SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: All-New Doop 2, Deadpool Annual 2

All-New Doop 2

Milligan (w) and Lafuente (a) and L. Allred (c) and Cowles (l)

Despite Doop's sudden ability to speak English, Kitty still refuses his marriage proposal. He brings her between the margins, which freaks her out a little, but he treats her to an ultimately nice night. He also tells her (as this happens during BATTLE OF THE ATOM) that she should have the courage of her convictions and that she should fight for what she believes, in this case that the ANXM should be allowed to choose if they want to stay or go back (GOD, still so stupid). By issue's end, he's given her the courage to voice her beliefs but he's also run afoul of the future's Kitty Pryde, who of course turned out to be Mystique's son Raze, who stabs Doop.

The "traveling through the margins" thing continues to be a pretty neat visual and a useful plot device but his love of Kitty still seems so sudden and thus so baffling that it's a little hard to get into this series. Making matters worse (for me) is the connection to BATTLE OF THE ATOM and that Doop's interference here is helping Kitty to step up for something so dumb (I'm all for people getting to choose their own fate except when their choice might break the entire time-space continuum. That's one of very few exceptions). Still, Lafuente's art is good and there's enough new here to at least make the book worth checking out.

Total Score: 3/5

Deadpool Annual 2

Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c) and Sabino (l)

The Chameleon is terrorizing Spider-Man, rapidly changing into seemingly innocent civilians in need of help before stabbing Spider-Man with a knife or a sedative and disappearing again. Deadpool, once he proves to Spider-Man he's really who he says he is, vows to help his "amazing friend." After Spider-Man is sedated by Chameleon and Deadpool throws Chameleon out a window, Deadpool drags Spider-Man into a closet to change clothes with him and allow him to rest. Pool takes up the Spider-Man identity for the day, foiling crimes and trying to out Chameleon. After a strange fight with the Master, a snake-based villain who is changed into a giant mouse, Chameleon appears and tries to sedate Deadpool. The real Spider-Man, wearing Deadpool's costume now, shows up to help and Chameleon tries to imitate him to confuse the gun-wielding true Deadpool. Deadpool figures it out, shoots the right Chameleon in the leg, and he and Spidey part amicably.

It's a fairly fun one-and-a-half size issue, one that doesn't require a whole lot of outside reading or a whole lot of knowledge of either character but is certainly entertaining enough to justify reading it. As a giant size issue, it's $4.99 and I can't fully endorse it at that price, as much as I love Christopher Hastings and as much as I like his Deadpool. It is fun writing and it is strong art but it very much is something of a throwaway book, fun to read once but probably never to be revisited. In other words, typical annual stuff.

Total Score: 4/5

Superior Spider-Man 29, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 9

Superior Spider-Man 29
Slott and Gage (w) and Camuncoli and Dell (a) and Fabela (c)

The Goblins are out in full force and it's up to Spider-Man to try to solve the crisis while simultaneously finding a cure for the goblin serum and protecting the city and his loved ones (or, as the case may be, the loved ones of Peter Parker). He's called away from Parker Industries, where he and Sajani are trying to cure Carlie, when Goblin contacts him and says he's captured someone very important and that they should meet at Empire State University. Believing it to be Anna Maria, Spider-man leaves Sajani in control, which she's not happy about, and takes off for ESU where he finds Goblin holding Professor Lamaze captive. Goblin had seen Spider-Man save both Anna Maria and Lamaze earlier in the series and knew Lamaze to have some connection to Doc Ock and so had guessed wrong about their relationship but still gains the upper hand in the fight as Spider-Man pops the metal arms, which have been hacked by Goblin and immediately begin attacking their owner. As Goblin escapes, Lamaze dives in the way of one of the arms to prevent it from stabbing Spider-Man. A dying Lamaze reveals that he's felt like a worthless coward ever since Spider-Man saved them and he wanted a way for his life to mean something. As Spidey leaves, he's attacked by Jameson's newly launched Spider-Slayers, which prove more of a challenge than he assumed. Before it gets too far, they're disabled by Spider-Man 2099, who of course has been working at Alchemax while living in his past. They quickly reboot though to reveal that they've also been hacked by Green Goblin.

Plenty going on in this one. Just like any good Spider-Man massive event, particularly one with, say, Green Goblin, the story spreads across many civilians, many locations, and many adversaries. Slott made the interesting decision here to place Doc Ock against someone who is, potentially, smarter than him, at least in the way he's planned the attack, and forces Ock onto his heels while he reacts to a foe he didn't even see coming, let alone prepare for. This goes in stark contrast to the differences we saw earlier in this new series; where Peter Parker's Spider-Man tended to be a more reactionary, status quo kind of superhero, fighting against threats when they appeared, the Superior Spider-Man made sure that he and his city were prepared for any sort of foe, keeping situations in check before they even appeared. Now, thanks to Goblin's evasion of the Spider-Bots, Doc Ock is forced into a situation where he has to come when he's called and has to work on the fly, something Peter was far more used to than Doc Ock. Very interesting and subtle flip here and I think so far it's working. The stakes are still high, the problems still often seem insurmountable, and Doc Ock is getting more and more frustrated and irrational. This is just part three of Goblin Nation so expect things to get worse before they get better.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 9
Spencer (w) and Lieber w/ R. Ellis (a) and Rosenberg w/ Redmond and Ellis (c)

Boomerang successfully deflects Bullseye's shots and he and his sort-of girlfriend start to flee but are followed closely by Bullseye while Boomerang's inner monologue talks about how much he hates competing for jobs against someone like Bullseye, someone seen as more of an A-list villain than a C-list villain. Being a C-list villain, though, has its advantages as no one expects much out of Boomerang. When eventually Bullseye corners the two of them and brings them to his boss Owl, Fred pulls out one of those "no one expects much of me" moments as he manages to talk Owl into the idea that it's possible Chameleon stole the painting disguised as Boomerang. Owl doesn't really believe him but Boomerang convinces him to give him a chance, sending him into Chameleon's home with a camera to see if there's something to see. When Boomerang goes into Chameleon's home, he promptly finds and turns the camera, sound off, on the painting, then convinces Chameleon, egotistical as he is, to change into Boomerang as icing on the cake for Owl to see. He's tossed out of Chameleon's house and given the nod from Bullseye, who turns out to be a robot programmed with Bullseye's skills by the Tinkerer, that he's free to go. Everything's coming up Boomerang except that his old team has finally tracked him down.

One of the things that has certainly been hard for Spencer and Lieber in developing this series is the need to create a character who is simultaneously very clearly not a good guy but is also someone who, when all is said and done, the audience can still, for one reason or another, get behind. It's hard to say, then, that we're particularly rooting for him in this situation; I'm not sure how fazed I'd've been if Owl or Bullseye chose to kill him, but you do still somewhat feel his triumph as he succeeds in convincing the higher ranking criminals of what he wanted to convince them. It's a fun book to read, one that moves pretty quickly even with Boomerang's inner monologue constantly going, and with a very-nearly compelling B-story about Hydro-Man discovering that Shocker has the head of Silvermane. Very-nearly. Still a fun book overall.

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 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.

Avenging Spider-Man 20, Alpha Big Time 4

Avenging Spider-Man 20
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man, in his quest to gather the Sinister Six for some no doubt sinister plan, has struck the SHIELD helicarrier to try to free Chameleon. Black Widow and Hawkeye also appear, alongside Agent Coulson (whose nickname in this book and in Secret Avengers this week has been revealed to, inexplicably, be "Cheese" in what feels a little desperately like saying "Accept this movie character into your comic book world!"), fresh off an off-panel Secret Avengers mission. All heroes and new Nick Fury are brought into the debriefing room when Ock's plan to use his mini-spiderbots goes into effect. The power aboard the helicarrier goes down and Spider-Man starts to use it as a way to track down Chameleon before discovering that there are other villains breaking onto the helicarrier following the power surge also looking for Chameleon. They're two previously unseen villains, both wearing masks and one who has the power to kill with his touch. While the heroes fight them, Spider-Man slinks off to look for Chameleon only to find that Chameleon has killed his guards and escaped his cell. Doc starts to realize that his bringing the power down allowed the other killer villains on board and allowed Chameleon to escape and kill the guards so he is ostensibly responsible, despite his feelings that he's the better and more responsible Spider-Man than Peter Parker. He thus pushes the thoughts out of his head and starts to fight the villains, who have also made their way to where Chameleon should be, before Hulk shows up (Banner was also somewhere on the helicarrier.

Avenging Spider-Man (which, I should mention, is technically going to be cancelled I believe after next month's issue but will be relaunched, with Yost still at its helm, in July as Superior Spider-Man Team-Up or some such) continues to be as compelling as Superior Spider-Man, which is especially interesting given how the series started. I'm not saying it was a bad series to start but it was certainly a more puff piece kind of series. The team-ups were fun and no one's going to complain about getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal, but there wasn't a point to it beyond getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal. That's okay, but a full story is almost always going to make for a more compelling series. Doc Ock capturing the Sinister Six for some unknown purpose is certainly compelling enough, added to the fact that he's had his own interesting team-ups and complicated relationships with other heroes in this world as Superior Spider-Man. It's been a solid book and hopefully it will continue to be as, presumably, this Sinister Six arc reveals itself to us with the book rebranding in July.

Alpha Big Time 4
Fialkov (w) and Plati (a) and Rauch (c)

Alpha Big Time, the surprisingly good mini-series about the boy Peter Parker accidentally imbued with godlike powers before limiting them down severely for a bit of time, is roaring along to its conclusion (issue five). There's still plenty to get through, though, as the mugger whose face Alpha kind of smashed in at the end of issue one is now mutating and absorbing energy in the form of over four hundred people all the while growing larger and larger makes his presence known to Alpha, who can't successfully fight him. He has to leave midfight, though, as he hears his mom screaming from their house. He pushes his powers to the limit to race there only to find it on fire, a threat from the mysterious Boss Cohen who has been setting fires throughout Pittsburgh. Add to that the typical teenage angst Alpha is feeling (including girl trouble, as always) and the questions about his powers that are looming ever bigger and Joshua Fialkov has engineered a pretty solid book about a character that, when he debuted, nobody liked. I think people might have liked the idea of Alpha but he was designed to be unlikable and Slott made sure he was. Now, with his powers a fraction of what they could be (and eventually will be), Alpha has learned a bit about maturity and has a bit of a cooler head with these things.

I said that he has a bit more maturity but that still doesn't make him mature. He confesses to guest star of this issue Thor that he can't help but feel like everyone is so small compared to him (which is, on top of being remarkably conceited, supervillain sort of talk). Thor is the right guy to talk to and he admits that it's sometimes challenging even for him to keep his mind on task. He talks about the brash and arrogant young Thor but reveals that he has since learned that they feel bigger and so need to raise up everyone else. It's a nice message and definitely one that Alpha will have to take heed of if he intends to continue as a superhero. Despite what I said about it being supervillain talk, Alpha doesn't act like a supervillain. Sure he's young and cynicism and horrible events could turn him into a villain down the road, but he seems mostly good-natured throughout this series, even going so far as visiting the mugger in the hospital between almost killing him and him turning into a giant monster. Still, there are plenty of directions for this last issue to go and, though I wouldn't have expected to be saying this when the first book was on the schedule, I'm excited to see what the conclusion brings.