Captain America 24, Black Widow 10

Captain America 24

As the Avengers fight Zola's mutates on the ground, Ian makes his way up to Sharon and Falcon and Jet confront Zola himself. Zola tells Jet that all of her actions, her revolt, her betrayal, etc., were by his will and offers her a place once more by his side as he conquers the world. She still fights him, getting help from Falcon as Ian and Sharon, who not only survived her time in Dimension Z but actually ended up raising Ian the rest of the way (so Sharon and Steve are his mom and dad), discover that Zola has a bomb meant to raze New York, civilians and superheroes alike. Zola has the bomb, as well as the mutates, telepathically controlled through his antennae (oh Zola, you're so silly!) so he can detonate it at a moment's notice. He hasn't done so only because he wants his daughter to join him once more. Falcon distracts Zola while Redwing clips Zola's antennae, hoping to disrupt the signal, but in classic villain mode the bomb sets to a 30-second timer when the signal is lost, leaving New York seemingly doomed. Falcon rushes to the bomb and grabs it, flying it far over the city and telling Steve to marry Sharon and raise Ian and have a good life as the bomb explodes.

You guys ever get the feeling that comic solicits and news and everything kind of ruin suspense to a point? This is a really great comic, complete with everything you could want from a superhero comic: a classic pure evil villain, an attempt to destroy all the superheroes and millions of civilians on the path to taking over the world, heroes working together towards a common goal, the monumental sacrifice of a terrific and long-standing superhero. And yet, we know that Falcon's meant to pick up the Captain America mantle in the next issue so we have a pretty good feeling that he'll live. To Remender's credit, that doesn't take all of the tension out or make the sacrifice meaningless; instead, it still stands strong and shines a great light on Sam. Overall, I can't fault the book for the flaws of the information age and this is still a really good issue.

Total Score: 5/5


Black Widow 10

We see a flashback of Black Widow's time on the other side of the law, specifically the period when Hawkeye had become an Avenger but his beloved Black Widow was still a criminal. The two find themselves on opposite sides of an escort mission as Natasha attempts to smuggle Rashid, an accountant with all manner of secrets in his head about terrorist money dealings, out of Pakistan to Russian operatives and Clint tries to capture Rashid. The two spar across Islamabad but Natasha eventually wins out, long-distance snapping Hawkeye's bow before he can successfully derail the car Rashid managed to get in. In the present, though, Rashid is the one who kidnapped Isaiah, who holds firm, unwilling to give up any information and sure that Natasha won't come for him. On the other hand, though, Natasha realizes she may need a hand on this one.

Though the cover and the hype are something of a fake-out as Hawkeye only appears in flashback form and we don't see much of their working one-on-one relationship now, the issue still holds up to the rest of the series nicely, with plenty of action and phenomenal Phil Noto art doing most of the storytelling with Edmondson's often terse dialogue filling in many of the specifics. In that way, it's very much a comic (and has been through its run) that uses the advantages of an illustrated medium to really flesh out a story. Comics drag when they rely too much on the narration or the dialogue to push the story forward or to build up characters too much. Not to say that all comics with a lot of writing are slow or uninteresting, just that it's a risk you run when you write an issue and leave little room for the art to tell the story. This series continues its excellent run unabated and I advise you check it out if you, for some inane reason, haven't already.

Total Score: 5/5

Captain America 23, Captain Marvel 6

Captain America 23
Remender (w) and Pacheco (p) and Taibo (i) and White (c) and Caramagna (l)

The mysterious armored figure who emerged from Dimension Z sets out for Avengers Mansion and quickly makes his way in, hacking and evading security before managing to dodge Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk on his way to the elderly Cap, who manages to pin the figure despite his sudden age. Of course, the figure removes his helmet to reveal that he is, in fact, Steve's adopted son Ian, returned from the dead (he fell into the same biomass in which he was created so, you know, no harm done) and a couple decades older and wiser. Steve is beyond happy to see him and embraces his son while Ian tells the Avengers how dire the situation is already getting. Meanwhile, Falcon and Jet attempt to break into the main tower of Dimension Z while the Avengers provide a distraction, though it seems bound to fail as Zola already seems aware of their presence. However, not all is lost as Falcon and Jet happen to stumble upon an older and long-imprisoned Sharon Carter.

There's a ton happening here as we march towards the upcoming event AXIS and the emergence of a new Captain America. Dimension Z has put down roots and both Ian and Sharon have re-appeared alive, to the chagrin, undoubtedly, of all those people shouting that Remender had fridged a character who has been around for more decades than most of those readers have been alive (LOOK, I am still a bit peeved about ANXM, even a day later). Even despite the sheer amount of ground Remender has to cover, the issue moves pretty well and manages to keep the pace and the tension up, crucial to the developing storyline. Also, it's really nice to see, after twenty-two extremely tough issues for him, Steve having a nice day. Sure one of his arch-nemeses is invading the Earth looking to unleash his consciousness on the people, but Steve's son is alive and soon he'll likely find out his girlfriend is too. Nice to see him so happy.

Total Score: 5/5


Captain Marvel 6
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c) and Caramagna (l)

Refusing to leave the peaceful Torfans to their almost assured death at the hands of the brutal J-Son, Captain Marvel becomes a one-woman army to defend the refugees, taking down ships one-by-one while not allowing any to reach the planet. Meanwhile, the Torfans enact a peaceful protest, seating themselves and refusing to move at the hands of the attacking Spartoi. The leader of the Torfans sends Jackie and Gil to take Carol's place holding off the ships and sends Carol to destroy the vibranium mines, which she does with ease. J-Son is furious and promises revenge but, as seems to be his defining characteristic of late, he swears revenge on a peaceful people he admits to having poisoned all on a live broadcast to plenty of people, courtesy of Tic aboard a Haffensye ship. J-Son has no recourse but to leave, which he does swearing revenge and just swearing while Captain Marvel intimidates and Jackie and Gil taunt. With her ship repaired and the gratitude of the Torfans, Carol sets off again for a new adventure.

I like this issue and I like a lot of single moments in it, but overall it's hard for the issue not to feel a little preachy and a little like it's trying too hard to find those single moments. CAPTAIN MARVEL, both this new volume and the last, has defined itself by big and wonderful speeches and lines (like the oft-quoted/printed/tattooed/whatever else'd "We will be the stars we were always meant to be") and it's hard not to see a couple times in this issue where dramatic lines not dissimilar to the tone and weight of that keep coming up. That's probably just the cynic in me. It's also hard to point specifically to the peaceful protest as "a little preachy" because I tend to agree with peaceful protests and it's hard PARTICULARLY RIGHT NOW to wonder about the efficiency of them or chastise them or whatever it was I hoped to accomplish when I started this paragraph (WHO KNOWS). Look, let's not get into it here. It just occasionally felt that way to me and it might be equal parts because I was reading too much into it and because I don't super love the supporting cast of this arc. WHATEVER. It's still a good issue, as evidenced by the following strong score and ALSO I'm sorry if I just made it sound like it's not a very good issue because, you guys, it still really is. OH, final point, I don't like J-Son as a villain, I find him very boring.

Total Score: 4/5

Captain America 17, Iron Man Annual 1

Captain America 17
Remender (w) and Klein (a) and White (c)

Dr. Mindbubble, the product of the mysterious Weapon Minus program, is loose and his old friend Ran Shen, the Iron Nail, is the first to contact him. They talk about how SHIELD has lost sight of any boundaries and how its power is too great before Mindbubble agrees to do his part to slow its growth. He finds Nick Fury, having lost Falcon, at the bottom of the cliff and quickly mindbubbles him (GET READY, I'm using this as a verb whenever I see fit). Back in New York, Cap and Jet talk about Cap's idealism and how, in Jet's opinion, he could maybe stand to have a little less. Cap does seem to recognize that occasionally his desire to capture and not kill allows greater crimes to happen later but it's not something he's willing to strike right away. He's pulled into a situation wherein a dirty bank manager is attacked by Shen's people, ready to bring him to Shen's dirty bank manager mine. Cap stops them but looks with disgust at the man he saved. He's called back to the Hub by Maria Hill, who informs him of Nuke's explosion and the deaths it caused, including the presumed deaths of Fury and Falcon. Cap blames himself but gets the slightest reprieve when Jet reveals that she can sense Falcon two miles downstream from the site, not dead. MEANWHILE, Dr. Mindbubble has so mindbubbled Fury that Fury attacks a SHIELD base, thinking it's a Hydra base, and "steals" the plans for a new and seemingly indestructible helicarrier.

There are a lot of things to really like about what's happening in this book right now. Among those things is the idea of Dr. Mindbubble. I'm not going to say yet that I think Mindbubble is a great character (though, I can't stress this enough, mindbubble is a great verb) because it's just too soon. However, the idea that Weapon Minus was a SHIELD project meant to counter Weapon Plus is very intriguing and rather goes to Iron Nail's point that SHIELD maybe does have too much power (anyone who's ever read anything with SHIELD in it, except maybe Hickman's work or Steranko's work, could have told you that). Where everything that came out of Weapon Plus (Cap before it was officially Weapon Plus, Wolverine, Deadpool, Fantomex, the Skinless Man, etc) was created for his strength and fighting prowess, Mindbubble was created for his power over the mind, where everyone of them (aside from Fantomex, who takes his own precautions) is susceptible. Actually, you know what, tangent time. In a world where like, EVERYBODY wears costumes that entail some sort of headgear, why does only Magneto, of the major characters, have the sort that blocks out telepathic communication. Sure in SOME cases it makes sense, it may be more likely that Wolverine will WANT to communicate telepathically with, say, Psylocke than that he'll be controlled telepathically but shouldn't there be like, some sort of switch or something that blocks telepathic communication? Like, your head is ALREADY covered, dude, just throw in some lead or something. ANYWAY, pretty good issue, glad Falcon's not dead (though I wouldn't have supposed he was), really like the idea of Weapon Minus to counter Weapon Plus.

Iron Man Annual 1
Two Cities: Gillen (w) and A. Martinez and R. Fernandez (a) and Sotomayor (c)
Orbital: Gillen (w) and Padilla and Hanna (a) and Staples (c)
By Moonlight: Gillen (w) and Marz (a) and Sanz (c)

Three stories in this IRON MAN ANNUAL, or IRON MANNUAL, that all focus around recent events in the IRON MAN universe. The first ties to the recent Iron Man infinite comic FATAL FRONTIER wherein, on the moon, abandoned Soviet probe Udarnik the Shockworker used a new fuel source, called Phlogistone, to build a wonderful city for anyone who would join him and Tony, to prevent the free flow of Phlogistone getting out of hand, tried to keep the peace by pitting prospective Phlogistone manipulators against one another. It ended badly and Tony realized that Phlogistone poisoned humans, driving them mad. Everyone abandoned the city and Tony neutralized the metal. "Two Cities" picks up after that as Tony pleads with Udarnik to remove the remaining Phlogistone from his system. Udarnik isn't exactly on good terms with Tony, though, after the shutdown of his own city left him alone in space again. Tony convinces him by telling him of Troy and the impact it will have in space and reaching to the moon. Udarnik doesn't like it and hates the cruel irony that Tony, who destroyed his city, wants Udarnik to save him so he can finish building his own great city but Udarnik also can't help believing that Tony is the world's greatest hope to building a city like he claims and reaching to space and so saves him, telling him to leave and bring back other people. "Orbital" finds Arno Stark reaching out to Warren Ellis Eli Warren and his New Modernist Army (from that first arc with Extremis, the guys who were in space) to man Troy's geostationary orbital platform. Warren is skeptical and doesn't want to help anything Stark-related (though he doesn't know that Arno is Stark-related, just that Troy is) but Arno makes a compelling case and they agree, though not before informing Arno that Tony had destroyed every piece of Extremis which likely would have had the power to fix Arno's physical maladies, rebuilding him from the ground up. Finally, "By Moonlight" shows us a series of double-page spreads that start nine months ago, with Pepper and Marc's first meeting, followed by one a month later with the two of them on a date, and culminate with a date in Scotland three months ago when Marc proposed marriage and Pepper proposed a business relationship between Marc and Stark Resilient.

Geez, long summary, but remember I'm summarizing three different stories in one issue and (very briefly) one four-part (maybe?) infinite comic so let's cut me some slack, okay? The best thing about this issue, hands down, is how into Tony it gets without even really placing Tony front and center for the three different stories. In fact, he's only arguably the star of one of the three stories and even then Gillen has to cover some backstory that he can't be sure the reader of this comic has actually gotten around to reading yet, even if he's promised to do it and has it somewhere. In that first story, though, Tony is hallucinating about Yinsen, his friend from the day he became Iron Man, and Yinsen pretty explicitly offers up the theme of this issue and it's a powerful one. Yinsen says, as Tony believes himself to be dying (before Udarnik reluctantly helps him), "you're always willing to ask others to sacrifice for your greater good" and it's perhaps the most compellingly true thing about Iron Man. It's hard to argue that Iron Man has done good for this world, that his genius and his, after the Iron Man-creating incident, ethics have made the world a better place. In some ways, that's a part of what can make Iron Man boring if he's not well-handled; we know he's a good guy at this point and we know how nearly unbeatable he can be given some tools. But this, the idea that his egomania and arrogance make him exactly who he is, someone willing to make people give up their dreams to further his own because he knows them to be good, is certainly a compelling take on Iron Man and it's one that I certainly can't find fault with. As if his asking Udarnik to sacrifice his city and pride to help Tony build his own isn't enough, we get the second story where Arno learns that Tony destroyed Extremis despite the good it could have brought into the world. Very neat stuff, worth checking out to get a good sense of who Iron Man is.

This week's picks

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

Black Widow 3

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

Loki: Agent of Asgard 1

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

New Avengers 14

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


Biggest single-line character definition of the week

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

All-New Invaders 2, Captain America 16

All-New Invaders 2
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Bucky was doing a job for the original Nick Fury, a job that went surprisingly well, when the Kree found him like they'd go on to find Human Torch. After evading the Kree and managing to interrogate one of them, Bucky called Steve to let him know what was happening and the two of them went together to Torch in the midwest. Back where the first issue left off, the Invaders manage to hold off the Kree and their leader Tanalth long enough that she gets called back by the Kree with the information that they seem to have all the pieces of the Gods' Whisper. After she leaves, Bucky and Torch exposit a bit about the scene that both Bucky and Torch were made to remember, explaining that it happened on a mission when Cap was busy elsewhere and that they defeated the Nazis and broke the Gods' Whisper into three parts with each of them tasked with burying a part and not revealing its location to the others. After they did that, they called on Aarkus, the original Vision, to wipe their memory of the device and its location. Now they all agree to go after the Kree in the hopes of both stopping them from using the Whisper and saving Namor.

It's a good enough plot and one that justifies this once-upon-a-team getting back together (also, as Cap himself intimates, they're just about the only group aside from maybe Atlanteans who would care about rescuing Namor). The characters all play their roles this issue as Bucky gets to be the younger-seeming and more brash wetworks guy while Steve plays the morally definite inspirational leader and Torch plays Steve. That's one of the faults that a lot of people tend to fall into writing Invaders stories: Namor and Bucky are very much not Steve but Torch doesn't really get his own personality unless he's made somewhat angsty by the fact that he's an android and doesn't fit in (don't misread any tone in there, that sort of story is still compelling and the character changes it requires work well for Torch but it's not really one that can sustain all the time). Hopefully this series will last long enough and Robinson will be compelled enough to develop Torch into a character wholly his own. For now, though, the plot continues to suffice and the characters are ones we can pretty easily understand, so even if you're not brushed up on your Invaders, it's an easy enough book to jump into. Hopefully it stays a book worth having jumped into.

Captain America 16
Remender (w) and Alixe (a) and Delgado w/ Fabela and Silva (c)

With Steve across the globe on a mission taking down Nuke, readers may be wondering how Jet Black is faring in this new world. Turns out it's about as well as you would expect. She loathes the world and kind of loathes herself for helping to stop her father from taking it over when he so easily could have and, in her estimation, would have improved it. She's perplexed by the kindness and compassion she sees in the midst of all the horrible parts of the city and she can't quite guarantee it's a good thing. She finds herself doing her first very-nearly heroic thing when she intercedes on the behalf of a shopkeeper being beaten to death by a couple of men he threw out of his store. Of course, she waits until the shopkeeper is very badly beaten before scaring the assailants off. When asked by the man why she didn't help, she asks him why he didn't help himself and goes on to say that if he cannot defeat life, life will defeat him. She soon finds herself being addressed by a man who calls himself a friend and who reveals himself to be an S-Man. Anyone reading UNCANNY AVENGERS will know where this is heading, though we haven't been on that plot in quite some time. He brings her to none other than the Red Skull, who assures her that he is a friend of her father's and calls on her to join him and rule like a Zola over these people who are begging to be ruled. Overwhelmed by all the images he's showing her (such as the image of a Captain America on his knees, admitting that he's fighting for ideals he doesn't believe in and the image of her father), she panics a little and "escapes" only to find that the whole thing has been playing in her head as she stands over the beaten shopkeeper.

Plenty of things happening here and Remender again shows elements of the long game he's playing in so many books right now. It's still fairly impossible to get a read on Jet Black, who has shown signs of compassion dating back to her Dimension Z days but who ultimately seems unconvinced by it. The last thing Steve needs is for her to be teamed with Red Skull, especially the Red Skull who has Charles Xavier's mind in his head. There are a lot of things in this issue that call back to UNCANNY AVENGERS but I don't think you have to be a reader of both books to understand exactly what's happening (though I'd hazard that there's a good crossover between readers of CAPTAIN AMERICA and readers of UNCANNY AVENGERS). Even going so far as showing the Captain America that Skull shows to Jet, which is obviously not the real Cap but is something that was hinted at by Skull when he dug around Cap's mind early in UNCANNY AVENGERS, is a nice touch. The art is solid here and works particularly well in the outdoor scenes as Alixe's art and Delgado's colors work well together to create the sort of miserable New York winter day. That said, I won't be upset if Pacheco's back next time out, really been liking his stuff in the book. Next time: more about Dr. Mindbubble. Dr. Mindbubble. Still can't really wrap my head around it.

Captain America 11, Fantastic Four 12, Indestructible Hulk 13

Captain America 11
Remender (w) and Pacheco and Janson (a) and White (c)

Cap has returned twelve years later back to the present day of Earth. Drs. Banner and Pym run all sorts of test on him and do what they can to remove any remaining Zola influence and fix any remaining injuries Steve has while Maria Hill questions him on his time in the other dimension and the whereabouts of Sharon. Hill recommends Cap stay in touch with SHIELD to help him recover but he prefers to get back in the field. In another room, Fury is questioning Jet Black who is proving difficult. Eventually Cap retrieves her and takes her back to his old home, which is stuffed with memorabilia of his past. He promises he'll help her start a new life here and tells her that she has to let go of the past. She points out the irony in this as they stand in his museum-like house and he concedes the point. Not one to be a hypocrite, Cap gathers everything and piles it on the roof, setting it aflame in the rain. Meanwhile, broken Weapon Plus Program participant Nuke has decided to continue a war America thought failed in Eastern Europe, which will no doubt come to a head in the next issue.

There's a lot of memory out of Steve here as he recalls the death of his mother and the lessons she left him with, including letting go of the past and never giving up the optimism that this country brings. It's a really nice backstory to make Steve's family not that far removed from immigrants so they have the hope and ideals of the country so ready, even if they haven't particularly succeeded yet. It gives a nice optimism to Steve's history and puts him closer to the classic idea of the American dream than a lot of other heroes have been. The memories also serve as a nice story for Steve to fall back on to ground him again in the present after so much in his life has, once more, changed. He's able to use the memories of his mother and what she instilled in him to reorient himself in this different world. It's, presumably, what he had to fall back on to find himself when he was unfrozen after WWII. Overall, it's a nice characterization and it fits with Steve's longstanding character as well as the character that's been established with memories and the like by Remender in his short time on the book. Putting him against Nuke and alongside Jet will be an interesting storyline as it gives Cap someone on his side (hopefully) who knows what he's been through and who is dealing with similar problems of her own while pitting him against someone who feels abandoned and has fought all of his life for ideals. Exciting things to come.

Fantastic Four 12
Fraction w/ Sebela (w) and Bagley and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

The Fantastic Four is still separated, with the Johnnys, Reed, and Val stuck in Celeritas' past and Sue, Ben, and Franklin looking for them with the not-so-helpful help of the Preservation Front. Eventually the two groups find one another, meeting up pretty far back, between the Big Bang and the dawn of man on Celeritas. Of course, that means dinosaur fights, so there's a good amount of that. The Preservation Front, preferring not to be arrested, leave without the F4, stranding them in the past up against a slew of dinosaurs with their powers going in and out. Ben's rock skin starts to break, Sue has an episode which allows the Front to leave, the Johnnys seem okay but the air  in Celeritas is different than they're used to, etc. The team manages to hold off just long enough for help to arrive in the form of the grandchildren of the Preservation Front who detest their grandparents' ways and love the F4, going so far as to repair their ship for them and bring it back to this point in time, as time travel is readily accessible in Celeritas' future. The issue ends with a lot of question marks, still mostly regarding the powers of the F4 and future John Storm, with the immediate problem being Ben's rapidly breaking down body.

The powers going haywire continues to make for some compelling storytelling and Ben's rocks breaking off makes him a weaker (physically) character more prone to injury and fatigue while still looking like Thing. Kind of the worst of both worlds, if it keeps up. The question of John Storm is the more intriguing one, though, as he keeps hinting to events in the future, both of the team and kind of of his own future. It's particularly interesting because we also have the future John Storm in FF. Is this John Storm from a point before or after that John Storm? Is this one who knows the outcome of the team? Is this, in fact, a completely different entity also posing as (or believing itself to be) another John Storm? No questions have really been answered about him with any sort of definition; both Johns have been identified by people close to them (Wyatt Wingfoot for the FF's John Storm, Johnny himself for the F4's John Storm) but even that's not a definite. Still a lot of places to go with this book even as Fraction's time on the book winds down (not sure if he's still providing story or some scripting from this point on; my thought was that he was off the book but I thought he was off after this one and he's still listed on the preview of the next one).

Indestructible Hulk 13
Waid (w) and Scalera w/ Jacinto (a) and Staples (c)

Hulk and the Bannerbot have arrived in the time of King Arthur to find that the Chronarchists have expelled Arthur and his knights from Camelot in an attempt to take over Europe at a very formative time for the world. Holding power now, he could completely alter major events following the Middle Ages. On top of that, he's upped his game from bringing dinosaurs as weapons to bring major warriors and weapons from all over the timestream to defend his new kingdom. Working alongside Arthur, Merlin, and the knights, Bannerbot gets Hulk in position to attack the Chronarchist and, with the help of the Ebony Blade, rips this one back into the timestream as well, restoring the legend. As Bannerbot tries to keep Hulk enraged (to keep him as Hulk), he's interested to learn that Hulk is staying Hulked out but seems to have a higher intellect, which makes him believe the Chronarchist is toying in Hulks timeline now. This proves true as we see some tampering at the gamma bomb site where Hulk was created.

Another interesting issue that deals with the ramifications of past events on the future. There's maybe a little overkill in explaining that and, in truth, a bit much by way of summarization of where we are and why we're doing what we're doing. It's not so much that it's particularly bothersome but it's enough that it starts to pull the reader out far enough to say "hey, yeah, we get it." The same is true, I would think with most comic readers, as we keep getting into the butterfly effect, though it's toned down well enough to simply serve as a reminder of what's at stake. Otherwise, the issue is another solid one as Waid continues a team-up of Banner and Hulk and as we start to see Banner becoming more comfortable working with Hulk. It's a weird sort of buddy cop plot in that the two are so different but that the straight man knows the wild one so intimately. It's a neat little formula and it's working out so far. I expect it to move nicely forward into the next issue. It will be interesting to see if Hulk has Banner smarts at this point in his timeline and if the two get along worse for it. In and of itself it's a cool idea, putting Hulk and Banner inside their own timeline as the Chronarchists attack their attacker a little more aggressively. Neat story.

Captain America 7, Indestructible Hulk 8

Captain America 7
Remender (w) and Romita Jr., Hanna, and Janson (a) and White (c)

The issue starts by delving again into Cap's past, but this time from the perspective of present day Cap (or, more specifically, the Cap of two years ago, who farmed the land with the Phrox and Ian. Remember, an absurd amount of time has passed while he's been here) as he looks back on the man his father was. He reveals to Ian that his father collapsed under the pressures of his time and was unable to stand back up, something Steve is able to more easily understand now that he's been raising Ian. Ian asks if Steve will ever disappear on him and Steve admits that his intense desire to not be like his father has led him down a wholly different path altogether; instead of abusing the ones he loves, he becomes emotionally unavailable to them. He promises Ian he'll never disappear. Flash forward to today, as Cap works his way through Zola's tower to try to find Ian, who is being brainwashed by Zola. Steve has already subdued, but not killed, Ian's sister Jet so Zola knows he's on his way. Jet is freed by some of Zola's minions and pursues Steve again. Meanwhile, Steve is having a hell of a time in this assault, forcing his already broken body further and further until he is again confronted by Jet. She attacks him but her heart isn't really in it and Steve escapes the fight momentarily to save a Phrox from being mutated, a process Zola has been enacting to further his plans (soon revealed!). He saves her but it leaves the two of them dangling from the walkway with only Jet around to save them. Steve convinces her to act on the impulses she's been feeling lately, including her confusion about Steve and the recent guilt she's experienced at Zola's plans. She tells Steve the entire plan (now revealed!) which involves Zola infecting many powerful people of Earth with the liquid consciousness he infected Steve with, though a greater dosage, and effectively create a world of Zolas run by Zola. The plan is already pushing quickly forward and Steve needs to find a way to derail it and to save Ian. Jet makes him swear to save Ian and then tells him where her brother is. When he gets near, he is shot through the side of his stomach by a seemingly fully brainwashed Ian.

There is so much happening in this issue (hence my really long description) and it's hard to break it all down. Steve reveals that the memories of his childhood that he's been experience aren't just there for the reader's benefit, they're there because they've recently forced their way to the top amidst all of these new experiences. This, tied to his understanding of his own psyche and emotions (the idea that he pushes people away as a response to his father's abuse) gives us such a different view of Steve while keeping so nicely to the character itself. It's unimaginably difficult to write an entirely new angle for a character while being somewhat handcuffed by 70 years of backstory but Remender has proven again and again that he's more than capable of it. Now Steve will have to face the hardest fight of his long life as he battles Ian to try to save him all while Zola furthers his own plot. This is an even harder fight than Steve had with Bucky back when Bucky was Winter Soldier because a.) he's actually spent more time with Ian over the years they've been stuck here, b.) he physically raised Ian like a father, as opposed to Bucky who was more of a best friend or even brother with maybe a hint of father mixed in, and c.) Ian is a child. Come back next time for an even harder inner turmoil for Steve, if that's the sort of thing you want to see. It is admittedly rather painful as Steve is forced to deal with all of these things, as well as dealing with numerous physical injuries that he is constantly diagnosing and working through. Still, brilliant book.

Indestructible Hulk 8
Waid (w) and Simonson and Wiacek (a) and Charalampidis (a)

We learn a little bit more about the semi-suicidal Patty as well as about the way Mjolnir is viewed in the scientific community as this Jotunheim arc concludes. Patty has a degenerative brain disease that is all but incurable at this point but she is the sole provider for her father. Suicide would mean that the insurance companies wouldn't give him anything but dying at the Hulk's hands would surely compensate him, as opposed to her simply dying from the disease and leaving him alone and with nothing. Bruce tries to get her to believe it's curable or at least worth trying to cure but she's a bit of a hard sell. They talk about why Mjolnir is immovable but she's not interested in it unless it has to do with a cure for her. Meanwhile, they devise a plan to return home with a lot of soft science (I'm supremely happy that I'm not a scientist because I can just read whatever writers say in here and be like "yup, makes total sense to me. I'm sure this is a real solution") which is ultimately interrupted by the Frost Giant possessing Randall revealing himself and leading his fellow Frost Giants in an attack on Midgard. They are eventually rebuffed by Hill, on the other side of the portal, and Hulk's emergence. The whole team, including the rather wounded real Randall, make their way back to Earth and Thor and Hulk part ways for the time being. Bruce hopes that the whole experience has opened Patty's eyes to not being alone in the universe because, as he says, "alone" is poison. Next issue will team Hulk (or pit against) with Daredevil in a clash of Mark Waid authored heroes.

This arc was certainly interesting and it was very nice to see Simonson drawing Hulk and Thor together (even if he made Bruce and, by relation, Hulk's hair somewhat Osborn-like). The story went a long way to develop the characters that Waid has introduced to Banner's world, which definitely needed to be done after several issues that focused on Hulk and/or Banner working with SHIELD. This book is going to have to toe an interesting line of keeping Hulk available for SHIELD while focusing itself on Bruce and his work with the science he's dedicated himself to. The conceit of this book, which makes it very different from most Hulk books, is that Bruce is determined to make something of himself after all this time as a super-scientist and it'll be neat to watch as Waid puts that in the forefront and tries to leave Hulk a bit on the sidelines, as much as you can leave Hulk there. It's largely untested waters and it'll be fascinating to see if Waid can still make a compelling book when you take one of the more famous characters in Marvel history and put him on the bench in favor of the other half of him. If anyone can do it, though, it's probably Waid.