Hunger 4, A+X13, Wolverine MAX 12

Hunger 4
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

Rick Jones has taken the helmet (and therefore the powers and the bomb) used by Captain Marvel, enhancing his own already impressive powers and giving him access to the device Mahr Vel had designed to defeat the Gah Lak Tus Swarm. The helmet predicts, if he uses the bomb near Hala, that the death count would be in the millions, an outcome Rick is unwilling to accept. At great personal risk, he manages to use his Nova powers to teleport Galactus and the swarm to an emptier location where he detonates the bomb more safely. It (at least temporarily) disables the swarm and deals a massive blow to Galactus, who escapes to gain more energy. The Watcher predicts he'll move towards the highest energy planet in the area (Earth, of course, in Ultimate: Cataclysm) but that Rick Jones, who managed to survive the attack, has other things to worry about, things that will present themselves in time.

Not a bad ending to what has been a pretty reliable series. Last issue showed Rick abandon his responsibility, unwilling to continue his involvement in fighting the massive force, but he's inspired to go back and, if need be, sacrifice himself to save the universe. He throws himself into that role now without reservation and only hesitates when he realizes the death toll if he tries to take out Galactus over Hala. Even then he doesn't hesitate to use his powers to teleport Galactus and the swarm away, an action that, by itself, could kill him. It's a nice progression from first issue Rick, who didn't understand his role in the universe and who was completely unprepared to get into such a big fight. He had done good things but he was ready for a break and ready to hang up the helmet for a bit, it seemed, before being frustratingly called back by the Watcher. After the stumble in issue three, his resolve is far stronger and seeing the actions of so many heroes around him (Spider-Man and Mahr Vel, particularly) strengthens him more. It's pretty classic hero's journey stuff but it's presented in an interesting and, above all else, succinct way, from which the book benefits. I've said before that the pacing is excellent and the choice to make this a four issue series instead of anything bigger (as Marvel has preferred to do of late) was a smart call, not allowing time for the series to wallow in any one thought. As a result, this is a bang-bang little series with a good core, some solid characterization, and a good story that will, it seems, pretty perfectly lead in to Cataclysm. Great work all around, Fialkov and crew did their jobs here.

A+X 13
Captain America and Cyclops: Duggan (w) and Yardin (a) and Mossa (c)
Black Widow and Emma Frost: Chaykin (w and a) and Delgado (c)

Story one, Captain America and Cyclops, is an interesting new attempt by the apparently ongoing A+X series (seriously, I was sure this was only going to last like, ten issues max, what is happening?) to tell an ongoing story with continuity and everything. This is part one of six of a story where a rebel Skrull band, helped in their training by none other than Charles Xavier, is preparing to attack Earth in the wake of Xavier's death and in retribution for the long-past Secret Invasion. A Skrull unassociated to that band has called together Captain America and Cyclops, failing to reach Xavier, to tell them so they won't seek retribution from the Skrulls if it comes to that. Of course, Cap and Cyclops aren't on great terms right now, to say the least, and immediately jeopardize the mission by fighting on the Skrull's ship and, conveniently, damaging all of the equipment the Skrull might use to pick different heroes or to scan people to see if they're really Skrulls or any other thing they might do. The two will have to grudgingly put their differences aside to protect the planet, made harder by the fact that Cap managed to lock Cyclops in nearly unbreakable handcuffs. Should be an interesting attempt as A+X delves into continuity for the first time here and puts the two people who are perhaps most furious with one another together for six ten-page issues. I'm not totally onboard with the premise but, again, it's just A+X, I'll let abrupt storytelling slide here.

Comic pro Howard Chaykin takes story two, a tale of espionage and intrigue and, well, mostly sex as Emma Frost enlists Black Widow's reluctant help to track down a sex tape Frost made in her Hellfire Club days so the person who has the tape will stop blackmailing her. The pair eventually manage to track down the scumbag who has it and Emma Frost, concentrating to her utmost, uses her weakened powers to punish the man; whenever he sees bare breasts in the future, he will helplessly projectile vomit. I have my problems with Howard Chaykin's art and writing style though I recognize that he's from sort of a different wing of comics and a different age than I'm really in favor of so I understand there is an appeal there that's unique to his work. I quite like his work in Matt Fraction's independent comic Satellite Sam but I have my problems with it here. I also tend to have problems when female superheroes are put into this kind of sexually motivated hole because don't we have enough of that everywhere else in our world? Still, the characterizations aren't awful and there are some nice pieces of dialogue here. It's not enough for me to really climb onboard this story but, again, I'm sure there are big Chaykin fans out there (and this art is distinctly Chaykin) who will love seeing these characters rendered in such a way. I'm not one. Worth a miss.

Wolverine MAX 12
Starr (w) and Ruiz (a) and D. Brown (c)

Wolverine has been hypnotized by Mother Night, who has found out about his fighting prowess, his healing factor, and, now, his deadly claws. Thrilled by the discoveries, Mother Night has decided to keep Wolverine pretty firmly in her grasp as her own personal assassin, among other things. His first target is Vegas gambler Max Fisher (no relation to Rushmore). She gives Wolverine a photo of him and makes him forget their conversation, coming back to his senses with the picture and an unexplainable hatred for Fisher. He's suspicious when he awakens, not knowing how he got the photo and not sure why he hates the stranger, but he can't come up with any reasons why. His fighting prowess, though, seems totally gone as he can no longer fully control himself; he manages to win another cage fight only after getting pounded on for a while and after Mother Night intercedes to get him to fight better before going to kill Fisher. Of course, after the fight he tracks and slays Fisher. He wakes up bloodied and all over the news.

Interesting story in that it will be interesting to see how Wolverine figures out he's being used and exactly what his retribution is when he does figure it out. Mother Night's not a bad villain for him in this series because he's so vulnerable to anything that makes him question his memory more and that he can't really identify as a threat. When he's not directly under her control, he recognizes some sort of attraction to her (mostly implanted by her) but can't quite place the uneasy feeling he has. I think it's a strong villain and it could lead to a strong story but the arc is still rather bogged down by excessive explanation and minor story points, sending the audience through explanation after explanation and reminding us over and over that his memory is bad. Some of that is important; Mother Night explaining away his uneasiness by blaming his damaged memory is an important moment because it shows the audience that there's a reason Wolverine could allow for these weird directions. Still, we get kind of hit over the head with it, which both slows the issue and over-explains, something you don't really want to do in comics. I think this story has the makings of a good arc but it's not going to quite reach it until Starr can get out of his own way.