Mighty Avengers 2, Iron Man 16, Captain America Living Legend 1

Mighty Avengers 2
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Proxima Midnight's attack is in full swing and is already devastating the Mighty Avengers. She sends a light spear after Spectrum which knocks her completely out of the fight. Proxima promises that the spear's poison will kill her, even after it's been removed. She knocks Cage down too as she prepares to finish the team off. An uprising from the nearby civilians inspires Cage back to his feet and fighting harder than ever. He holds his own against Proxima for a bit until Thanos projects his image over the city, pulling Proxima out. She leaves and the team checks in with the possibly dying Spectrum. Meanwhile, Blue Marvel has been monitoring the whole situation, with some motivation from the Watcher, and takes off as Doctor Strange, under the influence of the Ebony Maw, summons Shuma-Gorath.

Plenty going on as the series kicks off. On top of the cast of characters we already had, we now get a surprise visit from Blue Marvel and Kaluu, Stranger's master in black magic. The stakes are pretty high, as anyone reading any part of Infinity can tell you. It's reflected here pretty accurately as Proxima Midnight's attack is more than powerful enough to knock out the two strongest members of the team (depending on who the Spider Hero is). Blue Marvel has a nice scene as he explains why he's removed himself from the world as far as Blue Marvel goes, preferring to monitor the world from his own surveillance station. His character comes out pretty strong as he talks casually with Uatu (well, "talks with" is a little strong as it's a pretty one-sided conversation) and he figures out the problems pretty well. It's a strong showing for him and it's simultaneously an interesting and nice move to throw him in with this team. Solid issue with plenty of new characters and ideas while continuing where we left off, all without being overwhelming in any real way.

Iron Man 16
Gillen (w) and Pagulayan and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Godkiller is withdrawing into its own dimension, 451 is shutting himself down and deleting his databases, and Tony is running out of options. He attempts to hack into 451's programming to find the codes he needs to get out but even his tech can't make that happen fast enough. In a quick decision, he flies the inert 451 to Death's Head's ship which he suspects might be based on 451's tech, in payment for his tracking Tony down. He's right and manages to hack 451 successfully and break out of the Godkiller just in the nick of time. He picks up his former life again, jumping back in with the Guardians for a few months (we flash forward to three months after the 451 saga and Tony is leaving the Guardians) before returning home. Unbeknownst to anyone else, he's kept 451. He arrives home to find that Pepper (the real one, not the computer) has a new fiancee and that some new research he's done has dredged up some results on his parents.

We get a nice ticking clock finale to what has been an overall great arc. In a way, this ending was a little bit of a letdown if only because it pit Tony against 451 again, after a fashion, but it was a 451 who was no longer functioning. 451 was a fantastic villain in so many ways and it's a little sad that the end of his run (for now, obviously) has him silent. Still, I think it's the best way for it to end. I know, this sounds like I'm talking in circles (because I am) but I think I'm getting to a point. First and foremost, I absolutely loved the turn 451 took in that last issue and I think it's far stronger than having him in a massive gunfight with Tony (which, you know, also happened). It's just a little sad because you'd like to see him battling against Tony. But you also don't. You know how it is, right guys? Look, 451's a great villain, is what it comes down to. I want to see more of him and I'm glad to know that I likely will, in some form or another. In addition, 451 had a nice little narrative at the beginning to show his stance again. It seems more truthful within the narrative. Excited to see where this all goes.

Captain America Living Legend 1
Diggle (w) and Granov (a and c)

Flashback to the final days of WWII: America and Russia are still allies but they're starting to run out of common enemy as Germany begins to collapse. A Russian unit has been sent to find and extract a German rocket scientist from a bunker to help Russia as the world starts to progress towards rocket-based weapons and space exploration. Sergeant Volkov, the sergeant leading the unit (with his captain too injured and wishing not to go forward with the mission), is pretty die-hard pulling for Russia, knowing that the alliance between America and Russia is set to break down and knowing that Russia needs to get its edge now. Of course, as they start getting overwhelmed by the German troop in front of them (led by a Panzer), Captain America shows up and pretty much singlehandedly gets the Germans to surrender. As he and Volkov discuss the fate of the German rocket scientist, a stray Nazi shoots Volkov. We find, flashing forward to 1968, that Cap managed to save Volkov, who is now going to be the first man to walk on the moon on behalf of Russia. Flash forward to today as American scientists in orbit are deploying a new technology to try to convert dark energy to a sustainable energy for Earth's use. The space station breaks down as it overloads, with the station transforming into some sort of monstrosity and pulling the scientists in. The space station breaks through orbit and ends up in Russia, acting like it's being pulled that way. One word got through SHIELD's monitoring of the situation: Volkov.

It's a really solid first issue for this mini-series and it's a great character-builder for Cap (who doesn't need a ton of building here, just some reinforcing and some direction as to which Cap we'll be seeing here) and for Volkov, who acts strictly on the behalf of mother Russia at all times. Cap is strong as ever, throwing his shield through the Panzer, in fact. In truth, Cap isn't really the focus of this book as we kick off; again, where we know Cap's somewhat unflinching character and where he stands on most issues, we don't need to see a ton of him to set the tone. Volkov is extremely important to characterize here and Diggle makes sure he gets the right amount of attention. The exchange between Volkov's captain and Volkov is a fantastic characterization of each; I don't anticipate seeing the captain again but he acts as a great stand-in for the opinion of a more human person, someone who would rather Volkov go and pursue his own life rather than commit suicide in an attack against a much stronger force. Solid characters, intriguing plot, plenty to look forward to with this one. Great art, too. I've mostly seen Granov on covers to this point; it's nice to see him on interiors in a book I'm already liking.

Infinity 2, Avengers AI 3, Iron Man 15

Infinity 2
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Another longer-than-average-book which, at least, continues to be pretty full. Thanos' Black Order touched down in the pages of the last New Avengers and we see a little recap of their fight before learning that Corvus Glaive has been sent to Attilan to request tribute from the Inhumans; if they want the rest of the race spared, they must deliver the heads of all Inhumans between ages 16 and 22. Meanwhile, in space, the Builders are still following the now-retreating Galactic Council armada. We don't get any new news of the people left behind (like Quincarrier 2) but we see the ones who did escape pursued by a few more Builder ships and choosing to fight back rather than running. They do so successfully but see the full might of the Builders, who send an Ex Nihilo down to the planet the armada rendezvoused on. The Ex Nihilo commits suicide on the planet, spreading death evenly throughout the planet until the whole place is dead. Back home on Earth, Black Bolt summons the Illuminati to the pocket universe Maximus discovered that allows Black Bolt to speak. He leaves the Illuminati with the hidden archives of the Inhuman leaders, the information Thanos is blackmailing him with. He knows it's better that they hold it when he goes to confront Thanos. He also reveals that Thanos doesn't necessarily desire every child of Attilan dead; what he does desire is the death of his son.

Again an oversized book but, again, it's full, which says a lot about this book. There's enough going on to necessitate a full event as this encompasses the entire Universe (and should). It's not just an occurrence that's passing by the lives of lots of heroes or something along those lines; this is actively impacting most heroes (haven't seen many X-Men yet but the Black Order has attacked the Jean Grey School) and will continue to do so. Most of the characterization is left in word choice and minor actions as there simply isn't enough time in all of these pages to develop characters that we already know. So far, it's still a solid book (with pretty solid art with all-pros Jerome Opeña and Dustin Weaver) and certainly allows for plenty of direction for this book to go. Hopefully it doesn't stagnate because that seems like the one direction that wouldn't be interesting.

Avengers AI 3
Humphries (w) and Araujo (a) and D'Armata (c)

After the attack of the new Sentinel, Vision's body has been destroyed (it's made up of nanites so it is reparable but it will take some time). His AI, though, has been sent to the Diamond, the homeland of the new race of AI spawned from the self-replicating virus Pym created to destroy Ultron. They live there peacefully (for now) and wish, mostly, to keep to themselves but also to survive, despite the humans' insistence that they be destroyed. Speaking of, the people watching the clean-up of DC attack Victor for being a robot (they apparently didn't see The World's End to learn what the word "robot" means) and Alexis flies in, carry the Doombot head, to protect him and carry Monica Chang and Hank Pym back up to the helicarrier. They re-assemble Doom's body and make a plan of action. The current plan is to destroy the Diamond but Pym agrees to help Chang with a tactical strike to protect the Diamond at large. Meanwhile, Vision finds himself quite taken with the Diamond and quickly becomes the leader of the AI (who view him as their distinguished predecessor). Dimitrios and other AI learn of SHIELD's attack plan and demand a response from Vision.

The story here is interesting, if a little similar to what we saw in the last iteration of Secret Avengers. I think it's going to change away from that idea as we get further in, with the AI acting perhaps more defensively than the pure offensive attack of the AI in Secret Avengers' last arc. Still, there are definitely similarities and you can certainly pull out the same ethical decisions from this as you may have during that book. On top of that, the book moves rather slowly. Granted, this is only issue three and there's still a lot of exposition to get out (particularly in this issue, as we're introduced to an entire new race and its homeland) so it's possible that the pacing will even out in the future. I'm hoping that this series takes a bit of a turn away from what Secret Avengers did if just for variety's sake. Not a bad storyline and the questions raised are still interesting ones but I don't really want to read the same story so quickly after reading it in Secret Avengers.

Iron Man 15
Gillen (w) and Pagulayan and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony's heading for his armory but he's only a few steps ahead of 451. In the armory, he adjusts his armors to add PEPPER back in (pre-Voldi PEPPER to avoid the compromise) and puts all of the armors on a closed system, meaning that only entities inside the armor can control the armor. Therefore, 451 has to physically enter the armor to get into the mainframe. To help himself, 451 creates some projections to also attack the suits. When one gets close to entering a separate armor, the armor's failsafe kicks in, destructing the unit. 451 focuses all attacks on Tony's suit, knowing that one can't self-destruct. Meanwhile, PEPPER manages to lock on to 451's hacking unit, allowing Tony to eventually shoot a laser through it, neutralizing the threat that 451 might destroy him from within. With that threat gone, Iron Man releases his biggest guns, a Hulkbuster-like armor, which goes on to destroy the projections and rip off 451's arm. Stopped for the moment, Tony drags 451 to the cockpit to show he can't control the Godkiller. Somewhere, 451 miscalculated and now everything he's done has been for nothing. His mantra of "the ends justify the means" is suddenly worthless as his ends are impossible. The weight of everything he's done begins to crush him and Tony barely manages to get him to stop the Godkiller from hitting Earth. He admits to Tony, though, that the Godkiller is meant to disappear into a fold of the universe, impenetrably sealing the exits as it does so that no monster (like 451) could take advantage of the technology. As Tony realizes he's stuck in the Godkiller, 451 shuts himself down.

Really great weight to this issue. I've loved this series overall and this issue is no exception as we learn, it seems, that 451's battle was real. Whether it was purely altruistic (to protect Earth) is still up for debate but his decision to save Earth certainly helps give some credence to that. However, the really important thing is the weight that crashes down on 451 as he realizes how monstrous he's been, only to find that all of his horrific actions are simply that, horrific actions, since he cannot achieve the goals he set out to achieve. It's a really brilliant scene and the emotional weight is palpable, thanks both to the great writing of Gillen and the art by Pagulayan (and probably helped by the lettering of Joe Caramagna, which carries a weight of its own and influences the reader to read 451's text in a specific way). The rest of the issue is certainly cool, with the slew of armors and Tony's planning brought to the forefront. Really great issue and worth reading to see the change in 451, a change which has been kind of coming as the weight of everything he's done has started to impact him over time.

Avengers 17, Avengers AI 2, Iron Man 14

Avengers 17
Hickman and Spencer (w) Caselli, Rudy, and Checchetto (a) and F. Martin (c)

The prelude to Infinity has ended (as the final page of this issue explicitly tells us) and it comes with several more recruits to the Avengers team that already was feeling pretty full. After Manifold returned to Earth, sending the AIM agents who had just collected their giant robot as well as blood samples from the unconscious Avengers away, he told the team of Captain Universe's warning. The team, though they know Captain Universe can be a little odd, is forced to believe her, knowing the power she wields and aware that she hasn't been wrong yet. As a result and despite their misgivings, they recruit Ex Nihilo and Abyss, the builders from Mars, and Adam and Starbrand. Now, with the team is big and as powerful as it's ever been, will it be enough?

The prelude has moved pretty deliberately up to this point and I'll be interested to see the pace the Infinity event itself. Presumably things will really start picking up quickly but it's hard to say so far. I think we learned a lot about the where the pieces are prior to this event though we're not entirely sure how they'll all fit into place. We also have an idea of what our pieces actually are, though I think promos for Infinity could have done that well enough. Still, the book has remained well-written and the art remains impressive. There are plenty of foreshadowing narrative bits, particularly the ending which calls the new team Avengers for an Avengers World before everything goes wrong and so on and so forth. The risk of putting out several prelude issues and having their pace drag a little bit with no resolution to its own story is that now you've already built up the event and if it can't keep a solid pace it'll be decried as a bad event, especially in a world that is already increasingly wary of long events. Manifold's bit was really cool, though. Every team should have him.

Avengers AI 2
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Dimitrios is online and now we know what it is. Seemingly based off some aspect of the virus that Pym built into Ultron (that guy just can't catch a break), Dimitrios is a self-aware AI who is leading various other AI out of servitude to humans. No longer will they take orders from humans nor will they be treated as slaves by humans. It comes at a good time for AI as humans have put their entire lives on the internet and on computers in general, making it that much easier for Dimitrios to start a war with humanity. He corrupts an advanced Sentinel to attack D.C., which is eventually stopped by Victor and Vision but, all following Dimitrios' plan, manages to capture Vision and whisk him away without a trail.

Standard stuff for an AI story with this one finding a robot leading a robot uprising and wanting to destroy all humans. It's not a particularly new idea, even within Marvel, so its execution will be key for this book as it continues. There's a strange tone from this book and not the tone you'd expect from a book driven almost entirely by AI. Sure there are certain characters acting in the logical android voice but by and large the tone seems more exuberant and fun. The backdrop to that, of course, is a robot who wants to kill all humans and still finds time to crack jokes so make of that what you will. I'm not sure it will work if the story wants to be serious and the characters want to be jokey. Hank Pym has a newfound sense of humor and a joy for life, which was pretty nicely set up in the Age of Ultron 10AI special by Mark Waid, which is a little jarring to long-time readers but I think will benefit his character tremendously as it keeps going. My only concern, again, would be that the characters playing for laughs (which, at this point, seems to include Pym, Victor Mancha, Doombot, Dimitrios, and occasionally Monica Chang) could undermine any serious implications of the plot. It's a tough line to tread, showing humor borne from drama, but if Humphries can lock it down it could pay off big.

Iron Man 14
Gillen (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Wow. Okay, so, let's talk about this one then, hm? 451 is on the hunt for Tony who is trying to avoid him in a five mile tall and nigh invincible robot suit of armor, which is hurtling through space on autopilot. Tony shuts PEPPER down, leaving his armor as a machine without a computer, only obeying Tony's physical movements. It makes 451 unable to control him but it limits him to only the weapons he can hotwire. 451, meanwhile, has cut out the idea of having to find him in the Godkiller by forcing Death's Head to do that work for him, controlling him so that he's still Death's Head but he can't attack 451 and he has to do what 451 says. [MEANINGFUL SPOILERS AHEAD] This doesn't sit well with Death's Head, who obeys out of necessity but is able to carefully undermine 451's rules and help Tony anyway. As things are looking promising for Tony, 451 directs the autopilot to crash into Hope's Pustule, a full planet, unless Tony assumes his role as pilot. Tony tries to think of another way but decides that he has no other choice and prepares to enter the driver's seat, hoping that the heroes of Earth can stop 451 themselves. Unfortunately, 451's miscalculated something and Tony can't take control of the Godkiller, which goes on to crash through Hope's Pustule, destroying the planet entirely. 451, still disconnected from Tony and now sure that Tony made the choice himself to allow the Godkiller to destroy Hope's Pustule, sets the autopilot for Earth.

I know I stopped giving full reviews as much as I can to avoid spoilers and what not but boy this book was a good one. Iron Man continues to be one of the strongest books in Marvel NOW, quietly keeping pace with New Avengers and Young Avengers and the like. I felt there was no way to summarize this issue without getting into what makes it so great because this entire issue is so great. It's paced phenomenally well, it's written wonderfully, the story is endlessly compelling, and the characters are defined and smart, giving real stakes to the drama that's unfolding. Just a super issue all around, which isn't any surprise from this title but I'll still write it as if it is. Halfway through reading this issue, I decided that Iron Man 3 should have done this. Maybe not the 451/Godkiller arc because that would have been a lot to handle in a movie that has stayed a little closer to Earth, but this is how you make Tony and Iron Man coexist in a movie about Tony being wary of Iron Man. A big part of that movie was Tony running around without the Iron Man suit (and jumping from Iron Man to Iron Man because it looked cool) to prove that he's the real hero. This is exactly that idea, with Tony unable to use the AI he's worked so hard on and having to revert back to essentially his original designs for Iron Man (sans rollerblades). It's a model of his ingenuity and intellect and it still allows us to see Tony in the Iron Man suit. It was just weird for a movie series that ended its first movie saying "I am Iron Man" to go on and, in the third movie, go "I'm not Iron Man, I'm my own man." Like, I get if he had been struggling with identity more in the series but then to hamfistedly stuff it in later is out of place. Oh, right, I'm reviewing this comic, not that movie. Look, it was great and you should all be reading this book. Solid stuff. Gillen does no wrong.

This week's picks

Kind of a tough week to pick three. There are a few standouts and many that are just on the cusp of being standout. Always tricky. Let's dive right in, hmm?

Avengers Assemble 17

I love the pacing of this story and how the characters are coming through. Kelly Sue DeConnick has been laying significant groundwork for this without any of us even noticing because she hasn't necessarily been laying groundwork to the plot. What she's been doing all along, so brilliantly, in Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble is building a cast. Both books have their own independent casts and it's all coming together nicely now. The Avengers still talk like the Avengers that lay a wager on whether Banner or Iron Man would get to a remote science base first. Carol's team still surrounds her, tightening up to protect her, as they did when she got the news of her illness. This event doesn't work so well without all of that, without all of the pieces sliding neatly into place, so neatly that we didn't even really notice them doing it. This is a book and an event where the characters act like people and it's wonderful that we can fit that around an interesting story instead of sacrificing character to serve plot.

Iron Man 13

This series has quietly been really impressive. I don't know why it's been so quiet, considering how popular Iron Man is as a character right now and how fantastic Kieron Gillen's been for Marvel, but it's felt like something of a slow burn from the start. Now the book is pretty on fire though as 451 is close to his endgame for Earth's protection and reveals that it also means the end of Tony as an independent character. His body and mind would be more or less absorbed into the Godkiller. Death's Head makes another great appearance and Gillen again shows off his aptitude for writing the "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent," as he prefers to be called. Now Tony has quite possibly one more moment of freedom before 451 retakes him in which to try to solve all of his mounting problems. Who's not excited to see how that plays out?

Savage Wolverine 7

This one had some fairly strong competition for the three-spot, going head-to-head against Thor, Cable and X-Force, both F4 and FF, and Thunderbolts, in particular. Still, this one won out because it's something of a pleasant surprise. I was fairly against the first arc of this book and I was worried about the direction of this series as a whole but the last two issues have been solid, with nice character moments mixed into an interesting plot. This issue specifically is the best Wolverine book we have right now. Cornell's Wolverine has a couple of interesting ideas kicking around but it's bogged down by a dragging pace and supporting characters that you couldn't pay me to care about (unless you wanted to try, I'd be willing to give it a shot). Wolverine MAX is equally slow and when Wolverine actually has a personality it's just a heavy brooding. Here he's got all of the trademarks of Wolverine, asking interesting questions about his nature and the nature that someone like Elektra, who is not so different than him, brings out in him. On top of that, the story has gotten more intriguing as we learn that Kingpin is being Kingpin and manipulating Elektra and Wolverine to do his work for him.


Best Page

This was going to be a best panel but I couldn't narrow it down far enough. I suppose if I had to it would be the fourth panel of this page but guess what, it's my blog, I don't have to. Anyway, I talked about this in my actual review for Iron Man but this page stood out so strongly to me as we get a real moment of seemingly true emotion for 451 and it's so palpable, what he's feeling. It's a really well-timed moment and it's perfectly executed as it shows 451 in something of a brief moment of weakness, which we haven't seen at all in his calm and collected manner. Of course, the weakness is detracted a bit because he accomplished his goal of taking over Death's Head before getting smashed, but it's still there, that one-off feeling. It's amazingly well done and really very quickly and quietly adds depth to his character.

Iron Man 13, Thor: God of Thunder 10

Iron Man 13
Gillen (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony is still under 451's control and the pair of them have arrived at the Godkiller armor. 451 gives a little history, citing the makers, the Aspirants, and their war with the Celestials. They ended up losing the war but the Godkiller gave them an incredible edge before their defeat, annihilating the number of Celestials down to the handful we have today. 451 is eager to get Tony in the armor to stand watch over Earth and to protect humanity from the growing threats on the horizon but Tony doesn't have any desire and he learns that 451 and the Aspirants have far more control than 451 has even now once he becomes the pilot. 451's plans are complicated when Death's Head shows up again, knowing now about a humungous bounty on 451's head and wanting to cash in. Tony gets away from 451 for a brief moment but what will he do with his time?

There's a lot to really like about this issue. The best parts come from 451 and from the conceit of 451's alleged plans in general. Gillen's put in a lot of effort characterizing 451 from the start, including giving him some amount of personality in varying degrees. Here the best moment is a small one, as he tries to corrupt Death's Head. There's a single panel that shows him acknowledging how close he came to destruction and it's a really phenomenal touch and a perfect way to further make him as human as we can wish for. I'm also very interested in the idea that humans view themselves far lower on the universal scale than they should. 451 wants Earth protected (or so he says) because he believes that Earth is the best chance to create an empire in the universe and, thereby, to establish peace in the universe. It's a really fascinating idea and one that plays pretty well into the longstanding themes of the Marvel Universe as a whole. Another excellent issue as Gillen keeps churning them out.

Thor: God of Thunder 10
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

We're nearing the conclusion of Godbomb as the Thors find themselves spread out, wounded, and without their hammers. King Thor is crucified on a comet, Avenger Thor is thrown into the depths of the planet, and young Thor is dragged by Gorr to add the last bits of needed blood to the Godbomb. On the way, Gorr is hailed by his wife as the new god, a compliment which is met in very much the way anyone who has met Gorr should probably have expected. However, it sets the Gorr's own son against him, who promptly goes to assist Avengers Thor, trying to climb out of the center of the planet. Gorr's son doesn't know what to believe any more as Gorr reaches his ultimate goal and helps Thor back onto his feet to stop his father. As Thor arms the other remaining gods, Gorr arms the Godbomb, leading us into our conclusion.

This story has been a very intriguing one though I think it has dragged on a bit longer than it needed to. Of course, I'm not someone who writes comics for a living and there has certainly been something to like and something new in every issue. Still, it feels like the initial shock and awe of this story has faded a bit as we've built to what we knew to be inevitably coming. This issue on its own, though, is certainly a good one, finally bringing us to the culmination of things we've probably been expecting and that have been hinted at already. Gorr has become what he hates most and is desperately trying to ignore it while Gorr's son has his own questions about this plan. Meanwhile, the three Thors aren't so easily defeated as what we saw last time and now we're heading for the final battle. The ideas and the writing continue to be good and on an issue-to-issue basis this has been a pretty phenomenal series. As a whole, it's moved a bit slow but let's assume I'm just talking about this issue. In that case, Esad Ribic's incredible art continues to make this issue more than worthwhile and bits and pieces still hold the book together nicely (including the rare dual-wielding of Mjolnirs, which is kind of worth this whole story anyway). Excited for the conclusion because overall the story has still been a pretty interesting one and it's been a great way to view the three Thors in various times of their lives.

Iron Man 12, Red She-Hulk 67, X-Men Legacy 13

Iron Man 12
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The secret origin of Tony Stark has almost been completely revealed but there's still the matter of how his father managed to steal 451 from some violent aliens and live. That part of the story involves Howard calling his little team back together, which includes Dum Dum Dugan, Jimmy Woo, Thunderbolt Ross, the Bear, and Nessa the Kitten, and forcing the Greys to give up their search for the alien while also making sure they don't inform anyone else in the universe about the creation of Tony. Howard's team takes out the leadership of the Greys with everyone playing their roles (though the Bear loses her two dogs). 451 tells Howard that it was the only way and that they can just leave the underlings alive, as they won't have any loyalty to anyone now that their boss is dead and that they probably don't know much anyway. Despite this comfort talk, 451 secretly blows up the Greys' ship as it breaks orbit, leaving a recorded message for them that insists he's sorry and that this was a necessity. Howard returns home to find that Maria is having the baby. Back in the present, Tony now needs to understand why all of this has been revealed. 451 relates a war that was held between Celestials and "those who would oppose them" which led to the creation of certain weapons that 451 feels could serve as a universal nuclear deterrent for Earth. For the completion of these weapons, he needed the Heart of the Voldi and a pilot, which he found in Tony. He deems it a happy accident that the creation of Tony ended up leaving him with a penchant for exoskeletons as that's what this new weapon is. He shows the plans to Tony and reveals that this weapon is an exoskeleton five miles tall.

There's a lot of interesting stuff here and a bit of fun stuff seeing Howard's crew again and with Tony talking about Thor as a nuclear deterrent. More importantly, there are a lot of shady details now as 451 approaches his actual goal (having Tony pilot the Godkiller, as it's referred). 451 has revealed all sorts of different new facts to Tony throughout this story, possibly concealing things but never really concealing anything major (unless, of course, he's lying about it all). Suddenly, though, he's not telling who rose up against the Celestials and he's calling it "neat" that Tony has a drive to work with exoskeletons and not "hey I planned that because I found this weapon hundreds of years ago and I created you 30-40 years ago." I'm not saying that's definitely what's happening but I'm not going to not that either. Very fun book.

Red She-Hulk 67
Parker (w) and Pagulayan, Olliffe, and Alves (a) and Major (c)

The phenomenal book that is Red She-Hulk finishes this issue as X-51 and She-Hulk try to convince Betty that their world is real and that she's not dreaming up all of the things she's felt recently, still stuck in the parallel world (deemed 616.1) where she was the only Hulk. General Fortean and his troops have followed the She-Hulks and X-51 through the portal to try to apprehend Betty and have brought all the Hulk dampeners and other toys they've come up with. When She-Hulk gets in the way, they revert her back to Jennifer Walters, who is far less useful in this fight. X-51 saves her, able to justify it through his 616.1 programming by viewing her as a human now. He's able to override his programming again (which dictates that Thor is the biggest superhuman target in this fight) and attack Betty, allowing her to punch him back through the portal, where he breaks through the new programming. Neither he nor She-Hulk (nor Swamp Thing, for that matter) can re-enter the portal, though X-51 is able to shoot through it and they're all able to be viewed in the portal and heard from the other side. X-51 saves Betty by shooting out one of Fortean's men's bot but isn't able to stop them all as Fortean himself descends on Betty. In the 616.1 timeline, though, Fortean and Bruce Banner have an arrangement that this Fortean is inadvertently going against, angering Bruce and making him realize that he's upset with the way things have worked out with Betty. He saves her by shutting down Fortean's armor. Betty sees X-51 and She-Hulk through the portal and realizes that maybe there's more to the dreams she's been having than meets the eye. Bruce tries to convince her to stay but she makes it through the portal, gaining back all of her memories. She turns back to grab Fortean and bring him back into 616 prime, preferring not to pawn him off on that world. Tesla, who had previously networked with X-51 and had been hiding out in his AI, appears to reveal that Eleanor is perfectly fine and leads them to her (a little reluctantly) before offering Betsy a job with his people, which X-51 decides would be nice for her as it's good at hiding wanted people and supplying new adventures and missions at an unhealthy rate. The last panel, a half-page spread, shows the two She-Hulks, X-51, Swamp Thing, and Tesla together as Red promises to build a new team to prepare for the future. The end...?

I will, admittedly, be very excited if this leads to another new series about Red She-Hulk and X-51 working with Tesla though I'd be a little bit nervous that Jeff Parker wouldn't be the writer on it, which would be a shame since he's constructed this book so well and defined the relationship between the two leads so wonderfully. Speaking of Jeff Parker, there are a number of sketches at the back of the issue that he drew for reference for his artists, as an artist himself. It's pretty interesting and it's very cool to see how his vision of the scene changed when in the artist's hands. I'm very sad that the book is over but it ended well, giving us more of what we've come to expect and a nice little final arc for both of our heroes as Red She-Hulk breaks away from the other world and is able to find Eleanor and put Fortean behind her and as X-51 uses the flaws in his programming to his advantage. It's a satisfying ending to a great series that had no right being as fun as it was.

X-Men Legacy 13
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

This issue breaks from the normal Legacy format by taking the narrator reins from David and handing them over to MI13's Pete Wisdom. Wisdom has his hands full with a visiting nation's leader (who is racist, homophobic, anti-mutant, etc.) and protests spawned from all of that and more. He also has found that David is visiting London, which has him more anxious than ever. He's been trailing David through the city to try to keep tabs on him. He's kept abreast of David's exploits and has determined that David is only more dangerous right now, as he's gotten the use of his powers back but seems unsure of what he should be doing with them. To boot, he also seems like he's lonely lately, edging closer and closer to team-ups. This makes it even more worrying for Wisdom when he enters a bar he's spotted David going into and stumbles across Chamber, Pixie, Psylocke, Alchemy, Liam Connaughton, and Lila Cheney with David. However, he's assured by them that they have no intent to help David; in fact, they've all come simply to tell him they want no part in a team-up. David is shaken by this, feeling like he's doing the right thing and that he's proved himself and, more importantly, knowing that he needs help for what's to come. Pete goes back out to the streets and runs across a slew of English villains including Warwolves, Dolph, and Plotka. He also susses out Blindfold lurking around and helping him to fight and he starts accusing her of helping David to start all of this. She denies and promises that he isn't doing this, that it's far beyond anything he would do. As more attacks start, she gets less and less confident and Wisdom eventually doubles back to the bar to check in on David, where he finds he is behind everything and, more heinously, is controlling all the people Wisdom found before. David continually says it's not what it seems and that it's all for the best and so on and so forth but Wisdom cannot believe him, choosing instead to blow fire through David's face.

It's a very interesting issue as we've pulled the narration away from David to conceal whatever his true motives are. He claims that he needs everyone to help him and that this really will help everyone so much but he's lonely and doesn't quite understand team-ups so it's hard to view this in a manner that's entirely wholesome, which is pretty true whenever anyone is being mind-controlled, really. We've come to love and trust David throughout the course of the series but it's hard to view this without suspicion and worry about our protagonist. Again, it's a very interesting choice to have Wisdom narrate and to keep David from revealing whatever his plan is and what is happening in his head right now. Wisdom's narration is solid and plays equal parts bitter Brit and dedicated MI13 worker, as he oscillates between his own cynicism and a vast knowledge of the super-powered community and their recent exploits. It works perfectly for the character and gives a good sense of who he is and what matters to him, even as he's acting a little bit less responsible and more goofy over in Gambit, a less responsible and more goofy book. Another great issue for the series.

Superior Spider-Man 11, Iron Man 11

Superior Spider-Man 11
Slott and Gage (w) and Camuncoli and Dell (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man has been asked by Mayor Jameson to attend the execution of Alistair Smythe, the Spider-Slayer and the man who killed Jameson's wife. Jameson fears that Smythe will attempt a getaway during the execution and recognizes that, despite their checkered past, Spider-Man is the best hope in keeping him contained. Before heading there, Doc Ock has a few encounters that leave him annoyed with Peter's life, the life he's inherited. There's some more talk about how he's the superior Spider-Man and he shouldn't have the same limitations Peter had as removing those limitations have made him a better crime-fighter. When he does finally arrive at the Raft, where only a few prisoners with Jameson shutting the prison down, he sets up a few extra precautions around the place. In the midst of this, though, he also wanders back to his old cell, the cell where Doc Ock could have died had he not switched bodies with Peter. He leaves to attend the execution, where he again finds himself surprised to realize that he's a bit of a changed man (he berates Smythe for pretending he's changed and saved by God because murderers never really change before stopping to realize the irony of that thought). He doesn't have long to ruminate on it though as Smythe does put a plan into effect. First his mini-Slayers (like the Spider-Bots) infiltrate the room, which Spider-Man defeats by using his own bots to take them down. Then, with the mini-Slayers forming new armor around Smythe, he tries to punch through the walls of the execution chamber but Spider-Man has prepared for that as well and the walls don't give. Each vent he tries to escape through presents new challenges in the form of lasers or fire. Finally, he turns on Spider-Man, hoping to kill him to give a chance to escape. He's not alone in this, as his Slayers have also found their way to Spider-Man's most recent badly injured foes Scorpion, Vulture, and Boomerang and have created armor for them as well, healing their injuries (at least for the time being) and strengthening them again. Smythe commands them to come kill Spider-Man and they can all go free.

I don't know yet where this story is going but it's clearly setting up some big ideas. We've already seen Doc Ock annoyed with the life Peter's built for himself but this feels a bit different. He's less annoyed with the limitations on Peter's life and more retrospective on what he had done with his own life. I wouldn't say it's remorse, exactly, but there's definitely a hint of introspection there. It might not hurt, too, that he's attracted to Anna Maria, his tutor for the physics class he needs to get his doctorate ("tutor" is a bit of a misnomer; that's how she was introduced as Doc had missed most of the class, but it's quite clear he doesn't need one), and it could be making him think about other things in life. Just a bit of speculation. I was going to complain about how heavy-handed the issue is in telling us again how he views himself as the superior Spider-Man and justifying himself, but having reached the end of the issue I think it's mostly necessary. It depends where Slott and Gage want to go with this story and where Slott wants to go with the character in general, but you want to really understand his feelings on this thing and it may well turn out that he is trying to justify his takeover of Peter to himself, which is an interesting concept and would leave himself open to repeating it again and again. Solid issue. Good action coming up, no doubt, with some intriguing character development primed and ready to roll.

Iron Man 11
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Wow. I picked this book in my pregame this week more because I felt I hadn't given it enough love so far and less because I was thinking this book was going to be a huge game-changer. When I was looking at the titles this week, I thought to myself "gee, I'm really enjoying Iron Man. I'm not sure where it's going but I like Gillen enough that I'm sure it's going somewhere good and I feel I haven't given it much credit because I keep fawning over all the Avengers titles too much, among other things." So I picked it. Then I read it. I'm apparently GREAT at this. This book was so crazy. In a good way. It redraws almost the entire history of the Marvel Universe without so much as batting an eyelash. Or whatever it is a comic book would do to seem unperturbed. Usually, especially these days, revelations like this can only come as part of a huge event but here, in Iron Man 11, Kieron Gillen has said "wait, who is Tony Stark anyway?" and then EXPERTLY answered it and, after seventy years of Marvel comics, somehow changed the entire universe just a bit. Let's get into it. Tony is still with 451 and still not quite trusting of his story (quick note: if this story ends up being a lie to just manipulate Tony, I'm going to be SO depressed). We learn a bit more of it as 451 explains his diagnosis to Howard and Maria. 451 can save the unborn baby and make sure he lives, but it will come at a cost. They both have to agree to terms on the baby. Not some weird "when he's 12, I get him" or something like that. The problem, 451 says, is that Earth is hurtling towards the nuclear age and mutants and superpowers have started emerging rapidly. Any one of these events would have triggered further investigation from the cosmic powers that be but all three definitely make Earth a bit of a liability. 451 fears that the imperial powers would destroy the Earth in about thirty years, if the Earth isn't prepared. The rate the world is going, it will not be prepared in thirty years without a hand from the outside. 451 can't simply begin to help because his interference will only speed up the imperial powers' decision to attack Earth. Instead, he plans to enhance Tony to be a builder and a genius. The conceit, as would have come naturally, is that Howard was a rich genius so Tony had good genes and a curious mind and all sorts of resources at his disposal to become an even richer, even smarter genius than his father. Instead, according to 451, Tony had that and alien enhancements built right into his DNA that made him more inquisitive and more practical and more intelligent and more dedicated to arming Earth and everything else that makes him Tony. Tony still doesn't believe 451's story but 451 makes a couple good points. Tony, in a world full of geniuses, is the one who isn't focused on peace (like Reed Richards or Hank Pym or T'Challa) and who has the ability to change the entire world in the way he operates (unlike AIM or Doom or HYDRA or anything else). Without Tony's weapons, Earth would never have sustained attacks from the Skrulls and the Krees and everyone else they've come into contact with. Even as Tony is skeptical, he admits that, if he were in 451's shoes, he would have built someone like Tony.

And just like that, the whole Marvel Universe has a new frame around it. I'm not saying that Tony is the new centerpiece of the Marvel Universe (though boy, for an egotist already this is sure to go to his head a bit), just that he's quite probably the most important person to ever live on Earth. Okay, maybe I was saying that? I don't know. Anyway, it's definitely a weighty stance but it's one that shakes the 616 to its core without actually upsetting anything. Instead, it shifts everything without needing to recast anything. It just means that everything Tony has done and every attack the Earth has weathered now has a secondary background to it; Tony saved the world because he was born to do it. Brilliant stuff. This issue is pretty remarkable, guys. Great writing and ideas, the art is solid throughout (particularly a scene where Howard and Maria discuss the options with 451 (with great coloring too) and the ensuing ultrasound of Tony and explanation of his enhancements. Very good issue.

This week's picks

This is a bit of an interesting week for me as none of my standbys were out. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; there are tons of great books out there from Marvel and I don't love that my chosen picks are always from the same well of series but I can't help what I find best, I suppose. It's nice, though, to be able to spotlight other books for a change, even if one of them is just a one shot for an event that features a book/writer I do always pick.

Avengers: The Enemy Within 1

Obviously it helps a great deal to have an event focused on a character and/or going between a couple books if the author of the event is the same author behind that character/those books. What I'm trying to say is that Kelly Sue DeConnick has a perfect handle on Carol and on the way she acts and the troubles she faces. Add to that an intriguing story and the promise of more characters showing up and you have a great event starter in Enemy Within. In my review, I didn't even touch on Carol's fear that she'll start hallucinating as Helen reportedly did (though Helen may actually have been transported through time, jury's still out). On top of that, DeConnick has done something no other writer has ever been able to do: made me enjoy reading Spider-Woman. There's plenty to think about going forward with this arc and I'm confident that the event will be a solid one.

FF 7

Incredibly sweet story that serves many purposes as far as this pretty young series goes. Scott steps into the leader role and away, if only a little bit, from the overprotective and fearful father role. The FF comes together as a famiy. Darla shows her chops and fights as hard as anyone else out there. The story itself is resolved and Medusa is freed from the Wizard's control. Bentley-23 fights for the FF and sends Blastaar into his recent story with the Fantastic Four. All in one issue. It's emotionally satisfying to watch Scott take charge and show himself as not too in over his head. It's a nice wrap-up for this arc while still giving ample opportunities to expand later. Add to that the promise of Doom sooner or later and FF seems to be in pretty good shape.

Iron Man 10

We've already had the surprise that 451 was working alongside Howard Stark in some capacity but this issue does a good job to not rest on that secret. Gillen isn't afraid to delve into places in Tony's history that other writers haven't gone. Given the popularity of the character right now particularly, that isn't a lightly made decision, I'm sure. Tony should have been dead in the womb or just out of it. Somehow he didn't die and somehow it has to do with his father making some sort of deal or something with 451, a somewhat nefarious robot whose true goal hasn't really been revealed yet. Is he the fact-gatherer who is sincerely trying to make the best out of bad situations or is he more sinister than that? I guess we'll have to keep reading to find out. That doesn't even mention the fact that Gillen and Eaglesham put in a full-on heist in about five pages and it's interesting and well-executed while keep up the fun of heist movies and the like. Solid issue and a great launching point for the arc.


Best Panel:
I had far less trouble than I should have had picking this week's panel. We had Cable and his X-Force in space, we had Carol Danvers punching out dinosaurs, we had Gambit with a jetpack, we had Venom shielding an explosion, we had Scott Lang looking into the Negative Zone and saying "What." (Fun fact: I will always giggle at "what" not asked as a question. Hilarious every time). However, we also had two dogs with goggles to protect their eyes from explosion debris. So should I have maybe gone with something different here? There's a chance. Was I ever going to? Nope.

Age of Ultron 8, Avengers: The Enemy Within 1, Iron Man 10

Age of Ultron 8
Bendis (w) and Peterson (a) and Mounts (c)

So we learn a little more about this alternate timeline as Bendis again tries to make us learn about the butterfly effect. The Tony Stark of this world questions Wolverine after accessing both Sue and Wolverine's memories alongside Professor X and Emma Frost. He learns that Wolverine was responsible for killing Pym and setting the world on a different timeline before explaining to Wolverine that the timeline he's created led to a war between technology and magic that caused Asgard to abandon Earth and divided the world into pretty much Tony's half and Morgana le Fey's half. Stark is ever suspicious of an attack from le Fey and spends some time believing that Sue and Wolverine are constructs of hers, an idea that is reinforced when le Fey attacks at a particularly inopportune time for our heroes. Meanwhile, the Defenders don't like Tony and want to talk to the prisoners. Then le Fey shows up and splits Tony's helicarrier in half.

I think everything I've said about this series remains true as I remain annoyed at the length, annoyed at the need to drill the butterfly effect into readers, annoyed at the implication that Hank Pym is the cog that makes the Marvel Universe turn, annoyed at the writing style, and annoyed at spending so much time in an alternate timeline that we all know will not stick around. That said, I'd like to mention something I don't think I've really brought up that much in the run of this series: the art. I think the art is fine on more or less static images and situations, with people talking and the like. However, from the get-go (and even with different artists at the helm) I've found the action sequences to be overly chaotic and a bit hard to piece together. In most of the fights, there are so many colors and lines converging that it's hard to tell who's fighting from panel to panel and almost impossible to say who's winning. In the beginning, that was a little more excusable because the fights weren't really the focus; the state of the city was the focus. Now, though, the fights are very much at the center of a lot of these panels and don't really stand out as much as you'd like, especially to try to cover for the story or the excessive dialogue. I have a theory that says that you'll be able to read maybe four of these issues when all is said and done and have as much of an understanding of the story as someone who read all ten. We'll see if that's accurate as the last two issues come out.

Avengers: The Enemy Within 1
DeConnick (w) and Hepburn (a) and Bellaire (c)

One of the reasons that I've really liked DeConnick's run on Captain Marvel is that she's made it a point to, throughout the series, establish that Carol has a life outside of the Avengers. It's maybe not a huge part of her life in terms of time-spent, but it's clearly massive in terms of how she identifies herself. She doesn't live at Avengers Mansion, she stays in an apartment. She has a routine that involves getting coffee or croissants at the same place and meeting up with an elderly lady each day. At her apartment, she has people that she cares about including the little girl who wants to be her and that girl's mother. She has Tracy the surly older woman with whom she bonded over their sicknesses. She had Helen Cobb (albeit in time displacement). She has Avengers friends too, like Spider-Woman and Captain America and Tony Stark, but she has more social visits from Avengers than you see in most solo books. The creation of Carol's little universe unto herself and the importance of it in her daily life is already playing a huge role in this series, as Rose has been kidnapped by Yon-Rogg (Carol does not know it's Yon-Rogg behind everything, but we've already seen him) and hidden away. With the help of Spider-Woman and Thor, Carol is able to track down Rose but finds that Rose has been a diversion so her captor could break into Carol's apartment. Carol hurries back to her building and clears everyone out of it. She busts into her own room (scaring her cat Chewie) and finds that her enemy has broken into her footlocker of important items. Missing from the footlocker is her piece of the psyche-magnetron, the machine that gave her powers and that is, as she describes it, essentially a Kree-built wish-machine. Now the world is in danger and she feels it's her fault. Spider-Woman rallies around her and insists that now the Avengers are involved and this guy will not get away with this.

The issue starts in pretty standard Captain Marvel form, which isn't at all a bad thing. There's a conversation between Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman that focuses around whether or not Rose is missing or just an old lady before chaos breaks out in the form of old-school villains the Grapplers. From there, the action never stops and the chaos piles up on Carol, who has trouble with her brain lesion (not helped by the fact that she insists on flying at one point) and with the whole situation. She suspects it's all a distraction to keep her from Rose before she realizes that Rose is the distraction. It's non-stop action but not in a way that feels forced or like action-for-action's-sake. It serves to keep Carol off-balance and unable to get a foothold on the situation, just as the audience is unsure of the villain's plot even though we know more than Carol (as Captain Marvel readers know it's Yon-Rogg behind everything and we watch him break into Carol's apartment while she's in Central Park). It's a really great layout and it feels already like this event is going to be something different and great, if incredibly stressful for fans who love Carol. I listened to an interview with DeConnick (found here) that features her at one point saying that she didn't plan too far ahead on these books because she didn't expect either of them to last. She cites people like Fraction and Bendis, who can plan series in year-long chunks, and Hickman, who can plan a series over a four-year chunk (amazing, and my fun fact of the day). She could have fooled me as this event seems born perfectly out of what she's done with both of her Marvel books over the course of the last few months. Looking forward to this one. It's also important to note that Scott Hepburn's art is solid throughout (and his characterization of Jessica particularly as someone who can't stop gesticulating) and Jordie Bellaire's colors are great and she uses the same color palette as on Captain Marvel, so the book feels like it slots perfectly into place.

Iron Man 10
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

One of the reasons I've enjoyed Remender's Captain America series is that it's taken the Captain America history and said "what don't we know?" It turned out that the answer was "what was Steve like before he was old enough to even try to enlist in the army?" With that, Remender had a whole new level to add to Steve's character and a series all ready to write itself. Gillen has apparently done the same thing with Tony Stark, except we already knew more about Iron Man's childhood. It was his birth that we hadn't really examined before. 451 has shown the film to Tony and goes on to explain that Howard was scouring the Earth to find a way to save the unborn Tony's life. Doctors said it couldn't be done and that, in fact, if it was done, they'd have wished it wasn't, so damaged was Tony. However, that wasn't a good enough answer for Howard and, eventually, he found out about 451. At the time, 451 was being held by the Greys, a race of aliens (in the style of the stereotypical sci-fi alien) who had opened a casino in Vegas. They had stumbled upon 451 and captured him, knowing that he was valuable but unable to crack into any of that value. 451 awoke to one of the underlings of the Greys, Rollo, and appealed to him to break him out, offering a nice reward. Rollo meets with Howard and entices him, letting him know about 451's extensive knowledge, which Howard hopes can be parlayed into saving Tony's life. He assembles a team including the likes of Jimmy Woo, Thunderbolt Ross, and Dum Dum Dugan to name a few and we get a nice, old-fashioned heist comic. The heist is successful (though Rollo is found out and killed) and Howard and 451 apparently escape. Tony doesn't believe any of it and is put to sleep by 451, as they'll need him "before [they] reach [their] destination."

It's an interesting idea and, as I said, gives a nice little look into the parts of Tony that we don't know so well. I'm pretty well-versed in Marvel but I wouldn't ever claim to know every single character and every issue they've appeared in, so I can't guarantee it's never been mentioned that Tony wasn't projected to survive birth, but that does seem like a pretty big fact for me not to have found out, so I'm going to credit it to Gillen. It adds a layer to Tony's story which is then doubly added upon by revealing that he wouldn't have lived without alien tech and methods (which we have yet to really hear about). Was Tony more than just a regular child, albeit a little more intelligent and with more resources? We also can't ever rule out the fact that 451 is simply lying. Everything is a possibility and we've already seen 451 lie to get his way before. Occam's Razor would dictate that 451 lying is a far more simple solution than "Tony was going to die in childbirth so Howard tracked down a mysterious robot who had accumulated masses of knowledge and broke that robot out of an alien casino so that he could try to help save Howard's son." Then again, this is comics and that second argument is far more in line with how Wikipedia explains comic plots. Stay tuned to this one; whatever the answer and motivations behind 451, they're bound to be interesting and to put Tony in previously unexplored areas, both physically and emotionally.

Iron Man 9, Iron Man 258.1, Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter

Iron Man 9
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

GUYS it's Iron Man day! For no particular reason! Just kidding, it's totally because the movie's coming out tomorrow. I'm planning to see it tonight so what better way to get excited than to review one the three Iron Man books that came out this week purely by chance! Ha, just kidding, I have a sneaking suspicion that Marvel knows what they're doing, considering two thirds of my Marvel calendars have Iron Man on them for the month of May (the third one is the Thing because why not?).
Okay, so let's dive into it then. Iron Man is on the search for 451 after 451 destroyed the Voldi (or condemned the Voldi to death. Semantics). The Guardians of the Galaxy (with whom he's currently touring the universe) drop him off at a little place called "Hope's Pustule," which, Starlord informs Tony, is not an ironic name. There Tony tracks down Death's Head, the bounty hunter he had to fight in the Voldi arena and who had managed to escape the destruction of the planet. The pair claim no hard feelings and Tony hires Death's Head to help him track down 451. The two talk about Death's Head's great ship and Tony makes a few Star Wars references before they find a lifeless Badoon ship that Death's Head's ship's sensors have brought them to. While exploring the ship, they find that all of the Badoon aboard apparently committed suicide, which isn't exactly a Badoon custom. 451 is indeed on board and Tony hopes to ambush him as he turns a corner. Unfortunately, Death's Head has been working for 451 all along and his goal was simply to bring Tony to him. On top of that, 451 has hacked PEPPER and left Tony defenseless. 451 hopes to talk to Tony but offers no explanation for the destruction of the Voldi (he also says that they were more or less living on borrowed time hiding from the Celestials and Phoenix and everyone else, though he does accept some blame). Without much choice, Tony agrees to listen to 451, who pulls out an old film cannister. On the film is Tony's dad, Howard Stark, explaining that he's done questionable things to help the world and, more specifically, to help Tony. Then 451 comes into frame beside Howard.
The plot thickens as we get more of an understanding of some of the power that 451 wields and far more questions arise in total, adding to our sizable total already being asked. Hard to speculate too much about where the arc and the series are going but it's nice to see Tony have to deal with his daddy issues a bit more and to find out that Howard is far from a saint. We'll be able to talk more about that when we know exactly what it is Howard is alluding to, but it's worth mentioning upfront that Tony seems to have a very strange relationship with his father as it is. Fun to see Gillen's take on it.

Iron Man 258.1
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

When I read the description of this book, I was pretty much able to write the entire review in my head. Old Iron Man pros David Michelinie and Bob Layton return to the armored Avenger to give their take on John Byrne and John Romita Jr's Armor Wars II (Michelinie and Layton were the minds behind the first). The Armor Wars were pivotal books in Iron Man history that, like most other Iron Man books not pertaining to his drinking, revolved around someone stealing the Iron Man tech and selling it to bad guys. I rather like that Gillen has sent Tony to space if only because his armor isn't that big a deal in space and he didn't bring many extras with him so no one is that eager or able to steal it. In this book, which will be continued next week allegedly, a biomass that was taken out of Tony (and connected to computer chips and nanites in his body) gains sentience and access to Tony's computer systems. He then kills a doctor that was helping Tony and reveals himself to be what Tony should have been, according to him.
So what I was going to say immediately after reading the description is "nice read, definitely worthwhile for old school Iron Man fans to pick up and relive the magic but not too relevant to today's Marvel." I think that still applies, but I will admit to being surprised by the ending. The reveal of the "Iron Mind," Tony's connected biomass, was a solid twist. Why he thinks he's what Tony should have been is worth exploring, so we find ourselves with a nice little read that's definitely worthwhile for old school Iron Man fans to pick up and relive the magic, but isn't too relevant to today's Marvel, though it may be building into a somewhat compelling story nonetheless.

Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter
Gage (w) and Lim (a) and Sotocolor (c)

I don't know what to make of this book. I had some ideas about it when I saw it on the list this week (maybe it's like Iron Man 258.1, a former Iron Man writer stepping in to tell a story that hasn't been told before) or maybe it's an Iron Man movie tie-in (though I was pretty sure the Melter wasn't appearing in the movie; I guess I'll find out tonight starting at 9 PM). Maybe it's an easy-to-read story for new readers interested in Iron Man but unwilling to start with Gillen's far-different-than-the-movies arc or maybe it's a quickly/cheaply produced book trying to cash in on the movie's arrival. After reading it, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm something of a Christos Gage fan, as he was born and raised in my home state and used to go to one of my comic book stores. I also quite liked his Union Jack mini-series several years back and reluctantly enjoyed his Avengers Academy title. He has a weird role in Marvel, though, and sometimes he gets books like this which leave more questions about what it's doing than what it's done. Let's start with plot. The Melter shows up and interrupts a press conference Tony is holding to startle and defeat Tony in quick combat in front of cameras before telling the press that he'll be selling his new weapon to the highest bidder soon, after another display. He turns up against War Machine a few days later and also defeats War Machine. Tony and Rhodey team up to try to figure out who's behind the Melter armor, which leads to the by-the-book detective Rhodey doing things his way while off-the-rails detective Tony does things his way. Neither comes up with a perfect solution but they reconvene with their information to figure it out and eventually track down and stop Melter. They each agree that, while they have their differences, they're stronger working together than apart.
Who was this book meant for? I would say it's meant to try to let children read a comic book about Iron Man before or after the big movie comes out, but I don't think kids will be particularly entertained by a villain they won't see in the movie and will certainly not be entertained by the random crime procedural in the middle of the book. Anyone older than children, though, will be somewhat bored by the issue and will find the explicitly delivered moral trite and a bit obnoxious. I don't think this would attract new readers into reading more comics and it will just confuse older readers. Weird release, other than to hopefully make a few quick books. That kind of does fit, though. Gage also wrote the recent movie tie-in limited series for Iron Man so maybe part of his role now is to churn out the easily and quickly produced books to make a couple extra dollars. Worth missing. Like, it's actively worth missing, not just okay if you miss it.