Amazing Spider-Man 6, X-Force 9

Amazing Spider-Man 6

Black Cat unmasks Spider-Man on live TV but Jameson inadvertently blocks the shot the entire time in a swing and a miss at humor. Silk manages to bust Peter out of the fight before any lasting harm can come of it but they know now to be prepared for Electro and Black Cat at every turn, which is good because the villains, on the sort-of coerced advice of Sajani, plan an attack on Parker Industries' big reveal of their new Electro-depowering tech. Everything at the press conference goes crazy but the ultimate result is a massive explosion that falls on Parker Industries and Spider-Man's rep, though it does indeed manage to depower Electro. Black Cat escapes and finds herself back in the good graces of a slew of underling supervillains, pledging to become the queen of the thieves, while Silk gets an internship with a news station in hopes of finding more about her family, and Peter feels rejuvenated by the success of the Electro device and believes he's in a good place with his work and his friends Sajani and Anna Maria, who are whispering even now about undermining some of his work.

I've already voiced some disapproval and concern about this book as it has focused on a pair of villains who just come off as crazy and well out of their own character, particularly Black Cat (I think Electro has been slightly better and a little more interesting). Cat has oscillated between petty criminal and vigilante for some time now so this full U-turn to hardcore crime boss because she's been wronged continues to seem really far-fetched. It may seem overkill to keep harping on that but right now that's what the entire story hinges itself on so it's impossible to overlook or to overstate its significance. What's more, the writing has been exposition heavy and the repeated attempts at jokes and humor have come off forced and mostly weak. I think there are interesting nuggets here and there (Sajani's sort-of betrayal, Anna Maria as sort-of sidekick to Spider-Man, Peter's determination to "heal" supervillains, etc.) but they're hard to find right now beneath the problems of the book.

Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 9

X-Force has been revealed in the desert and, despite Dr. Nemesis' hopes for a dialogue, a fight breaks out between X-Force and Pete Wisdom's team. Meanwhile, Agent Mel, the leader of the soldiers, is taken right from under their noses by the guerrilla Quaddees they were chasing in the first place, which, along with the insane power the seemingly least powerful soldier has, serves to end the fight and open a dialogue, to Nemesis' satisfaction. The soldiers in this unit have volunteered for superpowers, essentially, that will kill them all within a year but that will aid Volga until then. Now aware of their situation and the stakes, they agree to accompany X-Force to find their missing commander. When the team finds her, they're overwhelmed by powered-up Quaddees. Psylocke and Meme manage to bust through and read the captured Mel's mind, learning about the experiments and the power of the soldiers. Unfortunately, there seems to be no reasonable way out of this scenario so X-Force is x-forced to stick to Mel's plan, which involves her own team self-destructing, more or less, to take out the Quaddees and to stop their own powers from getting out into the work. Wisdom leads his team back home, though he warns Cable first about the bugs around them as Volga's spies (which we saw just two issues or so ago).

Things remain a little confusing this issue, as they were last issue, but Spurrier's managed to clear up enough and to keep a lot of the banter entertaining enough to allow us to proceed with the story. It's a true in media res story overall as we only get bits and pieces of the soldiers' mission, only the parts we need to know as they pertain to X-Force, which makes for a bit of a confusing issue but still allows us to come out the other side with a slightly better sense of our team and of Volga's capabilities, not hurt by Wisdom's reveal. It's a particularly strong Dr. Nemesis issue (a character Spurrier unabashedly loves, and rightfully so) as his unending disdain for superheroes finds a real home with this team. Some strong writing and fun character moments (one of the constant joys of this series is watching Fantomex repeatedly assert he is the best as whatever he's doing only to be proven wrong immediately, a joke that never seems to get old) carry this one.

Total Score: 4/5

X-Force 2, X-Men Legacy 300

X-Force 2
Spurrier (w) and R. Kim (a and c)

Cable is adamant about uniting mutants in terms of seeing everyone as one people as opposed to their separate factions. In that hope, he contacts every individual faction he can (including Wolverine and Storm at the Jean Grey School, Mystique wherever Mystique's at leading her villains, Magneto wherever Magneto's at, Cyclops at the Xavier School, Polaris at X-Factor, and Havok with the Avengers) to tell them about the recent attacks to mutants and about the new mutant they've found, who he and his team have dubbed Meme. Everyone he talks to is very reluctant to actually care about his information about the war they're fighting and the idea that the mutant race needs to really take care of its own, even after he reveals that Meme is just one in a line of people who seemingly have been experimented on and whose powers have been tested and synthesized. Of course, it seems like both Hope and Marrow are members of that group with Marrow being particularly a strange case as she was depowered on M-Day. The key for Cable and his X-Force now is to track down the person responsible for the events at Alexandria. Cable goes to Fiqh, a higher-up in Saudi intelligence and strikes a deal; Cable and his team will kill someone in his way and he'll give them information. The team succeeds, giving Fiqh a direct line to the head of his agency. He happily gives up the information he promised, leaving Cable and his team with a look at Yevgeny-Malevitch Volga, a billionaire with the means to destroy Alexandria.

Another really compelling issue. I think this one is a little heavier than the last, covering multiple locations and giving a harder-to-follow running narration from Cable instead of Marrow this time. Still, it's a more worthwhile read for how deep it gets. Like in issue one, there are mysteries peeking in from the corners here and ones that you already know will be driving points later down the road but are secondary to the missions now. It's a lot of very cool stuff and Spurrier has very clearly defined the sort of story this one is going to be and the sort of parameters driving the team. I think that Cable being so determined to make the mutants see themselves as one race is really interesting and a really smart move that hasn't really been done before. It's been touched on in the past, particularly after M-Day and with the X-Men's move to Utopia but it's never been on this sort of scale, where Cable so desperately wants everyone involved. The characters are showing a lot of personality and the story certainly has legs. I think this one is going to be another one that builds its world first and then really takes off, like Spurrier did in X-MEN LEGACY, though I'd be surprised if it took quite as long here. Great stuff.

X-Men Legacy 300
Spurrier, M. Carey, and Gage (w) and Huat, Kurth, Sandoval, Yeung, A. Martinez, and Tarragona (a) and Villarrubia, Rosenberg, and Arreola (c)

A young woman with serious injuries to her face has appeared at the Jean Grey School and subsequently been trapped by one of the defense measures surrounding the school: a fence that sucks you in and keeps you trapped more and more the more you want to get into the school. She's trapped pretty badly and none of the X-Men appear to be on hand to help her except one, a mutant man named ForgetMeNot. ForgetMeNot explains that he is an X-Man but is one who is almost entirely unknown because his power is one that makes anyone not focused on him forget about him entirely (not unlike the Silence from Doctor Who but, you know, he's a good guy). The girl explains that she came to the school in the hopes that the X-Men, who she always loved, would accept her although she's not a mutant because, after a sexual attack from a man in her town, her entire home life has pushed her away. However, there's apparently no way to get out of this gate. ForgetMeNot decides to tell her a story to take her mind off how much she wants to get in, something that will hopefully release her. So he tells her a couple of stories, including one about his efforts saving enemy soldiers, or at least giving dying ones some brief moments of peace, when the X-Men were at Fortress X, one about Professor X being the kind of guy who set his watch to remind him about ForgetMeNot every hour so someone knew he was always there, and one about trying to get Weapon Omega and Mimic to take his powers after Professor X died so that he could be noticed at last. The lesson of the stories end up being, essentially, that you are what you are and you are what the past has made you but the key is to do something with it that matters, to live the life you have and make the best of it. Eventually the wall traps ForgetMeNot, who Beast apparently forgot when he programmed the defenses, and frees the girl, allowing her to escape with the lesson learned but forgetting about ForgetMeNot.

It's a solid frame story and the sort of story that makes you go "ahhh, clever" as you start to get the gist of the idea. ForgetMeNot is the sort of perfect character for a retrospective and sweet tale like this one, one that requires an observer from X-Men history but one who is decidedly separate from it. It's like dropping the Watcher in something like this, but a Watcher who is human and therefore more complex. The character and the issue are also impressively tailored to fit the themes of this long and storied series. While ForgetMeNot only interacts briefly with Professor X and never with, say, Rogue or Legion, he spends a long time dealing with Weapon Omega and Mimic, who have powers rather similar to Rogue's and who had spent a lot of time with Rogue in their most recent appearance, and the entire key to the issue is about being forgotten as a character who had never before existed, like a sort of opposite Legion. There's a lot to like about the oversized issue and it's certainly worth a read as long as you're not looking for something that will contribute to a larger story or a larger world and rather looking for a standalone and very introspective issue like so many of these style books tend to be.

X-Men Legacy 23, Uncanny X-Force 17

X-Men Legacy 23
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

David's world worm is in full effect as he finds himself trapped in his own mind while the sum of his powers begin to envelop everyone around him, calling forth all mutants to join him, which they do, convinced by David's powers that it's for the best. The only one who isn't called into David is Blindfold, who tries to stop the other mutants from being taken but who also recognizes that she won't be able to. She enters David's mind as her physical body keeps fighting the world worm outside and the two of them talk. It's a surprisingly soft talk with everything that's happening outside and it has a lot to do with his regret that he won't be able to spend more time with Ruth. It's then, though, that the smallest of loopholes occurs to him (particularly notable since he also spends a fair amount of time lamenting that the beautiful people in this world always get loopholes and manage to worm their way out of death but he just worms his way into it. Get it? Worms. Guys, I'm working on LAYERS here): one of the powers he's gestalt-ed into him is the powers of the Chronodon, who can make time stand still. He uses these powers not to stop anything that's about to happen but to give himself and Ruth just a little more time. And then they make love in that time.

This series and this story have been incredible all the way through, highlighted by a very distinct narrator and protagonist but certainly helped by a well-developed and maintained supporting cast. In the end, though, this was always meant to be a love story between David and Ruth and finally, after 23 issues, they get their moment. Albeit, it's a short lived one as they had to literally stop time to have it and their return to time will return their physical forms to fighting with one needing to kill the other to ensure their better future, but it's still a moment. It's a lovely moment at that and it's backed by an issue that gives us exactly what we've come to expect from this book; it's a solid mix of action, high stakes, and character drama with the typical comic book world-ending possibility and, as David knew it would, it all comes down to punching. Really great visual issue too. Striking images and jarring colors (lots of yellow and grey) really help to highlight everything that's happening and give it sort of an epic feel. So excited for the last issue but also so incredibly depressed by the idea of it.

Uncanny X-Force 17
Humphries (w) and Tolibao, Soy, Tadeo, Young, and Paris (a) and Curiel (c)

The conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE, CABLE AND X-FORCE, and the VENDETTA crossover itself kicks off with Hope plunging the psimitar into Bishop's gut. Bishop, though, convinces her to take the psimitar out without actually killing him by again pointing out that he's totally sorry but more so that she shouldn't throw her life away by killing and that she shouldn't throw her life away on him. Not to say he wouldn't deserve it, he admits, but that it's still not worth it (it doesn't hurt that he's not a threat any more). With this, the rest of the X-Force teams locate and attack Stryfe, splitting into two groups, one to attack Stryfe and one to locate their missing teammates. The attack on Stryfe is well-managed by Psylocke but ultimately fails to the omega-level mutant. Stryfe captures everyone in a telekinetic hold except for Spiral, who had left earlier, and Cable, who was still removed from the fight. Spiral, though, hadn't actually left officially but had, instead, gone to pick up Cable and they return to stab Stryfe with the psimitar, which does not kill him but does force him to flee. However, before he goes, he forces Hope to take his powers, knowing she can't contain them and will likely kill them all with the psychic reverb. With Stryfe gone, everyone is free to worry about Hope exploding but, before she can, Bishop rushes forth and talks to her, understanding what she's going through as someone whose powers also rely on absorption and release. Bishop manages to get her to contain the power and then blast it upwards, impacting no one. With everyone safe, the two teams reconvene and hang out a bit, effectively ending the books with Psylocke and Cable walking into the sunset together.

It's not a bad little ending but most of it hinges on Bishop and Hope, which is certainly a worthwhile story and one that's executed as well as anything in these two series has been. However, it also means that the rest of the players in this book kind of get pushed to the side a little and actually end up feeling a little unnecessary. The story was never about them and their rescue of the hostages only ended up serving as a distraction for Cable to get to Stryfe. Kind of a weird way to end the two series, which is kind of what I've been saying since the get-go. I've also been saying that this crossover has hit every beat in a sort of predictable fashion and, with the quality of the issue aside, this issue is no different. Still, like I said, the story of Cable, Hope, and Bishop was one certainly worth telling and I think it's told pretty well here. I don't think either of these series got to end on a particularly strong note with this crossover, sadly, but it's certainly an acceptable note and it paves the way rather nicely for Si Spurrier's X-FORCE next month (woo!).

X-Men Legacy 22, Uncanny X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 22
Spurrier (w) and Pham (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The evil mind-Xavier has launched a missile containing all sorts of nuclear firepower at Washington, knowing that the very act, once it shows on the radar, will cause a chain reaction around the world currently filled with hate that the gold Xavier has permeated. David, though, unknowingly has called for his allies. From Wolverine's team to Cyclops' team to Abigail Brand and Sydren to Pete Wisdom to anyone he's teamed up with and they all show, helping to take apart the nuke before it can cause too much trouble (as David points out, taking apart a nuke was the first thing the X-Men did). The gold Xavier is less a gold Xavier at current and more a giant rock monster thing with crazy seemingly disintegration ray powers so it'll take all the X-Men and David's considerable might to bring him down. There are casualties in the fight that David, as a leader, has to be able to move past, including the apparent deaths of Abigail Brand, Chamber, and Karasu Tengu. David pushes through and gets the X-Men to push through and work together, to put aside the hate they have stored up in them and the hate that Xavier is trying to force to the surface. David destroys the body and pulls the power into the astral plane. It's at this moment that Blindfold wakes up, with the power taken by her brother restored (now that Luca's body is destroyed), and projects herself to the fight while her actual body hurries its way there. David squares off against the gold Xavier, who begins to weaken and transform away from the Xavier image and into something small and sickly, goblin-like, in his mind. David prepares to either cage the personality or destroy it but the personality denies him, asking David how a person with a sickness of the mind cures it. The answer is, of course, that he doesn't: he finds ways to live with it. With that, he dives into David's legion and David, unprepared to take it on, emerges back into the real world and becomes the world worm they knew he would become.

The last time I talked about X-MEN LEGACY it was to name it 2013's best Marvel title. This issue does absolutely nothing to disavow me of that notion, even though last week saw the conclusion and therefore the wrap-up of the amazing YOUNG AVENGERS. This book is just truly something else. There's a feeling with the last year or two of Marvel books that they're all echoing something different out there. I think that has a lot to do with books like HAWKEYE, which really broke the mold of a superhero comic, and the rise of Image comics. Superhero books can be different and they can maybe be a little niche and you can take the superhero world, with all of its tropes and eccentricities and over-the-top action and death and resurrection and superpowers and supervillains, and you can, if you want, stick it in a real-ish world and tell really great, really character-centric stories. It's not necessarily a new idea when it's framed that way but it certainly feels new and the books that are doing it well are doing it with such excellence that they're about the best books I've ever seen. Even books that feel a little more traditional, like DAREDEVIL, are bringing such a level of personality and depth that they're changing the face of superhero comics. X-MEN LEGACY is a book about the mutant son of Charles Xavier who happens to be the most powerful mutant in existence. David himself says that his father thought of him as a mutant with "godlike powers and childlike control." Despite this and despite the amazing stories that Spurrier can be and has told with the character, it's remained remarkably personal and remarkably moving. This issue moves David into a spot (where he's been moving for a while, actually) where the main villain has been the sickness in himself and, instead of the typical superhero solution of "punch down the bad guys," you can't find a cure for every sickness. It's an amazing book. Khoi Pham's art is incredible here and, though his style is a departure from Tan Eng Huat (the other major series artist), gives the book a very distinct feel. Huat's art has really grown on me as the series has progressed and, honestly, it's at the point where I love Pham's art in this book but I can see it just as well as if Huat drew it. That's thanks in no small part, too, to Rachelle Rosenberg's colors, which unify the title and makes it look unlike any other out there. Amazing, amazing book. If we ever get a full omnibus style release for this title, I'd urge everyone to get it. Urge, you guys.

Uncanny X-Force 16
Humphries (w) and Tolibao and Soy (a) and Curiel (c)

Hope and Bishop have been taken by Stryfe and both Cable's X-Force and the Uncanny X-Force are interested in finding them. However, the reasons for their mutual interest don't exactly match up and the two teams begin to fight one another through LA. Cable's team shows up to support their leader as he gets knocked out by Storm and Psylocke and they play a bit of keep away as Cable's team works to get him back. Meanwhile, Bishop tries to convince Hope that he's really changed but nothing he can say, as he well understands, can make up for the horrors he's inflicted on Hope. Stryfe shows up to taunt at them for a bit and because he's sworn revenge on Bishop, who betrayed him and left him stranded in the future the last time they saw each other. He offers Hope a chance at her wildest dreams (to be revealed next issue). Back in LA, the dust settles to find Cable awake again. Cable instructs Dr. Nemesis to give Spiral a nightmare, which he does with one of his drug concoctions. In the midst of Spiral's Mojo-based nightmare, Cable convinces her to teleport him to Stryfe's location, which she somewhat unwittingly does. They arrive to find Stryfe waiting for them.

What I typically like about four-issue crossovers is that there's usually a lot to explain and not a lot of room to do it in, so you tend to get only the exposition that you truly need and the action has to move at a certain pace to convey the entire story of two separate entities (in this case, CABLE AND X-FORCE and UNCANNY X-FORCE) over only four issues. For the most part, VENDETTA is proving to be no different. The fights move pretty quickly, the inciting incident and rising action all move well, and you can feel the story both winding up and preparing to wind down at any point. On the weaker ones, you can usually map out the beats after the first issue. I wouldn't say this is entirely one of the weaker ones; the story there, particularly the story about Hope and Bishop, is intriguing enough to keep the audience guessing and to keep the crossover moving well. I will say, I almost would have preferred it if this issue wasn't a big fight issue. Not only would a quick team-up without the typical big fight be something of a surprise in a crossover of this style, it would make a little more sense. To both Sam Humphries' and Dennis Hopeless' credit, they've created a reason for the fight that's more than just "this is the second beat of a four-issue crossover." Still, these are two teams comprised of people who are friends and unquestionably heroes (well, except for the reformed villains you tend to ruin into) and you'd like to see that, just once, mean something. Still not a bad issue. There's some clunky fight-dialogue sprinkled throughout but the arguments for both side are good enough that you can get past it. Also not complaining that the resolution of this crossover will set us into the February launch of Si Spurrier's (see above review) X-FORCE.

X-Men Legacy 20, Cable and X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 20
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung w/ Tadeo (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Shadow Phoenix is in David's mind attacking all of the powers that live there as David tries to find a way to defeat it. He thinks back to the things that linked the survivors of the Shadow Phoenix he saw when he was combing around Aarkus' head for clues. His first assumption is that sheer power defeated it, so he tries to rally his strongest and most intimidating powers, though he does so to no avail. They're scared of the Shadow Phoenix, who is picking them apart one by one. His next thought is strength in numbers, so his next move is to attempt to lead the remaining powers in his head. When this continues not to work, it sets in on him. Strength in numbers doesn't matter, it's the ability to work together that saved the Shadow Phoenix's other foes. Knowing this, David opens himself up to bond with his powers, teaming with them instead of simply grabbing and controlling them when he needs. David realizes that his mantra of "I rule me" has never been more true; every human, as he says, is a legion in need of a leader, wishing to be guided and not ruled. As a result, the Shadow Phoenix starts to weaken and even starts to spit back out the powers its swallowed, which David realizes is pretty weird; a predator who doesn't chew its food but keeps it intact. It dawns on David as he expels the Shadow Phoenix and wakes up: the Shadow Phoenix wasn't real, it was all a con. As he emerges from his own mind and awakens again, he begins to accuse Aarkus, who quickly cuts him off and explains it was only for his own good. He needed to learn how to use his powers like this, to become one with them. They needed him scared, not smug. Aarkus, in fact, appreciated that David stepped in to correct his previous views about mutants and wanted to return the favor by opening David's mind to what he could really be. On top of that, they need him whole to face down the golden Xavier. Even this series' first person to turn on David, Karasu Tengu, has realized that her life is, in fact, better for David's interference in it and so she played the role of the Shadow Phoenix. Now David must go and fight, with all of his powers intact.

Really, really lovely book. There are few examples of the sort of "hero realizes his potential" part of the hero's journey that are as well executed as this. All of the pieces start coming together as we see flashes from David of his own memories of this series where, for as successful as he's been, he's used and abused people. He's accomplished most of his own goals but his mistakes and even the problematic perception of him have all come because he's refused to let people in on his plan, preferring to do things himself and let people see too late that maybe he was doing a good thing after all. This issue makes clear that David simply hasn't seen things that way up to now and, even if he realized he wasn't really in any danger from the Shadow Phoenix, it's impossible to argue that he didn't just become far more powerful by leading his powers instead of just controlling them so there's a lesson here for him regardless of how the lesson came to him. The art is gorgeous and fits so well with this book and I continue to read these issues and wonder how I didn't love the art from the start. This issue very much feels like Spurrier's way to wrap it up here as he begins his transition over to his new X-FORCE book (still excited about that, you guys); we've now seen David embrace his powers and his future as well as mending relationships with Aarkus, SWORD, and Karasu. The issue ends with the knowledge that Blindfold was kind of in on this plan from the start but that she refused to be a part of it because she didn't want to see David in so much pain and because she realized that it was the beginning of the end. Brand then promptly wiped Blindfold's memory of it and sent her home. Some has stuck around, though, as she mutters in her sleep that they're going to start the end. So, as Abigail Brand says, go start it, cowboy.

Cable and X-Force 16
Hopeless (w) and Sandoval (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The sudden appearance of another entity in Forge's head has complicated things for the team as a whole. The Sentinel Colossus and Domino were tasked with taking down is not as inert as they were expecting it. Though they eventually manage to shut it down, the initial chase and the ensuing explosion cause an avalanche very near to them. Cable, on the other hand, has found that his new pre-cog powers are working pretty well but that his old powers aren't running properly any more, leaving he and Hope in the middle of a firefight with Reavers without any guns. Hope, though, had accidentally borrowed some of his TK powers when she had to attack him with the psimitar and so has enough to keep them mostly protected, though how far that will go remains to be seen as higher ranking Reavers return with a device that morphs the fallen Reavers into one giant predator. Finally, back at the base, Nemesis has entered Forge's consciousness to try to figure out what's going on inside. While in there, he runs into Forge and the two begin to explore while Forge explains that this entity is known as the Adversary (very clever name) and is a creature of pure chaos who likes to mess with humans (who Nemesis likens to Q from Star Trek: the Next Generation for all you nerds out there, says the guy with a comic blog). As they explore and find no real way to stop the Adversary, Forge realizes that the mind they're in isn't Forge's any more, it's the Adversary's.

A good deal of interesting stuff here as, in typical CABLE AND X-FORCE fashion, things go extremely wrong extremely quickly. There's a lot to contend with and it's almost entirely interesting as Cable's old powers are no longer working, Hope's powers are somewhat amplified by the TK that came pouring out of Cable's mind not long ago, Domino and Colossus have ruined their date night by causing an avalanche when they had to bring down a Sentinel, favorite odd-couple Nemesis and Forge are reunited as they wander through someone's mind, and Boom Boom is stuck at home contending with a god-like being of pure chaos who, in his first moments around her, converted their base into a simulacrum of a night club. As I said, there's a lot happening. The writing continues to be really character-driven, giving us really great moments from...well, from everyone, really. There's not a character in this issue who doesn't have a good few lines. The art fits the tone really well, a somewhat more cartoony feel than what we've seen from this book previously with Gerardo Sandoval  picking up the pencils on this one. There are cute little moments in lettering too as Hope throws a car at some of the Reavers and the sound effect reads "KAR-KRASH," just pages after an avalanche starting made the sound "AVALANCHE." Sometimes little fun games like that can get really distracting and pull you out, but I had to double-check kar-krash before really getting it and I didn't even see "AVALANCHE" on the first read-through. Lots of fun stuff with plenty of plot to keep us motivated for next issue.

Cable and X-Force 14, Thunderbolts 15

Cable and X-Force 14
Hopeless (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

Hope is on her way back from the future to save Cable with a psychic scimitar that, upon contact with Cable's brain, should expel the excess telekinetic energy. It's a particularly tricky time to do that, though, because X-Force is fighting the Uncanny Avengers on the lawn of Avengers Mansion while Cable's powers go completely out of control in the Mansion itself. There's a good deal of fighting; X-Force holds its own for a little while before being ultimately overpowered by the Uncanny Avengers. Hope shows up just in time to cut through the fighting and stick Cable with the pscimitar, discharging his powers and, at least for now, saving his life. Havok agrees to let Cable and his team go (at least to give them a headstart) even though they're still technically fugitives.

This is a nice little wrap-up to everything that's already come out. I feel like the series has slowed a little from the big bang beginning, hopefully wrapping up this bit of the storyline will kind of jumpstart things again. The communication between the team still seems pretty solid, though occasionally we get some all-too on-the-nose lines from people (it's very hard to write Dr. Nemesis well enough to make him not sound like a Dr. Nemesis parody and here he kind of toes that line). I think that will get better as we focus a little more on the team and perhaps a little less on what's happening to Cable and the bigger plots and different teams and what-not. This is a book that, by its very nature, needs to be a bit of a smaller book than it's been the last few issues. I think that'll settle nicely though and will leave us with much the same book we started with and we thought we were getting. There are a lot of people who don't like Larroca's style and, though I've never been against him, I think the book could also serve from an artist change. Each one of Larroca's books tends to have a few panels that make me cringe a little so his staying power on a book, I think, suffers the longer he's on that book. I don't think he's necessarily a bad artist (I think most people don't like him for his methods) but I think the book might be better suited with another one, at least for a little bit.

Thunderbolts 15
Soule (w) and Palo and Pallot (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher is driving a van with a secret weapon (undisclosed throughout the book), Elektra, Venom, and Deadpool to various small-time gang stomping grounds to get answers about the Paguros. Bored waiting in traffic, Deadpool chooses to get out and walk, promising he'll meet up with them again later. The other three begin abducting and interrogating gang members and, though they get plenty of confessions out of them, manage to learn nothing more about the Paguros. Venom and Castle are a bit at odds as Frank wants to torture and/or kill the crooks while Flash refuses to allow it. Their bickering comes to a head as Thanos' ships descend on Earth and Flash insists they help the city while Frank insists they stick to the mission. Frank ultimately wins out though Flash only agrees on the terms that they help people they run into who are in trouble. Meanwhile, Deadpool has found himself caught up in the attack, moving from the subway to the streets of New York while trying to help civilians who keep referring to him as Spider-Man. Adding more intrigue to the book, the Leader, down in the command sub with Ross and the contained Mercy, is beginning to sabotage Ross' plans, including not warning him of the aliens he saw on radar and surfacing the sub to expose them.

Really good book. I liked last issue a lot and felt like it had turned a corner with just about everything; plot, character, and art had all shifted for the better. This issue seems to confirm it as there's just something about it that keeps the pace and tension up while simultaneously staying fairly fun and fresh. The art is spot on for the newer feel and kind of reminds me of what Invader Zim would look like as a comic book. I think everyone is well represented in this book and the characterization is stronger than it's been throughout the series prior but I think Deadpool has seen the biggest upward spike. That's particularly surprising as I like the way Daniel Way writes Deadpool and have since he had his long run with the character. Still, this is a really fun Deadpool who is somehow both the same as the one we know and typically love while being something different entirely. I'd like to see more from him before I say why he's different but he feels a little bit like a funnier version of the one we saw in Remender's Uncanny X-Force. That was the best Deadpool I'd read and it added layer after layer to the character (or perhaps expounded on layers we'd already seen). This one feels similar but is maybe a little more funny in his narrative than he is jokey. Overall, really good book, very happy with the way it's coming around.

X-Men 4, Cable and X-Force 13

X-Men 4
Wood (w) and D. Lopez and C. Smith w/ N. Lee (a) and Peter (c)

The new team is fresh off their first adventure together wherein Storm was prepared to make the call to kill their friend Karima to protect the world from Arkea. It's a decision that's not exactly sitting well with her teammates, particularly Rachel, who also feels that Storm has installed herself as leader prematurely. The team has to work out their issues as they save a jet with a malfunctioning engine from crashing by hooking it to their Blackbird. Meanwhile, Wolverine escapes the school for a bit to hang out with Jubilee for the first proper time in a long while (they hung out at some point in the last couple years but it was amidst Jubilee turning into a vampire and a clan attacking Wolverine to find he doesn't turn into a vampire very well so it's not a real hangout, you know?). The two friends and Jubilee's adopted son Shogo hit a couple of Jubilee's old favorite places in the California town where she grew up and share a very nice day which ends with Wolverine buying Jubilee's old house, unbeknownst to her. He's a good guy, that one. Also featured prominently on the cover.

Lot of really good stuff in here. It's a bit wordy, particularly as we get accustomed to this team and the way they talk and the issues they have to work out but the words aren't typically wasted. There are a few bits that feel a little forced, particularly with Jubilee as she and Wolverine decide that subtext is for suckers and that they'd rather lay their history out on the table in front of us for all to see but it's still not the worst decision. Jubilee has been removed from the spotlight for a while now and it seems like she's going to be a major player in this book full of people who have stayed very much in the spotlight lately. Best to get everyone caught up. Besides, her relationship with Wolverine does allow for that sort of talk. It's not perfect and you do catch yourself reading a lot of bits like "hey, I was a pretty lost kid myself when the X-Men found me!" but it gets across the points we need and generally keeps pretty uptempo. The other storyline, featuring the actual X-Men team, is even stronger, showing the team dealing with problems and giving us a good sense of personalities on the team. On top of that, it's a little nice to see a crisis solved efficiently and effectively and without a single supervillain showing up. You guys, there wasn't even a supervillain in this book. Kind of neat to just see them being heroes because they can do things like save jets, not because they're the only one matched to fight a supervillain. Solid issue, I think the best that's come about so far. Also a nice side of Wolverine that certainly has existed but isn't focused on a ton.

Cable and X-Force 13
Hopeless and Bunn (w) and Larroca and Sandoval (a) and D'Armata (c)

Hope is still in the future talking to future Hope and Blaquesmith while X-Force, starting to come back together again, is still dealing with problems in the past. We finally get the Dr. Nemesis and Forge bit that I've been waiting for and it does not disappoint, though it's incredibly short-lived as the two argue about the best way to destroy a giant horrible monster (kind of Cthulu-ish but not exactly, for reference), with both shooting down the other's ideas one by one. Domino, Boom-Boom, and Colossus show up and, with a combination of punches and explosions, defeat the monster pretty quickly. As the team talks, Domino reveals that Cable's in trouble and they head out to attack the Uncanny Avengers again. Cable himself is trying to explain things to Alex who finds himself in the difficult position of believing Cable but still unsure how to deal with what seemed to be a terrorist attack to the media by Cable's team and the fact that Cable's seizures are getting worse and worse, causing his powers to go out of control and hurt people nearby. Finally, Hope, in dealing with her future self and Blaquesmith, has found that she's not particularly fond of her future self and the solutions they've come up with. They've made Cable have these visions in the hopes (ha, get it, two Hopes) that he stays in the superhero game (he would have quit, future Hope relates, if not for these visions and it would have doomed the world). Of course, the downside is that now it's killing him and present Hope has to figure that out herself.

A lot going on here and, as I said, the Dr. Nemesis and Forge bit is exactly what I was reading for and I was not disappointed, except in that it's so quickly over. I just want to read them talk with one another. PRO-TIP: read Dr. Nemesis as a 1950s detective or, more accurately, as the Venture Brothers' Cardholder and Doe. It's the most fun in the world and hopefully you'll understand what I see in him. Anyway, the team's stuff is mostly interesting, the Hope stuff feels a little protracted and a bit weak and Cable's stuff is good but we already pretty much know it all, it's just him explaining it to Havok now. Some decent writing carries a bit of the bad stuff though the Hope sections still feel pretty slow and they're the majority of this book. It's tough to wade through a bit of time as Hope can't quite figure out what's happening and, when it all clicks into place, she's angry at future Hope for not realizing her plans might kill Cable. The issue ends with Blaquesmith and future Hope preparing to send Hope back to the past with the corny and shoe-horned line that the weapon she's carrying with her back there is "a fighting chance." Come on, don't leave us with that, you guys. Leave us with Dr. Nemesis finding a new hat! His excursion to a hat store!

All-New X-Men 15, Cable and X-Force 12, X-Factor 260

All-New X-Men 15
Bendis (w) and Lafuente (a) and Campbell (c)

The original X-Men are still in the present. That about sums up the issue and the series at large, but let's keep going because we are gluttons for punishment. Bobby admits to Scott that he's freaked out whenever he sees Kitty and his older self embrace because he doesn't really like Kitty and he doesn't understand this crazy future. He and Scott decide to leave the mansion for a while and go hit on girls. Meanwhile, Jean is working with the grown Beast to focus her telekinetic powers, which leads to her reading his mind and finding out that he was once in love with her in what must be the creepiest thoughts Beast has ever had (he's can't stop thinking about how beautiful she is, despite the age difference now, and how much he regrets not telling her before). Then she approaches young Hank and makes out with him for a while.

I've asked it before and I'll no doubt ask it again but for whom is this book written? I understand that it has fans and I understand that, at the root of every review I write, I can never be right because what people like is objective and no one has a correct opinion, as it were. But who benefits from this book? On top of the writing, which I happen to find annoying and grating because Bendis writes most characters exactly the same and as if they're all teenagers so it's particularly grating when they actually are teenagers and he has to differentiate, to whom is this story compelling? Who is out there enjoying the new love triangles that change the face of the Marvel Universe for no particular reason and which puts Jean in such an ungodly position of choosing between a couple of her teammates? Is she going to track down Angel and make out with him later too because he wanted to date her originally as well?  Being a physically strong character doesn't make you a strong character and somehow this book feels like it's weakening Jean Grey as a character, who was already quite weak at her inception. In addition, I can't help but again say that the original X-Men have spent 15 issues in the future and who is enjoying this book? Then again, I bought a shirt that was three sizes too big for me the last time I went shopping so what do I know?

Cable and X-Force 12
Hopeless and Bunn (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

So I didn't get exactly what I was hoping for out of this issue as we don't get the story that focuses on Dr. Nemesis just yet but I'm holding out hope for next time. Instead, we get Domino helping Colossus break into a supervillain bank vault that contains a magical artifact that will destroy the Earth if not dealt with today (cutting it a little close, guys). The break-in and the inevitable fight against all of the enemies is mere backdrop to the lover's quarrel they're having about whether or not they should have a relationship that goes on further than where it's gone already. Meanwhile, Hope is in the future to find out who is behind Cable's visions and why.

Maybe I'm too much of a cynic here or something but I don't really care about the relationships developing in this book or in All-New X-Men, which made two of the reviews today a little hard to get through (evidenced by the fact that I'm going to just keep complaining about this shirt I bought). I don't even necessarily think the problem in this book is a lack of caring about Domino and/or Colossus. I like both of them just fine (Colossus more so, probably, but Domino's been great under Hopeless' watch) but I think we've seen enough awkward start-stop relationships built over time and this one seems less intriguing than even most of those. One of my favorite things about Winter Soldier's introduction to the Marvel Universe was the implied relationship between him and Black Widow prior to their time as heroes, which is then instantly and without fanfare picked back up when they come together again. I read comics for the characters  and the world they've built but that tends to make it a little harder to care about them going through relationship problems that have been forced on them. Maybe that's just me. I did, after all, buy this dumb shirt (yes, I'm wearing it now, for the first time, which is why I'm particularly annoyed with it today).

X-Factor 260
David (w) and Edwards and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

The end of the world came and went, X-Factor is somewhere in the wind, separated and lost, and Polaris is getting drunk. Like, crazy amounts of drunk. And she's sick of the world right now so she's going a little more villain than she normally would, which means that when the bartender refuses to keep serving her, she starts wreaking a little havoc. Eventually the police come, who Polaris instantly disperses, followed by a SWAT team. Before the SWAT team has a chance to try to take out Polaris, Quicksilver stops by on his way to Avengers Mansion (not sure why he's living there at this point but whatever, let's keep going). Quicksilver, of course, is Lorna's half-brother and the two quickly come at odds with one another. Quicksilver attempts to talk Lorna down and Lorna very much does not want to be talked down, leading to quite a fight between the two

As X-Factor winds down to its final issue (only two more left! I don't care for that!), we've seen where various members of the team have ended up post-Hell on Earth. Lorna seems to be the only one back in New York (that we know of so far) and she is not faring well. It's a nice portrayal of a breakdown for a superhero, especially since Lorna has been moving this way for a while. We can only hope she doesn't turn supervillain, honestly, given everything that's happened with her lately. Now with her team lost to her, she's fallen rather hard. The conversation between Lorna and Pietro is a decent one with Peter David no stranger to writing the two of them. Of course, Lorna being drunk means that conversation goes over the top at times and it gets a little annoying after some time but overall it's a seemingly accurate example of someone falling so quickly on to hard times and overreacting. There is a moment at the end where, sober, she remembers what happened and regrets her attack on Quicksilver, which is at least reassuring. Also at the end was a hint of a new X-Factor team/series in the works, which is the first I've officially heard of that, assuming it will bear a new series.

Cable and X-Force 10, Thunderbolts 11

Cable and X-Force 10
Hopeless (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

Dennis Hopeless jumps back onto Cable and X-Force after a Hope-centric issue to pick up where that one left off, with Hope trying to meet up with Cable and the Uncanny Avengers trying to do the same thing, though for different reasons. Hope tracks down Blaquesmith, Cable's mentor from the future living in the present and who now owns a group of convenience stores. Hope wants to know what's happening with Cable's visions and where he is. Blaquesmith seems to know but knocks Hope unconscious instead of telling her, which is of significantly less use to her. Meanwhile, the team is at an old trailer owned by Forge to get their bearings and for Cable to figure out his new plan, and to recuperate from Forge's eye surgery to replace Cable's eye. The team is laying low and Domino goes to talk to Cable, who is panicking because he's had visions of five separate catastrophes all set to happen at once, leaving him no way to stop all five. Domino demands that he starts trusting the team with missions and, with that, they plot out their newest set of missions for the team. They finish just in time to find the Uncanny Avengers descending on the trailer and Forge unveils his line of vehicles for them, which he's dubbed "Forge Force," to the chagrin of Dr. Nemesis. However, Cable's brain starts hemorrhaging at just the wrong moment and X-Force is forced to stall the Avengers as Dr. Nemesis sorts Cable out. They manage to hold them off in a nicely done, quick fight scene and Cable revives enough to blow up the UA's ship with his new eye laser for everyone to leave. However, unbeknownst to the team, the strain forces Cable to pass out, allowing the UA to apprehend him as the team escapes.

Another really great issue for this series, which has been perfectly equal parts action and fun throughout its run. The dialogue continues to be smart and to really define the characters without needing particularly character-centric issues. Dr. Nemesis continues to be one of the all-around best characters in the Marvel Universe and I continue to not really be able to articulate why. This book is smart and fast and fun at all the right moments and I anticipate it will only get better as the stresses get to Cable and as the team starts to get a little more responsibility. There might be no better team in the Marvel Universe to watch work together than this team right now, it'll be interesting to see how they work when separated and when a little more aware of their goals (or maybe a little less, I guess we'll see).

Thunderbolts 11
Way (w) and Noto (a) and Guru eFX (c)

All of the calls that suddenly came in from everyone surrounding the team of Red Hulk, the Leader, Elektra, and Punisher are from, as it turns out, the Leader. His suspicion is that it's his various pieces of intellect, stored in aggregate chunks of data all over the world. In this case, he wanted to know where Orestez Natchios was and his intellect is trying to respond, trying to give him the answer. Though this is unsettling, they trust the location they've been given because Natchios' location is pretty public; he's giving a book tour for his book about being raised by terrorists. They go to his reading, prepared to bring him in or kill him after but quickly learn that it's a trap. Orestez explains to the crowd there how he was raised to be a killer but he's managed to break from that, unlike his poor sister Elektra who, oh hey, is right over there, sitting amongst you and waiting to kill me. Just as he makes this announcement, trying to goad them, Ross goes Red Hulk and the gamma powered suits sent to kill Orestez by those he betrayed crash into the venue. Elektra points out that this is all a trap and Orestez has set this up to make them look like terrorists and to make himself look like a martyr. She says the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to not kill him. Red Hulk refuses that idea and orders the team to kill him anyway. He tears through the gamma suits as Punisher and Elektra try to hunt Orestez. The Leader, meanwhile, sneaks into a computer lab and jams any satellite feeds, stopping any sort of news report from going live. Deadpool and Venom show up to make sure that no army backup provides support in the area before they can get out of there and Elektra leads her brother out of the venue. When Punisher finds her, she says that Orestez is gone and shows her bloody hands. The issue ends with Leader secretly talking to Mercy and bemoaning the fact that he's learned so much but still knows so little about himself. She says he knows enough; he knows he's meant to lead.

It's an interesting wrap-up to this story as it brings the team together to, again, execute a pretty successful mission, all things considered. We're 11 issues into this story now and we've only seen the team executing missions a couple of times, which is ample for the stories that have been told but still just a little bit sad. I feel like, considering this team, we haven't had a ton of time to look into who they are nor to see them really work together. I know that we have but I think that's been a weird function of having so complicated a story running so often. They've been pretty good stories (though sometimes a little tough to weave through) but, to a point, we've had to sacrifice some amount of character to get there. There has been enough character examination to get us through, which is great because what we've gotten so far is pretty compelling, but we haven't had a ton to think over. I think it's a failing of the book so far and something I'd like to see remedied because the best part about this team is simply who's on it. I bought the first issue, without truly liking too many of the characters, because the team-up of these specific characters was so interesting to me. I'd like to see Way get into that a bit more. Still, this is kind of a minor nitpick and the book is still more than readable and enjoyable. It's a good book with good characters who could really become great characters.

Cable and X-Force 9, All-New X-Men 12

Cable and X-Force 9
Tieri (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

The Uncanny Avengers, after their very brief appearance in the first issue of this series, are back on the case, trying to track down Cable and his X-Force to find out what is really going on and, probably, to try to arrest them all in a big super-hero punch-up. They are diverted, though, as Hope pops up on their radar. She's ditched her SHIELD tail and is on the hunt for Cable as well. Captain America, Havok, and Rogue manage to find her dropping off her foster parents at a bus station (she's controlled them through the drive) and try to get her to understand their position. She listens as they tell her to embrace the idea of having a normal life because it's not frequent that people like her get this opportunity and she should cherish it and so on and so forth. She informs them, though, that there is no such thing as a normal life and she has no desire to have anything that resembles what people might think of as normal and she, instead, intends to help her father because there's no doubt in her mind that things look worse for Cable than they are. The three are unable to stop Hope from wanting to go and, when they start to talk about really stopping her, she uses the powers of the Purple Girl (who she visited in jail after she lost her SHIELD tail and before coming to the bus stop) to get Alex and Steve to fight but Rogue breaks them up and stops Hope, knowing it's hard to control more than two people while borrowing those powers. However, Hope also borrowed Mastermind's powers and creates an illusion of Red Skull for them to fight while she escapes. The Uncanny Avengers are having a hard time with this team thing.

This issue wasn't my favorite, for sure. I don't think it was awful and I think it's probably advancing the plot but I'm not sure an issue dedicated to Hope getting on a bus is a formula for success. Of course, it's likely going to be important that she's heading out to meet Cable and it might be important that she faced off against the UA as they're likely to pop in again at some point, but it's a tough thing to stretch to a full issue. At times, the writing felt a little punchy and there were weird panels where emotions were a little hard to read or maybe a little excessive, which is something that Larroca tends to stumble into but has largely avoided in this run. It did make me wonder if the comic was written as a script or in Marvel style, with the words added in later, because sometimes the images didn't seem to totally match up with the words. Still a better book than most but not the best one.

All-New X-Men 12
Bendis (w) and S. Immonen and W. von Grawbadger (a) and Beredo (c)

First off, I think Rain Beredo is the colorist for this issue. That's what the inside credits say, but Marte Gracia gets billed on the cover for something that's usually the colorist spot (and is a colorist). Gracia, the inside credits indicate, teamed with Immonen on the cover. Weirder still, when I tried to do a tiny bit of research to confirm Beredo, I found one place claiming that the cover was Immonen and Leinil Yu. I don't know if that was meant to say that Yu had a variant cover but he definitely didn't do the cover for this issue (seen at left). That's definitely not his style artwork. Look, I'm very confused by this. REGARDLESS, the colors are pretty great in this issue. Anyway, the Uncanny Avengers pop up here too (as if to justify my putting these two books together this week) to confront Wolverine and the all-new X-Men about the crimes being committed that seem to have their fingerprints on them. Wolverine instantly decides that it's Mystique and they all promise to investigate that more. Meanwhile, Alex and the young Scott have a touching reunion wherein they snappy back-and-forth a bit and Alex reveals more of the future to Scott and Jean Grey discovers that Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population.  This starts a whole thing between the two teams (with the all-new X-Men already being surprised that Wanda is a member of the Avengers and not, as they know her, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) and they kind of have to be separated. The Uncanny Avengers fly off in their jet under the assumption that the X-Men will fly home to the school to have witnesses and keep in sight while these crimes are being committed. The X-Men, of course, do no such thing after the UA leave and there's more discussion about the Scarlet Witch as they figure out what to do next.

This series is peppered with people asking why the original X-Men team hasn't yet gone home but no one doing anything about it. Alex asks it of Scott when they're together and Scott says that there's nothing there for them back home. I'm...I'm not sure what that means. Does it mean that they know this is their future so nothing that they do matters because Jean dies and Scott goes evil anyway (and however we want to describe what happened to Angel eventually happens to Angel)? Because, and I know this isn't necessarily a comforting thought to them all, the theory is that Charles will wipe these events from their memories when they get there. Problem solved for everyone. But anyway, while we're here, it feels a little like 12 issues should have been enough for people to stop coming to the old X-Men and saying "wow, you're...you're really them!" It feels like everything should be dedicated to building these characters more/differently or should be advancing the story. That's another issue I have with the snappy back-and-forth: in comics, it's never snappy. It slows down the story and delays us from where we have to go, meaning that we're now 12 issues in and I have no idea where we have to go. Not in like a "I'm so unsure of what twist will hit us next! How will they get out of this one?" kind of way, more in a "what is the story here, anyway?" kind of way. It's not a great place to be. Again though, Immonen's art is almost always great and Beredo (or whoever it is) is knocking it out of the park with the colors.

Cable and X-Force 5, Daredevil: End of Days 6

Cable and X-Force 5
Hopeless (w) and Larocca (a) and D'Armata (c)

Like Iron Man yesterday, this book was fun. It was intentionally a little removed from the way it's been the first four issues, focusing on the characters more than on any plot. There was still plot but it took the back-burner to show how these guys interact with one another and how they hide from the law. After the Eat-More catastrophe, Cable and his X-Force are laying low in Mexico while some steam hopefully blows off. Domino forces Colossus to relax by drinking and other things (EXPLICIT things) while Forge and Dr. Nemesis compete in video games and a cage fight between a giant robot and a scorpion-beast (SPOILERS: this issue is worth reading). Cable goes to Hope's home to explain why she can't come with them and why he's kept her out of all of this. It essentially boils down to the idea that his whole team is already pretty far gone in all this, where Hope is still seen as a hero in the wake of AvX and that will buy her goodwill that he wants her to be able to use how she wants. He wants her to try to live a normal life.

There are a lot of intricate character examinations happening around here, including Cable and Hope's relationship and the character Hopeless is establishing from Colossus. I think that's one of his biggest challenges but clearly one of his bigger strengths right now. Colossus is a great Marvel character who has some depth to him and has been through absolute hell over the last few years (in Fear Itself, he assumed the powers and anger of Juggernaut before, in AvX, taking the Phoenix Force). He's done horrible things and he's tried to maintain his very good guy inner being, but it's been extremely hard. Being Juggernaut hardened him and now, after AvX, he's cracking. It's not an easy place to come in and write the character from. He takes on a massive amount of guilt in this arc after watching men he befriended while undercover in the Eat-More factory die, on top of everything else he has going on. The issue ends with him handing himself in. We've got a lot of interesting stuff coming from this series and, if I had to choose right now, this is my favorite X-Force book out at present (granted, it has five issues and Humphries' Uncanny X-Force has two).

Daredevil: End of Days 6
Bendis and Mack (w) and Janson, Sienkiewicz, Mack and Maleev (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Things are happening frustratingly in this book, which I suppose could be a choice that the writers have made to show how frustrating things are for Ben Urich right now. I suppose all the slow reveals and the building questions with no answers and the pile of corpses that Urich keeps running into could all just be, rather than to set plot, to set tone. So we all know what it's like feeling frustrated by a case that never seems to end and never seems to resolve. Maybe this case won't resolve. Maybe that's the pull of it all. Maybe Urich will never figure out who the new Daredevil is and why everyone connected to Matt or to Daredevil ends up dead or missing. Maybe that's the end game and why we haven't seen any resolutions up to this point. Maybe this series shouldn't have been eight issues for that.

I'm going to start by saying I find the art in this series phenomal. I've touched on that a bit here and there. It feels like a melding of all of Daredevil's past art (which is certainly something they're going for by bringing in big name DD artists who have had some hand in his development over the years). More than that, it feels like the art of Daredevil's distant past melded with the more recent, grittier past. We also, in this issue, get two full-page David Mack spreads, which are incredible. David Mack's artwork is one of the reasons I became so cemented into comics. I was already pretty well in when I read his two Daredevil arcs about Echo and I came out saying "good god, this is art. This whole form is truly art." It was pretentious and I know that but whatever. It was amazing and awe-inspiring. So I will not speak ill of any of his art ever. It's all phenomenal and the two pages in this book are no different. The art overall is pretty great.

It's the story and the writing that's bugging me. Again we've gone through another issue where just about nothing has happened. I get that writing is a process and that telling a story is more than just action and answering questions right when they're asked. However, you have eight issues and we're through six and we've answered approximately zero questions. I do appreciate that the word "Mapone" didn't come up in this issue, forcing us to keep asking what that's all about. But the back-and-forth dialogue feels out of place and it appears in every scene with any two characters. And again, no questions answered. As we close this series down, we must be getting somewhere. I guess we'll find out.