Ms. Marvel 3, Thor: God of Thunder 21

Ms. Marvel 3
GW Wilson (w) and Alphona (a) and Herring (c) and Caramagna (l)

Kamala has been grounded and, more to the point, has realized she has some sort of super powers. Being grounded is making it particularly hard to learn more about these powers just as refusing to talk to her friend Bruno since he ratted her out to her parents is making it harder for her to talk to anyone about it. She goes to the girl's locker room when she feels her hand starting to shrink and she begins to try to control her powers. She manages to grow large enough to bring part of the ceiling down and to even change her appearance to look like her mother before she's discovered and given detention for being in the locker room when she's not supposed to be. After detention, she goes to talk to Bruno at the Circle Q only to find a robber holding him up. Unbeknownst to Kamala, the robber is Bruno's brother Vick and Bruno finds the whole robbery ridiculous. Kamala changes her appearance to that of Captain Marvel and tries to stop the robbery, mostly succeeding until, amidst all the chaos, Vick shoots her in the gut.

Story
Things certainly are starting to move for Kamala as news reports from the previous night start to surface and the new Ms. Marvel has been sighted. We also get the introduction of Bruno's deadbeat brother and the idea that Bruno, a science whiz, is creating a sort of polymer that would stretch material to which it was bonded (more than a little happily convenient there). The story takes a very sudden turn as Kamala, attempting to use her powers intentionally to help people, is shot in the gut. Bit of an abrupt twist there. 4/5

Character
The way writer G. Willow Wilson is setting this new story is to create Kamala's world before really sending us out on adventures (though the last page of this issue would beg to differ). As a result, we're going to get a good sense of the personality of Kamala, Nakio, and Bruno before things can really advance and I think that's the best way to handle it, even if it means the plot has to move in slightly quicker brush strokes (Bruno, a high schooler, happens to be creating an unbelievable polymer that would make material stretch, Kamala is shot in the gut by Bruno's brother, etc.). Still, we're getting a pretty good sense of who Kamala is and of who her friends are, all of which will be most important as we move forward. 5/5

Writing
As I said, the focus on character, while overall working, does mean that Wilson has to make a couple of leaps here and there to keep the story interesting and fresh while she develops the world. The writing itself, the tone and the dialogue and all, are still strong but the plot is rushing maybe a little bit. 4/5

Art
Adrian Alphona's art is a departure from most of the other art styles out there. His style and his colors are much more faded and almost pastel-colored than most anything out there in comics, which gives everything almost a sort of surreal feel. I think that it works well with this book and it means that the reader's eye isn't necessarily drawn to the action or the surroundings, but to the expressive faces of the characters. Where Wilson's goal is to set up a strong focus on character rather than action to start, this approach feels like the best possible approach. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be going well. I am stuck a little bit on some of the plot points (the gunshot seems very abrupt as does the "well geez, look at this fabric I'm making." Look, I get hung up on some things) and the book tends to kind of slow down and speed up at weird times but I think those sorts of kinks will largely work themselves out as the creative team grows more comfortable with one another and as Kamala becomes more and more established. Also, what a great Jamie McKelvie cover (McKelvie also designed Kamala's costume because, presumably, everyone saw Captain Marvel's new duds and went "hey, maybe we should let Jamie McKelvie design everything forever." It's the right call). Get ready for a line of those. Annie Wu also had a nice variant cover this week.

Total score: 4/5


Thor: God of Thunder 21
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

The world saved from the INFINITY crisis and the Builders, Thor returns home to find that Roxxon has built floating factories (much like Dr. Robotnik) over Broxton, Oklahoma, home of the Asgardians (or very near to it). Thor, of course, is not happy. Roz Solomon tries to stop him from attacking, promising that they'll stop Dario Agger with the help of the law but Thor refuses to hear it and goes to the floating factories. Agger and his team quickly slap a lawsuit on Thor for his attacks and promise that he'll have to pay all sorts of money while they get to stay in the air, and Thor realizes there's nothing he can do that won't make the situation far worse, though it seems things are about to get far worse as Agger has hired Ulik the Troll to take down Thor.

Story
I really like the idea of putting Thor up against big business and up against capitalism because corporations are such major businesses these days. Like in Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA with the origin of the Winter Soldier and everything, someone with this much power going up against a corporation that has the ability to make money is always going to be a compelling fight because it's not just something you can punch and it's not something that's easy to bring down or to find allies to fight. Of course, Thor is a little different than Captain America in that he doesn't wear the flag on his chest and he doesn't have to worry about a whole ton of retribution. You know, he's Thor. He could kill Roxxon from the ground up and people might be pissed but, you know, he's Thor. Still, let's suspend that disbelief because this story is interesting enough to carry. 4/5

Character
What baffles me about this arc so far is that, alongside the Roxxon trouble Thor is having, we're still getting a look into the future where King Thor is battling Galactus for the remains of Earth. Typically you're fairly invested when Galactus shows up because it very likely will mean the destruction of a planet or a fight for said planet. Here there's almost no attachment because everyone on Earth is already dead except that King Thor is sad about it. That doesn't feel enough like character development to me to keep it attached here so hopefully it will lead to a little more revelation-wise. Otherwise, Thor of the present is doing pretty well since he's trying to navigate the world of business, a world he can't possibly understand, nor be thrilled about. 3/5

Writing
Dario Agger continues to be complete comic book supervillain, an immoral jerk who no one but our hero can keep in check. Though that still makes for a compelling enough villain because he's willing to go to any length to defeat our hero, I tend to prefer a little more nuance. Still, the rest of the book is solid and even the scenes between Galactus and King Thor, though they get a little repetitive because there's only so much the two can bicker about at this point, stand pretty well on their own. 4/5

Art
Esad Ribic continues to be outstanding and Eisner nominated Ive Svorcina continues to make the book stand out with his painted colors, which I've been attributing to Ribic this whole time only to find that Svorcina is really carrying that tone. It all works really well with the tone of the writing and of the story and continues to really impress. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be back on track after taking an arc off to deal with Malekith and troubles in the nine realms. Thor's love for Earth and his attachment to humanity shine through but it'll be interesting to see how that all feels after spending so much time with Agger.

Total score: 4/5

Iron Man 23, Thor: God of Thunder 20

Iron Man 23
Gillen (w) and L. Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Iron Man is on the hunt for the Mandarins out there and happens to find that one of them is the fired director behind a musical based on Iron Man that created Tony to be a pervert. Of course, Tony's people fired him and now a ring has made its way to the disgruntled artist. Tony tries to put him down softly but, before he's able to, Malekith appears and straight up murders the guy, taking the ring and disappearing before Tony gets his bearings. Tony now knows who's behind the capture of the rings and so he turns to his new specialist on magical affairs, Shevaun Haldane, Dark Angel. He explains to her that he doesn't want to go to Malekith expert Thor because then his attack on Malekith ends up being political between Asgard and Svartalfheim as opposed to being simply about the rings and he doesn't want to put that on Thor. Shevaun builds him a weapon that she thinks should render the rings inert temporarily and creates three magical one-use doors that will, if all goes according to plan, drop him in Svartalfheim, drop the weapon next to him, and return him home from Svartalfheim when it's finished. Wearing the stealth suit with the hopes that he can sneak through Svartalfheim without alerting too many people to his presence, Tony is sent through the first door only to find that he's been dropped right into the center of Malekith's hall.

Plenty going on right now and the book moves really quickly as a result, even despite the amount of explaining and backstory they have to give. On top of the A plot summarized above, there's a B plot involving a relationship developing between Arno and Abigail Burns, the Red Peril who just lost her hands to Malekith's attack. There's a good chance that none of this is ideal news for Tony but you can't help but feel good that Arno's making friends. Anyway, there's always the chance that a story like this, one that crosses a couple of different mythologies, can come off feeling really forced and leaving the audience feeling cynical about the motives behind the crossover, as it were. Here though, Gillen nicely threads the needle between the science vs. magic and the Iron Man vs. Malekith so that the story feels like a really solid one developing instead of some kind of weird opportunistic cash grab. Pretty neat, you guys.

Thor: God of Thunder 20
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

Thor and Rosalind Solomon are out to stop Roxxon, whatever it takes, as Rosalind hates them and what they're doing to the environment and Thor is pretty sure that Earth hates them and also he likes Rosalind. Thor has taken several books out from the godly library he's visited in recent days about the death of many different worlds and he's prepared to do what it takes to bring Roxxon down. In this case, it means blowing up a few of their plants in an "Act of God" manner that means insurance won't pay for it. Of course, increasingly evil Dario Agger knows who is behind it and insists that his men find a way to hurt Thor, to strike back in this new war. Their suggestion to the evil man who is both nicknamed and physically, on occasion, "minotaur" is that they strike at Broxton, Oklahoma. MEANWHILE, in the far-off future, King Thor tries to talk with Galactus about maybe not eating Earth and then, when words don't work, prepares to fight.

There are parts of this story I like and am intrigued by and there are parts that I can't help kind of rolling my eyes at. For example, I like the idea that Thor wants to get into the conservationist mindset because he just straight up loves Earth and anything that harms it, whether it's Dr. Doom trying to take it over, Ultron attempting to kill everyone on it, or Roxxon actually killing it, is in for a fight. The idea that he'd be behind the "hey, let's make nature be great!" kind of fight is one that I both get and that I like for his character. On the other hand, Dario Agger is eye-rolling villainous. He admits that he's caused chemical spills just to kill wildlife, that he's introduced predators who don't belong in certain places to be in those certain places, and that he's altered several bears to completely deplete the salmon population in certain rivers, all so that Roxxon can provide the solutions eventually. While I don't doubt that there are evil people out there, this is so frustratingly comic book evil that I can't help but be a little disappointed by it. I tend to prefer my villains either untouchable and evil or even a little more complicated. It does seem as if they're ready to build up a sad backstory for him but I think it may already be too late. Anyway, King Thor calls Galactus rude so I GUESS I'm saying you should check out this issue?

Cataclysm - Ultimates 2, Cataclysm - Ultimate Spider-Man 2

Cataclysm - Ultimates 2
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Quintana (c)

Hulk has been infected by the Gah Lak Tus swarm and now leads the charge against the Secret Warriors in Belarus to consume and infect them. Hercules fights him and buys the others the time they need to keep moving through the swarm. However, it's ultimately futile as the swarm goes on to infect Emil Blonsky and, through the already infected Abigail Brand, Stature, giving the swarm an incredible advantage to what was already an incredible advantage. As everything rather falls apart, Falcon has entered Reed Richards' fallen City of Tomorrow to talk with its new head, George Tarleton (GUYS, that's MODOK), who is not a part of the Gah Lak Tus swarm but is clearly running the show in Belarus to some extent. He tells Falcon that he's going to offer up himself and this city, which he's made mobile, to Galactus and become his herald, worshipping him and finding new places for Galactus to feast. He sets the city in motion with Falcon still onboard and rushes to meet Galactus. Meanwhile, Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and Danny Ketch find themselves surrounded and Fury uses an untested teleportation device on them, deciding any outcome is better than what's coming. They successfully teleport but they find themselves not that far away and facing a swarm-infected Punisher. Back in the main kill box, Hercules is still running rampant, throwing Hulk into Stature and demanding more.

Definitely a viable threat here for the Ultimates and the Ultimate Universe as a whole to face. It's an incredibly scary concept, working off the same sort of principles as zombies but all the while being entirely more impressive than zombies. They infect, they brutalize, they, well, they swarm. It's a big enough threat to base an event around and to base an event that incorporates all parts of this universe around and Fialkov isn't doing a bad job showing off some character here and there, particularly where the Secret Warriors are, by and large, newer characters to this universe. The threat is very real and, like the best threats to the Marvel Universe, it comes with no easy solution. The upside of the Ultimate Universe, too, is that a threat with no easy solution may well end with the death of everyone here. Pretty interesting stuff, good hectic and chaotic art from Di Giandomenico and Quintana's colors are appropriately dreary. Nicely done.

Cataclysm - Ultimate Spider-Man 2
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c)

Back in New York, everyone is panicking in the face of Galactus and what he's done to New Jersey. People are running rampant, Galactus is leisurely blowing up bits and pieces of the city, and there are injuries and lost people and really too much to focus on. Cloak and Dagger teleport right to the face of Galactus, where Dagger throws some...daggers...into him, doing absolutely nothing. They bail before Galactus strikes at them. With the Ultimates spread out trying to help things while Iron Man comes up with a plan, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman go out in search of people to help, which isn't hard to find. They find a group of school children who were abandoned by their teacher and promise that they'll get them home. Spider-Man takes a young child screaming for his father and delivers him successfully home before getting a lesson in the importance of sons to their fathers. Miles heads home to try to help Jefferson who shoves him away in his continuing hatred for all things super-powered before Miles pulls off the mask and reveals himself.

The Galactus threat continues seemingly unimpeded and the heroes of the city are left to deal with the more personal problems in the city. The issue is presented alongside memories of ULTIMATUM and the tsunami in New York two years previous. Universally, the kids who were affected by that are older now and are dedicated to helping people where they couldn't the last time a disaster of this scale hit. I don't know, necessarily, that the juxtaposition of the two events is necessary; obviously it's a meaningful parallel and it makes sense that it would be on the mind of the people in the city, but to shape it like this makes it feel like they're only helping because they weren't able to help last time or because they regret not helping last time. One of the ongoing traits of superheroes, though, is that heroes jump in when they're needed, not out of regret or anything along those lines, so it's just as meaningful if they swing into action here without the prodding of the memories. Still, not an awful issue, though occasionally marred by some back-and-forth dialogue that continues to illustrate a somewhat lighter mood in the midst of all of this horror. Miles' reveal at the end is clearly what we're there for, though, and it's a long time coming, something that will show Jefferson's true colors next time out.

Cataclysm - Ultimates' Last Stand 2, Daredevil Dark Nights 7

Cataclysm - Ultimates' Last Stand 2
Bendis (w) and Bagley and Hennessy (a) and Keith (c)

CATACLYSM keeps on rolling as the Ultimates try to figure out what Galactus is and what it is he's doing there and, most importantly, how they're going to try to stop him. Iron Man has figured out that he seems to be made of cosmic energy and is using whatever power they have against them and taking it into himself to make him stronger. He's also figured out that the readings on it bear a striking resemblance to the reading on Peter Parker from the 616, taken when Peter came to the Ultimate Universe during last year's SPIDER-MEN event. Stark and Chang go down to the holding cells to ask Mysterio (also the Mysterio from 616) what Galactus is and he points them to Reed Richards. There is an active portal that can potentially bring them to the 616 but no one is quite sure what that portal will do. Stark insists on going in himself but everyone talks him down, knowing that they can't afford to lose him. Spider-Man steps forward and offers himself, saying that he's crossed through the portal before (SPIDER-MEN again) and knows it won't hurt him. The crazy Reed Richards also offers to go, which is met with much resistance but he makes a compelling argument about the best way to contact the 616's Reed. Meanwhile, the X-Men have noticed that Galactus is trouble.

Plenty still happening here though I can't help but notice Bendis' back-and-forth dialogue continues and people continue to quip in the absolute darkest of times. There's an element to the quipsters, like Spider-Man, that they quip when they're facing their worst moments because they have to in order to stay sane and I kind of buy that (really I think it was just because comics were so different when Spider-Man was created and Stan Lee wants nothing more than to quip non-stop) but there are times when I think it's fine to do that and there are times where I think it ruins the mood and the tension by throwing quips in. Spider-Man can quip at Rhino all day long while the two of them fight but put Human Torch up against Galactus as New Jersey burns away beneath them and I think something isn't really working. That's in addition to my problem of it making every character sound exactly the same. Maybe, with that out of the way, I can stop saying the word "quip." Plenty still happens here and there's enough plot-related dialogue that the story keeps moving relatively well and the event itself still hasn't lasted too long to overstay its welcome. Should be interesting going forward to see if it does hit that point.

Daredevil Dark Nights 7
Palmiotti (w) and Silas and Decastro (a) and Fabela (c)

Daredevil and Misty Knight fly their helicopter down to Cuba to find King and try to save Nestor, as the narration ham-fistedly relates in massive detail to start the story. Their helicopter gets shot out of the air but they manage to abandon and inflate a raft quickly enough to make it to the mainland. Matt naps the entire way to the disappointment of Misty who is all over him this arc (which seems out of character, far be it for me to imply that Jimmy Palmiotti is a bad writer). King has surveillance on them the whole way and, after a chase through the Cuban markets, his psychotic henchwoman Carmen Alvarez shoots a rocket launcher at the building Matt and Misty are trying to get off of. It collapses, burying Daredevil and allowing Alvarez to take Misty, who was King's target all along as Misty is...his ex-girlfriend! Dum dum duuuuuuuuuuum.

I'm not going to go out and say that this series has been comprised of some of the most thrilling tales about Daredevil we've ever seen but I will say that there have been definite highlights all around. The first arc had some really great Daredevil moments and some outstanding art from Lee Weeks. The second art felt a lot like a somewhat sillier version (though still pretty interesting and character-driven) of Waid and Samnee's incredible run. This arc, though, the final arc to leave this series with, is pretty awful. Bad writing (though there are somewhat fewer unnatural lack-of-contractions here), bad characterization, and an overall uninteresting story make even the somewhat interesting art seem weak and kind of exploitative. It's just a really ugly arc all around and it's unfortunate that this will be what we leave the series with, after an impressive (or, at its worst, somewhat slow) first two arcs. I do remember back to Lee Weeks' arc with really fond memories particularly after seeing this one. We just didn't know how good we had it.

All-New X-Men 19, Uncanny X-Force 14, Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 1

All-New X-Men 19
Bendis (w) and Peterson (a) and Silva (c)

There's a mutant on the run for her life, though she's not convinced she's a mutant, in Miami. A group of heavily armed religious zealots have surrounded her and are ready to finish her for being an abomination when the All-New X-Men show up, clad in their brand new uniforms! There's much quipping about the mutant place in religion and how little sense it all makes while the fight rages. The new mutant runs off and Kitty follows her, hoping to help, calling her Laura and wondering why she's not recognizing her. As the X-Men wrap up the fight, the police arrive and Magik insists they go while Scott insists they stay and try to file a report for the police. Of course, the police don't want to hear it and Magik teleports them away before they're shot. Kitty finally catches up with the new mutant and we find that it's not a new mutant, it's a severely messed up X-23!

Another OG X-Men-in-action issue as they continue to adjust to this future and work together as a team a bit better. Laura is clearly a little out of sorts (and a bit out of memory, it would seem) after her time on Murder World, where she ended up rather left in the woods, feral, and extremely injured. Are they pulling X-23's first Wolverine, erasing her memory and leaving her wounded, defensive, and alone? Boy, sounds like it! The issue is a bit heavy on the back-and-forth and takes a somewhat slow pace because of it, despite being primarily a fight issue and despite so very little happening. There's one somewhat disturbing long-panel that gives rather a close-up on Jean Grey's butt, which goes rather over-the-top and both pulled me out of the issue and made me go "isn't she supposed to be like 15 or 16 at this point?" Jean Grey may be going down the Magneto road, disgusted by humans and angry at everyone, though it's sure to come in stages. The cover for next issue has X-23 throwing herself at Scott which made me groan and roll my eyes. Really sick of all these love triangles (and this isn't X-23's first) and people throwing themselves at other people. Bendis seems not to be sick of that.

Uncanny X-Force 14
Humphries (w) and Briones (a) and Curiel (c)

Cassandra Nova has opened up the portal to the Revenants' world with the sacrifice of a low-level psychic and now has locked down LA to stop communications from going out, leaving Nova herself and Psylocke as the only two psychics in the area. That makes things tricky for X-Force, who has to sacrifice a psychic before daybreak to close the veil (these rules seem arbitrary). As they send an attack force (Puck) at Nova's moving base (she called forth a ground-made creature to carry them all), Nova offers an alliance to Betsy, hoping that she'll help in exchange for her old body back, the original Betsy Braddock British body. She looks on it with sadness and longing as Puck breaks in and rescues her, taking the Demon Bear down in the process. The escape doesn't go particularly well and they end up in the Revenants' world.

Plenty of action here and a pretty neat little choice for Betsy, who has to push away probably her last chance at ending up in the OG British body to save the world. Not that she's done badly in the Hand-resurrected body and not that she hasn't had the time to get used to it, but it's still a really intriguing choice and one that you're like "I can see why she'd want that." Aside from the continually arbitrary rules, there's a lot going on here and a lot to make this seemingly final X-Force-only arc interesting; this arc will lead to the "Vendetta" crossover with CABLE AND X-FORCE which will ultimately result in the two books ending, to be replaced with Si Spurrier's X-FORCE, which will be amazing. Anyway, interested to see where this story in and of itself is going.

Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 1
Fialkov (w) and Martinez and Lucas (a) and Bellaire (c)

Galactus has reached Earth and it's come at a time when Kitty's X-Men have gone back to Tian to try to find any survivors, including the missing Pixie. They manage to find the small group of mutants (an oddly specific bunch that includes Pixie, a guy who has the power to calm people down, someone who can use and amplify the powers of others, Strong Guy and Beak) right as Galactus appears and Amp and Pixie both panic, leading to the entire group teleporting the entire area into what seems like maybe space, where the Gah-Lak-Tus swarm surrounds them, charging at them over and over in the hopes to consume them. Silence (the calm-people-down guy) is killed pretty quickly and the others begin to fight. Things seem a bit out of control when the new Captain Marvel, AKA Rick Jones, appears to help.

Fialkov has really orchestrated this whole event, it seems, which seems like a really big event for someone who hasn't been at Marvel for that long. I'm not saying he's doing a bad job or doesn't deserve to be doing this, but Marvel tends to give events to people they've been working with for awhile and really know they trust but Fialkov has kind of excelled this year (especially in the Ultimate universe) and has made himself worthy of the new event, apparently. It's certainly an interesting event and you can see all the pieces falling into place, as the Ultimates go after Galactus, along with Spider-Man, and the X-Men go after the Gah-Lak-Tus swarm along with Captain Marvel. That means a fight on all fronts, whether it's going to go well or not. Obviously the plot is the key to this issue, as with most event books, which means that some of the charm of the ULTIMATE X-MEN book under Brian Wood has been lost. I'm not sure that it really could have kept up into this event because, like I said, events tend to be a little too plot heavy and, also, this is going to be a limited run book, meaning it can't hit that same kind of building-tension tone that Wood had hit so well in his run. Still, should be an interesting event.

Thunderbolts 18, A+X 14, Cataclysm: Ultimates 1

Thunderbolts 18
Soule (w) and Palo (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher's quest to kill the Paguros continues as the Terrigen mists and Thanos' attack on Earth continues to rain down. Punisher, Elektra, and Venom are making quick work of all of the mobsters and get some unexpected help from the transformed Nobili after one of the Nobili children is shot through the head by a mobster. Flash tags the Paguros as they attempt to slink away and the three of them begin to make their way after the family. Things aren't going as well for the Nobili, though, as the other Nobili son, believing he'll never be able to re-enter society, kills himself. The elder Nobili is devastated but quickly realizes his power is borne from the strength of his family, meaning that he has all of his lineage in his new body with him, and they convince him to go after Punisher (another day, it seems, as that's the last we see of them this issue). Meanwhile, Red Hulk convinces Mercy that, if she helps him now by killing alien threats and leaving behind even the most desperately wishing-for-death humans, he can provide her with more death than she could ever need. She believes him and heads out, doing a number on the alien invasion by herself. Back on the streets, Deadpool has found his pizza and is ready to dig in. It's, sadly enough, not as good as he remembers it being, which causes him to wonder why he was so fixated on this particular pizza place. As he does, the Paguros walk in. Deadpool sees their pictures on the wall, proclaims "ohhhhhh, right," and shoots the three of them, confusing Punisher to no end when he and the others arrive. The team reunites and they set off for their new base, with the sub destroyed, via 16 hour road trip.

Another fantastic issue and a nice finish to the tie-in arc that I had worried was slowing. The remaining Nobili provides a threat for the coming issues while the threats here are resolved without too much stress but with a lot of interesting twists and turns. Mercy remains a concern and, by the end of the issue, Ross is forced to tell the rest of the team about her. Flash and Frank have some more tension as Flash continues to protest against Frank's "kill everyone, they're all guilty" mentality and Frank gets angry with Flash when he believes Flash watched the Paguros leave the safehouse without mentioning it to anyone. That puts at least two (probably three, if you count Leader, though he's likely not counted) of the Thunderbolts at odds with Castle and suddenly makes I'm the most reviled character on a team that also has a supervillain on it. The twist of Deadpool eating at a pizza place apparently owned by the Paguros is a great one; you knew all along that Deadpool was going to get back into the action at some point but it was hard to know exactly how. This was kind of the perfect way to do it and it resulted in an actual burst of laughter when Deadpool connects the pieces and abruptly shoots the Paguros, after all of Frank's hard work. There are some other fun moments in the relationship of the team and the book continues to be a solid one. I'm excited to see how Soule's first non-tie-in issues go.

A+X 14
Spider-Man and Magneto: Bemis (w) and Lafuente (a) and Delgado (c)
Captain America and Cyclops: Duggan (w) and Yardin (a) and Mossa (c)

The first team-up finds Spider-Man meeting Magneto, after what seemed to be a general summons from Magneto, underground at an AIM base. The two fight their way through a complex and trick-filled facility while discussing the shortcomings of supervillains, who Magneto particularly detests. Spider-Man clearly believes many of them to be inferior but has trouble wholly agreeing to Magneto's diatribe as it conflicts with his own memories as a supervillain. Eventually they face down MODOK and soundly defeat him before arriving at a young, kidnapped mutant, the true reason for the mission. The young mutant hates the idea of being a mutant and vows that he will grow up strong just to stop all mutants and leaves. Magneto basically just says that you win some, you lose some, and they part ways. Bit of an anti-climax, that, but it's most an acceptable ending. The story drags on a bit as Magneto does what basically amounts to a stand-up comedian's routine about supervillains but without any of the humor (for the record, that's not what he's going for so no humor is appropriate but the sentiment remains the same). Hard not to be a bit bored by that, particularly knowing that there's not going to be a huge pay-off because this is A+X, not a book with consequences or continuity. SPEAKING OF CONTINUITY...

Cap and Cyclops continue their quest to find the sleeper cell Skrulls. Cap tried to leave Cyclops behind in cuffs but Cyclops busted his way out of them and rejoins Cap, at least showing some amount of dedication to the mission. The two arrive at a SHIELD safehouse and Cap asks the LMD watching over it helps pull up records of where the Skrulls have been. They also learn that Latverian scientists might have a captured Skrull on site for study. The two set off with a new Skrull detector in hand for Latveria and things go pretty much how you'd expect, as the pair are discovered and they have to fight their way through a slew of Doombots (where Cap discovers Cyclops' powers aren't exactly up to snuff) before ending up on the radar of Doom himself. They convince Doom to release the Skrull to them as another Skrull war would hurt Latveria as well and Doom reluctantly agrees, claiming his scientists have studied him as much as they can but, of course, killing the Skrull just to be a jerk about it. It's not an awful story but, again, I think the nature of A+X kind of hurts just about any story. On top of that, I get Cap's righteous indignation about Cyclops here but it's getting a little old already, which makes it rather feel like more issues of this will wear pretty thin. Oh well, just...a million more A+X issues to go, right? Inexplicably?

Cataclysm: Ultimates 1
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Quintana (c)

Galactus' approach and the arrival of the first of the Gah Lak Tus swarm has some unexpected consequences as the swarm seems to have infected humans, currently the ones in Belarus who are rising up and hailing Galactus and Gah Lak Tus in direct defiance of the onsite SHIELD team, which is comprised of Fury's new super-powered SHIELD team. They're not totally sure how the swarm spreads but they're hoping to contain this without any casualties, realizing that these people are being controlled by the swarm and possibly by AIM, who clearly has a hand in this as well. They get to the ground to try to restrain the people but they're quickly overrun and have to withdraw, but not before Abigail Brand is touched by a swarm member and transforms into one herself. Fury finally calls it and decides to drop their final weapon into play, a weapon AIM assumed they'd use: the Hulk. Hulk touches down and begins to get angry but is quickly overrun by the swarm and, like Brand, is transformed into another piece of Galactus' puzzle. This, of course, is all happening while Galactus himself towers over head and causes his own wave of destruction.

So, as yet, calling this series CATACLYSM: ULTIMATES is a bit of a misnomer because these guys aren't technically the Ultimates, though maybe they were dubbed the back-up Ultimates when the real Ultimates were captured by Reed Richards. Even still, this probably isn't the team you were expecting when you picked up this book. Regardless, it's an interesting enough story and certainly a threat that needs to be examined, given the sheer weight of the situation and the virus-like spreading of the swarm. It does feel a little like maybe Fury should have pieced some things together about these guys before dropping the Hulk in but, as AIM points out, if a problem gets too big for them, they always just throw a Hulk at it. This one got out of hand fast and apparently dropping a Hulk into the middle of situations doesn't always require knowing too much about that situation, letting Hulk kind of piece it together for himself. Fialkov and company are doing a good job to point out just how dangerous this swarm and Galactus himself could be, certainly something worth worrying about and something worthy of being deemed such a threat that it might END THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE.

Cataclysm - The Ultimates' Last Stand 1, Daredevil Dark Nights 6, Fantomex MAX 2

Cataclysm - The Ultimates' Last Stand 1
Bendis (w) and Bagley and Hennessy (a) and Keith (c)

Galactus is in the Ultimates Universe and he's ready to eat some worlds up, specifically Ultimate Earth. He shows up and Miles Morales is the first one on the scene, wondering what he can possibly do against the behemoth standing over the world. Fortunately, it's not long before the other Ultimates show up but, unfortunately, it's after Galactus blows up a sizable portion of New Jersey. Iron Man's readings on Galactus reveal that he's come from the 616 and Tony has legitimately no idea how to stop him, particularly as the combined might of their heroes seems to weigh not at all on Galactus. Tough fight incoming for the Ultimates and the rest of the world.

Not too much to this issue but pretty much exactly what there needed to be. We don't get a ton of character or depth of plot or anything like that; what we get is the immensity of the threat Galactus presents and the impact that the Ultimates, this Earth's greatest superhero team, has on them. It's a very worrying prospect for the universe and for the team and, though there's not much else to say about what happened in the issue, the threat speaks volumes. I think that CATACLYSM 0.1 last week was a better issue for characterization and the theoretical threat Galactus poses to the Ultimate Universe, exploring the idea in the differences between the 1610 and the 616 and how difficult it's always been for the 616 to stave off Galactus while highlighting just how much better equipped they've always been to deal with it. This issue is important, then, for showing the physical threat of Galactus. No more theoretical, no more "oh geez, this could go badly;" this issue needs to show "oh geez, this is going really badly." I think it accomplishes that pretty well. We'll see where the event goes from here.

Daredevil Dark Nights 6
Palmiotti (w) and Silas and Decastro (a) and Fabela (c)

Matt, alongside a random FBI agent named Keller, is escorting witness Nestor Canosa, a New York dishwasher who happened to see known drug lord Oscar Gomez stab popular DJ Brian Adams in a back alley, to Miami to testify against Gomez. We'll get back to this ridiculous summary sentence in the analysis just...just keep in mind how convoluted it sounds, even in the writing of it (sorry). When the group lands, they stop off at their hotel where Matt finds New York superhero friend Misty Knight lounging by the pool. They don't have a ton of time to catch up (though the sheer volume of words might make you think differently) as Agent Keller crashes out of a window and into the pool. He surfaces to tell Matt that Canosa is under attack. Matt and Misty run up to find a couple of attackers in the hotel room. Matt, now costumed, sends Canosa out of the room where Keller picks him up to try to protect him. However, the two separate groups are swarmed by backup and Keller is shot repeatedly, leaving the men no resistance in taking Canosa. Matt and Misty continue their investigation and track the kidnappers by their getaway car, crashing the party and finding out that Canosa is already gone, possibly still alive.

Jimmy Palmiotti has been around for awhile but I mostly know him as an inker. He's been on plenty of good books and he frequently worked alongside Joe Quesada, most notably (for me) on Quesada's artistic run on DAREDEVIL. I haven't seen a ton of his writing work; really my only experience with it is this year's WHAT IF...AVX. Between that and this first issue of Palmiotti's three on DAREDEVIL DARK NIGHTS, I think it's safe to say he is a pretty awful writer. I'm not thrilled with the story, which is both cliché and overly convoluted, but it's his exposition and his dialogue that are real killers. My first sentence in my summary paragraph was actually not far off from what's written, though it's about 15 sentences shorter. It's an incredibly slow book, one that really should be over by word count maybe ten pages in, again, particularly when the story is so cliché. Even THAT doesn't really cover it, though, as the writing is simply awkward. There's a distinct lack of, and I know this is going to sound weird and petty, contractions and it throws off every line of dialogue. Contractions are really something that you don't notice until they're not there. The phrasing of every contraction-lacking line suddenly becomes remarkably robotic and stiff which then, in turn, makes the would-be more natural lines sound out of place. It's just a mess. And I'm not particularly a fan of the art, to make matters worse. It's a little upsetting, assuming this trend will continue (and I'm willing to make that assumption after similarities between this and the writing of WHAT IF...AVX), that this arc will end what has been, in the least, an enjoyable Daredevil series.

Fantomex MAX 2
Hope (w) and Crystal (a) and Loughridge (c)

I changed my mind, I don't want to review this one, you guys. One of the extremely few joys of not getting to do this for a living is that I can pretty well pick-and-choose what "review every Marvel book" means by my own personal standards. There are, of course, a handful of books I've skipped because they didn't really fit the superhero brand I'm looking for on this blog and there are a handful that rank somewhere below my level of noticing (there was a weird tie-in between Wolverine and some, I don't know, Kitchen Nightmares like TV show? I, uh, I skipped that one and just didn't tell you guys). This one I'm begging out of, despite absolutely adoring Fantomex as a character and being, in the very least, mildly interested in the art of the book (and more than mildly interested by the amazing Francesco Francavilla covers on the series), because I find the book so ridiculously gratuitous. Here's the thing that's kind of hard for me, as a self-proclaimed reviewer, to justify though: I've complained about MAX books not going far enough simply because it made the MAX line feel unnecessary to be used to tell a story that any other book could tell. It seems like Hope and Crystal are giving us a book meant for a MAX line with ridiculous amounts of swearing, sex (both implied and not-implied and consensual and not consensual), and violence. But that doesn't mean it's worth reading. I think gratuitous is probably the word that most fits and it's something I don't really want to get into. If you want this book, read it. If you don't, I don't blame you one bit. I don't and so, fortunately, I won't.

Guardians of the Galaxy 8, Cataclysm 0.1

Guardians of the Galaxy 8
Bendis (w) and Francavilla (a and c)

The Guardians of the Galaxy are approaching Earth and have discovered, then, that Thanos' army is pretty well in control of its airspace about now. Gamora insists that they charge in and show her dad (Thanos, you guys) who's boss but Quill prefers they make a plan, which they do after some amount of tension and Gamora setting out on her own to attack Thanos himself. They receive a distress call from Abigail Brand at the Peak and Quill decides it's not a trap and that they have to save her and the Peak before it's turned on the Earth. He and Rocket stealth their way in and bust her out before attempting to fight their way to the command center, counting on air support from Drax and Groot. Unfortunately, by the time they call those two in, they're rather busy and embroiled in their own fight. Plus side, though, when it looks as if all is lost, Angela shows up and busts her way into the space station to save them (probably).

Solid action here as the Guardians get involved in the universe-spanning events of Infinity, albeit in the part that doesn't span the universe but rather just Earth. There's some decent characterization though occasionally it swings hard on an emotion and it comes up just a little short. In this case, it's Gamora bursting with anger at Quill for wanting to plan their attack on Thanos. Of course, there's more to Gamora's emotions than simply the need for haste, adding on the turmoil she feels about her father and the imminent threat he poses, but it does seem more than a little sudden and rash for Gamora. Again, though, Bendis' strength comes out of dropping some of the back-and-forth dialogue here as we have a bit of a faster paced and more coherent book, one that doesn't lose its focus and its tone while those elements battle for control over snappy, out-of-place dialogue. There's a bit here but, as I've said in the past, a bit doesn't hurt. A bit establishes character and the like. It's when you have more than a bit that things go downhill. Instead, it's another solid Guardians issue that brings the Guardians themselves to the fight against Thanos, a place they're rather used to being.

Cataclysm 0.1
Fialkov (w) and Suayan, Pierfederici, and Kirk (a) and Woodard (c)

Galactus is in the Ultimate Universe and it could spell the end for that branch of Marvel. The Vision of that universe, a female android, if we're applying genders, was built to detect and protect the world from the Gah Lak Tus swarm and so is shocked to find that a piece of that swarm ended up beached in the Bahamas during the Hunger event without her notice. She and boyfriend Sam Wilson go to investigate and Vision interfaces with the swarm member, learning of Galactus' arrival in the Ultimate Universe and learning of his history in the 616. She immediately recognizes the threat and needs to go see for herself, understanding that it will likely mean her death. There's a scene where she weighs her Earth's chances against Galactus, given its history, that compares the Ultimate Universe to the 616 and boy does it highlight some things. She eventually arrives by Galactus and urges him to stand down. When he refuses, she attacks with her impressive weaponry. It backfires, though, as he absorbs her shots and turns them on her, ultimately destroying her and leaving her floating in space. Before her system shuts down, she sends a message back to Earth, primarily to Sam Wilson who she realized, in the end, that she truly loved and warning them that they'll need everybody's help to stave off Galactus, including and perhaps centered on the incarcerated and absolutely crazy Reed Richards.

Certainly a nice little book to set the stage for us and Fialkov again delivers on his mantra of showing characters on their absolute worst days. Despite the fact that this story is one mostly meant to illustrate the dangers posed to the Ultimate Universe with Galactus' arrival and, as an aside to that, to establish the differences between the universe Galactus came from and this one, Fialkov does a solid job in one regular-sized issue, creating a full character in Vision, who has a crisis of self (or as much of one as an android can have) and realizes who she really is in her dying moments. On top of that, as I mentioned above, there was a nice little summation of the differences between the two major universes under Marvel's umbrella, particularly highlighting the plight of the mutant in this world, the loss of Spider-Man, the craziness of Reed Richards, the decimation of the superhero community, and the flaws of the Ultimates vs. the Avengers. Really helps put things in perspective while giving off the distinct feeling of "aw man, it's going to be pretty tricky for them to fight off Galactus." Good book, nice way to build interest for the event.

Hunger 4, A+X13, Wolverine MAX 12

Hunger 4
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

Rick Jones has taken the helmet (and therefore the powers and the bomb) used by Captain Marvel, enhancing his own already impressive powers and giving him access to the device Mahr Vel had designed to defeat the Gah Lak Tus Swarm. The helmet predicts, if he uses the bomb near Hala, that the death count would be in the millions, an outcome Rick is unwilling to accept. At great personal risk, he manages to use his Nova powers to teleport Galactus and the swarm to an emptier location where he detonates the bomb more safely. It (at least temporarily) disables the swarm and deals a massive blow to Galactus, who escapes to gain more energy. The Watcher predicts he'll move towards the highest energy planet in the area (Earth, of course, in Ultimate: Cataclysm) but that Rick Jones, who managed to survive the attack, has other things to worry about, things that will present themselves in time.

Not a bad ending to what has been a pretty reliable series. Last issue showed Rick abandon his responsibility, unwilling to continue his involvement in fighting the massive force, but he's inspired to go back and, if need be, sacrifice himself to save the universe. He throws himself into that role now without reservation and only hesitates when he realizes the death toll if he tries to take out Galactus over Hala. Even then he doesn't hesitate to use his powers to teleport Galactus and the swarm away, an action that, by itself, could kill him. It's a nice progression from first issue Rick, who didn't understand his role in the universe and who was completely unprepared to get into such a big fight. He had done good things but he was ready for a break and ready to hang up the helmet for a bit, it seemed, before being frustratingly called back by the Watcher. After the stumble in issue three, his resolve is far stronger and seeing the actions of so many heroes around him (Spider-Man and Mahr Vel, particularly) strengthens him more. It's pretty classic hero's journey stuff but it's presented in an interesting and, above all else, succinct way, from which the book benefits. I've said before that the pacing is excellent and the choice to make this a four issue series instead of anything bigger (as Marvel has preferred to do of late) was a smart call, not allowing time for the series to wallow in any one thought. As a result, this is a bang-bang little series with a good core, some solid characterization, and a good story that will, it seems, pretty perfectly lead in to Cataclysm. Great work all around, Fialkov and crew did their jobs here.

A+X 13
Captain America and Cyclops: Duggan (w) and Yardin (a) and Mossa (c)
Black Widow and Emma Frost: Chaykin (w and a) and Delgado (c)

Story one, Captain America and Cyclops, is an interesting new attempt by the apparently ongoing A+X series (seriously, I was sure this was only going to last like, ten issues max, what is happening?) to tell an ongoing story with continuity and everything. This is part one of six of a story where a rebel Skrull band, helped in their training by none other than Charles Xavier, is preparing to attack Earth in the wake of Xavier's death and in retribution for the long-past Secret Invasion. A Skrull unassociated to that band has called together Captain America and Cyclops, failing to reach Xavier, to tell them so they won't seek retribution from the Skrulls if it comes to that. Of course, Cap and Cyclops aren't on great terms right now, to say the least, and immediately jeopardize the mission by fighting on the Skrull's ship and, conveniently, damaging all of the equipment the Skrull might use to pick different heroes or to scan people to see if they're really Skrulls or any other thing they might do. The two will have to grudgingly put their differences aside to protect the planet, made harder by the fact that Cap managed to lock Cyclops in nearly unbreakable handcuffs. Should be an interesting attempt as A+X delves into continuity for the first time here and puts the two people who are perhaps most furious with one another together for six ten-page issues. I'm not totally onboard with the premise but, again, it's just A+X, I'll let abrupt storytelling slide here.

Comic pro Howard Chaykin takes story two, a tale of espionage and intrigue and, well, mostly sex as Emma Frost enlists Black Widow's reluctant help to track down a sex tape Frost made in her Hellfire Club days so the person who has the tape will stop blackmailing her. The pair eventually manage to track down the scumbag who has it and Emma Frost, concentrating to her utmost, uses her weakened powers to punish the man; whenever he sees bare breasts in the future, he will helplessly projectile vomit. I have my problems with Howard Chaykin's art and writing style though I recognize that he's from sort of a different wing of comics and a different age than I'm really in favor of so I understand there is an appeal there that's unique to his work. I quite like his work in Matt Fraction's independent comic Satellite Sam but I have my problems with it here. I also tend to have problems when female superheroes are put into this kind of sexually motivated hole because don't we have enough of that everywhere else in our world? Still, the characterizations aren't awful and there are some nice pieces of dialogue here. It's not enough for me to really climb onboard this story but, again, I'm sure there are big Chaykin fans out there (and this art is distinctly Chaykin) who will love seeing these characters rendered in such a way. I'm not one. Worth a miss.

Wolverine MAX 12
Starr (w) and Ruiz (a) and D. Brown (c)

Wolverine has been hypnotized by Mother Night, who has found out about his fighting prowess, his healing factor, and, now, his deadly claws. Thrilled by the discoveries, Mother Night has decided to keep Wolverine pretty firmly in her grasp as her own personal assassin, among other things. His first target is Vegas gambler Max Fisher (no relation to Rushmore). She gives Wolverine a photo of him and makes him forget their conversation, coming back to his senses with the picture and an unexplainable hatred for Fisher. He's suspicious when he awakens, not knowing how he got the photo and not sure why he hates the stranger, but he can't come up with any reasons why. His fighting prowess, though, seems totally gone as he can no longer fully control himself; he manages to win another cage fight only after getting pounded on for a while and after Mother Night intercedes to get him to fight better before going to kill Fisher. Of course, after the fight he tracks and slays Fisher. He wakes up bloodied and all over the news.

Interesting story in that it will be interesting to see how Wolverine figures out he's being used and exactly what his retribution is when he does figure it out. Mother Night's not a bad villain for him in this series because he's so vulnerable to anything that makes him question his memory more and that he can't really identify as a threat. When he's not directly under her control, he recognizes some sort of attraction to her (mostly implanted by her) but can't quite place the uneasy feeling he has. I think it's a strong villain and it could lead to a strong story but the arc is still rather bogged down by excessive explanation and minor story points, sending the audience through explanation after explanation and reminding us over and over that his memory is bad. Some of that is important; Mother Night explaining away his uneasiness by blaming his damaged memory is an important moment because it shows the audience that there's a reason Wolverine could allow for these weird directions. Still, we get kind of hit over the head with it, which both slows the issue and over-explains, something you don't really want to do in comics. I think this story has the makings of a good arc but it's not going to quite reach it until Starr can get out of his own way.

Daredevil Dark Nights 4, Deadpool Kills Deadpool 3

Daredevil Dark Nights 4
D. Lapham (w + a) and Loughridge (c)

Our first of two creative team changes in Daredevil Dark Nights as David Lapham takes over writer and artist duties for the next two issues. This issue is more the feel of current Daredevil than Weeks' arc was, which still felt like Daredevil but not Waid's. Where Weeks' was more gritty and tense, Lapham's is, first and foremost, set around the time of Waid's run with Matt advising people in their own legal defenses. It's perhaps set a little earlier than we're set with Waid's run currently as Matt is also dating Kirsten McDuffie in this issue. Anyway, that's enough set-up. Currently, Matt is providing the defense for small-time mob member Michael Rochelle. Using his lie detector hearing senses, he's already determined that Rochelle is innocent of killing the councilwoman he's accused of killing but it's not really helping Rochelle's case, which is predicated on a gun probably used to kill the councilwoman with Rochelle's prints on it. Daredevil thinks it could actually exonerate Rochelle but it's stolen away by a tiny man (ten inches tall) named Buggit who seems to secrete oil from his pores, making him extra slippery in addition to extra small. Daredevil chases Buggit throughout the city, never really managing to get more than a slight grasp of him. Finally he manages to get his hands on some flour (thanks to a  woman who finds herself rather interested in the superhero climbing her building) and coats Buggit in it, allowing him to get a hand on the man. It turns out Buggit is Rochelle's cousin and wants to save him from jail time, not knowing Matt could possibly save Buggit. Also, the gun being lost means that whoever Rochelle was the patsy for now thinks they're being double-crossed. Daredevil finds himself up against Shocker (easy) and a giant monster (harder), which manages to distract him from Buggit long enough for Buggit to make it to Rochelle's apartment, where he finds him, shot to death.

There's more of a sense of fun to this issue than the last three issues, which is what I was, in an extremely roundabout way, getting to up above. Even with the dramatic ending, the idea of Buggit by itself is a more fun one than a girl who needs a new heart in the middle of a devastating snowstorm. On top of that, Daredevil runs into several women who he flirts with, harkening back to simpler days for Matt, who was always something of a womanizer. It's a nice little touch for the character and it fits well with Waid's approach to the character, which has been so successful. The fun of the issue is definitely well received as it does serve as a nice break from the tension of the last arc. Weeks' arc was solid and the art particularly was gorgeous but it did kind of break from the newest characterization of the character. Still, obviously a very heroic act in that arc and a nice follow-up here from Lapham. The match-up against the somewhat ridiculous Buggit was nice, as well as the match-up between Daredevil and Shocker, among other things. Good issue.

Deadpool Kills Deadpool 3
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c)

The good Deadpools still have to deal with the bad Deadpools but now they have Galactuspool to deal with on top of everything else. The good 'pools manage to pretty handily defeat the bad 'pools and Lady Deadpool leads the others to an extensive armory hidden underneath what had been their base not too long ago. She tells Deadpool that he'll need these weapons in the times to come. She then promptly drives the Bea Arthur into face of Galactus, which proves to be just enough to knock the head off though it comes at what seems to be the cost of her life. The Watcher, now firmly on the side of the good 'pools, tells them they need to head to the nexus of reality in this dimension to root out the bad 'pools at their source. The nexus in this world is located in the Savage Land, where the remaining good 'pools run afoul of some more bad 'pools, this time in the form of Deadpool the Duck, Deadpool Dinosaur and the murderous Moon Boy, and DEADPOOL (a MODOK 'pool).

Again, the ideas of this series don't hold the series up as much as the ideas behind the Deadpool Killustrated series. Still, it's fairly fun to see all the various Deadpools from different realities. There is something of an emotional core as our Deadpool has to struggle with the weight of killing Deadpools across reality and what the fight makes him. However, this emotional core comes even as he obliterates his enemies so it's a little hard to make out how much it's truly impacting him. If you're not looking for a serious series or a hugely characterization or plot heavy book, you could do worse than this one. If you're not in the mood for fun or jokey books or if you hate Deadpool (who features in this book rather a lot, keen-eyed readers might note), this one's worth a miss. Could be worse, maybe could be better (hard to argue that definitively; maybe this is the best of all possible Deadpool Kills Deadpool series).

This week's picks

Woo, tricky week for picking my top three. Only, in my head, one real stand out and everything else was middling, maybe a step over or under, or despicably bad. So let's start with the stand out.

Iron Man 14

This series continues to impress as the characters are so nailed down and well-thought out and the story is so compelling. For this issue specifically, we have characters falling nicely into perfect roles for them, set up beautifully by the way they've been presented throughout the series, such as Death's Head willfully going against 451's orders while not going against his orders, Tony using his ingenuity to escape 451's control, and even 451 with a bit of regret and sadness overpowered by his drive to complete this mission. Just a great book with sharp writing and stand-out characters and a story really worth reading. The stakes have been raised higher than ever for Tony as the issue ends, leading to what will surely be another great issue from Gillen.

Superior Spider-Man 15

Dan Slott's insistence on building up Phil Urich is paying off now as everything Phil has built for himself comes crashing down around his shoulders. Fired by the Kingpin in dramatic fashion and hunted by Spider-Man, Phil's checkbook has been taken away and he still has bills to pay. As his life gets more and more chaotic, he finds himself targeted again by Spider-Man and, unbeknownst to him, by the former Horizon employee he burned, Ty Stone (it occurs to me know I have two cousins, one named Ty and one named Stone, in the same family. That's not ideal). As Spider-Man reveals his identity to the world at large, Phil is surrounded by the bit role players of the Daily Bugle, which should put Spider-Man in a bit of a delicate situation as the next issue starts with a psychopath surrounded by Peter's old friends and colleagues.

Hunger 2

This book is definitely getting in on the weakness of the week. It's edged out Avengers (which would have been in on Manifold's back alone), the other two Superior books, and Daredevil Dark Nights (which was probably the closest bet but still had a couple of lingering problems that irked me). I don't think this is a wholly remarkable book so far (though it will show up in the best panel segment) but the story is enticing, it's well-written and well-illustrated. Can't ask for much more out of a book than that. I'll be interested to see where the mini-series goes after this and what it means for the Ultimate and standard Marvel Universes as a whole when the dust settles. Like I said in the review, I also can't get too close to the characters in this book because I have smart money on one or both of them dying before it's all over.


Best Panel

This one comes from Hunger 2 and it's a pretty astoundingly drawn panel. It rather blew me a way when I turned the page to it. I think it's probably helped by the fact that Ultimate characters can and do tend to die at a moment's notice, meaning that Surfer pulling Nova out of the swarm had been a real threat. Still, even if it hadn't been, the image is very impressive and it's incredibly well-drawn and colored. This panel has stuck with me throughout the week in the way that only the best Best Panels do. Made my job easier, I tell you (though there were a handful of solid covers I considered choosing for a Best Cover segment instead).

Hunger 2, Deadpool Kills Deadpool 2, Daredevil Dark Nights 3

Hunger 2
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

Galactus and the Gah Lak Tus swarm have merged into one being, far more powerful than either individual entity and it's making its way through the Ultimate Universe. On the plus side, Rick Jones now isn't the only super powerful entity in the universe who is aware of its existence as the Ultimate Universe's Silver Surfer is also on the case, showing up just in time to save Rick from the swarm. This Surfer, like the 616's, prefers nonviolence where he can get it and begins to attempt to talk Galactus down. Galactus is amused that there's a Silver Surfer in this universe too but, of course, doesn't listen to him because that would end the series right now and also would be a bit silly. With their powers combined, will they be enough to stop the Galactus swarm?

No, not yet, anyway. But you probably knew that because we just talked about how it would be a little silly if the four issue series actually ended in the second issue. Rick Jones and Silver Surfer, though, are teamed up now and have been transported to Earth, along with one of the swarm. The writing in this series has been pretty solid so far and I'm always a fan of Silver Surfer showing up (pretty darn excited that he's going to be in the next Daredevil issue, if the cover is to be believed). The two of them are pretty powerful and nicely aligned here but they'd have to be powerful or else putting them up against double Galactus wouldn't be much of an interesting fight. Leonard Kirk's art also continues to be pretty astounding and the colors for the book are really nice. It's a grand story for the Ultimate Universe, which Fialkov is already working on a different grand story for. It'll be interesting to see how Earth intersects with this story if indeed it does. If it doesn't in this story, I'm a little more worried for our protagonists here. Never get too attached to characters in the Ultimate Universe and particularly don't get too attached if they're characters who are facing a seemingly insurmountable foe and who haven't appeared in the universe any time recently. The thing about the Ultimate Universe is that insurmountable foes tend to remain insurmountable for quite some time.

Deadpool Kills Deadpool 2
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c)

The summary of the series is broken down a bit more by our Watcher here as he explains the last couple Deadpool Kills series and how it ultimately led to certain Deadpools believing that, if they couldn't destroy the universe through killing all the heroes and all the ideas, maybe the universe is, in fact, in his mind. As a result, these Deadpools are tooling around the multiverse killing Deadpools who are not trying to kill other Deadpool. Talking about this series is going to get confusing, hm? Our Deadpool accompanies his band of Deadpools to a Deadpool hideout where they find out that their Deadpool comrades were ambushed by evil Deadpools and the evil Deadpools are lying in wait for them and this sentence might have broken a record for number of Deadpools invoked. Turns out the Watcher is a sort of double agent in that he's playing both sides of Deadpools because he's such a fan of the character that he wants to help them both out. Our Deadpool loses a couple of his crew though gains a couple more but it might be too late for them. The evil Deadpools, including the Deadpool made up from parts of our Deadpool, admit that they're here on a suicide mission as Galactuspool shows up.

The series is silly and better for it. Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe lost a bit in the way of Deadpool silliness (though that was a parallel dimension's Deadpool), sacrificing it for far worse jokes and more gore. I liked Deadpool Killustrated but that was based mostly on the idea behind it rather than the writing in it. I like that we're back with our Deadpool who is a little more familiar to us. The story itself is equally silly and seems almost to be more an excuse for the team to come up with more Deadpools to draw and characterize (there are Deadpool equivalents for just about every hero, including a Captain Marvelpool and a Wolverinepool, as well as many other silly ideas, like the now-dead Beard of Beespool). Still some interesting ideas in here but I'm not sure if people are reading this for its complicated and meaningful plot and its complicated and meaningful characters. The book's called Deadpool Kills Deadpool, if you're looking for complex and meaningful probably best to look elsewhere.

Daredevil Dark Nights 3
Weeks (w) and Weeks, Cariello and Palmer (a) and Loughridge (c)

Daredevil has been brought back to a shelter by the woman he saved from the mugger before passing out last issue. He's been out about twenty minutes and the man who runs the shelter, who purportedly knows Daredevil's mission of saving the little girl's heart, has set off to finish the job for him. When Matt awakens, he instantly follows the man, not knowing if he's actually planning to deliver it and knowing that, even if he is planning it, he won't make it to the hospital in this weather. The man has indeed run into a few problems himself, finding himself on the short side of addition debts and accosted by the gang he owes them to. Daredevil manages to track the heart and save the man, escaping with him and the heart before the gang members can regroup. In turn, Daredevil is helped by a SHIELD patrol that has been keeping abreast of the situation themselves. The heart is successfully delivered and Daredevil kicks around the hospital until he hears the girl's heart beating.

This was a nice little story for Daredevil as he has to cope with memories and an overwhelming and unbeatable enemy in the snow of the city. Daredevil is a pretty introspective character and he has a lot going on in his head most of the time. Weeks was smart to focus on that aspect of the character and to force him into a situation where his mind drifts into memories more easily, given the strain his body is facing. There are a couple of somewhat strange turns that put Daredevil in the frame of trying to save the girl to make up for his sins in the world but I'm not sure I love that idea. On the one hand, Daredevil certainly is motivated by his failures, like many other heroes, but on the other, that makes it feel like he wouldn't try to save this girl unless he was trying to absolve himself and that's kind of a crappy hero. I know that there's some level of that to plenty of heroes (Spider-Man is constantly trying to make up for the fact he caused Uncle Ben's death) but I think that it weakens the story a bit here, especially as it only really comes up this issue. By and large though, pretty good story with really good art. If you're on the fence about picking up this series, the art alone should push you to do it. Excited to see what the next story and creative team will bring us.

Hunger 1, What If...AvX 3

Hunger 1
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

After the events of Age of Ultron, the time and spacelines are split a bit and everything is wonky. Issue 10 of Age of Ultron showed Galactus popping into the Ultimate Universe (where he "exists" in the form of a swarm of robot drones and flesh eating viruses called Gah Lak Tus) and that's what this four issue mini-series is focusing on. To start, it focuses on Rick Jones, who is far more powerful in the Ultimate Universe than he is in the 616 and has been tasked by the Watcher to protect the Universe and who is currently trying to take something of a break from that life. He's unable to when he's thrown through a portal by the Watcher that sends him to a battlefield where the Kree and Chitauri (the Ultimate version of the Skrulls, pretty much, which are now also in the 616 thanks to The Avengers and Bendis' Guardians of the Galaxy, among other things) are attacked by the Gah Lak Tus swarm. It's here that the rift in the time opens up, depositing the 616's Galactus in the middle of the fight as well.

The Gah Lak Tus swarm and Galactus are obviously already huge threats on their own but this mini-series introduces the idea of two versions of Galactus teaming up and wreaking unbelievable havoc, among other worrying things about the rips in time and space. The decision to focus this, at least for now, on Rick Jones is an interesting one as I believe he's been rather inactive for rather some time (well, by his own admission, he's been incredibly active but we've not seen him in some time) but he's a wonderfully powerful entity and therefore is a good gauge for how strong the Galacti are. At the same time as this giant disaster, Fialkov is writing the giant disasters ongoing in the Ultimates at current and he's fresh off a startlingly good Alpha mini-series. I don't read a ton outside of Marvel and a handful of  other indies (and Scott Snyder's Batman which I have to admit is a pretty awesome book, even if I won't recommend it here lest it ruin my Marvel cred) so I hadn't seen Fialkov prior to this set of Marvel comics but he's certainly a capable writer with a good eye for character and a story to tell. He was recently on the Nerdist Writers Panel podcast and said that one of the approaches he likes to take is to tell the story of a character on their worst day, which is a nice frame for a lot of these stories and which tells a good amount about the character in the way he or she reacts. Solid start here. It'll be interesting to see how this resolves as I find it hard to believe the 616 will be lacking a Galactus permanently.

What If...AvX 3
Palmiotti (w) and Sandoval and Tarragona (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Quick note again: Marvel has to get their credits together. This is another in a series of issues I've seen recently where the credits on the cover don't match up with the credits on the interior. The interior is claiming Gerardo Sandoval is the main artist but the cover claims Jorge Molina, as does the shipping list I check. I went with Sandoval because I've seen more Molina art and it doesn't really look like his style. I could be wrong, of course, but I'm sticking with it. Anyway, glad this took up so much space because there's not a whole ton to talk about with this issue. Hope was, at the end of last issue, possessed by the Phoenix in the company of Magneto and Emma Frost and the Avengers space strike team was in hot pursuit. They get there only to find Hope controlled by the Phoenix and starting to be manipulated by Magneto, which doesn't bode well for the humans on Earth. On Earth, everyone is getting pretty antsy about the reports from space and the Avengers and X-Men put their differences aside to try to stop Magneto. It won't be that easy, though, to stop the master of magnetism teamed up with the impossibly powerful Phoenix. They have one more issue to try to do so.

I'd be interested to hear how someone who prefers comics and stories for their plots is reacting to this What If series. I like plot and a good plot can certainly carry a comic sometimes but it would have to be an insanely good plot to make up for weak characters. I care mostly about characters and think the best characters can easily hoist up a bad plot and make you forget all about it. This story is not about the characters. That much has been clear from the get-go. Events sometimes have trouble doing that because there are so many pieces to the story. It's why I liked the Age of Ultron tie-in stuff more than Age of Ultron (well, that and other reasons); I preferred to hear how these events impacted the characters I care about rather than how the story would settle itself out. Civil War was pretty solid for defining character because it was such a morality question and just choosing a side told a lot about character. Here, though, the character doesn't really impact the story. It's good that it doesn't, though, because every character continues to be either written exactly the same, in the case of any backgroundish character, or to their basest elements, in the case of the characters most in the foreground. Everyone is simply saying whatever best advances the plot and no one seems to have a personality to them except for the personality foisted on the stars of the book, like Magneto (hates humans), Cap (soldier), Cyclops (X-Man) and Iron Man (Avenger). On the other hand, pretty much anyone else could be swapped with any other character and it would all look about the same. Nova, here Sam Alexander, talks like he's been a superhero for years and is maybe actually Richard Rider under there instead of a 15 year old who just got powers. Black Panther literally says, in conferring with Tony about a scientific weapons device, "From what you told me, this thing packs a wallop!" which ignores the fact that the Panther we know would already know the exact scope of the tech he's using, would never say "wallop," and likely hasn't had an exclamation point anywhere near him in decades. These may sound like nitpicks from someone who's a little too into comic books (if that's what you're thinking, why are you here? That's pretty much ENTIRELY what this blog is supposed to be), but they really do break the flow and the weight of the book by making it feel like the writer didn't care about the characters, so why should I? I adore Black Panther, he's in my top five superheroes, and it couldn't have mattered less to me that he died in this issue (he died in this issue, btw). Sure it's a "what if" so I know it's not in continuity anyway, but I still should have felt something: I knew he wasn't actually going to be dead at the end of Age of Ultron and I was still legitimately mad when he got killed off (though that was largely because he got killed by a bad fall, the dude with maybe the best reflexes in the world). Here, it didn't matter. He was just words on a page. And that's an ugly thought to be left with when your job description boils down to "words on a page."