Daredevil Dark Nights 2, Deadpool Kills Deadpool 1, What If...AvX 1

Daredevil Dark Nights 2
Weeks (w and a) and Loughridge (c)

The storm of the century is still battering New York as Daredevil tries to make his way across the city to bring a dying girl a new heart that may or may not still exist somewhere in the snow. Among all the other trials he's faced, including the mugging from earlier, the snow, and the pressure of it all, he keeps hearing other various crimes being committed but his faltering energy and the direness of the situation at hand means he has to ignore these crimes to focus on saving Hannah back in the hospital. After a long struggle, he finally finds his way to the helicopter crash site. Just as he gets there, hearing two heartbeats the helicopter crashes into a frozen pond just below. Without thinking, DD dives in and rescues one of the pilots who is weak but alive. She says that the other pilot is dead, that she saw him die, but Daredevil know he heard two heartbeats so he dives under again, leaving the woman with two nearby onlookers. When he reaches the other pilot, he finds that she was right and the man is dead. The other heartbeat belongs to the still-beating heart (thanks to the advanced technology that it's sealed in and that we're told about extensively in the dialogue) Daredevil is trying to save. He brings the container out with him a little ways away, just far enough that there's no one around to help him. As he begins his journey back to the hospital, he hears a homeless woman staying at a shelter get attacked by a man and he can't help but step in. Daredevil kicks the door in (little bit reckless in this weather, Deeds) and frightens the man out before passing out from exhaustion and hypothermia himself.

There's a lot to enjoy about this book but it's hard not to feel like it's lacking something despite that. First and foremost, the art is pretty gorgeous. There are a lot of wonderful moments (though having it all set in giant snowstorms seems a bit of a cheat as those make anything look majestic) with Daredevil pressing onwards that serve both the story and the feel of the book. There's also the fading consciousness of Daredevil to delve into as he starts confusing memories and trying to inspire himself to action which add a neat little layer. Something about this series seems slow, though. It's hard to put my finger on it but, if I had to guess, it's everything that doesn't concern Daredevil. There are a few scenes in the hospital with the couple of workers who know his identity trying to conceal it from everyone (which seems an unnecessary plot) and Hannah's father enlisting any help he can get, as a wealthy man who is owed favors. He has Kingpin on the line now but it all kind of feels like it's getting in the way of a story that would be good in its own right. We'll see how the third issue pans out to see if it would have been better handled simply tossing out the B and C plot or if it truly does enhance the series. As yet, it feels like it's slowing us down.

Deadpool Kills Deadpool 1
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c)

Don't think too hard about this one, okay? Though this story spawns from the other similar books (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool Killustrated) I don't think it's technically the same. The other books had the Deadpool of whatever universe that took place in killing off every hero in every universe. Of course, he didn't make it through the whole multiverse so he doubled back in Killustrated and tried to snuff out the root of the problem in destroying the literary heroes. So maybe this is spawned of that series. Or maybe it's separate. Don't think too hard about this one or you end up a person like me. Instead, let's just take the plot for what it is. Deadpools the multiverse over have entered into a sort of suicide war, with about half the Deadpools trying to kill the others to make sure that "dead is dead" and that their story has an ending. It starts with a Deadpool killing off Headpool (of Deadpool Corps limited fame and one of the Marvel Zombies runs) before setting off for more kills. Our main universe's Deadpool (currently dubbed, by me, 616pool because I'm beginning to understand how ridiculously difficult it will be to talk about this series) is surprised to find himself saved in a big fight against Ultimatum by the Deadpool Corps (also have Deadpool Corps limited fame, as you might have guessed). However, 616pool only recognizes three of the five Deadpools their ship has brought with them: Lady Deadpool, Kidpool, and Dogpool (strike that, I'm beginning to understand how ridiculous it will be to talk about this series at all). They try to warn 616pool about the suicide war but are interrupted by one of those Deadpools, who stabs 616pool through the chest but is attacked by Dogpool before he can really end 616pool. The newpool kills Dogpool and one of the other new 'pools before being killed by 616pool. As the Deadpool Corps gets into the Bea Arthur ship (I regret reviewing this book so much), the Watcher appears to explain to the 'pools what exactly is happening (tune in next time when I continue to never want to write again).

Despite the confusion, this book has the potential to be interesting. Not exactly sure where it's going so I can't talk too much about this but these Deadpool books have a way of being more intriguing than they have any right to be. So far, it doesn't really require a lot of background into Deadpool and the Deadpool Corps, despite what my summary may have lead you to believe, because I'm not sure it matters entirely. All you need to know is that they're there and that they want to help 616pool. Really, it's more important to know about the multiverse and that Deadpool is a character in the Marvel Universe who has gained a lot of popularity over the years and maybe the basics about the character but, in truth, you're probably only picking this series up if you know a bit about the character so you should be in decent shape. Hopefully it goes to the same sort of interesting places Killustrated took us. Decent start, a proper amount of exposition to guide us and enough of the story to keep us hooked.

What If...AvX 1
Palmiotti (w) and Molina and N. Lee (a) and Rosenberg (c)

For those unaware, the "What If" series is an oft-used alternate reality sort of title for the Marvel Universe that allows writers and artists to examine how things might have turned out differently for the Universe if some minor changes occurred. Usually these are narrated by the Watcher, who has the ability to see every path. This one is not explicitly showing us that frame but it seems just to rely on the fact that the reader knows by now what a What If book is. This book asks the question "what if, through a series of escalating events at the start of the major Marvel event Avengers vs. X-Men, Wolverine killed Storm and then, in retaliation, Magneto crumpled the helicarrier all of the Avengers were on, presumably sparking all-out war between the two factions and quite possibly killing a bunch of huge Avengers right at the start?" So that's a pretty long question but a little bit of a hard one to really sell. AvX, as a quick recap, focused on the idea that the Phoenix was coming back to Earth and, presumably, had chosen Hope as its new carrier. Scott Summers of the X-Men believed that it had the power to reignite the mutant race while Captain America and the Avengers viewed the Phoenix as a dangerous destroyer. Both were pretty right, of course, with Scott eventually overjoyed to find that new mutants were popping up again after being brought into custody for losing control of the Phoenix Force and killing Professor Xavier. Cap and Scott led their factions, which divided surprisingly neatly on the X-Men/Avengers line aside from Wolverine and Hank McCoy, mostly, and it was a big slugfest for everyone. The difference between that and this seems to be that Scott, in a decidedly stupid move, sent Magneto and Namor with Storm to talk to the Avengers because that was guaranteed to go calmly.

I cannot get behind this series. I don't mind What If, though they're essentially useless, because it's an interesting idea if it's done well. The last couple issues of Red She-Hulk were What If in a way, asking "what if Betty Ross had been hit with the gamma bomb instead of Bruce Banner?" and I've gushed about this issues endlessly. However, I still am more than a little annoyed with how long AvX has carried on (I'm still afraid that Fear Itself is secretly still going somewhere) and I kind of resent the idea of going back to it. AvX felt like such a marketing play, going "WAIT, LET'S MAKE THESE TWO BIGGEST FRANCHISES FIGHT" so it's hard to take it seriously as it enters its second full year as a seemingly ongoing event. On top of that, this issue is nothing to write home about in story or execution. No character really seems to define him or herself in any meaningful way beyond "Wolverine's the stabbing one, Magneto's the angry one and also Namor's the angry one." Obviously we're only one issue in (of, I believe, 4) but it's hard to see where this plot wants to go and if it can go into a meaningful direction from here. Other What If books typically focus themselves on smaller pieces but there was nothing small about AvX. There were very few subplots that weren't just showing us fights between different Avengers and X-Men and those didn't really drive the plot in anyway that are worth exploring alternatives. Thanks to that, this series seems like it will be one story fully examined in an alternate universe instead of a few different and thought-provoking mini-stories per issue. There's plenty wrong with this series at its start but it's hard for me to rail too much against Jimmy Palmiotti because I just bought a great book called The Marvel Art of Joe Quesada for a steal of a price and they so frequently collaborate that I'm hard-pressed to find fault with the man. Granted, they collaborate as artists and not writers but still, I'd like to lay off before I hurt myself.