All-New Invaders 5, Fantastic Four 5

All-New Invaders 5
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c) and Petit (l)

Everything works out because Winter Soldier breaks out Aarkus and he and another Eternal find the God's Whisper while Torch knocks out the watching Kree soldiers and Steve uses a computer virus laced shield (??) to shut down the Supremor for a time while they make their way off-planet. Back on Earth, Namor returns to the deep, Bucky goes back to wherever it is Bucky goes, and Cap recruits Jim to SHIELD while they muse over what Aarkus could be doing with the Eternals (hint: controlling Galactus in the Negative Zone with the God's Whisper if they should ever need him).

That "everything works out" bit above is only there partly because I'm lazy. Moreover, though, it's there because that's the spirit of this issue. It's very much a book that revolves around the old school style "I only wanted you to THINK I'd missed when, in fact, I was aiming at that device above you that's currently toppling on you" or some such that I swear happened in every other issue of AVENGERS back near the start of its run. Here it's all meaningless misdirect as Bucky buys time, Cap has a computer virus on his shield (not how that works, for the record, don't care what kind of comic book technology you have), and Torch ups the radiation in the room with Cap waving it off by literally saying "I'm immune." If the solutions are ridiculous then the stakes are meaningless. It's like being in an imaginary shootout with a child who keeps saying "no, you didn't hit me! I have a forcefield and the shot bounced and hit you!" You can make up the rules all you want, that doesn't mean I'm going to be on board with it. Pugh's art is pretty good though.

Total Score: 2/5


Fantastic Four 5
J. Robinson (w) and Kirk (p) and Leisten and Magyar (i) and Aburtov (c) and Cowles (l)

The Fantastic Four are on trial and the prosecutor is dragging them through the mud about every major superhero thing they've played a role in and how many people it hurt and it ends with a ruling that we don't get the full sense of yet but means the kids of the FF are shipped off to Camp Hammond to be watched by new SHIELD agent Jim Hammond (very quickly making his first SHIELD appearance from above). Oh, and in other news on this book, it made me as angry as any other book I've read in the past year and a half and I can't believe Marvel decided to charge five dollars for a book with five extra pages in it (albeit with art from all sorts of different artists).

Seriously. The courtroom superhero drama hasn't been compelling since the first time it was done and, when it's done this poorly, it throws everything into question. There's a writing trick wherein a writer knows exactly how a sane character would get out of a problem but dutifully ignores that solution because there's no drama in it. That's what Robinson's doing but it's not just Robinson who knows how to get out of it, it's every single person reading this book ever. The prosecutor has the shakiest grasp on how to prosecute and his terribleness and the terribleness of the entire plot draws the lawyering abilities of She-Hulk, the F4's lawyer, into severe question. It's a rare book that can take a completely separate book that I really like (SHE-HULK) and call it into question by painting its protagonist so weak. It's choppy writing at best and it's a terrible and cliche story that's executed about as badly as it could be. It feels like it was an excuse to get a bunch of guest artists in (who all do admirable work, though it sometimes feels like it's Marvel trying to hard sell their other books as Samnee draws some Daredevil related business and the Allred's pop in to draw Galactus and the Silver Surfer) and to charge an extra dollar for five extra pages and the book is garbage. Literally within the first three pages I was angry at this book.

Total Score: 1/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazing X-Men 1, X-Men Legacy 19, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1

Amazing X-Men 1
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Nightcrawler is still around in some capacity (whether or not to say he's technically alive, as it were) and has been peering down on his old life from what, for all intents and purposes, is Heaven. As much as he longed to qualify for Heaven as a religious man when he was alive, he finds himself unfulfilled there, wishing he was still back with his friends as an X-Man. We seem to have peeked in on him at the right time, though, as he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a siege on Heaven led by none other than Nightcrawler's father, the demon Azazel. Meanwhile, back at the Jean Grey School, new teacher Firestar is having some problems getting adjusted to the fast-paced style of the school. On her first day, she helps Hank McCoy follow a couple of bamfs to a portal they've built deep within the recesses of the school. They call the rest of the staff down and worry about what the portal is and what it can do when a bunch of red bamfs (Azazel's crew, apparently) jump out of it, trying to keep the X-Men from entering. Eventually, though, the portal pulls a couple in and Wolverine and Northstar find themselves in Heaven, watching Azazel's pirate ship attack and hearing tell of a blue elf.

I wondered what kind of tone Aaron was going to bring to this book. Right now he's writing two major ongoing books at Marvel, THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The two are entirely different books starring entirely different casts of characters (BREAKING NEWS FROM THE MARVELS BLOG: Thor and the X-Men are different!) and, thus, have entirely different tones. I appreciate the difference in tone; if the two books featured entirely different characters and plots but had the same tone, it would seem incredibly incongruous. However, that doesn't guarantee that both tones will fit both books. I have often pointed out that I don't particularly like the tone of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and that it feels more goofy and less serious. I think there's a place for that in comics, a medium birthed from that sort of thing (not with, say, the golden age stuff, just with comics in general, hence the name), but it permeates and leaves a sort of disconnect between characters from one book to another. Again, I think there's a place for it and I think there are ways to make it work even within these titles, but it doesn't work for me as the ongoing feel. This is my roundabout way of saying that that's the feeling I'm getting right from the start from AMAZING X-MEN. I was a little on edge waiting for this book, wondering what approach Aaron was going to take; the seriousness and weight of THOR or the zaniness and comedy of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. It seems the latter and I'm a little put-off already. McGuinness' art is solid though I most recently saw him in NOVA and I can't help but see Nova's face on just about every front-facing character, particularly tricky to see when that face is someone like Azazel. We'll have to see how this one shapes up.

X-Men Legacy 19
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Xavier that was in David's head is loose and wreaking havoc on an unprepared world while David himself is contained at the Peak, the base of SWORD operations, by Abigail Brand. The weight of the situation is expressed to him by one-time foe Aarkus the Aetheric, the original Vision who went a little crazy in his solitude on the moon and decided mutants were a threat that needed to be purged (way back in X-MEN LEGACY 9, true believers). Aarkus has seen the errors of his way and snapped out of it in time to try to help the world defeat the evil Xavier. He explains to a power-suppressed David that Xavier is essentially a manifestation of David's hate and it's spreading that hate all around the world, powered up by its new body. David, though, is doing his best not to listen as he tries to wrangle the powers in his brain, even with his powers being suppressed by SWORD. He manages to take down old standby Tyrannix the Abomanoid and start hunting through Aarkus' head. He can't help but hear the state of the situation from Aarkus as he tries to ignore it and push forward, trying to get any sort of idea of where this is all heading from Aarkus' mind, where he finds Aarkus thinking about "the weapon," something vague and undefined to David but that is clearly the next part of the plan. He eventually pushes his luck and asks Aarkus about it, realizing too late that the weapon is meant to be tested on David before being set loose on evil Xavier. That weapon? Aarkus explains that it is the clutch-mate, rescued by a younger Aarkus himself, of a more powerful bird in the Marvel Universe. It's the shadow of the Phoenix.

More really cool stuff here and my feelings on this book are pretty well-documented. That's why it pains me to say that it seems like this series is officially ending with issue 24, as documented by Si Spurrier both from his own Tumblr and on the X-Men Legacy Tumblr. Okay, I actually want to rephrase that. Nothing is official, first and foremost, and certainly not about the series itself. However, it does seem as if Si Spurrier's run on the book will end with issue 24 and I have to imagine they won't put David on anyone else either. If the book continues past that, I'd expect it to focus on another character or another couple of characters. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I'm getting from Spurrier's responses and just from the conceit of the character on the whole. No one has done more for a severely complicated character than Spurrier has for David, even if it meant complicating him more. This is another stellar issue with David forced to face the consequences of his actions which certainly seem a little less than noble when seen from an outside perspective, as Aarkus displays them here. It's been a phenomenal book and I'm really sad to see that it's ending, though we all kind of knew this was coming and I'd rather have Spurrier leave it on the top of its game instead of letting it stagnate. And it just makes me all the more excited for Spurrier's X-Force.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot, the luck-based superhero born from the Mojoverse and most recently a member of X-Factor, gets his own improbable mini-series helmed by Dr. McNinja writer Christopher Hastings. We get a bit of a look into the day-to-day life of Longshot, who doesn't totally understand the workings of his own luck powers but understands enough to know how to make them work for him. He can use the power to help others and be pure of heart or else he risks the luck turning sour. For example, he considers using his powers to get money to buy a taco (or to be given a taco) and, as his powers begin to activate, an explosion occurs in the house behind him as criminals bust into a safe, a series of events that Longshot claims were put into action by his eventual decision to luck his way into some tacos. Longshot enters the apartment to help the people inside, a woman and her scientist father, who he feels responsible for putting in harm's way. Meanwhile, a strange new villain searches the streets of New York for Longshot, going on a killing spree of people who happened to have good luck any given moment. This does not include an incredibly unlucky Reed Richards and Tony Stark, who have discovered something in their lab and are trying now to get rid of it in a safe way. Eventually, all the storylines converge as the villain tracks Longshot to the apartment and Reed and Tony end up detoured by at the same time. The scientist Longshot saved attacks the villain with his own cosmic radiation gun but the shot goes through him, hitting Reed and causing him to lose control of his shape-shifting and destroying the truck he and Tony were traveling in. A briefcase flies to Longshot's side and reveals a cosmic cube inside, which Longshot inadvertently uses to tell the villain to "get lost." The world reorganizes on the moment and we see a reimagined day where the woman Longshot saved thwarts the explosion in her apartment before it starts, Tony and Reed don't discover anything, and SHIELD has laws in place against unregistered sorcerers that allows a hit squad to attack Longshot.

Wow, that summary went on WAY longer than I expected it to. There are books that do that sometimes, for better or worse, and leave me with a better understanding of what happened or leave me confused as to why it took so long to explain it. I've tried on occasion to tone my summaries down and inevitably end up with long summaries again, maybe after a week or so of doing relatively well with shorter ones. Infinity hasn't helped that, with double long books regularly requiring extra explanation and therefore skewing all of my summaries in general longer. Clever readers might notice that currently I'm stalling for time as I try to think more about my opinions on this book. Here's the thing: it's not a bad book. It's fun enough, there are nice character moments, there are neat little ideas peppered throughout. It just feels...odd. I can't put my finger on it. Part of it might have to do with the wordiness of it; for all of its fun atmosphere and dialogue and characters, it's one of those books where you reach halfway through it and go "geez, there's HOW MUCH more of this left?" Unfortunately for Hastings, I think that's inherent to a book like this, which features a character readers don't know too much about and who hasn't really headlined his own book, even strange mini-series, in a couple decades. Still, the book is fun and the art fits it really well. I'm hoping that the next issue, which will certainly need to explain more of this current plot, will be able to kind of solidify its tone and will have to dedicate less time to simply explaining who Longshot is.