Comics this week

Marvel is throwing a curveball at me this week by releasing only 12 books that I'm going to review and by largely releasing books I don't typically pick as my top five. Clearly they're challenging me to talk about different books than normal, forcing me to think harder about my picks. Sadly for them, it won't work because I never think harder than normal. Not for anyone. So let's get five, nearly half, of these books picked.

Avengers AI 2
The team that makes up this series continues to be fairly interesting and I've seen writer Sam Humphries delight me with teams and disappoint me a bit with teams. More than that, the energy of issue one was solid and, if it keeps up, could be enough to carry the book. Hopefully it doesn't have to be the only thing carrying the book, but still it could be enough. The team itself is certainly a nice design and, like I'd said in advance of the series, the recent focus in the Marvel Universe on the AI and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence make for a wealth of discussion. Well, if the series is structured well and it wants to focus on those things, it could make for a wealth of discussion. This book makes the pull list because we need to see if it will.

Cable and X-Force 12
The team is split up on Cable's order as Cable himself has been apprehended by the Uncanny Avengers. Last issue saw the team-up of Domino and Boom-Boom, which was fun and moved well but also pretty horribly failed the Bechdel Test, which does rather matter to me. Assuming the book chooses to focus on another duo from Cable's X-Force squad, we likely won't have that problem, as the rest of the team is male. If we do have it, I would be pleasantly surprised, in fact. However, I'm clearly hoping to read the team-up of Dr. Nemesis and Forge because Dennis Hopeless is well aware that Dr. Nemesis is the most fun character on his team to write and read and sticking him with Forge is a brilliant idea. I would accept Colossus, in a pinch.

Iron Man 14
Just kidding, there was a book I always pick in this week's batch. Kieron Gillen continues to absolutely kill it on Iron Man with a solid new origin story and a great new play on a 50 year old character. 451 is a solid villain/antihero/whatever it is he is and it's put Tony in the unusual position of being out of control. Now, as his Godkiller arc winds down, we'll get to see Tony's seemingly last few moments of being in control before he becomes, if 451 is telling the truth, the ultimate protector of Earth rather against his will. Are you not excited to see that? There's nothing wrong with me choosing this book, there's something wrong with you not wanting to read it. I'm sorry, this got a little defensive a little fast. We'll hope for better on the next pick.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 2
Like Avengers AI, this series could be carried on its energy alone. Hopefully it will be because I'm not sure there's as much here story and character-wise as there is in Avengers AI. Also fewer tried and true characters to fall back on. It's a risky book and risky books don't tend to survive. Sure it's branding itself with Spider-Man's name on the cover, which often helps to sell books initially, but it'll have to develop wings and fly on its own if it wants to keep on keeping on. There are things to like about this series, like seeing the minutiae of the life of a solid C-list supervillain and simply seeing how their existence works but there's also a fair amount to be wary of. Hopefully the book will stray more towards the interesting than the mundane and develop its characters in a way that makes the reader care about them; no easy feat since they're, by the book's own admission, all villains.

Superior Spider-Man 15
I've been a staunch supporter of the Doc Ock-centric Spider-Man series since its start and Dan Slott has proven me right time and again. He's created a very interesting story with an interesting lead character which makes the reader ask interesting questions about the nature of heroism and responsibility and so forth. Now, as things reach a sort of precipice with Spider-Man, who else will be forced to ask those questions. Spidey has invaded New York with his own army of minions and used it to take down otherwise untouchable mob bosses. Do the ends justify the means? Can he continue to do things like this unabated? What does Norman Osborn have to say about all of this? Why are we not more upset that Osborn is using the children that Vulture used as henchmen? That's pretty weird, right? Anyway, let's keep on reading this book and the daring changes Slott has made for the series.