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

Revolutionary War - Omega 1, Miracleman 4

Revolutionary War - Omega 1
Lanning and Cowsill (w) and Elson (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Killpower has emerged from Hell as Mephisto's servant and he's intent on bring Hell to Earth and making his former friends pay for leaving him behind and forgetting about him. Some of the plot, including how the demons were able to get through to Earth and some of the specifics of the plan, comes to light but that's for yesterday and today is for taking down Killpower and his demons. The heroes who were captured and linked up to the portal to power it are freed and immediately dive back into the fight, as do all the heroes we've seen so far. Even Liger manages to keep moving, trying to call the wounded heroes to action. Demons are attacking all over the world and it's up to the UK heroes to stop it. When all hope seems lost, Motormouth appears and stuns Killpower enough that he comes to his senses a bit. Not a boy any longer, he recognizes that he's done bad things and that he can't escape them and that Mephisto used the rage deep down inside to control him. He begs that they kill him before he loses control to it again and, while Captain Britain and Motormouth refuse, plenty of the mercenary characters hear his plea and accommodate him. With Killpower dead, Dark Angel is able to use his mind and the demonic power of all the demons around to force Hell back down and close the portal for good. There's some wrap-up as the heroes go their separate ways; Dark Angel continues to be bound to Mephisto, Liger and Keller (now free of his demon) enter the portal to try to save Kether Troop, Captain Britain and Pete Wisdom return to their roles, etc. Captain Britain sends us off, saying that there's a history of secrets, murder, and magic beneath London but that the streets and heroes belong to the future.

It's a fine send-off as everything wraps up rather nicely. Not everyone could be saved but it's a nice introduction to a lot of these characters who are primed to go off on their own adventures should anyone feel the urge to write them or to follow them. One of the downfalls of this series, simply through its design, is that it's really hard to get a sense of a lot of the characters. Many appeared only in one book prior to this finale, where everyone appeared but no one character had much screentime, and those books were all team books of a sort, barring perhaps Dark Angel and Motormouth. As a result, a couple of the characters (like Dark Angel and Motormouth) are characterized fairly well, at least as well as a single issue can cover, while others hardly feel explored at all. Hopefully a series like this does lead to more sorts of events or interactions with the Marvel Universe et al (Dark Angel has already made her way over to IRON MAN and characters like Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, and Union Jack are no strangers to many of the more-known heroes) because there's clearly plenty to see here, even if this event wasn't a great place to see it all. At the end of the day though, isn't that the best outcome for which this series could have hoped? That people out there would read it all the way through and say "I'm not sure that was my cup of tea (British), but I'd be interested in seeing more of these characters?" Mission accomplished, I'd say.

Miracleman 4
A. Moore (w) and A. Davis and Leach (a) and Oliff (c)

HEY EVERYONE, before I start this review it's worth noting that I missed the last issue because I had other things going on and this was the easiest book to cut from my schedule. Now that it's back on there, I'll recap very briefly: Miracleman and Kid Miracleman, now not a kid and totally evil and super-duper powerful, fought some more and just when it looked like KM would win, he accidentally said "Miracleman" and changed back to little 13 year-old Johnny Bates. He was taken into care as he seemed like he wasn't responsible for the actions of the villain but we know that that villain is still in him, just biding his time. Meanwhile, the government sent out an old project they'd abandoned when they thought supers were gone, a failsafe plan, and they sent him, a man named Evelyn Cream, to kill Miracleman. Miracleman learns some more about his powers with his wife Liz and Liz reveals that she's pregnant and it's Miracleman's kid, if there's any difference between Michael and Miracle. Michael goes two months later to see if there's work for him at the newspaper and, on his way home, Cream shoots him in the gut, using a baby as a hostage so he can't transform into MM. Now on to this issue!

Evelyn Cream shot Mike Moran with tranquilizers and brought him back to a safehouse. In that safehouse, he explains that he's betrayed his employers but he's done it because he believes Miracleman can help him and that he can help Miracleman. He informs him that Miracleman was created by a branch of the government called the Spookshow for a project called Project Zarathustra and that the Spookshow is responsible for the A-bomb that nearly killed him and killed his friend Young Miracleman. He also tells Miracleman that there's a bunker for Project Zarathustra still out there, a bunker that the Spookshow's chief Sir Dennis Archer doesn't want found. He also warns MM that the trip could be dangerous and full of traps but MM has no problem with that and the two take off. He has no problem as soldiers come to kill him and land mines go off around him and even as a bomb erupts beneath his feet. The final defense, a failed and now crazed superhero borne from Project Zarathustra named Big Ben, also fails to even slow MM and soon he and Cream are in the bunker, examining video reports where MM learns that he and the other two young men were experimented on after being pulled from the system as simply the orphaned children of war veterans. What's more, they had done extensive testing on the would-be heroes in a sort of virtual reality environment that had kept them under for eight years and had instilled false memories in them. The tipping point for MM is finding out that the brains behind Project Zarathustra is none other than his one time perceived biggest villain Emil Gargunza. He trashes the bunker, causing thousands of pounds of damage, and the two depart, leaving Big Ben, who heard about his failed origin, nearly comatose behind them.

It continues to be a really interesting story (it's hard to keep saying that because it's a story that's thirty years old and it's impossible to be anything but absurdly late to this party) and one that pretty masterfully updates the old comics for this new world and new universe. I've given a lot of credit in recent days to books like IRON MAN, which took the original origin of a character and shifted it just enough so that there's a wealth of new stories and a huge twist for the character but still respected everything that came before. Likewise, Ed Brubaker did a fantastic job in CAPTAIN AMERICA of rewriting the Invaders and aging Bucky a bit to make it more believable while simultaneously showing him as doing more of the black ops kind of stuff the Invaders needed to have done, an origin for Bucky that makes far more sense but still carefully treads around the old comics. In the reverse, I talked just earlier THIS DAY about a terrible change to an origin when Marvel decided to ruin Falcon's first appearance by retconning it to all be a ploy to get at Captain America while also setting back his character a solid few decades. This one certainly lands in the category of the former examples as Moore wonderfully respected the early stories, leaving them intact, but made the story entirely his own and updated it to work in a world that was far more cynical and wanted something darker, like Moore and Frank Miller were able to provide. It's impressive stuff and good storytelling. The books tend to be a little wordy as the narration tends to really kick it up a notch in a way that modern comics rarely do but you hardly notice it while you're reading because it's usually worthwhile stuff. This one's a classic for a reason, keep checking in on it.

Marvel Knights Hulk 4, Revolutionary War - Warheads 1

Marvel Knights Hulk 4
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

Nikoleta Harrow has brought Banner to the site of the first gamma bomb, the site where Hulk was born. She brings him underground and he realizes that she's allowed AIM to trace them and to follow them there before she reveals that she's also gotten her hands on another gamma bomb and left it on the surface. It goes off and wrecks through AIM's forces. As Banner hulks out, she injects herself with the serum they've created and attacks Hulk as a Hulk herself. she momentarily stops him but he ultimately brings her down and she dies, as she knew she would when she brought him there. SHIELD agent Molly Fitzgerald shows up to bring Banner back in and to answer his questions about the damage he's done. He returns to Paris briefly to apologize to the woman who found him and took care of him before his life returns to what it had been.

I will admit, I was somewhat distracted reading this issue wondering why I hadn't figured out Nikoleta Harrow before this issue. MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE wasn't that long ago and I clearly knew that Keatinge had written both. I should have recognized Harrow from her brief role in Morbius' adventures. Maybe I would have cared a little more about this series if I had some minor background for its villain. It's hard to say, though, because it takes a special HULK book to make me care too much about people trying to replicate the Hulk conditions and become Hulks. I just can't bring myself to care (I also have trouble with the "I want to recreate the super soldier serum!" storylines and anything all along those lines. Not as much trouble, mind you, and there certainly can be good stories centered around those but by and large they're mostly kind of tired storylines). Keatinge wrote a wrap-up letter at the end that talks about he and artist Piotr Kowalski's desire to get into Banner as a character, to get into what separates him and the weirdness inside of both him and Hulk. I don't think they really hit it. I wonder if a longer series would have given them the chance but this one just felt too rushed and too bogged down in its own story to really care about character until the very end.

Revolutionary War - Warheads 1
Lanning and Cowsill (w) and Erskine (a) and Zamor (c)

Colonel Tigon Liger has been hearing voices calling to him from Hell, the voices of Kether Troop, the team he had to leave behind the last time they stopped Mys-Tech. He goes to one of the Master Keys, a wizard who can open a portal provided he has some information on it first, to try to get him to open a portal to Hell to pull his team out after all this time. Agent Keller meets them at the SHIELD building in England only to find that someone's been building a portal on a missing thirteenth floor. It turns out, unfortunately for Liger, that the builder was none other than Keller himself, possessed by a Psycho-Wraith and prepared to use the captured British heroes (including Captain Britain and Dark Angel, plus others) as surrogates for the Mys-Tech board to open the gate to Hell and unleash a revolution on Britain and the world. Liger is unable to stop Keller now that he has a Master Key there and the portal is reared up and ready to go. It's not Mys-Tech coming out, though, it's Hell's new "liege lord" and Mephisto's chosen champion Killpower.

I've been a bit hard on REVOLUTIONARY WAR as a whole but I stand behind just about everything I've said so far. I think that the tone, by and large, hasn't corresponded with the intended drama of the book and I think that the exposition of who everyone is and the history of these characters has interfered with the storytelling of this book. That aside for this review, I think WARHEADS was just about the most coherent and best standalone issue of this event (aside from maybe DARK ANGEL, which read extremely well even without a lot of context). It really felt dedicated to telling the story and to keeping a consistent tone, which was a huge difference maker. I still think there was a bundle of exposition, maybe bordering on too much, but I've always understood why that was going to happen in this series, even if I wasn't in favor of it. This one, once it starts to get away from the history of the Kether Troop, does a solid job presenting a threat and making us understand why it's a threat. It's still a little confusing but I'm willing to take the blame on being confused. Solid work. Hopefully it's paved the way enough to make the upcoming conclusion, REVOLUTIONARY WAR - OMEGA, powerful and meaningful.

Deadpool 23, Revolutionary War - Death's Head II 1

Deadpool 23
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Staples (c)

Deadpool is unleashed on the Ultimatum helicarrier and makes quick work of everyone he runs across while Preston argues for some sort of leniency. He tracks down Gorman on the ship, quickly falling out of the sky, and shoots him in the gut as the ship shakes. Gorman falls out of the helicarrier but he's strapped to a jetpack so it's possible he survived. Deadpool returns to the SHIELD helicarrier where Coulson and Adsit tell him that they've found a new body for Preston and thank him, a little warily, for bringing down the helicarrier.

The shortness of this review shouldn't indicate that it's not a fun issue or not an interesting issue or something along those lines. It's just a pretty quick issue to review because it's mostly fighting and killing and some quips and little jokes here and there. Deadpool still gets some solid characterization with his methods pointedly more brutal than they had been throughout the rest of the series. It also says a lot that he gets out truly unscathed from the attack, bringing down an entire helicarrier full of scientists and fighters and agents without so much as a scratch. In that way, it's a good Deadpool issue. Preston also promises that, when she gets her own body, they'll finish out the Butcher case and she'll attempt to track Eleanor, if she is still alive out there some where, but Deadpool wants the issue put to bed, demanding Preston not ever introduce them. So there's still plenty going on for Deadpool and there's more planned for the coming months as, presumably, Preston goes elsewhere for the first time in about fifteen or so issues.

Revolutionary War - Death's Head II 1
Lanning and Cowsill (w) and Roche (a) and Gandini (c)

Death's Head II was last seen knocking out and kidnapping Captain Britain but no worries, he's still a relatively good guy. He injected him with a tracking device so they could follow Mys-Tech and so that they have a man on the inside, though he maybe should have warned Captain Britain about the plan. However, he's betrayed pretty quickly and has to fight his way out from Mys-Tech's treachery. He contacts his pal Tuck from the future who goes back in time with the older Death's Head I model to help DHII. There's quipping and fighting and quipping and man, oh man, more quipping. Evelyn Necker, the face of the villain in this issue, even corrupts DHII at one point and forces DHI to "kill" him, allowing him to reboot and rejoin the good fight. They eventually manage to take down the villains and set things straight before Tuck and DHII set out to save the world.

This entire REVOLUTIONARY WAR event continues to suffer from a tone problem as it's really incredibly hard to tell how great this threat is since every book has alternated between "we are in dire trouble" and "we should probably make a joke that doesn't really read as a joke because it's so forced and/or so blatantly set-up." Between that and the fact that Death's Head I literally mugs at the camera at one point after being hit by Death's Head II while he mutters a "I knew I could be hard on myself, but this is starting to..." I don't know if Death's Head is one of the characters who typically breaks the fourth wall (though the slightest of wikipedia searches would make me believe he doesn't) but GOD is it irritating the couple of times it happens here. At first I was thinking I wasn't really onboard only because I don't know the characters so well but I'm beginning to think that it's not so much me having the problems here. Gillen's REVOLUTIONARY WAR - DARK ANGEL was definitely the top of the bunch here and hers was the only book where I didn't know any of the characters participating (her, essentially. Okay, I knew Mephisto, I suppose). There's something to be said about trying to have your cake and eat it too. It's a stupid saying but it's not wrong here.

Avengers Assemble 15AU, Fearless Defenders 4, Deadpool 9

Avengers Assemble 15AU
Ewing (w) and Guice and Palmer w/Magyar (a) and D'Armata

For those asking where Captain Marvel has been through all this Age of Ultron business, Al Ewing has your answer in this Avengers Assemble tie-in. She, like Black Widow in Avengers Assemble 14AU, was on vacation when Ultron struck. Unlike Black Widow, she was in Britain and managed to touch base with Captain Britain, the Black Knight, and Excalibur (the hero). Excalibur (the sword) is keeping Ultron away from them and giving them a chance to save civilians but they desperately want to take back the rest of London before Ultron gets too strong. They can't go into Otherworld for fear of Ultron infecting the omniverse. Carol saves a seemingly random citizen who is trying to talk to a couple of the Ultrons (he gets them to change their credo from "submit or perish" to "exterminate") and manages to get him back to the British Museum, their current base. Carol also explains to the audience that this AU timeline is happening in the same time as her solo book because she can't fly here either. The random civilian turns out to be an old superish-hero named Computer Graham, a former hero who could enter computer programs (oh, the 80s). He can still do it but he admits that he has more trouble now as the computers have gotten so advanced and he hasn't really kept up. Still, they form a plan around him, hoping to take him to St. Paul's Cathedral, Ultron's base, and giving him time to fight Ultron in the code. Captains Britain and Marvel intend to escort Graham there but Captain Britain forbids Black Knight from coming, saying that his sword, the Ebony Blade, is the anti-Excalibur and gains more power with killing sentient life and ultimately spreads fear and hate. He's already killed a bunch of Ultrons, which are sentient life, so the Ebony Blade is getting out of control. They can't risk it going any further, as Brian warns it would be worse than Ultron. Excalibur (the hero) can't go because she's a healer and is needed at the museum. Instead, a young girl who is a great soccer player goes (oh, England). They get there successfully, Graham enters Ultron's code, young Mel is killed when she refuses to run, Captain Brian (who has bequeathed Captain Britain to Excalibur in case he doesn't make it) has a moment of weakness as he blames himself for Mel's death and is also killed, Graham dies unsuccessful, and Captain Marvel absorbs and reflects the horrible energy Ultron is putting out, presumably killing her but taking out a bunch of Ultrons with them.

This issue continues to make me believe that the tie-ins for Age of Ultron are better than the Age of Ultron series. You get a little more depth to the characters in the tighter format and you get the chance to see how they're affected by everything and how they plan to strike back. It's nice to be in Captain Marvel's head for this and Ewing seems to pretty much nail the character. On top of that, it's always nice to see British heroes pop into the world now and again and to get a dose of Marvel UK history. Ewing's story is a good one and there are still a couple of laughs to be had in this very morbid tale (including Ewing labeling each hero for our reader, saying things like "Faiza Hussain is EXCALIBUR" and eventually needing to change things up as Captain Britain gives his title to her, giving her a new reveal line that says "Faiza Hussain is CAPTAIN BRITAIN" and showing Carol asking Brian what that makes him, to which he responds "...Captain Brian?" and the caption follows suit, saying "Brian Braddock is CAPTAIN BRIAN." Look, it's fun. Did I overexplain it? Probably. I'll own that. Just, trust me, it's fun. Also, if this whole issue was an excuse for that joke, I'm still onboard.). It's a good story where we don't really have to care about the outcome, sad as it is, because we know Captain Marvel isn't dead. Still, the feelings of the tie-ins are real and seeing the way Carol and the others react to the horrors is worth seeing.

Fearless Defenders 4
Bunn (w) and Sliney (a) and Gandini (c)

The Doom Maidens have accused Valkyrie of being one of them, though she has no memory of this. It all comes rushing back to her though just as the Doom Maidens start gaining power. She insists that they retreat while they can. As they leave, they find themselves up against the Doom Maidens now riding a sort of dragon. Valkyrie teleports them away. As they regroup at one of Misty's safe houses, they plan out their next move. For Valkyrie, that means leading the Doom Maidens away from Earth alongside Hippolyta and Dani. For Misty and Annabelle, it means Misty setting up shop as a leader of Heroes for Hire again.

I think the book is finding where it wants to be. I still don't really understand the tone of the series so far, which alternates between serious and goofy without any real warning. The covers have all been a little goofy and the character intros continue to attempt playfulness. However, the story is shaping up and I won't act like I'm not excited to see Misty running Heroes for Hire again. That will hopefully lead to good times while Valkyrie and her crew head to inevitable bad times. There's also a romantic storyline developing or, perhaps, decidedly not developing between Annabelle and Valkyrie. They shared a triumphant kiss in the first issue which Valkyrie waved off but has clearly weighed a bit on Annabelle, who tries to comfort her in this issue by holding her hand but is shaken off again. Look, sometimes there are really long reviews and sometimes there are really short reviews.

Deadpool 9

Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne or Moore (a) and Staples (c)

First things first: the cover says the artist is Hawthorne and the title page says the artist is Tony Moore. So I guess either could be the artist. I didn't look it up if they weren't going to.

Deadpool and Agent Preston find themselves locked in Deadpool's mind for a bit after their run-in with the woman who steals Deadpool's organs. With Deadpool unconscious, Agent Preston searches Deadpool's mind and finds a strange museum of himself that she decides must represent the way he views himself. Deadpool finally wakes up in the street and runs across Michael and Ben Franklin again, who need to access an ancient library underneath Ryker's prison that could hold the magical books they need to restore Preston to her body. Deadpool concocts a plan wherein Michael is arrested by the police, then teleports them into his cell. Michael, Ben, and Deadpool head to the library from there where Deadpool leaves the other two to research. He and Preston have to kill Vetis' next target to give Michael and Ben time to research. This target, unlike the last one, apparently wished for aquatic powers  in order to save other people's lives, not for personal profit. Deadpool still kills him to Preston's disgust. Deadpool and Vetis talk after the demon arrives to collect the dead man's soul and Deadpool gets the idea to tip Mephisto off to what Vetis is doing (which is essentially trying to overthrow Mephisto so he's not an underling of his any more). To get there, though, Deadpool decides the fastest way would be to kill Michael, which he does as the book ends.

I suppose my biggest compliment for the title right now is that it's not actively making me angry at this point. Obviously my first few reviews of this title made it pretty clear that I was painfully unhappy with the series. They've toned down some of the in-jokes and the obvious set-up/punchlines that dominated the first arc (though both aspects are still totally present) and are more focused on the more complex storyline this arc. That might be a function of the fact that it is a more complex storyline, requiring more focus, whereas the first arc just needed to show dead presidents. Either way, I'm certainly still not onboard with this series (in fact, I think I find it Marvel's weakest offering right now) but it's stepped a spot up in its quality.

New Avengers 3, Secret Avengers 37

New Avengers 3
Hickman (w) and Epting (a) and D'Armata (c)

I'm going to just start every review of this book by just saying "Wow." I feel pretty confident about that after this third issue. I think that my love for this book is not, at this point, understated. I've very much underlined it, in fact. The stakes are all raised and everything is happening. The first incursion of another world upon ours has now happened (minus the time the Black Swan destroyed another world) and the plan of the Illuminati worked. They formed the Infinity Gauntlet and Captain America used it to push the other world away. However, the strain of it shattered the gems (all except the time gem, which disappeared) and we're back to square one. Namor jumps at Cap, screaming about how he's doomed everyone. They retire to Necropolis to talk about possible avenues going forward. Hank McCoy has joined the team in the stead of Professor X. Despite the success then immediate failure of their first plan, Steve remains adamant about not building a weapon to destroy worlds, thereby sacrificing their heroism. He tries to rally everyone around him to think of another way, but one by one they reject his optimism. Dr. Strange equates it to simply hoping, the three kings (Black Panther, Black Bolt, and Namor) will do whatever it takes to keep their people alive, as will Reed for his family, and even Hank, the most morally righteous of the remaining group candidly asks Cap "are you seriously asking a mutant what he's prepared to do to stave off extinction?" The issue ends when Cap invokes Tony and their history of "lesser of two evils." Tony directs Dr. Strange to wipe Cap's memory of the Illuminati and everything they've done.


There's just not enough I can say about this book. Hickman toes a line PERFECTLY as Cap goes around the room asking for support. Even after most everyone has turned him down and he's still pleading and AFTER the audience is starting to side with the Illuminati, asking themselves what they would do, given the options, Hickman uses Captain America exactly the way he's supposed to be used. It's not naive optimism and hope preventing him from siding with them, it's fear. Cap's afraid of what happens after this because he's seen it so many times. It's the slippery slope kind of argument but with much more realism to it. There are people in that room who, without a doubt, would make a world-destroying weapon and eventually be coaxed into using it for a "greater good." There are people like Namor who would use it to dominate, people like Panther who would use it to protect, and people like Tony who would use it to win. It's a scary thing and it's a real scary thing. It's not about, as Reed tries to color Cap, trying to ignore a difficult decision because it's difficult, or about, as Namor tries to spin it, the simple preservation of Cap's soul. It's about what this decision leads to and where it will inevitably go. If you're not subscribed to this book, you are missing the best book that Marvel is putting out. I don't say that lightly, and I certainly don't say it definitively (we're still only three issues in), but this book has everything you could ask of it. It's great writing with fascinating characters and questions, amazing art and perfect colors. As someone who very notably loves a lot of books Marvel's putting out, this is the best I've read in a while. Get caught up with it.

Secret Avengers 37
Remender (w) and Scalera (a) and Wilson (c)

I was figuring, when I decided to break today's posts into two Avengers related posts, that they would break down by books that had Avengers in the title (Avengers 5 and Avengers Assemble Annual 1) and books that I was dying to read. Not to belittle Avengers or Avengers Assemble, but I'd say my track record shows me firmly in the camp of New Avengers and Secret Avengers, as far as the major Avengers titles go (guys, there are like five different Avengers titles just in ongoing titles. That's a little crazy). I didn't suspect this post would also be the post where I examined huge questions of morality and extinction. Them's the breaks.

Rick Remender ends his run on Secret Avengers by tying up his Descendants storyline. The story is presented within a frame; Captain America is debriefing the Secret Avengers about what happened in the course of everything. With a nano-mist infecting humans with Descendant technology to convert them into Descendants, the Secret Avengers were split up fighting in New York and in the capital city of the Descendants, the Core. Venom recounts to Cap how he fought Black Ant, unable to bring himself to kill him despite his treachery. Valkyrie had no such problem and stabbed him through the chest. They can't confirm if he's dead or not (jury says "not") but it definitely slowed things in the Core. Meanwhile, the less-contained story is the one in New York. Captain Britain fights with the Torch (Jim Hammond) about why humanity shouldn't be overrun by the Descendants while Hawkeye and Spider-Man try to get their hands on the Orb of Necromancy again to shut down the whole process and eliminate all the Descendants.

This is where the depth of the story comes in. As interesting as it is to see Flash struggle with Black Ant over whether he's alive or not and whether he's related to the Eric that saved Parvez or saved Flash or if he's just played them, it's a very self-contained story. It affects only the two of them (tangentially more, but whatever). That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but we are in a book where the rest of the issue is going to involve the fate of mankind so it's a little small relatively. Captain Britain and Torch have an interesting conversation about why Captain Britain would even want to stop the spread of the Descendants. We've discovered through all this that the Descendants still have some level of humanity to them, they've just removed their flaws and the need to die. Captain Britain argues that Torch has spent his whole life trying to be more human because humanity is important and nothing is more human than dying, or at least than living before you die. It's a little corny, maybe, but it's a.) better worded than that, and b.) not untrue. It's a compelling enough argument to make Torch reconsider what's happening and fly off. Captain Britain then joins Hawkeye trying to stop the Master Mold from killing them to prevent them from stopping this evolution. Hawkeye battles against the virus infecting him, allowing us to see why the Descendants have lasted as long as they have. Even though he's conscious of what he has to do, Clint has trouble releasing his arrow because it's clear that he is better off as a Descendant. His body heals quickly from injury, he can understand more and process more, things make more sense to him, etc. However, it is still an invading force and it is still tainting their humanity and destroying mankind as its known. By the same token, destroying the Orb would kill of the Descendants entirely, forcing extinction. Hawkeye struggles with all of this over the course of just a few short pages. It's really compelling stuff. Eventually Torch flies down and destroys the Orb, having given his whole race and the possibility of a world he might finally fit into for the sake of humanity. It's original and it's moving. It's a fitting end to a solid series.