FF 12, Guardians of the Galaxy 6

FF 12
Fraction and Lee Allred (s) and Lee Allred (w) and M. Allred (a) and Laura Allred (c)

Scott is having his typical panic attacks over Cassie's death and over whether or not he should be the leader of these children. In addition, he now needs to contend with the fact that Alex and company have brought Maximus the Mad to the FF and he's teamed with Julius Caesar to conquer. The kids are dealing with their own issues as they try to help Adolf Impossible fit in, a task that has no easy answer. They explain to him that his father is a supervillain, which doesn't go over well, though eventually he bonds with Luna over some superhero shojo anime. That out of the way, we see what Maximus and Caesar, with the help of old John Storm, have been building; it's a portal meant to pull the true F4 back to Earth, to the excitement of the current F4 and the FF and to the extreme displeasure of the spying Dr. Doom. Of course, the portal doesn't quite work as advertised and everyone eagerly waiting (not Doc Doom, hanging with Immortus and Ravonna) is zapped away somewhere.

There's a pretty good story here (not dissimilar, it feels, to when they were suddenly zapped away by the Wizard not too long ago) though I think this might be a bit of a learning experience for new writer Lee Allred. You may have seen up above that Fraction had a hand in the story but writing responsibilities have shifted to Lee Allred, who is, I believe, the brother of artist Mike Allred and the brother-in-law of colorist Laura Allred. The transition isn't totally seamless but it feels good enough that, with some time, it might work really well. I don't think Allred's writing is bad here, just a little more openly jokey than we've seen. There are far more obvious laugh-lines than we're used to and far fewer kind of funny moments. Still, that's an adjustment that may come with time or it may simply be the new order for the show. That may be fine but right now it leaves the book feeling a little weird because it doesn't feel that different to Fraction's style so it's clearly not a break from the style of the book already, but it also feels a little different. It's a tricky road to navigate and I think it's a little bit finding its legs here, but overall not a bad issue by any means. Still some good character bits and some legit laughs and, as ever, solid Michael and Laura Allred art. I'll be interested to see how a full family book goes.

Guardians of the Galaxy 6
Bendis (w) and Pichelli and Coipel w/ Morales (a) and Ponsor and Svorcina (c)

Angela is in the Marvel Universe and there's still not much to tell about who she is, why she matters, and how she got here (aside from the Age of Ultron time rips that have impacted so very little of the 616 except for when people want it to and when they don't need to use time travel in a book). She and Gamora fight while Peter Quill meets with Thanos to talk about, you know, destruction and stuff. Thanos is pretty sure Earth will destroy the universe and it will definitely destroy itself. Starlord eventually leaves and joins up with Gamora, who has been joined by the rest of the team in the fight against Angela, and they successfully knock her down. It's not by any means an easy fight and it's only after the entire team gets in on it that they are able to subdue her. When they ask what she is, the Watcher shows up to say her name is Angela and that he can't say any more.

To this issue's credit, it feels like a lot more happens than actually does. It's a fight scene book; it's not uncommon in comics to have an issue more or less dedicated to good guy vs. bad guy for an entire issue with little more by way of substance. There's not necessarily much more you have to do in that case, though you always run the risk of carrying it on too long and alienating and/or boring people. Even the best fight scene can overstay its welcome. This one doesn't have too many problems in that respect and the fight is pretty interesting, at least. It also rather disguises the fact that not much more happens; the cuts between Gamora and Quill make it seem like there are more things happening though, as seems normal these days, the appearance of the Watcher (he kicks our book off in typical Watcher fashion as he spends a page explaining who he is and what he does, because his name doesn't give it away) kind of hurts the book again. In a book full of flying people and green ultimate fighters, the Watcher always stands out as ridiculous and more than just a little plot-devicey. Still, the book rolls mostly well enough, even if not a ton happens to advance the plot. You want to talk about plots that don't advance, wait til my next review, later tonight (suspense!).