Amazing Spider-Man 10

Amazing Spider-Man 10
Slott (w) and Coipel (p) and Von Grawbadger (i) and Ponsor (c) and Eliopoulos (l)

A team of Spiders led by the Superior Spider-Man enter the Ultimate Universe to rescue Miles Morales and that universe's Jessica Drew from Verna of the Inheritors. Superior Spider-Man leads them back to the 2099 Universe, where a number of Spiders including the newly onboard "true" Peter Parker, Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Woman, Kaine and some others go to bring them into the cosmically guarded alternate Earth. Unfortunately, the mass influx of Spiders in the 2099 Universe (and particularly the draw of Silk, who wasn't supposed to tag along with Peter but did) brings a handful of Inheritors to the 2099, only for Superior Spider-Man to kill what ends up being a clone of Daemos and managing to get away with the body. Teams of the various Spiders split off and begin setting out on different goals, meant to throw us into such tie-ins as SPIDER-WOMAN, SCARLET SPIDERS, and SPIDER-MAN 2099. As Peter leads Superior Spider-Man and a couple others back to the cosmically protected universe, Doc Ock decrees that he is in charge during this war.

SPIDER-VERSE continues with another pretty strong outing (not least helped by the impressive Olivier Coipel on pencils). What's particularly weird about my reaction to this book (and you all should know by now I largely review these books just based on reaction) was that I found myself really intrigued and, dare I say, excited about the tie-ins they were promising. It's hard to ignore (and I'm sure this is what the Spider-Man team at Marvel formed this event around) the multitude of really great Spiders in these universes. It's a curious thing as this event seems every bit as manufactured as AXIS ("let's get all the Spiders together!" vs. "let's make all the heroes into villains and vice versa!") but I'm far more willing to suspend disbelief on this one. I think that comes from a number of factors, starting with the idea that this impacts Spiders alone and can certainly be tied up neatly after the fact. AXIS (geez, I really need to get over this) bold-facedly claims to be a major event and feels instead like something that will be washed away with little problem and a solid forty bucks+ out of a lot of people's pockets (calculating the cost of AXIS just made me really sad). So yes, I'm enjoying this manufactured series more than I'm enjoying AXIS and, in fact, possibly a good deal more than that.

Total Score: 4/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 6

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 6
Remender (w) and T. Dodson (p) and R. Dodson (i) and Delgado and Aburtov (c) and Eliopoulos (l)

The X-Men have taken over Manhattan and have started to expel humans from the city, promising that soon, attempts at taking back the city would be met with violence, all while secretly building a gene-bomb that will soon kill everyone without the X-gene. Sabretooth and Mystique have learned of the bomb's existence and have joined with other inverted villains like Loki, Enchantress, and Carnage in a group assembled by Steve Rogers to set things right. Also, Scarlet Witch attacks a repentant Doom in Latveria.

Let me make one thing clear: there are some interesting dynamics here. I've talked in the past (though probably not for a year and a half now, since DARK AVENGERS) about a soft spot I have in my heart for alternate dimension stories. Because I'm a nerd, like you, and we like these possibilities. I think we like them even more in long-running comics because we so intimately know these characters that twisting them allows us to wonder, if I may, "what if...?" That's 100% what this feels like. So, you say, perhaps I've come around on AXIS? Nope. It feels like that but I don't want my mainstream universe to feel, at any point, like an alternate universe. That's why it's my mainstream and that's the appeal of an alternate. However, it does leave me in a weird position with this event where I'm able to recognize that maybe occasionally we need a big shift like this, even if it's only going to be righted a couple months down the road. However, this continues to feel very much like a shoe-horned "let's write heroes as villains and villains as heroes!" sort of pitch. I cannot respect that. Even if this wasn't billed as a major event and was instead advertised and sold as a WHAT IF...? or a separate alt-universe story or something like that (which, I understand, wouldn't sell at a fraction of an event), I'd be rolling my eyes at it. The complications are that some sort of marginally interesting plot is developing amidst this terrible premise and the tie-ins (which we'll, I'm assured, get to at some point this week) are a little more compelling than the main series (which occasionally happens, at least in my view, because it gives us a sense of how things are affecting our characters at a more personal level). At the end of the day though, my rating has to be based on whether this is worth reading? And guys, obviously it's not.

Total Score: 2/5

Comics this week

It's new release day which means this post is, SURPRISE, late. But that doesn't mean we can't still get into it. First and foremost, though, big ups to short-titled books this week. With a slew of books like BLACK WIDOW, ELEKTRA, DAREDEVIL, MAGNETO, INHUMAN, PUNISHER, and more, this is one of the few weeks where I'd guess the average title length is only about two words (thrown off, of course, by the extraordinarily clunky AVENGERS AND X-MEN: AXIS and DEATH OF WOLVERINE: THE WEAPON X PROGRAM). Also, I don't usually talk about reprints or anything like that because they serve only to confuse me on the comic list but I want to shine a light on the fact that we'll get a SEVENTH printing of MS. MARVEL 1 this week. How crazy is that? Pretty fantastic though. Okay, so what am I excited about? Well, a good deal, as a matter of fact, but it is tempered by how dumb the current event is (not to mention that said event has a release this week and two books that directly tie-in to it plus several others, I'm sure). ANYWAY, on to the good'uns.


Black Widow 12
I love this book and it's quickly become one of those titles that washes over me with a cool wave of relief right after seeing books like AXIS: REVOLUTIONS or ALL-NEW ULTIMATES or something like that alphabetically. I was feeling down and then BOOM, B-Widz. Knocking it out of the park.


Daredevil 10
Geez, those Purple Kids are freaky. Even still, they're an interesting villain beyond just the fact that they're kids and DD probably shouldn't make a habit of beating up kids. They've all been directly and indirectly created by the Purple Man: directly because he's their biological father and he bestowed his powers unto them and indirectly because the impact he left on their lives and the havoc he wreaked on their upbringing by not being there left them emotionally fragile, even more so than regular children. Also, as I've been saying for three years now, we've got to be seeing the fallout from SHADOWLAND here. Huge credit to Mark Waid for holding off and patiently waiting to deliver greater results.


Moon Knight 9
Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood have already shown the chops for creating this book that Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey built so effectively and so efficiently (they're all helped by the phenomenal Jordie Bellaire on colors) but I'm more interested than excited to see this book for another week. Still trying to see what mark Wood and Smallwood will leave on the characters.


Spider-Woman 1
I'm leery of books kicking off during events (great work, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS) and, frankly, I'm still leery of Spider-Woman as a character. I've never really loved her but I certainly came to like her more the more that Kelly Sue DeConnick used her in CAPTAIN MARVEL and AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. I also am a fan of Dennis Hopeless so here's hoping that it's the perfect storm of wary optimism that will actually pay off.


X-Force 12
So the team is probably a little more aware of Fantomex's sinister motives now that he's attacked all of them and sworn to kill them only to have Domino reveal herself and save the team. So much happening here and it's all been great through and through. Geez, good slate of books this week, huh guys?

Comics this week

Is this the earliest in a week I've apologized for being late on reviews? Maybe it is but somehow I'm sure I've apologized sooner. Anyway, I'm definitely going to be a little slow on reviews this week because my work has gotten a little busier in preparing for a move and I myself am moving so this looks to be a week rife with complications. On the plus side, there are practically no massive books out this we-what's that? Hang on, I have my finger to an imaginary earpiece and I'm suddenly hearing about the tons of big books out this week.

All-New Captain America 1
The debut of Sam Wilson as the new Captain America! Well. Okay, so he was introduced in the last CAPTAIN AMERICA issue and he was in the first set of AXIS books but this is the real introduction, I should think. Well, I'm going to call it that since I haven't really liked any of the other issues mentioned. Still a big deal and I still love Sam Wilson so let's all keep our fingers crossed.


Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 1
This one just edges out BUCKY BARNES: THE WINTER SOLDIER and SHE-HULK to make this list because I found MIGHTY AVENGERS somewhat lacking but clearly capable of putting on an excellent show. Will the addition of a bonafide Captain America help launch this to a different realm? Maybe not. Look, I'm regretting this choice as it is.


Spider-Verse 1
I'm still taking something of a stand against events (just kidding, I'm just mentioning them in the pre-game less [take that AXIS, out this week] and I'm grumbling about them more! If that's taking a stand, it turns out I'm way more proactive than I thought), but I couldn't help liking AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9 and most of the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE books, so I'm feeling like maybe one good event will build some good will back up? Maybe this will be it? Or maybe it will last too long and meander in the middle only to rush through the end, like every event since INFINITY (you won't believe how many there have been since then).

Superior Iron Man 1
It's the dawn of a new day for Iron Man, who seems primed to become quite possibly the next big villain of the Marvel Universe, particularly as we seem to be on the precipice of a number of re-upped events. Geez, writing that down somehow felt worse than thinking about it. Anyway, writer Tom Taylor steps on to a pretty big stage at Marvel as Tony Stark's role in the MU shifts once more.


Thor 2
To round out Marvel's "big three," the second issue of THOR comes this week to let us know, potentially (or maybe not!) who indeed picked that hammer up. Was it Freyja, or was that just some smoke and mirrors to distract us. Fingers crossed that it wasn't any member of SHIELD. Seriously. No members of SHIELD. In fact, sidebar, I'd like it if we could just stop teaming members of SHIELD up with heroes. I think we've all had enough of that.

Leftovers 11-5-14

To say that I meant to do more reviews this week would not be inaccurate. However, it would be typical. So let's stay away from that and just do these reviews literally as quickly as I am capable.

All-New X-Factor 16
X-Factor needs to fight off Sentinels to protect the nuclear football containing the launch codes. They succeed but tensions within the team (and within Serval) run a bit high. Still too quippy at key tense parts for my liking. Total Score: 3/5


Deadpool's Art of War 2

Deadpool's tips lead Loki to total victory over Asgard then inspire him to attack Earth before locking Deadpool up in the dungeon with Thor, only to have 'Pool free himself and Thor. I'm not sure why a Marvel-Universe practical adaptation of Sun Tzu is worth making. I like that cover though. Total Score: 2/5














Death of Wolverine: Life After Logan 1
Jeff Loveness writes a good story about Cyclops' reaction to Wolverine's death, Josh Fialkov writes a fine story about Nightcrawler and Colossus delivering Logan's sword to Mariko's grave, and Rex Ogle writes a perfectly sufficient story about Armor fighting in the Danger Room. You know these books, they happen after every comic book death. Total Score: 3/5


Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program 1

As the new Weapon X facility crumbles, a couple of experimented-on soldiers with various powers make their escape from the debris. With the leadership of one of the soldiers whose face is concealed until the last page, they manage to make it to the roof and take Cornelius' helicopter, wherein we learn that the concealed soldier's face looks an awful lot like Logan's. The genuinely surprising twist makes this issue somewhat worth reading, unless it was spoiled by some reviewer. Total Score: 4/5











Hulk 8
Doc Green is heading for Red She-Hulk, AKA Betty Ross, next. To make matters more personal, he knows now that Betty and her new organization, the Order of the Shield (from the last days of RED SHE-HULK), arranged for Dr. Leucenstern to shoot Banner in the back of the head at the end of INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK, believing that Hulk was to be responsible for an impending Extinction Level event. Doc Green actually harbors no ill will toward either and uses Rick Jones, who is actually loving his newfound lease on a regular life, to trick Betty into using the serum before Doc Green has to. Still some interesting stuff happening (even if it's been the same interesting stuff the last couple issues and even if it de-powers my probably favorite Hulk right now) but it continues to be hard to enjoy watching Doc Green. Total Score: 3/5


Legendary Star-Lord 5
Star-Lord has a lead on a bad guy group heading for the Black Vortex and lulls one into a false sense of security to get more information before unleashing Drax on him. Peter and Kitty continue to have a bad and boring relationship. Said relationship drags the book down at least as much as the story and as the villainous Mr. Knife. Total Score: 3/5


Rocket Raccoon 5

Rocket and Groot tell a story to a couple of camping alien kids. Well, Groot tells it. The results are rather predictable but astonishingly fun and still very clever. Excellent book. Guest artist Jake Parker draws all of Groot's story while Skottie Young provides the frame art. Parker steps in admirably and uses a style that is similar but obviously different to Young. Both work excellently. Total Score: 5/5













X-Men 21
Manifold Tyger put both Storm and Cecelia Reyes in critical condition before the other heroes catch up with him. They also learn that Tyger was working with the villains trying to gene-splice a baby out of Deathbird. Meanwhile, this story is somehow still going. It hasn't been bad, exactly, just slow and and getting more and more bogged down with each issue. Total Score: 3/5

Amazing Spider-Man 9, Spider-Verse Team-Up 1

Amazing Spider-Man 9

Spider-Man and Silk are having a discussion about how they should deal with their crazy urges (Silk suggest Spider-Man leave New York) when Spider-Woman, Arana, Spider-Man 2099, and a few Spiders from other worlds show up to take them all away, bringing them to their safe zone world, one where Spider-Man never gave up his cosmic powers, making him too powerful for the Inheritors to challenge (though if he leaves that world, the cosmic powers stay behind, so he can't help in the fight either). Meanwhile, Morlun's oldest brother Daemos has arrived in the 616, despite Morlun's protestations (Morlun claims he is saving that world, though the other Inheritors believe it is the only world he fears, thanks to previously dying there), and incapacitated the New Warriors in an attack on Scarlet Spider. Three more Spiders show up to rescue Kaine with one of them, Bruce Banner Spider-Man (not a Hulk), dying in Kaine's place while Kaine and the other two escape. All the Spiders fill Peter in on the details they know and tell him that he's their secret weapon because he's the greatest Spider of them all. Meanwhile, Morlun's sister Verna launches an attack on the Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of the Ultimate Universe.

If you HAVE to do an event, this is certainly a better way to do it than AXIS. It's far more contained than a typical event (though, to be fair, it is billed as Spider-Man's event of the year) and it's interested in character at least as much as story. The story itself is a fairly simple one masking itself as a more complicated one, which actually works pretty well. Despite all of the new characters and the invocation of the "Great Web," the basic gist of the story is that the Inheritors like killing Spiders and the Spiders want to team up to avoid being killed. At its core, simple. Will there be twists and turns along the way? Yeah, probably. But that's what we need to know to progress. So instead, Slott focuses on establishing several characters, which he does to varying degrees of success. Still though, as has always been true for Slott, it's obvious he's having a really good time writing this story and that carries a lot of weight here. For all of the complaining I did about events yesterday, I'm feeling onboard with this one.

Total Score: 4/5


Spider-Verse Team-Up 1

Our first SPIDER-VERSE TEAM-UP has two stories with two different sets of Spiders. The first story features Spider-Ham, Old Man Spider-Man (seems redundant but that's what they call him), and Ben Reilly fighting off some of Verna's hounds; this time a slew of vampiric Vultures taken from different realities. It's a more brutal fight than Ben Reilly is used to but he begins to understand pretty quickly why it has to be that way and the three of them manage to escape, knowing Ben's chosen world is safe as the Peter Parker of that world never became Spider-Man. The second story finds the Six-Armed Spider-Man and the decidedly more brutal Spider-Man Noir teaming up to help a newly changing Spider-Man avoid his inevitable fate as food for one of the Inheritors. This new Spider is turning full spider, a change that will ruin his otherwise happy life (Uncle Ben and Aunt May are both safe in this reality) and will leave him very open to attack, so Six-Armed Spider-Man manages to whip up a version of the serum that gave him his extra arms but that he hopes will, thanks to the differences in their stories, simply cure this Peter like it was meant to cure him. The serum works, taking this Peter firmly off the Inheritor's radar and keeping his life happy, which Noir's plan of shooting him wouldn't have pulled off.

These are two pretty good stories that accomplish exactly what they set out to and what I think is very important to this event: building character. I talked in the above review about how the simplicity of the story at its core allows Slott to build character and focus on that character throughout the series. The problem he faces, of course, is that there are just so many characters to focus on that the story will inevitably get diluted as Slott has to spend so much time establishing new guys. SPIDER-VERSE TEAM-UP, on top of being a potentially interesting and obviously profitable tie-in, allows Slott to build the Spiders himself or to spread the wealth a little and let other writers have a crack at these fun characters. It's likely the first idea Marvel had when this event was first introduced but, as opposed to, like, everything in AXIS, it actually will help the main series. How much it helps remains to be seen. It'll require some strong writing and a stronger editorial team to keep a unified tone and unified voices through all SPIDER books. Solid start to this event.

Total Score: 4/5

Axis: Revolutions 1, Axis: Carnage 1

Yeesh, sorry about the lack of posts the last few days. As frequent blog readers know, I tend to get fairly busy during the week then backload my reviews towards the weekend, but I try not to put all the reviews on the weekend. I'm happy to shoulder some of the blame for that this week, though let's not act like Marvel's completely without fault. I also try, with my own never explained reasoning, to have the earliest reviews focus on the books I find most important, whether they're events or AVENGERS or X-MEN books. This week was kind of a snooze for all that so I went about reading all the books hoping the cream would rise to the top. I have bad news about this week's books: there is very little cream. There's not a lot out there that's egregiously terrible, but there's not much that stands out. That's a tough week for me, a week where I can't really win. I can't promote a book really worthy of your attention, I can't take a stand against a book I think you should ignore (I should mention, I've read most of the books so far, I haven't read FANTASTIC FOUR yet so there's a good chance there are still books out there that fall into this category), and I don't have any major MU books out this week to put in the spotlight. So here we are. My extended reviews are tie-ins that don't really require extension. HOPEFULLY it'll at least mean I can rein it in this week and stop rambling so much, though if this intro is any indication, NOPE.

Axis: Revolutions 1

The Hate Wave has gone out and some of our heroes are doing their darndest to deal with it in this tie-in to AVENGERS AND X-MEN: AXIS. In the first of two stories, Spider-Man attempts to quell a riot by showing a young hooligan the price of hate. Dennis Hopeless (which, sadly, is the perfect last name for a Royals fan, as Hopeless is) and Ken Lashley guide Spidey through New York as he tries to break meaningless fights that have escalated to full on riots up, attempting to get people to understand that they don't really hate each other and that they maybe wouldn't hate each other if they really knew each other. The story has a couple of decent lines and it's certainly a Spider-Man story in the long-standing tradition of "with great power" sorts of stories where Spider-Man wistfully thinks back to his aunt and uncle and the morals instilled in him. Overall, it's far too heavy-handed to really be called entertaining, almost serving more as a PSA against hate than, say, a comic.

The second story reunites, for the second time this month, Si Spurrier, Tan Eng Huat, and Craig Yeung for a fun half-issue wherein Dr. Strange, himself affected by the hate wave (though refusing to admit it) and trying to stop the incessant and obnoxious riots outside his Sanctum Sanctorum. He decides he needs a pure, un-hating vessel who he can use to calm everyone but it proves extremely difficult to find in the midst of New York. Finally he turns to Wong, who has been extremely patient with him despite his constant outbursts and jabs, believing that Wong's lack of retaliation is proof of a stronger fortitude. Unfortunately, Wong is just passive-aggressive and really has been raging on the inside, ultimately poisoning Strange's tea, coffee, and eggs. It's an entertaining story and Spurrier brings his penchant for writing funny anger and impatience to the characters, making everyone hope this is an audition for a gig writing DOCTOR STRANGE. Like the first story, it perhaps carries on a bit too long, but unlike the first story, it's not eye-rollingly message-laden.

Total Score: 3/5


Axis: Carnage 1

The Inversion has struck in AXIS: CARNAGE, like it had in AXIS: HOBGOBLIN and now Carnage finds himself feeling every emotion, something he hasn't had to do on the regular as a psychopath. With a sudden desire to be a hero but no knowledge on how to do such a thing, he clumsily goes about maiming and terrorizing people he believes to be criminals. Meanwhile, an amped up Sin Eater is killing news-people to absolve them of their sins. Carnage comes into contact with him as he attempts to get help learning about empathy from a newscaster he saw broadcasting the death of a coworker. Carnage knocks out Sin Eater and escapes with the fainted newscaster.

As we've seen with a few of the tie-in books already (AXIS: HOBGOBLIN, DEADPOOL), the Inversion is going to take our heroes and reorder their priorities and feelings. It's starting to feel, and maybe this is too early to say this, like simply a cheap excuse to make heroes act like villains and villains act like heroes. Events often have that kind of goal in mind; not necessarily this specific goal, I should mention, but a specific goal to bring about some drastic change or to play with some story idea. That's not necessarily a bad thing but the last couple (ORIGINAL SIN reveals the Marvel Universe's secrets! AXIS turns heroes into villains, or at least jerks!) have been so obvious that it's hard not to shake your head and sigh. It's entirely possible there are plenty of people out there who believe that this is a fine tactic, that the end result and the different perspectives are what matter. For me, though, I prefer a rich story that spawns naturally from something and goes naturally to something, not a magic MacGuffin that instantly gets us to an outcome. ANYWAY, this book isn't great and I have no need to see Carnage attempt to be a hero and struggle with emotions, particularly when it's so superficial, as a tie-in kind of has to be (thanks to length and inclusiveness).

Total Score: 2/5

New Warriors 11, She-Hulk 9

New Warriors 11

The Eternals have picked up the fight against the New Warriors on behalf of the High Evolutionary, making things infinitely more difficult for the young team. Justice gets dragged away to the Arctic Circle, trying desperately to explain to his captor that they just want to save everyone while Jake Waffles mourns the loss of Mr. Whiskers and the rest of the New Warriors gets pummeled or otherwise captured. Only Zuras of the Eternals, though, seems complicit in the actual plan, the rest of the Eternals clearly think something else is happening, with Zuras keeping them from the truth. Meanwhile, Justice comes to in the Arctic Circle, ready to rush back to the High Evolutionary's ship and get his team back.

It's a huge loss for the New Warriors here but the pieces sure are in place for an outstanding comeback. Yost and Burnham work together here to build our characters up while also developing the plot into something familiar but exciting. The key to making a familiar story worth reading is developing characters that the reader cares about and Yost has spent this whole series making sure that's true. Even the least developed character (probably Water Snake) matters and you care about what happens to her. In the spotlight in this one is Speedball, whose inner monologue keeps fighting but wonders if maybe this isn't for the best, as he recognizes that this is the second massive tragedy he's been at the start of. Poor guy. There's something for everyone and the book is doing a great job of keeping the stakes raised even as the end nears.

Total Score: 5/5


She-Hulk 9

The day in court goes rather badly as prosecutor Matt Murdock plays his cards the right way and keeps She-Hulk off-balance. We hear the charges lodged against Steve Rogers, part of a deathbed confession that accuses Steve of getting the recently deceased man's brother killed back before Steve was Captain America. The plaintiff, Harold Fogler, said that he had gotten in with some bad guys out on the West Coast while his smarter, more gifted brother studied to be a doctor back in Brooklyn. When his brother caught wind of the things Harold was getting up to, he made his way west with his friend Steve to try to get Harold home, only to get the two of them captured by the bad guys. Steve, of course, refuses to be silenced and his insistence on demanding the bad guys do the right thing leads to said bad guys shooting Harold's brother. Harold had kept his mouth shut even after Steve became Cap because he recognized that Cap was good, but he always believed Steve to be the reason his family had suffered for so long. As the day in court ends, She-Hulk isn't feeling great about the whole case and tries to train Steve for the stand, though Steve is prepared to go up and tell the truth without concern. Daredevil comes to visit She-Hulk at night, asking her to take a run with him. They run through the city as Matt tells Jen that he had declined the case, basically laughing in the face of the plaintiff, but that he warned Steve a case might be coming, whereupon Steve asked Matt to take the case and argue it to the best of his ability. Annoyed, She-Hulk heads back home and, the next day, calls Steve on to the stand, only to have him immediately say that everything Fogler said was true, to the frustration of his lawyer.

Rounding out this week's "soon-to-end" books, SHE-HULK once more brings forward a story and several characters that we can immediately care about and that we can be entertained by. I talked in this week's AVENGERS review about how I'm having trouble with the take on Steve, not because I think it's impossible and a terrible character change, but just because it takes his good qualities and pushes them too far, making them stubborn, bad qualities. Here his good qualities are on full display and they're pushed to, for She-Hulk, a frustrating place but still a ridiculously good one. It's the idea that his goodness will get him in trouble versus the idea that his goodness could turn into bitterness and obsession. While I think both ideas are potentially valid (when placed in the right stories), I much prefer reading this one, which also hinges on the humor of She-Hulk rolling her eyes and continually being taken aback by the way Steve does things. Soule and Pulido put in the perfect ending to this issue as Steve takes the stand and ignores She-Hulk's urging to tell his side of the story, instead saying that everything in Fogler's account is accurate, eliciting a gritted teeth "COME ON" from She-Hulk. Great moment, really excellent and fun book.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 3

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 3

The villains Magneto assembled show up and, after a bit of a back and forth grappling against Red Onslaught and a great deal of quips, they manage to subdue the incredibly powerful villain and his hero-hunting Sentinels long enough to allow Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange to cast their inversion spell and set things right again. How much effect did the inversion spell have? Well, that remains to be seen but BOY are the X-Men mad that the Avengers won't let them take the unconscious body of the Red Skull and suddenly young Evan is a full grown possible Apocalypse.

We're in the midst of an extraordinarily interesting World Series, one that pits the power of magic of the Royals against the power of "we win every even year" of the Giants. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe AXIS is following the Giants' path, albeit with a smaller sample size and presumably a worse catcher (I'm not sure who's catching in AXIS but boy that Buster Posey sure is good). I did not care for AXIS 1, I rather liked AXIS 2, and I'm back off-board with AXIS 3. I've had a lot of trouble over the last month or so with Remender quipping way too much and it happens again here. I buy it out of some of the villains, like Absorbing Man or Loki or Hobgoblin or even Sabretooth and Mystique (NOTE: my blog just tried to autocorrect "Sabretooth" to "Sabertooth" and now I'm TERRIFIED that it's done that every time I've written his name and I'm only just noticing it now. Geez, really bad couple years for that worry, given his prominence in this universe of late). The idea that Carnage even agreed to help was specious, let alone putting him out there and having him playfully (if threateningly) pal around with the other villains is crazy to me. Throw Enchantress and even Doom into that mix and I one hundred percent do not buy all this quipping. It might sound like a little thing but it's the first half of the padded-out issue and it takes you right out of it. Also, and this hasn't been a problem of Remender's before so I'm not sure who is to blame here, there's a lot of expositiony scenery chewing going on. Iron Man literally says to Deadpool at one point "you're an insane mercenary zombie married to a vampire" on the off-chance anyone reading this doesn't know who Deadpool is. That guy's not Beak, that's Deadpool, one of your very favorite characters to trot out into a book, maybe trust that he can sell his own appearance. It's harder to critique later in the book (though BOY do I have some problems there) because it's hard right now to say what is and what isn't an effect of the inversion spell, but the X-Men, across the board, freaking out that Cap won't let them take Red Skull's body on the off-chance Professor Xavier is back in control is actual insanity to me. Here's the deal: I'm a white, middle-class male, I have literally never needed a powerful figure to help change the world on my behalf. Mutants are, in this world, hated and hunted and Professor Xavier was often the shining beacon for mutant-human tolerance. I've never needed anything like that because the world bends to my whims, but I literally cannot understand this (keeping in mind, of course, that the inversion wave may be impacting things a bit). I can understand the X-Men wanting to find out if Xavier is back in charge of his own mind, even in a different body. But even the face of that current body is a Nazi monster who just MINUTES BEFORE tried to destroy the entire world and subjugate most of its people. Taking that body into custody until they find out who is who is maybe not so bad an idea. Also, Evan suddenly sprouting and becoming an Apocalypse-like figure baffles me. If I'm right and the inversion wave stuff is explained next issue (and explained satisfactorily), maybe I'll have my feelings about this event whip back around. But it'll take more than what issue two did to impress me a bunch.

Total Score: 2/5

Comics this week

Shorter week than last on new releases, which is pretty neat, but I'm not altogether too excited by the slate of releases, which is less neat. Should I maybe keep that to myself in the future? Feels like it gives away some personal biases that you all surely already know.

Amazing X-Men 12
I dunno, this one's been pretty neat since the inimitable Chris Yost took over. Probably one of the biggest Wendigo events I've ever seen. Anyway, it's been pretty cool and it's a short week and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to send in the ringers on this one (HINT: I rarely plan these out. This is what two years of this blog does to me).

Avengers 37
Do I remember what's happening in this series? No. Of course I don't. I bet it's related to AXIS? WAIT. I do remember, it's eight months later, Sunspot is pulling the strings on the Avengers and on AIM, which are both, suddenly, under the same umbrella. Despite that first sentiment above, I have been enjoying these issues. I just have a bad memory and it's late.

New Warriors 11
Beating out AXIS despite a strong last issue, NEW WARRIORS has been knocking it out of the park since its start and it's time (read: too late) to shine a bigger light on it. Know how I mentioned I like Chris Yost above? I really like Chris Yost and I don't understand how his books don't survive. They're constantly really well-written and a lot of fun. Also, the good will this guy built up from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes might make him untouchable in my mind.

She-Hulk 9
This too is beating out AXIS since I remembered the last issue ended with She-Hulk preparing to defend Steve Rogers on the stand against none other than Matt Murdock as the prosecutor. Twists and turns abound. This is another book that's regularly been good but hasn't outshined a lot of its competition. Wrong time, wrong place, I suppose. But it's here now!

X-Force 11
I reread X-FORCE 10 a couple days ago and it was still great. This book has been one that I regularly reread and find myself enjoying even more, which should come as a surprise to my readers if only because I won't shut up about this series even on the first read-through. Maybe it won't be a surprise, though, because I also won't shut up about that X-MEN LEGACY book by Si Spurrier so, shocker, I love this one too. This one I predicted I'd love and features one of my favorite writers from the last year and a handful of great characters. Spoilers?

Daredevil 9, Ms. Marvel 9

Daredevil 9

Matt, Foggy, and Kirsten talk about Matt potentially writing a book with Kirsten's father, an idea Kirsten is against and Foggy worries about, though the advance check is crazy intriguing. Foggy, though, worries that Matt delving back into his life for an autobiography will dig up the parts that he's done so well to push down, a fear Matt doesn't seem to share. Meanwhile, the Purple Children are living large, walking around and scaring everyone, overwhelming everyone with their feelings, magnified to a child's level, and driving some cop cars around. Though Daredevil has more experience than most at fighting Purple Man, he's overwhelmed by the children's sense of fear and despair and loneliness and rage and grief and everything Matt's buried comes back up to the surface, wrecking him and leaving him curled up on the ground under an overpass where the healing Purple Man discovers him.

This is it, everyone. Everything Mark Waid has been building to and everything we've expected to come over the last few years of Waid's run is finally coming to a head and it's masterfully done. I've been guilty, of course, of expecting this sort of thing to come much sooner but Waid's patience is important here as every issue that Waid waited to have this sort of thing happen strengthened the payoff. This issue has a great balance of fun with Foggy, Kirsten, and Matt and of darkness with the Purple Children, a surprisingly sympathetic villain for Matt, who recognizes that the kids aren't acting like Killgrave, that they're not trying to convince people, they're just blasting their kid emotions at peak levels, as he puts it. It's too much for Matt and now we have our way in to the next story. Excellent work from Chris Samnee and Matt Wilson, whose highlight here comes in a full page juxtaposing the kids feeling their emotions and memories in Daredevil's head related to those emotions. It's absolutely incredible and it defines the issue so well. Fantastic work all around, as if that will come as a surprise to anyone with this title.

Total Score: 5/5


Ms. Marvel 9

Kamala is forced to fight in just her regular street clothes as she finds she can't change her appearance in the midst of a fight with one of the Inventor's robots going after her school. She wins the fight but passes out, not healing quickly enough to keep up. Bruno manages to force his way into the fight area and finds Kamala passed out at the center. Medusa, keeping a close eye on the new Inhuman, appears and has Lockjaw transport them all to New Attilan, where Inhuman healer Vinatos helps and monitors Kamala's recovery. He also tells her when she wakes up that her healing ability seems to revert things back to their normal form, so the more she heals the less she may be able to shapeshift. Rejuvenated and now aware that she's an Inhuman, Kamala returns home and apologizes to her parents, happy to see them. That night, she goes back to the place where she rescued Vick, prepared to free the kids inside. Doyle is waiting for her and unleashes another big robot for her to fight, which Kamala defeats with the help of Lockjaw. She finds the people inside the building only to find that they weren't kidnapped, they're volunteers.

There are few books that have developed a supporting cast as quickly and as strongly as MS. MARVEL under G. Willow Wilson's direction. Wilson has done an excellent job making us care about Kamala, about Kamala's family, about Kamala's friends, and about the heroes who have crossed Kamala's path. That's extremely difficult to do, particularly when you're building an entirely new character in her own entirely new book. If a character is created in a separate book and built over an arc in someone else's book, you can use a new solo series to further develop that character. Wilson doesn't have that benefit here, meaning that she has so much work to accomplish and she's 100% accomplished it already. My girlfriend and I recently, just because this is who we are, wrote big long lists of our favorite superheroes, ranking them in order as best we could. I don't know if you guys know this, but I love superheroes. After careful deliberation, I found that I'd placed Ms. Marvel at number sixteen. That put her between Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange. AMAZING company (worth noting that after the top like, three, the difference in position is negligible because I just really like them all so much everyone). This wasn't really a haphazard list, I really did think about it a lot and gave reasons for everyone at every position (I got up to 30 heroes before putting the list down). Maybe this sounds self-indulgent (uhhhhh, have you read this blog? Because obviously it's self-indulgent and, frankly, I'd call it self-important) as I focus on my own personal opinions of this character but I think it's important to note that, after nine issues (only seven or eight, really, when I made the list), Kamala Khan had cracked the top twenty. That says a ton about this book, whether you trust my judgment or not. Great work as ever and this book just continues to be a lot of fun.

Total Score: 5/5

Uncanny X-Men 27, Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Uncanny X-Men 27

Matthew Malloy is still out there, wreaking some serious havoc and baffling the X-Men and SHIELD, nearby in a helicarrier. In an attempt to quell him, Rachel Grey creates a big psychic image in front of him, showing the X-Men and Avengers ready to fight him with Xavier leading the pack, asking if Malloy will allow him to rebuild the barriers in his mind for the good of the world. Malloy waffles between trusting him and hating him but ultimately begins to wonder if maybe he shouldn't be using this power to do much more. He sees through Rachel's trick and lays waste to the helicarrier, transporting most of the X-Men back to their homes (though some remain unaccounted for). Everyone is caught off-guard by this strange tactic but Scott Summers recovers quickly enough for Magik to teleport him back to Malloy, where Cyclops convinces him that he believes what Charles did was wrong and that he wants to help mutant kind, maybe the way Malloy wants to express his new powers. Cyclops asks Malloy if maybe he wants to talk a bit and Malloy consents.

The big plot development here, obviously, is that this sudden omega-level or beyond mutant is potentially ending in Cyclops' smaller camp of militant mutants, tipping the scales of the battle. I have my usual issues with Bendis books (namely some mood-breaking back-and-forth dialogue and quips) but my hesitation about naming this a good arc stems from something bigger here, I think. I don't like SCHISM and I don't like what's spawned from it. Do I think the X-Men probably needed some sort of a shakeup? Yeah, I guess so. Was SCHISM intriguing? Sure. I liked the idea of an increasingly more militant Cyclops and an increasingly more caring and protective Wolverine. On the flipside, I don't think it's carried well and it's clearly weighing on the writers at this point too. Obviously the added wrinkle of "Scott Summers killed Professor X" has extended the life of the split but I even think that's weak. Doing no research on the subject, I'm not sure there's a single character involved in these fights that hasn't been brainwashed or possessed or controlled or what-not. So has Cyclops been skewing another way for a little bit now? Well sure, I suppose people are starting to get more cynical of him. But should they erase their long history with him and his new people because he, very clearly under control of the Phoenix Force he couldn't contain and that they all knew he couldn't contain, was partly responsible for the death of his mentor? Look, I think not. What I'm getting at is that I don't think this whole antipathy between the two sides is warranted and that's entirely what this story is going to boil down to. I also have some amount of problems with omega-level+ mutants just appearing. ANYWAY. Doesn't mean this won't be an interesting story, just means I'm having some trouble buying into it. I also have been wanting to write a tiny bit about the ramifications of SCHISM for a little while now and the WATXM review should be pretty short so WHY NOT PUT IT HERE? Like that cover though.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Wolverine's ex-girlfriend Melita Garner visits the Jean Grey School to collect interviews for her upcoming book on Wolverine, a book that wolverine didn't want her writing but that Beast believes she should write, if just to serve as required reading for the students of the school. She talks with a number of Wolverine's friends and colleagues who all very clearly miss hero. She saves a couple of the big ones for next time, though, between Storm and Quentin Quire.

It's essentially a book of remembrance, showing how everyone is taking the loss and how everyone loved Wolverine. Plenty of books, I'm sure, will be doing this sort of thing over the coming months so I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to talk about these retrospectives, but you could certainly do worse than to read this one, which is sweet, moves pretty well, and highlights a number of different artists. Sometimes the switch between artists is understandably jarring but each section settles into its rhythm nicely.

Total Score: 4/5

Death of Wolverine 4, Death of Wolverine - Logan's Legacy 1

Death of Wolverine 4

Wolverine arrives at Dr. Cornelius' laboratory to find the doctor majorly behind the Weapon X program and responsible for his adamantium skeleton has been trying to perfect his technique on what would be a fully controllable, adamantium, healing army, claiming that he wants to better the world in a way he couldn't with Wolverine. He derides Wolverine as simply a killer, even named after the only animal (aside from man) that kills for pleasure, and explains that he doesn't want his legacy to be making a killer better at killing. His problem so far, and why he's wanted Wolverine and others, is that he can't seem to perfect the healing factor the would-be soldiers need to survive the adamantium. Of course, that doesn't go so hot since Wolverine no longer has his healing factor and, after he puts down Cornelius' protection, forcing Cornelius to flee, he destroys the machines, causing the last of the adamantium Cornelius has secured and re-used for hundred of experiments to pour out over him. He grabs the last syringe of passable healing factor Cornelius has been using and follows Cornelius to the roof, where his getaway chopper pilot bails before the wounded Cornelius can follow him. Cornelius bleeds out on the roof asking what Wolverine has ever done besides kill. As the adamantium hardens on our hero, he decides he did enough, looking into the sun as he solidifies.

Wolverine has always been defined by a number of things, particularly his animal nature and the Weapon X program. Soule and McNiven crafted Wolverine's death story with that in mind and, as such, gave us a final Wolverine story befitting the well-loved dark and mysterious hero. It's a story that allows Wolverine to go out unquestionably as the hero, destroying a mad scientist's attempts at making an unstoppable army and ensuring no one else goes through what he's gone through, while doing it quietly, succeeding in a way that, as Wolverine himself says it, is enough. Most hero deaths, when they happen, happen in front of witnesses, ranging from the many to the few but always with shocked onlookers. Instead, Wolverine, despite the impact he's had (which we're going to see in great length all across the Marvel Universe in the coming weeks), dies silently, away from everyone he knows and loves. And it works really, really well. Great work by Soule and McNiven and though all the makings are there for his inevitable rebirth, it's the kind of death story that has meaning and works thematically with the character so well that you can understand why Marvel was willing to do it.

Total Score: 5/5


Death of Wolverine - Logan's Legacy 1

Someone has captured Daken, X-23, Sabretooth, Mystique, and Lady Deathstrike and, supposedly, implanted them with a number of trigger words that should effectively control them. Together with their mysterious benefactor, they're meant to get to the bottom of a few secrets behind Wolverine's death.

Okay, this one wasn't nearly so great. It's just...the thing is, this one is so weird. I don't know if it's hindered by the slowed release schedule or if it was just planned to have a weird first issue, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen. The issue teases moments and character changes still to happen in this series. I legitimately wasn't sure of this and thought that maybe we were being shown clips from some infinite comic I hadn't read or something but no, it seems like it's just previewing issues to come. I...I don't get it. I mean, I get it to a point, but I don't think it's a good storytelling technique and it feels like it really doesn't benefit this series in any way. I'm hoping the next few issues will be better as they'll likely be in a more standard format. This one's just so strange though.

Total Score: 1/5

New Avengers 25

New Avengers 25

After the first two issues of EIGHT MONTHS LATER (I keep writing and/or wanting to write TIME RUNS OUT but I think that's AFTER all this business?) in NEW AVENGERS 24 and AVENGERS 35 (and 36, but that doesn't apply here), we've seen what some of the Illuminati and their new associates are up to, with Amadeus Cho getting captured by the Avengers and SHIELD trying to salvage Stark files, and Black Panther forced to watch as Wakanda falls to the Cabal. Now we see what Beast, Reed Richards, Hulk (DOC GREEN), and Captain Britain are doing these days. Mostly they're trying to figure out what the Avengers are doing and what the Cabal is doing and how the planets are doing and so on and so forth. Things aren't going great. The book ends after the team checks in on the captured and interrogated (by Sue Storm) Amadeus Cho and Black Panther returns, proclaiming that Wakanda has fallen.

There's still a good deal of useful information here but it's on a backdrop of events we've seen already, so most of this issue is soft science and reactions to the things we've seen. Again, that's not to say this isn't still a useful and/or important issue, but it almost serves more to catch readers up on what's been happening since this new event started. Hickman tends to take opportunities like this to give us a sense of the current tone and a little bit more on the characters and I think he does that well here, letting us see Reed's reaction to Sue's pursuit of his team and him specifically and building up the characters of people like Amadeus Cho and Captain Britain. Hickman also does a good job of highlighting while not hitting us over the head with the absences of some major characters in this future. I've had some issues with Kev Walker on some of the NEW AVENGERS art that he's done prior to this but I think he handles this issue admirably. If you're looking to save a bit of money this month and you've read the first couple issues of this mini-event so far, you can probably skip this one without missing too much.

Total Score: 3/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Red Onslaught has waged an impressive war on the heroes of the world while kicking off what they've quickly dubbed World War Hate. His biggest asset are two Sentinels designed by Tony Stark during Civil War to capture or kill the heroes of the world he was then fighting against. Now, the Sentinels are staving off the heroes while Red Onslaught breaks down their telepathic barriers and disappears them one by one. The Sentinels handle the heroes, even defeating a good if very soft science (or soft magic, as it were) plan from Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange (THANKS NOVA, SCREWING EVERYTHING UP), leaving it up to Iron Man and Magneto (who is, understandably, not so happy that Iron Man built some straight-up Sentinels, even if they're not focused on mutants today). As Iron Man gets crushed by one of his own Sentinels, he sees Magneto looking on. Nightcrawler bamfs in to save Tony at the last moment. He wakes up the next morning to learn that the resistance is only him and a handful of others, who all get disappeared themselves in that day's fight, leaving Red Onslaught bragging to Iron Man about how he's the last one standing thanks to his own devices when Magneto and a cadre of villains show up to keep fighting.

After a disappointing first issue, Remender tilts the focus a bit, putting the spotlight on Iron Man's inner monologue, which goes into depth about his penchant, as a child, of discovering and recording the weaknesses and fears of his fellow classmates in order to exploit them later, a trait he attempted to repent for after he became sober, but something he never really stopped, as he explains. It's a deeply personal issue for Iron Man and one that really redeems a lot of what I didn't like about the first issue (not hurt, of course, by the reduction of double-page spreads and AXIS banners, which only appear on a couple of pages). It's a good story in the way that I liked the ORIGINAL SIN: HULK VS. IRON MAN tie-in before the end changed the story, a story that unquestionably vilifies Tony but also does what it little it can to explain it through his own problems. It's a good tact for the book to take. The book still does drag a bit as we see a lot of characters who have to develop their own voice here. Hard to really fault the pacing for that, I suppose. Certainly a more positive issue than the last one, and one that indicates things might be going somewhere.

Total Score: 4/5

Comics this week

Tons of books out this week. How much is there to love? I mean, not as much of a ton. But certainly some! Let's talk about it.

Daredevil 9
As anyone who's read this blog knows, I'm pretty into this DAREDEVIL run by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. The last issue set up the newest arc for this team (now joined by colorist extraordinaire Matt Wilson), an arc that will pit Daredevil against the evil children of the recently hit-by-a-bus Purple Man. Creepy, creepy stuff almost definitely coming.

Death of Wolverine 4
As I've intimated the last couple reviews that have connected to DEATH OF WOLVERINE, this series has suffered a couple of delays that have made the tie-ins a little less effective. The upside is that this series has been a fairly strong (and, perhaps more excitingly, quick) little event. It's clearly a big shift for the Marvel Universe as key character since his inception Wolverine will, if the title is to be believed, die. So goodnight, sweet prince. Hopefully your death will at least settle out some of these tie-ins.

Ms. Marvel 9
Just a fantastic book. I really can't stop raving about it in my every day life. I wish someone would help me because it's starting to really impact my relationships negatively. But I don't want this book to be less good, so I suppose it's a push.

New Avengers 25
We're eight months in the future and Black Panther is having a tough time. It's never easy to watch Black Panther having a tough time. We're lucky because he so rarely is. That dude knows what's up, like, all the time. But now eight months have passed and NONE of us really know what's up. All we know is that the Cabal is BAD NEWS BEARS and it's going to be quite the fight to stop them. That fight isn't made easier by the fact that the regular type Avengers are none too pleased with the Illuminati. So much happening in this series that has been so reliably good since it started.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 16
It came down, at the end, to voting for SUPERIOR FOES or voting for AXIS as the final book to recommend this week and AXIS left a bad taste in my mouth last week whereas SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN has not disappointed me yet. Or at least since the start of the series. That was like, a year ago, I can't be expected to remember that far back. Anyway, check out this series before it leaves us.

Leftovers 10-8-14

All-New Ultimates 9

Scourge is being transferred to federal prison and the Ultimates want to watch over the transfer, which proves to be the right thing to do as a white-supremacist group, believing Scourge to be one of them, breaks him out. The Ultimates stop the racists but Scourge, who doesn't want to be associated with the white-supremacist group, gets away. Dagger is wounded in the fight and she and Cloak leave to get medical assistance, only to be sniped by a mysterious assailant, thus showcasing the one exciting moment this series has ever had, though also distracting from it by dealing with more relationship crap just beforehand. Total Score: 3/5

Amazing Spider-Man 7

The first half of this issue is a team-up between Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel, written by Christos Gage, which is delightful. The second half is an EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE tie-in by Dan Slott that finds Billy Braddock, Spider-UK of the Captain Britain Corps observing the family of Spider-Killers doing some work on the multiverse's spiders. The Ms. Marvel team-up, which will be continuing next time, is great and the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE tie-ins are starting to drag a bit, though it is still interesting. Things are much nicer in this book when we don't see crazy Black Cat. Total Score: 4/5

Hawkeye vs. Deadpool 1

Hawkeye and Deadpool have been forced into something of a team-up as someone who ran into both of them on one night has been killed. Also on the case (perhaps more effectively) is Kate Bishop. Deadpool and Hawkeye's investigation leads them to more brainwashed super soldiers and to Black Cat, the one seemingly behind all of this, while Kate's leads her to the place where Ellsden shot his video, where she runs into Agent Adsit. When Hawkeye returns home, though, someone else is waiting for him looking for help. It's a relatively fun little book but we'll have to see where the plot is going before we can make too many judgements. Total Score: 3/5

Nightcrawler 7

Wolverine has died (because the release schedule is all messed up) and Nightcrawler has to deal with it. This one's a bit weird because the story credit is given to Marguerite Bennett with Claremont scripting but the story pretty much amounts to "Nightcrawler misses Wolverine, here's some flashbacks and some weird coping mechanisms." The problems start with the troubled release schedule and end with "this book is boring." Total Score: 2/5

Savage Hulk 5

Years ago, Dr. Strange sent Hulk to a mystical crossroads where he could access a number of other planets, ones where he couldn't do harm. While on trial for his unilateral decision on Earth, a representative from one of the planets Hulk could visit appears and accuses Strange of genocide, sending Hulk to his planet. Strange, accompanied by a SHIELD agent, heads to the other world to find that Hulk has destroyed weapon after weapon the citizens have sent after him and that he has a cave full of dead citizens. This one's certainly a more interesting storyline than the last and Strange is proving to be compelling all on his own. Pretty strong work, though I'd like to see a little more before I make a judgment on it. Total Score: 4/5

X-Force 10, Punisher 11

X-Force 10


With Pete Wisdom's advice to watch out for the bugs, Cable's X-Force team recognizes that they're being watched. They're intent to make the surveillance work for them, though, and Dr. Nemesis has a plan to do it. Thanks to Psylocke's keen noticing skills, she has recognized that something has been going on at the X-Mansion, that there's been some unseen entity there, and MeMe has learned which toilet the entity uses, allowing them to teleport the mutant, who Nemesis suspects can only be remembered when seen, to their base. The mutant is ForgetMeNot, from Si Spurrier's (among others') X-MEN LEGACY 300. Nemesis intends to use a power suppressor to make ForgetMeNot, who doesn't have a bug watching him because Volga doesn't know/remember he exists, appear to Volga's systems, at which point Volga will send a bug after him and Nemesis will put a tracker on that bug before removing ForgetMeNot's suppressor and making the bug and Volga forget he was there, sending the bug back to Volga's base. After a long time trying to catch ForgetMeNot (and many viewings of a video Nemesis recorded to fill the team in on ForgetMeNot's presence, which of course is forgotten every time they lose sight of him), Nemesis is finally able to talk to him and reveal the plan, which ForgetMeNot, who absolutely hates these guys after spending some time in their presence, agrees to help with. Unfortunately, when the bug is dispatched, it doesn't forget him when the suppressor is removed. Fantomex knocks Nemesis out, reveals to ForgetMeNot that he knew the whole time he was there (the benefit of his advanced brain) and promptly kills the mutant, causing everyone to forget he was there and sending the bug back to Volga.

Boy, this book is something else. It's often so smart and so self-aware and so much fun, all at the same time. This is a perfect example of that as the ultimate plot and plan is extremely compelling and fun, as is the inclusion of Spurrier creation ForgetMeNot, and as we get a great characterization of everyone here. I wrote a summary that was altogether much longer than I wanted it to be and still couldn't convey everything I wanted to say about this book. There are so many great things happening in this issue between great looks at the viciousness of X-Force and of the broken people who have been chosen by Cable. This is a book that uses its space remarkably well, dragging very little while getting so much across. Excellent stuff. And it's great to see Tan Eng Huat and Craig Yeung once more teamed up with Si Spurrier (as well as the great X-MEN LEGACY homage cover by Rock-He Kim).

Total Score: 5/5


Punisher 11

Punisher gets out of the prison after learning what he wanted to learn for both himself and for Black Widow, who worked out a deal with him on the way to the prison to try to learn information from one of the inmates. After breaking out, Frank calls on former partner Rachel Cole-Alves to pick him up. As they talk on the ride back, he admits that he's thinking about hanging it up, feeling too old and broken for everything that's happening. She tells him how bad things have gotten in LA, even indicating that the Dos Soles are stronger than ever and looking for political sway (which they are). She convinces him by asking if maybe the Dos Soles and the American commandos trying to kill him are connected. Meanwhile, Officer Stone has taken the Punisher route to exact justice on the thugs who put Lou in a coma.

Edmondson, who has really been getting back to Punisher's roots, goes a little deeper into Frank's personality as he shows a rare moment of "maybe I'm done" from Frank. He also does a lot to show the effect Punisher has had in the last few years, obviously showing what Officer Stone has been inspired to do but also revisiting Rachel Cole-Alves, who last was investigated for killing a cop as Punisher's partner and for whom he took the fall, drawing the ire of the Avengers in last year's (I think, I was definitely doing the blog at that point) PUNISHER WAR ZONE. Edmondson is doing a lot of world-building here as we're seeing so much of what's happening in LA and with the Dos Soles looking to extend their reach. Another strong issue with some really good Mitch Gerads art.

Total Score: 4/5

Captain Marvel 8, Rocket Raccoon 4

Captain Marvel 8

Chewie has had a number of Flerken babies and Captain Marvel's ship is being attacked by some aliens who want them all dead. Rocket Raccoon, feeling a kinship with Chewie upon learning that she's the last of her kind, helps defend Chewie on the ship from one such alien who has made its way onboard while Tic takes the shuttle off the ship full of Flerken younglings and Carol attacks the invading ship from the outside. Together, they all manage to ward off the aliens and Rocket learns that Chewie is actually pretty alright. They drop the Flerken kittens off at a refugee planet but Tic and Chewie refuse to leave Carol, preferring to stay on as part of her team.

It's not a bad issue and it moves pretty well. Marcio Takara does a pretty great job on the art duties of this one (as does Lee Loughridge on colors). I'm feeling less of an attraction to this series than I did with its predecessor. I'm still not convinced Captain Marvel's place is in space. We've spent so much time with new characters lately that it's taken Carol sort of out of the spotlight and swapped in a handful of characters I don't care so much about. It's a delicate line to walk with a solo book, leaving the focus on your protagonist and building up her support characters. One of the best parts of DeConnick's first volume on CAPTAIN MARVEL was that she seemingly easily navigated that line, creating a whole world in which Carol could comfortably live all while never forgetting that she was the focus of the book. One of the problems, too, with space books at current are that most books have to spend so much time establishing who the threats are that we have less time for the heroes we're ostensibly there to see. DeConnick has certainly built up more than enough good will that I'm still looking forward to seeing where everything is going to go next.

Total Score: 3/5


Rocket Raccoon 4

The other mysterious raccoon has captured Groot and sends away Rocket's backup with a bigger payoff offering than Rocket had. Finally alone, the other raccoon pokes and prods at Rocket, berating him for being alone in the universe before revealing that he himself is not similar to Rocket at all, unzipping his costume and revealing himself to be mercenary Blackjack O'Hare. He tells Rocket that this has been a plan years in the making, concocted after Rocket ruined his chance at assassinating Princess Amalya and making enough money to happily retire on. Rocket's two storylines intersect at just the right moment, though, as Amalya bursts in with her cadre of Rocket's ex-girlfriends to exact their revenge on Rocket, who had a habit of seducing them and stealing their goods. The ensuing fight leaves Rocket the last one standing, though certainly exhausting and worse for wear, before the Guardians show up to pick him up. He celebrates with them but goes to bed early, depressed still that he's the only one out there. HOWEVER, that still may not be true, as we see a raccoon-esque captain leading her ship to find the book Rocket was so desperate to hear more about.

I very nearly didn't include this book as one of the ones I did a longer review for (reverse-spoiler: I'm running really late on reviews this week so this many long ones certainly seems counter-intuitive) because, though the issue was excellent, I wasn't sure I'd have more to say than I've been saying. For those who haven't been paying attention, I've been saying that this book is the most fun book Marvel is putting out right now, with Young really knocking it out of the park in the tone, the story, the art (my god, the art), the dialogue, and really, everything. I'm not sure I have more to add to that but I decided to still shine a light on this book because not having much to add doesn't mean I shouldn't still do a little more to recommend it. For real, it's a great book, you guys. It's the perfect marriage between art and writing, between character and tone. This one even shows that the book can go further than just wild and crazy hijinks, delving here into Rocket's sadness and loneliness. Excellent stuff.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers 36

Avengers 36

Sunspot, with the help of his recently purchased AIM, has finished building a device that should be able to transport people to the center of the collapsing multiverses to find and hopefully destroy whatever is causing all of the Earths to die. The Avengers team assembled to do this, brought together by various understandings of this new threat and by their own personal reasons for this mission, is comprised of Thor, Hyperion, Starbrand, Nightmask, Ex Nihilo, and Abyss. It's an extremely important mission and the fate of all the universes could hinge on it, so these Avengers have volunteered even knowing that, according to Sunspot, no one comes back from this; everyone going is going to die.

As TIME RUNS OUT continues (or as we build to it, look, I don't know), we get a spotlight on our high-powered Avengers, almost all of whom were brought on to this team and into existence by Hickman throughout his AVENGERS run. Also in the spotlight is Sunspot, who we haven't seen too much of in the series and, when we have, has almost always been the comic relief of the book, and Thor, who has a whole lot going on right now in his own life. It's a very good issue that manages to characterize its important characters well, even when it has a lot of explanation and soft science to do. Sometimes the explanations drag a bit as the whole problem is extraordinarily complex and Hickman is using the scientific types in the book to  explain it with very few laymen around to say "NOW HEY, WHAT'S ALL THIS MEAN?" Still, the book moves well and looks great with Stefano Caselli and Frank martin doing excellent work throughout the issue.

Total Score: 5/5