Thunderbolts 27, Punisher 7

Thunderbolts 27
Acker and Blacker (w) and Barberi (p) and Cuevas (i) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

The Thunderbolts quietly take down a team of hitmen aiming to take down the Avengers while they battle downtown. The stealth team discovers that these hitmen were being led by someone operating out of a high school which, they soon discover, is full of dead children. The dead start to rise and begin attacking the Thunderbolts, overwhelming them before it's revealed that it was Captain America villain Dr. Faustus using a psychogenic gas to plant images in the heads of the T-Bolts. Deadpool, though, quickly detected the gas and kept himself from inhaling it, playing dead when Faustus arrived and taking the villain down himself. As the others come to, Punisher demands they kill Faustus but Red Hulk vetoes him, preferring to force Faustus to work for good. Punisher, unable to allow that, quits the team. As the team moves on, Punisher returns to a New Jersey safehouse and finds a bomb in his apartment (as it explodes) with a note apparently indicting the T-Bolts.

Acker and Blacker don't disappoint in their first time out with the THUNDERBOLTS main series (they wrote THUNDERBOLTS ANNUAL within the last year), bringing an interesting new vibe to the series. The team still sticks with the covert "doing the missions the Avengers can't" kind of idea but Red Hulk seems determined to live up to his realization from last issue and do more than just help out, indicating that he'd like the Thunderbolts to expand with more divisions, possibly comprised of captured villains (like Faustus) working against their will to make up for their sins. The voices are distinct and a lot of fun, just what we'd want to see from this team (it's what Soule did right during his time on the book that I felt Way missed in the first arc). Of course, the intrigue of a quitting and punished Punisher doesn't hurt either.

Total Score: 5/5


Punisher 7
Edmondson and Maurer (w) and Carnero (p) and Pallot (i) and Fabela (c) and Petit (l)

Wounded Punisher finds his way down to Mexico to recover and plot out his next move while he tries to figure out who attacked him. A back alley surgeon fixes him up, removing the bullet and closing the wound, though he also drugs him and sells him off to the highest bidder so it seems like they're even by the end. The highest bidder in this case is a Mexican gangster named Ortiz, AKA El Diablito. Ortiz and his men beat up Punisher a bit then sell him again to an unknown group (though probably Dos Soles, right?), who send Crossbones to pick Frank up. Not to be caught unaware again, Frank breaks out of his cell along with another captured vet, and the pair of them, with help from the vet's squad monitoring Ortiz, escape into the woods, where Punisher advises the other vet to move forward while he takes on the cartel.

PUNISHER 7 provides a nice respite from the story we've been dealing with since issue one, which is a good story but perhaps worth taking an interlude from here. Given Marvel's recent push for faster turnaround time on books, these sorts of issues seem to happen a little more frequently (particularly at this sort of issue number, where the main creative team gets a jumpstart on the book and getting about six issues in the can before issue one even goes to press) where a guest writer comes in (sometimes) along with a different artist (more frequently, as illustrating a book takes more time than writing it, typically). Still, the story is strong and fits in the same vein as the rest of the series, though it's hard not to miss Gerads' art on the book and I'm going to have to deduct a point here for how frequently a footnote tells us what an army code translates to. I'd rather have them say the actual words before going to acronyms, though I understand that's less realistic, or to simply say the code and allow readers who want to explore deeper to look it up themselves; the all-too present footnotes end up being distracting and breaking the flow. Also, I don't like that cover. Looks like Punisher's been stung by bees. Still, strong issue and certainly worth looking at if you've been enjoying this book.

Total Score: 4/5

Guardians of the Galaxy 15, Thunderbolts 26

Guardians of the Galaxy 15
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw and C. Stewart (p) and Bradshaw, Stewart, and Wong (i) and Ponsor (c) and Petit (l)

The Guardians have been separated and captured with Rocket landing with the Kree (to be experimented on), Gamora left with the Badoon brotherhood (to be questioned about Thanos), Drax left to the Shi'ar (to be punished), newly acquired Venom attacked on Knowhere by the Skrulls, Groot left with the Brood, and Star-Lord being held on Spartax. They all seem to be failing at escaping except, as the issue ends, potentially Star-Lord. Despite the cover, no sign of Captain Marvel.

Unless you're a completionist and you're looking to obtain this whole series, it's worth missing this one. There are tiny little glimpses of character in the way each Guardian reacts to his or her capture (Rocket shows fear for the slightest moment, Gamora refuses to stop fighting, Drax threatens calmly but sighs to his deceased wife, etc.) and obviously we see where everyone is but that's pretty much all that happens in twenty pages of book. There are as many double page spreads in this issue as I've ever seen and it ends up just meaning that we get less story in fewer meaningful pages. There's no doubt in my mind that this could have been done just as effectively in ten pages and we could have had another half issue to move to the next step, maybe featuring, oh, I don't know, star of the cover Captain Marvel. Seriously. Look at that cover. Is that the cover of a book that doesn't see nor hear about Captain Marvel in the slightest? It's a low score for this one, then, not because it's a particularly bad book but just because it slows things down at a time when things don't really need to be slowed down and it means you're paying full price for half a book's worth of content (not to belittle Nick Bradshaw and Cameron Stewart's work, which is fine but didn't blow me away to the point where I'll ignore a stagnant story).

Total Score: 2/5


Thunderbolts 26
Soule (w) and Diaz (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

Ghost Rider's been eaten by a swamp monster thanks to Leader's treachery and Elektra and Punisher have been crushed by a cliche. Deadpool saves Leader from Cordoba and his men, enraged by what they've been through, but it doesn't stop Leader from trying to kill Deadpool as they go into the temple. Deadpool sees through the ruse and stabs Leader but leaves him alive enough to still enact his plan and send Deadpool into a pool of lava. Leader moves forward to find the artifact their after, the head of a long dead Celestial left here by the ancient Deviants, a race the Celestials created then deemed imperfect and unfit to inherit the world. The Deviants killed the young Celestial and left the head here, hoping it could transform their people into something more capable but then lost it to time and struggle. Now Red Hulk's former men have found it and Mancuso, the one who reached out to Red Hulk, explains (after Red Hulk kills his one-time lover scientist lady who turns out to be a Deviant looking for this exact thing) what's happened since he found it. Leader arrives, drinks some Celestial blood, and has his head explode from the power. With his whole team dead, Mancuso tells Red Hulk that he has two options: for Mancuso to kill him and give him the death he seeks or to work for the light. After a moment's hesitation, Red Hulk chooses the light and we're transported back to the very start of this mission, where Red Hulk tells the team that they're actually going to do something else now.

It's Charles Soule's last issue on THUNDERBOLTS, which is rather a shame because he took this book that I found somewhat middling, even if it featured a team that really intrigued me, and he immediately made it something fun and fresh, completely worthy of my one-time excitement. Still, he leaves the book on an up-swing, with the team all alive and perhaps destined for bigger and better things. It's definitely entertaining to see how the final deaths play out (Deadpool has a particularly nice moment as he sees through Leader's attempt to kill him, though it still leads to Leader killing him) and it leaves the book in an interesting place where we know what these characters would have gone through and how they would have acted in this adventure but now this adventure never happened so they don't necessarily know how it would have played out. Ben Acker and Ben Blacker have a really interesting job to take on and I'm excited to see what they produce. But let's not forget to laud Charles Soule for his fantastic take on this book and for, as I see it, righting the ship as soon as he jumped on to it.

Total Score: 5/5

Guardians of the Galaxy 14, Thunderbolts 25

Guardians of the Galaxy 14
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw w/Masters, Nauck, and Wong (a) and Ponsor w/Keith (c) and Petit (l)

The Guardians are being picked off one-by-one and separated. Rocket, Groot, and Starlord are attacked in the ship by Spartax warships while Gamora is chased down elsewhere by the assassin who had previously tried to capture her and while Drax and Venom (??) shop for new weapons on Knowhere. All Guardians are captured, leaving Venom behind on Knowhere and leaving Starlord to have an uncomfortable talk with his dad, who promises that they'll all be dealt with and that no one is coming to save them just as Captain Marvel takes to space. Also featured in this double-sized anniversary issue are stories from legendary GUARDIANS scribes Andy Lanning (who "writes" a story about Groot's origin. Hint: he is Groot) and Dan Abnett, who tells a tale set a thousand years in the future about the future Guardians of the Galaxy needing to go back in time to stop some stuff happening that would ruin their future.

Story
The best way to describe this story is abrupt. For thirteen issues, the Guardians have been wreaking havoc and staying a step ahead of the Spartax Empire and fighting the good fight through the galaxy. Until they weren't. Just today. No hand wrapping around them, no strategy employed to cut their engines and leave them defenseless. Just...caught. I legitimately had to wonder if I had missed an issue where something happened that allowed them to be caught or that explained why Venom was there. Turns out: NOPE, the last issue was still in the midst of that crappy TRIAL OF JEAN GREY crossover and so everything happening here IS still as abrupt as it seems. It feels like we're missing an issue and it's KIND OF an important issue we've missed? Like, we can still catch up, I suppose, but there's a lot of "I guess this is happening now?" feeling to the book. 3/5

Character
Peter Quill has some insomnia and thinks about why and thinks about what women he has crushes on and what ones he doesn't and ugggggh. Then Drax and Venom go and banter at a weapons seller showing that Drax doesn't know the word "cool" and uggggggh. Look, I have some problems here as ever. Also, Venom acts very nearly goofy out in space which, you know, granted it's a pretty big deal to him but Flash is a decorated vet and one who has to maintain control over his symbiote all the time. Maybe he wouldn't be so goofy all the time? 2/5

Writing
A bit of back-and-forth here but everyone's separated and there's too much abrupt story happening for it to really hurt anything. The opening ongoing narration from Quill is as close to that as it gets and it it GRATING though the case can be made that it's just a mind drifting while it does anything but sleep. Putting aside the strange character problems and the abrupt story, there's nothing particularly wrong with the writing, though it's kind of like grading a student's paper with a bad or non-existent thesis: it doesn't matter if the support is great or in-depth or whatever, there's no way it can be proving what it sets out to prove because a bad thesis means there's nothing there to prove (yeah, I've graded some PAPERS, yo). 3/5

Art
I was a little nervous about Bradshaw on this issue. He's clearly a pretty good artist but I've seen him most recently on one of the INHUMAN titles that Fraction wrote prior to Soule's entrance on INHUMANS and it upset me in the way that Medusa looked so feminized in that kind of "big eyes, soft features, bursting breasts (horrifying, that wording) etc." way. No such issues here though the armored Gamora is the only female until the last page reveal of Captain Marvel. Still, good work across the board this time out. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Seriously, were we missing an issue?

Total score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 25
Soule (w) and Diaz (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

The woman who arrived on the boat at the end of the last issue, Helen, was part of the team Ross sent out but only insofar as she was the researcher who told them about the artifact and was then left behind. They have a thing. Anyway, the sea monsters aren't quite done attacking and they start to pull apart the ship. Ghost Rider manages to get them to shore by using his chain to pull the ship away. However, Leader whispers an incantation that makes his demonic fire go out before he himself can get off the ship and he's ripped apart by the monsters while everyone else looks on. The other T-Bolts push on but their guide Cordoba reveals to Leader that he knows he's responsible for Ghost Rider's death. Leader admits it but also reveals that he knows Cordoba's men are in the woods following them. They form an alliance for all of two minutes before Leader outs him to his team, causing them all to flee. The rest continue to the temple, where Red Hulk demands Leader wait outside (with guard Deadpool) and guide them over the walkie. He quickly betrays them and Elektra and Punisher end up in a death trap themselves.

Story
Tons going on here, enough that I kept wanting to shorten the summary and couldn't figure out where to do it. In fact, I should have PROBABLY gone deeper than I did but GUYS, read the book instead. There's so much happening and it's largely really interesting. The Ghost Rider twist was something unexpected and sharp, brutal and efficient enough to be jarring without feeling like a hook. The Leader has some great moments as his long con continues to play out at the expense of the team. Plenty happening but without ever getting too absurd or too abrupt. 5/5

Character
Everyone has a couple of good looks here but the main focus is on Leader and his sudden but inevitable betrayals. It's crafty and it's clever and it's hard, thanks to his movements with Cordoba, to figure out what his angles are, which is exactly how we should be seeing Leader since he's smarter than all people ever, more or less, so we should never know his true motives. It's the kind of sharp characterization that drove Hickman's SECRET WARRIORS series and others like it. 5/5

Writing
Thanks in large part to the characterization of Leader and the way that he drives the plot here, the tone is always a little bit uncomfortable, which is perfect. You're never supposed to know exactly how to feel about what's happening. The abruptness of Ghost Rider's death, the turn on Leader by Cordoba and the turn on Cordoba by Leader, all of it keeps the reader off-guard and it keeps the tone from settling in to something either too fun or too serious and it instead sticks into this strange "how should I feel?" place that fits everything Soule wants to do. 5/5

Art
The art looks maybe a little more cartoony than it has been but it steps it up to make sure things are tense as the big moments occur, like Ghost Rider being ripped apart or the fall of Punisher and Elektra and their caress as the walls close in on them (slower than haunted house spiked walls but not as slow as evil scientist spiked walls). Overall it fits the tone and feel of the book pretty nicely. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I like the cover on this one but it's the first time in quite some time that I haven't absolutely loved the cover on a THUNDERBOLTS issue. Sigh. All good things, I suppose. Strange that the 25th issue of THUNDERBOLTS, a far riskier book than something with X-MEN in the name written by one of the biggest names in comics over the past decade doesn't get a celebration.

Total score: 5/5

Deadpool 27, Thunderbolts 24, All-New Ghost Rider 2

Deadpool 27
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Bellaire (c)
SO MANY OTHER STORIES: Duggan, Koblish, Staples, Posehn, Nicieza, Hepburn, Waid, McCrea, Elder, Kelly, Medina, Vlasco, Curiel, Priest, Henrichon, Palmiotti, Timms, Gandini, Tieri, Soy, Simone, A. Lee, Way, and Barberi

Deadpool is getting married and everyone's invited. The bride is a former prospective bride of Dracula and a current queen of monsters named Shiklah. Deadpool invites just about everyone (as evidenced by the Guinness Record breaking cover at left) and sets up the wedding in Central Park with Nightcrawler officiating. It's a nice ceremony with a nice and hero-filled reception wherein Deadpool finally has a nice day. However, Ultimatum, still after him for blowing up their helicarrier, thinks they've discovered his lost daughter.

This is a ten dollar issue so many people might write it off as a gimmicky issue. It may well be that BUT I can tell you that this one is understandable at ten dollars. On top of the record breaking cover (right, it's pretty cool but don't spend ten dollars just on that), there are about ninety pages in this book that features the regular sized wedding story and a week's worth of creators filling out the majority of the book with silly little throwaway stories about all the other times Deadpool has been married. It very much feels like creators were given the objective (tell a Deadpool-gets-married story) and were set loose, leading to a lot of fun and interesting stories. Of course, like any compilation of stories, some are going to be better or more attuned to your own tastes than others. Gail Simone adds a pair of solid stories in her return to the Marvel Universe (she'll also be writing on SAVAGE WOLVERINE, if memory serves, before too long). Other big names like Mark Waid, Christopher Priest, Frank Tieri, and longtime DEADPOOL scribe Daniel Way also contribute to the issue. Certainly worth thumbing through and, if you're a Deadpool fan, probably worth finding the money to drop on this one.

Thunderbolts 24
Soule (w) and P. Diaz (a) and Silva (c)

The Thunderbolts are on a new mission, one picked by General Ross. Years previous, a team of Ross' men had gone into the jungle in search of a weapon that could potentially bring down the Hulk. After enlisting the services of the reluctant crime boss who had led Ross' team into the forest long before, the team sets off. While on a boat into the jungle, Ross explains the mission to Elektra, revealing that he's looking for his team but has ulterior motives for why. Apparently one of his men had appeared to him on a plane and asked for him to return and find them, then wiped the plane from existence. Ross wants to find the men but also to make sure they don't strike against the world with whatever unearthly powers they may have now. While he tells this story, Deadpool decides to go for a swim, drawing the ire of a river monster lurking nearby. 'Pool escapes, though he's injured, as a woman claiming to know Ross parachutes in. She lands in the water and Ross instantly dives in to rescue her. Saved, she embraces and kisses Ross as she pulls a gun on him.

There's a lot of character development happening here for Ross, who typically keeps everything pretty close to the chest. The great thing about a team book is that character development for Ross also means character development for the rest of the team. We get a lot about Ross, including a little of the way that his mind works and what he holds important (like keeping people unaware that he's Red Hulk, even to the point of fighting a pair of much younger thugs to gain the services of the crime boss as the elderly Ross), but we also see some from Elektra as she accuses Ross of hiding things from the team that they need to know and as characters like Punisher and Leader specifically don't ask questions about what they're doing. Lots going on here and another interesting story to follow as Soule enters into what is likely his final arc on the book before Acker and Blacker take it over.


All-New Ghost Rider 2
F. Smith (w) and T. Moore (a) and Staples (c)

The Ghost Rider sets off to find the men who killed Robbie Reyes and blew up the car. He tracks their small envoy leaving the area and drives his car through one of the cars in their procession. Though it annihilates that group, he loses the others. He returns to Robbie's home and Robbie, completely healed, returns to his life, confused about what happened the night before. He returns to the body shop that night to see the car he remembered being shot up and destroyed returned to pristine condition. He decides to take it out again that night to see if he can shed some light on what happened. As he tries to leave, he's accosted by the same men who killed him the night before, a gang working for villain Mr. Hyde and selling drugs that seem to make people Hyde out (a la Hulk out, not like hideout) who are now missing some of the drugs from the night before. They attack Reyes only to have him Ghost Rider out and attack them instead. After dispatching them, Robbie drives to a junkyard and sees the reflection of Ghost Rider, asking what he is only to have Ghost Rider ask "what are we?"

Robbie's still getting his bearings and Smith has hit on an interesting idea here, making Robbie unsure of what Ghost Rider is and that he seems to be going through this transformation. Smith does a good job showing Robbie in something of a daze as he goes through his normal business the day after dying. He ignores the bullies who beat him up the day prior in school, he doesn't seem to realize that he's healed from said beating until it's brought to his attention, and he's just typically zoned out throughout the day. I think it's a really strong characterization to have that be his reaction rather than freaking out or even beginning to understand what's happened. Tradd Moore's art continues to be outstanding as it brings something of a cartoony element to it, almost at odds with the dark content of the book. It's almost a relief that this book is so dark but the art is so light. It gives ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER a different feel than any other sort of gritty and dark book out there, swapping out the blacks and grays and blurred characters for vibrant colors and sharply outlined people. Sometimes the action, which looks good, gets a little confusing as it feels like the book tries to do a little too much at once but it's easy to get past because it still looks good. This one's off to a strong start out of the gate and things are only going to get more interesting as Robbie pieces together what's happening.

Nova 15, Thunderbolts 23

Nova 15
Duggan (w) and Baldeon and Pallot (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova rushes Cosmo to medical help and manages to get him there just in time and even ends up aiding the doctors in taking the poison out. Before Cosmo has fully recovered, Nova goes to try to slow up Skaarn's next plan, which involves using the continuum cortex transfer on Knowhere. It's essentially a teleporter and he wants to use it, with the assistance of a few other criminals, to break into a secure vault. He scouts ahead leaving the other criminals to wait and use the teleporter to enter as backup. Nova manages to catch up with the three other criminals and defeat them pretty handily, whipping out a couple more new skills, eventually throwing them into the teleporter without allowing them a chance to program it to where they wanted to go. It reverts back to the last destination used, sending them to Beta Ray Bill in Jotunheim. While they wait for Bill to return and for Skaarn's plan to become more evident while Cosmo heals, Sam uses the teleporter to return to school before he can get in any trouble for missing. He completes the day then heads back into space to finish the job. He and Bill meet up again and track Skaarn only to find that he's broken into the vault on his own and that the vault housed big time weapons, not money like Sam thought.

This is sort of a weird issue to critique because, like last issue, Sam spent most of the time this issue fighting obstacles we didn't know were going to be there and the outcome of the fights didn't actually seem to weigh on the completion of whatever mission they may have hurt or aided. To simplify, we had no idea about this vault heist plot until this issue, nor about the criminals Skaarn would need to complete the heist. However, when Nova defeats the criminals, it doesn't seem to stall Skaarn's plan even a little bit. It's hard to say that this was a worthwhile little pit stop since it seems almost entirely unrelated to any plan while posing as something related to the main plan. So it's a weird issue to critique because it's not necessarily a bad issue, per se; it's still rather entertaining, we get a nice little fight scene and we learn a little bit more about Sam (plus some decent Beta Ray Bill), it's just not an issue that feels like it belongs in this story and it seems like little more than a filler story because of that.

Thunderbolts 23
Soule (w) and Jacinto (a) and Silva (c)

It's Deadpool's turn to call a mission but Flash asks Deadpool to cede his mission time over to him, saying that he's going to be leaving the team and wants the team to complete his mission before he's gone. Deadpool is hesitant but when he hears that Flash wants the team to take down the symbiote, he's onboard. Flash says it's getting to hard to control the symbiote with the team considering how much killing they have to do and he wants to see them take it down. He lets the symbiote take control and it beats all of them (save for Deadpool) individually before they decide they need to work as a team to take down Venom. They manage to come together just well enough to separate the symbiote from Flash and contain it. Red Hulk asks Flash if he wants them to contain or destroy the symbiote but Flash declines, saying that it always finds a way to survive and he knows he can control it so he'll continue to wear it. As Flash departs with the symbiote bonded to him once more, Ross tells him that he understands the Flash wants and needs the symbiote but that the mission was good for him in proving that someone is capable of taking down the symbiote if it ever gets out of hand.

There's a lot of really good stuff in this issue. As ever, there are several laugh out loud moments, particularly as Deadpool, who claims he has contingency plans to take down any of his teammates at a moment's notice, showcases his anti-Venom plan that involves drawing on his costume to make it look like Spider-Man and setting it up as bait under a plane ready to drop on any incoming assailants. On top of the funny moments, there's a real core to this issue. Obviously there's something to the Flash-Venom relationship that's always somewhat interesting in the idea that Flash understands the power and danger of the symbiote but knows he can control it and, more telling, knows he wants/needs it. Even beyond that, though, Venom yells some things while it's in control that, as Flash later reveals, aren't lies but are somewhat damaging to the ego of the group, including the idea that Flash also kind of has a crush on Elektra and wouldn't mind if Punisher died, that Flash thinks Ghost Rider is an abomination, and that Flash thinks Red Hulk is the worst of the entire group. It's still a nice issue and one that ends a little bittersweet as Flash admits to Ross that the symbiote doesn't lie about things but that he believes people are capable of changing. Sad to see Venom leave the team but I don't think the roster is a lot weaker for it, especially considering the recent addition of Ghost Rider.

Deadpool 24, Thunderbolts 22

Deadpool 24
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Bellaire (c)

It's time for Preston to go into her own body but it turns out Deadpool is having a bit of a harder time letting go than he thought. For all his solitude and multiple personalities, he had gained someone real to talk to and apparently had benefitted from that. Still, he goes to SHIELD to have the process done but, after the transfer begins, problems arise. Agent Gorman had sabotaged the machines making it harder to hold everything together as Preston's consciousness goes into her new body. To help keep everything together, Michael, Ben Franklin, and Dr. Strange travel into Deadpool's mind only to find it overrun by other versions of Deadpool all intent on keep Preston from transferring. Strange realizes that these rogue Deadpools weren't caused by the machines, they're pieces of Deadpool rebelling on their own, something only Deadpool can stop. With some reluctance, he does and he carries Preston to her new home himself, helped by one of the Deadpool versions who refuses to identify himself except as someone who he hasn't met yet before mysteriously leaving. The transfer appears to be successful as Preston later wakes up in her new body but it's not over yet as Deadpool, sulking in a bar, discovers Preston is still in his head.

One of the things people love to do, particularly with Deadpool, is show off various different versions of him. It's a thing artists and writers like to use for all characters across dimensional rifts and the like but Deadpool adds a certain layer of fun to the proceedings because, as we saw in DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL, Deadpool is such a wild card that any sort of amalgamation Deadpool you can build is a possibility. You can have Beespool, a Deadpool filled with bees, where you can't have Beesghost Rider (though Nic Cage may disagree and would likely sign on for a film combining Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man). So the book is helped by an ample dose of separate personality Deadpools, though these ones are largely tame considering what we're used to seeing. The story is the culmination of the long journey from Preston's head to Deadpool's head and finally back to Preston's head but it's hard to say that everything's over just yet as we still need to figure out exactly why Preston is still showing up for Deadpool. Is he just crazy? Probably! Crossbones may be the only one available to get to the bottom of it next time out, as he entered the bar just as Preston revealed herself.

Thunderbolts 22
Soule (w) and Barberi (a) and Silva (c)

The contract is completed and signed and the Thunderbolts are tasked with deposing Guido, the ruler of Hell, in favor of Mephisto, pretty much the actual devil. Though it's a slight wrinkle in Red Hulk's plan, he and the rest of the Thunderbolts begin the fight against Hell's Court, all the demons and monsters the create the first line of defense for Guido. It's a long and arduous fight and Ghost Rider, preferring to skip it, grabs hold of Red Hulk and the two take off to head straight at Guido. Back on Earth, Mercy attacks Punisher and Elektra. Though they manage to survive her attacks, she's immensely more powerful and seemingly unstoppable, leaving them in a bit of a bind. Back in Hell, Guido tells Red Hulk the very short version of how he got there and how he doesn't want to leave because he needs to find his soul and he's actually doing good for people, or as much good as he can, and he can't leave Mephisto in charge of that. Red Hulk convinces Guido to yield and Mephisto takes his throne. He fulfills his part of the bargain and brings Mercy into Hell, dropping Punisher and Elektra from quite a height as she's whisked away, and granting Deadpool his wish of a portal to anywhere he pleases. Deadpool uses the portal, apparently, to enter Heaven and get a new and better feather for his hat, leading an entire Heavenly Host to Hell as Mercy appears and begins to call all the souls to her. Mephisto, of course, is pissed but can't punish the T-Bolts as one of the stipulations of the contract was no retaliation. They return to Earth to find Elektra trying to save an immensely injured Punisher but, before they can come up with a plan of action, Deadpool's new feather reaches out to Frank and restores him with angel powers. Johnny Blaze officially joins the team.

More fun stuff as this book continues to be one of the best that Marvel's putting out consistently. It's found that perfect mix of action and fun without having to get too over-the-top in either. The characters are all their own and have their own distinct personalities and styles and the situations play to all of them equally. Even the sort of deus ex machina of the angel feather saving Frank's life is all built up to, making it less of a deus ex and more of a well-scripted machine. We all know how much I like this series and it just continues perfectly here but I really want to call attention to the covers now. Julian Totino Tedesco has been doing the covers for much of this recent run and he has been absolutely killing it out there. More than the fact that each cover, even aside from the fact I know what to expect from the book, makes me want to buy each issue, his covers completely mix the fun and seriousness in exactly the same amounts and ways that Soule mixes it in his writing. They're the perfect complement to this book in the same way that Mike del Mundo's covers perfectly complemented Spurrier's weird and lovely X-MEN LEGACY. Tedesco's covers unfailingly make me laugh and make me think about the book and the art itself is stunning in its own right. Marvel's been doing a great job with covers lately, from LEGACY and THUNDERBOLTS to the baby/animal variants to the noir-ish ones like WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH to the simplistically stunning HAWKEYE to anything Jamie McKelvie does. Wonderful stuff.

Guardians of the Galaxy 11, Miracleman 2, Thunderbolts 21

Guardians of the Galaxy 11
Bendis (w) and Pichelli (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians of the Galaxy are still on the search for Thanos and still hunted by J-Son for defying his orders to stay clear of Earth. This doesn't stop Peter Quill from going to all of his favorite seedy places either hoping they won't look in some place so obvious or hoping to get into a fight, depending on who you ask. He, of course, ends up being drugged by a Skrull bounty hunter and carried away. The Skrull doesn't get far, though, as Gamora and Angela happen to be nearby and see the female Skrull coming out of the bar with Quill. The two stop her and Angela, to the chagrin of Gamora, beheads her. They all return to the ship to find that Rocket has bugged a Badoon frequency and they hear talk of a recent council meeting that ended with the Shi'ar vowing to take Jean Grey from Earth and put her on trial for her crimes as the Phoenix. The Guardians decide to stop it and, as we saw in the last ALL-NEW X-MEN, arrive just a few moments too late.

One of my problems with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (and, in truth, Bendis as a whole on occasion) is that it sometimes feels like it wants to wholly disregard the rest of the Marvel Universe, both from the past and in the present. There's a debate about whether a writer in comics should be bound by a character's often long and complicated chronology or if that writer should tell the story worth telling with the character, even if it conflicts with something in the history. I tend to believe more in the latter because I think times change and these characters are ridiculously old in some cases. However, I think some deference should be paid to the character itself. For example, I think Peter Quill did have that wry sense of humor back in his past but he was a bit more serious and a bit more of a true leader type, reluctant as he may be to accept it. This one seems like a full-on goof with an occasional Mal Reynolds-like flair for the dramatic. I think part of his change to flippancy is the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which has cast Chris Pratt, known best for his comedic turn as Andy in Parks and Recreation, in the role of Peter Quill. Still, it paints a different picture of Quill in the comics than what we'd seen before, seemingly changing his character to something it wasn't. In terms of the present-day incongruities, J-Son betrayed the council in INFINITY and, I guess I took it as assumed, the council knew of his betrayal. Captain Marvel and the Avengers knew for sure, I suppose it's possible that Captain America, learning the news, wouldn't have told anyone else in the council? It...seems unlikely. Yet here they are, their whole council reconvened and not mentioning it with J-Son flippant as his son for no real reason. Perhaps this, and other Bendis books, are meant to only be read as one series, telling the story he set out to tell with the characters with which he set out to tell it. Maybe they read perfectly fluidly by themselves. But when you're part of a bigger universe like this, you at least have to play by the rules of that universe a bit, not just when they're helpful to you (the Shi'ar must punish Jean Grey for her crimes as the Phoenix).

Miracleman 2
Moore (w) and Leach (a) and Oliff (c) and Anglo (w and a)

A couple more collected stories from WARRIOR as we see the first meeting between Mike Moran and Johnny Bates since Moran's memory of Marvelman returned. Johnny Bates, of course, was Kid Marvelman back in the early days but now, claiming to have lost his powers in the explosion that killed Young Marvelman, he's a normal human who owns an incredibly successful tech company. He invites Mike and Liz to his offices to talk but Mike quickly realizes things aren't as they seem. He asks Liz to leave and accuses Johnny of still having his powers and of lying for some nefarious purpose, which is certainly the case as Johnny reveals that he kept his powers after the explosion and now found himself the most powerful being on Earth at 16 and with no one to stop him. He, of course, is now a sociopath who wants only to rule and to destroy and his powers are stronger and he's more experienced than Marvelman. He annihilates Marvelman in combat and turns to face London as he wonders what to do next.

It's certainly an enticing story, one with an equal parts tragic and terrible villain for Marvelman's return to the modern era (safe and sound in good old 1982). It's a classic superhero story as the superhero gains his powers (or, in this case, regains) and finds himself pitted against an ultimate foe, someone seemingly better than him in every way and who has a personal connection to our hero. Most interestingly, this book reads like a modern comic more than most other books from the early '80s, without too much over explaining and with art that would fit into today's pantheon as well as any other era's. For someone who is solely a modern day reader, you may find the narration captions a bit overkill (though there are still some books that employ narrative captions today, they're far and few between. The biggest example I can think of from current Marvel is UNCANNY AVENGERS but even that one varies in how often it uses them, issue-to-issue) but that doesn't take anything away from the writing. Good book, certainly worth checking out and comparing to the books of then and now. Or just reading it because it's pretty good.

Thunderbolts 21
Soule (w) and Barberi (a) and Silva w/ Campbell and Mason (c)

The majority of the Thunderbolts are in Hell with Ghost Rider while Elektra and Punisher await their return with something resembling patience. In Hell, Ghost Rider tries to find a personal hell, a hell crafted specifically by a demon to ensure maximum punishment and pain to a single inhabitant, because those are easier to return to Earth from. However, their search for the perfect hell draws the notice and ire of Mephisto, who had since claimed Red Hulk as his own personal plaything. Unfortunately for Mephisto, he's no longer ruler of Hell and can't really enforce his ownership over the hell mark on Red Hulk's chest. This leads Leader to an idea: make an actual deal with the actual devil to get them out of Hell and put Mercy in it in exchange for dethroning the new ruler of Hell, who, of course, turns out to be Guido, formerly of X-Factor. Meanwhile, Elektra and Punisher go on an assassin journey as Elektra gets a job while the others are out of town. As Punisher begins to question how Elektra can know that she's assassinating people who deserve it, the entire house they're staking out is abruptly and violently destroyed. Mercy appears to Elektra, fresh off destroying the house, and demands to know where Red Hulk and Leader are.

Another good issue as the Thunderbolts are separated and have plenty to deal with on their plates. There's a nice moment for Leader as he gets to exercise his brain a bit constructing a legally binding contract with the devil. It's also an interesting juncture for the reader as we have to wonder whether he's putting things in there that will hurt Red Hulk or, say, Deadpool, who wants his own secret request added into the contract. Meanwhile, Ghost Rider chats with Venom about the purpose of the team and seems into the idea, leading to the probable induction of a new teammate. It's all made even more compelling as the Thunderbolts realize that Guido is the new ruler of Hell and they'll have to kill someone who's been a pretty good guy in the past in order to get what they want and fulfill their promise to Mephisto. As if that weren't enough to entertain, Elektra and Punisher, the two potentially least powerful members of the team (or, at least, most human, somehow), have to face down Mercy while the Thunderbolts in Hell get their business together. Should be a fun time because this book is constantly a fun time.

Fantastic Four 16, Thunderbolts 20

Fantastic Four 16
Main story: Fraction and Kesel (s) and Kesel (w) and Ienco (a) and Mounts (c)
Backup story: Kesel and Lee Allred (s) and Kesel (w) and Quinones and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

The Fantastic Four and the Other Fantastic Four are locked in combat with Doom the Annihilating Conqueror and quickly realizing that their powers are no match for him. As a last ditch plan, the F4 agree to take on the full power of the Other Fantastic Four, effectively doubling their own power. It works and they manage to take down Doom, in a manner of speaking. In truth, Doom has been spread about the cosmos, welcome to reform in any other universe if he should ever figure out how. In the course of the battle, the F4 died but the Other F4 revived them almost immediately so no harm done, I guess. After all this time traveling, the F4 finally return home. They talk with Old John Storm and some weird time travel stuff happens and he returns to his home dimension, setting off an explosion that distracts Doom the AC long enough to give the teams the chance they need to defeat him. It's a sacrifice that actually does cost him his life (for more than a minute, presumably) so the F4 celebrate him by throwing a party in the backup story, which finds everyone from the F4 to the FF catching up and hanging out before a final page send-off for the books and these creative teams.

It's the end of an era for the Fantastic Four as the current series ends. Although Marvel's first family will get a new book as soon as next month, it's still a giant era coming to an end as superstar Marvel editor Tom Brevoort ends his historic time with the title. There's a nice letter from him at the end of the issue that's worth checking out to get a glimpse at the man behind the curtain (who also has a tumblr where he answers even the most petty of fan questions with varying degrees of humor, brutal honesty, and "wait and see"s). As for this issue itself, it serves, particularly with the backup story, as a nice little ending to the series (I don't know this for certain but I wouldn't be surprised if the same backup story appears at the end of FF 16). The execution of the main story is a little lacking, with maybe a little too much of an emphasis on time travel to really work for me. People who have read my reviews of ALL-NEW X-MEN and AGE OF ULTRON and various other time travel books this year will know that I hold the "rules of time travel" in pretty high esteem. I don't believe that I do it because I think there are set rules that must be obeyed; instead, I do it because I think time travel is impossible to set rules to, which means there will always be questions that could otherwise be avoided. I think the "rules of time travel" are absolutely necessary because they're so ridiculously complex that it means any story involving time travel has to be so meticulously planned out that it can't be used lightly. Once the time travel genie is out of the bottle, good luck sticking it back in there. The most recent major example, I think, is probably Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think Rowling did a good job to work within certain parameters of time travel and tell an engaging story but it didn't stop every single person in the world from suddenly looking at all of the events of the series and saying "well if a time-turner exists, why wouldn't you use that to stop everything?" In the case of this issue, there are too many weird little rules that are kind of followed and kind of not, like Old John Storm's synaptic-relay arm that transfers memories between himself and Johnny and that then he uses to know he goes to the moment in time when there's an explosion that distracts Doom and dies but how does he even exist if the F4 defeated Doom in that and, ugh, time travel. It's often just not worth it. Boy this went longer than I hoped it would.

Thunderbolts 20
Soule (w) and Barberi (a) and Silva (c)

The Thunderbolts have reached their destination, an old, abandoned research facility that fronted as a diner before it shut down. Ross leads the others down to the facility and deems it acceptable as a new base. Deadpool brings out the hat again to choose a name but Ross says it's time for one of his missions. The mission in this case, of course, is to take down Mercy. The Leader proposes a perfect solution, assuming they can enact it: send Mercy to Hell, where she'll have no end of souls who clamor for death. It's up to the T-Bolts to figure out how to actually get her there and Flash and Ross have a plan. They seek out Johnny Blaze, original Ghost Rider, and enlist him to call Mercy to them and then send her through a portal to Hell that Blaze will open up. They set up in the research facility and form a five-pointed star (Blaze would prefer a seven-pointed star but Punisher refuses to take part and a six-pointed star does no good at all so he and Elektra both sit out) and Blaze tells them that, if the spell is done right, Mercy will appear before them and then be sent to Hell. Everything starts moving and then the T-Bolts in the star find themselves in Hell with Blaze saying "Oops."

Another front-to-back really fun book. There are great little moments spread throughout, like Deadpool somehow managing to accidentally pick the "impossible to pick" sequence of songs on a jukebox that opens the way to the research facility or the re-emergence of his ridiculous hat or murmurs of a failed Hollywood career for Johnny Blaze after appearing in two terrible movies (I'd like to note here that a lot of comics tend to start drawing characters a little more like they appear in the movies, if they appear in movies, but I'm both appreciative and amused that Johnny Blaze never started to look like Nicholas Cage). There are also human moments throughout the book that really help establish character more, like Elektra's very human "at least we're out of the van" line and her talk with Punisher about why he's still with the team now that his mission has been achieved. This is one of those rare team books where I'm never wishing we were focusing on someone else; when the story calls on a moment for the Leader, I'm not thinking about the time we could be spending with Deadpool and vice versa, all over the team. It's just a really enjoyable book with a solid cast (I think only improved by Ghost Rider if this issue is any indication of the way Soule will write him) and a really engaging plot. I'm not sure there's another book out there more fun than this one right now.

Thunderbolts Annual 1, Deadpool 21

Letting the quick hits roll.

Thunderbolts Annual 1
Acker and Blacker (w) and Lolli (a) and Campbell (c)

The Thunderbolts are secretly hired by WAND, SHIELD's branch that deals with magic, to assassinate Doctor Strange, who has apparently snapped and is making everyone happy all the time and whose influence will remake the world within a week. After gathering various magical artifacts from typically unwilling sources in order to protect themselves, the T-Bolts attack and start to press towards Strange, who WAND can't kill themselves because he's an Avenger. One by one, the T-Bolts start to get too happy to accomplish the mission until Punisher manages to make it to Strange and brutally murders him, saying that the killing is what makes him happy. It's revealed that Strange, of course, wasn't really Strange but was a demon from another realm posing as Strange and the real Strange shows up to help with the cleanup. It's not the only book this week that will find Strange interacting with a Thunderbolt!

Pretty fun book. There's a lot to get through in it as there are a lot of moving parts including the introduction of a new wing of SHIELD, the gathering of artifacts from people like Elsa Bloodstone and Valkyrie, the covert explanation of the mission (WAND high command tells Red Hulk and Leader what the plan is but makes them misremember how they'd come to it so they can't trace back involvement), and the fight with Strange, all in one extra-size issue. Pretty fun with a lot of really good moments over a somewhat intriguing plot. The best character bit is the fact that everyone else gets overrun by happiness but that Punisher's happiness comes from killing. Maybe not the boldest statement for Punisher but a nice statement that no one else felt that way. Another solid enough outing for Acker and Blacker.

Deadpool 21
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Bellaire (c)

The cover lists Koblish as the artist but the interior lists Hawthorne and my comic list says Hawthorne so SORRY IF I'M WRONG. Anyway, Doctor Strange pays a visit to Deadpool's mind (I told you!) and tells him how messed up it is while also relating that it might be better this way. He also says he could do a soul trap spell on Preston but he has nowhere to put it once he has it. Meanwhile, the Preston LMD is running around committing crimes and answering online work ads because she just needs to work. Agent Adsit discovers it while trying to make his own Preston LMD to find Preston a new body and reports it to Agent Gorman, the jerk from earlier in the series. Gorman is secretly controlling the Preston LMD and, when Adsit tells him that the real Preston is still alive, he orders a hit on Deadpool for anyone who's interested. Crossbones strikes first to no avail but then the Preston LMD itself shows up to get in on the action. In a covert location, Adsit meets with Agent Coulson to inform him that they've baited Gorman.

Not a bad issue as things start to return a bit to form after what was kind of a train-wreck last issue. I still find myself mostly uninterested with the Preston stuff and I think that hurts the overall issue but they're pretty well stuck into that plot now so I have no better course of action for them to take. The mercenaries should be a lot of fun in this book as I maintain that the writing team is at its best when it puts Deadpool up against or up next to other established Marvel characters. Deadpool's team and any other created character doesn't really land for me but this team has a god history with writing for other heroes, like Daredevil, Captain America, Wolverine, and, most recently, Dr. Strange. Should be fun to see all the mercenaries up against one another and up against Deadpool. It usually is relatively fun when all the mercenaries are called to one location.

Thunderbolts 19, Nova 11, Marvel Knights Hulk 1

Thunderbolts 19
Soule (w) and Walta (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Thunderbolts are taking a road trip as they make their way to the next base. Deadpool is dead in the backseat (he'll be fine, he wanted it to pass the time) but everyone else is merely waiting out the car ride. Leader asks Ross for a cigarette lighter, wanting to re-center himself. Ross allows it and quickly Leader figures out a plan to dispatch with everyone in the van, including using his radiation emissions to knock Ross out before lighting Deadpool ablaze and using the magnesium in a road flare to neutralize the Venom symbiote while stabbing Flash through the chest, ultimately sending Punisher and Elektra to their death by directing them to save the others and tossing a bag of grenades in after them. He nixes the plan, though, when he realizes that then Mercy would show up and undoubtedly kill him. He also admits that he's not sure he's thinking clearly and that he's not seeing all the variables so he decides to wait it out, knowing that every team needs a leader.

Pretty fun little book. Despite it being a kind of "it was all a dream" issue, there's a lot to be gained. First and foremost, Leader seems to be moving quickly back to his old ways despite putting on a good show to the contrary. We, of course, have known something was up since we saw him willingly let Mercy out of captivity on the sub and force them to ground but now we can see his plans in their entirety and he's giving us a rare first person look into his mind and his plans and his goals. It's a very interesting issue and one that's certainly interesting to read even if it ends in the somewhat predictable "he's not actually doing any of this" way. Still a story that needs telling to show us exactly where Leader is right now and what he's thinking. Also, Gabriel Walta's first issue on the book brings some pretty impressive and very unique art to the series, not too far removed from Jefte Palo but also definitely its own style. Nice issue, great cover.

Nova 11
Duggan (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova's getting readjusted to his normal life on Earth and trying to get it to fit in with his life as Nova. After believing that he was going blind upon returning home last time and seeing bright lights all across his vision, he visits their family doctor who tells him it's probably just temporary blindness brought on by stress and maybe a little by any recent hits to the head he's taken recently. While in one of his classes, Sam realizes that the lights he had been seeing are a map. That night, he flies to the nearest light and finds a dead Nova there. Also there are a horde of giant spiders hanging around that he manages to take down one-by-one. He hears the log from the dead Nova and it shows him an even bigger spider who gored this Nova throw the chest. Sam figures it out just in time and flies up and blasts the giant one from the safety of space. Realizing that the dots are all dead Novas, he decides to go home for the night. However, new enemy Cadivan, apparently a hunter or gladiator or something from deep space has kept a Nova helmet just in case some others should appear for him to kill and take as trophies. Now his helmet has flickered showing that someone is still out there.

Not a bad start for Duggan on his first full NOVA issue. Little bit of a slow start here as we get some time with Sam at school and Sam still trying to deal with his father running out on them and his mother looking for a job. Still, those things aren't bad things to have; the best characters are the ones who are deeper than what happens under the mask, in the vein of Peter Parker or Tony Stark. It does feel a little like this book wants to create the new Spider-Man, someone who lost the man who initially taught him about power and responsibility but he's still left with a strong if slightly helpless role model and support system all while navigating the treacherous waters of high school. Sam's voice still isn't bad here; it's maybe not as free-flowing or imaginative as Zeb Wells' but that may not be fair to judge after one issue. Not a bad issue and retaining the solid art team of Medina, Vlasco, and Curiel helps keep the tone pretty consistent, as the art of a book has as much to do with tone as any other aspect. It'll be interesting to see how a full arc progresses here.

Marvel Knights Hulk 1
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

Banner is face down in a river as this book starts and pulled out by a woman who saw him earlier that day on the metro (they're in Paris) having something of a freak out. She pulls him out and sees that he's got gunshot wounds. The woman, named Dyane, brings him to her apartment and gets to work trying to fix him up a bit and letting him rest. He wakes later and the two of them walk about the city as he tries to get his bearings. He remembers hulking out at some point but doesn't know where he is or who he is. As they walk around the city and she tries to get him to remember things, two mysterious men in trench coats track down Dyane's uncle George and show him a picture of Banner, asking if he's been seen. George says he has and answers all of their questions without hesitation but they gun him down anyway. They manage to find Banner and try to fight him, trying to bring the Hulk out. On the orders of their superior, they both inject themselves with some sort of serum and turn into something like hulks themselves, wrecking their way through the city on his trail. Finally, after scores of casualties, they explode in a blinding light right on top of Banner.

The first image in this issue is a full page panel of Banner face down in the water and I got flashbacks to Keatinge's first scene back on MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE, which found Morbius chased through the streets and getting "killed" brutally within the first issue. Apparently Keatinge has something of a theme going here. This issue, somewhat unlike MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN, seems to be hitting some clichéd ground, including the face-down man in the river, the mysterious but helpful stranger, the amnesia, the trench coat guys, etc. On top of that, the art isn't bad but it's not as experimental as it is in the other new MARVEL KNIGHTS books which really sets them apart from the more mainstream titles. So I guess maybe this one isn't going to be my favorite of the bunch; it moved a bit slowly and you could probably play a drinking game with the beats of this book. If he has a memory of hulking out but tries to downplay it, take a drink. If he has amnesia, take a drink. If he inexplicably gets asked out by the girl who really knows nothing about him except that he ends up face down in lakes, take a drink. If the men in trench coats have sunglasses, hats, and dark motives, take a drink. If you're bored by the end of the issue, take a drink. Thirst should be pretty well-quenched by the end of this one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nova 9, Thunderbolts 17

Nova 9
Wells (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova has arrived home to find that Kaldera, the slave of Proxima Midnight, has invaded and taken his mother and sister hostage. Kaldera's offer to Nova is that they fight for the lives of his loved ones without their powers. He agrees and promptly starts getting beaten. Of course, he's not particularly beholden to fighting fair with the psycho who attacked his family so he quickly puts the helmet back on, beginning to gain an edge in the fight again. As he attacks her, the two are teleported back to Thanos' ship, where Sam finds another Nova helmet (Kaldera had taken it as a prize after she had killed its owner) and it uploads itself into his. He goes on to strike down Kaldera before being sent him by her attendants, who worry that her failure to kill him will mar them all if Thanos discovers Nova was on the ship. Sam returns home triumphant while Kaldera is punished in space for her failures.

This was, I believe, Zeb Wells' last issue of Nova before handing the reigns off to Gerry Duggan. I'm a bit sad about this because I think Wells found a really good tone for Sam and his cast, one that won't be so easily replicated. I hope I'm wrong; I want to be reading a good book as much or more than the next person. Regardless, it's still a bit of a sad change for me. It's a nice final issue for Wells, though, as Sam bests someone it seems he had no right besting and is able to show his mom that he's a hero worthy of joining a team, even if she refused to allow him to join the Avengers. She changes her tone just a bit here as she excitedly asks him about the new team he's set to join, the New Warriors (which Speedball clearly gushed to her about while Sam was in space). There are nice pieces in this issue for sure, with more big moments for Sam and a couple of fun lines here and there. There's more focus on Kaldera here so we have a little less of the supporting cast who kind of had to sit in the background of this one, though they still have their moments, albeit fewer. Pretty good issue, nice little wrap-up for the arc.

Thunderbolts 17
Soule (w) and Palo (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher and his team strike the Paguros' warehouse while Red Hulk and Leader try to deal with the invasion in the city as well as the new threat of Mercy in a city during an alien invasion, where people are wishing for death left and right. Leader's having some issues of his own and needs to connect to the internet to reboot his mind. Red Hulk gets him an iPhone with a connection and waits him out while his mind reconnects. It's then Leader's idea to get Mercy to attack Thanos' ship by making the people inside wish for death, something Red Hulk is able to do with relative ease. Meanwhile, Deadpool finally arrives at the pizza place and gets his much sought-after pizza as the Terrigen Mists flood the Earth. Among those they transform are the cowardly Nobili family, hiding out with the Paguros as Punisher, Elektra, and Venom attack.

This is a fairly long tie-in, maybe the longest that's not directly related to Infinity (like Avengers and New Avengers). Honestly, it might be longer than those. Regardless, it's still a pretty good story and a story that has mostly kept up its momentum. If anything, I'd say this issue is the weakest of the arc but only because Punisher's attack on the Paguros' safehouse has taken us this long to get to. It is exciting, at least, because now he's finally there and the three of them are really wrecking the place. In truth, though, I'd say that this plot ranks third of the three plots in order of interest for this issue, and that includes one plot where a guy gets pizza. Still, third of three good plots isn't a horrible place to be in and the characterizations still hold strong here as we get a pretty good look at, particularly, Red Hulk, Leader, Mercy, and Deadpool. Flash gets another pretty good look as he continues to argue (somewhat half-heartedly) on behalf of some of the criminals but it's a characterization we've seen pretty consistently in this arc from him. Still a strong book with very strong art and writing. My mild impatience with this one might stem more from wanting to see what Soule does with the team when he's not writing a tie-in, though, as far as long tie-ins go, this has been a good one. I'm anxious to see what happens next when we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Hunger 3, Infinity the Hunt 2, Thunderbolts 16

Hunger 3
Fialkov (w) and Kirk (a) and Aburtov (c)

Galactus, now merged with the Gah Lak Tus swarm, continues his rampage through the Ultimate universe while Silver Surfer and Rick Jones try to deal with a rogue swarm that's portal'd with them to Earth. They're having some trouble containing it when they get help from an unlikely source: Mahr-Vehl, the Captain Marvel of this Universe. He reveals to the duo that the Kree created the Gah Lak Tus swarm and that he's studied all his life to stop it, which explains why he has so little trouble destroying the swarm that followed them to Earth. Rick needs to process everything and leaves, saying that he can't do anything more with them. As Surfer and Captain Marvel press forward and attack Galactus and his swarm, Rick joins back up with them, having gone home and seen that Peter Parker, the kid he knew back when he lived across the street, has died and was Spider-Man. It's fortified Rick and he finds himself back in the fight, a solid weapon against Galactus. Meanwhile, Mahr-Vehl's weapons don't work on Galactus himself and he is fatally wounded in the fight. Before he dies, he tells Surfer and Rick that he has a bomb in his helmet that will destroy Galactus, it just has to be piloted there. Rick immediately puts the helmet on, prepared to sacrifice himself to stop the swarm.

We're racing towards the conclusion of this series which may be the only series still concerned with the fact that space-time continuum was apparently ruptured during Age of Ultron (that's not entirely true, Hulk is still jumping through time in his own book while Guardians of the Galaxy is dealing with the universe-hopping Angela, though neither event feels particularly world-breaking). Whether this series is powerful enough to have made Age of Ultron worth it is up for debate but frankly, the fact that we might even debate it is high praise. Age of Ultron was pretty garbage but this series feels like a story worth telling. Fialkov's strong writing and characters help that, as does Leonard Kirk's fairly phenomenal artwork on the book. One of the other things worth mentioning in this is that it's not a book that's about to overstay its welcome. There are fewer and fewer mini-series out there right now, mostly leaving that space for events, and almost all of those run too long (Infinity is paced pretty well so far but it's still a somewhat long series in general). Hunger ends with issue four and will, in that time, have a succinct but powerful beginning, middle, and (hopefully) end. That means a lot today.

Infinity the Hunt 2
Kindt (w) and S. Sanders (a) and Campbell (c)

We are introduced to the Latverian School's contenders in the games before they too are thrust into the fight against Thanos. Back stateside, the teachers from the various schools direct the kids into a specially made bunker to wait out the attack. Some are more hesitant to back out of the fight than others but are convinced as one of the newly created students, Crimson, gets viciously killed by Thanos' horde. While waiting things out deep underground, the kids get a transmission from the Latverian School goading them into the battle. They agree to meet up in what's left of Atlantis to see if they can save the Atlantis students.

The book ends up dedicating another couple pages to introducing new characters, none of whom I'm like to remember as this limited series pushes forward. One of the (many) great things about Avengers Arena is that, as an extended but finite series, they had time to throw everyone at us all at once but take their time eventually giving everyone a backstory and a real characterization. I feel like I should have been taking extensive notes in the first issue of this one. When Crimson dies in this issue, I have legitimately no idea why I need to care. Obviously he's a person (in this universe) and, on top of that, a young person, but I have absolutely no connection to him and, in comics, connections are everything. Even if i had taken notes about who each character was, it wouldn't make me feel any more strongly about what happened to Crimson because I still know nothing about who he was. This isn't necessarily a fault for Kindt, who has four issues to tell a complete story and introduce about a hundred new characters, but it's a fault for the design of this book. We're obviously only going to really be concerned with the handful of characters we know and smart money says they'll probably come out okay while others may act as cannon fodder. Also, the endless explanations of who everyone is (hopefully coming to a close with this issue over) slows down the story, as it did tremendously in issue one. It's not a great sign if your first two issues of four have to spend the majority of their time introducing the cast. Hopefully the story will kick up in issues three and four and make it worthwhile.

Thunderbolts 16
Soule (w) and Palo (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Punisher, Elektra, and Venom are still making a move for the Paguros amidst Thanos' army's attack. They've let the Nobili, who sold the Paguros out, go and are now hot on their tail as they make their way to the Paguro's hideout. Apparently, the Paguros have a bunker that anyone under their protection can go to when this end-of-the-world stuff happens. The Nobili, no friends to the Paguros, manage to barter their way in by saying they have information about Punisher. The head of the Paguros opens their armory to the various gangs inside, telling them to prepare for a fight with the Punisher. Meanwhile, Supergiant of Thanos' Black Order has found the Leader by tracking his extreme intelligence. Mercy saves him before rushing to the city to herald forth those wishing for death. Deadpool, out in the city, saves a few more people and takes down a few more of Thanos' army, mad that they would take coins out of a fountain ("Those are people's wishes. You don't steal people's wishes!!!"), before waving down a still-working horse-drawn carriage operator in the hopes that he'll take him to the pizza place he needs to go.

Another solid issue for Charles Soule on the new-look Thunderbolts. I'd say this one is maybe a little slower and a little less fun than the last two but it's certainly not to the book's detriment. This one feels very much more like set-up for the final battles than the last two, which concerned themselves with the part of the story they were telling, not the part of the story that is yet to come. Still, the book has its bright moments, which continue to very much include Deadpool, and the story continues to be a good one. You can see the unbridled joy in Punisher as he realizes that just about every criminal in the city will be bunkered down at the Paguros, ripe for the picking. It continues to be strong characterization all around as we also see Punisher bitterly waving off the suggestion that they wait for Red Hulk or Deadpool, as they've clearly abandoned this mission (claiming that this is why he doesn't work in teams). Elektra has a nice moment where she scares some information out of a guard and she and Flash share a telling look at the end of the issue as they realize how in his element Frank is. There's a ton happening here and it's all working to the book's benefit. Another good issue.