Guardians of the Galaxy quick review

Hey guys, as ever, no spoilers this close to the release of the movie.

I was nervous about Guardians of the Galaxy right up to the moment the movie started. I tried to get myself excited, tried to remember all the praise I'd heard, tried to just be excited that we were seeing such a crazy Marvel property in a movie, but I couldn't help being a little worried. There are people out there who hear that kind of attitude and say "you're worried that a fictional movie about a fictional universe with fictional characters will let you down?" They're the same people telling me that, as a grown man, I shouldn't care what horrors Michael Bay has bestowed on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What kind of life must those people have, not caring about stories, about the oral and the aural and the written tradition? Look, I don't have to convince you guys. You're my people. You're comic people. So I can tell you instead that this movie was a ton of fun.

That's what I'd been hearing all along and I can't help but agree. I don't think the film is as deep as a few of the Marvel movies have been. I don't necessarily think it has as much to say as, say, Captain America: Winter Soldier. I don't think it's as ambitious as Avengers. I think it's riskier than both those movies and I think it maybe pulled what it wanted to off as well as either of those movies. It wasn't ever trying to be Cap 2 or Avengers. It was shamelessly and unflinchingly itself the whole way through. It never bogged itself down with grit or a big message. It took a team comprised of a half-human, a pair of alien assassins/killers, a talking raccoon, and a talking tree and said "hey, you know what, maybe this shouldn't be heavy-handed. Maybe this should just be a fun superhero movie." And it absolutely was. There are a lot of genuine laughs to be had, there still manages to be a good amount of heart, and the team itself ends up being a really likable and really fun team. Fun is the keyword, I've certainly used it enough. Go in looking for a fun movie and I don't think you'll be disappointed. It was maybe a little over-expository but you run that risk, as I say in so many comic reviews, when you have a whole team to develop in a limited space and when you set it in space and have to introduce an audience to brand new mythologies that intersect. It's maybe a little long because of that and it's maybe a little weighed down by that, but it manages to keep the dragging to a minimum and keeps the tone and the pace pretty well in check. It also accomplished something that less than a week ago I was doubting, which was to make me like this team and this universe enough to be excited for the sequel. Can't say better than that for a movie like this.

Movies this week

An addendum to my typical comics pre-game on Tuesdays because I didn't even mention it in this week's post. In case you somehow missed it (and you would have to be trying REALLY hard to miss this) Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy comes out THIS VERY FRIDAY (or, most likely, Thursday night). I'm a little mixed on this release, as I rather have been since its announcement, but the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Of course, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive for Iron Man 3 and I was not onboard with that one. Anywho, if all goes well, I'll be seeing this Thursday night and give you a quick update on my thoughts, likely to not be succeeded by another post with a full review since CLEARLY I have stopped doing those? Look, what I'm trying to say is that I've had a nearly empty draft post about Captain America: Winter Soldier, a movie I loved, sitting in this blog since April.

NOT a full CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER review

SOOOO I promised everyone Thursday night that I'd have a Captain America: Winter Soldier review up today but I have had all sorts of trouble today putting my thoughts into words and those words into coherent sentences and those coherent sentences into a blog post. I have lots of feelings about this movie and they're almost entirely really good feelings. I really enjoyed the movie, you guys. This is one of the best Marvel has so far put out and it's one that only gets better on repeated viewings, which I think they've lacked since Avengers. It's edgy and dark and gritty without having to be edgy or dark or gritty because Captain America has no time for dark or gritty. He's not Batman, toeing the line between "one bad day" vigilante and the only justice in a town corrupted. The movie has plenty of great themes including security vs. freedom, trust, and friendship and manages to really explore those themes in interesting ways. The action is great, the writing is solid, the performances are incredibly impressive. It's everything I liked about the first film but with an entirely new feel to it at the same time. It's a sequel that really adds to the franchise and improves on the mythos, the first movie I think that's really true for from Marvel. I still have lots to say on this and I'll likely post it eventually (I have a long blog post that's not even like, a fifth done yet sitting in my queue right now but I've come to the realization that that one isn't getting posted today) but for now, suffice it to say that Marvel has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one. Sorry for throwing a sports metaphor into a comics blog.

This week's picks!

Another pretty solid week on the books and all that's left to do is break down the most highly recommended books we had this week. EASY PEASY.

Black Widow 5
I wrote a review later on this list about five times talking about how it had barely beat out BLACK WIDOW because, unfair as it is to BLACK WIDOW, it's held to a higher standard because of four amazing issues to start it off. Then, as I kept trying to explain why it had barely beaten it out, I found myself disagreeing with my own arguments. So here we are, replacing PUNISHER with BLACK WIDOW on this list. I thought that PUNISHER had the upper hand this week in the narrative, which Edmondson uses in both books, but I liked the action, the characters, and the art more on BLACK WIDOW, enough to push it just past the great action, characters, and art on PUNISHER. In truth, it was also partly because Natasha made Molot Boga get sucked into a jet turbine and because of the panel right before it happened (seen at left). Great, great book.

Moon Knight 2

This one definitely stuck with me through the week. The layout, the narration, the chilling midway point as your comfort in the narration takes a turn; it's all perfectly handled and it makes the book a really quick and tense, though gorgeous, read. The initial narration, simple black print on a white background, reminds you of Moon Knight and therefore quickly reads like Moon Knight's narration, not to mention that it sounds just like his origin. Then you realize that it's not just a character saying it while all the action goes on, it's the character behind the action saying it and it forces you to wonder if Moon Knight is killing these people. Then, when all of the eight targets on the page have been killed, the first person you see in the aftermath is Moon Knight himself. It's a wonderful turn and just about the best way for Ellis and Shalvey to show us how crazy we even think Moon Knight is, that we believed it could have been him. Amazing, thought-provoking, mind-blowing, great stuff.

New Warriors 3
Also just beating out PUNISHER this week, I think that NEW WARRIORS had a real turnaround issue this week. I don't think the book was bad in any way before this issue or anything like that, it just felt like it was going to take longer to set up with all of the moving parts and the big storyline that Yost was creating. However, this third issue really did a great job explaining our plot and further establishing our characters, all in a pretty quick reading twenty pages or so. Really well done by Yost and artist Marcus To as they continue to build the world of these young superheroes and start to get the audience a little more situated. Bonus points go to NEW WARRIORS this week for giving just about the simplest but most accurate breakdown of so many of the off-shoot races on Earth, like mutants, Atlanteans, Lemurians, Inhumans, Eternals, Deviants, GOD SO MANY.


BONUS PICK OF THE WEEK
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Seriously, just everyone go see it. Though I imagine if you're on this blog, I probably don't need to tell you.

Quick hits: CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER

Hey everyone, just saw Captain America: Winter Soldier. I'm not willing to give a full review of it right now (particularly if I want to get tomorrow's reviews done tonight which, my friends, I do) because I want to let it sink in and I want to let other people see it first before I start going crazy with spoilers and, well, let's face it, I want to see it again first. Suffice it to say right now that it's entirely unlike any Marvel movie so far and I think it may go down as one of Marvel's best movies. AS A HEADS-UP A FULL FOUR OR SO DAYS IN ADVANCE: My full review (I'm aiming for that to come on Monday) will certainly be RIFE with spoilers. If you don't want to hear spoilers by Monday, maybe don't check out that review just yet. I'll mark it pretty clearly on Monday too but that's your cue to go and make this a huge box office opening, okay? I'm pretty sure this blog has the sway to do that, right?

Comics this week

Hey there everybody. Big week for Marvel and for for this blog in general as we get right to Captain America: Winter Soldier, the most anticipated Marvel movie since Avengers for some reviewers (guys, we're talking about me. We're ALWAYS talking about me). Fortunately, particularly after that whirlwind of comics last week, Marvel has chosen to give us a bit of a break so we can get out there and see that movie. Only fourteen new releases this week and even a couple of those are suspect (movie tie-in books and the like). Still, we're champions over here at Marvels (still talking about me) and a week where there are maybe ten legitimate books is still RIPE FOR THE PICKING for the five most anticipated books of the week (the key, everyone, is that they're just anticipated. I don't have to promise that they're good. Though, honestly, thinking about it, most of these ones are set to be).

Black Widow 5
Black Widow, star of the upcoming film Captain America: Winter Soldier, can also be seen absolutely destroying over in BLACK WIDOW, the amazing comic series from Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto. Join her this week as she goes for round two with her newest enemy, the Hammer of God Molot Boga. Guys, check this book out. I guarantee it'll be worth it.

Captain America 19
Captain America, star of the upcoming film Captain America: Winter Soldier, can also be seen dealing with a villain who won't be starring in Captain America: Winter Soldier over in CAPTAIN AMERICA. Dr. Mindbubble has already proven himself an interesting adversary and I think, as Cap nears a villain designed to counter people like himself, he's only going to get more interesting as things push forward. Remender's taken this book in some crazy directions already and Cap hasn't even had a moment to breathe, something that's been pretty key to the entire run and something that hasn't really happened like this since...well, since Brubaker's Cap-Winter Soldier run. Dude was off the chains then. I may secret review that whole bit at some point.

Inhuman 1
GUYS, it's finally here. After problems in the arrangement and release of INHUMANS, the first issue (following the now somewhat random issues created by Matt Fraction) is coming THIS VERY WEEK. Will the delays hurt it, now that it's coming out after even the slowest of tie-ins to INFINITY and INHUMANITY have all but passed (looking at you MS. MARVEL)? Only time will tell. The Inhumans are typically pretty interesting so it should be a good time to take a bit of a deeper look and sudden superstar Charles Soule seems ready to take us there.

Moon Knight 2
After a revealing first issue showed a little of what we can expect from this Warren Ellis-Declan Shalvey offering and I and I'm sure many others are dying to see what comes next. This book has the potential to really break some new ground and catapult Moon Knight up the ranks of well-liked characters, maybe even enough so to land him a role in Captain America: Winter Soldier (though, in all likelihood, that catapult will come too late to have an effect on a movie that was finished several months before the launch of this new series).

She-Hulk 3
I'll be honest, this one is up here and it's almost surprising to me. It's been a good book through three issues but there are a slew of both good and interesting books on this week's list. I think this one intrigues me in a lot of ways I'm not sure about. I've never been entirely sold on She-Hulk as a character, I'm not entirely sold on the art, I'm not entirely sold on the stories or the growing supporting cast. Thanks to all the "nots" in that sentence, it makes it seem like I'm not enjoying this book. I am though, which is what makes this book so interesting to me. I can't accurately cite why I'm really enjoying this one but I am. So it edges on to this list in front of books like NEW WARRIORS, PUNISHER, and MAGNETO because I'm so flummoxed by it. That's what you want to hear about a book right?


SUPER SECRET UNEXPECTED PICK
MOVIE TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK:
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER.

Captain America: Homecoming 1, SPECIAL REVIEW: Captain America 117

Captain America: Homecoming 1
Van Lente (w) and Grummett and Hamscher (a) and Sotomayor (c)

A movie-universe tie-in title as Captain America and Black Widow, not too long after the Battle of New York (as seen in Marvel's The Avengers), visit Cap's old neighborhood in preparation of Nobel Prize winning scientist Professor Amanat arrival in the neighborhood. Everything's not as it seems though as a black ops team traces and follows Cap and Widow's footsteps as they tour the area before two agents descend on them as they enter a back alley. Cap and Widow, of course, have been aware of them the entire time and are prepared, easily putting down the two agents and getting to work trying to figure out who's trying to kidnap Amanat. After they beat up more agents and manage to find the location of the agents' base, Cap realizes that the plan to kidnap Amanat is already underway and hurries down to the street to protect her motorcade. He saves her and, with the help of Black Widow, they manage to take down the remaining agents who were hoping to force Amanat to build a bomb for them. Amanat reveals that she chose this neighborhood because, like Captain America, she grew up there and it's long been a haven for immigrants.

The movie tie-in books are rarely anything to really write home about but they give potential new readers a chance to understand the form of a comic book and give everyone a chance to maybe dig a little bit deeper into the movie characters as separate entities from the comic characters. There's not a lot added to this though we get a nice look at Black Widow and Captain America's relationship as they've clearly been working together on ops like this for a while now and we get to see that Cap has grown somewhat familiar with the new world around him, understanding and citing concepts like WiFi and signal jammers and so on. It's not a bad book and it's certainly a decent set-up for the relationship these two are bound to have in the upcoming (ONLY A WEEK NOW, EVERYONE) Captain America: Winter Soldier. STILL, worth a review because it comes with a reprint of the original 1969 CAPTAIN AMERICA 117, the introduction of the Falcon and a TOTALLY GREAT ISSUE that I shall be reviewing AS WELL as a special BONUS REVIEW.

Captain America 117
Stan Lee (w) and Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott (a)

Red Skull has the Cosmic Cube and has used it for his most DEVIOUS of plans! He's swapped his body with Captain America's (FORTY+ YEARS BEFORE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN) and cast Steve, now in Skull's body, to the Island of the Exiles. The Exiles, of course, are former co-conspirators of the Red Skull whom he betrayed and have been cast to their own inescapable island, meaning that, on top of being Nazis, they're all gonna be really mad to see the Red Skull there and probably won't listen if the Skull explained he was really Captain America (not that it would help matters with them). Of course, they run into each other and Steve is quickly attacked, though ultimately saved by a falcon swooping in and attacking his attackers before flying off to safety. The distraction was enough for Cap to flee and plan his next move. Fortunately, Cap's a soldier and knows how to use mud to make a passable face-disguise that covers his entirely red skull (??). MEANWHILE, Skull is now in CAPTAIN AMERICA'S BODY and we all know what kind of havoc that could mean! What's he up to? Gaining secret information from SHIELD or the Pentagon? Sabotaging missions that would further America's standing in the world? Deleting all the contacts from Steve's phone? No, he's kind of just kicking around, letting the paparazzi take pictures of him and signing autographs. This is a pretty weird plan, Red Skull. Back on the island, the newly-enfaced Steve meets the man behind the falcon attack, Sam Wilson. Sam, a man from Harlem, explains that he and many others came to the island after being promised work only to find that the Exiles are totally evil and no one can get off the island. He does what he can to sabotage them or to help his fellow workers but there's a limit to what he can do, even with his seemingly mentally-linked falcon Redwing by his side. Steve knows a thing or two about inspiring people so he gives Sam a quick course in hand-to-hand fighting and tells him that he needs a costume, something to act as a symbol to his people. Together they design a green and yellow costume and prepare Sam, now named the Falcon, to fight.

Guys, it's impossible to overstate how much I love this issue. Between this and the issues that follow it, we get SO MUCH GREAT CAP STUFF. I've also only ever seen this in black and white in one of the big ol' Cap collections so it's great to see it reprinted in color here and it makes Steve's mud-face EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE. But seriously, I absolutely love this introduction of Sam Wilson. Marvel seriously botched the character up down the line, retconning some ridiculous twist into this that said he was a pimp in Harlem who was sent to do this job to befriend Cap so he could betray him or some such because apparently some people decided that Sam was maybe too progressive when he was introduced and they'd like to negate some of that. Leaving all that out of it though and looking at Sam as a character in this issue and the issues that directly followed it, Sam Wilson is the first big African-American superhero and here he is, not even ONCE mentioning that he's African-American, just as it never comes up for Steve. It's played EXACTLY the way it should be: as not a big deal. Just two guys coming together and becoming friends after sharing common experiences and personalities. It's perfect, it never feels like an attempt to make a statement or anything like that, and it's completely negated by the garbage Marvel would later try to tack on for literally no reason at all. Ugh. Anyway, let's not forget how absolutely amazing Red Skull's plan is here. He gets in Cap's body and he's like "hey, better stroll around town and let the public adore me for a while!" It's fantastic. He goes on to start trying to ruin Steve's reputation in what might still CONTINUE to be the least diabolical plan anyone, let alone chief Nazi, made-of-evil Red Skull, has ever come up with when he's simply just kind of a jerk to those reporters and refuses to sign an autograph for someone. Guys. Comics are amazing.

Big day of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER news

I KNOW, I'm super biased about this movie. I may end up just skipping reviews entirely the week it comes out and just writing about the movie every day. ANYWAY, today has been a pretty big day as Marvel released a new clip from the movie (pretty spoiler-free, I'd say, and it gives us our first glance at Batroc) and CBR released a slew of new articles with interviews and the like. Check some of 'em out!

Co-Writers Markus and McFeely: "Winter Soldier" Will "Punch You in the Face"

Anthony Mackie As "Captain America: The Winter Soldier's" Falcon

[Directors] Joe and Anthony Russo Delve Into "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"

[Head of Marvel Studios Kevin] Feige Says "'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Plays On Multiple Levels"


Lot of neat information in here and the Mackie interview is particularly charming as Mackie talks about wanting to be in Avengers 2, a relationship subplot he decided was in this movie, and working with Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson. Fun stuff.

Possible Black Widow movie in the works

Pretty early to say but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently said in Total Film magazine that, on top of a bigger role in Captain America: Winter Soldier that would expand her story, "exploring that even further in her own film would be great, and we have some development work with that." The wording is still pretty vague and certainly promises nothing but it would make some sense, given Scarlett Johansson's visibility and the cinematic feel of Edmondson and Noto's new series. Excuses are constantly made about why female-led superhero movies wouldn't work but we've never actually seen one tried and more people, it seems are realizing that it simply isn't a good excuse any more. That said, it shows that studios haven't been willing to take a chance yet so it's hard to say whether or not Feige's comments are giving anything new away just yet. I'll believe it when I see it but here's hoping someone figures this out.

Marvel Super Bowl spots

Been a while since I've had any posts relating to Marvel across other media, driven, perhaps, by the fact that I don't care for any of the Marvel animated stuff out right now (whereas I'd been so happy with it just a few short years ago between Spectacular Spider-Man and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, replaced by the far lesser Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble. Don't know if that Hulk show is any good) and I keep tuning in and out (more recently out) of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. But here we go, the start of 2014 has brought us ample reason to talk about the huge year this will be for movies, with Captain America: Winter Soldier debuting in April, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past coming in May, and Guardians of the Galaxy set to kick off August (also allegedly in production is Big Hero Six, a Marvel property and another Marvel Studios film but launched by Disney and there's been very little talk of it so it's hard to say if it will really happen by November, as it's showing on IMDb). While plenty of those titles are still pretty far out and even the closest one is still a couple of months away, the most one-sided Super Bowl ever gave us a chance to see tiny, tiny clips of what's to come. Fortunately, the internet gave us a little more so LET'S GAB.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Fans of this blog or my friends and family or the manager of my local comic shop or strangers passing by me can tell you that I'm a pretty big Captain America fan. Many of that same number can probably also tell you I'm a big ol' Winter Soldier fan. The WINTER SOLDIER storyline in Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA run isn't just my favorite Cap storyline ever, it's one of my favorite storylines in comics, period. So I'm particularly excited about this movie and hearing people like Ed Brubaker himself saying that Captain America: Winter Soldier is the "best movie that Marvel has ever made"only furthers that excitement (I KNOW, Brubaker's not exactly an unbiased opinion but he's also a pretty outspoken comics creator who no longer has any contractual obligation to Marvel and, while I'm sure there are certain benefits to the movie doing well for him, I truly believe that he wouldn't be heaping praise on it if he didn't mean that praise). It doesn't hurt that they put out a trailer like this one to get people ready:

New Winter Soldier Mini-Series Announced

Hooray! Another shot for the Winter Soldier! On top of appearing in upcoming issues of Secret Avengers and Captain America and being one of the leads in the just announced All-New Invaders, Bucky Barnes will return in February of next year for a mini-series entitled "Winter Soldier: Bitter March." The series will be written by Captain America scribe Rick Remender and will feature art from Roland Boschi. Taking place in the Cold War (so we have a Russian controlled Winter Soldier), this story plans to tie in heavily to events just down the road in Captain America. It also looks like it will pit Winter Soldier against 1960s SHIELD as the Russians and Americans look to secure scientists with potentially war-ending breakthrough weapons. You clever devils will likely also note that the release of this new five-issue mini will coincide nicely with the new Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie set to be released in early April in the US (why yes, I am bitter that we seem to get it later than nearly everybody else out there...sorry Germany and Brazil). The upside of this series for comic fans (other than it will be just another place to see one of the most popular characters created since the 1980s...I've heard the list is Wolverine, Deadpool, Winter Soldier but I heard that from Ed Brubaker so, you know, grain of salt) is that this will tie back to the Captain America ongoing so it doesn't seem like it will be merely a movie tie-in. Fun stuff abound!

Quick thoughts on emerging Comic-Con news

Avengers: Age of Ultron

That's the official name of the second Avengers movie, slated for release in the first half of 2015. I'm...torn about this. We've gotten hints about things like this with Vin Diesel rumored to be playing Vision in the Avengers 2, which led to speculation about Ultron being a villain in the movie. Also, Marvel had long ago announced Ant Man would be getting his own movie, which opened the door to Ultron's creation. Ultron's an impressive villain and gives us plenty to talk about, especially in recent days where Marvel AI is getting some interesting storylines. So it'll probably be a good movie. Don't forget, Joss Whedon is still set to direct.

However, I've been pretty vocal on this blog about my dissatisfaction with Marvel's recent Age of Ultron event. It was long, it was boring, there was a lot of grandstanding about reality-warping and what-not. If it's based on that, I'm going to be a bit disappointed. None of this, of course, would ever stop me from going, but these are my quick thoughts on it. I can't imagine they'll make a movie just like this story; it's too complex for average moviegoers and, I say again, too boring for comic fan moviegoers. Guys, that event was pretty boring. Still, let's all cross our fingers and hope for the best. Still a lot of time before the release even approaches.

Captain America: Winter Soldier

I'm actually hurting inside because I can't see all of this footage. I'm hearing it described and it sounds amazing. It also sounds like Marvel and the directors and writers had a vision for this movie and that they're really executing. The cast is supposedly pretty huge and I think it's going to do a great job pulling everything in and really tightening up the superhero universe while expanding it enough to allow for new additions (like Falcon, who sounds awesome). Very, very exciting. Can't wait to see more about it as we move closer to next April.

Thor: The Dark World

Honestly haven't seen much about this. Tom Hiddleston came on stage and people apparently went nuts. That's all I know. QUICK THOUGHTS, GUYS, JUST SOME QUICK THOUGHTS.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Seems interesting enough. That's another one with a big cast. We have a big team and a slew of villains. Karen Gillan shaved her head for this one. Pretty weird.


Final quick thoughts

Marvel countered the news that DC is planning a Batman/Superman team-up movie for 2015, a possible Flash movie for 2016, and finally a Justice League movie for 2017 by revealing actual footage and making people remember that we all love these movies pretty unequivocally. Also, by the time a Justice League movie would come out, Marvel will be well into, if not coming out of, Phase III, with a probable Avengers 3. Hard to compete. Marvel's really going for it and they're not wasting time doing it. Beautifully done. Chris Evans apparently said it best: "It turns out Marvel knows what they're doing."

Comics this week

Back to bunches of comics this week. Should be some real good ones in the bunch and should be a few bad ones (law of averages, right?) and a few that I'm not sure are real things I need to worry about (Wolverine Comic Reader 1 what?). As is typical, though, let's focus this Tuesday on the should-be-good-ones.

Avengers 13
Avengers, a book I'm already pretty thrilled with, is on a run of solid connected one-shots. It's hard to explain that too much so you guys should probably just all be reading Marvel flagship title. I do think this is still a tricky one for newcomers to comics which makes it particularly strange and particularly daring for Marvel to go forth with this. I also touched upon New Avengers last week kind of using the "New Avengers" title to drive sales but both feel more intense and complicated than new readers would be willing to get involved with. In that way, it feels like Marvel wants to reward long-time comic readers with Avengers books of their own and I certainly appreciate it. I hope their sales do too.

Avengers Arena 10
Despite this book's place on the list (which, I assure you, is purely alphabetical), this is the last pregame pick I'm writing before this post goes LIVE. That's important to note because it's been very difficult for me to pick just five books this week and Avengers Arena was vying against Cable and X-Force, Red She-Hulk, and Superior Spider-Man (none of these books were helped by the sudden inclusion of Iron Man, either). At the end of the day though, it came down to Avengers Arena again because I just can't stop enjoying this book. Every issue has been a delight and, even though it's officially earned a near-permanent spot here, it's still a surprise that it's so good. This book has all the makings of a book that could easily have been botched but instead it's found a great spot to work from and Hopeless and crew are putting out great issues week to week. Hard not to include on pregame picks.

Daredevil Dark Nights 1
I'm a big Daredevil fan so it's pretty interesting to me that Daredevil is getting so much love at Marvel right now. Granted, he's a successful older character and his new book is great (like, Eisner great) so it's not that huge of a surprise but it's still encouraging to see. So why pick this, the start of a new eight-part series that will feature different writers/artists to tell new one-shot stories about the man without fear, instead of the conclusion of the eight-part Daredevil: End of Days? Well because I don't much care for End of Days. I think that one could have been half the size and told just as much story. Eight one-shots telling eight separate stories seems like a bit of a better formula and is still a great way to showcase the character.

Iron Man 11
With the interesting story of 451 slowly emerging (though it's coming from him, so who knows whether we trust the narrator or not) and Tony Stark squared off against him, knowing that 451 can take over his armor at any time, we seem primed for a great story with great new insights to Tony and his world. Every issue has been entertaining and has left Tony in an interesting place and I trust Gillen to keep that up. Kieron Gillen has quickly cemented his place in comics and I'm looking forward to this story as much for Tony's new developments as for Gillen's. For Marvel alone (not counting his work with other companies or his indie works like the incredible Phonogram books) Gillen had a masterpiece in Journey into Mystery and is now knocking it out of the park in Iron Man and Young Avengers. I'm excited to watch it continue in all places.

Winter Soldier 19
This is the final issue of Winter Soldier. For anyone wishing to know what will happen to the supremely complicated, thought-dead hero, this will be the last we'll see of him in a solo book for at least a bit of time. Things may change in a year or so, as Captain America: Winter Soldier premieres in 2014, but for now, I'm hoping for a wonderful send-off to what has been a phenomenal solo series for one of Marvel's most popular new characters over the last several decades (I heard Brubaker said that he was the most popular since the likes of Wolverine and Deadpool, though I'm not sure where he got those numbers. I do sort of implicitly trust him, for better or worse). Real sad to see it go.