Harvey Award nominees announced

The Harvey Awards are among the most prestigious of the awards given to comic professionals. The nominees for the awards, which will be presented in September, were announced today. As is typical for this Marvel-centric blog, I'll be highlighting a few of the choices out of the House of Ideas (creative name, by the way).

Best Colorist:
Marvel alums Laura Allred, Laura Martin, and Jordie Bellaire were all nominated for Best Colorist, though only Allred was specifically nominated for her work on a current Marvel book (SILVER SURFER). Her work there is stunning and the crazy cosmic art of Michael Allred on the book certainly requires Laura to be at her best at all times on the series. Laura Martin also does excellent work and has been recognized for it in the past, with a couple of Eisners and a Harvey Award already under her belt. She has done loads of incredible work for Marvel over the past couple decades. My money, though, goes to Jordie Bellaire, a once up-and-coming colorist who seems to have really hit her stride with books like JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, MAGNETO, MOON KNIGHT, and THE VISION, among many more from Marvel in the past five or so years. Bellaire is unbelievably talented and an outspoken force-for-good in the comics community, shining a light on colorists and the under-represented in comics. Check out this sweet AV Club interview with her for some examples of her art and a good look into her history.

Best New Series:
The only new Marvel series the Harveys nominated this year was THE VISION, by Tom King, Gabriel Walta, and Jordie Bellaire. THE VISION has been lauded since its first issue for its complex portrayal of the titular Vision, his relationship with his family (a wife, and a teenage boy and girl, all of whom he created), and their relationship with a world that finds them, in the best case, creepy. Though the book has featured excellent art from Walta and Bellaire, and a compelling story with multifaceted characters, it hasn't really grabbed my attention in the way that other instant standouts like Fraction and Aja's HAWKEYE and Hickman and Epting's NEW AVENGERS. Admittedly, that's a tall order, and I'm not exactly sure what counted as a new series last year (though I'd hazard a guess that books like UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL and SPIDER-GWEN might be in the running; who knows, what with all the reboots and events). That said, THE VISION is certainly worth a read and it's not particularly a surprise to see it on this list.

Most Promising New Talent:
The only Marvel entry here is the aforementioned Tom King from THE VISION. Read above for my thoughts!

Special Award for Humor in Comics:
Chip Zdarsky is Marvel's only official entry in this category for his work on HOWARD THE DUCK, a book that is certainly always entertaining and decidedly worthy of consideration in this spot. It is baffling, though, that books like UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL (which consistently delivers laughs) and even Zdarsky's work as an artist in SEX CRIMINALS aren't even mentioned (particularly when USG -spoilers- is mentioned later among the nominees). Many of the other nominees in this category have other ties to Marvel, with Marvel regular James Asmus (GAMBIT) making an appearance for QUANTUM AND WOODY MUST DIE! and Elliott Kalan (SPIDER-MAN AND THE X-MEN) getting the nod for UNITY. Hard for me, a fan of The Daily Show and The Flophouse podcast, to vote against Kalan here, but Zdarsky would definitely merit a win here.

Best Cover Artist:
Marvel great David Aja (HAWKEYE, IMMORTAL IRON FIST) is nominated here for his work on HAWKEYE (which seems to never be out of the running? I guess maybe we'll all just keep throwing it back into consideration), but it's literally impossible for me not to root for Mike Del Mundo (X-MEN LEGACY), here nominated for his covers on ELEKTRA. It's worth noting that Del Mundo has also been doing the covers on THE VISION and they've also been (perhaps unsurprisingly) unbelievably good. Also bears mentioning that Marvel artist Paolo Rivera is nominated for his work on THE VALIANT for Valiant Comics.

Best Continuing or Limited Series:
The only Marvel book in contention is UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL, which is truly a phenomenal book. Though I wouldn't say that USG ever really faltered, even out of the gate, writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson have found their voice and the results have been stellar month in and month out. If you haven't been reading this book and enjoy well-written and really fun comics, check it out. I do think SPIDER-GWEN could also have gotten a nod here but, as I mentioned in a previous post, Marvel's had a bit of a weird year, so the lack of other books didn't really irritate me as much as it has in the past. Other former and current Marvel talents Kelly Sue DeConnick and Jason Aaron also see some love here for BITCH PLANET and SOUTHERN BASTARDS, both from Image Comics and both with a derogatory B-word in the title isn't used derogatorily. Is this a key to success? Check in after the Harvey Awards to find out! (It's not).

Best Writer:
Only G. Willow Wilson gets the nod from Marvel proper (and she's certainly deserving; I feel like I've fawned over MS. MARVEL enough for you to know all the key points I'd hit, so let me just say that it's incredible, Wilson is spectacular, and let's move on), but other Marvel past and present writers like Jason Aaron (SOUTHERN BASTARDS; apparently I should have kept reading that one), Jeff Lemire (BLOODSHOT REBORN, though he's also writing about half of Marvel's current line), Brian K. Vaughn (SAGA, which will be nominated forever and ever, evidently, not that it's not good. He's also a former Marvel writer, but like, technically, probably everyone nominated has worked there at some point in some capacity), and Mark Waid (ARCHIE, but also DAREDEVIL, ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS, and others) also get the nod. Whoops, that was somehow all one sentence.

Best Artist:
Chris Samnee is already worthy of every ounce of praise you could foist on to him. Declan Shalvey recently compared him, entirely in earnest and with merit, to Jack Kirby. So his nomination for DAREDEVIL is fully deserved. Jason Latour is nominated for SOUTHERN BASTARDS, and while he hasn't done any real recent work for Marvel as an artist, I want to just point out again that SPIDER-GWEN (which Latour writes) is really very good.

Best Single Issue or Story:
SILVER SURFER 11 was fine. Just fine.

So what's going on at Marvel NOW?

That's a Marvel NOW! joke, that is. Though, I think, the answer is actually All-New All-Different Marvel NOW! Which like, guys, get it together. I guess they can't all be as to-the-point as "the heroic age," but they sure can be as meaningless.

Well geez, it certainly sounds like maybe I'm not super high on Marvel these days, HMM? Jury's still out. That's not entirely fair to say. I WILL say that spending a few years thinking critically about every single thing a company publishes and several of their business moves probably will highlight some cracks for any company. That said, Marvel, for a publisher whose goal was once, roughly stated, "everything should feel like change and then be reset," is doing a pretty good job shifting its focuses. I will give credit forever and ever to their attempts at diversifying their books? Has it come slower and later than it probably should have? Of course, but where hasn't that been true? That said, just a few years from Marvel having, for example, no women-led books among its releases, Marvel now boasts a catalog that seems pretty evenly split between male and female solo titles. They've also more readily introduced non-white, non-straight characters at a relatively good clip (granted, the "relatively" there is relative to the seventy years that preceded the last few). These are all excellent steps. And, perhaps more importantly, they've largely been successful because of the quality of the books, not just the enormity of the statement. Books like MS. MARVEL and SPIDER-GWEN are among the best books the company has right now and, for all my equivocating, it still means something to be on the top of the pile at Marvel.

So Marvel has made a lot of good strides in a pretty short time (again, short meaning "within the last few years, primarily"). It's a little hard to look back objectively to the end of 2012, when I started this blog. I was a huge Marvel fan (still am, despite all this back-and-forth) and I was reading every book still, but I could feel that we were on the precipice of something big. Talent and ideas were clearly in the right place and the slew of books on the horizon seemed very exciting to me. I was right. Got a nose for it, I guess. I should also say, as I warn in just so many of my posts (and feel implicitly warn in the whole idea of this dang ol' blog), I was right for me. For me, these were really great books. SPIDER-MAN was doing something really interesting, the whole AVENGERS/NEW AVENGERS franchise felt like a true powerhouse, Gillen and McKelvie got their hands on the perfect Marvel property in YOUNG AVENGERS, and solo titles, which had been sort of floundering a bit for a few years, had found an incredible groove with HAWKEYE, CAPTAIN MARVEL, DAREDEVIL and X-MEN LEGACY, to name just a few favorites. Sure, Bendis had taken his typical annoy-Tim-as-much-as-possible writing style over to the X-MEN corner of the Marvel Universe, but I could swap that for the interesting Fraction FANTASTIC FOUR/FF run we got in return.

So what happened? Calling out events is probably the hip (and accurate) thing to do and I'm quite hip, you see. The best and worst thing about these massive events is that they envelop everything they touch. For these universe-spanning stories to actually feel big enough, they have to...well, span the universe, I suppose. So books that have their own good thing going have to hit the pause button on that momentum and throw in a couple of issues to aid the event. Best case scenario (and, ultimately, Marvel does get this scenario a fair amount), the series produces a pretty good issue and doesn't stray too far from where it was before the event knocked on its door. Worst case: a series loses all the velocity it had (and maybe a series artist in the process) and can't ever really regain it.

The other thing, though, is that creators are people too. People get tired of the sandbox they're in and want to play in another one for a while. Or, in the case of artists especially, deadlines force series artists to hand the reins to guest artists on occasion (for one or multiple issues) or to simply take a book off their plate entirely. I don't want to point any blame at momentum loss on guest artists or anything like that; they're typically very good artists as well. The best books have a complete feel to them, though, and the artist is every bit as responsible for that feel as the writer (and the colorist, for that matter). Losing a series artist partway through a run can change the entire feel of that run, regardless of how good the replacement is.

So events can disrupt good books and those pesky human creators can just straight up leave good books and then Marvel is left scrambling to put something new and fresh out there. Probably every Renaissance has some sort of cool-down period right after, as the next wave of creators begins to get comfortable.

And here's the thing: I wasn't super jazzed about much of what 2015 (and maybe 2014, even, I don't super remember, you guys) had to offer, but now we're coming to that point again, where people and ideas are in place once more. I don't think the last couple years have been bad for Marvel, necessarily, just slower than the years immediately before that. I'll make a post soon about what I think some of the highlights of Marvel are right now, but I can give you a spoiler: they're mostly solo books these days. And a lot of them are really very good.


Sorry if this came off as weirdly condescending to the creators of the last couple years. For real, I think there are a lot of really talented creators and a lot of great books that have been carrying on the last few years, I just think things were running a little slow in general (maybe we can also attribute that to Marvel proper essentially shutting down for SECRET WARS most of last year).

Real late SECRET WARS thoughts

...that would have been more effective if these blog posts stacked the other way.


The last real post I made here was skepticism about Marvel's 2015 summer event SECRET WARS. With the benefit of hindsight, was that skepticism well-founded? I would answer "YUP."

Here's the thing: I actually rather liked SECRET WARS. The architect of the entire event was Jonathan Hickman, a writer I've come to really love. On top of writing Marvel standouts like FANTASTIC FOUR, SECRET WARRIORS, AVENGERS, and NEW AVENGERS, Hickman has also written a number of outstanding creator-owned books, like THE DYING AND THE DEAD, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, and, my personal favorite (like, maybe ever), EAST OF WEST. Hickman had previously helmed the Marvel crossover event INFINITY, back from the days when I was still writing on this thing. I quite liked INFINITY, actually; it was a very bold crossover, one that felt like it really did require a crossover to complete, and it was appropriately massive. I reiterate all that now because SECRET WARS was very much in this camp.

Hickman's run on AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS set things up for INFINITY just fine, but NEW AVENGERS in particular had been building to SECRET WARS since the first issue back in 2013 (which was also an excellent comic). It was a Claremontian set-up on an even larger scale, and one that promised to have repercussions well beyond the event.

And it was good! Again, I liked SECRET WARS. The main story was compelling and many of the tie-ins (the entire Marvel line shut down for SECRET WARS, opting to end every ongoing book in favor of limited series tie-ins that took place in various locations throughout the SECRET WARS Battleworld map) were equally interesting. The biggest issue with the whole thing is that it pressed on way longer than it should have or, indeed, was scheduled to (seemingly from a delay on the creative team's end). If your whole line is reliant on a very specific schedule, you better make sure you keep to that schedule. Marvel couldn't here (as they probably should have predicted), and therefore ended up needing to start their brand new line of comics before we'd learned the fate of the old one. In some cases, this was kind of interesting; the Fantastic Four were entirely off the map and only mentioned in oddly cryptic tones. In others, it was a little deflating; Miles Morales was suddenly in the Marvel Universe proper, and Doctor Strange was starring in his own book, decidedly not dead (okay, it was obviously exciting he wasn't dead, but still, he died in SECRET WARS and was back in his own book before SECRET WARS had ended). There were, sadly, far more cases of the latter than the former (including the very simple fact that there was a Marvel Universe and that many of the characters had survived, a spoiler in itself, albeit one we probably could have predicted).

It all comes back to the same problem events seem to always have: a good idea was presented in an imperfect fashion, which made everything tied to it weaker. There's also the increasing event fatigue that is tied to every event now, which is compounded by the far more dangerous problem Marvel keeps walking right into: if every book has to go on hold (or be cancelled) for every event, and you're going to have a new massive event every half-year or year, you'll never be able to establish a really strong character/team/story. We're mid-way through 2016 now and some books are still just barely starting up (notable entries include BLACK PANTHER, MOON KNIGHT, and BLACK WIDOW, which are all still on their third or so issue) and this summer's massive event CIVIL WAR II has just started up as of this week. Even if CIVIL WAR II is a massive success (I have my doubts), it will have slowed other books' growth. It's very possible that by the time those books find their grooves, they'll be absorbed into the next event, or the creative team that got them that far will be moving on. How can we embrace new characters or give another chance to some old ones if writers and artists are given a proper chance to establish them?

So SECRET WARS was a good event, but it was an event all the same. A lot of worthwhile stories and issues and characters made their respective ways out of it, but I think the line is weaker as a whole for it. Stay tuned for CIVIL WAR II, I guess?

Quick thoughts on SECRET WARS

Hey pals, been a while, I know. Just some quick thoughts to get them off my chest on the details we've heard so far on SECRET WARS.

Axel Alonso and Tom Brevoort held a press conference this past week to clear the air a little and take a few questions about SECRET WARS, the Jonathan Hickman-helmed book that promises to break down the Marvel Universe (with an assist, it seems, by a couple of fateful incursions and the development of a patchwork planet called Battleworld). Alonso and Brevoort were a little dodgy on the details, of course, and refused to give an answer about whether or not this would constitute as a "reboot," as many fans are fearing. Of course, reboot is a pretty broad category to apply to something that could be very specific, so I doubt that's what Marvel is doing, particularly given how successful the line is and how successful the company as a whole is right now. Doesn't mean I don't think they're aiming to significantly change things. I don't think this is going to be a Stan Lee-style mandate of "appearance of change leading to no change." I think there will be a serious reshuffling but the cards will all remain in the deck.

That said, of course I'm nervous about it. As readers, we all feel a certain (misguided) ownership over these characters and these histories. Events in total scare me and oftentimes disappoint me. Big broad changes are worrying, certainly, but I think we all have to trust in the system that's given us such great comics through the years (and, particularly to this situation, through the most recent years). If the creators are all still there and the talent, especially the talent in finding such talent, remains, the product should remain good.

The other less-worrying part, at least in the immediate, is Jonathan Hickman. Jonathan Hickman has been writing absolutely excellent comics for years now and I don't think he's ever been stronger than he is right now, in this moment in time. After completing a very interesting FANTASTIC FOUR run with Marvel, he's done excellent work with both AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS (not to mention INFINITY, easily the best event of the event-strewn last few years) and unbelievable work on other, non-Marvel creations like THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS and EAST OF WEST. Speaking of EAST OF WEST (I usually am), I looked at the interactive Battleworld map Marvel has put on their SECRET WARS site and immediately began to think about EAST OF WEST, a comic set in a world with a very different timeline and, as such, a very different map. For my money (and I've spent enough of it, thanks), EAST OF WEST is the best book to come out these last few years and one of my favorite ever. Hickman certainly won't be porting his creator-owned book over to the Marvel continuity, but it's reassuring to know he's definitely up to the task of running a full-fledged new world. The tie-ins, sure, they worry me, and the release schedule as a whole is sure to flummox all of us (though, going back to INFINITY, Marvel has obviously gotten better at explaining which books tie to what), but there is reason for hope.

So final thoughts? Yes, I'm very nervous. I adore these characters. That's why I ran this blog into the dang ol' ground for two years (and haven't given up on any of this, obviously). That's what brought me to Marvel and to comics in the first place. But change and evolution is necessary, and Hickman is more than capable of using a steady hand to guide that change. We'll see how much this actually brings.

Disappointing news out of Marvel

Hey everyone. Some of the bits of news that have come out this week, on the heels of February solicits, include the ending of Waid and Samnee's run on DAREDEVIL, the cancellation of ELEKTRA (slated to end with issue 11 in February), and several more books that seem to be wrapping (though I don't have links for those), including X-FORCE (brutal) and STORM (though I'm not hearing that that one's actually being cancelled, just that the numbers are much lower than they'd like). DAREDEVIL, it sounds like, is ending based on Waid and Samnee wanting to move on, but the others all seem to be numbers-based. One of those sad days where really good books aren't getting enough eyes on them and are being dropped, undoubtedly, for more events.

Bit of internal news, I doubt there will be many more reviews this week. I've read just about every book this week and many are very good (DAREDEVIL, BLACK WIDOW, ELEKTRA, AVENGERS, NEW AVENGERS, MOON KNIGHT, SPIDER-WOMAN, and several more) but, as you all know, it's getting harder and harder to get these reviews out on time. We'll see what the start of this week brings.

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

Marvel announces new HOWARD THE DUCK ongoing

Following a fun little cameo at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Howard the Duck is making his return to Marvel comics in the form of a new ongoing written by hilarious SEX CRIMINALS artist Chip Zdarsky and drawn by the very talented Joe Quinones (CAPTAIN MARVEL, FF, SAVAGE WOLVERINE, a bunch of other things, several prints on my wall, many thanks for that). Like with the announcement of the new Squirrel Girl series, Marvel makes another smooth move by taking a bit of a joke character and putting a very funny Canadian in charge of the book (Zdarsky for HOWARD, Ryan North for SQUIRREL GIRL). I'd throw Skottie Young for ROCKET RACCOON on that list but I'm pretty sure he's not Canadian, though I believe he lives in one of those states on the border that isn't in New England. Anyway, I'm stalling a bit because I'm on my phone so my abilities are a bit limited. Segue! Here's a link: http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/11/21/marvel-announces-howard-the-duck-by-chip-zdarsky-and-joe-quinones/

Not going to say I'm not excited.

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?

ALL OF LAST WEEK 11-12-14

Ugggh. Alright guys, I gave you a heads-up on this. Did I definitely know I wouldn't get any reviews done? No, I had some amount of optimism. Did I suspect I wouldn't get any reviews done? No comment.
So this blog is getting a little bit lax lately. I built up this thing on reliability and long and rambling reviews. Unfortunately, lately I've both been unreliable and I've tried to cut off the rambling. One of those changes, I believe, has been a good thing. The other? Wellllllllllllll, maybe less so. There's a good chance this blog starts taking a different format soon or at least stops proudly toting that it reviews every single major Marvel comic every single week. But, as we are still that (at least in my head), here's as quick a review as I can do for every comic this week.


All-New Captain America 1

Sam Wilson is officially the new Captain America and he's certainly capable of walking the walk, talking the talk, and wielding the shield. In a bit of a challenge, his new pseudo-partner is the new Nomad, Steve's son Ian. Together they storm an enemy base but find themselves at odds when Nomad throws Batroc the Leaper to his death (WHAT) and the pair suddenly find themselves faced with a number of classic Cap villains led by Baron Zemo. Remender's wasting no time getting Sam acquainted to the role and to the Cap villains he already knows. There are some great uses of Redwing in this issue and, while it's a pretty good issue and certainly a monumental achievement, it's hard for me to give this a 5 out of 5 when it's possible Batroc is dead. Total Score: 4/5







All-New Ultimates 10
Taskmaster is hunting Ultimates and just about finishes his collection with little resistance, though now he has to contend with an angry Bombshell. Still don't like this book but at least some plot and action happened. Total Score: 3/5


Avengers and X-Men: Axis 5

All the Avengers who were on Genosha are still inverted (though, and I wanted to talk about this above but I forgot and there's no possible way to go back, ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA mentioned off-handedly in its opening salvo that a bunch of heroes got inverted but came back around, so great work schedule?) and they capture the other Avengers after calling a meeting, leaving only Spider-Man, Nova, and a few others free. And the X-Men attack them. And everyone's mad. And this is still such a stupid and reverse-engineered premise. I don't really care if you can milk stories from it for months, it doesn't make it a worthwhile event. Total Score: 2/5








Axis: Hobgoblin 2
Phil Urich, the new Goblin King, attacks original Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley only to discover that Roderick, profiting on his newfound success as a hero, has an amnesiac Lily Hollister in his sway. There are some fun and interesting things happening here but it all relies on characters I personally practically refuse to care about. Total Score: 3/5


Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier 2
Bucky was shot in the back just after learning that Loki was the middleman for the drug running operation underseas. The bullet he was shot with turns out to be filled with the drug they're chasing, a dosage of hallucinogenic Illum which wreaks a bit of havoc with Bucky as he tracks down and confronts Loki. Loki plays some games with him and makes him see all manner of strange, identity-plaguing thing. Still, by the time Bucky gets through it all, he's learned the location of the planet he needs to visit next. QUESTION: is this really the threat-level Nick Fury had to contend with as man on the wall? I'm still not at all sold on Ales Kot but he's working a bit better already with Marco Rudy, whose art is well worth the price of admission. Really gorgeous but the story and the dialogue leave a lot to be desired. Total Score: 3/5






Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 2
The Inversion is still happening over here and the Mighty Avengers are starting to think maybe they can run the world with an iron fist (though Iron Fist himself is not affected by the inversion) and finally bring peace. However, that doesn't mean inverted Luke Cage is going to forgive Spider-Man for that whole superior thing. Again, I didn't enjoy this book but I think it comes as a result of a weak premise that I cannot get behind. I mean, I don't regret buying it at all because Skottie Young cover, so duh. Total Score: 2/5


Captain Marvel 9

Captain Marvel and Tic find themselves summoned by mutant intergalactic pop-star Lila Cheney to help her get out of an arranged marriage with a prince of a different planet that she certainly never arranged. The planet the space-adventurers find themselves on is one where everyone speaks in rhyme and it gets a little bit old throughout the issue but props to DeConnick for almost entirely making it work. Anyway, Captain Marvel finds a solution, helped by her beating up a vile, power-hungry woman who would marry the prince herself to gain power, and Tic marries the prince instead, though is promised that it's a marriage in name only and that she's able to go wherever and do whatever she likes anyway. Ambitious issue that falls a little flat for me because I still don't like the Captain Marvel supporting cast and the change of scenery. I loved Carol when she was relatable and tough on Earth. Pulling her into places where explaining the plot (or rhyming) has to take most of the dialogue instead of character building hurts this book. Total Score: 3/5


Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 4
Lady Deathstrike has a lot to think about with Logan dead. She does her thinking while thwarting a slave trade and deciding to run Logan's old underground. Certainly not a bad issue and it mostly moves fast. The art style of Juan Doe works really well with Lady Deathstrike. Total Score: 4/5


Guardians 3000 2

The Guardians continually face their own death but finally break out of their cycle with the advance knowledge provided by Geena Drake. They manage to flee from an overwhelming amount of Badoon with the assistance and probable sacrifice of Gladiator and others, hoping to end this war once and for all, though they're being followed by what is purportedly a big ol' Badoon weapon. Still finding it a little hard to get invested in these characters or this future. Total Score: 2/5











Hawkeye vs. Deadpool 2
Hawkeye and Deadpool are trying to figure out how the pieces of this puzzle fit together but continue to come upon dead ends. When Deadpool and Kate finally start getting somewhere with a hidden flashdrive, though, Hawkeye reveals himself to be apparently some sort of double agent, stabbing Deadpool and knocking Kate out while he takes the flashdrive for himself with much the same gusto as the fake heroes Black Cat had in her employ. Still some fun here but the issue drags a good deal. Total Score: 3/5


Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 7

Osborn reveals to Miles that he, the Spiders, and Miles' dad are all connected in some way but refuses to give any more evidence than that, eventually leading to Miles and Peter knocking him senseless and potentially re-killing him. Peter gives Miles his blessing and his web-shooters and leaves with MJ to try to figure some things in his life out. Soon, Miles is faced with seeing his father again. Oh, and Kate Bishop's parents are Hydra so she's Hydra and she knows who Miles is. The issue moves pretty well and there's only a little bit of forced banter thrown into a long fight scene. It's very similar to the last issue in a number of ways but it still moves well and adds a bit of texture to the story, so little to complain about. Total Score: 4/5







Nightcrawler 8
Nightcrawler and the X-Men are returning to normal life after the passing of Wolverine when Nightcrawler is pulled back into the lives of the Crimson Pirates thanks to a distress call from Pirate Bloody Bess, who asks for Nightcrawler's help in defeating her teammates, possessed by the villain the Shadow King. He agrees to help her but they quickly find themselves on the run hoping for more backup from the X-Men, who similarly get possessed, and possibly Scorpion Boy and Ziggy Karst. Claremont's love of story again wins out here, though he's quietly doing a good job with Nightcrawler's character. Still, pacing and excessive dialogue really drag this book back down. Total Score: 3/5


Nova 23

After discovering that Kluh is attacking Arizona, Nova rushes away from Spider-Man and Steve Rogers to take on an even stronger and more vicious Hulk. He manages to do some damage but ultimate finds himself launched unconscious to France by Kluh, where he wakes in a hospital room with his broken helmet beside him. Still don't like Kluh but it's a pretty strong Nova-issue. Seriously though, every tie-in to AXIS is marred by how bad AXIS is. Total Score: 3/5











Savage Hulk 6
Dr. Strange and his SHIELD escort learn (god, FINALLY) that this race of strange intergalactic crustaceans ages at an insanely fast rate and that Hulk started off feeding on their non-sentient ancestors but has laid off of the sentient lineage, only to be cast as a villain by certain members of the society who would ruin themselves waging an unwinnable war on the monster. Strange defeats the most vocal of the anti-Hulk shrimp and deposits the Hulk back at the Crossroads while saving the society. Solid art props up this issue, which otherwise falls a little flat for me. Total Score: 3/5


She-Hulk 10

Steve tells his side of the story, revealing that his pal's brother, the one who blames Steve for getting his brother killed, was working under Nazis and Steve took a stand against them in a situation where the Nazis were very clearly going to kill all three of them. Steve is found innocent and chats with his lawyer pals for a bit before She-Hulk heads back for NYC, hoping to relax a little but finding Titania, whose name is also in the blue file, waiting for her. Another strong issue. Soule writes a really fun She-Hulk and a strong Steve Rogers on top of being just a strong writer all around. Pulido's art is absolutely perfect for the series. Total Score: 5/5









Silver Surfer 7
Dawn Greenwood and Silver Surfer have been traveling for a while now and run into their fair share of adventures and excitement, but Surfer finds himself as excited as ever to end up at the end of the universe, where even the light from the stars doesn't reach. As he and Dawn sail further and further into the depths, they find some sort of way station lighthouse and approach, only for it to grab Dawn and pull her into the nothingness. Though Norrin had sworn recently that he'd never silver down again after a particularly bad experience while he and Dawn let their guard down, he looses the power cosmic and the depths take him too, only for him to silver up again and rescue Dawn. He gave her a ring that's part of himself so he can always find her and she asks if it means they're dating. Slott's joy for writing the series, as with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, shines through here, though the tone is still a little hard to always nail down. The art of Michael and Laura Allred is, as ever, pretty astonishing and remains exactly what the book needs. Total Score: 4/5


Spider-Verse 1

Cute little introduction to a handful of alternate dimension Spiders like Spider-Man of the Spider-Clan of Earth-2301, the steampunk Lady Spider from Earth-803, the cartoonish 11-year-old Penelope Parker, Spider-Girl, of Earth-11, and a couple of other Peters who die or are ignored by Morlun. They're nice vignettes from talented writers and artists, which makes the book worth reading as long as you know what you're getting into. Total Score: 4/5












Superior Iron Man 1
Tony Stark has started drinking again, as well as mass producing Extremis and giving it to everyone in San Francisco with a smart phone. Of course, he's a despicable human being now, though he still helps out on the hero front in New York with remote Iron Men. As Pepper begins to worry about what he's doing, he shows how profitable it'll become by removing the Extremis from all of his test subjects in SF and offers it to them once more for a hundred dollars a day. What a jerk. Surprise, I still don't like AXIS. Total Score: 2/5


Thor 2

The new Thor (who is sounding more and more like SHIELD agent Roz Solomon, to my chagrin) has traveled down to Midgard with Mjolnir and finds herself beating up Frost Giants and helping the Minotaur, Dario Agger, by rescuing him from other Frost Giants attempting to find the head of King Laufey. There are some interesting bits here and there, particularly as Thor continues to speak like the old Thor but her thoughts come out sounding (and looking, thanks to the regular typesetting of her inner monologue, as opposed to the typical Thor word bubbles of her dialogue) human. Other interesting tidbits include the idea that Mjolnir is sentient and responding to Thor. Still, I'm going to be really bummed if this does just end up being Roz Solomon, who is both predictable (still a big deal that Thor's a woman but I would have liked, for story purposes, a more surprising pick) and a SHIELD agent, which practically guarantees she's not really worthy. SHIELD is terrible. All around. Total Score: 3/5

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

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 4

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 4

SHIELD wants the Red Skull but Captain America refuses to hand him over, not trusting that SHIELD is capable of holding the criminal. That's the only sane thing done in this book, as then the X-Men, still led by Storm, Havok, and Cyclops, become decidedly more militant and turn to a grown Apocalypse for help, Tony Stark introduces an Extremis app that will allow people to experience their better selves, and a portion of the Avengers (Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Thor, Hulk, Luke Cage, and, for some reason, Medusa) decide they need to kill Red Skull to stop this kind of thing from happening again. Jarvis tries to stop them but is thrown out of the way quickly, prompting a doubtful Hulk to intercede and try to stop the others. Though he fails, the sadness it causes him turns him into Kluh, the inverted Hulk who is, apparently, even worse. He runs off and the rest discover Red Skull is missing.

This is so stupid. I'm not even going to put on airs about it any more. I talked in my review of AXIS: CARNAGE 1 last week about where this event was going and how it feels way more manufactured than most events in that it's such an insane premise with such a twisted, unbelievable, soft-sciencey solution that it's impossible to see it as anything but someone at a Marvel summit going "what if...some of the heroes were jerks? And some of the villains were good?" and everyone high-fifing one another and leaving Remender to write the whole thing (though I'm blatantly calling this stupid, I'm still not willing to force the blame entirely on Remender, though each issue seems to make it harder). But they're in the place they want to be, with clear factions and rivalries set up, from SHIELD up against the Avengers, to the Avengers keeping this on the down-low from other Avengers, to the X-Men and the Avengers, to Kluh and the Avengers (pretty Avengers heavy, huh?), to Iron Man making his big Extremis app announcement in San Francisco in front of Daredevil. None of it works for me. It screams of a WHAT IF... book or an alternate universe book but here it is, an all-enveloping event. I'm already sick of events (I'll reiterate, HALF OUR BOOKS THIS WEEK ARE EVENT-BASED) and here's this one, a terrible premise posing as an event. I didn't even want to write a review tonight. I was tired and I said "you know what, I'll give myself another one of those millions of nights off I've been giving myself lately. I'll update the comic list (on the right, you guys, chock-full of creator names!) and maybe I'll read a couple books but I don't feel like reviewing. So I read this one first, knowing it would eventually be the first one to get reviewed. I couldn't even take the night off, this comic was so bad. Ugh. I guess, in fairness, the art is Leinel Yu and he's pretty good. Though there was one really distracting shot of Medusa that literally focuses itself to only get her butt in frame. So you're certainly not winning points, guys.

Total Score: 1/5

Comics this week

No. I don't want to do this post this week. GUYS, I love this post. It lets me get hyped for the coming week. It lets me look at the comics that are coming and JUST pinpoint the ones I'm excited to read. Sure, it makes me look at a list that might include ALL-NEW X-MEN or FANTASTIC FOUR or whatever else I really don't want to read during the week, but I'm focusing on the books I'm most excited about. And, as if I needed another reason to love this post, it's short BY DESIGN. I only give a couple of refresher lines about why I like a book or what's happening in the book. It's the post where I allow myself to enjoy writing a little more and relax my own review standards a bit.

But this week I'm not even a LITTLE excited about the coming post. I played this game last week, a week with a handful of new books none of which I was particularly excited about, and I don't want to have to go through it again. There are twelve new books out this week. Five of them are tied directly to events (Two SPIDER-VERSE, two DEATH OF WOLVERINE, and one AXIS) and one more (ALL-NEW X-FACTOR) is a tie-in to AXIS. I usually highlight five books a week and I'm refusing right now to give more attention than I have to on events (getting really burned out and Skottie Young posted a teaser image for his variant cover for 2015's AVX event, something I really don't need to see, though, obviously, I loved his cover). That leaves me with six books to choose from, but one is MIRACLEMAN, which I've almost entirely stopped paying attention to; one is DEADPOOL'S ART OF WAR which I'm dutifully reviewing but otherwise ignoring based on the premise and the first issue; one is X-MEN, which is typically pretty good, but is also in the midst of an arc that I'm already deeming too long; one is LEGENDARY STAR-LORD, which I have very little interest in after four sub-par issues that feel squandered; and one is HULK, which I still have some issues with, thanks to the invention of Doc Green and Doc Green's mohawk (though I'm onboard with Red She-Hulk, who promises to show up this week). Quickly we're down to one book. So...

Rocket Raccoon 5
It's been great. Skottie Young is great. Jean-Francois Beaulieu is killing it on colors. Skottie Young seems to tacitly understand that being removed from the rest of the Marvel Universe and taking on a tone perfect for the characters and unique in this universe are keys to the success of this book. Even with the announcement that there's a new cosmic event coming, ROCKET RACCOON wasn't listed with the books tying into BLACK VORTEX (which I think will start being seeded in this week's LEGENDARY STAR-LORD, so that's another one you could chalk up to event tie-in). Brilliant idea, ROCKET RACCOON team. Absolutely genius. Keep up the good work. Please. Please keep it up.

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

Huge Marvel Cinematic Universe announcements!

GUYS. Hot on the heels of the Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Doctor-Strange maybe-news yesterday (which was, ironically, the only bit of news Kevin Feige did NOT confirm, if just to make my blog look wrong), Marvel held a press conference to announce the slate of upcoming movies for phase three of the MCU. There are, you guys, some really huge, if not suspected, announcements here.

Captain America 3 gets new title!
After the news that Robert Downey Jr. would join the cast of Cap 3, the next installment of the fantastic Captain America movies will officially be called Captain America: Civil War. This is a huge deal and is likely something that will have seeds planted all over the coming Marvel movies. I talked a lot about the implications of Civil War in my post about RDJ in Cap 3 so I won't spend too much time here, except to note that when I went to IMDb for this news, they said it would be called Captain America: Serpent Society, which is...interesting? Whatever. Mark May 6th, 2016 on your calendars now.

Doctor Strange gets a release date!
No new news here (and, as I mentioned, no confirmation of now day-old news) except to say that the new Doctor Strange will land on November 4th, 2016.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 gets bumped up!
After a wildly successful and unexpected opening for the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will now open May 5th, 2017.

Thor 3 ALSO gets new title!
Things are decidedly about to go bad for Thor as the latest in his franchise has officially taken the name Thor: Ragnarok. It has also slid into the release spot vacated by Guardians 2, set to release July 28th, 2017.

Black Panther officially confirmed for 2017, star announced
Ahhhhh, this one is huge! One of Marvel's best and most underrated heroes, Black Panther, will officially get his solo movie. Black Panther is set to be released November 3rd, 2017 and will star 42 and Get On Up star Chadwick Boseman, who is decidedly great. Very, very cool.

Captain Marvel!
Guys! Captain Marvel! Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, no less! Coming July 6th, 2018, everyone's favorite pilot-turned-Captain Marvel will take to the skies in Captain Marvel, which will purportedly find Carol trapped between Earth and outer space. Feige said there's no other news yet, but that a director and writer will be announced soon, though casting, obviously, is still a ways off.

Inhumans coming in 2018
With 2018 shaping up to be a big year for space experiment heroes, Marvel has also confirmed that Inhumans will release November 2nd, 2018 and will at least tie to the hitherto unseen in the MCU Kree-Skrull War.

Avengers: Infinity War to be two parts, spread apart one year
With the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron on the horizon, the third and fourth installments of the landmark Marvel franchise have been given name and tentative dates, with Avengers: Infinity War Part One set to land May 4th, 2018, and Infinity War Part Two coming almost exactly a year later, May 3rd, 2019.




Again, it's confirmation of a ton of news that has been speculated at for some time, with Marvel finally making the splash it needs to with movies like Black Panther and Captain Marvel and other major characters and events coming soon. Really exciting stuff, tucked away on a slow Tuesday. Special thanks to the security guard who wandered over to ask me who Dr. Strange was and kicked all of this off.

Comics this week

So I use the same comic list every week to pull what books are being released and it very rarely, if ever, steers me wrong, which is nice because I haven't always had that luxury in the past. Sometimes, though, it looks a lot more imposing than it is. There are a TON of reprints coming this week, perhaps more than actual new releases. That means a light week for me (yay!) but a harder week for this post (totally worth it!). Let's get into it.

Death of Wolverine: Deadpool and Captain America 1
I told you, it's a light week. I'm not actually super excited about this book because I legitimately don't know what to make of it. Obviously we know it's a tie-in book and it's one that ties-in to the recent DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini, but it also harkens back to DEADPOOL's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" arc, which remains easily my favorite arc of that book. Will this tie-in live up to the quality of that arc? Let's find out TOGETHER.

Deathlok 1
Full disclosure: I'm not really that excited about a DEATHLOK series. The character holds little interest to me (though I loved Deathlok in Remender's UNCANNY X-FORCE, the one who admitted to loving X-Force and was later easily cast aside by Magneto). However, in light of a short week, Nathan Edmondson wins me over here. As a very vocal supporter of Edmondson's BLACK WIDOW and less vocal but still somewhat vocal supporter of his PUNISHER, I'm happy to give this one a look.

Elektra 7
This book's great, it's a short week, you know everything I'm about to say.

Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration 1
A six-dollar celebration 75 years in the making, this book makes the list mostly because I want to talk about one of the segments, namely one that intends to explore what happened the day the Marvel Universe was born, written by FANTASTIC FOUR's James Robinson with art from DAREDEVIL's Chris Samnee, AKA a creative team I half-loathe and half-love. That's all I have to say about it.

Thunderbolts 32
THUNDERBOLTS comes to its conclusion after a run of a good couple years. A weaker-than-expected start from Daniel Way led to a fantastic Charles Soule middle and now we reach the final chapter of the first ongoing Marvel work for Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. I've enjoyed this book for quite some time now and I'm sad to see it go, though unsurprised. Looking forward to seeing where it leaves our team in the aftermath.

Benedict Cumberbatch cast as Dr. Strange

Sigh. Guys. I was about to get a nice headstart on my Tuesday post. We're slow at work and I updated the new comic list and everything. The weirdest thing is that I was reading about Dr. Strange, both as a character and as the upcoming movie. Grantland recently posted an article about how hard it is to cast Dr. Strange. So here I am, talking to my girlfriend about these Doc Strange articles I read when she bashes me for not telling her the news I was clearly building to. The only news I had, on the other hand, was how ridiculous the stories tied to his STRANGE TALES appearances were ("Human Torch and Thing meet the Beatles!" "The Mad Thinker's maddest plot yet: BOUNCING BALL OF DOOM!" "The Terrible Toys!"). So she broke the news to me: Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to play Dr. Strange in Marvel's upcoming Dr. Strange movie.

Really big move here for Marvel, who has largely been casting lesser-known actors in their key hero roles lately (particularly as said roles tend to come attached to multi-picture deals). Paul Rudd was one of the bigger stars tied to a protagonist in the MCU (Robert Downey Jr. was in rebuilding mode when Iron Man turned his career right around, Chris Evans was great but not big when he signed on as Cap, and Chris Hemsworth was a relative unknown when he was cast as Thor) and now Cumberbatch moves from giant geek strongholds in Sherlock and Star Trek right over to the Marvel Universe. I hadn't even heard his name in relation to this movie yet but here it is, front-page on IMDb. On top of that, I think it's a pretty strong move. Cumberbatch has the weight and range of someone playing the mysterious Strange, though it begs the question which Strange is going to show up here. The aforementioned (and aforelinked) Grantland article does a great job giving a rundown on Strange's history and the many personality change he's undergone in his existence, including one more Sherlock Holmesian sort of run. Will Marvel typecast Cumberbatch here or let him show a little more range? The article also mentions that Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige wants a more Ditko sort of feel to the movie, a world Sherlock Holmes may not work in. Still, really big news and a really interesting move overall. Should be a lot of fun going forward as we now have our character, director (Scott Derrickson), and lead all worked out.

Leftovers 10-22-14

All-New Ghost Rider 8

Johnny Blaze has tracked Robbie Reyes and spirit Eli Morrow down, determined to learn more about this all-new Ghost Rider. Eli convinces Robbie to let him take the reins to fight Blaze as Johnny looks into his soul and discovers Eli is a murdering Satanist, news which shouldn't surprise Robbie but rather does. Eli is overpowered by Blaze but manages to escape, continuing to wrestle Robbie for control and eventually winning it, throwing Robbie's life into chaos and attacking an old contact of his. Still not a bad series though it occasionally gets a bit heavy-handed in this one. It's an interesting idea but it's not one that's particularly a shock at this point as anyone with a brain can see Eli's not a good dude. The art is occasionally confusing this issue, particularly as the two Ghost Riders fight, but it still looks compelling visually overall. Total Score: 4/5





All-New Invaders 11
The Invaders are trying to find Human Torch and settle him down. They suspect he's going crazy because the energy burst that he and Namor were hit with affected him differently. The exact line, and I'm not making this up, from Namor is "It stunned me but, I assume due to his synthetic makeup, drove Jim insane." That's it. End of diagnosis. Everyone essentially nods and says "Mhm, that sounds likely, great work Namor. Or should I say 'Dr. Namor?' You seem to be a pretty solid scientist now." So they find Jim and he freaks out about how he needs to be killed because all the bad energy in him and they all say no but they also kinda say yes (great friends, these dudes) and Namor steps up and talks about how Jim has always been the conscience of the team (sure, a team with constant do-gooder Captain America and the guy struggling with humanity is the conscience, whatever) and he's always made Namor a better guy and then true love's kiss from an unexpected source (Namor) saves the over-powerful and fearful Human Torch, whereupon he learns that he can control his powers and flies into the atmosphere to burn off the bad energy. Look. It's pretty much Frozen. But, and I can't stress this enough, with worse writing. I'm not even a big ol' Frozen fan and GEEZ I'd rather watch the hour and a half of that rather than read this comic again. Total Score: 1/5


All-New X-Factor 15

X-Factor is trying to keep World War Hate at bay in DC as Polaris and Gambit attempt to quell rioters, Cypher, Luna, and Georgia try to quell different rioters, Danger and Warlock provide a shield between the Pentagon and the people, and Quicksilver swaps out the nuclear launch codes the president is bringing to a remote location to use on Russia with a briefcase full of comics. Some complications ensue but they're all overcome and X-Factor stays above the hate (mostly) thanks to Danger and Warlock. However, as they regroup back at Serval, they learn that the briefcase Quicksilver stole has a tracking device on it and some Sentinels make their way over to Serval. Some interesting stuff here. The issue manages to drag somehow, despite the immense amount of action it hinges on. There's a lot of dialogue but it doesn't all advance the plot or build character, some of it just seems meant to drag, which is an odd use of dialogue. Dynamic art works in the book's favor, though, as it's a very kinetic book to flip through. Total Score: 3/5


Amazing Spider-Man 8
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man team up successfully to bring down Dr. Minerva, who claims to be working on behalf of the Kree to procure the cocoon. When a baby pops out of the cocoon, even one of Minerva's henchman recognizes how wrong what they're doing is and turns on the others, modifying their sonic scanner into a weapon and using it on his fellow henchmen. As Kamala and the henchman watch over the baby, Spider-Man sends Dr. Minerva scurrying away, calling her bluff about her affiliation with the Kree army. He then correctly identifies the henchman as none other than Clayton Cole and tells him to call up Peter Parker at Parker Industries if he's looking for a job. He also gives Kamala a killer pep talk. Meanwhile, Silk gets a new costume and, in the second half of the issue, Spider-Girl barely escapes Daemos, one of the Inheritors (that's apparently what they're called!), though her father and mother, Peter Parker and MJ Parker, aren't so lucky. Along with her baby brother Ben, Spider-Girl follows a couple other spiders out of her world and into the rebellion. The Kamala-Peter stuff is pretty great and is a crossover worth checking in to, if just to show how much Kamala's story mirrors Peter (though obviously there are some differences). We're also officially at the very edge of SPIDER-VERSE now as the true event is meant to kick off in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. The table's set, now it's time to actually serve up this next event. Total Score: 4/5


Amazing X-Men 12
Everyone is falling to the Wendigos and Tanaraq is nearing the breach between his world and the real world, prepared to conquer the world with his army of Wendigos. Storm convinces the other gods, beaten and corralled by Tanaraq, to give the X-Men their powers. With those powers combined, they manage to pull Tanaraq back from the portal and, along with the previously eaten Guardian, burst that guy up, ending the Wendigo Curse everywhere and reverting all those changed back to their regular forms. Altogether a pretty good first arc for the new creative team on this series. Yost and Kyle managed to make sure everyone they brought on this first story had some sort of an impact on the plot, which is easier said than done on a big team book like this. Better yet, the story itself was interesting enough alone. This ending is a little abrupt, as Storm basically says "hey you gods, give us your powers" and the gods go "well, okay, that's something we can evidently do." Still, strong work all around. Total Score: 4/5


Axis: Hobgoblin 1
Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin who has taken to selling criminal identities to up-and-comers, has changed his method and now sells hero identities to up-and-comers, rebranding himself has a motivational speaker of sorts and making crazy money in the process. The Goblin King, though, isn't so thrilled with the arrangement and wants Menace, Lily Holister, on his side to take down Kingsley. Menace has lost her goblin powers since Spider-Man injected her with the antidote but Goblin King believes that blowing up her car and forcing her into the river will probably do the trick to remind her she needs him (specious logic). Unfortunately, it wipes her mind a bit and sends her crawling to Roderick Kingsley in the hopes that he'll give her an identity. Kind of an interesting premise here but it relies on caring about a lot of Goblins, so if you don't you'll probably end up a little uninterested in this tie-in limited series. There are some fun bits but overall it's hard to nail a tone down on this one, which occasionally goes full joke but often also backs off and tries to go darker, weakening both. Total Score: 3/5


Cyclops 6
Cyclops and Corsair have been reunited with Corsair's team but, thanks in no small part to Scott not knowing what he's doing in space, they get captured by Starjammer enemy Malafect (I'm calling all space enemies Babbleblop Spaceman from now on because that's what most space baddies might as well be named). Corsair pretends to be furious with Scott to influence Spaceman, who decides to take Scott on as his own crew member after Cyclops, playing along, blasts Corsair with eyebeams. Babbleblop is into it and adopts Cyclops as his own (crew member). This issue, with a new creative team than the original (not a hundred percent sure if that's permanent or not, but Rucka and Dauterman are definitely both busy, so it, you know, still could be either), has lost a little bit of the spark of the first arc, which focused so much on building characters and bonding. This one gets more into the action and the typical sort of plot. It's still interesting enough to keep reading, but that's something to keep an eye on moving forward. Also, these sorts of space enemies tend to be interchangeable and uninteresting to me (hence: Babbleblop). Total Score: 3/5


Deadpool 36
Deadpool teams with Magneto and his crew to take down the Red Onslaught and his hero-killing Sentinels, which kind of draws the ire of his wife, who believes he needs to spend more time at home and helping her with her kingdom. As the Inversion Wave hits, things change quite a bit for Deadpool. Most of the heroes get surlier with him and oust his refugee friends from the X-Mansion. For Deadpool himself, though, the inversion has turned him peaceful and forgiving, giving way to an all-new Deadpool. It's a pretty neat idea and it's the first real mention of the effects of the inversion, proving that there could be interesting things ahead for AXIS. Since an initial terrible arc, DEADPOOL has turned itself into something really respectable (with a couple of road bumps) and a series that really knows its way around a crossover. Total Score: 4/5


Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 2

X-23 freaked out a bit after Wolverine's death and left the Xavier School, angrily storming out on Kitty. She goes and parties in some weird and skimpy outfit and then gets involved in a strange gang fight and teams up with and talks with The Chinook, ex-mutant formerly known as Windshear, who teaches her some things about mourning and healing and whatever else. She's all better by the end and heads back home, proud of her clone-dad. Really distracting that there's this story about a teenager who is dressed so ridiculously. I think a lot of people are having trouble with X-23, not knowing how to write her as she starts to evolve a bit, and this is no different. I think there's a compelling story (KIND OF, not really) but it's so weirdly handled and overshadowed by everything else that it gets drowned out. Total Score: 2/5





Secret Avengers 9
We are so close to done this and yet WE'RE NOT DONE YET, what's the deal? I've been writing this for altogether too long. Okay. What happened in this book? There was probably some more condescension as Kot references purportedly more high-culture literature and art. This book is rather a hipster and guys, I hate hipsters. Anyway, Tlon is coming and Deadpool is done distracting Hawkeye and MODOK escaped and is hanging out with a shaman. I still don't care about this book. The Deadpool-Hawkeye team-up is pretty alright though. Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 11

MeMe has been dumped by Fantomex and, after a lifetime of never being dumped and not really understanding how relationships work, Hope is dedicated to finding out why. In the middle of invading Volga's campus, Hope sneaks into Fantomex's mind, suddenly believing him to be scared of Cable, which is why he broke things off with her. Of course, Fantomex knows she's there and snaps at her, screaming about how he doesn't fear anyone and how he's sick of this team belittling him and underestimating him. He has Eva expel Hope from his mind and makes his next move. With Volga's team dispatched, Fantomex turns on his teammates, incapacitating them before explaining that he must kill them all to prove how much better he is than all of them. Before he can do it, though, Volga's mysterious assistant, who had been wreaking some havoc on them earlier, shoots him in the head, revealing herself to be Domino. Really great twists and turns here and Spurrier continues to do excellent work with Fantomex and the rest of the team. I think Hope is a little weakly developed here but I think he has more to say about her and to explore with her. Spurrier did CBR's X-Position this past week and gave, as ever, a really interesting interview that I've been wanting to show to you guys all week. Check it out here and learn more about his really interesting take on these guys. Anyway, continues to be great, this book. Total Score: 4/5