Super quick reviews: DEADPOOL VS. CARNAGE 3, MIRACLEMAN 5

Hey guys, got a little busy on Saturday and today is MOTHER'S DAY, so just going to go as quick as I can to make sure these lil guys just get some representation. Also serves as a challenge to me because we all know how much I like to talk. Let's do this.

Deadpool vs. Carnage 3

Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c) and Sabino (l)

Deadpool keeps on following Carnage. Fighting ensues and Carnage begins to embrace the chaotic code Deadpool's been using, leading him to a facility where symbiote hunters have been trying to track Carnage. He kills them then slices Deadpool up when he arrives. The symbiote hunters' symbiotes bond to Deadpool, reassembling and powering him up.

Still working on embracing the chaos code that unites Carnage and Deadpool. I get the idea and I think it's a funny idea but it's hard to connect those two in my head. It's really hard to connect anything to Carnage in my head. Still, if you've been enjoying it, you'll likely enjoy this one, which is particularly action-heavy.

Miracleman 5

Moore (w) and A. Davis and Ridgway (a) and Oliff (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miracleman takes sort of a day off in the wake of Kid Miracleman's defeat and the discovery of his origins to decompress a bit. It comes to a pretty abrupt halt, though, when his wife is kidnapped by Miracleman enemy/creator Emil Gargunza.

Even with the more relaxed tone to the first couple of small issues that comprise this full issue, there's plenty happening to keep readers interested. We get a look into KM's current state and the way Michael Moran is feeling about Miracleman and the way both are dealing with their recent discovery about their origin even before we get into this main plot, where Gargunza seems very interested in Liz's pregnancy. Still going pretty well all around.

HOW DID I DO, YOU GUYS?

Ultimate FF 1, Deadpool vs. Carnage 2, What If? Age of Ultron 3

Ultimate FF 1
Fialkov (w) and Guevara w/ Grummett (p) and Vlasco (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

CATACLYSM has left behind some scars on the world in the form of transdimensional rifts that need closing. The new premiere science team of the Ultimate Universe set off to try to do just that as Falcon, Iron Man, and Sue Storm, led by Phil Coulson and the new Machine Man, Danny Ketch, look to seal a rift in New Jersey. They're finding it hard to shut down and it's leading to plenty of complications, as they're getting overrun by strange rock-like creatures. Coulson and Machine Man decide to release their secret weapon, a new team member unbeknownst to the rest of the team. They see the package land and immediately believe it to be Reed Richards (who they had been discussing right around that time too) and he manages to shut down the rift, saving them all. Sue approaches the figure only to find that it's not Reed, it's Doctor Doom.

Story
I want to come out first and say that I like this issue a good deal before I rail on the story. I think it moves pretty well and I think it accomplishes just about everything it sets out to do. The story is the sole weak point because it feels rather like the story is entirely a vehicle to introduce Doom. The threat they face is pretty vague and how impossible it is to go up against is tough to understand. So instead, the reveal is the draw of the story and it feels pretty obvious that was the only thing this issue was going to do, story wise. As far as reveals go or as far as devices for reveals go, it's not terrible, it's just jarring. 2/5

Character
There are a number of characters coming together in this book, some of whom have worked together before and some of whom haven't. Team books are tricky to write, particularly number ones of team books. You have to introduce a dynamic, you have to show off each character, you have to have a plot, so on and so forth. It's tough to fit in twenty pages. Fialkov does a solid job letting the comic breathe and letting the characters exist and interact. It's easy to see how the characters will be able to drive this book. 5/5

Writing
Tying together the "story" and "character" sections, I think Fialkov had a decision to make here. He was either going to tell a compelling single-issue story or he was going to create really compelling characters in a single issue. He chose the latter, knowing he had a story already just based around the aftermath of CATACLYSM. It didn't have to be a great story; it had to be enough to get our characters there. He got the characters there and he let them do the work. Like I said at the top, I liked this issue. I tend to be more character focused than plot focused in a lot of ways. With that in mind, I think Fialkov has done a really good job here. We get the humor of the book, the excitement, the characters. It may be a little vague in story terms but frankly, we're not really supposed to care. A means to an end. 4/5

Art
It's not my favorite art in a comic book. I think it's half great and half totally not for me, in fact. I like the tone it creates, the almost lighter art that can go dark at any time. I think that Guevara falls short on the faces a number of times but also totally nails them a couple times. I find the focus on purple as a color very strange in the wake of Galactus; you'd think people would be steering clear of the color for a bit. It's also sometimes hard to follow the action. Certainly not my favorite stuff out there. 2/5

Miscellaneous
Like I said at the top, I like this book. It's well written, it's fun, it characterizes well, and you can see all the directions where Fialkov can go now. Fialkov promises that this book will go places he never thought he would be allowed to go and do things he's shocked he gets to do. There's a lot happening here that can support that. I will also say, the reveal is good but is weakened slightly since this first issue has a little splash page that names the book "DOOMED." Maybe don't add that?

Total score: 4/5


Deadpool vs. Carnage 2
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c) and Sabino (l)

Deadpool and Carnage fight a bit more but ultimately Carnage and Shriek get away, not believing that it's possible that Deadpool could be the same level of crazy as Carnage and therefore follow him. Deadpool has a weapons cache at a storage facility nearby and goes to get some tools but finds that his storage space was auctioned off. This puts him on a path to find the person who bought it all, a similarly crazed giant man who swears he thinks the same way as the two stars of this book and offers to help Deadpool to find Carnage. Cut to a highway that Carnage and Shriek are driving on only to have Deadpool drop an industrial work machine thing (like a tractor, you guys, just not that, okay? I don't have practical skills like identifying that) on them, knocking Shriek out of the fight as Carnage and Deadpool prepare to recommence.

Story
The idea of Deadpool having the same sort of crazy as Carnage is one that still certainly drives the plot well enough. The addition of the new giant character Doverton does not particularly thrill me and it seems a little more than we need, though time will tell, I suppose. Still, at its heart, this book simply wants to pit Deadpool against Carnage so, I guess, mission accomplished. 4/5

Character
The characters mostly come through in the writing of this one, not so much in their actions. Obviously there's a little to do with their actions and the character stuff works insofar as the story's "they think the same!" does. Still, they're basic boilerplate versions of the character. Deadpool's not going to be particularly deep in this book and he's not really meant to be, just as Carnage isn't really ever going to be particularly deep. Like with the story though, it's mission accomplished here for showing off what Bunn is intending to show off. 4/5

Writing
Strange, slightly off jokes and quips galore as these two go head-to-head. The best stuff comes from the two of them interacting with one another but you do a little bit get the sense that the dialogue is still almost generic, at least as far as these guys go. It sometimes feels like it doesn't matter who they're fighting, that these calls and responses would be placed well against anyone that jumped into the fray. Still though, if you're buying this book it's because you want to see Deadpool fight Carnage and CONGRATULATIONS, here is that book. 3/5

Art
I like Salva Espin's art here a lot. It appears very monstrous and symbiote-like when it needs to, it shows humor off when it needs to, it's gory and horrible when it needs to be. It hits on everything it needs to hit on, is what I'm getting at. There's a nice little feature he draws in a couple of times with Deadpool, mask removed, that has his eyes cartoonishly shrink to just tiny white pupils to show off a particular emotion and I think it works strangely well. Good stuff throughout. 5/5

Miscellaneous
This is a strange book because it's not the best book on the market and I certainly wouldn't really be recommending it to people who weren't interested in the thing that the title promises. If you weren't instantly like "hey, I like Deadpool and I like Carnage, where can I read a book where the two fight each other?" I almost certainly wouldn't even think of this book. But the book's goal is to be the book for people who ask that question and I have to grade this book on that curve and no other. It's a fine comic book, a quick pick-up-and-throw-out sort of read. But it certainly gives what it promises.

Total score: 4/5


What If? Age of Ultron 3
Keatinge (w) and Suayan and Ienco (a) and Beaulieu (c) and Sabino (l)

The newest WHAT IF? AGE OF ULTRON takes us to FEAR ITSELF in a world where the timebreak in AGE OF ULTRON killed that universe's Thor before he was able to take down the Serpent, sacrificing himself in the process. So instead, the Serpent has reigned and taken over and basically destroyed the world in the process. Only a handful of heroes remain, including Nick Fury, Black Widow, Silver Sable, Falcon, Shang Chi, and Microchip. The small team makes their way to the former Castle Doom to restock weapons and the like. They manage the assault and Fury leads them to the place where Thor fell, hoping that someone will be able to lift his fallen hammer and defeat the Serpent. After a tough struggle to get there, Black Widow makes it and manages to lift Mjolnir, transforming her into a goddess and allowing her the chance to take out the serpent. Everyone (save Fury, who managed to live) sacrificed themselves to give Black Widow her chance and it saved the world, as Fury recounts years later.

Story
We continue the strange storytelling of looking in on different universes as different people die from the weird timebreak and peek into an alternate FEAR ITSELF because apparently we didn't have enough of that when it happened. God, the next one will probably be AVX and I'll be just as annoyed. So these WHAT IF? AGE OF ULTRONs continue to be more like WHAT IF? JUST ABOUT WHATEVER. But I guess that's a weak complaint to make. The story of this one is okay, pitting a very random group of heroes against all the forces of fear and not bothering to explain how these guys lived (seriously, why does everyone ALWAYS show Captain America specifically as being dead?). Then not explaining how Natasha was worthy, though I'm not going to argue the point. Okay, look, I said the story was okay but I actually seem to have real issues with it. 2/5

Character
The character who talks the most in this is the least known, as Microchip, former ally of and then villain to Punisher just will not stop talking. He's more or less our audience character, the guy who's going "well I don't know what we're doing here so please explain," leading to the sort of "well, as you know, this is what happened sort of explanation." Still, we don't get a great look into character except from his incessant talking and Natasha's willingness to jump out of planes and sacrifice herself to try to defeat the serpent. Too much to do and too little time for great characterization of a team. 3/5

Writing
I'm rather against the sort of "well, as you know..." then telling people what they ALREADY KNOW writing but I see why it's impossible to do without it here. Keatinge has to build a universe somewhat like our own but with a very distinct difference and then shape how that difference changed the universe, all in one book. You don't have time for subtlety and it would be impossible to understand or care about if he did go more subtle. Still, the writing takes a hit for that but overall, know that I get it. 3/5

Art
Suayan and Ienco do a pretty great job with the art here though there is a weird focus on Natasha's breasts, just about the only exposed part of flesh on this entire team. Still, the art itself is good and appropriately dark to convey the tone of the writing and of the world they now live in. The Serpent is particularly impressive. 4/5

Miscellaneous
I just cannot wrap my head around this series. I don't know why we need to have a no-holds-barred WHAT IF? mini-series and I still don't understand how the time break is killing off people? Look, no time to explain that, I get it, but it's a weird thing to show off, isn't it?

Total score 3/5

Deadpool vs. Carnage 1, What If? Age of Ultron 1, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude 1

Deadpool vs. Carnage 1
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c)

Carnage is on the loss again and abandoning his recent ambitious plans that included being the ruler of his own little mini-universe and taking control of a city. Now he's back to just being Carnage, tearing a path through America while he settles himself back in. The news reports are going crazy as no one can find the psychopath until it's too late. Deadpool, though, determines, with a little help from the television, that he would be perfect to find and catch Carnage because it takes someone insane to catch someone insane. He sets out and manages to find Carnage almost right away, proving that his insane person logic actually rather worked out. Deadpool shoots a missile at Carnage, managing to knock him out of the fight for a moment but before Deadpool can capitalize, old Carnage ally and Spider-Man villain Shriek appears to defend "her man."

Another series in the DEADPOOL VS. line but this one, as opposed to many of the more existential or more meta books, pits Deadpool against an actual established villain as if it were just an arc of a comic book. Marvel's been excited about this one for a while and you can understand why. Deadpool and Carnage are both extremely popular characters with fans and anyone who would pick up a Deadpool book is looking for the sort of craziness that both characters are known for. The book does a fine job characterizing both of them but, for a title like this one, they're not particularly deep characters. I think that Deadpool's a pretty deep character but this book doesn't call for that sort of stuff; it calls for him to be the crazy guy. Considering that, the book does a solid job giving us that Deadpool and that Carnage and letting them go crazy. I will say, there are a lot of little inside Marvel references "hidden" in the art of the book that may be fun for people but I also found somewhat distracting. They rather draw the eye away from the action and the characters instead of to them. Regardless, if you're a Deadpool or a Carnage fan, this book will probably satisfy you. Don't expect it to have the same sort of darkness as DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE or DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED (for one, Marvel couldn't call this one DEADPOOL KILLS CARNAGE because what are the chances either of these characters end up dead by series end?) but if you're going in just as a fan of the characters, I'm sure you'll be pleased.

What If? Age of Ultron 1
Keatinge (w) and Ienco (a) and Serrano (c)

In a separate possible timeline, Janet Van Dyne dies early in the Avengers existence when she experiences that thing that was happening all over the end of AGE OF ULTRON, when everyone sees their changed history and their alternate selves and whatever else. Though it never actually broke anyone's brain before, it apparently breaks Janet's and Hank Pym somehow uses that as a reason to say that the Avengers failed. So he goes to work on Ultron and improves it EVEN MORE in its first time out, hoping that it will replace the Avengers that he feels failed Janet. Of course, it doesn't except in the way that it kills them all. Like, instantly. Hank then goes on, in a letter he writes to the dead Janet 25 years after her death, to explain that there were others who fought the Ultrons and who seemed like they may have had a chance but CLEARLY THEY DIDN'T because he also says, 25 years later, that he hadn't seen a human face in over 9,000 days, or just under 25 years. Then the Ultrons capture him and torture him and reveal that he's actually mostly Ultron at this point, that they keep replacing parts of his body with Ultron parts and wiping his mind so he doesn't know it keeps happening because they want to torture him until any vestiges of him that are left finally die away.

I did a bit more analysis in my summary than I've been doing lately but that's only because I couldn't help it. WHAT IF? books are often a little ridiculous because it's hard to tell a story that has two interesting and logical conclusions. Presumably the interesting and logical (for comic books) conclusion came in the actual book, leaving the WHAT IF? book to explore less logical and, perhaps, less interesting conclusions. This one, though, seems more flawed than ever in its very conceit. I'm not opposed to WHAT IF? books. I think they give a chance for a writer to explore ideas they may have come up with since or ask questions that readers might hypothetically ask (nerds that they are). By and large, though, the WHAT IF? titles start with some semblance of the original plot or even the original layout of the world. In this case, the inciting incident (that Janet would die from these visions) seems flawed and then the idea that Hank would go "well geez, the Avengers failed her because her brain popped!" even though it's not like a supervillain killed her and her last words were LITERALLY all about how she believes in the Avengers all seem a little too far-fetched to let the rest go. Also a little weird that in this alternate reality (it's actually set up to be a separate world entirely, as opposed to the normal "HO, I AM THE WATCHER, SEE WHAT POSSIBLE TIMELINES I HATH SEEN," presumably because the Watcher's in for a spot of bother in the coming months and it would have been a little awkward to see him in this limited series) Hank was like "oh, I'll build Ultron better" and then did? Kinda thought Ultron was the pinnacle of what he could build and then it just took on a life of its own, improving itself and improving itself until it got to this point. Nope! Hank willed himself to be smarter! LOOK, WHATEVER.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude 1
Abnett and Lanning (w) and Alves and Clark (a) and J.D. Ramos (c)

Nebula, a trained assassin who grew up alongside Gamora and some other trained assassins under the watchful eye of Thanos, reaches the cloud tombs of Praxius in search of an orb her master seeks (likely an Infinity Gem, because that's always what Thanos is after). While she descends on the tombs and makes her way through the guards, she recalls times in her life where she learned lessons about weakness. The first is when, as children, Gamora suckered her into a trap while they attempted to recover an objective as part of a training game and threw her from some height, leading her to hospitalization and recovery, though Thanos is annoyed at her weakness. The second memory is one where she and Gamora, a bit older now, decide to steer their damaged ship into an enemy's, ejecting just before impact. Though they're recovered, Thanos still disapproves of any weakness they showed, but he's happy that they turned a weakness into a strength (on Gamora's suggestion). Back in the tombs, Nebula discovers that the orb isn't where she thought it would be and gets tangled up in laser-thorns. Gamora appears as backup and kills all the guards, but Thanos tells her to leave Nebula behind to find her own way. Gamora leaves a knife behind, reminding Nebula that laser-thorns strip the flesh and mangle bone and can't but cut with a blade. Nebula awakens later from the healing tank she so often ends up in with a new metal arm, having left hers behind at Praxius and having learned another lesson about weakness.

The preludes scheduled for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy may have a little more use than some of the other preludes we've seen, though it's hard for me to tell if that's true as someone pretty familiar with all of the other characters out there. I've read Abnett and Lanning's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY all the way through but that was a few years ago now and that certainly doesn't cover their entire history so, of all the Marvel properties turned into movies, this is the one with which I'm least comfortable (as is the case with most people in the world). As such, this prelude works a bit better than I've found the others to work because it establishes the sort of relationships we're ready to see in the film and gives us a pretty good look at one of our heroes and a pair of our villains in one tidy package. It's a good read and it's exciting to see Abnett and Lanning back to set us up for this. It is a little strange still, even though this is just the comic book and not the movie itself, knowing that Nebula is Karen Gillan. Pretty hard to get past that one, even if she's bald and blue.

Nova 14, Night of the Living Deadpool 4

Nova 14
Duggan (w) and Baldeon and Pallot (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Nova and Beta Ray Bill have teamed up and they're headed after Skaarn. Sam remembers that Skaarn said he was going "nowhere" which Bill translates as "Knowhere," an old Celestial head that now serves as a neutral ground to many travelers. Skaarn IS there, meeting with a sketchy alien from whom he's trying to buy (or, as eventually happens, steal) a weapon called War Bringers. Bill sees him as he kills the alien and takes the remote he wanted anyway but Skaarn stops Bill mid-attack by radioing to his ship to tell them that if he dies or doesn't come back for some reason, they're to kill the Korbonites onboard. Outside, the War Bringer comes online right beside Sam and he, of course, ends up fighting it. It's very nearly powerful enough to kill him but his last minute adrenaline surge and will to live end up overpowering the robot and he survives. Bill comes to meet him there and tells him that they have to go to Knowhere's Continuum Cortex to be teleported away or else many on the ship will die. Skaarn teleports Bill away as Nova projects an image of himself into the teleported, making Skaarn believe both have gone. Free to try to follow Skaarn now, Nova finds himself called away telepathically by Cosmo, the "watchdog of Knowhere." He is, of course, an actual dog (one time member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Annihilators) whose powers have been weakened by a poison Skaarn used. Nova isn't alone as the story continues.

There are important pieces here, obviously, but a lot of the issue is dedicated to filling out the arc and to giving us just a little more character. The issue starts with Nova and Bill saving a damaged spaceship on their way out to Knowhere which leads into a story about how Bill nearly died saving his people once before being saved by another of the Nova Corps. The story is meant to inspire Nova and it clearly does enough of the trick as he recalls it when he brings down the War Bringer. This is Sam Alexander's real first experience with the things that are more his birthright, the deep cuts Marvel Cosmic stuff as he has now gone to Knowhere, dealt with Beta Ray Bill, and even met Cosmo, ratcheting the number of Guardians of the Galaxy he's met, past and present, up to three. This Nova is clearly going to be something interesting as we've now seen him deal with things on Earth, which he'll likely continue to do here and in NEW WARRIORS but he's still spending a good amount of time in space. Not often do characters drift between the two, usually preferring to stick to Earth or space. Could make him a pretty important cog in this universe.

Night of the Living Deadpool 4
Bunn (w) and Rosanas (a and c)

Deadpool finds himself seemingly alone now in a world filled with reluctant zombies, wondering how he turned zombie and back to kill everyone he was trying to save. He finds the zombie AIM agent he had met last issue and uses his head to direct the two of them to the AIR base, hoping that there would be some semblance of cure there. He gets there after a long and hard struggle and finds what appears to be the cure derived from clones of Deadpool himself. He doesn't have much time to celebrate as he's quickly overwhelmed by zombies. In a last ditch effort, he drinks as much cure as he can and allows himself to be eaten by the zombies. Anyone that bit him or was bitten by someone who bit him or so one and so forth ends up replacing their zombie tendencies and their mind with Deadpool's, making it essentially a plague of Deadpool now.

I've been very lukewarm about this book all the way through. I've thought some of the ideas were interesting, though the book was maybe a little overtly laden with references for me. I also liked the art and I'm kind of a sucker for black and white with only a specific splash of color, as this book had. It's hard to criticize this ending too much because, frankly, you don't see a lot of zombie related media ending well, or even ending at all. Sure sometimes people will get to some island, or embrace the zombies, or find some little hideaway home somewhere, but it doesn't explain anything major. No one has ever shown a real cure for zombies (aside from removing the head, destroying the brain) so, if nothing else, this one gets points for trying something new right as we got to the end. Of course, it's rather deus ex machina as a severed head directs Deadpool to the AIR lab and the lab has, in good condition, gallons of "cure" derived from Deadpool himself. Still, it's a bold choice, even if it's one that doesn't really track with me. Whatever, play by your own rules, I suppose. This style off-shoot Deadpool will return in DEADPOOL VS. CARNAGE.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 8, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 5, Superior Carnage Annual 1

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 8
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang isn't having the best day. Between two dream sequences caused by concussions, we learn that Chameleon has come calling for the head of Silvio Silvermane, hearing that Boomerang successfully pulled off a heist. Of course, he doesn't know that Boomerang doesn't have the head of Silvermane but he vows to rip Boomerang's apartment to pieces to find whatever he's hiding. With Fred unconscious a second time, Chameleon finds the priceless work of art he'd stolen (and cleverly hid behind a movie poster) and leaves a note for Boomerang saying that that will suffice. Things only get worse for Fred as his old crew makes it out of the Owl's hideout and vows to find Boomerang and whatever it is he's stolen and as the head of Silvermane (which does exist) begins to cause trouble for Shocker. Boomerang, though, is blissfully ignorant of all this, believing his entire team to be dead and the head of Silvermane to be non-existent, and decides to come clean to his kind-of girlfriend about who he really is. She hears him out and isn't entirely disgusted with him by the end of their little date but is unimpressed by the fact that he had something he was trying so hard to get and simply allowed it to be taken. She inspires him to fight for the painting, though he may have limited time to do so considering the whole exchange is viewed by Bullseye through the scope of a sniper rifle.

Another fun issue with pretty tight writing and a compelling story gives way to a neat little twist in the form of Bullseye (or someone claiming to be Bullseye). Bullseye's a favorite villain of mine and I will, admittedly, be a little excited if he's back. However, the last time we saw him was in Waid's DAREDEVIL as the mastermind behind Ikari and the paranoia enveloping Daredevil at the time, a time when Bullseye was barely alive and incapable of any sort of life outside of his iron holding. Then a roof collapsed on him. Tricky situation to come back from BUT Boomerang certainly has made a few enemies in high places capable of, if they wished it, reviving Bullseye to work for them (in comics, severe injuries like Bullseye's have a dollar amount tied to their recovery). It could, of course, also always be a fake Bullseye. Regardless, the story continues to move well enough and the humor and sharpness of the writing, tied to the emotiveness of the art, really carry this book well.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 5
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

An exhausted and now non-fatally shot Spider-Man fights his way through Malta to try to survive and to find his way to the man he knows to be behind this, the only person who hates him enough and who has the resources to pull this all together, Kingpin. While he fights, he remembers his Uncle Ben talking about how much he had hated his job when he was young and how he made sure just to go and do it every day and he saved up all his money and eventually was able to use that money to buy May a ring, immediately forgetting everything bad about the job and replacing it with the happiness on May's face. With this in mind, Spider-Man keeps fighting, hoping to have some sort of similar light at the end of this tunnel. He finally reaches Kingpin at the top of Fisk Tower with his son Richard and Spider-Man unloads on Kingpin, beating him savagely. As Kingpin finds his footing and starts to get back into the fight, Richard calls for it all to cease, reminding his father that he had promised to let Spider-Man walk free if he survived this far. Richard reveals that he was behind all of this, behind hiring all the villains and organizing them, but claims he did it for Spider-Man, knowing that Spidey would be able to win and knowing that this battle would create a paper trail leading back to all of these villains and that it's enough to put them all back in prison. Spider-Man is angry and leaves where MJ greets him and he remembers Ben's story again and the two kiss and head home.

This is a bit of a tricky one to really get into. The art remains gorgeous and wholly worth checking out. The story has the trademark Peter Parker beat of remembering a story and a moral that his uncle instilled in him and using that moral to overcome his adversity. It's just, you know, kind of a weak ending. There are a lot of inexplicables here, like the new Fisk Tower in Malta (more believable, considering his wealth) and MJ's sudden appearance in Malta (I'm pretty sure it never mentions Peter hopping on a plane and heading home amidst all this; if it does, it's strange he doesn't change first), and Richard's line of "all of these guys had gotten out of jail time" inferring that somehow every single one of these villains is out at the same time based on some sort of massive court failure or something. There's plenty to pick at but it's also hard because you either enjoy a series or you don't. I did enjoy this one and it's hard for me to say what it was I was expecting. If I'm being honest, I wasn't expecting anything; I put it out of my head that there would be an interesting solution because how could there be? We just saw Spider-Man fight an absurd amount of his villains, did we need a story to justify this little limited series? Probably not, and particularly not given how great the art was. I'm not sure there even had to be words at all. Ultimately not a great series if you're looking for story or canon or anything but definitely worth peeking at if the lack of a story doesn't bother you and you want to see some solid and very interesting art.

Superior Carnage Annual 1
Bunn (w) and Jacinto and M. Henderson (a) and J.D. Ramos (c)

The Carnage symbiote has been taken by Spider-Man for further examination after the events of SUPERIOR CARNAGE but Cletus Kasady's appearance at the end of that series awoke both of them a little bit. One of the psychologists at the prison talks to Kasady, hoping to separate him emotionally from the symbiote. Later, Kasady is stabbed by one of the other inmates and brought to the infirmary. Carnage, feeling the pain of its other, begins to lash out but ultimately cannot break its restraints and appears to die. However, Spider-Man had taken pieces of the symbiote and chemically neutered them to send to other facilities as a show of good will and one of those thought-safer symbiote pieces awakens and infects the scientist working on it, prompting her to kill her abusive husband. The symbiote jumps from person to person leaving a trail of bodies in its wake until finally it arrives at the prison housing Kasady, only to find Kasady dead on the table. The psychologist opens his arms to Carnage, wanting to become as powerful as Carnage is but Carnage spurns him, instead opting for the seemingly dead Kasady and managing to revive him. Together, they kill the psychologist and kill most of the inmates in the prison before heading out to the world.

It's not often that a character who doesn't actually have an ongoing series gets an annual but here we are. Of course, it's easy to argue that Carnage more or less has an ongoing considering how many limited series he gets but this seems really to serve more as a prelude to the upcoming CARNAGE VS. DEADPOOL limited series, even instilling Cullen Bunn, not a typical Carnage books writer but certainly the typical Deadpool limited series writer, as writer on this annual. It's an okay book. There are a lot of strange questions that kind of get glossed over (why would Spider-Man ever deign to build good will by sending a piece of the Carnage symbiote out? How did he even attempt to chemically neuter it and why did he think it had worked? These questions can KIND of be waved away by saying "oh, his ego" but I also firmly believe his ego would make him think he's the only one who can possibly try to tamper with the symbiote) but in terms of serving as a way to team Carnage and Kasady again, it works well enough. Always a scary character, though you do start to wonder if maybe seeing him so often might make him a little less legitimate as a terrifying threat.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 7, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 3

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 7
Yost (w) and Checchetto and Diaz (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man's control over the Sinister Six has been removed and now he's indeed improved the Sinister Six by filling them with rage and unifying them against an enemy: him. While Sandman holds Spider-Man, Electro decides to try to use his own powers to power the quantum particle engine, which Spider-Man warns will destroy the city. As he starts to power it up, Sun Girl, thought dead, emerges and rescues her father, who had been thrown off the roof of the Empire State Building by Vulture, before attacking the rest of the Six to free Spider-Man. One-by-one the Six fall but the QPE is still detonating and primed to take the city down with it. Spider-Man can't get close enough to stop it but he is able to tell Sun Girl to destroy the device in time to stop everything. She does and everything is barely saved, but everyone knows this was all Spider-Man's fault.

There's a lot of introspection here for Spider-Man, particularly as he faces a foe he cannot defeat himself. Pinned down by Sandman and suddenly realizing the damage of getting the Sinister Six to unite like this, Ock has the time to think about the way his hubris caused all of this and to evaluate what he's done. Of course, it's not necessarily likely that this will change things for Ock as a person, but it is likely to change the way the world views him even further, given that the next arc is advertised as "The Worst Person in the World." It's nice to see Ock a little deeper here than his normal egotistical and angry self over in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. Now he can't help a new wash of emotions, from a mild shame to a mild surprise to a mild regret to what might be disappointment that NOW the Sinister Six are actually doing something with themselves. It's only categorized as "mild" in each point because Ock isn't exactly brimming with emotions at any point but mild means that he's capable of feeling some. Should be interesting going forward as we see the way the world turns on him now.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 3
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

The plot to pit Spider-Man against 99 of his enemies continues as Spidey falls through the water from the plane to a submarine, where he's brought in and taunted by the Spider-Queen, Ana Soria, which creeps Spidey out more than a little. He makes his way through the sub and passes a number of his villains, including a despondent Scarecrow and Tombstone, neither of whom seem thrilled to be there or particularly willing to fight, with which Spider-Man is satisfied. Of course, that's not the case with Venom and Carnage, who seem more feral than ever. As they tear into him, Spidey notices a subwoofer set in their presence emitting a constant low pulse which is setting them more on edge. He destroys it and they start to control themselves a little bit more, enough for Spidey to move forward to Scarecrow and Tombstone. Once past those two, he enters the last room of the sub, where he finds Nitro strapped up to a bomb. Nitro, like Scarecrow and Tombstone, regrets his involvement and is sadder and more discouraged than ever. He talks a little about his past and his motivations in the past, as well as his seeming inability to die despite his wishes, but also makes it clear that he's not able to stop what comes next, which appears to be Nitro exploding.

Each issue of MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN has brought something new to the forefront including, this time out, Spider-Man's discovery that his villains here aren't necessarily here because they want some sort of vengeance on Spider-Man but rather they're not sure why they're here. Maybe they want to die and maybe they knew this part of the plan could lead to that. Maybe they were crazy and kidnapped just like Spider-Man was tricked into coming. Still, while the plot has enough going on to keep it interesting, the draw continues to be the gorgeous art that really flows through the issue. This is definitely a series to check in on and to acknowledge the art on. There's definitely a chance, as with all art, that it won't appeal to you or that you think it's being too showy or something but it's certainly with going to your LCS and picking up a copy and at least leafing through it. If it's the kind of art that will draw you in, you'll probably know immediately and you'll want all of the issues available, no questions asked. If it's not your thing, the story probably isn't enough to trump the art. Personally, I think it's really interesting and very beautiful but I can see this being one that really divides people into "ehhhh, not for me" and "oh man, this is wonderful."

Superior Spider-Man 22, Scarlet Spider 24, Superior Carnage 5

Superior Spider-Man 22
Slott and Gage (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

Flash Thompson is back in New York and on the trail of someone going by the name Crime Master, who he had recently fought in his own series and had rather brought his life to something of a stand-still. Meanwhile, Parker Industries has opened its doors and started work. Peter gives his first speech to the scientists (it's practically got super-villain written all over it) and meets with his Aunt May and Uncle Jay to show them around. He's called away from the offices (and from Anna Maria) by his Spider-Army, who alert him to Venom and Crime Master's fight. Venom has figured out that Crime Master isn't Betty Brant's brother, the most recent Crime Master, but some former Maggia guy who bought the name off of Hobgoblin and currently regrets it. Venom pretty easily takes this new Crime Master down a peg and the villain gives up when Spider-Man appears with a small battalion. But he's not there for Crime Master; he's there for Venom. Venom realizes that Spidey probably doesn't realize Venom's a good guy now and eventually is forced to show his face, revealing himself as Flash and hoping that's enough for Spidey but ultimately, this Spider-Man doesn't have any connection to the man and seems poised to kill anyway.

Pretty smooth issue, moves a little bit more quickly than the last handful of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN issues have and sets us up in a lot of different ways. We're no longer in the Parker Industries funding stages, nor in the doctorate-earning stages so we're able to move a little more efficiently through Doc Ock's newest plans. There's a nice character-defining line from Anna Maria as she points to Peter as someone who's quick to action, someone who goes out and does what he wants done and who takes what he wants taken. It's hard not to see that in stark contrast to OG Peter Parker who was constantly second-guessing himself and doubting himself on top of the difference in action vs. reaction we've talked about a lot in other reviews. There's also some more plot-building stuff than was highlighted above as Wraith discovers that Carlie's disappeared and her apartment's been ransacked with all of her notes on Peter similarly gone. She blames Spider-Man and vows to play as dirty as she thinks he's playing. Meanwhile, Jameson is sick of being under Spider-Man's thumb and supposedly has a plan to get out from under it. Plenty happening, plenty of groundwork laid for the next set of issues, and plenty of character development through it all. Pretty solid work.

Scarlet Spider 24
Yost and Burnham (w) and Baldeon (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Kaine still blames himself for Donald's injury and all of the guilt and the pressure he's felt from the start has reached its breaking point, leaving him frustrated and angry with himself, ready to throw away the Scarlet Spider persona for good. Both Annabelle and Aracely are firmly on his side but Wally feels differently, particularly after finally looking Kaine up in his police database and finding the laundry list of crimes attributed to him. After a long day of wallowing and being unable to burn his costume (unstable molecules), Kaine returns home to find Annabelle there, ready to make him feel better and taking a different and more sex-filled tact. While Aracely tries to not hear what's happening in the other room, she has another strange vision laced with plenty of ancient Central and South American imagery and claiming that either she has to die or everyone will die and the likes. As those events both wrap up, all hell breaks loose as Wally comes in to arrest Kaine, the real Annabelle shows up alongside a rocket-launcher-toting Zoe Walsh (unstable daughter of a Roxxon CEO who blames Scarlet Spider for his death but also has a thing for him from back in SCARLET SPIDER 7 or so), and the revealed-to-be-fake Annabelle transforms into a horrifying monster thing we've probably seen before but I don't remember off-hand. Amidst the chaos, Zoe fires her rocket, exploding the penthouse.

The final issue of Scarlet Spider, issue 25, is just around the corner and it shows here as the rising action really speeds to a climax here, bringing everyone who might want to have at Kaine together at once and then firing a rocket-launcher into the room. For all of its last-second action, sudden characters, and confusion, the issue does a really good job sticking to the themes of the book and getting right to the core of everything Kaine's been going through, perfectly summed up by the critical injury to Donald (WAIT, if Wally and Donald got married, would Wally become Walter Meland because that just came to me and I'll never be happy again if I don't decide that's what's going to happen). He's been going through a lot of this kind of reformed villain stress from the first moment of this book, where he didn't intend to be a hero or to stop in Houston and he can't help thinking about how much better everyone would be if he had stopped, unable to even consider that that wouldn't be true because Houston would have blown up like, ages ago if he wasn't there. A lot of really good stuff and the book develops in such a way that Yost and Burnham really get to explore that stuff before turning the jets on ramping up the action, which also has the added benefit of making the action seem incredibly chaotic and shocking the audience with how quickly it moves. Good stuff, looking forward to the final issue though also pretty sad that it's about to be over.

Superior Carnage 5
Shinick (w) and Segovia, Crisostomo, Ho, and Mexia (a) and JD Ramos and Lokus (c)

Klaw has been killed but it doesn't stop him from being our narrator for the issue. As a being made of pure sound, his death has transferred his consciousness and his abilities into the sound wall, making him a part of everything but with the knowledge that he'll continue dispersing, soon to lose his consciousness in the sounds. For now, though, he watches as Carnage runs rampant in his friend the Wizard's body. He outmatches Spider-Man and knows his secrets, he bests all of Spider-Man's men, he rips the legs from Malus, and he still demands to see his son. One of Spider-Man's men reveals that he's there and eventually Spider-Man is forced to play his trump card. To the Wizard's surprise, it's not Bentley-23 on-site but rather the "son" of Carnage, Cletus Kasady. Klaw explains that he's realized over time that Carnage feels the sort of betrayal a teenager feels, passed around from host to host, wanting to separate from everyone while maintaining some sort of link to someone. However, he adjusts it to include the fact that it's Carnage who has left his hosts behind, evolving and changing, but that he longs for someone he can fully control, someone designed especially for him, and that perfect host then is Kasady. Carnage rips itself off of Wizard and makes its way to Kasady as Spider-Man and his men use a specially designed gun to try to contain him. They can't get it running in time but Klaw uses his remaining power from the sound wall to project unbridled sound at the reunited Kasady and Carnage, allowing Spider-Man the chance to contain him. The book ends with the reveal that Wizard's dementia has stopped and, for all intents and purposes, he's doing better than before now that Carnage has seemingly fixed his mind to an extent; that Cletus Kasady's mind has been similarly fixed from his short time with Carnage, fixed enough at least to wake him out of his coma if not to make him less crazy; and that Spider-Man has Carnage under his control for now.

Solid ending to what turned out to be a pretty compelling and well executed story. I wasn't terribly optimistic at the start after the first issue didn't exactly win me over but Shinick had a story that was pretty good and clearly wanted to play with a couple of characters in unexpected ways, showing Wizard as a broken man who wants nothing more than to impress his son, showing Klaw as an extremely loyal and very capable villain right up to the end, and showing Carnage in probably the most complex light it's ever been cast in. Instead of a somewhat mindless and blood-thirsty beast, Carnage has a whole range of purported emotions that have left it an efficient and extremely calculating killer. There's a lot of really good stuff to this and the Carnage bent, not entirely unlike the Deadpool-based but rather silly series (like DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, DEADPOOL KILLUSTRATED, and DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL), aims to continue, albeit with less of a silly tone than the Deadpool books and more of a "oh dear god why is this happening tone," with the next Carnage-based series (following up CARNAGE, CARNAGE USA, and now SUPERIOR CARNAGE) revealed as CARNAGE HOMECOMING. Get ready for a lot more Cletus Kasady.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 5, Superior Carnage 4

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 5
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Alchemax has hardly opened its doors and already its the site of a supervillain attack as the Wrecking Crew start busting their way in, in search of an experimental particle engine. Spider-Man 2099 is inside getting ready to fight them when the Superior Spider-Man shows up with his own team, his new Superior Six. Finally we learn Doc Ock's plan for his former Sinister Six teammates as the villains he's captured are now working for him, mind controlled to fight and move on his behalf. It is...sketchy, morally, but it's effective. Spidey admits to himself that maybe he brought them out a little too early and he requires a little help from a new Sun Girl (apparently a hero! Wikipedia has little to say of her as yet) to bring the Wrecking Crew down. They scamper back to their boss Lightmaster, who assures them that next time they will have a bigger team to fight off this new Superior Six. Meanwhile, Spidey settles things out at home with the imprisoned ex-villains and Sun Girl, who was knocked unconscious during the fight and brought back to Spider-Island while she recovered.

An interesting repurposing of the Sinister Six that fits with this new do-what-it-takes Spider-Man and which has just the right level of absolute sketchiness and kind-of brilliance. It also slots nicely into the current events of Superior Spider-Man as we catch a glimpse of Spider-Man 2099 (albeit being very ineffective) and the newly formed Alchemax. Clearly there are some big plans going forward in the Spider-Man universe that will involve everything going on right now on both sides of the ball. How the superhero community (and the civilian community) will react to the new Superior Six is still up for debate and won't be answered immediately but BOY, someone's going to have to start realizing that, as off as Spidey's been acting lately, he's branching out into all new levels of crazy. Right? Like, one person will have to be like "hey guys, I know we already scanned him with our non-scientifically inclined people, but maybe we should like, kick the tires again?" Right?

Superior Carnage 4
Shinick (w) and Segovia and Chrisostomo w/Mexia (a) and J.D. Ramos, Gandini, and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man was lying in wait for the Wizard, Klaw, and Carnage at City Hall but it turns out even Spidey might not be enough to stop them. They out-power him at every turn before he eventually grabs Wizard, the one clearly in control of the situation (sort of) and escapes with him. He holds him above an ally in an attempt to get him to call off Carnage but Wizard reads his mind briefly and realizes he's Octavius, which causes Spidey to drop the villain onto a car below. Wizard's hold on Carnage is released and Carnage goes to town, killing Spider-Man's minions and following Klaw out to where Spidey and Wizard are talking. Spider-Man admits to Wizard that he is Otto and promises to get him to his son if he controls Carnage and puts him down. Klaw, thinking Spider-Man's attacking Wizard, charges him before being run through himself by Carnage's secret vibranium weapon, taken from Wizard armory. Klaw explodes in a burst of sound, launching Carnage off of Dr. Malus and onto Wizard.

Solid penultimate issue as we get an impressive fight scene with the ever-threatening Carnage managing to put the fear into the typically collected Superior Spider-Man. Wizard continues to shift back and forth between dastardly genius and sad, old man trying to reconnect with and impress his son, adding some pathos for both the character and the crowd who overhears his hopes. Spider-Man, for his part, keeps trying to fight what keeps looking more and more like a losing battle and whose only serious misstep is allowing Wizard to fall after hearing his own secret identity revealed. As Carnage launches from Malus to Wizard, we're in for an exciting last issue that could certainly go any direction and might even keep Wizard, a longtime Marvel villain, from completely losing his mind. Or maybe it will accelerate that EVEN MORE. Who knows? Certainly not me. Absolutely fantastic cover too, one that would certainly makes me interested in picking up the book if I saw it in my LCS. Mission accomplished, you guys.

Morbius the Living Vampire 9, Superior Carnage 3

Morbius the Living Vampire 9

Keatinge (w) and Elson (a) and Fabela (c)

The Rose has shot Morbius with the not-quite Ultimate Nullifier and left him for dead. Becky sees him fall but is pulled back from helping him or checking on him (hint: it's comics, that means he's totally alive). He, of course, tracks Rose back to his secret lair and goes berserk there, killing all his guards before finally being led to Rose himself. The two fight and argue about what's going to become of them now that they've outlived their usefulness to the Rose's employers. Morbius admits that he knows what's happening now but enjoys the catharsis of slaughtering Rose. Morbius does end up talking to Rose's employers and learns that they're mostly in it to develop Brownsville now that Morbius has lifted the residents' spirits. One year later, Becky is in Manhattan hosting an art exhibit focused on Brownsville and dating Michael, who is in hiding (if he's seen, it could somehow mean Brownsville won't climb out of its poverty.

I haven't exactly been a fan of this series from its start or, really, even from its inception. I do think this issue helps a bit because it feels a lot more focused, like it always knew it wanted to be here (I don't know that that's true; with cancellations, sometimes you have to cut your story shorter than you'd like, but this feels more focused). That certainly helps the feel and the flow of this book but ultimately we see that the villains are pretty weak (and still a little confusing), which weakens what we had been seeing too. Also, not to ruin the exact ending of this one for you diehard Morbius fans out there, but it ends with an obvious reveal (Michael is alive and dating Becky or at least still pals with Becky) and the even more obvious and cheesy ending of Morbius saying that he's enjoying he's current plan, the one he hasn't tried before...LIVING. I think my eyeballs actually audibly rolled. People could hear my eyes. It was weird, you guys, and I don't appreciate it.

Superior Carnage 3

Shinick (w) and Segovia and Chrisostomo (a) and J.D. Ramos (c)

The transfer of Carnage on to the brilliant surgeon Karl Malus has been successful and it's left Wizard able to control Carnage, though the control is tenuous at best. Malus warns Klaw that he can feel Carnage trying to overpower Wizard and knows that the moment Wizard slips, Carnage will be in control. For the moment, though, they're going to take on Jameson to take over New York in Wizard's attempt to impress Bentley-23. It's a little chaotic and Wizard nearly slips and loses control of Carnage. When they arrive in the mayor's office at City Hall, they find Spider-Man with a couple of his minions waiting for him.

There's a lot of really good stuff here. It's a lot of what we've seen in the first couple issues as the power of Carnage is overwhelming but the plight of Wizard is still real and well-focused. In addition, we build a little more on what Klaw said to Malus about Wizard being family to him. Here, Klaw asks wizard about his mental state and what happened with Black Bolt and Wizard admits that things maybe aren't great but that he's more desperate than ever to show his son the man he is, not the failure he may have seen all of his life. There are real moments there, especially as Wizard drifts into the past tense when talking about himself before sheepishly correcting himself. Still, the threat of Carnage is a real one and it's one that everyone finds compelling enough to hear Wizard out. It'll be interesting to see where Spider-Man takes this book as the series wraps up (I believe that this story ends with issue four but I'm not totally sure and I tend to question myself when I get this way). There's a lot to like here, not just limited to the writing, though the writing is pretty good and the story is perhaps better. The art is solid and the colors remind everyone of the other two Carnage minis we've had in the last couple years (which featured distinctly different art).

Superior Spider-Man 15, Superior Carnage 2, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 2

Superior Spider-Man 15
Slott (w) and H. Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

People in Peter's life are getting understandably more suspicious as Spider-Man's raid on Shadowland makes the news. Meanwhile, Hobgoblin is panicking, burned by Kingpin and now in too deep with money problems, he goes to the Tinkerer to get new tech and begins robbing banks to make up the difference. The bank robberies are widely publicized and Spider-Man is astounded to find that his Spider-bots aren't picking up any sign of this Goblin. Green Goblin is wise to this too and directs his growing empire to break up for the time being, choosing to lie low and let Hobgoblin be caught by the fixed Spider-bots rather than risk them finding him. It culminates in a battled between Hobgoblin and Spider-Man and Spider-Man pulling out all the stops to bring him down.

Dan Slott's been building Phil Urich as an important character for quite some time and it's all paying off now. His character hasn't been anything particularly deep, just an incredibly troubled man who happened upon the Hobgoblin identity at a delicate time. Still, as everything unravels for him you can look back and see years of development for the character coming to a head as Spider-Man finally learns his identity and quickly exposes it to the world. There's also talk in this issue of Spider-Man dropping the Peter Parker persona in all and dedicating his entire life to Spider-Man, thinking he could get so much more done without the double life. It's Anna Maria Marconi who keeps him invested now but it's an interesting idea to bring up. Doc Ock has brought everything where he wants it to be, including locking himself down a veritable army of henchmen and a headquarters as well as getting Jameson in his pocket. He could, with no attachment to Peter's life and considering how little of Peter's life is known (or cared about) to the Avengers, abandon the Peter Parker identity at the drop of a hat, cutting out characters who have mattered since the inception of the series. The good thing about Slott, though, is that the prospect of that doesn't enrage me or anything along those lines (though I could see it enraging people more concerned with the welfare of MJ or Carlie than I, if such people exist), it simply opens up another really interesting door for this series. Neat stuff.

Superior Carnage 2
Schinick (w) and Segovia (a) and J. D. Ramos (c)

The Wizard is losing his mind or may have already lost it and it's jeopardizing, or perhaps inspiring, this mission. He's still desperate to control Carnage, which would add a devastating member to the new Frightful Four but is proving difficult to do since Kasady's brain is fried. He brings in a scientist who is keep to their plan but who is unsure it can be pulled off and is very skeptical about Wizard's current state. He reveals to Klaw that Black Bolt messed with Wizard's mind and worries that it's showing, that maybe the genius Wizard once was can never be restored. Spider-Man is aware of some of these happenings (at least that Wizard and Carnage have broken out) but he's currently somewhat undisturbed by that. Both villains are broken and he assumes that he'll have to take care of Carnage once Carnage inevitably kills Wizard. Wizard, after several attempts, still has made no progress on finding a brain to control in Carnage and moves to the next logical step: giving it a brain.

There's a lot going on here that's compelling, perhaps most of all Wizard's breakdown. After his plot involving the FF, Wizard has been seemingly irreparably broken. Spider-Man hints at the fact that whatever Black Bolt has done to Wizard's mind will likely kill him before long. Does Wizard already know that? Is this a shot at a legacy or a suicide mission? How desperate is Wizard to prove something to Bentley-23, who he keeps seeing everywhere and calling to, only to be brought back into the real world harshly. Klaw views Wizard as family (the man's resurrected him enough times); where does that leave him when this all shakes out? Where does it leave the way Wizard thinks about Klaw? All of these questions are compelling ones and they don't even invoke the titular character of this series. Stories with Carnage tend to be incredibly dangerous ones that end in a lot of murder (this one's already had plenty of that) and all of these questions don't even touch on his presence. Pretty solid layout for a mini-series.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 2
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang is out of jail and is trying to get his team in the black somehow. We see a bit of the life of a supervillain here as Boomerang has to meet with his team, with some higher-ups (Chameleon again, who ranks higher than Boomerang or anyone else on his team in the villain society), with his lawyer, and eventually with a judge for a parole hearing. The team debates finding a new member and what their next job should be. Boomerang is still in the hole to Chameleon and the people he works for so needs to direct the team's attention that way. The rest of the team is ready to play but Shocker is on to his game.

There's a somewhat compelling story here made less compelling by the audience's lack of concern for the book's main characters. Hopefully over time they'll develop in such a way that we actually care about what they do and how they end up but right now they're simply C-list supervillains, making it particularly hard to care about them. They're still bad guys but digging up C-listers, while making for a more original and more fun story, lowers the stakes. Spencer's going to have to do a lot to keep those stakes raised and bring some amount of empathy to the characters. If you're a regular superhero book reader from the Big 2, you'll also have to break yourself of some of the preconceptions of how one of these books should be written to read this one. It's aiming far funnier than any other book and, again, the stakes are lower. Superhero books tend to need to push the stakes to their highest over and over again (it's why death is so prevalent in comics, which is why resurrection has become so prevalent) but here our stakes are, as I'v said, fairly low. The writing is typically sharp and pretty funny but there are moments where it comes off as trying too hard and feeling a little desperate. Overall, though, it's a pretty nice read and it moves well. It's a nice break from the tension and drama that accompanies a lot of superhero books and it's a really nice break from the weaker superhero books out there.

Morbius the Living Vampire 7, Superior Carnage 1, Ultimate Spider-Man 25

Morbius the Living Vampire 7
Keatinge (w) and De Landro and Ruiz (a) and Fabela (c)

After the attack by Nikoleta Harrow last issue to steal parts for the Rose's new Ultimate Nullifier from Horizon Labs, Spider-Man and Morbius are on the offensive. Of course, it's not as much offense as they'd like as they're still being set up by Harrow and Rose but it's a start, right? They manage to track Harrow where she informs them that the plan is already set in motion and can't be stopped and, most of all, can't be stopped by them. In fact, she plans to use Morbius as a scapegoat for what's about to come next as Rose, with his new Ultimate Nullifier, sets his sights on Brownsville.

I'm trying this week, in case you didn't notice in the first post of yesterday, to cut down on summary to avoid too many spoilers while also giving enough to let us talk about it all. But BOY, this one seems especially cut down, doesn't it? Well that's kind of because that's pretty much all that happens in this issue. It seems short but it reads relatively well. In fact, I think it's probably about the strongest issue of the series yet. Still, there are things about it that I can't quite put my finger on but hey, let's try it out. There's a scene where Morbius turns on the super science for a minute to help Spider-Man create a device that blocks out his spidey sense to stop Harrow from manipulating it as she had before. I'll grant you that Morbius is a talented scientist so it kind of fits in that respect, but it comes in the midst of a book that has hardly acknowledged that fact throughout and it kind of treats the sciences as interchangeable. I'm not particularly well-versed in Morbius but I was pretty sure he was a different sort of scientist, especially since his start in science was to help him cure his own rare blood disease (which, of course, backfired, leaving us where we are now). Add to that the fact that Morbius still flips between brooding and cracking jokes (it might not even be cracking jokes so much as it is relieving tension) and there's a real disconnect within this character. Maybe it's waved away by saying it's the disconnect between the vampirish thing he is and the human he was, but I have my doubts that's the explanation. Still, the art is solid and helps carry the issue (though boy is Morbius always super ugly) and the story seems to want to go somewhere. We'll let it get there before the book ends, I suppose.

Superior Carnage 1
Schinick (w) and Segovia (a) and Ramos (c)

After his last appearance fighting Venom and Scarlet Spider, Cletus Kasady is pretty damaged. Scarlet Spider isn't really one to pull punches, even if Venom is, and he certainly didn't pull his punches against Kasady. Still, the prison he's brought to holds Carnage in high esteem and awaits the day that he returns. The first half of the book is narrated by a white collar criminal in the prison (thanks to Mayor Jameson's weird treatment of the prison system) who is terrified of everyone there and no one more than Carnage. When he dies mid-book (look, I don't think it's a spoiler that Carnage killed a a throwaway, unpowered character since that's pretty much all he ever does), we've gotten pretty much all the background we've needed. Now we're left to find out what engineered Carnage's predictable breakout. It's revealed that the Wizard is behind it, attempting to reform the Frightful Four with Carnage as the cornerstone in both a grasp at power and a way to impress Bentley-23.

Carnage is, as always, an incredibly brutal book. When Venom loses control of himself as Venom and the symbiote goes crazy, killing whatever is trying to hold it back, we all hold our breath and wait for Flash our whoever else to get it under control again. Carnage is that but all the time, with no regard for life and no filter; Cletus Kasady doesn't seem to have sway over Carnage now, his brain battered into disfunction, but even when he was in control he was a raging psychopath. Now it seems like it's all Carnage, all the time. That somehow makes it more worrisome. The book starts off a little on the weaker side, giving us the throwaway character and making us deal with him, knowing he's not likely to get out of the issue alive. On top of that, there's a weird fascination in the writing with how often he soils himself. The Carnage art is pretty solid, as usual, though often hard to watch. Wizard is an interesting choice as our mastermind and his idea of the Frightful Four is worth keeping up with. I'll be curious to see how this one plays out.

Ultimate Spider-Man 25
Bendis (w) and Marquez (a) and Ponsor (c)

Miles is still having trouble wrapping his head around becoming Spider-Man again. Gwen is mad at him and texts Ganke about the run-in with Cloak and Dagger at the restaurant, making Ganke even more mad at him. Miles can't talk to his girlfriend Kate about it and is still unable to process all the information himself. Meanwhile, Cloak and Dagger are still out in the world somewhere and we get a little more of their backstory as we see a little bit more from the scientists who created them only a week before our story. Finally, Jessica Drew pays another visit to Miles to explain the connection between the two of them, Cloak and Dagger, and so many others.

One of the things you have to kind of come to terms with reading Bendis' books is that there are a lot of words and a very deliberate pace to the plot, which is a nicer way for me to say that Bendis has a lot of waste issues and I still don't care for his style of dialogue. I will say that he very clearly cares about these characters and wants them to act in the way that he thinks they would. I think one of the flaws that comes with that rapid-fire style of back-and-forth dialogue is that no one ends up with a particularly well-defined personality and every personality type kind of bleeds together as people just echo one another. I know I complain about this all the time but it really does hurt the book more than it helps. I think back on books like New Avengers where I really enjoyed this sort of back-and-forth at the Avengers dinner table (though even then I was aware that there were real throwaway issues) but I wonder if I'd go back and feel the same way. I'm not going to actually do that, but I do wonder about it. Still, Miles' break is coming to its end and we're bound to string the Cloak and Dagger story along a bit more but at least Spider-Man is likely to be there.