Thor: God of Thunder 25, Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor: God of Thunder 25

Thor's granddaughters, by order of King Thor, must spend time daily in the library honing their minds just as they hone their bodies. One day in their required library time, they read the origin story of Malekith, watching him grow from a shy and scared young elf to the hateful and powerful magician he is today. They next read a story about young Thor, along with an army of humans, stopping Frost Giants from resurrecting Laufey, though they came awfully close and the king's head is still out there ready to be pushed the extra step. Finally, a hidden and chained book falls on to their table, which they eagerly dive into, learning of a dark time in Thor's history when he was deemed unworthy and an all-new Thor took up Mjolnir. King Thor bursts in and closes the book, sending his granddaughters out and closing the book again.

Jason Aaron ends this volume of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER in the sort of classic series ending way, where he tells a few single-shot stories with the ability to be extended later, and teases the next volume, but he does it well enough to keep the reader interested and invested and artists like Esad Ribic, Simon Bisley, and RM Guera provide an extraordinarily good looking book to go along with the stories. It's a nice ending for the series that brought us the epic Gorr storyline and created a couple of new and powerful supervillains like Gorr and Roxxon CEO Dario Agger AKA The Minotaur and it certainly builds a bit of hype (if there wasn't enough out there for you already) for the new THOR and the new Thor. Pretty good series, this one.

Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor is free and wreaking havoc on Heven as Loki, having betrayed his new sisterhood in record time, leads Odin back into the tenth realm to end this fight once and for all. As Thor and Angela prepare to kill one another, Odin arrives and demands his son stop, revealing that Angela is very clearly his daughter Aldrif, alive after so much time thought dead. The news is pretty quickly met as true but isn't received well otherwise, as Angela is banished from Heven and swears she'll kill Odin the next time she sees him, leaving her out in the galaxy somewhere, trying to find a place she's welcome and wants to be.

As I said from the get-go, maybe some of the drama was ripped from this one given that the very first images of this book, that asked who Thor's sister was as it's main question, were images of Angela standing between Thor and Loki, as if shocked by some recent revelation. Kind of a give away and it takes a bit of the tension out for the reader, though it was likely a measured choice, with Marvel likely deciding that fans would figure it out early into the series even without the reveal and hoping that fans would still be interested in learning about how this could be possible and in learning more about Angela, Asgard, and Heven. It pays off well enough; though it's not something that particularly blows the reader away, it serves its purpose and establishes something of a new status quo in the Thor universe (which, coincidentally, is going to have all manner of status quo changes to contend with in no time at all). Solid Simone Bianchi art, teamed with Lee Garbett, Szymon Kudranski, and Marco Checchetto, carries this issue.

Total Score: 4/5

ALL OF THEM

Okay.



Okay.



Okay, so we're back. Apologies for the little break (I may some day take a bigger break but one that's scheduled and doesn't revolve around my axle breaking and my car needing more assistance than my blog). For some dumb reason, I still feel determined to review every book but we're all busy people, we don't need big reviews, particularly the Sunday after the comics have come out. Most of you may already know what books you want! So let's blast through this, super super super condensed version. I may not even mention creators...hold on, I'm getting a thought - start of the week, maybe I'll post all the creators on the side like how I post the new release comics. I gotta update the look of this site anyway. Any suggestions/comments/criticisms? Okay, we're wildly off-topic now. TO THE COMICS, wherein I shall strive to give the SHORTEST REVIEWS I CAN POSSIBLY GIVE.


All-New Invaders 9

The Invaders have been caught off-guard by a bunch of Deathloks and their master, thanks to some sort of AI controlling device, is revealed to be a Martian. The book continues to be horribly slow, to over-explain everything, and to, presumably as an effect of the previous two clauses, seeming have no tension to it. Total Score: 2/5


All-New Ultimates 7
The Ultimates follow Crossbones into the sewers where they run across deformed fellow experiments of Roxxon who have been left there along with a pile of bodies. Geez, now they have to deal with Roxxon and a protracted and uninteresting gang war? This continues to be protracted and uninteresting, though at least something happened this time. Total Score: 2/5


All-New X-Men 31
While the adult X-Men are out of town to figure out Xavier's will, the ANXM find a new mutant named Carmen who can open portals to other dimensions and, in their attempt to help her understand, she sends them off to different universes, namely, it seems, the Ultimate Universe. Wasn't AGE OF ULTRON supposed to knock off this cross-universe business? Didn't BENDIS write that? How many loopholes can we create WITHIN TWO YEARS? What is HAPPENING? Total Score: 2/5


Amazing Spider-Man 1.4
Clash has made something of a name for himself but he's only doing so in comparison to Spider-Man, which enrages him. Finally Spidey invents something that should negate Clash a bit and uses it when Clash attacks the Daily Bugle (they all come there eventually) but Clash breaks it, leading Jonah to call him a real threat and Spider-Man the knock-off, to Clash's delight. Getting a little sick of all of Spider-Man's villains being crazy and wanting attention, is anyone else feeling that way? Total Score: 2/5


Avengers 34

How are we still not out of the As yet? Okay. Captain America gets brought by Iron Lad to the end of time where Iron Lad, Immortus, and Kang tell Cap he has to remain there so he doesn't interfere with events on current Earth that could lead to the end of days. Cap, of course, doesn't take that well and gets the time gem once more, going back to the present and preparing the Avengers for an assault on the Illuminati. Really interesting point to have reached and there's a great classic Cap speech in the middle of all this. Total Score: 4/5


Avengers Undercover 9
The Avengers and other gathered heroes descend on The Pit to attack Zemo and free the former students only to be trapped in The Pit while Zemo and his army attacks the rest of Earth, starting with SHIELD. The bait-and-switch worked pretty well, but it didn't account for Cammi, who broke out of her prison and has the drop on Zemo and his lieutenants. More strong stuff from this series which has reached its sadly penultimate issue. Total Score: 4/5


Cyclops 4
Cyclops and Corsair are running short on Corsair's life-saving medicine, a fate to which Corsair is resigned but about which Cyclops is angry. Corsair has set about trying to teach Cyclops to fight and to live off the land while awaiting rescue but Cyclops has already started to give up hope. Corsair tells him that hope is the difference between the Scott he knew and the Scott on Earth now, that the current Cyclops lost all hope. Not wanting to be that guy, young Cyclops sets about trying to fix the tracking unit the bounty hunters attached to Corsair's ship, which will provide rescue but in the form of bounty hunters. Some solid character work here from Rucka and a nice quiet issue before guns presumably start blazing again. Cyclops and Corsair's relationship is the driving force of this young book and it's well done here. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 9
Reed has started work with John Eden (ugh) while Johnny is depressed in the Manhattan upper class, Sue frets about the kids, and Thing finds out that She-Thing runs the prison and has an axe to grind with him. I don't know much about Fantastic Four history because I largely don't care about the F4 but She-Thing? Is that what we've chosen to dig up as Thing's greatest foe? There's finally hint of a greater scheme at work behind everything happening but I still refuse to buy plenty of what's happened so I'm unimpressed by a clear hand steering things. Total Score: 2/5


Guardians of the Galaxy 18
Gamora kidnaps Peter Quill and brings him to an interrogation chamber unbeknownst to the rest of the team, where she asks him about what happened in the Cancerverse that allowed he, Thanos, and a living Drax to return. Part one of the story involves Star-Lord and Nova attempting to nobly sacrifice themselves to see Thanos forever trapped but Thanos making a solid argument to Star-Lord about why he should hand over the cosmic cube he's holding. Not much substance, as yet, to this story that should explain some things. McGuinness' art is strong, though, so it's certainly readable. It would be more readable if there wasn't so much quipping in the CANCERVERSE. Total Score: 3/5


Inhuman 4

Medusa has set up New Attilan on the ground near New York and opened it to the public. Thor comes to hang out with her as she explains her reasons for doing so, which are mostly to build relationships and alliances while showing the Inhumans are nothing to fear. However, assassins try to kill her, wounding her handmaiden Elejea in the process. Thor delivers the assassins to Medusa, who learns they are Nuhumans (the convenient term for new Inhumans) angry that they're now different. She offers them a place in her kingdom or the opportunity to leave unharmed and without resistance, showing the people how peaceful and reasonable she can be. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious character named The Reader saves a Nuhuman in China. Plenty happening in this book and Soule is doing a solid job to really make this start feeling like its own culture and own big world, which is very important. Stegman also does really impressive work on these pages. Total Score: 5/5


Original Sin 5.4 - Thor and Loki
As Loki leads the Angels to attack Asgard, Thor summons the storm to him and annihilates his prison, breaking out and immediately wreaking havoc on Heven. Loki does indeed bring the Angels to Asgard but neglects to mention that all the Asgardians live now in Asgardia and that only Odin and The Serpent are in Asgard, finally rousing Odin back to action. Not a terrible little issue though it does drag a little at parts and sometimes the often flowery Asgardian English confuses where it should just push forward. Mostly strong work. Total Score: 4/5


Savage Hulk 3
Jean has the power of the Hulk and seemingly Hulk-strength telepathy now but...wait, it's just a dream of Xavier's as his mind has been manipulated by...wait, it's all happening in Banner's head and the Leader is there with bombs strapped to everyone suddenly and he's ready to detonate Xavier's if he even tries to get into his own mind and...look, I'm not sure what's happening here but I am sure that I'm almost entirely disinterested in it and it still moves slowly, even with a plot that's clearly ramping up. Total Score: 2/5


Silver Surfer 5
It turns out that the barrier around Earth isn't actually real, it's in Surfer's head courtesy of a nearby slumbering Lord of Nightmares. Everyone on Earth has fallen asleep except for Dawn Greenwood, who is drifting off, and it's given the Lord of Nightmares the power, thanks to a rare alignment of the planets, to essentially keep everyone asleep and in nightmares forever if Dawn, Surfer, Hulk, and Dr. Strange don't stop him, which they eventually manage. There's a lot of interesting art and ideas but this one feels a little bogged down by how much Slott wants to do and by this strange mythology. Dawn eventually, I should mention, realizes that she wants to see more of the universe and goes with Surfer. Total Score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 30
Punisher and Elektra fight while the two reminisce, both in their heads and out loud, about their times together. Elektra is a far better fighter than Punisher and doesn't really let him get a moment to rest, but even when he finally does get her pinned, he can't bring himself to kill her and the two separate less than amicably but also with neither dead. As Hawkeye relates everything he's figured out to Iron Man, particularly about the terribleness of the new Thunderbolts team, Punisher calls Red Hulk and tells him that he's next. A pretty good fight scene carries this rather nice break-up issue as the weird relationship that was Elektra and Punisher comes to an end. Total Score: 3/5


Uncanny Avengers 23
The Unity Squad needed a bit of time to recover from everything that's happened, so Janet and Scarlet Witch return finally to everyday life from Janet's family's secluded vacation home to try to put their lives back in order again. Anyone that needed healing or examination was placed in a healing chamber for Hank McCoy to study or heal, though Sunfire remains imbued with tremendous power, Havok's face will never heal again, and Rogue still has Wonder Man in her brain (no one really came out of this alright). Rogue goes a little crazy as the voices and memories she thought she expelled from her brain take over again and she runs rampant through New York until Scarlet Witch catches up to her and swears she'll help her. Meanwhile, Red Skull prepares his next major strike along with Kang's recent right-hand man Ahab. Lots of set-up for the upcoming AXIS and some good closer from the last very long arc make this one a worthwhile read, but not one that feels totally necessary to continue the story. Total Score: 4/5


Wolverine 12

It's another fight in a mall and Wolverine decries Sabretooth's hypocrisy while Sabretooth decries Wolverine's use of armor and they fight and eventually Wolverine powers through his crappy dialogue and narration to defeat Sabretooth and they get the orb back and Death is like "hey Wolvy, see ya soon, like in September's DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini-series!" and I'm just glad another heavy-handed but ultimately ineffective WOLVERINE volume has come to a close and I'm looking forward to Charles Soule's spin. Total Score: 2/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 8
Wolverine and Storm have a date in The World, where time moves differently. They end up staying there a while longer, spending a great deal of time building a life, overthrowing a warlord born of the old Weapon Plus program, and stabilizing the region. They leave after a year with Storm leaving as the queen and Logan as the inspiration for a school and so forth, their love for each other deepened but still unable to overcome their responsibilities with the X-Men. It's not a bad issue and the time jumps make it move quickly enough and stay interesting. It's also the first time in the few years that they've had this on-and-off relationship between Wolverine and Storm where I've felt like maybe it wasn't just something the writers wanted to make work, maybe it is something that can happen in this world. Nicely done, Latour. Total Score: 4/5


GUYS, I DID IT. Why isn't everyone praising me ALREADY?

Original Sin 5.2 - Thor and Loki

Original Sin 5.2 - Thor and Loki

Aaron and Ewing (s) and Ewing (w) and Garbett and Bianchi (a) and Woodard and Dall'Alpi (c) and Sabino (l)

Thor and Loki know about their sister and adoptive sister, respectively, and know she's been in the Tenth Realm, the Realm of Heven where Asgard is not much liked, but know little else. Still, it's a fair amount to go on and the pair travel to Heven to meet this sister and promptly get into a fight. While Thor mows down the forces of Heven, Loki sneaks away and ambushes the queen of Heven only to strike a mutually beneficial deal with her. Angela shows up as Thor tires of fighting the Angels, who are eager to strike at Midgard now that their gates have opened again.

Like the last issue, this one struggles with keeping up with the solicits. It's not a bad issue in terms of helping us to understand Heven and the Angels. In fact, that's what I'd say makes this one worth reading. The Thor-Loki relationship isn't bad here but it's also not a particular stand-out and most readers interested in this sort of thing probably know it all already. However, Heven is kind of a new area for most readers and it certainly makes sense for Ewing to highlight it here. He does a good job giving us a sense of these Angels but the driving plot of the story, the meeting between siblings, is somewhat dragged out considering everyone knows it's going to happen and there's no sense of suspense about it thanks to all of the pre-release information everyone got. Still, Ewing makes it readable and builds a tone and a background for us and that's certainly commendable and he can hardly be faulted for the swell of information prior to the book's release.

Total Score: 4/5

(sorry for the late review today and the fact there's just the one but I warned you yesterday, slow week this week and this felt like the one worth bumping to Wednesday...in theory)

Comics this week

We get a bit of a break this week as the new release total drops down to under 15 for the first time in what seems like the entire history of mankind, back to the very first cavemen who were forced to spend more than they wanted on comics every week because, you know, percentage-wise it's not that bad, considering how many books are out total. ON THE FLIPSIDE, this pre-game post traditionally chooses the top five books to look out for in the coming week and I literally only have three that I'm particularly concerned about (and one is kind of a push anyway, honestly). So let's take a look at two and a half books I want you to read this week and two others that are on this list because I hate breaking tradition.

Amazing Spider-Man 4
Is it me or has their been a drop off in production of this book? Actual physical production, not like, Peter Parker is less efficient than he has been. An easy way to check would be to look across my old blog posts but, well, we all know how likely I am to do that. Instead, I'll ask the question here, probably receive no answer, and go on with my life. Anyway, I like the directions this book can go in though I'm a little at a loss about the Electro story and the Black Cat story, which are, in fact, coming together now, so let's see if Slott manages to turn me around on those.

Daredevil 6
This is a really fun book, you guys. The last issue just came out, like, two weeks ago and explored the "death" of Foggy Nelson, a topic I hadn't anticipated, so just read my last pre-game for this book and transfer that praise on to this one.

Mighty Avengers 12
I don't want to write this series off entirely because it's shown glimpses of really innovative and exciting things. Of course, the fact that it's in the midst of an ORIGINAL SIN tie-in doesn't exactly warm my heart or, indeed, push me to recommend it more, but here we are. It won the lottery of "I don't care a lot about most of these books," beating out DEADPOOL which, somehow, almost never gets even a little bit of consideration. I've mostly enjoyed the book beyond the much hated (by me) first arc and yet it remains just kind of a comic that exists, not one that I'm particularly pumped about (though I loved the Declan Shalvey arc and I'm looking forward to a team-up between old man Steve Rogers and Deadpool). Anyway, MIGHTY AVENGERS: it's out this week (Marvel, you can use that catchphrase if you want it).

Original Sin 5.2 - Thor and Loki
Gah, another tie-in book to an event I'm not sold on? Geez, slow week. Anyway, big shifts coming for Asgard lore (and for Thor, as news broke last week) and the start to those shifts seem to be coming in this tie-in and did I mention it's a slow week?

Storm 1
My thought, you guys, is that this is a slow week, one where I, the guy who willingly writes reviews of every major Marvel release, am tepid on the majority of the books that are releasing, so you have no excuse not to buy STORM by Greg Pak and Victor Ibanez. Go check it out, support the rad X-Men leader in her first solo ongoing, and guarantee that Marvel keeps making it and keeps trying new things.

Avengers 32, Original Sin 5.1 - Thor and Loki

Avengers 32
Hickman (w) and Yu (p) and Alanguilan (i) and Gho (c) and Cowles (l)

Captain America, Black Widow, and Starbrand have been sent five thousand years in the future and find a much more utopian world than the last few they've seen. The immortal Franklin Richards greets them, essentially telling them that their appearance was fated and that time doesn't work in the linear, cause-and-effect way they assume. He shows them around his universe a bit, highlighting the way humans have fighting one another and chosen to make the universe better, including their mining of nearby gas giants and establishing a true Avengers World in the middle of the universe. Cap still wants answers from Franklin, asking how he can stop the Illuminati, both their plan and the people, and Franklin says that he can't and wishes that his future won't come to be. Then the time gem appears, sending Cap forward 50,000 years and Starbrand and Black Widow back home.

It's another look into the future, this time a little less dystopian than the last few the time-traveling Avengers have seen. The interesting stuff, for story purposes, comes from Franklin's hints about Cap's coming fight against the Illuminati and about the unstoppable and unending incursions. Still, it's nice to see a universe wherein humanity succeeded as opposed to their typical ultimate ruination. It's a nice story, one where things continue to slow down a little, even more than they had been as we're down to just three time travelers for this issue, but it does continue to be worth a miss if you're reading on a budget.

Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin 5.1 - Thor and Loki
Aaron and Ewing (s) and Ewing (w) and Garbett w/Bianchi (a) and Woodard w/Bianchi (c) and Sabino (l)

The Watcher's eye revealed that Thor has a sister and that there is a tenth realm on the tree of Yggdrasil. He rushes to Asgardia to confront his mother and she reveals that Asgard had once been at war with this tenth realm, a realm of angels, and that Odin had been forced, after the Queen of the angels had stolen Odin's daughter and seemingly slain her, to completely cut the realm off the tree with the Odin Force. Thor leaves Asgardia and tracks down the young Loki, who had seen the realm marked on an old map in his last caper. He leads Thor there as the old (but future) Loki, watches things happen from his cell.

The book moves alright though the covers and all the promotional art rather gave away everything that would happen in this book. It then should come as no surprise to anyone keeping even the slightest eye out (even on the cover of this very book) that there is a tenth realm and that it's the world from which SPAWN's Angela comes and that Angela is the sister revealed to Thor, as Marvel tightens their newfound grasp on the character by retconning her into Asgard lore. Like I said, Ewing does a pretty good job of keeping the pace moving even while we already know what's coming. That said, you know, we already know what's coming so a major loss of suspense points.

Total Score: 3/5

Thor: God of Thunder 23, Silver Surfer 3

Thor: God of Thunder 23
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

Thor fights the Minotaur, now fully transformed, and a legion of trolls with some help from Roz Solomon while, far into the future, King Thor teams with All-Black the Necrosword and, with the aid of his granddaughters, fights off Galactus. In the present, the more pressing storyline, Thor, able to unleash his true power on the Minotaur without the worry of Agger's lawyers or perception as a good guy, defeats Minotaur, though loses track of him, allowing Agger to return to human form and move on.

Strong issue for the book to pause on as THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD are put on hold to team together for THOR AND LOKI: THE TENTH REALM. Though Agger is not yet out of Thor's hair, it's a nice win for the thunder god as he realizes how hard corporations can be to beat. Some of the writing in this issue is exceptional, some is a little choppy at times, but it's overall certainly an easy and worthwhile read, not least because of Ribic and Svorcina.

Total Score: 4/5


Silver Surfer 3
Slott (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c) and Cowles (l)

Dawn leads Silver Surfer to the Never Queen's heart and Silver Surfer uses the power cosmic to keep the Impericon together while the civilians and hostages therein flee. Dawn is tasked with bringing the heart back to the Never Queen and, with the help of some of the freed hostages, succeeds as Surfer bests the Incredulous Zed in combat, unintentionally killing him in the process. Eh, couldn't be helped, right? Anyhow, Surfer and Dawn set off to return to Earth as the Never Queen and her beloved Eternity are reunited.

In just its third issue, Slott and the Allreds continue to make a push to keep this book rather light and fun, even if there are dark moments or tones. It embraces the fantastical and demands the audience revel in it rather than be confused or overwhelmed by it. It's a book that knows itself and both wants to give the audience something worth reading but also not take itself too seriously (as such, you get nods to how crazy it is that the power cosmic ends up occasionally being some sort of undefined panacea). Sometimes the tone of, say, Silver Surfer gets a little muddled in this, unsure if he's that classic, seemingly cold character or if he has a sense of humor that rarely comes out, but I think that's something that will define itself more in time (though, you could also argue, it's already defined itself because the past doesn't matter, that what's in this book is the definition). Slott is very clearly having fun with this new series and the Allreds were a perfect team for this blend of fun and fantastical.

Total Score: 5/5

Cyclops 2, Loki: Agent of Asgard 5

Cyclops 2
Rucka (w) and Dauterman (a) and Sotomayor (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cyclops and his dad are riding the galactic trail, exploring and finding some things out, all of which is old to Corsair but new to Cyke. They travel to Yrzt, which Corsair compares to Vegas. They meet with an old black market friend (since allegedly gone legitimate) of Corsair's and he buys himself some secret drugs while Cyclops hangs out in a Danger Room equivalent with the trader's daughter. As they prepare to leave the planet, they're accosted by some real jerks out to bring Corsair in for various crimes. Cyclops manages to fight them off but it costs Corsair his new drugs. Bad news for all, though, the jerks managed to get a tracker on Corsair's ship.

Cyclops is starting to learn just how big the universe is but learning starts at home as it's painfully obvious (particularly to us, MAYBE less so to him) that Corsair is hiding something from his son. The two of them are palling around the universe in a spaceship built for two with Corsair discovering how little his son knew about the universe at this age (the Cyclops he knows is a little more traveled) and Cyclops learning that his dad is a neat-o space pirate. It's a fun book and it reads pretty well, though it's maybe not the most thrilling thing out there just yet. Of course, it's very early for this book and Rucka is opening the door for bigger and better stories down the road.

Total Score: 4/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 5
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c) and Cowles (l)

Loki arranges his heist on Asgardia, hoping to free the wrongfully imprisoned Sigurd while also, perhaps, working things to his own end. With the help of such notables as Thor (providing a distraction for Heimdall), Lorelai (helping with the actual break-in), Verity Willis (helping with a dumb name and inexplicable power), and Sigurd himself (helping to break himself out per a plan the two of them formed in a dumpster), Loki manages to free Sigurd and get he and Lorelai out before going to explore the rest of the area, where he finds the old Loki ready to strike.

Things are heating up so mildly in this book that you may just miss it. The Loki v. Loki fight has some interesting qualities to it but right now it feels like things are crawling to get there while other less important storylines (NO, I'm not going to get over Verity Willis, you guys) take center stage (it seems important to note that I've been reading comics long enough to know that the Verity Willis thing is very likely deeper than it seems on the outside but I'm still not ready to accept that as an answer to how stupid I find it). There's definitely more here than in a couple of the last issues (though they've rather bounced up and down) but I'm still not sure it's enough to really make this book overly worthwhile.

Total Score: 3/5

She-Hulk 4, Loki: Agent of Asgard 4

She-Hulk 4
Soule (w) and Pulido (a) and Vicente (c) and Cowles (l)

She-Hulk pays a visit to San Francisco to get some advice from fellow lawyer-superhero Matt Murdock about her recent case involving Kristoff Vernard, son of Dr. Doom. With his counsel, she flies to Latveria in the hopes of finishing her case. She manages to sneak into the country and launches a small attack on Castle Doom before a giant Doombot controlled by Doom himself stops her. She talks with him, telling him that it would serve Doom well to let Kristoff live a life since all he's doing now is teaching the future ruler of Latveria to bow and that letting him go out on his own, whether in Latveria or abroad, will let him become a stronger person. Doom consents reluctantly and Kristoff brings She-Hulk home, where she begins to look into the facts of her mysterious blue file.

Story
The conclusion of the Doom storyline works out nicely as Jen manages to get into Latveria and makes another compelling argument (her first came when she won her actual trial to grant Kristoff asylum) on behalf of her client. It paints a picture of a good lawyer at work and, as she and Matt discuss, the role of a lawyer who has the ability to do far more for a client than most. On top of it, we start to get a sense of what's in the blue file as she reveals to Hellcat and Angie Huang that she and several other in the superhero/villain community are being sued by someone in North Dakota for something she cannot recall. Interesting stuff ahead. 5/5

Character
There are plenty of strong character moments here from just about everyone who appears. She-Hulk gets plenty of her own moments in the way that she speaks and in the way she acts; her tone and her demeanor give us as much a sense of her character as her willingness to visit San Francisco for advice and her willingness to travel to Latveria for a client she doesn't even like. Kristoff and Doom get some decent characterization (a well-written Doom continues to be just an absolute pleasure to read), as do Hellcat and Angie Huang in their much smaller roles. 5/5

Writing
Soule's writing continues to be very strong, giving great dialogue and compelling story beats as the series continues. I've covered most of that in the above two sections but it feels more and more each issue like Soule is building his world in some really strong ways. Hopefully the book hangs on long enough to let us see it (I've no idea how sales on this or any other new book are doing but I fear that the cuts have to come somewhere). 5/5

Art
Pulido's art continues to impress, though I get the sense that his work continues to be very polarizing. Matt Murdock is characterized some by his dialogue in this one but even more by his inability to sit still as he and She-Hulk hang out on the Golden Gate Bridge. He's constantly doing handstands and jumping from wire to wire and all sorts of different things in the course of his regular conversation. It's pretty fun and it adds a lot to the book, which is about all you can ask from any artist on any book. Muntsa Vicente does a solid job too on the colors for this extremely specific art style. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Just another in a line of Soule books that's proven to be a lot of fun to read while also being an engaging superhero comic.

Total score: 5/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 4
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c) and Cowles (l)

Loki needs to send Sigurd home to Asgardia on behalf of the All-Mothers but Sigurd has other plans. Sigurd wants to remain on Earth but also to change his religion to one of resurrection upon death, hoping to avoid the fate that's been promised to him when he dies (consumed by the ex-Disir Valkyries, as happened a few years ago in NEW MUTANTS). For his plan, he needs his sword Gram, which Loki happens to have. The two fight for it and it seems Sigurd was the winner, though the conclusion of the fight happens out of sight. Sigurd visits Tibet and finds dark sorcerer Kaluu, hoping that he can change his religion. Sigurd explains what happened between himself and Loki while Kaluu listens and, at the end, agrees to aid Sigurd. They both shed blood on the wheel of karma to agree to terms and to get the ball rolling only for Kaluu to transform into Mephisto and show Sigurd that the karma wheel was, in fact, a contract and that his soul now belongs to Hell. Unfortunately for Mephisto, Loki had been on the mountaintop all along, courtesy of a number of invisibility charms and spells, and swapped out the wheel/contract for a contract of his own that banishes Mephisto and sends Sigurd back to Asgardia. Though the All-Mothers are pleased with Loki, he's not so thrilled with them and enlists the help of Verity Willis, Lorelai, and Thor to try to open up the dungeons of Asgardia to release the gods who have been imprisoned there recently.

Story
Every issue of this book has ended so far (with the exception of issue one, but even that had this problem, I just thought the story was more interesting) with me going "geez, that was awfully convoluted." I do believe, to Ewing's credit, that "convoluted" is rather the book's intent. Loki's the god of mischief, not the god of straightforward cause and effect. Were there probably easier, more generic ways for Loki to send Sigurd back to Asgardia? Probably. Maybe fighting? Who knows, it's all moot at this point. I think Ewing's not wrong to want to take the roundabout way to get it done, since people picking up this book want to see Loki being mischievous and outsmarting people. Still, at some point, convoluted for convoluted's sake wears a little thin and the story has to be exciting and compelling enough to warrant it. It didn't feel like this one ever really hit that point. 3/5

Character
Though we get some character beats in dialogue, the strongest sense of character comes from the aforementioned Rube Goldberg-ness of Loki's plots. It's strong characterization in that sense but the dialogue doesn't always support it. One of the most impressive things that Kieron Gillen did in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (and no, it's not fair to keep comparing this series to that one but I'm going to keep doing it) was to make Loki continually outsmart his foes even when it looked like he wasn't doing it or wasn't doing it intentionally because every once in a while you'd get a dark or foreboding line from Kid Loki that showed that maybe his young and excitable exterior was maybe a little deeper than it seemed. I haven't seen a lot of that from this Loki so his dialogue feels incongruous with his plots. Suddenly he just appears and goes "AHA, I had it planned this way from the start!" which, while true, doesn't feel particularly rewarding. 3/5

Writing
I think I pretty much said all I wanted to say about the writing above. The only other thing I'd mention is that I still tend not to like the faintly gimmicky asides that feel more at place in a SCOTT PILGRIM than in a book whose tone hasn't really been firmly established yet (for example, there's a cutaway sequence outlining what Sigurd's wearing and another establishing what Verity is eating in longer detail - it's not necessarily a dumb idea as it's stuff that needs to be explained and an aside is perhaps more useful than clunky dialogue but it really breaks the tone and rather makes me roll my eyes, which is not the last time I'll discuss eye-rolling this time out). 3/5

Art
Lee Garbett's art is pretty strong throughout this one, switching back and forth between realism and fantasy pretty effortlessly. He keeps up with a lot of the tone changes pretty well and really manages to hold the book together when it starts to come undone. Woodard's colors don't hurt either. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Still rolling my eyes continuously at Verity Willis. I understand there's quite possibly a longer game going on with her, but it would have to be a pretty darn convincing and exciting reveal to make me not roll my eyes at her.

Total score: 3/5

Loki: Agent of Asgard 3, Ultimate Spider-Man 200

Loki: Agent of Asgard 3
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c)

As god of mischief Loki spends some time with Verity Willis (guys, I haven't STOPPED rolling my eyes about her since my last review) and Lorelai, god of evil Loki, trapped in a cell in Asgardia while the All-Mother tries to figure out what to do with him, writes a piece of his own history, jumping in time to a day when Odin himself was just a young prince. Loki meets up with his adopted father and together they slay a giant otter who turns out to be a shapeshifting man. They run afoul of the man's family, all according to Loki's plan, and barter for their life with gold Loki procures from an ancient legend named Andvari who has spent his whole life as a giant pike (fish-type pike, not like a spear-type pike) guarding his treasures. Loki separates him from it with a bazooka and brings it, cursed though it is, to the man's family in exchange for their freedom. Meanwhile, one of the brother's, Fafnir, of the man slays their father and tries to slay his other brother, Regin, in order to keep all the gold for himself. The betrayal and lust for gold makes Fafnir transform into a hideous dragon who guards the gold forever until Sigurd, legendary hero of Asgard, is enlisted by Regin to find and slay the dragon with a special sword Regin has made. The sword is Gram, the truth-dealing sword. Sigurd does it, he ends up having to stab Regin with it because Regin actually hates Asgardians and eventually the sword falls into Odin's hands and Loki has him make a box with five locks and five keys to hold it and then later god of mischief Loki got it and he used it way back in the first issue and Sigurd is looking for it in the modern day and WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS BOOK.

This may be the single most roundabout story I've ever read in Marvel. Sometimes things like that, things that make me furrow my brow the entire issue until some sort of crazy reveal puts it all together at the end, shock me and win me over by the final page. This did no such thing. I, of course, say this knowing full well that there could be some sort of reveal coming that slides pieces into place but I wholeheartedly believe that that will end up being too little too late. There's just so much here I have trouble buying and have trouble coping with. Maybe that's partly on me but GEEZ, a horribly paced comic didn't help things. I swear this one took me half an hour to get through in the first place, thanks to the wordiness, and then I'd have to double check things to see if pieces were falling into place. FUN FACT: they never were. I think that Ewing's building to something (good god I hope so, otherwise this was just the craziest way to tell us how Loki got Gram, something I hadn't been bothering to ask, and why he's going to have to go up against Sigurd) but issues like this one make me wonder why I should care. Oftentimes you hear the saying that it's the journey, not the destination (or the band Journey and the band Destination's Child) but this one had the single most convoluted journey for the most inconsequential destination that I have to wonder if this is some sort of "What is Art?" post-modern art exhibit.

Ultimate Spider-Man 200
Bendis (w) and Marquez, Lafuente, Pichelli, Brooks, Bagley, and Hennessy (a) and Ponsor (c)

It's been two years in the Ultimate Universe since Peter Parker died and May, before she sells the house, wants to hold a gathering with those closest to him to commemorate his life. Attending are Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Human Torch, Liz Allen, Kenny McFarlane, Jessica Drew, Lana Baumgartner, Miles Morales, and Ganke Lee, although the last two admit to not really knowing him so well. Tony Stark, though invited, could not attend and sends tons and tons of food from a world-renowned chef in his place. Everyone present reminisces about Peter and speculates on what he'd be up to if he was still alive, or indeed what he'd have done with his future in the long run. The answers vary from Spider-Manning with science, Spider-Manning with reporting, Spider-Manning with Spider-Man, and more. All of the memories make everyone present want to do some good with themselves and Miles suggests they bring the food to those who need it, an idea they all agree to and which makes May incredibly proud. After a day of volunteering and helping those less fortunate, everyone goes their separate ways even as someone mysterious watches from the bushes.

It's a milestone issue from ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, unquestionably the most influential and most liked book in the Ultimate line, so it's certainly fitting that those involved would want to reminisce a bit. Interestingly, there's not actually that much reminiscing. There's really more speculating about a potential future gone. What could that mean, the idea that they didn't remember things about their lost friend but rather that they thought about what he could be doing? Well, I mean, your guess is as good as mine and I'd say both our guesses are pretty spot-on. ANYWAY, the issue is pretty nice though it does come with a lot of my personal qualms with Bendis books (back-and-forth dialogue, insane amounts of double page spreads, a still entirely weak, in my perspective, Kitty Pryde, and random tone shifts that seem entirely out of place almost every time they occur, to name a few) but I'm going to sit back and not dissect every bit of this one (sorry if I couldn't really help myself just then). For all of my irritations with Bendis, the truth here is that he's created something well-loved and deservedly so. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN should always be viewed as one of the high points of Bendis' long and esteemed career. It really was a game-changer and I think, in a lot of ways, it was a game-changer for good. Of course, there are many people who came after the success of the book and tried simply to ape the style to varying degrees of success but the real shift was that people saw comics as something different. Now somewhat stranger, more character-driven and maybe less action-driven stuff could exist because Marvel knew it could sell. Of course, Spider-Man has always been a character defined by his personality and who he is rather than by the fight scenes he would have so it was a logical choice to let him jumpstart this series but Bendis took it and made it his own and really changed the face of mainstream comics. I don't necessarily agree with everything he does at Marvel and I certainly don't always like everything he does but I give him a lot of credit for his work with this series. More times than not, I feel like this series gets brought up in the conversation about a person's favorite series. It's well-deserved. I remember binge-reading over a hundred issues of this within a few days myself. Issue 200 isn't just a big milestone, it's a huge achievement and one that's often hard to hit with a new series these days. Well done Brian Michael Bendis and well done to all of the artists who have contributed to this series (many of whom, if not all of whom, contributed as artists on this issue).

Loki: Agent of Asgard 2, Punisher 3, She-Hulk 2

Loki: Agent of Asgard 2
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c)

Loki is hot on the trail of Lorelai, Asgardian and younger sister of Amora the Enchantress with whom both Thor (thanks to Loki's magic) and Loki (thanks to Loki) have had romantic trysts. The All-Mother wants all Asgardians returned home and so have tasked Loki with finding Lorelai and bringing her back, but he's not entirely forthright with them (as is his way). He's after Lorelai, sure, but it's for his own purposes. He finds her robbing a casino and manages to scare her off from it in the midst of the heist, from within the vault, but it allows him to track her movements afterwards. She's gone back to ground which means conning people at speed dating so Loki finds himself at speed dating telling this whole story of Lorelai to fellow speed dater and new female lead for the book Verity Willis, a girl who cannot be lied to. Well, she can, but she'll know it was a lie. She won't necessarily know the truth but she'll know that's not it. I couldn't be rolling my eyes ANY HARDER, DEAR READERS.

Lorelai makes her return to the 616 after, coincidentally, an appearance in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD just this very Tuesday. Call it fate, call it karma, but now Lorelai is taking over very small parts of the Marvel Universe. That's not really why I'm here though, is it? No, no it's not. I'm here to talk about Verity Willis, a redheaded girl covered in tattoos who is able to see through Loki's disguise as an older and non-costumed up human when he appears in front of her at speed dating. The problem I have with Verity Willis is OH MY GOD SO MANY. Look, Al Ewing has gained some good faith in my book. I liked his short times on AVENGERS ASSEMBLE and some of the other AGE OF ULTRON tie-in books and I've come around on his MIGHTY AVENGERS and I liked the first issue of this series. I don't even hate this issue. My problem with Verity Willis is that she feels SO VERY FORCED. Ignoring the fact that her given name, apparently, is Verity (and she's had this power seemingly forever so don't tell me she's an Inhuman whose power reflects her inner self because I WILL NOT BELIEVE YOU, THEY DON'T MANIFEST UNTIL ADOLESCENCE AND ALSO INHUMANITY JUST HAPPENED so I ask you how could she even have been EXPOSED to the Terrigen Mists), she is so blatantly the counter to Loki that it is a ridiculous story. I talked a lot about how Nuke was interesting in recent CAPTAIN AMERICA comics or, perhaps even more applicably, how Dr. Mindbubble is an interesting foil because both Nuke and Mindbubble have different aspects of Captain America in their origin or in their actions but both are very clearly fighting for something at odds with Cap. However, both are also DEEPER than their connection to Cap so they can exist elsewhere. Verity Willis, even after just one issue, is so clearly writer's room'd around Loki that it's crazy. It's really hard to get past, you guys.

The issue does a lot of other stuff that I'm not so onboard with, including somewhat distracting layouts and looks that aren't dissimilar to, for example, HAWKEYE 8, which found Cherry sending Hawkeye comics the rang of old romance novels. Here's the thing: this may be unfair, but it was great in HAWKEYE and it doesn't work for me here. Part of it is simply that LOKI's attempt came second and it's never good to come second in something innovative like this. Part of it too is that it doesn't really fit; when HAWKEYE did it, Fraction and Aja and Annie Wu (who drew the various romance-style covers spread throughout the book) put it in several times, making it the tone of the comic and ensuring it became part of the layout. LOKI does it once and does a couple other weird things with captions here and there and it gives the comic a "we're really trying too hard" feel. Sorry about the three paragraphs here guys, noticed that it was running a little long and wanted to break it up a bit more (also I just looked back at some of my old, less uniformed stuff on the blog and some of it is REALLY hard to read with the layout I haphazardly used. Whatever, guys).

Punisher 3
Edmondson (w) and Gerads (a and c)

Punisher is up against Electro on an LA highway and quickly realizes he's outmatched. He hasn't planned for this fight and Electro has, leaving Frank at a distinct disadvantage. He manages to create a diversion by shooting the gas tank of his own previously exited RV and escapes to be picked up by Tuggs, coyote in tow, later. Castle and Tuggs talk about what Electro could be doing with the Dos Soles but can't come to any real conclusions. Frank goes back to the well of one of his intimidated (by which I mean really-beat-up) informants and learns where the Soles are holed up. He prepares to strike at their compound but realizes that he's, perhaps, underestimated his opponents. He still does solid work taking down the Soles' guards, even managing to pretty safely transition from roof to ground, until Electro gets the drop on him and knocks him down, promising to bring him to the boss.

More intense fighting and more hunting down the Soles drives this issue. We're not getting anything particularly earth-shattering in the presentation of this iteration of Punisher but what we are still getting is a solid presentation of a comic book. It's well-written and well-illustrated. The tone is very consistent and exactly the sort of tone we need on a Punisher book. On top of that, the story is compelling and the pacing is perfect, which may save it from becoming boring from people who haven't really been Punisher fans in the past, perhaps because the idea of just shooting through hordes of gang members doesn't really appeal to them (guys, I'm talking about me here, it's not all that veiled). I think it's a testament to Edmondson and Gerads that I'm enjoying this book since I feel like I really shouldn't be. It has a lot of the token pieces that makes Punisher uninteresting to me without really adding anything huge of interest but I am still interested in this series. It's the power of tone and pacing more than anything else (though I'm also pretty into the art style of this one too). Hopefully it continues to be solid as we push forward.

She-Hulk 2
Soule (w) and Pulido (a) and Vicente (c)

She-Hulk has moved into her own law office in a brick building leased out by an ex-mutant who has leased the building exclusively to people with powers, knowing how hard it can be for such people to find office or living space in New York, given the liabilities they are. She-Hulk's first order of business is hiring an assistant, which she does when everyone waiting flees for some mysterious reason and she's left with one applicant, Angie Huang, a strange woman with an impressive resumé and a pet monkey named Hei Hei. The second order of business is finding business. As she has no clients (except the case that her former law firm sent her away with where she and several other super-powered and super-powered associates are defendants), she makes a few calls only to find herself met with resistance from everyone. She calls it a day and goes out at night with Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat. Hellcat is having problems of her own and ends up having, perhaps, a little too much to drink and insists that She-Hulk come with her to beat up some bad guys. They crash a secret AIM base Hellcat learned about from a SHIELD agent during some date and they're attacked by the two AIM agents stationed there. She-Hulk easily takes down the guy in full robot suit she's fighting with but Hellcat has been captured by the other. She-Hulk threatens him but ultimately says that they can just walk away from this if he lets Hellcat go. He does, the heroes tie them up, and they all go on their way. The next day, She-Hulk gets her first client, Kristoff Vernard, son of Victor Von Doom, wishing to defect from Latveria.

I try to ignore other reviews, no matter how small they may be, when I'm preparing my own review. I prefer to go in with my own opinions, get them out of the way, then realize how wrong I am. In this case, though, I saw some tweets from cartoonist Darryl Ayo that talked about giving away SHE-HULK 1 halfway through it then read all of SHE-HULK 2 because it was a much more confident comic. I see some level of truth to that; I do think that SHE-HULK 2 is already feeling more confident about its place and in its main character than SHE-HULK 1 maybe did. On the flip-side, I do believe that SHE-HULK 1 was a better story. Granted, there's decidedly not a lot happening in this one; Jen is trying to find work so she's not exactly doing a ton in this issue whereas she had a case set up for her in the first issue. However, I thought this one was more about world-building in a lot of ways than the nice start that issue one had. Still a pretty solid issue here. I think Javier Pulido's art is going to draw a lot of love it/hate it response and I'm not really sure where I fall on it. For what it's worth, I think I really like Muntsa Vicente's colors with Pulido's art. I think that the two of them together are creating a very interesting and colorful world for She-Hulk to live in, something that isn't often true about new books. We'll see about this one, guys. We'll just see.

Comics this week

As has been true a couple times already this year, this is a big week for new releases and for releases just starting out. Look for a slew of number ones, twos, and threes this week, most of which make up this list.

Loki: Agent of Asgard 2

I liked this first issue and I've liked the turnaround on Ewing's MIGHTY AVENGERS. I'm still skeptical that this Loki will be able to sustain a series but I would have said that before Gillen's JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY too and that was amazing. So this is me being cautiously optimistic and recommending checking out issue two of LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD in the hopes that Ewing can pull off a solid story with the character.

Magneto 1

Of all of the new releases, this is one of the ones I'm most doubtful of. Magneto, while obviously a very interesting and compelling character, has not ever been able to sustain a book. I'm not sure his chances are particularly improved by the writing of Cullen Bunn, who similarly has not really been able to sustain a Marvel series (though I thought he did a fine job picking up the reins from Remender on VENOM). Like LOKI, it seems like this will be a somewhat more black ops book for a one-time great villain whose alignment is questionable (though I fully expect LOKI to be more lighthearted). Could be fun, could be slow, I guess we'll see.

Moon Knight 1

Of all of the new releases, this is one of the ones I'm most confident about. Moon Knight is a very cool character and one I know Warren Ellis will enjoy playing with, Ellis is a great writer who can certainly do the detective/crazy angle pretty well (for as short as it was, I loved his time on SECRET AVENGERS and particularly his time playing with Moon Knight on SECRET AVENGERS), and Declan Shalvey is a phenomenal artist as much as Jordie Bellaire is a magnificent colorist. Very excited for this one, one of those times where all of the pieces are in place and you can't understand why it took so long to get around to it.

New Warriors 2

I said in my NEW WARRIORS 1 review that I trust Yost to do solid work and that his first issue planted a lot of seeds that I think he's going to have fun with and that are overall good moves. I thought the first issue did a lot of good work with pacing and establishing characters so I'm looking forward to seeing what Yost does to move forward and what better place to go from number one than to number two? Stellar move, guys, just stellar.

She-Hulk 2

This was another number one that I found myself liking a lot. I'm one hundred percent on the Charles Soule bandwagon at this point, as it took him maybe one issue to turn THUNDERBOLTS from a series that had started to bore me despite what I saw as near limitless potential into a book that absolutely destroys every time out. She-Hulk's first outing was fun and really character-driven without making things too tense or trying to thread too much story into one book. It was a great mix of fun and frustration and character moments that really set a tone for this new series. I'm looking forward to where we're going next.

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.

Ms. Marvel 1, Loki: Agent of Asgard 1

Ms. Marvel 1
G. W. Wilson (w) and Alphona (a) and Herring (c)

Kamala Khan is a Muslim-American Pakistani from Jersey City who can't help but feel a little tied down by her family and her religion and culture. While she adheres to her culture and loves her family, she feels it's keeping her from her would-be normal life. In the spirit of rebellion and frustration, she sneaks out of her room to go to a party on the waterfront with a bunch of other high schoolers (led by blonde, attractive popular girl and purportedly fake-nice "concern troll" Zoe Zimmer). She's handed a cup of orange juice (not realizing it's spiked with vodka) and takes a sip, immediately spitting it back out but quickly realizing she's not really in the right place for her. As she leaves the party, irritated by Zimmer and others like her as well as by her friend Bruno's attempts to protect her, the Terrigen Mists sweep through the city and she's suddenly wrapped up in a cocoon. While inside, Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel come to her and begin speaking Urdu to her. They talk with her about her problems and she reveals that, if she had her ultimate wish, she'd be "beautiful and awesome and butt-kicking and less complicated," like Captain Marvel but preferring the old Ms. Marvel costume. Captain Marvel reveals to her that she's about to get her wish but that it's not going to work the way she thinks it will. She awakens to find herself trapped in the cocoon and punches her way out, shocked to find herself garbed as Ms. Marvel with long, blonde hair.

Very interesting introduction to Kamala Khan, the most talked about new superhero in quite some time (even as I write this "Ms. Marvel" is the top trend on Twitter). The book faces something of an uphill battle as writer G. Willow Wilson has to not only introduce the readers to Kamala, but to establish a lot about Kamala's culture and family. With plenty of other new characters, it's enough to throw them into their origin story and show us a couple of one-liners or fights or something else because we can basically assume they grew up in a certain environment. Here, Kamala's upbringing is core to who she is and, while that's true for everyone, it's an upbringing with which plenty of readers aren't familiar. In that way, the first handful of pages move a tiny bit slowly as there's a lot of set-up and a lot of dialogue but it all serves a really important point and it doesn't drag in the way you'd almost expect it to, which is to the book's credit. We come away from the first five or six pages with a pretty good idea of who Kamala is and what her status is as a teenager in school. The characters are all, in fact, pretty well-defined pretty quickly and it clears the way to focus on the story for the rest of the issue. It's rare to have a book that defines its brand new character so quickly but this one is certainly hitting that mark. The art, too, is a great fit for the book and the art style and colors give it a somewhat softer feel than most books of today. There's a lot to really like about this first issue and I'd trust it only goes up from here. Looking forward to what this book has in store and, for all the hype around this issue, I think it's living up to its billing.

Loki: Agent of Asgard 1
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c)

Loki, in his new body, is under the employ (if you can call it that) of the All-Mother to act as an agent of Asgard (hence the name of his new series). His newest mission? To break into Avengers tower and purge Thor of some sort of spirit inhabiting him that is making him base and bullying, turning him into...well, his younger self. Loki gets into Avengers Tower and has soon drawn the attention of every Avenger in the place (the movie team). His silver tongue and his misdirection, though, get him out of a jam long enough to go to the Avengers database and erase his file from its memory, vowing that he is not the same Loki who has attacked the Avengers so often in the past. The Avengers find him there and Thor attacks but Loki manages to stab him through the back with Sigurd's sword, a sword infused with magic that will make you suffer the truths you've ignored. In this case, it means that Thor has to look inward and realize there is, in fact, something in there with him, and it is expelled, Loki catching it in a cup of his own design. He and Thor talk it out a little while later (before Loki breaks out of holding) and Loki returns to Asgard to deliver the news and the cup to the All-Mother. As Loki leaves, the All-Mother opens the cup to find the old Loki, the original Marvel Universe Loki, inside, wishing to discuss the future.

I will say that I was a bit hesitant about this book. I didn't know Al Ewing before he came to Marvel but I liked his couple of issues on AVENGERS ASSEMBLE and then haven't quite liked his run so far on MIGHTY AVENGERS, leaving me more recently with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, a taste that thought maybe he was trying a bit too hard. Here, though, he's created a really interesting first issue that includes a lot of things that I'm eager to see more of. On the one hand, he seems to have restored a modicum of Loki's Gillen-reimagined character. I loved JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and YOUNG AVENGERS but JIM ended with the old Loki in Kid Loki's body with Kid Loki's newfound innocence in the world. YOUNG AVENGERS was a little tough to get a read on Loki, who fought himself throughout and left the reader a little unsure what Loki would be coming into this book. This one deals a lot with stories and roles. Loki, in his very first appearance in the Marvel Universe, took on the role of god of evil, warping it enough from god of mischief to a burning evil. For Asgardians, the role they take is as important as any other decision they might make and Loki, then, was locked into this evil role until his death. And so he died and now here he is with a chance to set things right. He's still Loki, he's still the god of mischief, but he has the choice to not fall into the god of evil role. Of course, that will likely be made more difficult with the OG Loki lurking around but it's a great start to this book. As anyone who read my DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED reviews or who has picked up on the fact that I quite like Neil Gaiman will probably realize, I'm a fan of the idea that the power of stories is great (also that I review comics for FUN - or profit, if anyone wants to hire me to do this). So I like the turn this series is taking to make Loki and Asgard mythical in the storied sense, especially on the heels of a book like JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY which focused very much on that idea. I hope this book continues in that manner, it should be a good run.

Comics this week

Geez, lot of new books out there this week. Plenty to look forward to and more than enough to make up a top five pre-game book. Lotta number ones out there this week and they're just about all worth checking out. GUYS, this week of 16 new releases is SURPRISINGLY TOUGH to narrow down.

All-New Invaders 2
Still looking to see where this series is going to end up. I feel like the first issue was okay as far as introductions go and for getting a feel on the story but now we're primed to actually see the start of a team-up here and as an Invaders fan, I'm hoping that it goes the way I'd like it to go rather than the way I fear it going. Was that broad enough for you?

Black Widow 3
With so many number ones out there this week and so many other books deserving attention that surely won't get it because series launches are just more important in terms of an anticipatory pre-game post, it's crazy to me that I'm starting this post off with two books that are past number one but not fully established yet. This one though, unlike ALL-NEW INVADERS, gets the call because it's been absolutely great so far and so, while I'm excited to see how Edmondson and Noto keep creating Natasha's world, this one gets the pick because it's perhaps the one I'm most looking forward to this week as a comic I know will be good. Very cool to have that in a book so early into its run.

Ms. Marvel 1
Finally the long-awaited Kamala Khan, star of newspaper articles the country over when she was announced, debuts in the Marvel Universe officially as the new Ms. Marvel. I'm really interested to check this book out and you should be too. There are people out there saying this is just a big PR move, meant to force diversity into books. To that I say wait 'til the story comes out to show it was a story worth telling. I ALSO say that comics NEED more diversity so whatever the reason for putting more diversity in a book, as long as we end up with more diversity I'm happy. Looking forward to the introduction of a new character to lead a book. Everyone check it out, give it a couple issues, then decide.

New Avengers 14
I almost scrapped this one on the list for CAPTAIN AMERICA which, of course, I love or LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD which debuts this week from writer Al Ewing and puts the new decidedly older than Kid Loki but decidedly younger than grumps Loki and more a Tom Hiddleston-based Loki in a new role as an...well, agent of Asgard but, at the end of the day, I'm very excited to see NEW AVENGERS again. I refuse to get sick of this book and, along with HAWKEYE, I feel like it's one we've seen less and less of as time has gone by, like we had a surge at the start of the series and then an incredible drought. Oh well, it's out this week, go buy it.

Punisher 1
My fondness for the new BLACK WIDOW series carries over here as I'm genuinely interested in the new PUNISHER series written by BLACK WIDOW scribe Nathan Edmondson. This is a character I've never truly liked in the Marvel Universe (though I've found myself liking certain writers' takes on him) and I'm recommending checking out the new series over, say, the conclusion of MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, a series I've very much enjoyed, or the start of the new WOLVERINE series, based on a series I very much did not enjoy, or X-MEN 10, another presumably crucial piece of the only core X-MEN book I'm actually getting into, or IRON MAN 21, another step in the very intriguing Ten Rings storyline, or AVENGERS 25, a book that I'm sure will be very cool, or SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 8, a return to the main story after a brief interlude seeing Beetle's origin. I think that about covers all the books I needed to cover in this post. Anyway, this PUNISHER series could be good.

Young Avengers 15, Avengers World 1, Avengers AI 8

Young Avengers 15
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Cloonan, Doyle, and Quinones (a) and Bellaire, Wicks, and Wilson (c)

The final issue of YOUNG AVENGERS, again, brings a multi-part story in the same general structure as YOUNG AVENGERS 14. This one starts with Noh-Varr lamenting his place in this world in a nice little look at his DJ abilities (and Broo's, in a slightly different way) drawn by Becky Cloonan with Jordie Bellaire colors. Story two shows David following Loki outside of the party to learn that Loki had paid for all of this and that he's leaving before they have a chance to forgive him, as they would because they're nice people. He makes a possibly-joking pass at David and sets out on his new journey, playing the role he's built for himself even if he doesn't really want to any more, in pages drawn by Ming Doyle with Maris Wicks colors. The story (and Maris Wicks) easily then moves into Joe Quinones-drawn David being joined by the Patri-not out on the lawn and trying to figure out who he is. Though the Patri-not doesn't give many answers, David reasons that he's someone from the future created by whatever it is Billy does down the road sent back to ensure that whatever it is that needs to happen to create that future happens. Furthermore, David speculates that he's one of the Young Avengers, who sacrificed him or herself to make sure the world was okay. David also believes that it's him. He doesn't totally care about any of this, though, he just wants to know where Tommy is. In a bit of a strange turn, he kisses the Patri-not who disappears and is replaced by Tommy, who isn't as into the kissing bit and, sensing a party, rushes off to join it. All the storylines from the past two issues converge as the team leaves the party in the new year and decides to go to breakfast.

Another very sweet issue and one that so nicely wraps this incredible series up. A series that was built on mystery and interdimensional drama and feelings ends in much the same sort of portmanteau. This series really couldn't have ended any other way, which is so odd in this day and age. The team didn't fight a big bad or stop any world-ending evils (today), they just went to a party and celebrated a big year. There's no better way for this book to end. I don't have a lot more to say on the subject because I think the book speaks for itself and my previously-formed opinions all hold true. Go read this book. I think it changes the game for comics. Also make sure to check out this last issue and read the various blurbs from everyone who had a hand on the book. Very sweet and nice to see everyone so genuinely care about the book. Really sad to see this one go but an extremely fitting ending for one of the best series of 2013.

Avengers World 1
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)

It's a new day for the Avengers as they've made themselves more accessible to SHIELD. They still don't, per se, answer to SHIELD or, you know, necessarily like SHIELD, but an Avengers team this big allows them to kind of splinter and go after not-quite-Avengers-level threats but also fairly big threats. So AVENGERS WORLD is like having three or four tie-in Avengers titles all in one. This issue finds Captain America and Bruce Banner meeting with Maria Hill on the helicarrier and monitoring the smaller teams on the ground, including Hyperion, Thor, and Captain Marvel investigating suspicious happenings in Canada, Black Widow, Wolverine, Falcon, and Shang Chi trying to find the root of an uprising and riots in Madripoor, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand, and Nightmask searching for answers after the residents of an Italian town straight-up disappear, and Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot looking to find out why AIM Island is physically growing. Are all of these events linked? Can the Avengers stop them all?

I'm very onboard with the idea of this series and this first issue is living up to the expectations. There's a lot to like here as we learn the foundation of this book (through the nice little dialogue between Banner and Cap), see our players (it's a big Avengers team but it's extremely manageable in these small pieces), and get a feel for the way this book will go. My biggest complaint about AVENGERS, as it stands, is that we don't really get enough of a look at the personalities of our core team because there are simply too many of them and too big of a plot to deal with to get up close and personal with any specific characters. This book may change that and I have to think that any people who are lamenting the current AVENGERS title (I don't know any, but I could see people being mad about the main book's scale) would find themselves enjoying this book a bit more. Good characters, good writing, good art, fun first issue.

Avengers AI 8
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Dimitrios' quest to destroy the human race continues from the Diamond as he explains to Alexis that he's doing it to try to find the creator of humanity. Elsewhere, Victor and his new friend Gibson flee from those hunting them in the Diamond. Back in the real world, Cap meets with Pym to try to figure out the length of Dimitrios' reach and to ask Pym if he really has this under control, given his recent erratic behavior. It also seems as if Cap was coming in to take the reins on the AI business (which is leading to official laws that would make artificial intelligence property) when Cannonball phones up to say that riots are breaking out all over the world. Vision, Pym, and Doombot trace the source of the riots to a smartphone app that seemingly everyone has that finds the cheapest available gas, particularly useful since Dimitrios destroyed an oil refinery and caused gas prices to skyrocket. The app has been controlling people in very low doses but now that everyone has it, it's leading to widespread riots and the AI Avengers link the app's servers to the Diamond's server map that Vision won from Dimitrios in their last encounter. The only way to stop this is to go inside the Diamond.

Things are starting to heat up a bit for AVENGERS AI and it's coming at the right time. The book has certainly spent a lot of time treading somewhat familiar ground (artificial intelligence taking over Earth, is artificial intelligence sentient and does it therefore deserve its own rights, robot-hunting, etc) but this new wrinkle is pretty interesting as we get a little more modernized with Dimitrios' engineered attack on the oil refinery leading to people's reliance on a smartphone app that he's able to use to manipulate their fear and panic and cause riots. By itself it's a pretty interesting idea and it's helped by Alexis plot line, which has its own appeal already. Pretty good stuff working together and the art is really working for the tone of the book. I will say that the book occasionally drags and gets a little hung up on all of the explaining that it has to do but it's balanced nicely by the artwork and an inherent desire to make these characters human (even the AI). Sometimes that adds a little much to the wordiness of the book but I think it's necessary in keeping the book from getting dry. Should be fun going forward.