New Avengers 16, Uncanny Avengers 18

New Avengers 16
Hickman (w) and R. Morales (a) and F. Martin (c)

Namor has returned to the Illuminati to see how the research is faring. He's not particularly into the research aspect, not being one of the many geniuses on the team, and believes that preparing to destroy worlds rather than studying ones that have been destroyed is the way to go in this situation. He enters one of the observation rooms where Black Panther is recording data and the two trade barbs very briefly before getting into business. In this case, the business is T'Challa showing Namor that, in the forty worlds they've observed, one has survived incursions twice in different manners than the Illuminati have used. The world in question, Earth-4,290,001, has seen its share of invasions and super-powered coups, the most recent of which has left a team of six in charge of protecting the world. Those six, Boundless, Doctor Spectrum, the Rider, the Jovian, the Norn, and Sun God, have banded together to save the people of Earth multiple times and have been called to do so twice more during incursions. As individuals, they are powerful enough to withstands many attacks, including those of the Mapmakers (who they seem familiar with) but as a team they're able to even stop the incurring worlds. The Norn, though it does him great personal harm, is able to use his magics to destroy the incurring world on his own.

For a while now, the book has been more about gathering research and strategies and seeing worlds fall as if to drive the point home to the Illuminati that their attempts are futile and that, as has been the mantra of the entire series, everything dies. Panther's latest discovery, though, seems to point in another direction. Not only does this team withstand two incursions, shattering planets that would destroy their own, Sun God himself even makes a speech á la Reed Richards wherein he says "Everything lives. It lives before it dies, and we are judged by what we do during that time." It's a pretty powerful speech and it's one that shifts, ever so slightly, the running speech and tone of this book. It's very clear that these heroes have seen tremendous hardship - Hickman makes that clear in a little scene between Sun God and the Rider - but their outlook is the glass-half-full side of Reed's continual glass-half-empty approach of "Everything dies. I accept that." It'll be interesting to see where this new data leads. On top of that, as an issue in and of itself, I think Hickman does a pretty fantastic job once again writing the Namor-Black Panther dynamic. It's very clear that these two do not like each other but they are acting very professionally as they discuss matters bigger than either of them. It's one of the things I like about the kings of the Marvel Universe (Namor, Black Panther, and Black Bolt chief among them): each and every one of them cares more for the protection of their people and act accordingly. Here they put aside their feud because, although their people are at war with one another, the destruction of Earth is the bigger threat to their kingdoms. Solid stuff. Rags Morales does a solid job bringing it to the page as well.

Uncanny Avengers 18
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

Smash cut to Planet X, the new mutant planet, several years down the line. Among all the mutants who have created their new planet, full of beautiful and impressive architecture and seemingly a more functional government, are two enemies of the state. Havok still feels responsible for the death of the Earth and refuses to allow Eimin's propaganda, which explains to the populace that Thor and the Avengers were responsible for the death of their world and for holding back mutants, to color his view of the Earth that was. He knows how the final battle happened, as does his wife, the human stowaway Wasp. It's been several years since the loss of Earth and the two have a child now, though parenthood has not stopped them from working to restore their home planet. With the help of Hank McCoy, fellow human supporter, they've realized that their only hope is to bring down the tachyon dam still around the planet. They have no idea if their plan will work as all experiments rely on the wall being down before they can be tested but Alex and Janet set off anyway, pursued by Blob (whose X-gene was reignited), Toad, and Magneto. They manage, after a long and exciting chase scene, to bring down the dam but Janet is captured in the process. Alex returns to his home to find that Kang has finally been able to bring his reinforcements.

After months of teasing, Planet X is here and it's everything you might have imagined. Remender, who is so fond of abruptly jumping forward in time as evidenced by CAPTAIN AMERICA, here jumps maybe five years forward or so onto this planet, where the guilt that drives Alex is palpable and we can really see what a planet full of mutants would look like. It's not that much of a stretch to believe that, upon waking from their pods, the mutants were easily convinced that their life now and here was better. Eimin probably didn't have to do too much propaganda spreading, which is kind of the beauty of this whole conceit. Things probably are better for mutants here. They have a whole planet which, sure, at first was probably jarring but now that it's been several years, they're starting to come into their own. Remender's done a solid job here and the decision to send us into the future as well as off-planet really pays off. The first instinct is to think that the followers of Xavier would want to save Earth and even the humans on it. However, it makes a whole lot of sense that once they settled in, it's everything even the staunchest human supporter could want. The only reason Havok and Wasp haven't decided to just hedge their bets and settle down (other than the reason that Wasp is a human and probably not well liked for it) is that they know the truth of what's happened and the truth about Eimin, not to mention the guilt each of them feels for the loss of the Earth and their teammates. Hank, of course, is just a pretty swell guy so he wants his planet back too. Really interesting stuff here and a great call to skip ahead of the kind of shock and awe phase of the new planet. Daniel Acuña continues to do phenomenal work on the title and really drives home the tone and look of the new world. Very good book all around.