WE COULD SEE LOCKJAW IN A MOVIE

We could see Lockjaw in a movie.

Huge Marvel Cinematic Universe announcements!

GUYS. Hot on the heels of the Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Doctor-Strange maybe-news yesterday (which was, ironically, the only bit of news Kevin Feige did NOT confirm, if just to make my blog look wrong), Marvel held a press conference to announce the slate of upcoming movies for phase three of the MCU. There are, you guys, some really huge, if not suspected, announcements here.

Captain America 3 gets new title!
After the news that Robert Downey Jr. would join the cast of Cap 3, the next installment of the fantastic Captain America movies will officially be called Captain America: Civil War. This is a huge deal and is likely something that will have seeds planted all over the coming Marvel movies. I talked a lot about the implications of Civil War in my post about RDJ in Cap 3 so I won't spend too much time here, except to note that when I went to IMDb for this news, they said it would be called Captain America: Serpent Society, which is...interesting? Whatever. Mark May 6th, 2016 on your calendars now.

Doctor Strange gets a release date!
No new news here (and, as I mentioned, no confirmation of now day-old news) except to say that the new Doctor Strange will land on November 4th, 2016.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 gets bumped up!
After a wildly successful and unexpected opening for the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will now open May 5th, 2017.

Thor 3 ALSO gets new title!
Things are decidedly about to go bad for Thor as the latest in his franchise has officially taken the name Thor: Ragnarok. It has also slid into the release spot vacated by Guardians 2, set to release July 28th, 2017.

Black Panther officially confirmed for 2017, star announced
Ahhhhh, this one is huge! One of Marvel's best and most underrated heroes, Black Panther, will officially get his solo movie. Black Panther is set to be released November 3rd, 2017 and will star 42 and Get On Up star Chadwick Boseman, who is decidedly great. Very, very cool.

Captain Marvel!
Guys! Captain Marvel! Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, no less! Coming July 6th, 2018, everyone's favorite pilot-turned-Captain Marvel will take to the skies in Captain Marvel, which will purportedly find Carol trapped between Earth and outer space. Feige said there's no other news yet, but that a director and writer will be announced soon, though casting, obviously, is still a ways off.

Inhumans coming in 2018
With 2018 shaping up to be a big year for space experiment heroes, Marvel has also confirmed that Inhumans will release November 2nd, 2018 and will at least tie to the hitherto unseen in the MCU Kree-Skrull War.

Avengers: Infinity War to be two parts, spread apart one year
With the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron on the horizon, the third and fourth installments of the landmark Marvel franchise have been given name and tentative dates, with Avengers: Infinity War Part One set to land May 4th, 2018, and Infinity War Part Two coming almost exactly a year later, May 3rd, 2019.




Again, it's confirmation of a ton of news that has been speculated at for some time, with Marvel finally making the splash it needs to with movies like Black Panther and Captain Marvel and other major characters and events coming soon. Really exciting stuff, tucked away on a slow Tuesday. Special thanks to the security guard who wandered over to ask me who Dr. Strange was and kicked all of this off.

Comics this week

So I use the same comic list every week to pull what books are being released and it very rarely, if ever, steers me wrong, which is nice because I haven't always had that luxury in the past. Sometimes, though, it looks a lot more imposing than it is. There are a TON of reprints coming this week, perhaps more than actual new releases. That means a light week for me (yay!) but a harder week for this post (totally worth it!). Let's get into it.

Death of Wolverine: Deadpool and Captain America 1
I told you, it's a light week. I'm not actually super excited about this book because I legitimately don't know what to make of it. Obviously we know it's a tie-in book and it's one that ties-in to the recent DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini, but it also harkens back to DEADPOOL's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" arc, which remains easily my favorite arc of that book. Will this tie-in live up to the quality of that arc? Let's find out TOGETHER.

Deathlok 1
Full disclosure: I'm not really that excited about a DEATHLOK series. The character holds little interest to me (though I loved Deathlok in Remender's UNCANNY X-FORCE, the one who admitted to loving X-Force and was later easily cast aside by Magneto). However, in light of a short week, Nathan Edmondson wins me over here. As a very vocal supporter of Edmondson's BLACK WIDOW and less vocal but still somewhat vocal supporter of his PUNISHER, I'm happy to give this one a look.

Elektra 7
This book's great, it's a short week, you know everything I'm about to say.

Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration 1
A six-dollar celebration 75 years in the making, this book makes the list mostly because I want to talk about one of the segments, namely one that intends to explore what happened the day the Marvel Universe was born, written by FANTASTIC FOUR's James Robinson with art from DAREDEVIL's Chris Samnee, AKA a creative team I half-loathe and half-love. That's all I have to say about it.

Thunderbolts 32
THUNDERBOLTS comes to its conclusion after a run of a good couple years. A weaker-than-expected start from Daniel Way led to a fantastic Charles Soule middle and now we reach the final chapter of the first ongoing Marvel work for Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. I've enjoyed this book for quite some time now and I'm sad to see it go, though unsurprised. Looking forward to seeing where it leaves our team in the aftermath.

Benedict Cumberbatch cast as Dr. Strange

Sigh. Guys. I was about to get a nice headstart on my Tuesday post. We're slow at work and I updated the new comic list and everything. The weirdest thing is that I was reading about Dr. Strange, both as a character and as the upcoming movie. Grantland recently posted an article about how hard it is to cast Dr. Strange. So here I am, talking to my girlfriend about these Doc Strange articles I read when she bashes me for not telling her the news I was clearly building to. The only news I had, on the other hand, was how ridiculous the stories tied to his STRANGE TALES appearances were ("Human Torch and Thing meet the Beatles!" "The Mad Thinker's maddest plot yet: BOUNCING BALL OF DOOM!" "The Terrible Toys!"). So she broke the news to me: Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to play Dr. Strange in Marvel's upcoming Dr. Strange movie.

Really big move here for Marvel, who has largely been casting lesser-known actors in their key hero roles lately (particularly as said roles tend to come attached to multi-picture deals). Paul Rudd was one of the bigger stars tied to a protagonist in the MCU (Robert Downey Jr. was in rebuilding mode when Iron Man turned his career right around, Chris Evans was great but not big when he signed on as Cap, and Chris Hemsworth was a relative unknown when he was cast as Thor) and now Cumberbatch moves from giant geek strongholds in Sherlock and Star Trek right over to the Marvel Universe. I hadn't even heard his name in relation to this movie yet but here it is, front-page on IMDb. On top of that, I think it's a pretty strong move. Cumberbatch has the weight and range of someone playing the mysterious Strange, though it begs the question which Strange is going to show up here. The aforementioned (and aforelinked) Grantland article does a great job giving a rundown on Strange's history and the many personality change he's undergone in his existence, including one more Sherlock Holmesian sort of run. Will Marvel typecast Cumberbatch here or let him show a little more range? The article also mentions that Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige wants a more Ditko sort of feel to the movie, a world Sherlock Holmes may not work in. Still, really big news and a really interesting move overall. Should be a lot of fun going forward as we now have our character, director (Scott Derrickson), and lead all worked out.

Leftovers 10-22-14

All-New Ghost Rider 8

Johnny Blaze has tracked Robbie Reyes and spirit Eli Morrow down, determined to learn more about this all-new Ghost Rider. Eli convinces Robbie to let him take the reins to fight Blaze as Johnny looks into his soul and discovers Eli is a murdering Satanist, news which shouldn't surprise Robbie but rather does. Eli is overpowered by Blaze but manages to escape, continuing to wrestle Robbie for control and eventually winning it, throwing Robbie's life into chaos and attacking an old contact of his. Still not a bad series though it occasionally gets a bit heavy-handed in this one. It's an interesting idea but it's not one that's particularly a shock at this point as anyone with a brain can see Eli's not a good dude. The art is occasionally confusing this issue, particularly as the two Ghost Riders fight, but it still looks compelling visually overall. Total Score: 4/5





All-New Invaders 11
The Invaders are trying to find Human Torch and settle him down. They suspect he's going crazy because the energy burst that he and Namor were hit with affected him differently. The exact line, and I'm not making this up, from Namor is "It stunned me but, I assume due to his synthetic makeup, drove Jim insane." That's it. End of diagnosis. Everyone essentially nods and says "Mhm, that sounds likely, great work Namor. Or should I say 'Dr. Namor?' You seem to be a pretty solid scientist now." So they find Jim and he freaks out about how he needs to be killed because all the bad energy in him and they all say no but they also kinda say yes (great friends, these dudes) and Namor steps up and talks about how Jim has always been the conscience of the team (sure, a team with constant do-gooder Captain America and the guy struggling with humanity is the conscience, whatever) and he's always made Namor a better guy and then true love's kiss from an unexpected source (Namor) saves the over-powerful and fearful Human Torch, whereupon he learns that he can control his powers and flies into the atmosphere to burn off the bad energy. Look. It's pretty much Frozen. But, and I can't stress this enough, with worse writing. I'm not even a big ol' Frozen fan and GEEZ I'd rather watch the hour and a half of that rather than read this comic again. Total Score: 1/5


All-New X-Factor 15

X-Factor is trying to keep World War Hate at bay in DC as Polaris and Gambit attempt to quell rioters, Cypher, Luna, and Georgia try to quell different rioters, Danger and Warlock provide a shield between the Pentagon and the people, and Quicksilver swaps out the nuclear launch codes the president is bringing to a remote location to use on Russia with a briefcase full of comics. Some complications ensue but they're all overcome and X-Factor stays above the hate (mostly) thanks to Danger and Warlock. However, as they regroup back at Serval, they learn that the briefcase Quicksilver stole has a tracking device on it and some Sentinels make their way over to Serval. Some interesting stuff here. The issue manages to drag somehow, despite the immense amount of action it hinges on. There's a lot of dialogue but it doesn't all advance the plot or build character, some of it just seems meant to drag, which is an odd use of dialogue. Dynamic art works in the book's favor, though, as it's a very kinetic book to flip through. Total Score: 3/5


Amazing Spider-Man 8
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man team up successfully to bring down Dr. Minerva, who claims to be working on behalf of the Kree to procure the cocoon. When a baby pops out of the cocoon, even one of Minerva's henchman recognizes how wrong what they're doing is and turns on the others, modifying their sonic scanner into a weapon and using it on his fellow henchmen. As Kamala and the henchman watch over the baby, Spider-Man sends Dr. Minerva scurrying away, calling her bluff about her affiliation with the Kree army. He then correctly identifies the henchman as none other than Clayton Cole and tells him to call up Peter Parker at Parker Industries if he's looking for a job. He also gives Kamala a killer pep talk. Meanwhile, Silk gets a new costume and, in the second half of the issue, Spider-Girl barely escapes Daemos, one of the Inheritors (that's apparently what they're called!), though her father and mother, Peter Parker and MJ Parker, aren't so lucky. Along with her baby brother Ben, Spider-Girl follows a couple other spiders out of her world and into the rebellion. The Kamala-Peter stuff is pretty great and is a crossover worth checking in to, if just to show how much Kamala's story mirrors Peter (though obviously there are some differences). We're also officially at the very edge of SPIDER-VERSE now as the true event is meant to kick off in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. The table's set, now it's time to actually serve up this next event. Total Score: 4/5


Amazing X-Men 12
Everyone is falling to the Wendigos and Tanaraq is nearing the breach between his world and the real world, prepared to conquer the world with his army of Wendigos. Storm convinces the other gods, beaten and corralled by Tanaraq, to give the X-Men their powers. With those powers combined, they manage to pull Tanaraq back from the portal and, along with the previously eaten Guardian, burst that guy up, ending the Wendigo Curse everywhere and reverting all those changed back to their regular forms. Altogether a pretty good first arc for the new creative team on this series. Yost and Kyle managed to make sure everyone they brought on this first story had some sort of an impact on the plot, which is easier said than done on a big team book like this. Better yet, the story itself was interesting enough alone. This ending is a little abrupt, as Storm basically says "hey you gods, give us your powers" and the gods go "well, okay, that's something we can evidently do." Still, strong work all around. Total Score: 4/5


Axis: Hobgoblin 1
Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin who has taken to selling criminal identities to up-and-comers, has changed his method and now sells hero identities to up-and-comers, rebranding himself has a motivational speaker of sorts and making crazy money in the process. The Goblin King, though, isn't so thrilled with the arrangement and wants Menace, Lily Holister, on his side to take down Kingsley. Menace has lost her goblin powers since Spider-Man injected her with the antidote but Goblin King believes that blowing up her car and forcing her into the river will probably do the trick to remind her she needs him (specious logic). Unfortunately, it wipes her mind a bit and sends her crawling to Roderick Kingsley in the hopes that he'll give her an identity. Kind of an interesting premise here but it relies on caring about a lot of Goblins, so if you don't you'll probably end up a little uninterested in this tie-in limited series. There are some fun bits but overall it's hard to nail a tone down on this one, which occasionally goes full joke but often also backs off and tries to go darker, weakening both. Total Score: 3/5


Cyclops 6
Cyclops and Corsair have been reunited with Corsair's team but, thanks in no small part to Scott not knowing what he's doing in space, they get captured by Starjammer enemy Malafect (I'm calling all space enemies Babbleblop Spaceman from now on because that's what most space baddies might as well be named). Corsair pretends to be furious with Scott to influence Spaceman, who decides to take Scott on as his own crew member after Cyclops, playing along, blasts Corsair with eyebeams. Babbleblop is into it and adopts Cyclops as his own (crew member). This issue, with a new creative team than the original (not a hundred percent sure if that's permanent or not, but Rucka and Dauterman are definitely both busy, so it, you know, still could be either), has lost a little bit of the spark of the first arc, which focused so much on building characters and bonding. This one gets more into the action and the typical sort of plot. It's still interesting enough to keep reading, but that's something to keep an eye on moving forward. Also, these sorts of space enemies tend to be interchangeable and uninteresting to me (hence: Babbleblop). Total Score: 3/5


Deadpool 36
Deadpool teams with Magneto and his crew to take down the Red Onslaught and his hero-killing Sentinels, which kind of draws the ire of his wife, who believes he needs to spend more time at home and helping her with her kingdom. As the Inversion Wave hits, things change quite a bit for Deadpool. Most of the heroes get surlier with him and oust his refugee friends from the X-Mansion. For Deadpool himself, though, the inversion has turned him peaceful and forgiving, giving way to an all-new Deadpool. It's a pretty neat idea and it's the first real mention of the effects of the inversion, proving that there could be interesting things ahead for AXIS. Since an initial terrible arc, DEADPOOL has turned itself into something really respectable (with a couple of road bumps) and a series that really knows its way around a crossover. Total Score: 4/5


Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 2

X-23 freaked out a bit after Wolverine's death and left the Xavier School, angrily storming out on Kitty. She goes and parties in some weird and skimpy outfit and then gets involved in a strange gang fight and teams up with and talks with The Chinook, ex-mutant formerly known as Windshear, who teaches her some things about mourning and healing and whatever else. She's all better by the end and heads back home, proud of her clone-dad. Really distracting that there's this story about a teenager who is dressed so ridiculously. I think a lot of people are having trouble with X-23, not knowing how to write her as she starts to evolve a bit, and this is no different. I think there's a compelling story (KIND OF, not really) but it's so weirdly handled and overshadowed by everything else that it gets drowned out. Total Score: 2/5





Secret Avengers 9
We are so close to done this and yet WE'RE NOT DONE YET, what's the deal? I've been writing this for altogether too long. Okay. What happened in this book? There was probably some more condescension as Kot references purportedly more high-culture literature and art. This book is rather a hipster and guys, I hate hipsters. Anyway, Tlon is coming and Deadpool is done distracting Hawkeye and MODOK escaped and is hanging out with a shaman. I still don't care about this book. The Deadpool-Hawkeye team-up is pretty alright though. Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 11

MeMe has been dumped by Fantomex and, after a lifetime of never being dumped and not really understanding how relationships work, Hope is dedicated to finding out why. In the middle of invading Volga's campus, Hope sneaks into Fantomex's mind, suddenly believing him to be scared of Cable, which is why he broke things off with her. Of course, Fantomex knows she's there and snaps at her, screaming about how he doesn't fear anyone and how he's sick of this team belittling him and underestimating him. He has Eva expel Hope from his mind and makes his next move. With Volga's team dispatched, Fantomex turns on his teammates, incapacitating them before explaining that he must kill them all to prove how much better he is than all of them. Before he can do it, though, Volga's mysterious assistant, who had been wreaking some havoc on them earlier, shoots him in the head, revealing herself to be Domino. Really great twists and turns here and Spurrier continues to do excellent work with Fantomex and the rest of the team. I think Hope is a little weakly developed here but I think he has more to say about her and to explore with her. Spurrier did CBR's X-Position this past week and gave, as ever, a really interesting interview that I've been wanting to show to you guys all week. Check it out here and learn more about his really interesting take on these guys. Anyway, continues to be great, this book. Total Score: 4/5

New Warriors 11, She-Hulk 9

New Warriors 11

The Eternals have picked up the fight against the New Warriors on behalf of the High Evolutionary, making things infinitely more difficult for the young team. Justice gets dragged away to the Arctic Circle, trying desperately to explain to his captor that they just want to save everyone while Jake Waffles mourns the loss of Mr. Whiskers and the rest of the New Warriors gets pummeled or otherwise captured. Only Zuras of the Eternals, though, seems complicit in the actual plan, the rest of the Eternals clearly think something else is happening, with Zuras keeping them from the truth. Meanwhile, Justice comes to in the Arctic Circle, ready to rush back to the High Evolutionary's ship and get his team back.

It's a huge loss for the New Warriors here but the pieces sure are in place for an outstanding comeback. Yost and Burnham work together here to build our characters up while also developing the plot into something familiar but exciting. The key to making a familiar story worth reading is developing characters that the reader cares about and Yost has spent this whole series making sure that's true. Even the least developed character (probably Water Snake) matters and you care about what happens to her. In the spotlight in this one is Speedball, whose inner monologue keeps fighting but wonders if maybe this isn't for the best, as he recognizes that this is the second massive tragedy he's been at the start of. Poor guy. There's something for everyone and the book is doing a great job of keeping the stakes raised even as the end nears.

Total Score: 5/5


She-Hulk 9

The day in court goes rather badly as prosecutor Matt Murdock plays his cards the right way and keeps She-Hulk off-balance. We hear the charges lodged against Steve Rogers, part of a deathbed confession that accuses Steve of getting the recently deceased man's brother killed back before Steve was Captain America. The plaintiff, Harold Fogler, said that he had gotten in with some bad guys out on the West Coast while his smarter, more gifted brother studied to be a doctor back in Brooklyn. When his brother caught wind of the things Harold was getting up to, he made his way west with his friend Steve to try to get Harold home, only to get the two of them captured by the bad guys. Steve, of course, refuses to be silenced and his insistence on demanding the bad guys do the right thing leads to said bad guys shooting Harold's brother. Harold had kept his mouth shut even after Steve became Cap because he recognized that Cap was good, but he always believed Steve to be the reason his family had suffered for so long. As the day in court ends, She-Hulk isn't feeling great about the whole case and tries to train Steve for the stand, though Steve is prepared to go up and tell the truth without concern. Daredevil comes to visit She-Hulk at night, asking her to take a run with him. They run through the city as Matt tells Jen that he had declined the case, basically laughing in the face of the plaintiff, but that he warned Steve a case might be coming, whereupon Steve asked Matt to take the case and argue it to the best of his ability. Annoyed, She-Hulk heads back home and, the next day, calls Steve on to the stand, only to have him immediately say that everything Fogler said was true, to the frustration of his lawyer.

Rounding out this week's "soon-to-end" books, SHE-HULK once more brings forward a story and several characters that we can immediately care about and that we can be entertained by. I talked in this week's AVENGERS review about how I'm having trouble with the take on Steve, not because I think it's impossible and a terrible character change, but just because it takes his good qualities and pushes them too far, making them stubborn, bad qualities. Here his good qualities are on full display and they're pushed to, for She-Hulk, a frustrating place but still a ridiculously good one. It's the idea that his goodness will get him in trouble versus the idea that his goodness could turn into bitterness and obsession. While I think both ideas are potentially valid (when placed in the right stories), I much prefer reading this one, which also hinges on the humor of She-Hulk rolling her eyes and continually being taken aback by the way Steve does things. Soule and Pulido put in the perfect ending to this issue as Steve takes the stand and ignores She-Hulk's urging to tell his side of the story, instead saying that everything in Fogler's account is accurate, eliciting a gritted teeth "COME ON" from She-Hulk. Great moment, really excellent and fun book.

Total Score: 5/5

Marvel cancels SHE-HULK, ALL-NEW ULTIMATES

Marvel released their January solicits and said solicits revealed that both critical darling SHE-HULK and the abomination that is ALL-NEW ULTIMATES are set to end with their January issues. I think probably that description tells you what you need to know about how I'm feeling. SHE-HULK (the newest issue of which I'll review soon, I promise) has varied from above average to outstanding, never dipping into mediocrity. Meanwhile, ALL-NEW ULTIMATES tried too hard for my liking and ended up middling at its very best points. Look, I don't have that much more to add, as these two books are probably books I talk about enough (considering I like SHE-HULK and I talk a lot about books I like and ALL-NEW ULTIMATES seemingly comes out every week or so and so my feelings are altogether too-well documented), but check out Brett White's article on CBR about the cancellation of SHE-HULK and what cancellation means for Marvel these days. It's certainly worth a read.

Avengers 37

Avengers 37

Reed and his team are still on the run and Steve Rogers is furious about it. To make matters more complicated, the world at large has caught wind of the universes dying and Terrax has made a speech ensuring that this world will be protected thanks to what the Cabal is doing. More infuriatingly for Steve, his numbers have dwindled to just himself, SHIELD, Captain America (I'm already doing what I can not to call Sam "Falcon" any more and finding it DIFFICULT), Hawkeye, Sue Storm, and Captain Marvel (with Black Widow and Spider-Woman in the wind) and this team cannot keep up with the Illuminati, who are beating him at every turn. He's getting crap from everyone and lashing out in turn. Essentially, he's the old man cop on the tail of our movie's/TV show's lovable rogues; what he's doing he's doing out of a sense of justice that's turned sour by his hate for these guys so now it's hard to figure out where he's coming from. What's worse is that Sue Storm appears to be a double agent for the Illuminati, unbeknownst (obviously) to the rest of the team.

I think there are probably interesting things happening here. Maybe I'm a little too fresh off reading it. I like twists and turns. I like new takes on characters. I like dark. But I'm finding it really hard to follow this Steve Rogers, cranky old man. I do believe there's a chance he reacts like this, frustrated after months of chasing the smartest people in the world and getting no where. I'm hesitant to say I don't like this take on him simply because I don't like this take on him. Let me explain. Steve Rogers, as people reading this blog probably know, is my absolute favorite superhero. I love characters in the Steve trope, the leaders who are unflinchingly noble, even at the cost of making their lives much harder. To me, there's no argument that Steve Rogers as Captain America is the best possible superhero. Not necessarily that he has the best powers or he's always the most interesting or likable, but that the best superhero is the one who always does the right thing, no matter what's pulling him in other directions and even if he fails. So I'm doing what I can to find this take interesting because I think there is a seed of something there and it's certainly impressive (and very like Hickman) to take a character 70+ years old and suddenly make his personality "change" in a way it hasn't before (I put change in quotes thinking that perhaps this isn't a change so much as it is a wearing down of what his character really is, eight months down the road of a seemingly impossible problem). So I don't like this take on him but that's not because it's not interesting nor because it's not unfounded. I wish I could say I can't see this take somewhere in the Steve we all know, but of course I can. It's just one I'm not sure I want to see.

Total Score: 4/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 3

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 3

The villains Magneto assembled show up and, after a bit of a back and forth grappling against Red Onslaught and a great deal of quips, they manage to subdue the incredibly powerful villain and his hero-hunting Sentinels long enough to allow Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange to cast their inversion spell and set things right again. How much effect did the inversion spell have? Well, that remains to be seen but BOY are the X-Men mad that the Avengers won't let them take the unconscious body of the Red Skull and suddenly young Evan is a full grown possible Apocalypse.

We're in the midst of an extraordinarily interesting World Series, one that pits the power of magic of the Royals against the power of "we win every even year" of the Giants. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe AXIS is following the Giants' path, albeit with a smaller sample size and presumably a worse catcher (I'm not sure who's catching in AXIS but boy that Buster Posey sure is good). I did not care for AXIS 1, I rather liked AXIS 2, and I'm back off-board with AXIS 3. I've had a lot of trouble over the last month or so with Remender quipping way too much and it happens again here. I buy it out of some of the villains, like Absorbing Man or Loki or Hobgoblin or even Sabretooth and Mystique (NOTE: my blog just tried to autocorrect "Sabretooth" to "Sabertooth" and now I'm TERRIFIED that it's done that every time I've written his name and I'm only just noticing it now. Geez, really bad couple years for that worry, given his prominence in this universe of late). The idea that Carnage even agreed to help was specious, let alone putting him out there and having him playfully (if threateningly) pal around with the other villains is crazy to me. Throw Enchantress and even Doom into that mix and I one hundred percent do not buy all this quipping. It might sound like a little thing but it's the first half of the padded-out issue and it takes you right out of it. Also, and this hasn't been a problem of Remender's before so I'm not sure who is to blame here, there's a lot of expositiony scenery chewing going on. Iron Man literally says to Deadpool at one point "you're an insane mercenary zombie married to a vampire" on the off-chance anyone reading this doesn't know who Deadpool is. That guy's not Beak, that's Deadpool, one of your very favorite characters to trot out into a book, maybe trust that he can sell his own appearance. It's harder to critique later in the book (though BOY do I have some problems there) because it's hard right now to say what is and what isn't an effect of the inversion spell, but the X-Men, across the board, freaking out that Cap won't let them take Red Skull's body on the off-chance Professor Xavier is back in control is actual insanity to me. Here's the deal: I'm a white, middle-class male, I have literally never needed a powerful figure to help change the world on my behalf. Mutants are, in this world, hated and hunted and Professor Xavier was often the shining beacon for mutant-human tolerance. I've never needed anything like that because the world bends to my whims, but I literally cannot understand this (keeping in mind, of course, that the inversion wave may be impacting things a bit). I can understand the X-Men wanting to find out if Xavier is back in charge of his own mind, even in a different body. But even the face of that current body is a Nazi monster who just MINUTES BEFORE tried to destroy the entire world and subjugate most of its people. Taking that body into custody until they find out who is who is maybe not so bad an idea. Also, Evan suddenly sprouting and becoming an Apocalypse-like figure baffles me. If I'm right and the inversion wave stuff is explained next issue (and explained satisfactorily), maybe I'll have my feelings about this event whip back around. But it'll take more than what issue two did to impress me a bunch.

Total Score: 2/5

Comics this week

Shorter week than last on new releases, which is pretty neat, but I'm not altogether too excited by the slate of releases, which is less neat. Should I maybe keep that to myself in the future? Feels like it gives away some personal biases that you all surely already know.

Amazing X-Men 12
I dunno, this one's been pretty neat since the inimitable Chris Yost took over. Probably one of the biggest Wendigo events I've ever seen. Anyway, it's been pretty cool and it's a short week and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to send in the ringers on this one (HINT: I rarely plan these out. This is what two years of this blog does to me).

Avengers 37
Do I remember what's happening in this series? No. Of course I don't. I bet it's related to AXIS? WAIT. I do remember, it's eight months later, Sunspot is pulling the strings on the Avengers and on AIM, which are both, suddenly, under the same umbrella. Despite that first sentiment above, I have been enjoying these issues. I just have a bad memory and it's late.

New Warriors 11
Beating out AXIS despite a strong last issue, NEW WARRIORS has been knocking it out of the park since its start and it's time (read: too late) to shine a bigger light on it. Know how I mentioned I like Chris Yost above? I really like Chris Yost and I don't understand how his books don't survive. They're constantly really well-written and a lot of fun. Also, the good will this guy built up from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes might make him untouchable in my mind.

She-Hulk 9
This too is beating out AXIS since I remembered the last issue ended with She-Hulk preparing to defend Steve Rogers on the stand against none other than Matt Murdock as the prosecutor. Twists and turns abound. This is another book that's regularly been good but hasn't outshined a lot of its competition. Wrong time, wrong place, I suppose. But it's here now!

X-Force 11
I reread X-FORCE 10 a couple days ago and it was still great. This book has been one that I regularly reread and find myself enjoying even more, which should come as a surprise to my readers if only because I won't shut up about this series even on the first read-through. Maybe it won't be a surprise, though, because I also won't shut up about that X-MEN LEGACY book by Si Spurrier so, shocker, I love this one too. This one I predicted I'd love and features one of my favorite writers from the last year and a handful of great characters. Spoilers?

Leftovers 10-15-14

As I said on Tuesday, there were a whole bunch of comics out this week so let's dive right into it with these much shorter, much quicker reviews. Let's also hope that they're much shorter and much quicker than I tend to be, even in these.


Avengers World 14

The Next Avengers help Sunspot, Cannonball, and Hyperion bring down Barbuda and free Smasher from their control as Shang-Chi gets his revenge on Gorgon, replacing Madripoor in the process, and Druid, who was killed while in the land of the dead, giving him the ability to stay with them and now giving him access to the language he needs, successfully brings the dead back and closes the portals while the Avengers and Euroforce beat up Le Fay. Success all around! These three sweeping stories come to a close in a pretty clean way, but one that follows well enough from the rest of the series. Strong writing and wonderful art anchor this one. Total Score: 5/5








Deadpool's Art of War 1
Deadpan gets hired in some strange chrono-bending way to kill Sun Tzu, author of Art of War and he gets real interested in the work, deciding to re-write it and publish it, claiming it as his own. His would-be publisher demands he find a new way to write the story as many have already done just that and he decides it should take the angle of a survivor's guide. He decides to start a massive war so that he can test his theories out surviving just such a war and pits Loki and Thor against each other, trolls and frost giants against Asgardians. However, his advice to Loki gives Loki the upper hand and Loki actually wins the inciting fight. There is maybe an interesting story in here but I've yet to really see it. It's also not nearly as fun as you'd want a Deadpool story to be with only really a handful of fun moments even attempted and almost all of them missing the mark. With Loki standing over a beaten Thor on the last page, Deadpool asks us "Isn't this fun?" Nope, but thanks for asking such a specific question. Total Score: 2/5


Edge of Spider-Verse 5
The final EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE shows us little Peni Parker, someone who I will not be talking about in the possessive sense, set to replace her father as SP//dr, a premiere crimefighter of her world who relies on a genetically keyed spider-suit to fight crime, which she does well, even despite her youth. After a run-in with Mysterio and some gangs (and a team-up with that universe's Daredevil), she's accosted on the train by two other Spiders from different universes, who warn her of the coming Morlun and other Spider-Killers. She agrees to go with them to help strengthen the Spiders. It's a pretty strong book (though I tend to have a distaste for books wherein some song plays and the lyrics show up as text in the book, particularly when the book is written by the frontman of My Chemical Romance, a band whose music I do not care for, but this is getting real nitpicky now and very nearly petty so let's close up this parenthetical) and the art is particularly strong. Overall, with a couple of missteps, the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE precursor mini-series has created some interesting characters and should get readers pretty interested for the main course, starting in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 11
She-Hulk meets with Wyatt Wingfoot and they discuss how Johnny's in trouble and how everything else seems to have broken the wrong way for Marvel's first family. The duo agree to team-up and try to figure out who is behind all of this before whoever it is can figure out they're on his or her trail. On his way home from the meet-up, though, Wyatt is attacked by a mysterious archer, saved only when Spider-Man pops in, also called by She-Hulk to give a hand. Oh, and Thing keeps getting beaten up in prison with a pseudo ally in Sandman and Reed is doing stuff and Sue is still crying. Really continue to not like this book but I do think this might have been a stronger issue than the last few, almost because the F4 weren't in it as much. That, uh, that still didn't make the book good, I should specify. Still way too narrative heavy and hand-holding and painted with such a broad stroke to be dark and menacing to actually feel that way. Total Score: 2/5


Hulk 7
Doc Green, fresh on his de-gamma-ing of Rick Jones, meets with Hulkling, who promises him that his powers are based on mixed alien heritage, not gamma in a fun little scene. Green's next real target is Skaar, son of Hulk (who Green claims not to be any more), so he travels to the Savage Land. After a vicious fight, Green manages to inject Skaar with the serum and watches him revert to something more resembling human (though with Skaar's strange background, no one really knows what he is now). His next targets seem to be the Red Hulks, both he and she, but first he has to deal with what's going on inside him, which seems to be a rebellion from Banner and even Hulk, still locked away in his mind. Some interesting things afoot here. I still don't like and/or care about Doc Green, which is the only thing the book is slipping on but I have a feeling now that it's intentionally slipping on that point. With the reveal that Banner and even Hulk may be still in Doc Green's mind, showing that the Hulk and Doc Green might really be separate entities, it's probable that Doc Green isn't the one we're really meant to be pulling for. Some interesting stuff and I'm surprised by how excited I've become to see the other Hulks in this series. Apparently I like those guys. Total Score: 4/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 7
Doom has trapped current Loki in time stasis after the villainous Loki showed Doom that he would destroy the world in the future. With Doom distracted, though, by Red Onslaught's hate-wave affecting Latveria, Verity reveals herself to Valeria and explains that Loki should be freed, the logic of which hits Valeria pretty quickly. They go and break down the time cube then, with Loki and his truth-sword released, they construct a way to broadcast the sword's inherent truth to Latveria, freeing the civilians from the perceived hatred they'd been feeling. As Doom and Loki debate what to do next, Magneto shows up and tells them they're needed to fight the Red Onslaught or else watch the world burn. Though I still can't help but eye-roll at Verity Willis (that name! What a specifically correct name PRE-DISCOVERY of her powers! Which are still undefined!), this is a pretty strong issue. There are an appropriate amount of funny moments and clever twists and turns. Valeria in particular gets a solid performance, with Ewing nicely toeing the line between naive child and brilliant wunderkind well (a line that so few others manage to hit). Best part is when Verity asks what makes hate easy and Val mutters "Mommy and daddy." Aww, poor angry kid. Also, great art from Jorge Coelho. Total Score: 4/5


Magneto 11

Hey, we just talked about this guy! Anyway, we see a bit of the last issue of AXIS as Magneto flees the fight with Iron Man on the verge of being crushed. He returns to his base with Briar Raleigh, wondering if maybe he isn't the massive villain the world thinks him to be, after unleashing Onslaught a second time and causing so much destruction once more, all while never actually helping his chosen people. Briar plays him a video she made of all of his greatest hits, which are mostly violent and despicable from the outside, but ends with a clip of a civilian mutant saying that, though Magneto was angry in all of this, he saved her life and she's happy, if a bit scared, that someone like him is on her side. Rejuvenated, Magneto travels to the ends of the Earth to gather a number of villains including Mystique, Sabertooth, Carnage, Doom, Loki, Absorbing Man, Hobgoblin, and Deadpool (who actually comes to him), to take on the hero-killing Sentinels Red Onslaught has at his command. Though this certainly wouldn't be required reading to understand what's happening in AXIS (we know by the end of issue two that Magneto left and got some villains and came back, which is pretty much all we need to know to continue), this one actually really does add a lot of depth to the stories, both the story of AXIS and the story of Magneto. It's extremely well-done and fits nicely with what Bunn has been establishing all along for Magneto. Great work. Total Score: 5/5


Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 6
While the Green Goblin recovers from his gunshot-to-the-head wounds and promptly kills J. Jonah Jameson for them, Miles and Maria Hill talk to Peter and MJ, trying to ensure that he's the real deal. As they keep questioning him and he keeps basically saying that he is Peter but he doesn't know how he's alive, probably something to do with science or whatever, Gwen and Aunt May also show up, suddenly aware that he's still alive. Unfortunately, the reunion is cut short when Goblin turns up on the front lawn. Miles demands Peter get his family and friends to safety while he takes on Goblin. With a series of attacks revolving around his venom blasts, Miles takes down Osborn with ease. Hill calls for backup to restrain Osborn while the powered-down Norman pleads with Miles to help him, promising that he'll tell him the truth about Miles' own powers and DUN DUN DUN his real father. EYE-ROLL. I actually enjoyed this issue (though it came with a lot of the sort of back-and-forth dialogue that seems to only serve to extend the pages...now we're getting into different styles of Bendis writing) right up until that last page, where Norman promises to tell him about his REAL FATHER. I suppose there has to be more drama to the return of the Green Goblin than just "oh, Miles' venom works absolutely GREAT on that guy" but I really don't need more daddy issues in comics or, you know, anywhere else, thanks. It's possible this will be some sort of fake-out or won't have the desired effect on Miles, but I'm reviewing this issue for this issue, not for the future, and GEEZ, trope alert. Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin Annual 1

We get a look back at the days when Fury took the job to be the new Man on the Wall in the stead of Woodrow McCord. Fury, eager to know more about McCord, is shown around the moonbase by Howard Stark, who shows him McCord's diary. In it, McCord explains what happened between himself and the man he replaced, a man named Stafford, and what the job has done to him in turn. I went into this book with a lot of skepticism because I don't tend to love Annuals and I really don't tend to love Annuals for events or for one-year only comics and I already didn't love ORIGINAL SIN. To say, then, that this issue is absolutely the best thing to come out of ORIGINAL SIN feels a little like the truth and a bit misleading at the same time. It's the truth because this book really does feel, to me, like it outstrips anything in ORIGINAL SIN, thanks to the quality of ORIGINAL SIN, and it's a bit misleading because this book really is genuinely very good. It's an extremely well-written character piece about Woody McCord and, on the outsides of that story, about Nick Fury. There's a lot here and Latour does a great job to really make the Man on the Wall stuff compelling and interesting. I couldn't help remembering that Latour was the last person to write a WINTER SOLDIER series before this newest incarnation and that I'd absolutely have loved to see him as the writer on this current one, as a guy who clearly has a compelling take on the Man on the Wall thing and who knows Bucky well. Great stuff here. Really worth checking out for a single issue sort of thing. Total Score: 5/5


Spider-Man 2099 5
Miguel insists that Alchemax no longer do things like hire criminals straight out of prison and suggests that they instead work on building supervillain prisons, an idea that Liz Allan is onboard with. However, Miguel is bothered by searing pains in his head as Miguel O'Hara's from different worlds are killed by Morlun. He escapes to the roof and switches to his costume right as the Miguel O'Hara who linked all of his fellow Miguel's heads together in a misguided attempt to team them up opens a portal to 616. Before he manages to enter it, though, Morlun catches up with him and kills him, dropping the body to the 616 but shies away from entering himself, remembering that world as the one in which he died. Miguel takes the body and realizes he has to find Spider-Man. Interesting issue all around. There's maybe an attempt at a little too much backstory from the other universe's Miguels especially considering it's quite clear they're going to die before they have a huge impact on the story, but our Miguel does well here and it seems like he'll be our messenger for the SPIDER-VERSE entry point coming very soon. Total Score: 4/5


Storm 4

Storm, hurt by the loss of Wolverine, expresses her grief out a safe distance from Earth before settling down and moving forward. She finds Wolverine's phone on his desk, which instantly gets a text from Yukio, asking for him to come down to help. She instead travels to Las Vegas where she tells Yukio what happened to Wolverine and promises to accompany her to whatever she needs help with. Believing this could be a bad idea as Storm is bound to not like what's coming, Yukio leads her to an underground meeting with the heads of a few clans of the world. The four bosses talk and try to figure out land issues with two clans clashing over one AIM base drifting between their territories. To solve the dispute, the four bosses and Storm go into an arena where two champions for the sparring clans face off. Disgusted by the fight-to-the-death mentality, Storm intercedes, with Yukio pleading her not to, saying that these fights keep the civilian casualties down from these gangs. Storm can't abide it, though, and the head of the third clan challenges Yukio for supremacy after her champion broke the rules. The pain of the loss of Wolverine is handled nicely in this issue, with Pak and Ibañez dedicating about five pages to her overwhelming grief before having her refocus and continue forth. It's pretty much what you want from Storm. The fighting clans are a little confusing to write about in an attempted brief summary but work alright in the book (though the areas they're claiming are a little vague). It's also a nice example of the differences between Wolverine and Storm, with Wolverine abiding these fights because he understands that it could keep civilian casualties down and Storm unable to abide these fights for any reason. Total Score: 4/5


Superior Foes of Spider-Man 16
The penultimate issue of SUPERIOR FOES finds the Sinister Six ready to step up as the heads of the Maggia with the head of Silvermane in tow. Unfortunately for them, Overdrive, Beetle, and Speed Demon all made deals with various other mobs and now the pier is a war zone about to get even crazier as Punisher, Mach VII, and Shocker head that way for their own reasons. Boomerang, though, got everything he wanted as he had stolen Chameleon's shape-shifting serum from his vault and poses as a Mets rookie pitcher to get to pitch once more for his team. As ever, really fun, really engaging issue. Great stuff from Speed Demon and Boomerang and a couple of twists that work really well for the issue. It's been a really fun ride for this team and I'm sad to know it's coming to an end in the next issue, but glad that we managed to get 17 out of it. Guys, 17 issues for a funny book that stars a supervillain C-team is kind of a massive win. Total Score: 4/5

Daredevil 9, Ms. Marvel 9

Daredevil 9

Matt, Foggy, and Kirsten talk about Matt potentially writing a book with Kirsten's father, an idea Kirsten is against and Foggy worries about, though the advance check is crazy intriguing. Foggy, though, worries that Matt delving back into his life for an autobiography will dig up the parts that he's done so well to push down, a fear Matt doesn't seem to share. Meanwhile, the Purple Children are living large, walking around and scaring everyone, overwhelming everyone with their feelings, magnified to a child's level, and driving some cop cars around. Though Daredevil has more experience than most at fighting Purple Man, he's overwhelmed by the children's sense of fear and despair and loneliness and rage and grief and everything Matt's buried comes back up to the surface, wrecking him and leaving him curled up on the ground under an overpass where the healing Purple Man discovers him.

This is it, everyone. Everything Mark Waid has been building to and everything we've expected to come over the last few years of Waid's run is finally coming to a head and it's masterfully done. I've been guilty, of course, of expecting this sort of thing to come much sooner but Waid's patience is important here as every issue that Waid waited to have this sort of thing happen strengthened the payoff. This issue has a great balance of fun with Foggy, Kirsten, and Matt and of darkness with the Purple Children, a surprisingly sympathetic villain for Matt, who recognizes that the kids aren't acting like Killgrave, that they're not trying to convince people, they're just blasting their kid emotions at peak levels, as he puts it. It's too much for Matt and now we have our way in to the next story. Excellent work from Chris Samnee and Matt Wilson, whose highlight here comes in a full page juxtaposing the kids feeling their emotions and memories in Daredevil's head related to those emotions. It's absolutely incredible and it defines the issue so well. Fantastic work all around, as if that will come as a surprise to anyone with this title.

Total Score: 5/5


Ms. Marvel 9

Kamala is forced to fight in just her regular street clothes as she finds she can't change her appearance in the midst of a fight with one of the Inventor's robots going after her school. She wins the fight but passes out, not healing quickly enough to keep up. Bruno manages to force his way into the fight area and finds Kamala passed out at the center. Medusa, keeping a close eye on the new Inhuman, appears and has Lockjaw transport them all to New Attilan, where Inhuman healer Vinatos helps and monitors Kamala's recovery. He also tells her when she wakes up that her healing ability seems to revert things back to their normal form, so the more she heals the less she may be able to shapeshift. Rejuvenated and now aware that she's an Inhuman, Kamala returns home and apologizes to her parents, happy to see them. That night, she goes back to the place where she rescued Vick, prepared to free the kids inside. Doyle is waiting for her and unleashes another big robot for her to fight, which Kamala defeats with the help of Lockjaw. She finds the people inside the building only to find that they weren't kidnapped, they're volunteers.

There are few books that have developed a supporting cast as quickly and as strongly as MS. MARVEL under G. Willow Wilson's direction. Wilson has done an excellent job making us care about Kamala, about Kamala's family, about Kamala's friends, and about the heroes who have crossed Kamala's path. That's extremely difficult to do, particularly when you're building an entirely new character in her own entirely new book. If a character is created in a separate book and built over an arc in someone else's book, you can use a new solo series to further develop that character. Wilson doesn't have that benefit here, meaning that she has so much work to accomplish and she's 100% accomplished it already. My girlfriend and I recently, just because this is who we are, wrote big long lists of our favorite superheroes, ranking them in order as best we could. I don't know if you guys know this, but I love superheroes. After careful deliberation, I found that I'd placed Ms. Marvel at number sixteen. That put her between Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange. AMAZING company (worth noting that after the top like, three, the difference in position is negligible because I just really like them all so much everyone). This wasn't really a haphazard list, I really did think about it a lot and gave reasons for everyone at every position (I got up to 30 heroes before putting the list down). Maybe this sounds self-indulgent (uhhhhh, have you read this blog? Because obviously it's self-indulgent and, frankly, I'd call it self-important) as I focus on my own personal opinions of this character but I think it's important to note that, after nine issues (only seven or eight, really, when I made the list), Kamala Khan had cracked the top twenty. That says a ton about this book, whether you trust my judgment or not. Great work as ever and this book just continues to be a lot of fun.

Total Score: 5/5

Uncanny X-Men 27, Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Uncanny X-Men 27

Matthew Malloy is still out there, wreaking some serious havoc and baffling the X-Men and SHIELD, nearby in a helicarrier. In an attempt to quell him, Rachel Grey creates a big psychic image in front of him, showing the X-Men and Avengers ready to fight him with Xavier leading the pack, asking if Malloy will allow him to rebuild the barriers in his mind for the good of the world. Malloy waffles between trusting him and hating him but ultimately begins to wonder if maybe he shouldn't be using this power to do much more. He sees through Rachel's trick and lays waste to the helicarrier, transporting most of the X-Men back to their homes (though some remain unaccounted for). Everyone is caught off-guard by this strange tactic but Scott Summers recovers quickly enough for Magik to teleport him back to Malloy, where Cyclops convinces him that he believes what Charles did was wrong and that he wants to help mutant kind, maybe the way Malloy wants to express his new powers. Cyclops asks Malloy if maybe he wants to talk a bit and Malloy consents.

The big plot development here, obviously, is that this sudden omega-level or beyond mutant is potentially ending in Cyclops' smaller camp of militant mutants, tipping the scales of the battle. I have my usual issues with Bendis books (namely some mood-breaking back-and-forth dialogue and quips) but my hesitation about naming this a good arc stems from something bigger here, I think. I don't like SCHISM and I don't like what's spawned from it. Do I think the X-Men probably needed some sort of a shakeup? Yeah, I guess so. Was SCHISM intriguing? Sure. I liked the idea of an increasingly more militant Cyclops and an increasingly more caring and protective Wolverine. On the flipside, I don't think it's carried well and it's clearly weighing on the writers at this point too. Obviously the added wrinkle of "Scott Summers killed Professor X" has extended the life of the split but I even think that's weak. Doing no research on the subject, I'm not sure there's a single character involved in these fights that hasn't been brainwashed or possessed or controlled or what-not. So has Cyclops been skewing another way for a little bit now? Well sure, I suppose people are starting to get more cynical of him. But should they erase their long history with him and his new people because he, very clearly under control of the Phoenix Force he couldn't contain and that they all knew he couldn't contain, was partly responsible for the death of his mentor? Look, I think not. What I'm getting at is that I don't think this whole antipathy between the two sides is warranted and that's entirely what this story is going to boil down to. I also have some amount of problems with omega-level+ mutants just appearing. ANYWAY. Doesn't mean this won't be an interesting story, just means I'm having some trouble buying into it. I also have been wanting to write a tiny bit about the ramifications of SCHISM for a little while now and the WATXM review should be pretty short so WHY NOT PUT IT HERE? Like that cover though.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Wolverine's ex-girlfriend Melita Garner visits the Jean Grey School to collect interviews for her upcoming book on Wolverine, a book that wolverine didn't want her writing but that Beast believes she should write, if just to serve as required reading for the students of the school. She talks with a number of Wolverine's friends and colleagues who all very clearly miss hero. She saves a couple of the big ones for next time, though, between Storm and Quentin Quire.

It's essentially a book of remembrance, showing how everyone is taking the loss and how everyone loved Wolverine. Plenty of books, I'm sure, will be doing this sort of thing over the coming months so I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to talk about these retrospectives, but you could certainly do worse than to read this one, which is sweet, moves pretty well, and highlights a number of different artists. Sometimes the switch between artists is understandably jarring but each section settles into its rhythm nicely.

Total Score: 4/5

Death of Wolverine 4, Death of Wolverine - Logan's Legacy 1

Death of Wolverine 4

Wolverine arrives at Dr. Cornelius' laboratory to find the doctor majorly behind the Weapon X program and responsible for his adamantium skeleton has been trying to perfect his technique on what would be a fully controllable, adamantium, healing army, claiming that he wants to better the world in a way he couldn't with Wolverine. He derides Wolverine as simply a killer, even named after the only animal (aside from man) that kills for pleasure, and explains that he doesn't want his legacy to be making a killer better at killing. His problem so far, and why he's wanted Wolverine and others, is that he can't seem to perfect the healing factor the would-be soldiers need to survive the adamantium. Of course, that doesn't go so hot since Wolverine no longer has his healing factor and, after he puts down Cornelius' protection, forcing Cornelius to flee, he destroys the machines, causing the last of the adamantium Cornelius has secured and re-used for hundred of experiments to pour out over him. He grabs the last syringe of passable healing factor Cornelius has been using and follows Cornelius to the roof, where his getaway chopper pilot bails before the wounded Cornelius can follow him. Cornelius bleeds out on the roof asking what Wolverine has ever done besides kill. As the adamantium hardens on our hero, he decides he did enough, looking into the sun as he solidifies.

Wolverine has always been defined by a number of things, particularly his animal nature and the Weapon X program. Soule and McNiven crafted Wolverine's death story with that in mind and, as such, gave us a final Wolverine story befitting the well-loved dark and mysterious hero. It's a story that allows Wolverine to go out unquestionably as the hero, destroying a mad scientist's attempts at making an unstoppable army and ensuring no one else goes through what he's gone through, while doing it quietly, succeeding in a way that, as Wolverine himself says it, is enough. Most hero deaths, when they happen, happen in front of witnesses, ranging from the many to the few but always with shocked onlookers. Instead, Wolverine, despite the impact he's had (which we're going to see in great length all across the Marvel Universe in the coming weeks), dies silently, away from everyone he knows and loves. And it works really, really well. Great work by Soule and McNiven and though all the makings are there for his inevitable rebirth, it's the kind of death story that has meaning and works thematically with the character so well that you can understand why Marvel was willing to do it.

Total Score: 5/5


Death of Wolverine - Logan's Legacy 1

Someone has captured Daken, X-23, Sabretooth, Mystique, and Lady Deathstrike and, supposedly, implanted them with a number of trigger words that should effectively control them. Together with their mysterious benefactor, they're meant to get to the bottom of a few secrets behind Wolverine's death.

Okay, this one wasn't nearly so great. It's just...the thing is, this one is so weird. I don't know if it's hindered by the slowed release schedule or if it was just planned to have a weird first issue, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen. The issue teases moments and character changes still to happen in this series. I legitimately wasn't sure of this and thought that maybe we were being shown clips from some infinite comic I hadn't read or something but no, it seems like it's just previewing issues to come. I...I don't get it. I mean, I get it to a point, but I don't think it's a good storytelling technique and it feels like it really doesn't benefit this series in any way. I'm hoping the next few issues will be better as they'll likely be in a more standard format. This one's just so strange though.

Total Score: 1/5

New Avengers 25

New Avengers 25

After the first two issues of EIGHT MONTHS LATER (I keep writing and/or wanting to write TIME RUNS OUT but I think that's AFTER all this business?) in NEW AVENGERS 24 and AVENGERS 35 (and 36, but that doesn't apply here), we've seen what some of the Illuminati and their new associates are up to, with Amadeus Cho getting captured by the Avengers and SHIELD trying to salvage Stark files, and Black Panther forced to watch as Wakanda falls to the Cabal. Now we see what Beast, Reed Richards, Hulk (DOC GREEN), and Captain Britain are doing these days. Mostly they're trying to figure out what the Avengers are doing and what the Cabal is doing and how the planets are doing and so on and so forth. Things aren't going great. The book ends after the team checks in on the captured and interrogated (by Sue Storm) Amadeus Cho and Black Panther returns, proclaiming that Wakanda has fallen.

There's still a good deal of useful information here but it's on a backdrop of events we've seen already, so most of this issue is soft science and reactions to the things we've seen. Again, that's not to say this isn't still a useful and/or important issue, but it almost serves more to catch readers up on what's been happening since this new event started. Hickman tends to take opportunities like this to give us a sense of the current tone and a little bit more on the characters and I think he does that well here, letting us see Reed's reaction to Sue's pursuit of his team and him specifically and building up the characters of people like Amadeus Cho and Captain Britain. Hickman also does a good job of highlighting while not hitting us over the head with the absences of some major characters in this future. I've had some issues with Kev Walker on some of the NEW AVENGERS art that he's done prior to this but I think he handles this issue admirably. If you're looking to save a bit of money this month and you've read the first couple issues of this mini-event so far, you can probably skip this one without missing too much.

Total Score: 3/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Red Onslaught has waged an impressive war on the heroes of the world while kicking off what they've quickly dubbed World War Hate. His biggest asset are two Sentinels designed by Tony Stark during Civil War to capture or kill the heroes of the world he was then fighting against. Now, the Sentinels are staving off the heroes while Red Onslaught breaks down their telepathic barriers and disappears them one by one. The Sentinels handle the heroes, even defeating a good if very soft science (or soft magic, as it were) plan from Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange (THANKS NOVA, SCREWING EVERYTHING UP), leaving it up to Iron Man and Magneto (who is, understandably, not so happy that Iron Man built some straight-up Sentinels, even if they're not focused on mutants today). As Iron Man gets crushed by one of his own Sentinels, he sees Magneto looking on. Nightcrawler bamfs in to save Tony at the last moment. He wakes up the next morning to learn that the resistance is only him and a handful of others, who all get disappeared themselves in that day's fight, leaving Red Onslaught bragging to Iron Man about how he's the last one standing thanks to his own devices when Magneto and a cadre of villains show up to keep fighting.

After a disappointing first issue, Remender tilts the focus a bit, putting the spotlight on Iron Man's inner monologue, which goes into depth about his penchant, as a child, of discovering and recording the weaknesses and fears of his fellow classmates in order to exploit them later, a trait he attempted to repent for after he became sober, but something he never really stopped, as he explains. It's a deeply personal issue for Iron Man and one that really redeems a lot of what I didn't like about the first issue (not hurt, of course, by the reduction of double-page spreads and AXIS banners, which only appear on a couple of pages). It's a good story in the way that I liked the ORIGINAL SIN: HULK VS. IRON MAN tie-in before the end changed the story, a story that unquestionably vilifies Tony but also does what it little it can to explain it through his own problems. It's a good tact for the book to take. The book still does drag a bit as we see a lot of characters who have to develop their own voice here. Hard to really fault the pacing for that, I suppose. Certainly a more positive issue than the last one, and one that indicates things might be going somewhere.

Total Score: 4/5

Comics this week

Tons of books out this week. How much is there to love? I mean, not as much of a ton. But certainly some! Let's talk about it.

Daredevil 9
As anyone who's read this blog knows, I'm pretty into this DAREDEVIL run by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. The last issue set up the newest arc for this team (now joined by colorist extraordinaire Matt Wilson), an arc that will pit Daredevil against the evil children of the recently hit-by-a-bus Purple Man. Creepy, creepy stuff almost definitely coming.

Death of Wolverine 4
As I've intimated the last couple reviews that have connected to DEATH OF WOLVERINE, this series has suffered a couple of delays that have made the tie-ins a little less effective. The upside is that this series has been a fairly strong (and, perhaps more excitingly, quick) little event. It's clearly a big shift for the Marvel Universe as key character since his inception Wolverine will, if the title is to be believed, die. So goodnight, sweet prince. Hopefully your death will at least settle out some of these tie-ins.

Ms. Marvel 9
Just a fantastic book. I really can't stop raving about it in my every day life. I wish someone would help me because it's starting to really impact my relationships negatively. But I don't want this book to be less good, so I suppose it's a push.

New Avengers 25
We're eight months in the future and Black Panther is having a tough time. It's never easy to watch Black Panther having a tough time. We're lucky because he so rarely is. That dude knows what's up, like, all the time. But now eight months have passed and NONE of us really know what's up. All we know is that the Cabal is BAD NEWS BEARS and it's going to be quite the fight to stop them. That fight isn't made easier by the fact that the regular type Avengers are none too pleased with the Illuminati. So much happening in this series that has been so reliably good since it started.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 16
It came down, at the end, to voting for SUPERIOR FOES or voting for AXIS as the final book to recommend this week and AXIS left a bad taste in my mouth last week whereas SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN has not disappointed me yet. Or at least since the start of the series. That was like, a year ago, I can't be expected to remember that far back. Anyway, check out this series before it leaves us.

Marvel Cinematic Universe preparing for CIVIL WAR

HEY GUYS, this is a pretty big one. Marvel has confirmed that Robert Downey Jr., AKA Iron Man, will return to the MCU after Avengers 2 for Captain America 3, which will also serve as the kick-off to the MCU's Civil War. We don't know a lot more than that and all of this comes from a Variety report that seems unofficial as yet. If it is all to be believed, this is a huge step that many fans have been speculating about since Marvel began to tie these movies together in such a unique and sweeping fashion. This could all have to do as well with another teaser Marvel has released in the aftermath of NYCC that seemingly reveals a new CIVIL WAR-based series coming in summer 2015. The teaser image, at left, shows Iron Man and an apparently Steve Rogers Captain America fighting over a Civil War Scarlet Spider-esque costume Spider-Man. Fans of the original series know that Iron Man, fighting on the side of pro-registration and additional security, convinces Spider-Man to reveal his secret identity only to have Spidey regret it and switch over to Captain America's anti-registration/personal freedoms side (the right side). Guys, I love CIVIL WAR. It's what really sold me on comics all those years ago. This new wave of news also adds fuel to the fire that's been building about whether or not Sony will loan out Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to use (mmmm, they should. I would love a Marvel Studios Andrew Garfield Spider-Man. Lotta capitals in that sentence). Potentially really cool maybe news.

Further NYCC announcements

New York Comic-Con has ended, thereby effectively ending convention season for the year with ostensibly the second biggest annual con (though early numbers suggest that it may have brought in more visitors than SDCC). I've already outlined some of the news that came out this weekend (including the announcement of a new Squirrel Girl ongoing, the new Ant-Man ongoing, the creative team change on HAWKEYE, and the cancellation of FANTASTIC FOUR) but there was plenty more that happened (sorry, I had put off reviews so late that I was busy with those all day and didn't get caught up on the news until TOO LATE. I really need someone to pay me for this, okay world?). Let's try and go beat by beat, with our friends from CBR.

Hickman and Ribic launch a new SECRET WARS

Marvel revealed this weekend that there's a long-game in place for Jonathan Hickman's TIME RUNS OUT arc and that it will lead to a brand new SECRET WARS. Readers will remember the original SECRET WARS from the mid-80s as a huge crossover event (one of the biggest, if not the biggest, to that point) from writer and eventual EIC Jim Shooter. It was...you know, kind of cynical at the time? Kind of a big money grab. Also, I do not love it. However, you have to imagine if Marvel is willing to go back to this well, no less with top flight talent like Hickman and Ribic, that they have to have something more planned. By the same token, is anyone else a little event-exhausted? I sure am. And SECRET WARS, if it keeps with its history and even with its Alex Ross cover (at left), will tie everyone up for a little while so don't expect it to be a one-and-done kind of event.

News about Netflix's new Daredevil series

NYCC had the first significant news and images for the upcoming Daredevil series, set to premiere on Netflix in 2015. Included in that news was a first look at Charlie Cox as both Matt Murdock and as Daredevil (donning a JRJR-esque black suit that the producers called "his first suit"), Rosario Dawson's role as Claire Temple (billed as a "nurse who works at night" and critically important to Matt's story, though it also seems like she'd be a good low-key but important character/actress to tie the four upcoming shows together neatly), Joe Quesada's concept art for the show (seen at left), and a nice panel with much of the announced cast (with plenty more announcements made this weekend). All in all, it's our first real news drop since Cox's casting and it sounds like everyone is optimistic about the pace at which this development is happening.





Weekly WOLVERINES book set to hit in January
Following the death of Wolverine and the loss of plenty of his secrets, an unlikely team comprised of heroes and villains such as Sabretooth, Mystique, X-23, and Daken will need to work together to uncover some of those lost secrets. Charles Soule and Ray Fawkes will head up the series, which will be an ongoing weekly series sure to break anyone's wallet who even considers buying it. Though there's been no price point revealed yet, I have to imagine it's minimum $2.99 but more likely $3.99, given Marvel's current release price average, meaning a prospective buyer would be spending about 16 dollars a month on this book. Yipes.

New Marvel Cosmic event set to kick off in February
Did I say I was sick of events? I meant GEEZ, LET'S GET SOME MORE IN HERE. In a move not unlike the changing of AXIS to AVENGERS AND X-MEN: AXIS, short and sweet ominous title THE BLACK VORTEX will actually be named GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AND X-MEN: THE BLACK VORTEX because somehow Marvel made a name LONGER than AVENGERS AND X-MEN: AXIS (am I just capitalizing book names or am I shouting, no one will know). The event will be bookended by two issues of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AND X-MEN: THE BLACK VORTEX with multiple crossovers in-between. The event will move through books like LEGENDARY STAR-LORD, CAPTAIN MARVEL, NOVA, ALL-NEW X-MEN, CYCLOPS, and some other yet-to-be-announced books (money on GAMORA, in the least). Well. On the other hand, I'm happy to see ROCKET RACCOON's not on that list so if Skottie Young stays attached and sticks to his typical issues, I guess I won't be too upset.

New SILK ongoing announced

SILK 1 cover by Dave Johnson

Following the character's recent introduction in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Cindy Moon, AKA Silk, will be getting a new ongoing written by Robbie Thompson with art from Stacey Lee. Thompson claims that the series will flesh out Silk and follow her "from bite to bunker." The new series is set to begin in February.














New SPIDER-GWEN ongoing announced

SPIDER-GWEN 1 cover by Robbi Rodriguez

A link so nice we used it twice. The hit Spider-Gwen from Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez's EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE 2 will be returning for a new ongoing in February. Latour and Rodriguez will return to the book, which is enough to make anyone excited, given the fun and the great look of Gwen's debut issue. Excited to delve more into that universe.













Juggernaut returning to the Marvel Universe in Yost's AMAZING X-MEN
Come January, the X-Men and likely some bad dudes will be racing to find the Ruby of Cyttorak, the gem that transforms anyone into Cyttorak's unstoppable Juggernaut, in Chris Yost's AMAZING X-MEN. The upcoming arc, titled "THE ONCE AND FUTURE JUGGERNAUT" will start in issue 15 of the current run and would at least seem to potentially expand the X-Men villains a little more than just Mystique and Sabretooth.

Limited series OPERATION S.I.N. to premiere in January
A new five-issue limited series exploring the Marvel Universe in WWII days is set to launch in January. Written by Kathryn Immonen with Rich Ellis art, OPERATION S.I.N. will involve characters such as Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, and the recently introduced Woodrow McCord (ORIGINAL SIN) fighting some aliens. I really like Kathryn Immonen and this will at least have a different focal point than most WWII releases from Marvel. Looking forward to Immonen's take on a recently well-spotlit Peggy Carter.

GAMORA ongoing scheduled for Spring 2015
Some news in that link just there about the new GAMORA upcoming, written by Guardians of the Galaxy co-screenwriter Nicole Perlman.

Also, G. Willow Wilson to have a four-issue arc on X-MEN
Same link, different news. MS MARVEL's G.Willow Wilson will have a four-issue arc on X-MEN starting in January with X-MEN 23. The arc will be titled "THE BURNING WORLD" and will kick off at a Burning Man-esque festival.

Women of Marvel variant line set for March 2015

Stephanie Hans' THOR 7 variant

Third time using the same link is purportedly the charm so here goes. Following the announcement of Phil Noto variant month in February (still excited about that), March will find Marvel releasing 20 Women of Marvel variants by such artists as Sara Pichelli, Stephanie Hans, Vanesa Del Rey, Jill Thompson, Stacey Lee, and Faith Erin Hicks. Pretty neat.













There was also a bunch of other news about things like a James Patterson miniseries, some STAR WARS bidness, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon, the upcoming animated feature film Big Hero 6 (which I think we can all agree looks great), and probably more, but we here at Marvels are focused on the comics and only occasionally on the peripheral stuff. Like how terrible the new animated shows are and how much we miss shows like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Spectacular Spider-Man. Or how boring we find Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (though this season's debut had more interesting plot points than anything that happened last season). Or how interested in Big Hero 6 we are (pretty interested, you guys). Or those Netflix series that it occurs to me don't fall under the umbrella of comics but still got decent coverage in this here post. Look. Whatever.