Marvel's 2015-2016 in movies

I missed ALL OF THESE! Let's talk just a little about the Marvel releases since this blog went underwater (that's what happens when anything on the internet goes away. So many Angelfire Atlantises).

Avengers: Age of Ultron

This one suffered amongst fans and critics alike for, I guess, not being The Avengers. That said, I liked it rather a lot. It felt like a movie that knew its characters very well and created an interesting situation for said characters to deal with. It certainly wasn't perfect; Age of Ultron drags a bit in the middle and, likely thanks to the studio, ties its hands a little by cementing its place as a building block in the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than its own removed entity, but that's to be expected with such a huge franchise (especially given that the Avengers films will likely always be very concerned with building towards the next big thing). That aside, we got good characters in Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (whose introduction felt fitting for comics fans without being a carbon copy of the source material) and in Paul Bettany's Vision. Some good jokes, some decidedly fun action, and plenty of character development for a movie that would surely have survived on action and brand recognition alone (*cough* Batman vs. Superman *cough*) make AoU a very nice addition to the MCU. It seems like the movie's biggest crime was that it wasn't as big of a surprise as its predecessor, which is like saying that Aristotle was a real let-down when compared to Plato. I'm sure Marvel's happy to have both in its stable.

Ant-Man

It goes without saying that nobody likes Ant-Man. Like, it's Ant-Man. Don't give me any "oh, sure, Hank Pym is real plain toast and one time hit his wife, but he's not so bad" or any "Eric O'Grady sure is an interesting character!" Like, sure, Scott Lang is your best option; a good guy thief, jailed for trying to save the life of his daughter (the way more fun Cassie Lang who, truth told, is probably only in our hearts because of her ties to the Young Avengers), but saying Catdog is the best cartoon starring a cat/dog creature doesn't really scream praise for Catdog now does it? Anyway, all this to say that the movie was fun. Yup, that was a real turn, right? I have some complicated feelings towards this movie. I like Paul Rudd and I like his inclusion in this universe (after Civil War, I'm pretty sure we're just slowly morphing him into Bobby Newport, which is the best of all possible MCUs) and I thought the movie, while probably the most paint-by-numbers Marvel has yet been (which is probably saying something in its own right), was more than entertaining enough to merit a favorable review, it's hard not to see a better movie creeping in at the seams. That's right, this mini-review, which started with a rant about Ant-Man turned into a positive review about Ant-Man and is now turning into a glowing review about a movie that was never made: Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. Wright, as we probably all now know, was literal years deep into his Ant-Man movie when he abruptly was removed from/left the picture. Rumors have it down to Marvel's insistence that the movie tie in to the greater universe vs. Wright's control freak director personality, which has yielded unbelievably good movie after unbelievably good movie. Marvel's done well for itself since it hired Wright (allegedly) to work on an Ant-Man movie, so I can't really fault them for wanting to continue to build and to change their original promise to Wright (a hypothetical promise; it makes sense to me that they'd have offered Wright full control over the title before they really knew how big they'd get), but Wright is an excellent filmmaker and was a perfect choice for this project. Let him do what he does and get out of his way. You can still see very Wright-esque shots in this perfectly acceptable version of the movie, but those shots only let you see just how delightfully quick Ant-Man could have been.

Captain America: Civil War

Why even mess around? This is quite possibly the best movie Marvel has put out yet and it has absolutely no right to be. This many characters, both new and old, appearing in a film (some for only ten or so minutes) is a recipe for disaster, as so many examples have shown (WHAT UP, SPIDER-MAN 3 AND X-MEN 3?). The Russo brothers, though, have a story they want to tell and set to work expertly telling it and bringing in all the pieces they need to tell it most effectively and efficiently. The movie moves exceedingly well for it's two and a half hour runtime and every character gets at least a few good moments throughout. Special mentions to their treatment of Spider-Man (and the performance of young Tom Holland), which really defines just how the next wave of Spidey movies could turn out, and to both their treatment of Black Panther and Chadwick Boseman's stellar performance as the Wakandan royal. Excellent character work throughout with a few killer action sequences (Marvel has, very intelligently, made every single one of their characters' fight styles distinctive so it's easy to watch a longer fight sequence and still lose yourself in it) and a really tight, exciting, and, most important of all, different story launches this entry right up to the top of Marvel's best.


BONUS ROUND:
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse

I walked out of this movie saying to my fiancee, "boy, Bryan Singer sure knows how to make a competent movie." I like the way this X-Men film series is going, but none of the movies its spawned strike me as particularly great movies. They are, however, eminently watchable. There aren't ever particularly exciting ideas (though one could make an argument that placing these movies smack dab in the middle of real world events like the Cold War and the JFK assassination and, just, the '80s, I guess is a decidedly compelling idea) or particularly outstanding writing. The characters who always seem to be the most focused-upon and, perhaps therefore, interesting are Professor X and Magneto, which isn't exactly a bold new direction for the X-Men franchise as a whole. This movie, for example, introduced Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, Psylocke, and Angel, to name a few, and yet I walked away feeling like only Professor X and Magneto had really developed as characters (maybe Jean a little bit, but that's starting from zero, where development should be easy). Granted, I really only find three of the characters I mentioned in that "just introduced" group genuinely interesting in X-Men lore (HINT: none of my picks are original X-Men), but still there should be more there. Obviously they're intending to build on those characters specifically as we move forward (well, maybe not Angel, there aren't many places for him to go post-Apocalypse. Frankly, I'd be a little surprised if they go back to Psylocke, which is a dang shame, but then again, she wasn't even British in the movie, come on), but this was the chance to lay a foundation and, instead, we got another movie about Magneto, Professor X, and boring ol' Mystique. Still, I'll put on FXX when this one is on, won't I? Just like with First Class and Days of Future Past (for what it's worth, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World don't get that kind of treatment).

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

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

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.

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.

Avengers 36

Avengers 36

Sunspot, with the help of his recently purchased AIM, has finished building a device that should be able to transport people to the center of the collapsing multiverses to find and hopefully destroy whatever is causing all of the Earths to die. The Avengers team assembled to do this, brought together by various understandings of this new threat and by their own personal reasons for this mission, is comprised of Thor, Hyperion, Starbrand, Nightmask, Ex Nihilo, and Abyss. It's an extremely important mission and the fate of all the universes could hinge on it, so these Avengers have volunteered even knowing that, according to Sunspot, no one comes back from this; everyone going is going to die.

As TIME RUNS OUT continues (or as we build to it, look, I don't know), we get a spotlight on our high-powered Avengers, almost all of whom were brought on to this team and into existence by Hickman throughout his AVENGERS run. Also in the spotlight is Sunspot, who we haven't seen too much of in the series and, when we have, has almost always been the comic relief of the book, and Thor, who has a whole lot going on right now in his own life. It's a very good issue that manages to characterize its important characters well, even when it has a lot of explanation and soft science to do. Sometimes the explanations drag a bit as the whole problem is extraordinarily complex and Hickman is using the scientific types in the book to  explain it with very few laymen around to say "NOW HEY, WHAT'S ALL THIS MEAN?" Still, the book moves well and looks great with Stefano Caselli and Frank martin doing excellent work throughout the issue.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 1

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 1

Magneto killing the Red Skull at the end of the last UNCANNY AVENGERS backfired as it, for reasons unknown, turned him into the Red Onslaught, the Nazi version of X-Men villain Onslaught. With his already impressive power now made more immense, Red Onslaught is able to start broadcasting his hate across the globe, causing rioting and hate crimes everywhere. Iron Man, who has already built in precautions against telepathy into his own suit, manages to block out the Red Onslaught's telepathy to his team, stopping their inherited hatred before things get too disastrous, and leads the Avengers to aid Havok, Rogue, and Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch, though, has been taken over by the Red Onslaught and is nearly ready to convert the world to one where the Nazis won. Rogue, fortunately, whacks her out of it and then talks her out of it (being crazy, that is). Unfortunately, with Iron Man now onsite, Red Onslaught is able to access his contingency plans to defeat all of his friends if the need should arise.

Holy double-page-spread, you guys. This event officially kicks off (still with an extraordinarily clunky name, instead of the much easier name "Axis") with an oversized issue and I mean that in every sense. It's longer than a typical issue, it's bigger than a typical issue (thanks to all the DPS), and it probably should have been reined in a bit more. A good chunk of the first half of this issue finds the Avengers fighting some other foe and quipping and generally having a pretty good time. It doesn't really read so well, though, so it's rather a slog to get through it. Sadly, that trend kind of continues as Remender seems intent on getting out as much information as he can in this first issue, meaning this oversized issue drags quite a bit throughout, something you don't want happening in what should be the action-packed start of a new event. The story is compelling, though it smacks of a story of convenience, one created by people going "geez, wouldn't it be cool if we could do X or Y, let's find a reason for X or Y to happen." As a result, this first issue holds together only marginally well and the rampant dialogue and over-explanation drag everything down with it.

Total Score: 2/5

Comics this week

Hey all my buddies, get ready for a deceptively short list of comics (it's deceptive because the site I use to look them up lists all variants and TPBs and everything else you could think of and THAT LIST, my friends, is a long list). Also, get ready for a couple of the clunkiest names a massive comic event and a hitherto unknown limited series might ever have.

Avengers 36
We've seen a little of what this eight-months-later future looks like on both sides of the ball now so diving back in with AVENGERS 36 could reveal a little bit more of what's happened lately and could build towards the future of this one. I've heard mostly good things about the eight-months-later business and I think we can all say Hickman is one of those guys we trust to handle something like this so read on to see where we are and/or will be at.

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 1
Do I put the colon in there? Do I not? No one will ever know. Is the thinking behind this name change from the short-and-sweet AXIS to the unbelievably unwieldy AVENGERS AND X-MEN: AXIS driven by the thought that maybe people weren't buying books like FEAR ITSELF and SIEGE because they weren't sure who was going to be in those books? Because, and remember this comic-makers out there, this is a uniquely visual medium to go along with your words, it's entirely possible for a cover to convey answers to such questions as "who will be in this book?" and "what sort of things can I expect from this book?" That is, unless there are so many unwieldy words and, undoubtedly, different type-faces that no one could possibly see the picture underneath. ANYWAY, new event starting up, Rick Remender's in charge of this one so I'm already interested.

Rocket Raccoon 4
Want to buy a book that's just really fun and spectacular to look at? I have to say, in all of comics (and let's not pretend I'm reading every comic released every week but I am reading every Marvel comic and a good bunch of Image comics and casually glancing at some others), this might be your best option for just that. Skottie Young is doing some wonderful things over here and I hope you're all checking it out.

Thanos: A God Up There Listening 1
Okay. Let me say up front: I am not remotely interested in this book. I don't even know what it is. I'd say it's the first time I'm hearing about it but I have a terrible memory and it's entirely possible that it is, in fact, not. Thanos tends to bore me and the fact that he's been thrust back into the light via several extremely lucrative movies and comics isn't exactly my favorite thing. Fortunately, this is a short-list week and I'm willing to cast aside, for the time being, genuine recommendations for CAPTAIN MARVEL and PUNISHER in order to shine a light on this god-awful title. I legitimately don't know if this is the title (furthermore, don't know if the colon should be there but I've made my decision) or if the comic site I use is simply making fun of me now, but this is, in fact, an anti-recommendation. Don't buy this book. I hope it's great because I much prefer reading great books. Given the description (something about Thane, with the Ebony Maw, learning things about his own future from his father's past), it's entirely possible this is some weird retrospective on Thanos' history. My reason for asking you not to buy the book is to stand with me in telling Marvel to tighten up their naming. I understand that there are certain trends and fads to differentiate the constant renumbering and rebranding and that things like that seem genius to some marketing guys out there (ALL-NEW is the bane of my existence and I don't CARE who knows), but this is just words thrown up on a cover in the thought that we'll probably just buy it anyway. DON'T DO IT, MY FRIENDS. I...I can't ask you the same about AXIS, though I really wish they'd just stuck with AXIS.

X-Force 10
Ah, who cares any more? It'll probably be great. Look at that blunt, direct name. Work of art.

Marvel cancels ALL-NEW X-FACTOR

News broke this week from Peter David himself (haven't seen word from Marvel officially yet but the horse's mouth seems good enough for this one) that ALL-NEW X-FACTOR will be cancelled with issue 20. David writes on his blog that, though this was reported by Bleeding Cool, their report was almost entirely inaccurate except for the crucial detail of "this book is being cancelled." I guess Bleeding Cool (a terrible news site that no one should visit or give positive recognition to because it's often just rumor printed as fact) said that the book was cancelled with issue 19 and that it had to do with Quicksilver being brought back to the Avengers. Instead, David says on his blog, it's cancelled with issue 20 simply for poor sales, leading to some observations from David about the way comic sales are calculated, about Gambit's trouble heading up a book, and about how terrible Bleeding Cool is.

This doesn't necessarily come as a surprise but it still elicited a frown from me. I haven't been a huge supporter of this book in the way that I liked David's old X-FACTOR but it's certainly had its moments, showing that David can still craft a good story with compelling characters who have very specific and interesting dynamics. I thought the book tripped over itself occasionally and had the tonal issues of a book that wanted to infuse humor maybe a little too often, sometimes leading to ham-fisted jokes and references. Regardless, it certainly isn't the worst book out there right now, probably not even in the lower ten percent. Unfortunately, "middling with potential" doesn't tend to stick around.

New Avengers 24, Mighty Avengers 14, Secret Avengers 8

New Avengers 24

We're eight months in the future and Namor comes to Doom for help getting rid of his cabal, who he has realized are maybe a little too violent and bloodthirsty for his liking, and for help with the incursions. Doom provides neither, resentful that he is Namor's second choice. Meanwhile, Black Panther and Shuri use the distraction of another incursion to attempt to steal back all the anti-matter bombs housed in Wakanda, currently occupied by the Cabal, but find themselves facing Maximus and Proxima Midnight, left behind to guard. They barely escape and Black Panther teleports back to the Illuminati but Shuri chooses to stay behind and fight for Wakanda. Back in Latveria, Doom explains to Kristoff that he didn't accept Namor's offer because it's clear he understands more of what's going on than Namor does, so he wouldn't benefit from an alliance. Instead, the Mad Thinker has been working for Doom to study the piece of a world the Mapmakers left behind and finally Thinker has used it to map out all of the marked worlds and to trace it back to its originator, the person behind all this. Doom intends to turn the tables on this person, hoping to use the Molecule Man to strike back at the incursions.

As with AVENGERS, this book has leapt eight months into the future and now has 30+ pages to get us somewhat caught up on the state of the world. Also like AVENGERS, it does a pretty good job of it. Hickman delicately balances things we need to know now with things that can wait, meaning that we largely get good explanation without over-exposition. We also get a glimpse at what the Cabal is doing to other worlds, annihilating their people and relishing the opportunity to destroy their incurring worlds. Where everything seemed slightly askew and mildly threatening in AVENGERS, everything in this book seems horrible, like every plan ever devised has gone wrong,w which seems to be Hickman's intent. Valerio Schiti does an excellent job on the art front and overall it's an engaging and exciting finished project. NEW AVENGERS brings the last two years of stories to a head masterfully, never hand-holding and never over-explaining, illustrating a world that came about naturally well down the line.

Total Score: 5/5


Mighty Avengers 14

The Deathwalker Prime begins to transmit nightmares to every living being on the planet, causing everyone to kneel to it, but Luke Cage stands against the nightmares, fighting back and ultimately securing the ceremonial goblet in which the blood was combined and passing it on to a similarly breaking-free Kaluu, who manages to use the goblet himself to create the Avenger Prime, a mighty being with the combined strengths of the entire Mighty Avengers (except for Cage, who remains out of it) and which manages to defeat the Deathwalker Prime, freeing everyone on Earth. Cage destroys the goblet and the team decides to take a little vacation, primed to return in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS.

It's a pretty strong ending to a book I mostly found middling. Most of my problems with the book have been tonal dissonance or inside jokes or whatever you'd call the captions strewn about the book and that sort of thing kind of continues here but mostly reins it in to let the story and the characters do the talking. When the book got out of its own way, I liked it more. As with my feelings toward SECRET AVENGERS (we'll get to that), it's entirely possible those captions and other little bits strewn here and there appealed to a great number of people. They weren't my thing and they got int he way of the book for me, taking what could have been a personal and strong tone and muddying it with a need for forced laughs. Still, that's more a critique of the series and less a critique of this issue, which remains rather strong, though I have little connection to the main villain so it's a little difficult to feel the weight of the story. Ewing does what he can by showing that the entire planet is affected by the attack but it's a global threat that feels like it came out of nowhere, so its actual threat-level is hard to take seriously (okay, it's comics, seriously is CLEARLY "comics seriously" here). Kind of nitpicky but you have to believe the villains just as much as you believe the heroes. Still a good book.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 8

Maria Hill believes that MODOK is behind everything and explains, bit by bit, why to Spider-Woman, who has more questions than answers. We also flash back to various points in the last eight months or so to see MODOK working with head scientist Snapper to plan their allegiance switch to SHIELD and to quickly rise through the ranks and take it over from Hill, a plan that is slightly stalled as he reveals by issue's end that he's, in fact, in love with Maria Hill.

Nope, still don't get and/or like this one. It's not helped that one of the key contributors to the series is Maria Hill, who I cannot come around to. Right now, we're talking about a personal, intimate battle of wits between Maria Hill and MODOK and I don't understand who that sentence appeals to.

Total Score: 1/5

Comics this week

Hey dudes, solid 18 books out this week and it shouldn't really be a struggle to pick out five I want to highlight but it sure was looking that way on the top half of the alphabetical list. Also, I'm watching that new Gotham TV show right now and it kicked off pretty dark, you guys! This married couple got murdered in the first like, two minutes! Weird way to start things, I bet nothing comes of it.

Edge of Spider-Verse 3
There's a lot of fun stuff happening in EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE so far, though this certainly makes it to the list thanks to a slow release week. It's been strong, though I expect it's hit-or-miss with how interesting these new spiders are.

New Avengers 24
It's another 4.99 book in another extra-sized issue (like AVENGERS last week) as Hickman moves NEW AVENGERS into TIME RUNS OUT, starting our story eight months after the events of the last issue. Though I'm wary of $4.99 books, I can't say I'm not interested in seeing this one. AVENGERS was solid last week and this book should give us the other side of the story. Looking forward to it.

New Warriors 10
Have I told you guys I'm really enjoying this book (though it's just about over at this point)? Just kidding, you guys, I know I have. Check it out while you still can.

Storm 3
I liked the first issue a good deal and the second issue had some positives to it. I think that Greg Pak's a strong writer and he very clearly has some thoughts about Storm as a character. Still, this book certainly gets the benefit of a slow release week to make this list.

Thunderbolts 31
I really need to keep a running list of when books are set to end. I THINK this book runs through issue 32 (or is it 33?). Either way, we're closing in on the end of the series and I'm sad to see it go. I also just caught up on a string of really good "Thrilling Adventure Hours" so I'm even more sad that Acker and Blacker will be Marvel homeless at the conclusion of this book (hopefully they'll find something soon).

All-New X-Men 32, Uncanny X-Men 26, Wolverine and the X-Men 9

All-New X-Men 32

The time-displaced X-Men have been sent to the Ultimate Universe by the uncanny powers of a new mutant they overwhelmed because they are just terrible at this and why does anyone leave these dumb kids alone for more than even a minute? Anyway, Beast ends up in Ultimate Latveria, Iceman ends up with Ultimate Mole Man, X-23 ends up in an Ultimate football game and on the run from Ultimate cops, Angel ends up in Ultimate Savage Land with Ultimate Wolverine, and Jean Grey ends up with Ultimate Spider-Man, whose mind she reads to learn where she is and who escorts her to Amadeus Cho, who has been working with the portal to the 616 universe. Of course, it's disappeared by now and the original X-Men, already stuck out of time, are stuck out of their dimension.

On the plus side, now that the X-Men have been stuck out of time and space, there are very few places they can get stuck that would be new to them. Also on the plus side, the issue moves relatively well as the X-Men are separated and largely not back-and-forthing with one another but having somewhat terse conversations with the people around them. The issue also bounces around between the X-Men, who are inexplicably separated after they run into plot-device girl, so the pacing mostly keeps up. On the downside, though, this book continues to feature very few likable characters and very few likable plots. Doesn't really leave them in a particularly good spot.

Total Score: 2/5


Uncanny X-Men 26

Xavier's will has further split his X-Men, with Scott angry that Xavier was a hypocrite for not giving the extraordinarily powerful Matthew Malloy a chance to control his powers and everyone else angry at Scott for being a hypocrite and also for being Scott. Even though Scott doesn't want to, they go to find Malloy, running into SHIELD on the way. SHIELD saw the disaster Malloy just caused (perfect timing, Xavier's will!) and is on their way to try and take him down. Meanwhile, Scott's new X-team runs simulations fighting the Avengers in their Danger Room until healer Christopher muses (that's a pretty dope joke, you guys) that perhaps they're not the good guys if they're training to fight against the good guys, which leads to an equally dumb fight about the mutant revolution.

There are ideas here but they tend to be brought up and argued so clumsily (mostly just that every point is argued so immediately and so clearly ignoring other facts or ignoring reason for their own purposes) that it's easy to roll your eyes at them. I know that from personal experience. Obviously Christopher has the right idea (and whichever Stepford Cuckoo that says he should have picked up on it soon is right too) but it's a complicated issue when thinking about Scott's resentment that the Avengers haven't helped them enough and that SHIELD isn't really on their side and SHIELD tends to work with the Avengers so they may be guilty by association. However, it's brought up by a bunch of teenagers (and the thirty-year-old David) so it has all the tact and grace of a bunch of dumb teenagers arguing then all feeling like they maybe won the argument. That would then almost be excusable if that's not how the grown X-Men fight too.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 9

Quentin Quire has seen his future and isn't thrilled by it so instead ends up sitting on a pile of money from the Phoenix Corporation and an insane amount of telepathic ability. Where go with all of that, plus a substantial resentment of Wolverine and the X-Men (the man and the team, not the series), but the Hellfire Club? He's now the White King of the Hellfire Club and throws himself a lavish birthday part that Wolverine tries to sneak into to have one last talk with Quire. He's found out and beaten pretty mercilessly until Quire hears him out. However, that doesn't go particularly well either as Quentin starts to command the partygoers, dressed as various X-Men, to attack Wolverine while Quentin responds to Wolverine's attempts, laying much of the blame for Quentin's future at his feet (and perhaps rightfully so, perhaps not, it's complicated). Finally Quire lets Wolverine go after forcing him to look inward for the source of the problem and revealing that Quire himself doesn't believe he won, just that Wolverine lost.

It's a tough blow to Wolverine, who has invested so much time on Quire and the other kids (which hasn't gone unnoticed and doesn't go unmentioned by Quire here) only to find that maybe they don't love him for it and maybe, if the future Quire saw is accurate, he didn't necessarily help things. It's a pretty good issue and like a lot of this series it's more complicated than it has to be, for better or worse. It's better because being a little more complicated allows Latour to go deeper and really get into some of the complexities of the characters, but it's also a little worse because it continues at times to be a little hard to keep straight (even writing the summary, which tends to settle out any issues I've had digesting the plot, didn't clear everything up nicely for me, but then maybe it's not meant to). Still, it's been as deep a character study on Quentin Quire as we've seen since his creation and it's not unimpressive for it. Also pretty strong art from Jorge Fornes throughout, and he's asked to draw quite a lot.

Total Score: 4/5

Avengers 35, Uncanny Avengers 24, Avengers World 13

Avengers 35

We're eight months into the future and the entire world is completely different. Cannonball lives off world with Izzy and their newborn baby, though Sunspot, the new leader of AIM after he managed to hostile-takeover their business (one of the drawbacks, he says, of running your evil scientist group like a corporation), needs them to come back to Earth for what's coming. Hyperion has been working with his children in the Savage Land to build a device for...reasons, which he and Thor, now Mjolnir-less, will use to cross over somewhere. Likely it has to do with incursions. SPEAKING OF INCURSIONS, the Illuminati, comprised of the original members plus a bunch of other super scientist types like Amadeus Cho, Brian Braddock, and Hank Pym, is on the run from SHIELD and the now-SHIELD sanctioned Avengers. These Avengers catch up with Cho as he breaks into the old Avengers Tower trying to salvage some of on-the-run Tony Stark's data but the Avengers, led by Sue Storm, capture him, though he has no information for them.

Okay, so there's rather a lot that's changed, hm? This isn't an alternate dimension, this isn't a WHAT IF... story, this is the main Marvel Universe just eight short months from now. It's a bit reminiscent of CIVIL WAR but with a very different schism at the center and with a very specific sort of hero going up against SHIELD and the Avengers. The story, of course, is very interesting and compelling to get into because, as you'd expect with a story like this and particularly with Hickman, we just into a fully formed world just the way it is, no real explanation given yet besides what you can surmise from the natural dialogue and your own assumptions about the situation based on what's been happening. It's a strong start to the ambitious TIME RUNS OUT storyline and it looks like Hickman, as ever, has this well in hand. Have I mentioned that I adore Hickman's EAST OF WEST? That it's one of the best comics I've ever read? Good.

Total Score: 5/5


Uncanny Avengers 24

As the Unity Squad gets back to Avengering, the greater mutant part of the team (Havok, Scarlet Witch, and Rogue) finds itself abducted by Red Skull's S-Men and brought to his new concentration camps on Genosha. While unconscious, Rogue sees Charles Xavier (seen here with Banshee) in her mind. Charles says that he's just the last psychic residue in his old brain, now in the Skull's head, and tells Rogue that she has to keep Scarlet Witch away from Skull, that he has some horrible plans for her. He also reveals that she's the secret weapon because Skull knows all their powers but doesn't know yet that she has Wonder Man in her head. She wakes up and tells the others, chained up next to her, and together they break out, running into and rescuing Magneto on their way. Magneto wants to save all of the mutants and is furious and derogatory when he learns that they want to go and get more help first. The fight is interrupted, though, when Skull and his S-Men confront them.

AXIS seems ready to burst forth (I know it's now called AXIS: AVENGERS AND X-MEN but that's a dumb name and AXIS is a solid name) as Skull's fight with the Unity Squad continues, now more hateful than ever. There's some good character work here as Remender catches new readers up on all that's happened by having Havok talk about his disfigured and burned face and having Wolverine meet with Scarlet Witch and Rogue to talk about his part and his guilt in the whole last arc and to say how proud he is that the two of them are working together and have put the past behind them. It's perhaps a little too eager to chew some scenery, but it gets the point across and doesn't feel nearly as expository as it could. Running into Magneto helps the issue too as more characters are developed and as the plot advances nicely. Strong stuff, looking forward to AXIS. It's nice to have events every so often that seem like they stem from current events in the books (not like certain other events, particularly ORIGINAL SIN, AGE OF ULTRON, FEAR ITSELF, and BATTLE OF THE ATOM, which all spawned from nothingness and meant fairly little).

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 13

As the Hand, Gorgon, and the ancient dragon on whose back Madripoor sits fight against the newly revealed SPEAR, we get an introduction to the Ascendant, the superteam SPEAR has put together or, more appropriately, the superteam Weather Witch (formerly of The Dynasty) put together and leads with the go-ahead and support of SPEAR and the Chinese government. Included on the team are Saber, another former Dynasty member, Devastator, a Skrull loyal to the Chinese government and wearing the former Russian Devastator armor, Vector, a rebellious protestor with Darkforce powers similar to Cloak's, and Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. They hold their own in battle but it won't be enough to fully stop the dragon and SPEAR's Director Zheng calls up Maria Hill in the hopes for some aid, specifically in the hopes of technological aid, SPECIFICALLY in the hopes of getting some Pym particles, which Hill gives but only under the condition it be given to one of her team. Enter Shang-Chi, giant master of Kung Fu.

Spencer, interestingly, has gone back-to-back AVENGERS WORLD issues introducing a new team from another part of the world. It's a real WORLD style move, showing perhaps the inspiration of a team like the Avengers on the other parts of the world and allowing us to see how the world has reacted to the presence of superheroes all over. It's a pretty strong issue and gives us a sense of this Ascendant team and of SPEAR, which separates itself from SHIELD in a number of ways in this book. Also not going to act like I'm not excited about the idea of a giant Shang-Chi fighting a dragon. That feels like maybe it was the pitch of this entire book. "Giant Shang-Chi fights a dragon," said Spencer, and the rest was history.

Total Score: 5/5

Comics this week

Hey everybody, pretty busy week for comics with a few books that you'll definitely want to keep an eye on (and a few that I'm certainly not going to tell you to). Here are some examples!

Avengers 35
This recommendation comes with a bit of a caution: this will start Hickman's grand conclusion to his AVENGERS time (if memory serves and I'm not just making that up) called TIME RUNS OUT, so it's bound to be a pretty big issue but it's also $4.99. Don't get me wrong, it's meant to be an extra-sized issue so it may be worth that extra dollar after all. I just tend to be wary (and everyone else should be too) of Marvel putting out so many extra-priced books. I'm all for people getting paid appropriately for their work but I worry what all of these releases could mean for my wallet going forward.


Daredevil 8
We're back in San Francisco after a brief New York/Wakanda detour for the ORIGINAL SIN tie-in and this issue will kick off a new arc about THE PURPLE CHILDREN, seemingly the many offspring of persuasive villain Purple Man (or perhaps just some dumb kids under his thrall, though illegitimate love children makes more sense to me for a guy who has persuasive powers and is a real creep). Purple Man, despite being a real creep, obviously has some scary potential and Daredevil fighting children should be fun. Wait, maybe I could word that better.


Edge of Spider-Verse 2
I think this event has the makings of some really interesting stories (I do tend to like well-done alternate dimension stuff, we'll see if this falls into that camp) and this, I believe, is the debut of the much advertised Spider-Gwen, the alternate universe Gwen Stacy Spider-Person. Could be fun!


Elektra 6
I really like this book, you guys. Give it a shot, willya?


Thor: God of Thunder 25
This one edges out UNCANNY AVENGERS, AVENGERS WORLD, and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN as it marks the start to a really monumental shift for Thor, who we last saw in ORIGINAL SIN being told some secret by Fury that caused his hammer to IMMEDIATELY deem him not worthy and drag him down to the moon's surface. What was that secret? Who will be deemed worthy? What's the secret origin of Malekith? Possibly all that and maybe some more, up this week!

Avengers Undercover 10, Avengers 34.1

Avengers Undercover 10

Plenty of the world's superheroes are trapped underground in Bagalia while the various crime organizations wreak havoc on the surface world, exactly as masterminded by Baron Zemo and his new Masters of Evil. Unfortunately for him, Cammi managed to stowaway with her unlikely partner Arcade and hack into Zemo's network, which Arcade's former partner Miss Corriander had designed to hack SHIELD. Unfortunately for Zemo, Corriander's system worked off of her initial Murder World designs, allowing Cammi to reinstitute Arcade's "god-mode," but for herself. She easily defeats the Masters of Evil and uses Zemo's SHIELD broadcast (typical super villain) to explain the actions of her and her friends to the world, chiding people for their excitement in the Murder World footage and reminding everyone that she and her friends are still teenagers doing their best to navigate an impossible world. She drops the mic and flies away as the kids and heroes start to repair things. So ends the current saga of these kids and their good vs. evil struggle.

I'm on record as having really liked AVENGERS ARENA despite initial low expectations. I came into this book still on an ARENA high and found myself immediately enjoying this new entry, though aware that it could have just been residual good feelings from ARENA. With the series now ended, I think there is no fear of that. This certainly served a different purpose than ARENA and was maybe a little less engaging because of that and because it moved on a much different timeline, but it definitely still holds up. Strong dialogue and tone and a nice speech by Cammi seals the deal on this one, though I can't help feeling that the issue was rushed a little bit. I kind of like that Cammi solves it all so quickly entirely by herself but it means that the giant plot that led to this moment took only one issue to resolve, which screams of a rushed deadline to me. Still strong work and this final issue ends with a total score that matches what I'd rate the series.

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers 34.1

A child has been kidnapped by the supervillain Mauler, who claims the boy is his real son. Hyperion startles the adopted parents of the missing boy when he appears in their home (he heard them sounding sad from god knows how far away). He examines the area and begins his investigation, eventually leading him straight to Mauler, who has already killed a cop in his attempt to escape with the boy. Hyperion, remembering back to his own father and planet and the lessons instilled in him about being a superhero, allows Mauler to attack him repeatedly (and unsuccessfully because Hyperion has unbelievable strength) while he attempts to talk things out with the villain. Eventually Mauler reveals that his actual biological son died in an accident recently, a fate Mauler had tried to avoid by putting the boy up for adoption in the first place. He took this kid because he looked like the villain's own son and now he's killed a cop and has to answer for his crimes with the police, but not with Hyperion's crazy power. Hyperion returns the boy to his parents and vows to protect Earth the same way.

As with most point ones, this issue has very little to do with the current storylines and more to do with giving readers an in to a book and to a character. Hyperion remains something of a mystery (though he essentially boils down to "Superman") but Ewing does what he can to showcase both Hyperion's attitude and his near limitless power. It ends up feeling a bit out of place in AVENGERS, which has been heady, somewhat dark, and often confusing in Hickman's run to this point. By contrast, this book couldn't be more direct in getting its point across, and purposefully so. It has strong moments but can't help feeling cheesy in the same way that earnest Superman stories tend to exclusively come off cheesy. So I guess mission accomplished?

Total Score: 3/5