Mighty Avengers 11, Secret Avengers 4, Avengers Undercover 5

Mighty Avengers 11
Ewing (w) and Land (p) and Leisten (i) and D'Armata (c) and Petit (l)

Luke Cage (formerly Carl Lucas) has just found out from the Watcher that his dad, James Geary (formerly James Lucas), was part of some sort of super team back in 1972, a team he'd never told his son about, even going so far as to completely excuse himself from Luke's new life because he didn't want to be involved in anything super heroic. Cage interrogates his dad about the team and what they did. James tells his son about a time when a bat-man (but not that one) was found dead on the streets of his homicide beat and, in trying to learn more about it, James ended up working alongside reporter Constance Molina, dark sorcerer Kaluu, Blade, Blue Marvel, and the Bear (from Howard Stark's little super team back in Gillen's SECRET ORIGIN OF TONY STARK storyline for IRON MAN), who reveals that the bat-man is actually a Deathwalker. His dad is reluctant to tell the whole story but Luke informs him that Blade is part of their team now but is missing, seemingly taken by Deathwalkers, and now Constance Molina and Kaluu are apparently prepared to go up against the current Mighty Avengers.

There's a lot of exposition to get through here as Ewing has limited time to explain James Lucas' history in a book not about James Lucas. Of course, it ties to some of the prior events already in MIGHTY AVENGERS and seems like it will drive the series further, which is a benefit not always seen in tie-in books, but it's also hard to feel like this isn't a little bit slow. There's a lot of exposition and rather a lack of subtext in favor of simply text in the hopes of pushing the story forward. Still, it's a very nearly engaging story but I think the true story lies in the story of why the Bear's dogs are so big here and not, as I believe they originally were, corgis. Boy, that's a weird word and somehow looks weirder pluralized.

Total Score: 3/5


Secret Avengers 4
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

While Coulson, Black Widow, and Spider-Woman are off disabling a poetry bomb, Fury and Hawkeye have been sent to Kowloon Walled City in China to capture The Fury, although the Kowloon Walled City no longer exists. MODOK speculates that the city was brought back in to China from another dimension, possibly as a place to trap The Fury. It's a bit of a crazy story but it's the best they can come up with for why a thought-gone city has reappeared and, frankly, it doesn't really matter because they just need to capture The Fury. Thanks to the help of a MODOK-made gun and a little theory about the way The Fury's brains work, Hawkeye and Fury are able to take the alien down and SHIELD is able to extract him. Meanwhile, though, MODOK starts to get under Hill's skin and the assassin who had tried to kill Hill winds up dead in his containment.

With a little less happening and a little less quipping and bantering, this issue leaps out as probably my favorite so far of the new series. It's not without its issues (most of which are convoluted-plot based) but it's certainly a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. The characters acted in a way that felt more within themselves and some of the interesting layout choices and unconventional pages worked in a way that I thought some of the attempts in previous issues hadn't (namely the weird text-adventure game that ran through Natasha's head at one point, which was kind of fun as an idea but didn't work for me because there's little doubt in my head that Natasha has never played nor thought about a text-adventure game so framing her thoughts as such seems like it's only there as a fun idea and not anything more substantial). Still, this issue largely works (though I still can't get a great read from a couple of characters, but that may be thanks to the nature of this team) and I think toning it down works to the advantage of the book (though, in this case, toning it down is a secret strike team capturing a deadly space alien in a city that shouldn't exist).

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers Undercover 5
Hopeless (w) and Walker (p) and Gorder (i) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

The group of kids (they really need a better collective name) are given the night to think over Zemo's offer of a place in his organization (which is pretty much the whole of Bagalia) or to return to their homes and likely go to jail for killing Arcade. Their split into three groups to tour the area with Nico and Cullen going with Daimon Hellstrom to see the magic part of town, Constrictor showing Chase and Death Locket the more group-themed entertainment (basketball court!), and Madam Masque quickly leaving the perceived remaining leaders of the group, Hazmat, Cammi, and Anachronism, behind as she goes to her own business, saying that she's told them they can have the world on a platter and that there's nothing more she can do to convince them than that. There are surprises all around as Hellstrom continues to sympathize with and help teach Nico before revealing none other than her thought-dead ex Alex Wilder (of RUNAWAYS fame), as Death Locket continues to hit it off with Excavator, and as Hazmat forms the idea of infiltrating Zemo's group to gain leverage in eventually becoming heroes again. When the group reconvenes, she and Anachronism reveal the plan and give everyone the chance to join, telling them they don't know where it will lead or when they'll back out, but it's a chance to eventually return to being heroes and to disconnecting themselves from Murder World. The next morning, everyone but Cammi tells Zemo they'll join with him while Cammi, flying away from the city to return home, is dragged out of the sky by Constrictor.

My official mantra should be "there's plenty happening in this book" and probably something to do with the word "interesting" but it's hard not to say here again, as overused as it is on this blog, that there's plenty happening in this book and it's already, even before we start moving towards the bulk of the plot, plenty interesting. Of course, Hopeless was lucky enough to take hold of all of these compelling characters with mostly rich personalities and backgrounds before he absolutely helped himself by writing a spectacular book in the form of AVENGERS ARENA and really helping to cement where those characters are at. Now he gets to take that experience and those well-developed characters and drop them into an all-new story with plenty of exciting roads to go down. For as great a character piece as AVENGERS ARENA was, it was a decidedly contained story, one that literally couldn't go outside the bounds of the island on which Arcade had trapped everyone. Here Hopeless expands the playground with even more fleshed out characters. It's exciting to see and I'm really looking forward to where it's going.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers Undercover 1, Deadpool 25

Avengers Undercover 1
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker (a) and Beaulieu (c)

The survivors of AVENGERS ARENA are dealing with their new lives in their own ways, with Hazmat trying to keep her head down (though she can't help punishing some jerks commenting on the videos), Chase making a new living on the interview circuit, Nico trying to keep to their shared promise of NOT making a new living on the interview circuit, Death Locket trying to get her Deathlok soft and hardware removed, Cammi returning home, and Cullen hunting Arcade wherever he may be, to the chagrin of Anachronism. They're each trying to return to civilization but it's made infinitely more difficult by the release of the videos by Arcade, which has played into the world's love of reality television and the like. After one of Cullen's most recent online videos in a line of videos he's posted where he searches and torches a number of Arcade's hideout, it's become clear that he's bitten off a bit more than he can chew when he attacked Baron Zemo's new Masters of Evil and been captured. The other survivors (minus X-23 who is out galavanting with the O5 X-Men) agree to go try and help Cullen.

Really strong first entry into this new series as Hopeless and Walker move directly from AVENGERS ARENA to AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. The personalities are still fresh in their minds just as the events of AVENGERS ARENA are fresh in ours. It's a really interesting and compelling idea to have the entirety of AVENGERS ARENA available to view in this universe, giving regular people a chance to watch it all and ignore the horror, instead focusing on the competition and the strategies where there were strategies. Suddenly, people like Hazmat who weren't even on the radar of normal people find themselves endlessly talked about and discussed and critiqued when all they want to do is forget that part of their past. It's huge and inescapable and really fascinating to see already. Excited to see how this one progresses, particularly given how strong this opener was.

Deadpool 25
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Bellaire (c)

Deadpool chats with Crossbones for a while over a few beers before they eventually take to the streets to battle. Crossbones, of course, is furious with Deadpool for leaving him up in a hot air balloon and Deadpool is sick of everything in his life right now and goaded into even more violence by the Preston voice in his head, though the Preston voice seems to actually just be another voice in his head as the real Preston, alongside Coulson and Adsit, shows up just in time to keep Deadpool from completely murdering Crossbones. The SHIELD agents have also brought Deadpool's money with them, giving him a chance to take off on vacation out to Europe to get away for a little while.

For a fight issue, this one definitely moves a little slower than the average. It's not a bad issue, per se, but typically when you have an issue that's almost entirely made up of fighting it moves a little quicker than this. If a fight comic does move this slowly, it's usually saying a little bit more. There's some weight here as we start to see just how much the recent events have impacted Deadpool's already fragile state of mind and how much it may mean to him going forward. Still, it's maybe a little heavy-handed in its presentation of a depressed Deadpool, though it doesn't cross the line to boring at any point. On top of it, posehn and Duggan wrap up, if a little anti-climactically and abruptly, the Gorman storyline as he drops into the fight randomly and gets thrown into a trash compactor for his efforts. Bit of a weird way to wrap it up there. Still, certainly the way has been paved for Deadpool's next adventure.

Avengers Arena 13, Secret Avengers 7

Avengers Arena 13
Gage (w) and Moline and Pennington (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Someone outside of the Arena suspects that something's wrong. Unfortunately for the people in the Arena, the person who suspects something is wrong is 12 year-old Molly Hayes (is she 12? I'm pretty sure that's the last age I remember her being but it's entirely possible I made that up, you guys. Don't tell anyone). Molly doesn't believe that her fellow Runaways Nico and Chase have, as they reported it, simply disappeared to try to work some things out away from home. Molly doesn't believe the texts they keep getting or even the phone calls they occasionally receive. She brings her problem to Avengers Academy head Hank Pym who promises to look into it. He works out a few pieces of the problem, realizing that he lost kids (Juston, who went back home allegedly, and Hazmat and Mettle, who ran away so they could stay in a relationship Hazmat's parents didn't approve of) the same time the Runaways ran away. With a little investigating, he finds out that X-23 and some of the Braddock Academy kids disappeared at the same time. All of it bothers Pym tremendously but he can't seem to convince anyone else something is wrong and, more than that, he can't find any substantial evidence. Arcade has done a truly phenomenal job (or, in truth, Miss Coriander has) covering his bases and only pulling kids likely to disappear for one reason or another and maintaining a presence for them within their communities. Eventually Pym has to give up the fight when he's met by Mettle (Arcade's trump card, cybernetics hidden under what appears to be, disgustingly, Mettle's real skin) and assured that everything is okay but that they still have to lay low because Hazmat's parents are trying to call it a kidnapping. Is there anyone else out there looking for the young heroes?

Solid explanation of why no one has become suspicious in the world and, given everything else that Miss Coriander has arranged for Arcade, it fits well within the scope of the story. It's also rather nice to see Christos Gage writing another story that ties so nicely to Avengers Academy, which was a deceptively good book, surprising in the same way this book is but probably a little less action heavy. Minor complaint to start (and it's incredibly minor and petty but it's been bugging me so WHATEVER): Tigra appears in this book (she's number two at Avengers Academy and romantically linked to Hank right now) and her caption calls her a were-woman, which is entirely wrong on a couple fronts. First off, "were-," as in "werewolf" translates to "man," hence why it's werewolf and not wereman or manwere. So calling her a were-woman is saying she's a man-woman which complicates PLENTY and she's already complicated, okay? Secondly, it implies that she transforms back and forth and I'm pretty sure she doesn't, she's just all Tigra all the time. That's PRETTY MUCH my only complaint though so I guess it evens out. Nice explanation, slows down the series a little bit from all the high-action we've seen lately but certainly a necessary addition to the book.

Secret Avengers 7
Spencer (w) and Guice and Magyar with Epting and Theis (a) and M. Wilson (c)

Maria Hill continues her unbeaten streak of being my least favorite Marvel character in existence. There are plenty of contenders in that race, including Wonder Man and Milla Murdock (okay, some are more relevant than others), but no one ever holds a candle to Maria Hill. Maybe its my own biases here but I have real trouble believing, as the recap page says, that Hill had to make a terrible decision. I don't think she ever thought it was terrible, having Daisy removed from SHIELD. Just like I have my doubts that she had problems making this call. Sure, give her a look like it was a really hard decision and soften her up later but I'll never buy it. Man. Maria Hill, am I right? Anyway, we flash over to Barbuda to find that the strike team needs a way out and that Mockingbird has a shot at the real Scientist Supreme (AIM had warning of the attack and got their man out of the way). Hill shuts her down, wipes the memory of her being on this mission from the team, and gets them out of there. So Mockingbird is stuck on AIM Island with no idea what she's doing or why she's there. Maria Hill, ladies and gentlemen.

This was, admittedly, the first issue in a while for Secret Avengers where I was surprised and intrigued by the ending. I'm still not totally onboard with this Avengers team that has chosen to work for SHIELD (SHIELD and Avengers notoriously don't get along and many could say it's because of issues like this and YES, "issues" there is a double meaning because I'm a great writer and I want you all to know it) and chosen to have their memories played with by SHIELD. It just doesn't feel entirely right, largely, I think, because all of these heroes (and that is an all-encompassing "all") are broken and they all (all) have trust issues and frankly they probably could have figured out that AIM Island was bad news without SHIELD's help. On top of that, I have trouble viewing SHIELD with any real constructive eye; they're always sort of backups to the Avengers or blocking the Avengers in some way  (because their literary function isn't to be the heroes, that the hero's job, it's to throw up more roadblocks or, best case, to assist the hero in some minor capacity) so it's hard to view them as doing anything competently. Despite them being the focus of the book in a way, it's hard still to say they're doing anything competently, which makes it far harder to like them which, in turn, makes it harder to like a book driven by their actions. Tricky scenario Nick Spencer has worked himself into. Let's see if he can get out of it (maybe throw Winter Soldier on the team, hm?).

Avengers 15, Avengers AI 1

Avengers 15
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin w/ Delgado (c)

This issue of Avengers is billed as "the prelude to Infinity," referring to this summer's Infinity event that will focus itself on Hickman's two Avengers books, Avengers and New Avengers. Several issues of each will be dedicated to the event, as will a couple of books from several other series and the main series, a six issue limited series entitled "Infinity." Infinity has been promised as the way that the Marvel Universe will springboard off from Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos Rising, and Nova into the future. Also, it's a major event, with books dedicating issues to them that seem to not have a weird designation after them, as Age of Ultron tie-ins did (like Uncanny Avengers 8AU). Avengers will continue its storyline, centered on stopping the Builders from re-making Earth while New Avengers will find that team fighting an attacking Thanos. In theory, it will all be connected. That said, there's not a ton in this specific issue to go over. We pick up where last issue left off and find most of the team fighting in Perth against the communication system and Banner trying to figure out how everything is linked. They also know that something is happening in Barbuda (AIM Island) but aren't quite sure what to make of it yet. Cap and his team seemingly defeat the communication system but not before it sends its signal to the huge entity breaking out of AIM's hold as the issue goes on and sending the signal out to the Universe at large. Many ships appear on SWORD's radar all at once. SWORD is able to block off most of the ships but a Skrull ship breaks through. In other Avengers activities, Captain Universe and Manifold go to space.

There's plenty happening in this issue but it's not a ton more than what happened in last issue or what we could have expected for next issue. It does read as a sort of prelude issue, feeling a little like it's slowed down to catch readers up before the event kicks off. One of the weaknesses of this series, in my mind, has been that the cast is too large and the story too huge to really get into character deeply. I feel like only a handful of issues have really gone into characters' personalities in the first fifteen issues and I wonder if that will hold up as time goes on. Still, it remains a solid book and this event promises to be something interesting, no matter what else we might call it as it's coming out. As a rule, I tend to shy away from events that span issues of many books because I rather hate having the full universe focused on one story (despite anything I may have said about Civil War this past week) for a bit of time. I think, probably, everyone is a little wary about that because it puts an awful lot of pressure on the event to be great because if the event is boring (Fear Itself, Siege), the spin-offs are likely to drag and drag and drag and drag and oh hey, AvX What If is out this week, hm?

Avengers AI 1
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Hank Pym is a new man following his destruction of Ultron and, as such, the destruction of the man he was in the Marvel Universe (as if that makes up for the fact that we all know you hit Jan once). However, the virus that he created to destroy Ultron has spread and is rapidly evolving, creating a new sort of AI that SHIELD division agent Monica Chang wants destroyed before it brings about the singularity. Chang treats Pym fairly hostilely before Captain America steps in and says that Pym is not to be accused of anything and that he's a founding Avenger and so on and so forth. Instead, he asks Pym where Vision is, speculating that they could need him for this. Pym explains that Vision has been upgrading himself out in space, as his core programming (built from Ultron) dictates that he do whatever he needs to do to ensure his survival. Pym calls him back and sends him to pick up former Runaway Victor Mancha, another son of Ultron. They join with Pym and he introduces them to their other teammate, a carefully monitored Doombot Pym has outfitted with a portable black hole in case he should turn on them. Pym sends them to a hospital that is being attacked by bots bearing his AI (connected somehow to an entity known as Dimitrios). The team works pretty well and ends up defeating the bots and finding what they were looking for; a robotically enhanced woman only able to say "Dimitrios is coming."

Skottie Young variant because they are
ALWAYS GREAT.

There are plenty of places to go with this series as the AI of the Marvel Universe has really come alive in the last couple years (pun one hundred percent intended). It's still too early to say much about this plot but it's easy enough to get into the characters here. Pym was redefined in Mark Waid's Age of Ultron 10 AI which set him up as a more creative person and a man who has broken from his rigidly scientific background to try to solve problems in any way he can/any way that interests him. Vision has improved himself to the point of being able to transform himself into nanites and also to activate an explosion, which he refers to as a supernova (and given the fact he powers himself with the sun, it is probably an accurate description on a very small scale). Victor, who has been removed from his Runaway pals for a bit now, is determined to get back into the hero game, even going so far as to constantly give himself a new hero moniker, including devil slayer and and wolf swag in this issue. There's a fun relationship between Mancha and Vision that casts them as brothers, both the rebel sons to Ultron. Doombot is, as expected, a Doombot and adds another dimension to the team (I love seeing some Doom, we'll see how it'll last over a series). There's a lot to like here but not a ton to talk about, despite the length of this post. Guess I probably just blacked out and babbled a bunch, huh? Whoops.

Age of Ultron 5, Ultron 1AU, Avengers Assemble 14AU

Age of Ultron 5
Bendis (w) and Hitch and Neary (a) and Mounts (c)

As expected, the heroes enter Nick Fury's secret base to find Fury home and learn that he's built the base on some of Doom's time travel panels. The plan is to go into the future and destroy Ultron there. Presumably they're planning to end-of-Back-to-the-Future-Marty-McFly him and set the time circuits to ten minutes before Doc gets shot Ultron's attack starts to set everything back to the way it was. Maybe they'll paradox it and decide that they killed Ultron before his attack so none of the events during the attack happened so they never went to the future and killed Ultron so his attack happened and they went to the future and killed him but AND SO ON so that no one remembers this whole thing. Meanwhile, Bendis' murderous Logan has decided that that only way to stop Ultron is to go back and kill Pym, saying that Pym's ego wouldn't allow him to simply be told not to build Ultron in the first place. In books Bendis writes that feature Wolverine, he seems to only be happy when he has a chance to murder someone's past self to avoid future problems. He freaked out at young Scott Summers in All-New X-Men at one point and now this. Wolverine, is this the way you solve all your problems?
Time travel is a tricky crutch for some books to fall on. With no real-life occurrences of time travel to fall back on for research, the rules are somewhat in the air. The butterfly effect and various divergent timelines come into play along with plenty of other issues. On top of that, in a situation like this and which this book itself brings up, where do you stop? If you're willing to rewrite time so Pym is killed before he creates Ultron, why not go back and kill Hitler or make Doctor Doom a hero? Sure there's always the risk of altering the present into something worse, but there's also the possible reward of altering the present into something better. How could killing Hitler result in a worse future? Tough questions all. Tough and inexpertly handled. Here's the thing: Ultron improves himself constantly. His first appearance had him attack the Avengers, who come out relatively unscathed and his second attack consists of him creating the Vision and sending him after them (which is brought up in a flashback to the Vision recovering from being ripped in half by She-Hulk in Avengers Disassembled and is noted as the only positive to come out of Ultron) only to be destroyed again by the Avengers and Vision. THERE. If you're trying to figure out ways to kill Ultron, why not just go THERE? Pym has seen what Ultron is capable of and has now even seen that he's likely to keep improving himself until the world is gone. Vision has been created and has become a good guy. No one has died at the hands of Ultron. And he wouldn't know you were coming. That's where you should aim. Not at the future where he might be controlling things from and where he may be expecting your arrival. Not in the past with the death of Hank Pym. When Ultron's key accomplishment is scaring the Avengers a bit and creating Vision. BOOM. Time machine.

Ultron 1AU
Immonen (w) and Pinna (a and c)

I'm not sure what to make of this book. I think part of the problem (probably a large part) comes from the fact that I don't know a ton about the Runaways so I have no particular knowledge of nor connection to Victor Mancha. I do wonder how someone who knows a fair amount about the Runaways and has some level of affection for them would feel about this issue. For me, I was kind of left wondering what the point of this issue was. We know a lot about Ultron already and not much more is revealed here, so there's not much gained in that direction. I think that the majority of this book is, in fact, aimed at telling us what happened to the Runaways and delving into Victor's character, two things that don't particularly matter to me. So I'm a bit of a grump about this issue, I think, where maybe some other people wouldn't be.
The book focuses on, as I've let on, Victor Mancha and his relationship to Ultron. Victor is the cyborg son of Ultron who has rejected his father and his own presumed fate. Instead, Ultron has told him in the past that he's becoming more and more human and that soon he'll be indistinguishable from humans. Though that's something he probably took pride in when it didn't affect his chances of being found by his father, currently it's becoming something of a hindrance. He's used his android-like body to avoid detection by Ultron's many sentries and to guide the few humans he could find to safety. By the end of the book, though, some of the people he's led to safety have discovered he's a robot like Ultron and some other people with him have died in a new attack on their hiding place, a former hideout for the Runaways. Most of the issue revolves around Victor thinking about his past as someone who has rejected his identity and reminiscing on the times he had with the Runaways, who had accepted him despite his parentage. The issue ends with him leaping into battle with the Ultron sentries and deciding that he's certainly not going to give up fighting even if it ends in his death.
Again, I'm not sure this was a bad book as much as it was kind of uninteresting to someone who's not familiar with the Runaways. It also made me wonder why it was particularly important. I would have to again say that it's probably important to Runaway fans, but to people that don't know as much it's hard to feel particularly driven by Victor and it's hard to care to a huge extent. Instead, I found myself often wondering where this fit in and if the Runaways or Victor would make any other appearances in this event or if this was simply here to be here. If it is, I think it's still an alright book and probably a better one if you care about the Runaways, but otherwise it's tough to fully recommend.

Avengers Assemble 14AU
Ewing (w) and Guice and Palmer (a) and D'Armata (c)

I find this as kind of an interesting counterpoint to Ultron 1AU for me. I know and care about Black Widow and I know how she fits into the Age of Ultron event. Does that make me like this issue more than I liked Ultron 1AU? Certainly. But does that make it a better book? I don't really know. It's a little bit the same situation; I'm not sure it totally matters what happens to Natasha here because it's happening well after Natasha has joined up with the other surviving heroes in the Age of Ultron main series and that was a good enough explanation at the time (Nat is in San Francisco when this all goes down, now she's back) so does this issue really add anything to the AU storyline? We see a little more just how brutal the Ultron takeover was, especially as issue one of the main event started in the middle, with everything already destroyed. So instead of being a huge plot piece here, it's more a character study for Natasha. I found it interesting and a good read on Nat's character. I would recommend this issue simply based on that, so I don't know if my recommendation changes for Ultron 1AU. However, I did recommend it most strongly if you were already familiar with the character and/or with the Runaways so maybe I'm handing out sage advice ALREADY.
Anyway, Natasha is in San Francisco for a day off and meeting with a couple of old friends who I'm not entirely familiar with. They seem to both be from her Champions days and no one ever should be forced to read the Champions so I haven't. The book portrays them well as good friends and as truly caring for one another before it kills both of them (and everyone else Natasha tries to save) off and leaves Natasha alone. Nat switches from friend to authority figure with ease while her narrative explains how she's adept at becoming what people around her need. She shows it off as she takes charge of every situation, though, as I said, it's all for naught as Ultron is just too powerful. She survives and makes her way to one of Fury's secret bases, wherein she finds Moon Knight with a dead SHIELD agent. He had been on assignment with the agent and it was that agent who had pointed him to the base before dying. Nat recognizes that Moon Knight is on edge, so she lies about how horrible and random the Ultron attack had been to her, instead telling him that she had been on a black ops mission as well so this is all just part of the day. It refocuses him enough for her to work with him without losing him to his insanity. It's a really great moment for Natasha as she puts on the cold face that so many not close to Black Widow see from her. It's a smart way to show her ability and her understanding and, weirdly, compassion off while tying a narrative together. A really well-done book, though, in fairness, I'll add the caveat of "it might be better if you know/care about the character." Still, good book.

Secret Avengers 1, Avengers Assemble 12, Avengers Arena 4

Secret Avengers 1
Spencer (w) and Ross (a) and Wilson (c)

Okay, so like I've said the last two days (in my excuses), I've just started a new job this week, one that requires lots of prep time and long hours and it's something I'm only mildly prepared for. I'm prepared for it by way of "yeah, I guess this is something I'm short-term qualified for, I can help you out." Look, what I'm trying to get at is that I'm also awful tired at the end of the day and the end of the day is when I plan to read some COMICS.

This much forewarning should probably give you some idea what's happening in this review.

Maybe it's how tired I am. Maybe it's how burnt out I am after the week. Maybe it's the change of pace of this job. But I had some trouble following this story. I got it to a point, but a lot of this memory implant business is going to be necessary to re-explain. I also have NO IDEA where this fits in the Marvel Universe. They made reference to things that I'd relate to The Avengers, even if they are actual events in the Marvel Universe. WHY WOULD YOU BE THIS CONFUSING TO ME, SECRET AVENGERS? Still, there are things from deeper in the regular Universe (like reference to Quake, the new head of SHIELD, and to Druid, who I don't think we've seen since Secret Warriors) and enough to keep you asking questions about the Universe as a whole.

There are some things to look forward to in this book, it seems. There's a bit of a conspiracy a'brewin' (welcome to SHIELD, amirite guys?). There's enough intrigue to keep me reading. I'm interested to see how the next few issues play out before I say that there's enough to keep me subscribing. I think this issue asked more questions than it answered, even after months of speculation around the book. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. That's what keeps us coming back. We'll just have to see how these things play out.

Avengers Assemble 12
Deconnick (w) and Woods and Hanna (a) and Beredo (c)

This book has developed into something I rather enjoy after starting as something I avoided. That might have to do with my fondness for Kelly Sue Deconnick, but it might also be just because Kelly Sue gets it. This is a book that has the chance, maybe more of a chance than other books, to have a fun spirit to it. It's tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a weird way. It's not a part of the Cinematic Universe, but the book started as a result of the movie, trying to pick up new readers interested in the movie but not dying to delve into the decades and decades of interlocking backstories. FAIR, guys, that's totally fair. It's a bit of a cleaner version of the Marvel Universe then. The characters are still the same ones we've seen, but the problems are almost entirely new ones. It also leaves probably a little more room for fun. Not obnoxious "serves no one" fun. Fun, character based dialogue. Even, and this has been a shock to me both here and over in Captain Marvel, fun Spider-Woman. WHAT. I know.

On top of all those good things, last arc was an interesting one that challenged characters with tough decisions and intimidating villains. This one follows in the same vein. Black Widow wants to make up for her past and, as a result, has given out "markers" to people she's wronged in the hopes she can repay them some day. That's the frame for this story, which also gives us our first real look at Hawkeye and Spider-Woman's relationship. Yes, it was started in Bendis' Avengers run out of his love for Spider-Woman and his similar infatuation with Hawkeye getting women, but the brunt of that run was just them making out and being together an awful lot. Here, Deconnick dives into a very complicated relationship, one rife with past relationship problems on both sides and the problems they face today.

It's interesting stuff without coming off too soap opera-y. Hawkeye and Black Widow's relationship, too, is a fun one to read. Compared against Secret Avengers 1, both characters show up with more of a history together. We know they HAVE a history in Secret Avengers, but it might as well have been any two Marvel heroes talking to one another in that issue, whereas this one gives us a real sense of familiarity and camaraderie beyond simply working together. If you haven't yet, maybe because you consider yourself a long-term fan and uninterested in anything movie-connected, it's worth kicking the tires on this series. I think you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Avengers Arena 4
Hopeless (w) and Vitti (a) and Martin (c)

The same thing I've said about the first three Avengers Arena issues so far holds true in issue four just as well. I don't know the Runaways as well as I really should. I know they had a great origin. I know they had a really interesting run. I know they split time between Brian K. Vaughn and Joss Whedon, giving them one of the best pedigrees in all of modern comics. I know all that. I still haven't read it. I'M SORRY. I've seen them every so often when they pop up in other things (Avengers Academy, something to do with X-Men) but I often forget their power sets and personalities until i'm reading about them. Also, I tend to forget they exist.

That said, Hopeless does another good job making me care about the characters I don't even know in this series. On top of loading this issue with enough backstory and personality to give us a true sense of the characters, Hopeless never does so much that it makes the reader feel overwhelmed by the story or by the history. It's a really hard line to toe but Hopeless has done it for four straight issues. It's worth reading if just to watch that happen. It's also worth reading because it's exciting and new and different and seems to have some real stakes to it.

As I intimated, this issue features Nico and Chase of the Runaways meeting up with Reptil, Hazmat, and X-23 of the Avengers Academy as they all try to stay alive. There's still some sort of unseen assassin out there and s/he strikes again, doing major damage to Reptil and making it seem like Chase was behind the attack. Nico and Chase talk their way out of a big fight with X-23 and Hazmat but still have to leave their company. As Nico takes off ahead, Chase stumbles on Darkhawk's amulet (now stripped from Darkhawk after last issue) and it dives inside him, giving him Darkhawk's power. There's a lot of great character business here, including Hazmat refusing to be called Jen in the wake of Mettle exploding in issue one, Chase worrying that he'll survive all this (as he always survives crazy stuff, he says) at the cost of someone he cares about, Reptil and Hazmat's friendly relationship, etc. This book is worth subscribing to, if you have any interest in the younger heroes/maybe heroes of the Marvel Universe. It's worth it anyway, frankly, but give it a shot one way or another.