize many of the names in the movie as specific to Wolverine, with Mariko and Yukio heading up a movie that also features the Silver Samurai prominently. Frankly, the fact that the movie is almost completely in Japan is rather specific to Wolverine, who spends plenty of time there in the comics. More than all of that, though, this is a Wolverine movie because the main character is Wolverine. Wait, that's not as dumb as it sounds just...just hang on, it'll come around.

Wolverine is a very specific character. Sure, everyone is, but that doesn't necessarily stop movies from making their lead character a parody of him or herself, especially after he or she has appeared in so many titles (for the record, I thought The Avengers benefitted from Tony not being over-the-top Tony). Here, though, Wolverine maintains everything that makes him unique, from his attempts at removing himself from society and breaking from his past to his reluctance to get involved in another plot to his dedication to the people he cares about. Every bit of it is Wolverine at his core, in addition to the normal surly demeanor. A Wolverine movie doesn't work without Wolverine at its center and The Wolverine knows it so it doesn't ever try to make it about anything else. Every facet of the plot is about Wolverine and the life he leads and the decisions he makes. Of course, another important aspect of Wolverine is in the action he brings to the table. The fight scenes are all impressive and nicely choreographed. Fans of ninjas and everything that makes fast-moving kung-fu movies won't be disappointed (it's not exactly kung-fu but it's about as close as any Marvel movie will get until SOMEONE MAKE AN IRON FIST MOVIE). Even the most campy, over-the-top fight, a three person fight as they struggle to stay atop a bullet train, looks cool and is certainly as fun as it sets out to be. The inevitable fights against the three main villains live up to the rest of the movie, with no fight lowering the stakes from any previous fight. Still, the movie isn't all action as we see Wolverine get wrapped into another love affair, one that will be recognized by fans of the comic, who probably anticipated it from the moment they heard this movie was set in Japan. Wolverine and Mariko travel the country together to evade the people who need evading all while forming a relationship of their own. It's a well-paced relationship with nothing too out of the ordinary for a movie but it's a nice structure nonetheless. You really understand the building blocks of the relationship and you can see the movements from point A to point B without any real leaps.

This movie isn't on the same level, necessarily, as movies like The Avengers and Captain America: The First Avenger but it would have been hard to get to that level, particularly after the precedent X-Men Origins: Wolverine set for the Wolverine franchise. Still, this movie comes out looking pretty good when it's all said and done. It's a good plot with plenty of great character moments for Wolverine, Mariko, and Yukio, among others. The action is very strong and a lot of fun and there are enough moments of levity to break some of the gritty tension here and there. The villains are intimidating enough, even if Viper, seemingly a mutant version of something resembling Madame Hydra, lacks any real sort of motivation beyond "bad guy." Her inclusion doesn't ruin the movie by any stretch, though it does make it harder to appreciate her as a villain when even every other villain has a pretty concrete motive (though I might argue that the final villain Wolverine faces, not to give out any spoilers, comes off a little weaker by the end). It's a fun movie, perfect for fans of Wolverine and of action movies in general. It's certainly not without its flaws but I can't imagine anyone went into this one awaiting the Criterion Collection version. I was going to say that it was fair to judge this movie on a different set of standards than I judged Iron Man 3, since both of these movies had a precedent set by their series and one improved the series while the other, in my opinion, devalued it. While I do think that's still true, I don't even know that I need to temper this review in that manner. The movie is fun completely on its own merits and, more importantly, it stays true to the character we've grown to love in every previous X-Men based movie. Don't forget to stick around after the first set of credits to see a special scene that should get you excited about the next movie we'll see out of Fox's Marvel wing (spoiler: it's the new X-Men movie).

This week's picks

Solid week for comics this past week. There were 15 new issues out for review and nearly every one of them was interesting or worth reading for some aspect or another. Can't complain when that's the case. Still, I'm only to pick three of those issues for this, the most elite pull list recommendation I can muster.

Hawkeye Annual 1

One of the stand-outs about Hawkeye throughout its current run is just the impressiveness with which it's been constructed. Every issue jumps around in time a little bit or jumps around in time with the rest of the series. It's never so excessive that you can't follow what's happening but it's enough to keep you on your toes and to break up a regular narrative. More than that, it's great to let us in further to how the characters are feeling. The time will often jump around to indicate how a person is feeling or to go to a memory that spawned the current situation or mirrors an emotion the character may be feeling now. Hawkeye Annual does that a lot with Kate (double size issue means it can happen twice as often) and it works really well. We get a look into who Kate is and why she does what she does, which has been left out a lot of most books Kate has appeared in. On top of that, it's a really good story with really good characterization and a very nice theme for everyone's favorite Hawkeye. Javier Pulido gives us outstanding and different art from the rest of the series (minus the two issues he was the artist on) and it works really well for the change of pace Annual. Solid book all the way around.

New Avengers 8

I'll be honest, this book was the closest it's probably ever come to not making this list. It was a bit of a slower issue than we've seen (which is saying something, as there's a major war breaking out and an alien invasion in its pages) and there was a lot of steady competition. Ultimate X-Men, Captain America, Uncanny Avengers, Superior Spider-Man, and Scarlet Spider all had a shot at this spot but I think my love for Black Panther and Namor fended off the rest of the entries. One of the things that's always fascinated me about Black Panther, Namor, and Black Bolt was that they were mostly heroes to the world but, while that's a role that they play, it's not the role that they play. They're kings and they owe first to their people. Black Panther cares about the world at large and about the Avengers and so forth, but his decisions are made for the people of Wakanda first. He's the best example because he's the one with the least resentment towards humanity. Here we see some of the weight of being king as he understands what the best path would be for the people but he must cede to the will of his sister, the actual queen of Wakanda (T'Challa is the King of the Necropolis right now, officially). The weight of power is something that every member of the New Avengers feels and it shines through here best with Panther and Namor.

Young Avengers 8

This book continues to be one of the best Marvel has. From its nicely defined character relationships (that still have more defining to go) to its intricate plots and intriguing villains to its cheeky writing loaded with equal parts fun and weight to its absolutely amazing art every single issue, Young Avengers has everything you could want out of a comic book. This issue saw multiple universes, which was all very fun before delivering three could-be book endings. Any one of the last three to four scenes could have been used as an ending to the issue but it just kept pushing forth. It wasn't an ending that pushed on too long, either, like in the best example for that, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, wherein the movie ends about eight times before it plods on to the chagrin of the watcher. Here, each ending just ups the stakes for the characters before they move on. No one could say that this book continues past its welcome as every issue, and this one is no different, feels like it ends far too soon. I've read this series issue to issue, obviously, but I imagine this is a great one to read in trade form. So if you're not buying this book on a regular basis (mistake), pick up the trades when they become available. It has the feel of a series that reads well continuously. And that reads well in general. Just a good series, you guys.


Character of the Week

New segment for me because I had a whole load of best-panels/best-pages but they were all spoilery from, well, pretty much from Young Avengers, which also had the best cover and guys, I didn't want to oversaturate all of you. I still am going to, given who I'm picking for character of the week, but whatever. Character of the week is just, to me, the character who had the most impact on a given week. In this case, it was almost Captain America, who had a huge week in his own book, obviously, but also a bit of a revealing one in Uncanny Avengers. That's the gist of it. However, the real winner is, of course, Kate Bishop who had a fantastic starring role in Hawkeye Annual and a solid narrator/co-starring role in Young Avengers. I'd love to see more from her in Young Avengers but being the leve-headed one in such an eccentric group probably means she needs to talk more in authority situations than in the typical situations the YA find themselves in. Still, she has solid heart in this book as she breaks down for the audience the way that the team has been dealing with the horrors they've seen and there's a nice moment between her and Noh-Varr about who Oubliette the Exterminatrix is when they run afoul of yet another Earth a different Noh-Varr had conquered. Solid performance out of Kate this week and it's nice to see her strong re-emergence in the Marvel Universe after a couple years off (well, not including Children's Crusade, I guess, which merely felt like it took nine years to come out).

Hunger 1, What If...AvX 3

Hunger 1
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

After the events of Age of Ultron, the time and spacelines are split a bit and everything is wonky. Issue 10 of Age of Ultron showed Galactus popping into the Ultimate Universe (where he "exists" in the form of a swarm of robot drones and flesh eating viruses called Gah Lak Tus) and that's what this four issue mini-series is focusing on. To start, it focuses on Rick Jones, who is far more powerful in the Ultimate Universe than he is in the 616 and has been tasked by the Watcher to protect the Universe and who is currently trying to take something of a break from that life. He's unable to when he's thrown through a portal by the Watcher that sends him to a battlefield where the Kree and Chitauri (the Ultimate version of the Skrulls, pretty much, which are now also in the 616 thanks to The Avengers and Bendis' Guardians of the Galaxy, among other things) are attacked by the Gah Lak Tus swarm. It's here that the rift in the time opens up, depositing the 616's Galactus in the middle of the fight as well.

The Gah Lak Tus swarm and Galactus are obviously already huge threats on their own but this mini-series introduces the idea of two versions of Galactus teaming up and wreaking unbelievable havoc, among other worrying things about the rips in time and space. The decision to focus this, at least for now, on Rick Jones is an interesting one as I believe he's been rather inactive for rather some time (well, by his own admission, he's been incredibly active but we've not seen him in some time) but he's a wonderfully powerful entity and therefore is a good gauge for how strong the Galacti are. At the same time as this giant disaster, Fialkov is writing the giant disasters ongoing in the Ultimates at current and he's fresh off a startlingly good Alpha mini-series. I don't read a ton outside of Marvel and a handful of  other indies (and Scott Snyder's Batman which I have to admit is a pretty awesome book, even if I won't recommend it here lest it ruin my Marvel cred) so I hadn't seen Fialkov prior to this set of Marvel comics but he's certainly a capable writer with a good eye for character and a story to tell. He was recently on the Nerdist Writers Panel podcast and said that one of the approaches he likes to take is to tell the story of a character on their worst day, which is a nice frame for a lot of these stories and which tells a good amount about the character in the way he or she reacts. Solid start here. It'll be interesting to see how this resolves as I find it hard to believe the 616 will be lacking a Galactus permanently.

What If...AvX 3
Palmiotti (w) and Sandoval and Tarragona (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Quick note again: Marvel has to get their credits together. This is another in a series of issues I've seen recently where the credits on the cover don't match up with the credits on the interior. The interior is claiming Gerardo Sandoval is the main artist but the cover claims Jorge Molina, as does the shipping list I check. I went with Sandoval because I've seen more Molina art and it doesn't really look like his style. I could be wrong, of course, but I'm sticking with it. Anyway, glad this took up so much space because there's not a whole ton to talk about with this issue. Hope was, at the end of last issue, possessed by the Phoenix in the company of Magneto and Emma Frost and the Avengers space strike team was in hot pursuit. They get there only to find Hope controlled by the Phoenix and starting to be manipulated by Magneto, which doesn't bode well for the humans on Earth. On Earth, everyone is getting pretty antsy about the reports from space and the Avengers and X-Men put their differences aside to try to stop Magneto. It won't be that easy, though, to stop the master of magnetism teamed up with the impossibly powerful Phoenix. They have one more issue to try to do so.

I'd be interested to hear how someone who prefers comics and stories for their plots is reacting to this What If series. I like plot and a good plot can certainly carry a comic sometimes but it would have to be an insanely good plot to make up for weak characters. I care mostly about characters and think the best characters can easily hoist up a bad plot and make you forget all about it. This story is not about the characters. That much has been clear from the get-go. Events sometimes have trouble doing that because there are so many pieces to the story. It's why I liked the Age of Ultron tie-in stuff more than Age of Ultron (well, that and other reasons); I preferred to hear how these events impacted the characters I care about rather than how the story would settle itself out. Civil War was pretty solid for defining character because it was such a morality question and just choosing a side told a lot about character. Here, though, the character doesn't really impact the story. It's good that it doesn't, though, because every character continues to be either written exactly the same, in the case of any backgroundish character, or to their basest elements, in the case of the characters most in the foreground. Everyone is simply saying whatever best advances the plot and no one seems to have a personality to them except for the personality foisted on the stars of the book, like Magneto (hates humans), Cap (soldier), Cyclops (X-Man) and Iron Man (Avenger). On the other hand, pretty much anyone else could be swapped with any other character and it would all look about the same. Nova, here Sam Alexander, talks like he's been a superhero for years and is maybe actually Richard Rider under there instead of a 15 year old who just got powers. Black Panther literally says, in conferring with Tony about a scientific weapons device, "From what you told me, this thing packs a wallop!" which ignores the fact that the Panther we know would already know the exact scope of the tech he's using, would never say "wallop," and likely hasn't had an exclamation point anywhere near him in decades. These may sound like nitpicks from someone who's a little too into comic books (if that's what you're thinking, why are you here? That's pretty much ENTIRELY what this blog is supposed to be), but they really do break the flow and the weight of the book by making it feel like the writer didn't care about the characters, so why should I? I adore Black Panther, he's in my top five superheroes, and it couldn't have mattered less to me that he died in this issue (he died in this issue, btw). Sure it's a "what if" so I know it's not in continuity anyway, but I still should have felt something: I knew he wasn't actually going to be dead at the end of Age of Ultron and I was still legitimately mad when he got killed off (though that was largely because he got killed by a bad fall, the dude with maybe the best reflexes in the world). Here, it didn't matter. He was just words on a page. And that's an ugly thought to be left with when your job description boils down to "words on a page."

Wolverine 7, Wolverine and the X-Men 33, Ultimate X-Men 29

Wolverine 7
Cornell (w) and Pierfederici and Kesel (a) and Mossa (c)

Wolverine enters new life without a healing factor for what seems like the first time but isn't. Wolverine's been around for thirty years, he's lost his healing factor before, like you do, and then he eventually gets it back. No guarantees here (though kind of there is) but get ready for that. Cynicism aside, though, Wolverine finds himself surrounded by people that care about him, from Beast to Nick Fury to Thor to Storm, as he tries to cope with it all. Cornell again does what he does when the book's at its most interesting, which is taking us through stuff that we might not have considered about the little things Wolverine uses his powers for. In the early issues, he needed to rinse his palette with whatever liquid he could find so he could use his smell-powers better. Things like that have popped up now and again throughout the series and have been interesting, though quickly forgotten because the rest of the issue has gotten so bogged down with soft-science and over-explanation that the issue drags like crazy. Here, though, those things stand out because Wolverine has lost some of it. He cuts himself shaving, which apparently he does frequently because he shaves too fast, knowing he'll heal. He pops his claws and injures his knuckles in the process, though it's, in a nice touch, the least highlighted thing since it's what we've all already seen and what we all were expecting to see. He jumps out of the way of errant taxis. He gets pretty drunk on a lower number of beers than he's used to drinking. He's thinking about settling down because he doesn't have all the time in the world now. Those kinds of things. Add to it that the virus is still out there somewhere and it's now actively hunting down superheroes/villains with the ability to control viruses and we have another big showdown coming up.

This was definitely the best issue of the series so far. It moved a lot smoother and really gave a chance for Cornell to explore who Wolverine is. There's a lot more sulking then you'd expect but, at the same time, it's hard to say that's not the way Wolverine would be. His life has just fundamentally changed for the worse (he's not taking this in a sort of Deadpool way of "I'm sick of my healing factor! Take it away" before Deadpool decided he wasn't sick of it at all) and he's reacting in kind. In fact, he's taking it better than most people in this Universe would, but he's so often the tough guy that it's a little more startling out of him. The little touches, like I said, are always a welcome addition to the book and the decision to drag in several people from all walks of Wolverine's many lives helps to capture a little of what Wolverine's feeling. The dialogue runs mostly smoothly and the issue moves faster and with a lot less start-and-stop than the series at large has. Hopefully next issue follows on the same lines as this one.

Wolverine and the X-Men 33
Aaron (w) and Bradshaw and Wong (a) and L. Martin (c)

Quentin Quire and Toad are trying to fight their way out of the Hellfire Academy while Idie tries not to lose herself in it. At the same time, Wolverine is fighting Lord Deathstrike to try to find the Hellfire Academy while his team works out their own leads. It all comes to a head in dramatic fashion when Kade Kilgore takes something of a liking to Idie and offers her the position of Black Queen of the Hellfire Academy. With everyone at war with each other and themselves, who will come out the other side intact?

It finally feels like everything this arc has been building towards is coming to fruition, making this issue a little more action-packed than we've maybe seen lately. The issues full of nudges and winks at us about how silly this evil school is are through and there's real danger lurking. To add to it, it's hard to figure out who's been wrapped up in it and who's trying to keep separate. The noose seems to be tightening around some of our characters and it's a big ending to the issue as we see what we're in for to start next time. However, as with most action issues (and especially ones where I'm trying not to give away the ending), there's not too much to really sink our teeth into analysis-wise. The parts have fallen into place relatively neatly, if a little suddenly so that the tumult of the school can match what's happening with the people searching for it. Better issue than we've seen in a bit though as it sacrifices a lot of the overdrawn jokes to give us a real addition to the story.

Ultimate X-Men 29
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The army has backed off from Utopia and the Supreme Court has verified that President Cap's deal with the mutants is binding and also that they own everything they create, none of it is to be owned by the US government. In recompense, the US has granted more land for mutants surrounding Utopia, meaning that most of the inhabitants have moved into the suburbs while only a few have remained with the sentient seed. However, things start to turn drastically south as Tian launches an attack on Utopia, convinced that the world cannot see the mutants divided among two colonies. Instead, they should provide a unified front. Since Kitty told Jean that they had no intention of teaming up, Jean thinks her only recourse is to destroy Utopia until people are forced to Tian. The new war starts with a biological attack on the sentient seed and a strike team sent to Utopia. Will Kitty have to lead through another war or will she surrender to spare the people?

Readers of this blog will know that I'm all in favor of this book. I think it's done a lot of really interesting things over the last year and it's raised a lot of great questions about the way mutants are treated and the best ways to proceed as a mutant in the Ultimate Universe. One of the nice things about the X-Men has always been the philosophical debate behind them which is not unique to mutants and can really be applied to many minorities harmed by stereotyping and radicals. Here those questions certainly persist and Wood has added several new questions to the docket, including ones about the government and ownership and about war and peace. On top of that, it's a well-written and structured book that reads well and always looks great. I think this is far and away the best book in the Ultimate Universe right now and is in the upper echelon of books regularly put out at Marvel. It would probably rank higher for me if marvel wasn't putting out so many wonderful books but hey, that's not a problem I'm really complaining about. Solid issue and an impressive and threatening start to what is sure to be a solid new arc.

Superior Spider-Man 14, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 1, Scarlet Spider 19

Superior Spider-Man 14
Slott (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

The Superior Spider-Man has officially established himself as a force in the new Marvel Universe and now, with the backing (or blackmailing, I suppose) of the mayor, he's waging a one-man war on the crime bosses of the city. He's been taking them down quietly throughout the series, in the background of other, more intricate stories, but now he's at full-on war. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Jameson granted him use of the Raft last issue as a base and he's already enhanced that by creating weapons and hiring a veritable army of henchmen. His first stop on this new power tour? Shadowland to remove the Kingpin. However, patiently waiting out Spider-Man's purge of the underworld is the Green Goblin, whose army is snapping up the underlings of every fallen organization to build a rather impressive force of his own. Will Spider-Man turn his attention to Goblin too late?

This is certainly a very interesting story and anyone nervous that Doc Ock might too quickly discover his humanity and turn into just a jerkier version of Spider-Man is probably feeling pretty assuaged of that fear right now. This is clearly not the same Spider-Man Peter Parker was. He's not the ever-innocent young man who finds himself caught up in desperate problems and may regret the innocent way out later. This is a guy who solves the problem the most permanent way he can, someone who sees black and white in terms of what's right and wrong and who acts on it, even if it's not particularly popular. It's kind of Punisher like, but if Punisher was very slightly more concerned with who he kills (Spider-Man often doesn't deal with lower criminals, hence why so many henchmen are escaping to join up with Goblin) and if Punisher was an awful lot smarter. When this series was announced, I saw it going a lot of different ways. I'm happy to say that this isn't one of them. I don't know who would have predicted that Doc Ock actually becoming a superior Spider-Man in maybe not-so-savory ways was coming to us with the death of Peter Parker, but I'm certainly not disappointed by it. It's a nice change of pace for the book in general and it's an even nicer change from what I expected to get (which mostly ended up going back to "Peter will be back within six months." We've officially passed that deadline and, while it's certainly not unlikely that Peter will return sooner or later, the book is moving really well.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 1
Yost (w) and D. Lopez and A. Owens (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The days of the Avenging Spider-Man are over. Spider-Man doesn't really avenge any more, preferring instead to strike first, and the Avengers have him on probation anyway (my girlfriend pointed out to me that he's still appearing regularly in Avengers, though. My theory is essentially that if you have a world threatening problem on your hands, are you really going to not call Spider-Man? Seems awfully petty. Really, not sure what "probation" means for the Avengers. You don't have access to Jarvis?). However, he's still out heroing which means he's still going to interact with other heroes pretty often, and maybe some other villains, especially considering the way he was gathering them up at the end of Avenging Spider-Man. At the start of this series, though, he appears to have gone crazy, attacking and beating up many of the city's superheroes in what looks, from the outside, like something of a power play to show who is who in this Universe. But not everything is as it seems and, while it's a step above the old comics that had a cover showing the Avengers fighting only to reveal on the first page that they were fighting in the training room, comic readers will probably take to the explanation pretty quickly. That said, the book has kicked off pretty successfully with Christopher Yost again proving why he's one of my favorite people on this Earth with his delightful comics and the long-standing appreciation I have for him after the amazing Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (my appreciation for him and that show has only gone up after watching as much as I could bear of the truly awful Avengers Assemble cartoon that took its place).

Despite what I said above about the reason Spidey's attacking heroes being somewhat predictable, it's delivered in such a manner that it keeps the audience guessing until the reveal, wherein the reader goes "oh, of course it's just that." It doesn't hurt that no one is quite sure what to make of Superior Spider-Man right now and we're all waiting for the penny to drop with Doc Ock at the helm, so it's not unbelievable to the audience particularly (but even to the Avengers) that he would go around showing his strength by putting down the other heroes. Yost is also careful not to explain until he has to, not even giving Spider-Man any significant lines until he has to exposition a bit. Issue one is certainly a fun ride and the art helps the book stand apart. Running afoul of the Avengers again does make Spidey recognize the usefulness in having a team but he refuses to be a part of a team like that. Doc Ock doesn't play particularly well with others; he plays fairly well above others. Don't be surprised to see him using his own team in less of a "team" fashion and more of a "I will make you do what I tell you to do" sort of fashion. No guarantees, but it certainly fits more. Still, good first issue, solid writing and nice character ideas to boot.

Scarlet Spider 19
Yost and Burnham (w) and Barberi, Wong, Pallot, and Bit (a) and Lokus, Soto, and Fabela (c)

Kaine and Wolverine are still in the heat of battle against the Assassin's Guild and the matter is complicated more by the appearance of the mysterious Red Death, someone who had been killed by the X-Men at some point in the past, according to a little bit of a flashback for Wolverine. The Assassin's Guild is caught totally off-guard by her and isn't quite sure how to proceed. Belladonna wants to stay in her good graces and work alongside her, fearing her retribution, while many in the Guild seem to think Wolverine and Kaine have a good shot at killing her, keeping them potentially alive. Kaine and Wolverine continue to interact pretty flawlessly with one another and the writing is quick and fun. The threat itself is pretty intimidating as well, which helps the book. Kaine uses a bit of wily thinking and he and Wolverine work well together (making it honestly a little sad that they've sworn never to work together again, a promise that I can't imagine will be broken given the ending of this issue). Still, there seems almost no respite as they have to battle the Red Death herself and, if they should happen to survive that fight, they'll still be facing the Assassin's Guild. Read the issue to find out if and how they manage it.

The thing that impresses me most about Christopher Yost is the ease that he seems to have slipping into characters. Everyone he writes has their moments of humor, like everyone in real life, all while sticking to their basic character. Obviously Kaine and Spider-Man are both characters he writes regularly, so there aren't many surprises there, but even when he throws guests into any of the books (which he's had to do with regularity, particularly since the Spider-Man book he writes is entirely made up of guest appearances), he manages to write them within their own character but in a manner that slides so well into the tone of the book and alongside the tone of his main character. It was certainly what drove Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the dialogue between characters and the way that they fit alongside one another, and it continues to work perfectly in the books he gets involved in. Scarlet Spider is reaching its 20th issue and is really roaring along. Each issue is interesting in some way or another and the characters have developed nicely, particularly Kaine and Aracely. This book is always entertaining and always worth reading. Just a fun book.

Gambit 15, Journey into Mystery 654

Gambit 15
Asmus (w) and C. Mann and S. Mann (a) and Rosenberg (c)

After weeks of impressive thievery, Gambit finds himself at a bit of a crossroads. Is the thievery fulfilling enough to return to full time? Should he go teach at the Jean Grey School again? Would he make an awful Avenger if he took up Rogue's offer of joining the Unity Avengers? Could he and Pete Wisdom get along together if he went to work for him, taking up an offer that I'm not sure was ever extended? To add to it, he's brought more than a little attention to himself in the thieving community with his recent exploits and now someone is trying to get to him by stealing the NYSE bell, which signifies the start of the day for the stock market and which was always a goal of Gambit's, and leaving clues that he's sure to respond to. He and Fence investigate but it's likely Gambit won't like where the investigation leads.

This probably final arc of Gambit (not sure how long the arc is planning to go but the book isn't far from its final issue) will see Gambit pitted against his past, among probably other things and it's off to an interesting start as Remy has to start piecing things together here to try to get a jump on someone who clearly has a significant jump on him. This isn't like Joelle or Cich, who he had to get involved with before they knew who he was; this is someone who is targeting Gambit for one reason or another who Gambit has to work backwards to match. The writing of this book, as it has for a while, alternates between fluidity and somewhat clunky dialogue with Gambit throwing in a few somewhat forced jokes to keep up his "wisecracking Cajun" persona. There are a couple of vague references to distaste with the 1% and wealth and everything but none of it really adds to his character as none of it is said with any sort of passion beyond "ah well, I'd like ta steal from more people and they have a lotta money and Robin Hood, ya know?" (Perfect Gambit, nailed it) That's been kind of an issue with this series throughout; for everything we've seen from Gambit I'm not sure we've actually learned anything new about the character or anything even particularly compelling. Sure he had a love interest in Joelle mixed against his love for Rogue but the things we knew about Gambit prior to this, the things that were set in stone for his character, were essentially "thief," "Cajun," "womanizer," and "wisecracking." I don't know that anything in this series has characterized him beyond that in any way, leaving the series still readable and enjoyable, but somewhat forgettable. Can every issue bring some revelatory truth about a character? I don't know, probably not. But some should. I can't honestly say that any have, to this point, in this series.

Journey into Mystery 654
K. Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

Sif and Bill are dealing with their problems in their various manners, with Sif trying to track Gaea and Bill agonizing over the loss of Skuttlebutt. Sif manages to find Gaea in the garden Bill had been rejected from and discovers that the garden has worked wonders on the All-Mother, leaving her rejuvenated and fresh. Sif doesn't feel comfortable with how quickly it's happened and wants to return Gaea to Asgardia but Gaea is wary of that, as she feels her sickness was brought on by all of the Stark Technology used to build Asgardia leaving her with little real plant life to keep her happy. Meanwhile, Bill has been found by Skuttlebutt, now inhabiting the thought-dead body of Ti Asha Ra, pulled out of the ship by the entity that's driving this whole story and put into the new body. Something sinister is afoot and Sif needs to get to the bottom of it before it corrupts everything.

Unlike Gambit, there's less that's been explored in Sif's character over the years so there's more for Immonen to really introduce for her. That said, I don't think it's been an easy task for Immonen to take a great warrior of Asgard(ia) and cast her in this new light, one that really gives her a full-fledged personality and one that, at times, has the ability to be something silly and fun. Frankly, this book has been astoundingly good each issue and it's almost entirely on the back of Sif, who does exactly what's needed of her for the plot but does it with a character that's wholly entertaining. This story is certainly an interesting one with some sinister machinations behind it and a solid mystery for Bill and Sif to get to the bottom of but the driving force is certainly the writing and the characters themselves. Like I said with Gambit, there are times where certain writers know that the dialogue should be fun but don't seem to have anything particularly fun to say, so they strong arm some predictable joke in to take advantage of the timing. Here, as with just about every issue of Immonen's JiM, the writing flows pretty naturally and the quick and fun writing catches you off-guard. Sometimes the humor comes from the situation, sometimes it comes from the snappy dialogue, sometimes it comes from the tried-and-true Asgardians talk funny method but it almost all always works. Schiti's art perfectly compliments it, giving exactly the right feel to every situation and Bellaire's colors continue to be among the best in the industry. Letterer Clayton Cowles gets in on the fun too, setting up word bubbles nicely to give a sense of flow to the conversation, directing your eyes to read the dialogue the way its meant to be read (I don't highlight letterers enough but they do some pretty astounding work. The general rule of thumb is that if you're pointing out a letterer, it's never because they've done something well, just because they've screwed something up. They're kind of the referees of comics). Solid book throughout and another particularly good issue. Here's a panel from this issue because I found it especially funny (not sure it is out of context but whatever, my blog my rules) and I don't think I'm going to highlight it at any other time this week.

Captain America 9, Hawkeye Annual 1

Captain America 9
Remender (w) and Romita Jr. and Janson w/ Hanna and Palmer (a) and White (c)

Sharon has arrived in Dimension Z, telling Cap that everything that's happened must be false memories or some other manner of brain manipulation; he can't have been here ten years because she followed right behind him through the portal. Everything, this now included, sends Cap a little off the deep end. He's dealt with a lot already this series and now, bruised and beaten with his adopted son apparently dead, shot by the woman he loves, while she tells him that it was all a dream seems too much to bear. Still, he's Captain America so even at his lowest he stands and, instead of leaving with Sharon immediately, demands they go save Jet, who is still working to free the Phrox.

Plenty happens in this issue, no less the idea, planted into Cap's head, that this may have all been a dream. He will not believe it but Sharon is adamant. Whether she truly believes it or if she thinks this is the fastest way to get Steve standing is debatable (though the first instinct, if she did follow just moments behind Steve, is obviously to believe that this isn't real, Sharon's certainly seen enough in her time to accept it as real), but the revelation that it could have been a dream really floors Steve. Still, his mantra of "always stand up" kicks back in and he manages to revive himself enough to keep moving and to attack Zola on Jet's behalf. There's more interesting stuff with Jet that rings up more questions about her character and what she's working for but one of the most interesting parts to me is the way that Remender has played this whole arc nicely into Uncanny Avengers. We were told in that book that Cap has just returned from Dimension Z, which no one else knows, and that plays into why he's so on edge. At first, there's a real sense that his anger at Logan is driven by what Logan's done, then the first instinct after you learn this is post-Dimension Z is that Steve's just been through a lot and he takes it out on Logan. However, knowing what we know about this series and about what made him so mad at Logan, we can really start to see deeper into what's happened with Steve. He's mad at logan because Logan killed a child who was bred to be evil but was still only a child. Remind you of anyone? It certainly should and it gives us pause as to how he's going to react to Sharon with this attitude. Another solid issue. The conclusion of this first arc comes next issue and the fallout will probably come with it.

Hawkeye Annual 1
Fraction (w) and Pulido (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Annuals, for those unaware, tend to be given to popular books at Marvel and are generally a double-size issue that may or may not be pertinent to the story at hand. You don't want to assume that everyone buying the series will buy the annual so you don't want to load it with too much giant stuff but you also want to give everyone a good read and a read that falls within the scope of the book that spawned the annual, especially since annuals tend to be more expensive. This one is 4.99 instead of Hawkeye's typical 2.99 (I believe it's still one of the 2.99 books; it might be 3.99 and I'm too far away to look at old issues right now. Well I could. But I won't. Could I look it up on the internet? Yup. But we're really already taking too much time from the review). With that in mind, you should buy this book despite its cost and its possibility to be skipped (I'm not sure it is really possible to be skipped at this point but I think you could gain just about everything you need to gain for the future out of past issues and future issues. Hard to say as I, too, am not in the future). This annual focuses on Kate Bishop, the Lady Hawkguy, the Hawkeye, the Young Avenger, and so on, and her travel westward. She's done with Clint and his desire to push everyone away when he needs them most and she refuses to be dragged down by him. With Lucky in tow, she drives out to California, happy to get away for at least a little bit and desperate to figure out who she wants to be in this world. However, she's not the only person interested in her identity (perfect segue); Madame Masque, who Kate royally pissed off back in Hawkeyes 4 and 5, has had her ear to the ground all this time, waiting for Katie Kate to resurface. Now Kate has to get away from a solid Marvel villain as well as the people she actually cares about, though frankly Madame Masque is the more threatening in that situation.

This is a phenomenal issue with a lot of fun energy from Kate, some good twists and turns, and a great emotional core to it that gives us a lot of background into Kate's life as well as her motivations for doing what she does. Kate's been around in the Marvel Universe for a while now but she's still something of a mystery, in truth. I think, because she's been here so long and she's so personable, it's easy to forget that we don't know all that much about her. Maybe it's because there's not much to know; she doesn't have a hugely tragic background like Spider-Man or Iron Fist (guys, his mom was eaten by wolves practically in front of him). Her mother died and her father is a powerful business man who remarried someone not much older than Kate. He seems to be a good enough guy (he had been, if I'm remembering right, more overprotective in the original Young Avengers books than he seems to be in this one) but he's not a terribly interesting character nor a terribly interesting backdrop for the drama we crave from our superheroes. So where does the mystery come in? It's the question of why for Kate, and a little bit the question of how. They're, of course, interconnected and well explained here. The truth is, beyond this explanation, you don't necessarily need much. Heroes don't need to have a harrowing story behind them; they need to be heroes. Still, it's nice to have Fraction know that and, instead of trying to spice up Kate's past with darkness that she had to overcome, highlight the aspects of Kate that make her who she is. Great issue. Pulido's art is decidedly a switch from Aja's and gives the book a completely different feel. I can't quite put my finger on what I'm thinking of when I see it but it reminds me of an older time in comics. It's pretty gorgeous and there are some really great moments with it. Spend the five dollars, dudes. It's worth it.

New Avengers 8, Uncanny Avengers 10, Young Avengers 8

New Avengers 8
Hickman (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

Infinity seems to be kicking off and there are clearly lots of things that Hickman really wants to do with this event. It's exciting but, at the same time, a little intimidating. So let's see what it has to do with our New Avengers. One of the trickiest bits, to start, is that it's hard to say chronologically how things are going. Iron Man is back on Earth in this issue and the Avengers are not. None of those things are true in either Iron Man or the Avengers right now, but it's where we stand at the start of New Avengers. We also stand on the precipice of war between Atlantis and Wakanda and, in fact, Wakanda is taking the first steps. In addition, Black Bolt is hiding things from everyone and now has machines in place, thanks to his brother Maximus (who comes off a little crazy in this issue but mostly fun, honestly), for seemingly ill purposes, including something to do with the terrigen mists. More will likely be explained down the road. Finally, an invasion starts on Earth, leaving the New Avengers the most available force to fight it.

Right now the event and, in turn, this book are both a little chaotic. On top of the fact that this seems to fall very slightly out of order, giving the reader a sense that he's missed something (he's right, but how much he's missed that's necessary to understanding this part of the plot is debatable). In addition, this is a Hickman-driven event, meaning it's bound to have lots of little pieces and parts covering grand sweeping gestures. He's a phenomenal writer and his ideas are often grandiose but they can certainly take some time to make themselves clear. Meanwhile, the team itself seems to be going through its own issues, as Panther and Namor have plenty left to settle, Black Bolt hides something or other, and Iron Man and Reed have machinations of their own. There are plenty of things happening here and all of it is interesting. It's tempting to get bogged down in the event even before it starts, which is definitely a problem, but there is the sense that this will be worthwhile if it can find its footing. It's easy (and right) to be wary of events at Marvel, especially the way they've begun bleeding into one another, but it's not worth throwing them out just yet. Comics are stories and stories worth telling are still stories worth telling. You can write off events after they lose purpose or if they clearly drag on just to sell more issues. I'm not willing to write anything off before it starts. Boy, this got weirdly accusatory for something that literally no one is capable of responding to as I write it. Suppose I'm a bit defensive.

Uncanny Avengers 10
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

The team is split up into two factions right now, people who are siding with Rogue and Wolverine and people who are siding with Alex and Cap. It's a really interesting division that feels like it's been a long time coming and this issue revolves mostly on what the people in these factions are thinking as they superhero about and try to locate Uriel and Eimin. That's not going so well but specific people pretty quickly run into the twins' new Horsemen as each Horseman hones in on the Uncanny Avenger who is most affected by their rebirth. Therefore Banshee goes after Alex (whose younger brother Gabriel, AKA Vulcan, caused his death), Sentry goes after Thor (who officially killed him after the Void went crazy during Siege and killed Loki), Grim Reaper goes after Wonder Man (who, you know, is his brother and is, in fact, the only one who didn't go after someone related to his death), and Daken goes after Wolverine (who killed him and is ALSO his father so double whammy). Everything is going crazy for the Uncanny Avengers and there are workings here that Uriel and Eimin have ready to put into motion but aren't ready just yet. Those workings mostly include who is taken and who is killed and who is spared and so on, or so it seems, but not everything is working out that way immediately. Look, it's a very interesting, very action-packed book and it's well worth your time.

The two factions have a chance to interact amongst themselves for the first extended time as the lines in the sand have been drawn. What's most interesting, though, is that despite the faction dividing up mutants and Avengers, there are people from both the X-Men and the Avengers within each faction. Thor, with the mutants Sunfire, Wolverine, and Rogue, is hailed for his loyalty in staying with the mutants and protecting them from Cap's anger. Rogue and Thor, particularly, hit it off, despite Rogue's problems with the Avengers and this whole team in general. Havok and Scarlet Witch, still siding with Cap, talk about what Xavier's dream means and Havok is lauded for his dedication to this team. Wanda even invokes Cap, telling Alex that Steve looked truly proud when Alex stayed with his team. Meanwhile, like in New Avengers, things in this book are a little ahead of where they should be, though it's not so sudden as in New Avengers. We learn here that Cap has just returned from Dimension Z, a fact he's refusing to tell anyone else in the fear that it will make him look weak, shaken, and off his game. Wasp gets the truth out of him but he won't go further into it. I don't think it's as distracting as the weird discrepancies in New Avengers because this question has loomed over this book through its duration so far and it's just getting a bit settled now. Cap also uses it to explain why he's been so quick to anger in this book, which is a welcome explanation but not one that really needed explaining. He was acting a little out of character but not so far that it couldn't have been ignored. It's even better to have that explanation, though, because it grounds this more in the Universe and it also does satisfy any of those character discrepancies between books. Solid issue. Things are moving rapidly now and it's hard to say where we'll end up next.

Young Avengers 8
Gillen (w) and McKelvie and Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

Even more time has passed and now we're five weeks from where we left off last issue, which was three months from where we had left off the issue before. However, it only serves to enhance the book again as the team has developed very subtly, leaving us with a seemingly fully-formed team without any sort of training montages or the like to get us there, which is a welcome relief. Anyway, they've been dimension-hopping on the trail of the fake Patriot, or the dubbed Patri-not, and it's led them to plenty of nightmare universes (many of which feature evil versions of themselves) and a handful of decent ones. The team is exhausted and on edge and it's evident that this venture has worn all of them down. Kate notes in her narration that "even Chavez is exhausted," which is a nice touch both in how the team views America and how much the team has been through. There are lots of twists and turns in the issue and none that I want to spoil for you (thanks to my newfound desire not to summarize as much) but it's another fantastic issue for story and for characters, which, good news, I'll be talking about below. Which is to say now.

This team is perfect. It's something that's so hard to do, giving every character in a team book something to do and a personality that both differentiates itself from and gels with the team in general. It's also a great idea to change the narrative between different characters which, in truth, has changed the outlook of the book for me from even what it was before it started. Young Avengers has always kind of had Billy at its center. Billy's certainly an interesting character but putting him in charge of narrating and giving him the biggest set of powers made him something of the team leader, even if the team leader had been announced as Patriot or Kate. Billy's an interesting character but he's not the leader of the team and it's hard to say he's the most interesting; in a really good team book, no character should be the "most interesting," they should all have their moments and their qualities. Just in this issue, we see Kate and Noh-Varr acting in a sort of leader way, with Kate actively leading and Noh-Varr's extensive experience peeking through. At the same time, America is physically leading them from dimension to dimension and often at the direction of Loki, who is the one most closely following the trail laid by Patri-not. America doesn't seem to want anything to do with leading and Loki's style is to stick to leading without appearing to lead, so everything is working perfectly according to these characters. We also get delightful moments of real shock from Loki and an extremely fascinating relationship brewing between, well, everyone really but specifically America and Loki. Gillen made a great name for himself in his Journey into Mystery run and he's brought that Loki perfectly into this book (even if it is technically a somewhat different Loki now). Amazing book. If this review got you at all interesting in reading the issue (despite the babbling), it's worth remembering that I didn't even get into any specifics or any of the many twists and turns. You should probably be reading this book.

Comics this week!

This week is tricky for picking pre-game comics because we have 15 books and my five picks are all insanely obvious, leaving out other stories I'm excited about, like Superior Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, to name a couple. But I can't ignore the fact that these five are the ones I'm looking forward to most.

Captain America 9

Hey guys, last issue ended with Sharon Carter shooting Ian in front of Steve. Like, Zola is ready to invade Earth with his mutates after he fights his own daughter and THAT'S NOT THE PART THAT MATTERS MOST. There's a lot happening in this book right now and Remender's done a tremendous job setting up the series so that all of this right now has real weight to it. Should be a tense one.

Hawkeye Annual 1

I love this Hawkeye series and I'll never be able to not pick it for this. It's just such a well-done book with such well-crafted characters and heart. Here we'll focus on Kate as she moves out west with Lucky. Since this happened with Lucky as our narrator, things are still a little hazy as to what happened but we've seen enough to have our guesses. Great book, very excited to see it so soon after the last book. Also, the format is switching soon to alternating between Kate and Clint every issue, which is super interesting to me. Aja will still draw Clint's adventures with Barney while I believe Annie Wu will be drawing Kate's half. Very cool.

New Avengers 8

Like with Hawkeye, I think I'm always going to pick this book for my top five. You all already have heard how much I love this book. I'm interested to see how this book interacts with Infinity and with the Marvel Universe at large. Should be pretty neat. Regardless, it's a regularly spectacular book and storms are gathering as the team works out new ways to protect the Earth from incursions, as Doom tries to earn more, and as Wakanda readies for war against Atlantis. Wow, I'm more excited than I even thought I was before writing that sentence.

Uncanny Avengers 10

I really like the way this series has progressed and I'm excited to see where it goes as we start to inch closer to confrontations with the Apocalypse twins and as the team gets more and more splintered. This book really is about the people far more than the plot, which is interesting because the plot is so intense right now. However, if this is just a standard Avengers team, we end up with just a standard action-filled book, which could be fine anyway, given the scale of this plot. With a team that's so internally complicated, we completely change the way the story is handled and the perspective it's placed in. Excellent book.

Young Avengers 8

The more I read for this title, the more conflicted I am by trying to name the best series Marvel has. Hawkeye? New Avengers? Uncanny Avengers? All phenomenal books with weight and tension and great characters. But Young Avengers feels like a different animal entirely. It's gorgeous, it's often ground-breaking, it's loaded with heart and character and story. It's hard to say what the best book at Marvel is right now and I'm very happy to say that. Thrilled for this book, as I am for the rest this week.

This week's picks

Kind of a tough week to pick three. There are a few standouts and many that are just on the cusp of being standout. Always tricky. Let's dive right in, hmm?

Avengers Assemble 17

I love the pacing of this story and how the characters are coming through. Kelly Sue DeConnick has been laying significant groundwork for this without any of us even noticing because she hasn't necessarily been laying groundwork to the plot. What she's been doing all along, so brilliantly, in Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble is building a cast. Both books have their own independent casts and it's all coming together nicely now. The Avengers still talk like the Avengers that lay a wager on whether Banner or Iron Man would get to a remote science base first. Carol's team still surrounds her, tightening up to protect her, as they did when she got the news of her illness. This event doesn't work so well without all of that, without all of the pieces sliding neatly into place, so neatly that we didn't even really notice them doing it. This is a book and an event where the characters act like people and it's wonderful that we can fit that around an interesting story instead of sacrificing character to serve plot.

Iron Man 13

This series has quietly been really impressive. I don't know why it's been so quiet, considering how popular Iron Man is as a character right now and how fantastic Kieron Gillen's been for Marvel, but it's felt like something of a slow burn from the start. Now the book is pretty on fire though as 451 is close to his endgame for Earth's protection and reveals that it also means the end of Tony as an independent character. His body and mind would be more or less absorbed into the Godkiller. Death's Head makes another great appearance and Gillen again shows off his aptitude for writing the "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent," as he prefers to be called. Now Tony has quite possibly one more moment of freedom before 451 retakes him in which to try to solve all of his mounting problems. Who's not excited to see how that plays out?

Savage Wolverine 7

This one had some fairly strong competition for the three-spot, going head-to-head against Thor, Cable and X-Force, both F4 and FF, and Thunderbolts, in particular. Still, this one won out because it's something of a pleasant surprise. I was fairly against the first arc of this book and I was worried about the direction of this series as a whole but the last two issues have been solid, with nice character moments mixed into an interesting plot. This issue specifically is the best Wolverine book we have right now. Cornell's Wolverine has a couple of interesting ideas kicking around but it's bogged down by a dragging pace and supporting characters that you couldn't pay me to care about (unless you wanted to try, I'd be willing to give it a shot). Wolverine MAX is equally slow and when Wolverine actually has a personality it's just a heavy brooding. Here he's got all of the trademarks of Wolverine, asking interesting questions about his nature and the nature that someone like Elektra, who is not so different than him, brings out in him. On top of that, the story has gotten more intriguing as we learn that Kingpin is being Kingpin and manipulating Elektra and Wolverine to do his work for him.


Best Page

This was going to be a best panel but I couldn't narrow it down far enough. I suppose if I had to it would be the fourth panel of this page but guess what, it's my blog, I don't have to. Anyway, I talked about this in my actual review for Iron Man but this page stood out so strongly to me as we get a real moment of seemingly true emotion for 451 and it's so palpable, what he's feeling. It's a really well-timed moment and it's perfectly executed as it shows 451 in something of a brief moment of weakness, which we haven't seen at all in his calm and collected manner. Of course, the weakness is detracted a bit because he accomplished his goal of taking over Death's Head before getting smashed, but it's still there, that one-off feeling. It's amazingly well done and really very quickly and quietly adds depth to his character.

Wolverine on teams

Mini-post! Because I have thoughts about Marvel, like, all the time. The Wolverine is coming out this week and it's in the line that also had X-Men Origins: Wolverine in it, as far as I know. Not sure when it happens, not sure how it fits into any other movie, whatever. The movies are a big deal for Wolverine (well, kind of. You know, as big as these movies are) because they allow Wolverine to be brutal and angsty and everything else that we love from Wolverine. I was watching a commercial that had a pull quote that said it was "the Wolverine movie fans have been waiting for." Obviously the ad campaign will say things like that but it got me wondering what made it deserving of such specific praise. Of course, as that's being said over the commercial, the video is of various clips of Wolverine in action and using his claws a whole bunch. The key is that we want to see Wolverine being violent and rather unkillable (though this movie posits, allegedly, what if he was killable?), which is why X-Men Origins: Wolverine got a sequel despite being, you know, kind of objectively terrible. But it was a decent action movie and that's all we want from Wolverine. That's what makes for fun Wolverine stories, too, in the comics. Obviously we want some deeper character business in the books, especially since he's been around now for 30 years or so and we like not to be bored. So Wolverine solo books are (typically) nice because it's kind of that fun story we like from him where he beats a bunch of guys up, heals, maybe gives us some character and some sadness and we all move on.

That's why Wolverine should probably choose never to be on a team. He's almost too powerful. Like, he's not, but that healing thing always gives him the edge, which means he is ALWAYS knocked out or horribly damaged so that his healing takes a while to kick him back in. No one else EVER gets that.

It's only EVER Wolverine who is charred to a crisp or beaten mercilessly or punched half a mile away. Maybe he just doesn't play defense as well as the others because he knows he'll heal. I don't know. What I do know is that, even on the occasions when this happens in his solo book, he doesn't have to resent the rest of the people he's supposed to like simply because they didn't get pretty much killed on the first attack. I like Wolverine. I think he's an interesting character and I think that the Marvel Universe has done pretty well by him. I even rather like the way he interacts on teams. But for his own sake he should probably never join one again. Poor guy.