Huge Marvel Cinematic Universe announcements!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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

New Avengers 23, Mighty Avengers 12, Secret Avengers 7

New Avengers 23
Hickman (w) and K. Walker (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The next incursion is coming and the Illuminati agree that they can't go through with destroying another world so they resign themselves to their fate instead. As each member of the team consoles themselves as best they can, spending their final moments with loved ones, letting off steam, or pondering, the clock ticks down. Finally the moment of incursion comes...and goes. They reconvene to ask what happened, happy that the universe isn't destroyed but worried they may have gotten some calculation wrong and subsequently have already destroyed a world for nothing. Black Bolt realizes, though, that Namor didn't show up for their meeting and the truth dawns on them, though maybe not the extent of their troubles. Namor has formed the Cabal, consisting of him, Maximus, Black Swan, Thanos, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Terrax, to do what the Illuminati cannot.

Rather a nice issue as Hickman has the team take a step back and analyze what's important to each of them. We see Black Panther returning to Storm (they have a tryst but she calls it a mistake, even as he admits that his only thoughts as the world is about to die were of her), Banner drinking to the thought of his final moments with Hulk, Tony pouring but ultimately turning down a row of shots, and Reed visiting his entire, spread-out family, among other moments. It's a simplistic but very nice idea, watching the heroes resign themselves to going out with a whimper and not a bang, as most superheroes tend to do. The introduction of the Cabal, too, is very interesting and certainly worthy of a gasp as we get the reveal. I think Walker's art is better here than the last one, which relied so much on serious fighting and screaming, but I still think it's wrong for this book, though Martin's colors help ease it on its way.

Total Score: 4/5


Mighty Avengers 12
Ewing (w) and Larroca (a) and Milla (c) and Petit (l)

The Deathwalkers have drained enough out of Blade to start their ritual, though they're interrupted when he breaks free and comes after them. His breaking free also allows Power Man to find Blade's chi in the city, with help from a powerful speech by Cage's father, and direct the Mighty Avengers plus Kaluu and Constance Molina to his side. They fight a bunch of Ani-Men and try to attack the four Deathwalkers destined to divvy up the Earth but aren't able to get to them before they can finish their ritual, which bonds the four into one who is surely destined to take over the world. I mean, nothing can probably stop something that powerful, right?

Man, leave it to a regular, unpowered human to lecture about the difference a regular person can make and then to be left behind by the superpowers because he's old and would probably just die anyway. But we can agree, he'd probably die, right? Anyway, that's what happens to Cage's dad here but he does get to meet little Danielle while the adults go attack. Also interesting: Spitfire and Blade are apparently together. Did not know that, but I'm a Spitfire fan and I guess I can see that, though I'm sad she doesn't seem to be rushing to the rescue on this occasion. STILL, not an awful issue, though I still think the tone could use a bit of regulation here, choosing whether it should be fun or tough or maybe if the heroes should just focus on the potential world-ending fight instead of idle chit-chat at times. Not bad, though.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 7
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

Black Widow has traveled through a black hole, Fury is still in a coma, Maria Hill admits to Spider-Woman, who is having something of a bad day herself, that MODOK is on the team, Coulson is tracking mysterious leads, and Hawkeye has been brought in by Deadpool and a pair of AIM agents and Deadpool has revealed to his new Avenging pal that they're in a comic book. Lots of fourth wall breaking here and very explicit about it. The issue ends as Hill reveals to Spider-Woman about MODOK and reveals that she has reasons.

Little inside baseball here: I read and reviewed NEW AVENGERS pretty immediately, then read MIGHTY AVENGERS, SECRET AVENGERS, and a handful of other books (the ones most likely to get extended reviews this week), then I reviewed MIGHTY AVENGERS, then I showered and praised myself for my ability to keep the above two reviews pretty tight and decided if I could do that with SECRET AVENGERS, I really ought to be proud. Fortunately, I reasoned, that wouldn't be too hard since I have no idea what's happening in this book and the Deadpool explicit fourth wall breaking really tends to take me out of it. I don't mind slight nods to it here and again in this day and age or full-on reference to it in strange side-books (like the DEADPOOL KILLS- series), but I don't think it really fits into current Marvel continuity and I think, therefore, it's very strange here just as I think the overall tone of this book is very strange. BUT HERE'S THE THING, MY FRIENDS: I'm accepting it really well today. Can't promise next time won't be worse (though I've gotten better with this book each issue, I think), but it's hard not to think that maybe, just MAYBE, every book shouldn't be for me. Presumably if every book were for me I'd be incredibly happy but plenty of people (probably people I wouldn't get along with but PEOPLE NONETHELESS) wouldn't be reading comics. So this issue, and probably this series, isn't for me. And that's fine.

Total Score: 2/5*

*But, as with most other scores, that's just what I think and...actually, there's no way to finish this thought without implicitly recommending you stop reading this blog so NEVER MIND, WHAT I THINK IS BEST.

Original Sin 3, Avengers World 7

Original Sin 3
Aaron (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c) and Eliopoulos (l)

While the Avengers in the immediate vicinity of the Orb (who, it turns out, was working alongside Oubliette's father Dr. Midas, all of which makes me quite glad I read Morrison's MARVEL BOY not too long ago) are sent reeling from the weight of their secrets (soon to be seen in all the tie-in books), the mysterious murder investigation boss's teams are spread out finding other such murders. Black Panther, Emma Frost, and Ant-Man examine bullets they've found while Punisher and Doctor Strange discuss the people who could shoot a target from such a huge distance. Meanwhile, Moon Knight, Winter Soldier, and Gamora explore space and find a trail of meteor-sized bullet casing that lead to a murdered sentient planet (not Ego the Living Planet, but similar enough that Gamora namedrops him). While Moon Knight and Gamora discuss how much this must narrow down the possible suspects, Bucky destroys their ship and teleports to Fury's base, where he's trying to glean more from the eye they've recovered. Winter Soldier proclaims that everyone has to pay for their sins and that there will be no more secrets before he shoots and stabs Fury and takes the eye.

In FEAR ITSELF, the last event he appeared in, Winter Soldier (at the time, Captain America) seemingly died in issue three. Now he returns to events as he seemingly murders someone in issue three of ORIGINAL SIN. There's a lot going on and plenty that's hinted at for us to read elsewhere (some pretty intense selling of the tie-ins as everyone starts to see their applicable secrets, with the most egregious being Thor yelling "BY THE SPIRES OF ASGARD, I HAVE A SISTER?") but the murder investigation and Bucky's apparent betrayal take center stage here. Like in any crime drama, it feels rather too early a reveal for Bucky to be the actual killer (not to mention that like, does he even know who the Watcher is?) but there's still clearly something pretty deep happening here. Also interesting is Fury's concern that everyone in the vicinity saw their secrets but he didn't see anything. Plenty happening, including a bit of less appealing salesmanship, but it's hard to read where this one will go next.

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 7
Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and Mossa (c) and Caramagna (l)

Madripoor has lifted off the Earth on the back of an ancient dragon at the behest of Gorgon, who has defeated Shang-Chi while his teammates Falcon, Black Widow, and Wolverine try to calm riots on the street. Black Widow calls for extraction, saying it's futile to keep fighting there, while Falcon goes to find Shang. With no birds in the sky around them (what do you think Redwing does on his days off? Bird social worker?), it's up to Sam entirely to find the missing Avenger and he follows a drone leading away from the flying nation. The drone drops him at a giant airship hovering near by called the Circle (because it's circular). He enters and meets Xian Zheng, who informs him that the Circle is his ship and it's one of many new Chinese airships. He explains that China realized it had relied too much upon SHIELD and the Avengers when the war of the Builders struck and now they've put together their own force, called SPEAR, with their own team of heroes called the Ascendants including Weather Witch, Saber, Vector, Devastator, and the Monkey King (last seen in IRON MAN 2.0, I think). Zheng tells Falcon it's nothing that he need worry about, that they're all fighting for the same cause, just that the world looks to China for defense and protection and China hasn't provided it yet. He also asks Falcon to help deliver the message to the world, which he does by appearing on footage broadcast around the world with the new team.

Occasionally a series will delve into the politics of the world, moving away from the individual superheroes and the individual villains and giving us a look at the world that these heroes and villains have created and how it differs from ours. AVENGERS WORLD 7 is one of the times where such a look is smart and compelling. We've seen other country-sanctioned teams and loyal national heroes (Britain has the most obvious example but there are heroes in the Middle East and in Russia and in Japan and, well, pretty much everywhere our heroes occasionally visit) but there's nothing out there with the sort of power and reach that SHIELD has. Now we've taken a story that was interesting, featuring Gorgon raising Madripoor on the back of a dragon, and turned it into something else entirely, introducing SPEAR (the acronym is never explained by Zheng points out that there has always been the shield in the west and the spear in the east so, I mean, pretty much just a word, huh?). I like having Falcon run point on this because he's someone who can understand the need for something like this without feeling entirely threatened. He's worked with SHIELD, he's worked against SHIELD, and he understand the way the world is changing so he's skeptical and hesitant but ultimately willing to give this a shot. Cool idea overall, we'll have to see how this plays across the rest of this arc and the rest of the universe.

Total Score: 5/5

Comics this week

Buncha new comics out this week, ranging from pretty exciting to not so exciting for me. As is the Marvels way, I'll be highlighting the ones I am excited about. Let's get to it.

Daredevil 1
Daredevil has moved out west and is presumably about to settle in as a new number one drops this week. Excited to see how Waid and Samnee are going to shake things up for everyone's favorite blind lawyer/superhero as he makes his home in a new and alien city. Matt's journey, of course, wasn't without its own trials as has been documented in the infinite comic DAREDEVIL: ROAD WARRIOR, which I've been reading but not reviewing. I'll...I'll cover it if it matters. Super Adaptoid and the likes, you know?

Iron Man 23
Iron Man vs. Malekith in what should be a very interesting battle. Well, that's what's coming, anyway. I would guess we won't see too much of that right away because Tony still doesn't know who it is that's orchestrating the sudden capture of several of the Mandarin Rings. So with Tony hunting down Malekith and Arno left to run Troy, where will those Stark boys go next?

Ms. Marvel 2
The expectations were high for MS. MARVEL 1, a book that would create a new character, a Muslim superhero teenage girl. Most of those words, as far as publishers go, are risky ventures. I thought MS. MARVEL 1 was good but not amazing so I think the onus will really be on issue two to set up the world a little more and to show us our new hero in action.

New Avengers 15
Hey guys, is Dr. Strange going to be okay?

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2
I really enjoyed the first issue of this series, which introduced a compelling plot, some interesting characters (perhaps made more interesting by the fact that we know who these characters will turn into), and a really swell layout and feel for the comic. I'm looking forward to this one for all those reasons and for a cover that, when I saw it last time, totally blew me away. In that way, it edges out THUNDERBOLTS 23 for my excitement, though I'm sure that cover is going to be amazing too.

This week's picks

Pretty solid week and one of the hardest weeks to layout ahead of time. I try to review books by a made-up ranking of importance every week which usually places AVENGERS titles on Wednesday, X-MEN titles on Thursday or Friday, depending on the titles, and solo titles strewn all around depending on lead character or name recognition or what have you. I can typically tell as I'm seeing the list of new comics what books are "Saturday" books. This week had so many good and important titles coming out that I ended up with no books that were truly Saturday books; a case could be made for both SUPERIOR CARNAGE ANNUAL and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN so I went that way and lopped SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN in with them. ANYWAY. Look, I'm talking a lot about process these days which is awfully odd as it often seems I don't have one but guys, there are WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS OVER HERE.

Black Widow 3

This book just keeps on impressing me. Between a fantastic characterization the likes of which I doubted I'd be seeing so steadily and artwork that blows a lot of the other books out of the water (even many of the good books out there), BLACK WIDOW is quickly jumping the ranks and climbing into a regular spot on this list. Edmondson is building Natasha both with the dialogue and narrative she presents but also just as much in the words she doesn't say. In that way, the terseness of her narration and the shortness of her dialogue build a character far more impressively than overloading her with words to explain her actions. In my head, I can't help likening this to other spy-based shows and movies, like Burn Notice or James Bond, but I think it mixes the best of the genre, building a strong and very complex protagonist without all the hand-holding of "this is the way I'm going to pull this off." Natasha doesn't think about the actions she's taking, she just does. She, of course, particularly as we saw this issue, thinks about the job and the repercussions of the job, but she doesn't think about the actual physical steps she takes because it's all second nature to her. Amazing book so far. After a whirlwind of three releases through January and early February, Widow fans have their first wait coming as issue four won't come out until the second or so week of March. I suppose we'll have to get used to that.

Loki: Agent of Asgard 1

For my big long blurb at the top up there, I'm actually coming into this list woefully unprepared. Despite a solid 15 releases this week, all of which with some import to them, only BLACK WIDOW really jumped out at me as instantly deserving of this list. So the debut of LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD ekes its way onto this one despite a few shortcomings, just trumping MS. MARVEL, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and PUNISHER. I really like the way that Al Ewing is taking the Marvel Universe Loki and making the character his own. It's not an easy feat and it's something of a bold attempt after Kieron Gillen pretty much exclusively used the character for the past few years, doing a marvelous job in every aspect. Ewing comes in with a new look Loki and, while still harkening back to some of Gillen's stuff and, of course, the mythos at large, made sure to let everyone know this was a new and different Loki now. He goes so far as to erase his presence in the Avengers' database as a symbolic gesture and save Thor from a demon within all in his first issue. With a book that wants to focus so largely on the power of story and myth, Loki is determined to rewrite his own. Of course, Ewing left us with the hint that maybe not everyone wants the "God of Evil" writing of the character gone so quickly. I do think the story relies on cheap jokes now and again and doesn't know whether it wants to be seated in the 616 or the MCU and seems to want both worlds (though it's certainly not the only Marvel book with that problem) but it's a nice starting point and I think it will allow Ewing freedom as he moves forward.

New Avengers 14

While I still find the viewing of other Earths and the way they deal with the incursion problems (or, I suppose, are unable to deal) interesting, the draw of this issue and the reason it lands on this list this week is the characterization and the ongoing drama of Dr. Strange. Strange has undergone some compelling character shifts over the last few years, going from Sorcerer Supreme to not-Sorcerer Supreme to kind of creepy guy (in Fraction's DEFENDERS) to Sorcerer Supreme to incursion team Illuminati member. The latest shift has found him, despite all of his power, unable to really help the team with the threat of the worlds. While Reed, Tony, Beast, Black Bolt, Black Panther, and, well, not really so much Namor (but he's there and wouldn't second guess himself the way Strange does), build devices and come up with as many plans as they can to stop the incurring worlds, Strange finds himself unable to combat the threat with any of his magic. So he's thrown his soul away condemning these other worlds to death (as has been the big moral question of the series) and he hasn't even been able to help. So he's prepared to change that now and, I mean, if he's not going to use his soul anyway, what's the point of having it? So he's selling his soul for approximately five times the power he needs to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. Is Dr. Strange heading down the path of "biggest super villain ever?" Is this all worth it? Will he even survive the process? Plenty happening here and a nice look at Strange who has spent so much time of this book purposely relegated to the background.


Biggest single-line character definition of the week

Why yes, this is a convoluted bonus bit to justify the fact I've been thinking about this line all week and how I was going to fit it into my posts with CAPTAIN AMERICA not making the top picks this week. ANYWAY, were you thinking that maybe Jet Black had turned over a new leaf after playing the savior to the Phrox at the end of her time in Dimension Z? NOPE, not entirely, anyway. She's unsure about it all still but she's not ready to embrace the heroic life. The whole issue is a nice testament to it but her retort to the shopkeeper she sort-of saves is the central line of her character and the antithesis of Cap. "I was just taking out the garbage..." says the old man. Jet's response? "And that makes your defense my responsibility?" Well said, Jet. I mean, if you're a burgeoning supervillain.

A+X 15, Inhumanity: The Awakening 1

Sorry about the lateness of this post! Busy week and I couldn't get my hands on A+X until late so I almost skipped this post entirely. Look for my picks of the week shortly.

A+X 15
Dr. Strange and Beast - Nitz (w) and Smallwood (a and c)
Captain America and Cyclops - Duggan (w) and Yardin and C. Smith (a) and Mossa (c)

In our first story, Doctor Strange teams with Beast to investigate a strange and somewhat haunted yoga session in Greenwich. Beast, given his attachment to science, believes it to be alien technology while Strange, of course, believes it to be magic. The two bicker as they visit Dormammu's realm to find more. There, they meet their counterparts from another dimension, Dr. S of the Strange-Men and Sorcerer Supreme Beast, both of whom want to destroy the 616 because of the yoga business. Our Strange and Beast distract them and get away. Given a moment's respite, they realize this must be the work of the Impossible Man and visit him and manage to convince him to set things right. They return back to their home world, neither of them any more accepting of the other's business. Not a bad little story. Definitely fun, even if it treads a lot of the same ground A+X has been treading (people with differences bickering, mostly).

Meanwhile, the Cap + Cyclops storyline continues as they bring the shot-Skrull back to their base. The LMD there informs the two that the Skrull is still alive, having shifted his organs in his body right before being shot and that he is, in fact, conscious. The Skrull wants fast food at a specific restaurant but promises that afterwards he'll take them to a Skrull secret base. Cap and Cyclops each call in their own help, with Cyclops calling Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos to help give them a telepathic edge and Cap calling in Ant-Man to help destroy the Skrulls guns, as the fast food place ends up being the secret base and they attack pretty immediately. Ant-Man and Emma agree to tag along for the rest of the adventure. Together, they all realize that part of the plan of Cadre K is to take over the cattle industry and poison the meat. The story is starting to gain some legs but, more importantly, the characters are starting to take some shape. They still snap at each other here and there but they're getting more tolerant of their work, which is pretty neat and leads to some nice little lines here and there. Not a bad issue overall, two fairly fun stories. More than I could say about other issues of the series.

Inhumanity: The Awakening 1
Kindt (w) and Davidson (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Following right on the heels of INFINITY THE HUNT, this mini-series picks up with the students of the American schools cleaning up in New York after INFINITY. Pixie is monitoring social networks and realizes there's a newly-Inhuman girl who may be about to kill herself from bullying and her transformation. Pixie leads Quentin Quire, Striker, and Finesse to the girl and see her flying high in the sky. Pixie realizes that she's not flying, she's falling, and saves her. The girl tells her story through Instagram pictures and their comments, where she's been examining her life even before transforming into a feathered and winged Inhuman, which she also documents. Her jerk brother's friends tortured her at one point and she's harassed by a troll online and it's all become to ouch for her. Striker talks about his time in the spotlight and what it's meant for him and how he deals with it and it seems to straighten her out a bit. She reveals to them that her brother also cocooned and they go to see him only to find that he's burst out and is now wreaking havoc in the world.

Followers of this blog will probably notice that I did not care for INFINITY THE HUNT and it seems like I may care for this mini-series EVEN LESS. This one is obsessed with showing all of the recent events (INFINITY and, now, INHUMANITY) through the eyes of social media. So on top of the story being told through a series of Instagram pictures and their comments (not to mention through her narration over the pictures), there's a running Twitter feed at the top of every single page. It's unbearable. There are probably people out there who would be more forgiving about this than I am but I absolutely hate the layout of this issue. Here's the thing: YOUNG AVENGERS has done something like this throughout their series. Each issue starts with a Tumblr-like recap page, which works for this series and, importantly, is one mostly-inconsequential page that's loaded with neat little bits and, again, are not important overall. They also did a set of Instagram pictures to explain away their in-between-issues adventures. It worked and it made sense. Here there's way too much of it and it permeates the entire book. I read online someone saying that it was a powerful book that addressed bullying and other important teenage problems but I can't even really say that. There's obviously a lot of bullying, but it's almost too much a parody of bullying to be taken seriously and it seems like Kindt wants to do too much else in the book to really fully examine bullying or something. Just...not a fun book, you guys. The downside of actually getting my hands on A+X was that I suddenly found myself needing to both read the rest of this issue and review it without just dutifully ignoring it. Oh well, right?

Wolverine MAX 13, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 2

Wolverine MAX 13
Starr (w) and Ruiz w/ Mogorron (a) and D. Brown (c)

Wolverine is back at Sean’s house and unsure of the events of the last few hours which have ended with the man whose picture he found in his pocket dead and blood all over his hands. Wolverine has very few recollections of the past couple of hours, bar a couple flashes here and there that seem like they might point out his guilt. Sean reveals that Suzie’s gone, which he links to the crime as well and worries him immensely. Sean reluctantly tells Wolverine that Suzie, Mother Night, has been hypnotizing him and this all must be her doing; the man Wolverine killed was her husband and now she’s going to be rich and they’ll be framed for the crime. They drive out to a more remote area where Wolverine, still confused and doubtful of all of this, shoots himself in the head with a shotgun. He wakes up a little while later and Mother Night’s hold over him is gone. Everything falls into place and Wolverine leaves to hunt Suzie down. He finds her and brutally kills her before meeting up with Sean again and killing him too (he was suspicious of him the whole time). After the two deaths, Wolverine gives himself up to pursuers who he assumes to be cops but, instead, he’s met by a man in a suit coming out of a limo who seems to know him.

This book continues to be slow and extremely deliberate without any real sense of a payoff. Wolverine spends most of this issue being confused and saying over and over again, both out loud and in his narration, that he doesn’t believe what’s happening but he can’t remember anything about it so who’s to say? This is another one of those books where the writer seems to think maybe we can’t keep up with a pretty straightforward comic book plot and that he should therefore probably explain it to us about a million times. This is the wrong way to approach a book that’s already a little boring because, GUYS, it makes it a lot more boring. I continue to be perplexed by the very existence of this book, with two other solely Wolverine books (WOLVERINE and SAVAGE WOLVERINE) and another coming next month (WOLVERINE ORIGINS II), all of which are better (or are going to be better, thanks Kieron Gillen) than this one and one of which is just about as brutal without, perhaps, the same amount of swears (SAVAGE WOLVERINE). Even WOLVERINE, which I’ve been pretty non-plussed by, has at least moments of interesting plot and character moments to buoy the sometimes boring parts of the book.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 2
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot’s moment with a cosmic cube has altered the universe by, apparently, splitting his split-faced foe into his two component parts and unleashing him on the world. One of those parts has taken over at SHIELD and is attempting to contain or destroy everyone with magic-based powers as they are too unpredictable and unstable. He finds Longshot and a little girl who has a demon or something of the like hiding in her teddy bear and he attacks both of them. They’re narrowly rescued by the intervention of Doctor Strange, who freezes time and brings them back to his Sanctum Sanctorum. He identifies, with some help from Longshot, the foe as the In-Betweener, someone split between Chaos and Order. His two parts have separated and it’s Order who is trying to take the magic out of the game and who intends to eventually take mutants and other super-powered entities off the board as well. Strange summons a handful of other magic-based fugitives (Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch, and Deadpool, who had recently stolen a magic wand) and enlists their help in trying to stop Order and free Chaos from the helicarrier. They pick up Dazzler, who is working for SHIELD, along the way as she realizes Order’s plan for mutants and others. The strike is going relatively well until one of the SHIELD agents takes down Strange, who was shielding all of them. Longshot abandons ship as Order twists the minds of Strange, Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch, and Deadpool to act as his agents. On the plus side, Chaos has been freed. Now it’s just a matter of reuniting the two…and not getting crushed by the falling helicarrier.

I don’t know if it’s a matter of having adapted to the tone of this book or if it’s because we have more of an explained plot but this issue works a little better than the first. The plot is starting to take some shape, giving us a better sense of what Longshot is up against and of his (and others’) personality and powers. There are a lot of fun bits in here, often highlighted by Longshot’s endlessly upbeat attitude, even against countless foes, and his trust in his unpredictable powers. There’s a nice beat where Longshot helps Ghost Rider with his chain by hooking it on jets and hoping for the best, which he gets when Wanda makes the jets light enough to trail behind them before being unhooked and making them heavy enough to come crashing down again. Perhaps an even better moment than that is when, near the end of the issue, Longshot throws himself off the helicarrier saying “I know what will work!” before, as he free-falls, adding “Probably!” and landing in the arms of a passing-by Thor, who releases him gently onto a padded awning and, consequently, the ground. Lots of fun stuff, a really fun attitude, and a compelling enough story make for an altogether entertaining read.

Daredevil 32, FF 13

Daredevil 32
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

Foggy's not dead and Matt isn't fooled by the dummy hanging in front of him, nor is he fooled by the cyanide-laced "suicide note" that "Foggy left." He picks up the trail again after taking down a couple of dirty cops and enlisting Foggy's help in research on the Serpent Society. The research leads him down a more mystical path and so Daredevil pays a visit to his personal mystical consultant, Dr. Strange. Strange, in turn, points him to known-werewolf Jack Russell down in Kentucky. Matt arrives in Kentucky to find Russell and finish his research. It doesn't go as planned, though, when he ends up unwittingly defending a posse of monsters led by Satana, daughter of the devil. He escapes into the trees to figure out his next move where he is shot by a member of the angry crowd chasing the monsters.

Geez, now we're going to be maybe-killing a character at the end of every issue apparently. It's a good issue though with Daredevil immediately outwitting Jester and a nice little look from Jester at how some of the villains in the world view him. Even when supervillains know that Matt is Daredevil, they don't necessarily know the truth about Matt. Jester's Foggy prank relies entirely on Matt seeing the body, not smelling it, as well as seeing the suicide note instead of smelling the cyanide inside. Some nice character work between the Matt and Foggy as they get a nice moment of tough love from Matt, slapping some junk food out of Foggy's hand. More good Matt character stuff as he pays a visit to Doc Strange (wouldn't be upset if Strange started getting a bigger role in this book) and Strange doesn't reveal Russell's...condition to Matt, leaving him a little in the dark when he arrives and thinks that the townspeople are simply crazy racists, not monster-haters (unless "monster" is a race, in which case they're still totally racist). There's a lot happening here and most of it, despite the interesting and kind of abrupt plot-change, is character-based. More great Samnee art, of course, as Daredevil continues to be one of the most complete solo books out there, maybe second only to Hawkeye (if it's second to Hawkeye). I think Captain Marvel would be up there but the art team has changed so much it's hard to call it continuously the most complete solo book. It's still certainly up there. Okay, I'll stop ranking now.

FF 13
Fraction and Lee Allred (s) and Lee Allred (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

The FF has been transported somewhere after Alex's tampering with the portal intended to bring the F4 back. They've been transported somewhere...impossible. That's right, obviously they're in the fabrics of the pants of the Impossible Man. Scott instantly realizes that this is Alex and Ahura's doing and puts them aside for now. The Impossible Man drops them off on the moon alongside the Watcher (and, inexplicably, a lady Watcher), who Scott instantly threatens with a fake Ultimate Nullifier so that his motley crew can stay there and plan their next move. After a weird and useless subplot with the Red Ghost trying to steal secrets from the Watcher and freaking out about everyone he sees, Scott starts planning their return and their next move against Doom, one that he'll have to come at with less emotion than he's been reserving for Doom of late.

The FF has had a fairly quirky bent throughout its recent run but, over the last couple issues, it's gotten openly more goofy. There is a difference, in case you haven't thought about it before. Quirky still leaves room for solid emotion and solid growth, things like Tong deciding she's female and the clone of a supervillain marring attempts to foil a date and only making it more wonderful. Goofy's a little different and allows for less character while we get a little more comic relief. The problem with comic relief is that it needs to relieve something. If there's not enough going on in the story or if that story doesn't have much by way of stakes or drama, it means that comic relief doesn't quite work. Of course, there is still a plot going on that has drama inherent to it (the F4 are in space and their replacements aren't feeling particularly confident with how things have gone, no one knows what to make of old John Storm, two kids just tried to commit murder, Scott is going to be pitted against the man who was responsible for his daughter's death, etc.) but it feels like the excess of comic relief has taken away from that. There aren't many issues of FF left and they'll need to turn that tone around pretty quickly if they want to make a meaningful exit.

A+X 9, Wolverine MAX 8

A+X 9
Captain America and Wolverine: Edmondson (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)
Doctor Strange and Quentin Quire, Eyeboy and Pixie: Lapham (w and a) and Loughridge (c)

It's getting harder and harder to review these as it just boils down to a plot summary for A+X because there isn't supposed to be a huge examination of these characters. The problem with it boiling down to plot is that there also isn't supposed to be a huge plot. So we run into a few problems in writing something even a little compelling. This is a particularly weird issue as we have one story, in Captain America and Wolverine, which features two characters who have a really long and complicated relationship teaming up and another story where Doc Strange and a group of X-kids meet up in a team-up I can't imagine anyone was asking for. In this case, Cap and Wolverine are going to help Doc Strange (these stories weren't supposed to come out together but this one got pushed back) rescue a Shaman friend of his who is in trouble. They argue about the sanctity of life and eventually learn a lesson from Doc Strange about how no number of team-ups between Avengers and X-Men can stop all the evils in the world. What's weirdest about this story is that these guys have such a long history and there are really interesting ways to look at it (one is happening in Uncanny Avengers, for example), whereas many of these team-ups so far have been just oddly matched characters interacting for the first time or maybe a little more in-depth than normal. So these guys have a relationship already and it's not even really that closely examined. It feels like it's a random meeting between the two, a pair who have never really worked together before. It just feels like this would have been a nice time to get a little further into their world.

In story two, Quentin Quire and Pixie have had a series of bets that will result in, for the loser, a series of shameful acts. At the moment, Quentin seems to be losing and will be forced to wear baby's clothes at the Jean Grey School. Their next bet is to steal something from the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange. Whoever steals the best thing wins. They bring Eyeboy along as an impartial judge. They manage to sneak into Strange's and split up, with Quentin demanding Eyeboy help him. While they search his home, Eyeboy stumbles into Doc's room, where Strange himself is being attacked by the demon D'Spayre. Eyeboy goes screaming for help, bringing Pixie and Quire back. D'Spayre shows people their worst fears and begins to with the kids before Quentin shuts him out of their brains. The group, with the revived Doctor Strange, vanquish D'Spayre. Strange thanks them and sends Pixie and Quentin home, keeping Eyeboy around to give him a gift that enhances what he can see, especially on the magic spectrum. He also tells Eyeboy to hang around with better people. Not much here, not too much to get into. It's hard to figure out how the world views and/or should view Eyeboy, who is often the butt of jokes or the doing something pretty useful. So is he a joke? Is he not going to die at some point to thin out the herd? It's always tough to tell in these cases. NEXT ISSUE, though, is a team-up between Fantomex and Black Widow, so it's possible this whole series has been worth it.

Wolverine MAX 8
Starr (w) and Ruiz (a) and Brown (c)

Wolverine is a little dead but he's quickly recovering. Now he's being brought out to the country to be buried by a couple of Franky's henchmen. When they come for them, he kills both of them quickly and heads back for the mansion. Now with the element of surprise, he's able to storm the mansion and kill just about everyone. He catches up with Candy, who tells him that what's happened was never her intent and she really did quite like his dog. Also, if he kills her, he won't be able to find Franky before he flees. This makes some sense to Wolverine, so he listens to her and they go to the roof, where Franky is getting into a helicopter. Wolverine stops him and brings down the chopper, catching up with Franky and dropping him off the roof. He brings Candy back down and, still mostly unbelieving of her story, tells her to leave the country and return to England. If he ever finds her again, he'll be less forgiving, he promises.

It's hard to write too much about this series that I haven't already. It still feels weird to me that this book takes itself so seriously. Obviously the MAX line has the ability to do that (or not do that, in the case of books like Deadpool MAX) in a way that the normal lines really can't. These are directed for a far more mature audience and allow different aspect of Wolverine's more mature life to be revealed. Instead, it feels kind of cliche and entirely predictable. It's unfortunate because, while I do think this book is capable of doing everything Savage Wolverine has wanted to do (and done somewhat more effectively at this point), there's some real meat in Wolverine's life that hasn't been uncovered in all this time. Still, it's going to go uncovered, it seems, as we'd rather focus on him being angsty and stabbing more stuff while swearing without censors.

Movies of the FUTURE

So a while back on my tumblr, I wrote a bit about Marvel's "phase two" of their cinematic universe. Maybe I'll post that at some point, but I think I've already said a good amount on this here blog. However, my post did generate a question, so I'll answer it here, for newer viewers. I've updated it a bit to be a little more relevant, but I ALSO might have missed some older stuff so sorry about weird tense changes or me talking about things that hadn't happened yet but have by now.


What other Marvel movies would you most like to see made in the next few years and why? Alternatively, which stories from the comics would you really like to see adapted in the inevitable sequels like (for instance) Cap 3? 

I’d love a Black Panther movie, like was rumored over the last few months. I think he’s a remarkable hero and it’d be great to get a strong black hero. Plus he’s an important wheel in that universe, one of the more important ones you could add to the periphery. There are three kind of "big-ish" heroes that I'm really big into and I'd love movies for all three. Black Panther's one, another would be Daredevil. I KNOW, I KNOW, Daredevil's movie was already terrible once. But Marvel's on a roll of "do no wrong" so I think, in the right hands, he'd be great. With the rights back from Fox, I would be a little surprised to see it included in the vaunted "phase three," mostly because of that horrible last attempt. The third character I’m a huge sucker for is Iron Fist but I’d be surprised to see him in a movie without a Heroes for Hire angle and I don’t particularly love Luke Cage, so 50-50 there. I’d also love to see a Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel movie made, if the character can really catch on through the new book, if just to introduce a strong female character as a major player in the universe. I’d like to see Vision, for some reason, but I can’t see a movie about him working. He’d work fine beside Ultron in a possible Avengers 3 (I almost guarantee that's the third Avengers movie, especially with Ant Man in phase three) and joining the team, but by himself he wouldn’t work. Or maybe he would, I’m no movie maker. I’m also kind of an Inhumans fan, but I don’t know where they’d fall in copyright problems. I know Fox is claiming that they own anyone termed “mutant” and I feel like the Inhumans have, though I might have made this up at some point, in some book been called early mutants. Again, I might have made this up or dreamt it, but Fox could totally be dicks about that. It seems they've announced Doc Strange as a guaranteed movie in phase three alongside at least Ant Man. I'm totally happy with that. Good guy, different feel, different look, it'll be neat.

Stories I’d like to see is a little harder. I really can’t overstate how much I absolutely adore the Winter Soldier storyline so I’m just so giddy about that. I love the idea of Civil War and I don’t really know why you bring Maria Hill into Avengers unless you’re planning to delve into that. Civil War has looked worse in retrospect, I think, because it sort of kicked off the whole “heroes-fighting-heroes in big events” thing that Marvel is on right now, which isn’t necessarily great, but I love the reasoning behind it and it adds depth to Cap. But it would be a tricky movie. Same for Secret Invasion, in a way. I’m not sure I’d like that in a movie, frankly. There’s too much involved. That showing up in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was all I really needed. Bummed that show’s getting cancelled, for the record. Boy, World War Hulk was kind of cool, huh? I don’t know if that would work in a movie either, but that was just a pure action event. All kinds of crazy. I wouldn’t mind seeing something in Iron Man with his alcoholism, but I also don’t know that it’s necessary. Why complicate the movie character unless it’s REALLY going to benefit the movies? I think Armor Wars is a pretty standard answer for him, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. I mean, the first two movies so far have been about people using his technology, or technology based on his design. What are the chances the third movie doesn’t have something to do with that (though I think I heard something about Extremis related to this…again, COULD be made up)? There was a GREAT arc in the Black Panther series from the late 90s, I think, where Panther alienates his former Avengers teammates by more or less revealing that he only took the spot on the team to spy on them and gather intelligence. Then a little later on, I think, he absolutely demolishes Iron Man in a fight. I don’t think the stories were related, if I’m remembering correctly, but it’s not a bad idea. I love Panther and characters like him (Namor, Black Bolt, etc) because they will help the Avengers or whoever at times and they’re typically good at heart, but they’re rulers and everything they do has to fall into that perspective. Panther joined the Avengers, sure, but he did it to make sure they wouldn’t negatively impact Wakanda. I love those kinds of ideas.

Age of Ultron series...suspiciously timed?

Was this answer too long? Probably, but everything I write seems to be so WHATEVER. What would you want to see done?