Infinity: Heist 1, A+X 12

Infinity: Heist 1
Tieri (w) and Barrionuevo (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The Avengers are up in space which means it's open season for the supervillains of Earth. Of course, it's not quite as straightforward as that because there are still a number of heroes left on the planet but that's the mentality of the supervillains. That mentality is out in full force as Blizzard and Whirlwind plan an attack on the Wakandan embassy, which just received a shipment of gold. They successfully break in and fight their way past the Wakandans only to find Spymaster waiting for them in the vault. He's already stolen the gold (and diamonds!) and sold them but he has another job for them, one that is even better paying. They meet him at a supervillain nightclub (these pop up pretty frequently) and find their team, adding Whiplash, Unicorn, and Firebrand to the duo. Spymaster explains that they're going to rip off Tony Stark then introduces the last member of their team, Titanium Man. As soon as Titanium Man bursts into the room, Blizzard has some sort of attack and can't breathe, collapsing to the floor.

It's a little hard not to compare this to Superior Foes of Spider-Man because there are some obvious similarities. First and foremost, we're focusing on the supervillains. I'd also put Whirlwind and Blizzard on the same level as Boomerang and company (okay, maybe a tiny step up, if only because "whirlwind" and "blizzard" are both Pokémon moves and therefore more dangerous while "Boomerang" is not. If his name was "Bonemarang," maybe he'd have a case). The tones aren't dissimilar, though I'd say that Spencer's book aims for the funny more than this one does (though there are comedy bits in here too). However, with the similarities come the same overall problems. A book like this relies very heavily on characterization of these villains, who have only ever been characterized as villains before. Some may have more nuances to them, depending on how long they've been around and who's handled them before, while some may have fewer. However, they're not, for most people, the characters we've long been rooting for. As a writer, you have to make the villains sympathetic enough that you want them to kind of succeed, or at least not die trying to fight the hero we're actually rooting for. Because, in most cases, the reader goes in rooting against your protagonist and the antagonist is the hero your reader does care about. Tricky stuff here. We'll have to let this one carry on a bit further before any judgement can be made.

A+X 12
Wonder Man and Beast: Gage (w) and D. Williams (a) and Gandini (c)
Captain America and Jubilee: Jordan (w) and Unzueta (a) and Mason (c)

This issue of A+X feels a little more like the form this book should be taking, or at least one of the forms it should be taking. The first story re-teams former Avengers and former best pals Wonder Man and Beast as they decide to meet up for drinks at a bar. The two reminisce a bit before each expresses disappointment in what the other has become. For Beast, Wonder Man going crazy and attacking Avengers before becoming a superhero pacifist is a strange turn and for Wonder Man, Beast bringing the original X-Men forward in time to relive the past is completely out of character. And guess what, I agree on both counts. Wholeheartedly. Anyway, the two wonder if they can recover their friendship and decide to go out on the town like they used to. It's a nice night out for the two of them and they return to the bar toward the end of it, only to walk home drunkenly singing like they used to. It's not a bad story (and this is coming from someone who doesn't really care for Wonder Man) and finally shows characters in the Marvel Universe making some sense. Wonder Man's a pacifist? Beast, the scientific genius who would like nothing more than to talk about the dangers of time travel, bringing the original X-Men to the present? It's a crazy, crazy, sometimes ridiculous plot-driven world out there and someone is finally highlighting it. Christos Gage, even in his random one-shot appearances here and again, writes some compelling characters and relationships, I tell you what. Hoping to meet him tomorrow at Granite State Comic-Con but THAT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER HERE, DOES IT?

The second story is one of the more unusual team-ups we've seen as Captain America pairs with Jubilee to take down a sunken submarine of Nazi vampires, a sentence I just wrote. Cap's actually had a couple of weird team-ups, notably this one and one with Quentin Quire in maybe issue five or six. They work in similar ways, in truth, as Cap again pulls a younger hero out from the X-Men and guides him or her somewhere (subterranean, no less) to show the kind of positive impact they could have on the world. In this case, Cap was hoping that the Nazi vampires would give up their fight, realizing that their war was well over, and would see Jubilee and realize that vampires don't have to be evil. It doesn't quite work out but it still leaves a nice impression on Jubilee, who realizes Captain America has respect for her, enough that he wanted to bring her as a role model, in essence. I suppose, in a book like this, that's what Cap's role is going to be, a guiding hand for younger heroes. He teamed up with Wolverine as more or less equals and next issue will team him, likely uncomfortably, with Cyclops, but there are certain characters who break down in certain ways and Cap is either the leader, the teammate, or the kind of guiding hand. That's him throughout his appearances in this series. Not a bad story and a better full issue overall than we've seen in a bit from this book.