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.