Captain America 18, Iron Man 22

Captain America 18
Remender (w) and Klein (a) and White (c)

Mindbubble has control of Fury and, in turn, control of the Gungnir, a new helicarrier the size of a city and probably with the firepower to level more than just that. Maria Hill calls for all the backup she can get to try to stop Mindbubble. Fortunately for her, Cap and Falcon were nearby trying to spy on the goings-on, suspicious of SHIELD for having weaponry and villains that even Steve isn't allowed to know about. As they approach, they find themselves set upon by SHIELD agents thinking that the two heroes are Hydra. They take them down non-lethally and Cap steals one of their bikes to go after the helicarrier. On the way, Steve calls Jet, who had been interrogating a cyborg tasked with guarding Weapon Minus, and learns from her about Mindbubble, an ex-SHIELD scientist who had wanted to create a less violent alternative to warfare. SHIELD, of course, wanted an alternative to Weapon Plus, in case their experiments ever turned on them. Mindbubble used the super soldier serum and LSD to create a new concoction he hoped would be more peaceful. With no willing test subjects, Mindbubble used the serum on himself and quickly went crazy, turning on SHIELD and taking down a number of SHIELD agents before he could be restrained. Jet also informs Steve that Mindbubble's mindbubbles create a sort of dream map for the victim, placing him in the fantasy world his own heart desired. When Mindbubble is done with them, the fantasy turns dark and kills the victim. She advises Steve to kill himself rather than let the fantasy do it if he's mindbubbled. Steve arrives on the helicarrier with an entire SHIELD fleet on his tail as the issue ends.

Still a lot going on here though this issue does feel a little redundant. The Mindbubble origin isn't exactly foreign to us at this point so retelling it isn't too effective only a couple issues later. Also, much of this issue is fighting and a chase scene between SHIELD and Steve and Falcon. Despite all that, though, the issue is still entertaining and it moves really quickly for how much information is dispensed. Hill somehow remains the only one un-mindbubbled of the agents sent to take down Mindbubble and Fury and she sets the Gungnir to self-destruct though she's surprised and stopped by the Iron Nail amidst everything else that's happening. It's a solid issue and there are some nice moments between Steve and Sam. The narration continues to be fairly strong and sets up plenty of feelings for Steve, letting us know that he's got a lot to fantasize about when he eventually has to go up against Mindbubble and letting us know that he has just about exactly the right amount of trust in SHIELD. The colors on this issue were a nice departure from the grim and dark metal colors we've seen lately in this book, setting up the chase over plenty of orange desert making it seem a little more light than it had lately, even if it's only as an interlude between tense moments. I don't think you'll miss a lot if you miss this issue but it's still one worth reading. Can't complain.

Iron Man 22
Gillen (w) and Bennett and Hanna (a) and Guru-eFX (c)

It's Red Threat and Iron Man up against Lord Remaker and the Exile in a battle of Mandarin Rings and Stark Tech for the new city Troy. Abigail Burns has changed her mind about the city and fights alongside her hated foe Tony Stark to defend it but Tony's mind is on the Troy Core, the heart of the city and the last known whereabouts of Arno Stark, that Lord Remaker just destroyed. Tony continues fighting but is soon surprised when Arno emerges from the wreckage in his new battle suit, a giant Iron Man suit of his own design. The reinforcements force the Exile and Lord Remaker to flee. Red Threat tracks Lord Remaker in the city with her own ring and finds him dead at the hands of someone else, the ring gone. Just as quickly, her hands are sliced off and the attacker again disappears with the ring. Tony finds her and brings her to a hospital where he and Marc question her about the rings. She tells them that the rings just want to destabilize and cause chaos and that they seem to really hate Tony Stark. Therefore, their mission is two-fold: wreak havoc and wreck Tony. According to Abigail, this means Stark has painted a bullseye on Troy with his very presence. He acquiesces and holds a press conference to announce his decision to leave the city in the hands of the capable and mysterious new designer Arno. Meanwhile, new series villain Malekith counts the three rings on his fingers and vows to complete the set.

This is one of those situations where I hate hate hate solicits. I understand, to a point, the purpose of them. In this, the information age, no one wants to wait three months to find out what to expect from a new series or, for retailers, to know what's going to be on the shelves. Sometimes, books are able to guard their secrets in solicits but that's usually just for big events and deaths and things. This would have been a crazy reveal, one that really shakes up what's happening in IRON MAN and leaves a lot of questions to the reader. I try not to read solicits as often as I can but it's impossible at this point not to see some things, given the websites I frequent and the twitterers I follow. Even though many in the comics industry tend not to like solicits, they're forced to lean into them and advertise storylines in advance. I can't blame them for that; the news is out there, best to control it and answer questions the way you want them answered. In this case, I knew about Malekith joining the book a couple months ago so when a hand appeared and snagged Lord Remaker's ring, I wasn't at all surprised. It's too bad too. I kept thinking about this as I was reading, how curious I'd be if I wasn't aware of what was coming. GUYS, I think it'd be PRETTY CURIOUS. Still a good book and one that's well-written and exciting. Still a fun and exciting book as IRON MAN presses on.