Iron Man 24
Gillen (w) and Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)
Tony's trip into Svartalfheim is not off to a great start as he has been quickly spotted. He's able to fight off the first wave of Dark Elves but his stealth suit isn't really made for combat and so he's forced to flee when Malekith attacks and before Shevaun can send the weapon he needs. He escapes into the woods and hides out, hoping that he left enough of a trail for his pursuers to track him. Malekith, who holds four rings (Spectral, Incandescence, Remaker, and Lightning), divvies up his rings among the search parties, giving the leader of each a different ring and keeping the Remaker for himself. Shevaun sends the gun, tailor made to defeat elves and rings alike, to Tony's new location and he's able to use it to put down the holder of the Incandescence ring, taking it back, but he's forced to cloak again when the others arrive. Malekith taunts him, knowing that he's around, and really cuts to the core of Tony. When he and the rest of the elves leave, preferring to wait for Tony's eventual emergence rather than searching him out. Shevaun suggests that Tony use the third and final available portal to come home with a partial mission success but he refuses, furious with Malekith. Instead, he has Shevaun send his big, dwarf-killing armor to him.
It's a real culture clash over here as Tony learns that the Dark Elves are maybe a little bit more than he bargained for and that maybe he's not entirely prepared to wage war against them. Just when those thoughts are settling though, Malekith, who used Tony's flesh to see into his heart, starts talking about Tony being an unwanted child and how the Dark Elves are no strangers to unwanted children; they just tend to eat them because, as Malekith puts it, what else are they good for? It calls back on some of the thoughts that Tony has had to put aside in order to deal with his city and the Mandarin rings but that are clearly still pretty powerful in his mind. That alone would make for an interesting story but putting Tony in Svartalfheim up against a vicious enemy powerful already wielding three rings that make him much more powerful seems like the recipe for success. We'll see next how the Dark Elves, with a notable hatred for iron, deal with one of Tony's offensive suits instead of his defensive one. Plenty of good stuff happening here and I think the adrenaline is really about to start pumping.
Captain Marvel 2
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c)
Captain Marvel is transporting the Nowlian girl Tic to the planet Torfa, where supposedly the rest of her people have been moved after the Builders destroyed their home planet. She and her ship, with an AI named Harrison, and her cat Chewie who, apparently every single person on Earth refused to watch (not that unbelievable), are intercepted by two smuggler ships guarded by a mercenary ship. She explains her mission but the mercenaries, on the order of their client, fire on her anyway. The ship takes damage quickly and Carol is forced into the fight herself, directing Harrison to protect the medical bay and get the thrusters up while she deals with and/or distracts the ships. Out in space she begins to tear apart the smuggler ships. The mercenary ship flees as the Guardians of the Galaxy show up to dispatch the ship on her tail. Carol's ship and the Guardians' ship link so that Rocket can help with the repairs but he pretty quickly starts attacking Chewie, swearing that it's a Flerken and not a cat. Carol and Star-Lord separate them and she finds out that Torfa seems to be a poisonous planet so perhaps bringing the girl there isn't the best plan. Meanwhile, the gunfire as Rocket attacked Chewie woke up Tic and she emerges as Star-Lord reveals to Carol that he's the son of J-Son, which isn't what Tic wanted to hear. She flees into Carol's ship, locking them all on the Guardians' ship in the hopes that she'll be able to steal it. Captain Marvel sets out after her by herself in the depths of space, anxious to get her ship back and to rescue her cat.
Good introduction of the Guardians here, with whom Carol is primed to spend a good amount of time. She's immediately accepted and the DeConnick does a pretty good job writing all of the Guardians, though we really only get extended dialogue and looks at Star-Lord and Rocket. In addition, any thought that the book might suffer unduly from the loss of Carol's supporting cast (Wendy, Spider-Woman, Tracy, Kit, Frank, etc) should be more or less assuaged here. We're only an issue removed from her leaving them all behind and going into space but it's clear that DeConnick's take on Carol and her character alone are certainly capable of carrying a book. Obviously the introduction of the Guardians and the hint from the first issue that Captain Marvel will form a team of her own don't hurt things but regardless, Carol has returned to this book as the same strong and confident character, totally able to drive a book, that she left the last series as. David Lopez's art is remarkably good and he draws a mean Carol as well as a mean suited-up Captain Marvel, all of which I was happy about and, admittedly, a little relieved about because I did not particularly care for Lopez's cover. Fans of the last series should absolutely be picking this one up. It has the same heart and the same enthusiasm as the first series, not to mention that there are already a couple of irons in the fire for story ideas and new characters. Even if you didn't read the first series, check this one out, see if the tone is for you. I find it hard to think it isn't.
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