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

All-New Doop 2

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

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

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

Total Score: 3/5

Deadpool Annual 2

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

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

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

Total Score: 4/5

THUNDERBOLTS writing change

Hey guys, here's some news that is incredibly interesting to me both in who is leaving and who is coming. As CBR reported, Marvel has announced that Charles Soule will be replaced on THUNDERBOLTS by the Bens, Acker and Blacker. That's right, Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, who wrote last year's THUNDERBOLTS ANNUAL and DEADPOOL ANNUAL and are the creators and writers of the amazing and incomparable Thrilling Adventure Hour stage readings and podcast, will be taking over as THUNDERBOLTS writers starting in June. This is mixed for me as I've been a huge supporter of Charles Soule on THUNDERBOLTS. He's taken this book and really turned it into something incredible and massively fun after it started off a really compelling team and a less compelling story. So it's been great and I expect it to continue being great up until June, when the Bens will probably also do great but it may be a different kind of great and will undoubtedly mean that I read someone's voice as Croach the Tracker.

This week's picks

I...I can't. Look, there were too many books and too many good books and too many important books this week. How do you knock it down to three? Well hey, we're officially in the holiday season right now and, in America, this week marked the very worst ritual we have, Black Friday, so, in the spirit of excess, let's categorize what books you should get!

Best books ending this week:
Avengers Arena 18

Really sad to see the series go but glad to see it go on such a fitting last issue. The survivors have some serious darkness to them now, a darkness they'd rather not reveal to the world but one that might come out anyway. It will lead nicely into Hopeless' new AVENGERS UNDERCOVER.








Infinity 6

I have to call this the best major Marvel event in a long time, one that was both satisfying and epic enough without, for a change, pitting heroes vs. heroes. Don't get me wrong, CIVIL WAR is still my favorite event and it was the ultimate example of heroes vs. heroes but when you then have like, 50 straight events that do that, it loses some meaning. Here we had enemies and we had heroes and we had insurmountable odds being surmounted. This will lead nicely into both INHUMANITY and books like AVENGERS WORLD as the Avengers have really never been higher.


Best Avengers books this week:
New Avengers 12

Really phenomenal ending to INFINITY as we see the toll this has taken on the most troubled of the heroes right now. Where the Avengers have never been higher, the Illuminati have never been more out of their depth, facing Earth-shattering problem after Earth-shattering problem and finding themselves at the base of everything. Black Panther has been cast out of Wakanda, Black Bolt has been severely depowered and finds himself in hiding, Dr. Strange has turned to his darkest spells, and the others have to face the people they've teamed with, including Black Swan and, potentially, the frozen Thanos. So much happening, so many, as Namor said, kings without kingdoms.


Uncanny Avengers 14
Huge book for both this series and for the Marvel Universe as a whole as we see two major Marvel characters seemingly die (always have to add "seemingly" in there, though BOY does Rogue seem pretty dead) and one turn into ions, but he's done that before. On top of that, it's kind of all Rogue's fault, as she attacked Scarlet Witch not knowing her plan (and still not trusting her) and then wavered for a moment afterward, allowing Grim Reaper to strike. Whoops! Lots happening here and lots to be anxious about as we move to the next issue.




Most fun books this week:
Hawkeye 14

Matt Fraction has really developed a character for Kate Bishop, who had ever really only appeared in YOUNG AVENGERS before, a book that was both a team book, thus typically taking some amount of individuality out, and a book that required her to step up and take the mature role amongst a bunch of younger people. She was sarcastic and clearly competent there but Fraction has turned that just a bit as she really gets to thrive by herself. She's fun, she's resourceful, she's caring, she's persistent, and she's a star now so she gets to shine here. Annie Wu does absolutely fantastic art for Kate, filled with complexities and emotion. Great issue.


Deadpool Annual 1

Not a ton by way of substance here but, well, honestly kind of more than I tend to expect out of annuals. Still a really fun issue that brings out the sort of Deadpool I tend to like most, one that is funny and probably insane but that is less absurd and less weird than the world he's entered into. The book itself had some nice little moments, including sound-effects and transitions like "TURN-AROUND," "CATCH," and "ATTACH." Also a couple of good Looney Tunes homages in there.

Scarlet Spider 24

This might seem a strange one to put in "most fun," as it mostly features a really fundamentally troubled Kaine and it ends with our hero and his friends being shot with a rocket launcher, but it did have a sense of fun to it. Part of that was in the pacing, which is very strong even as it leads to an extremely chaotic finish. Another part was in the individual moments and dialogue. The most fun part of the book, for me, was the homage to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 50, the infamous "Spider-Man No More!" story, as Kaine throws his costume in a trash-can and lights it on fire, saying "Scarlet Spider no more!" only to find that the unstable molecules in the costume prevent it from catching fire. There are other fun bits with Aracely here and there and the ramping tone gives everything a frenzied but somewhat fun sense. Good issue.

Books I didn't mention but that, you know, were still pretty good:
Avengers Assemble 21
Spider-lady team!












Indestructible Hulk 16

D'aww, Randall Jessup.












Nova 10

Some neat little moments, including dream sequences and the Watcher!

Nova 10, Deadpool Annual 1

Nova 10
Wells and Duggan (w) and Barberi, Lopez, Medina, Livesay, Vlasco, and Pallot (a) and Curiel and Stewart (c)

This is technically issue 100 of various NOVA books so we get an oversized issue with a couple of stories in it. The first continues where we'd left off, with Zeb Wells showing us a contract negotiation between Sam and his mother as they try to find a common ground that will allow Sam to join a superhero team. He's under the impression that this team will be the Avengers, who he still recalls being asked by Thor to join, but, in truth, it's for the position of reserve on the New Warriors, soon to be formed by Speedball and Justice. He's angry that he has to deal with this contract at all and angrier still that it'd be for a team without much prestige or power, so he throws a bit of a fit and, against his mother's wishes, he flies off to talk with the Watcher. The Watcher, of course, doesn't really talk back, but does show Sam images of the previous Nova, Richard Rider, teaming up with unknowns and providing them a lot of firepower before teaming up with the Avengers and providing them next to nothing. Sam understands and goes home, signing the contract and optimistic that he can be of use on a smaller team with more realistic goals. The second story gives us our first taste of Gerry Duggan as the new NOVA writer, giving us a quick story that shows Nova responding to a distress call in space and saving the human and alien onboard while his mom, back on Earth, argues with the school principal about Sam's truancy issues. Sam saves the aliens and heads home, hoping to make it to school on time only to find himself nearly mysteriously blinded when he reaches Earth again. Likely, that's where our story will pick up next time. A third story (comprised of solely a double page spread) shows us a peek at what NOVA 1000 would look like. It's cutesy but lacking most charm, honestly. Fortunately, it's two pages so whatever.

Not a bad book. It's certainly a nice transition from Wells to Duggan as we see the official conclusion of the storyline Wells brought to the book throughout INFINITY and with the New Warriors' appearance. Wells brings the same sort of energy to Sam that he'd done throughout his short run on the series and it's easy to recognize why he'll be missed, pushing forward. It's still obviously far too early to say anything about Duggan and a rather short second story in here doesn't give us enough to judge but Wells did a phenomenal job bringing an energy and an easy levity to the series, which is not as easy to do with superhero books as you might expect it to be. Solid conclusion for Wells and a nice little start for Duggan, even if it was too short to really glean a ton about what's coming next, beyond sudden blindness.

Deadpool Annual 1
Acker and Blacker (w) and Shaner (a) and Gandini (c)

A quick trip back in Deadpool's somewhat recent past shows him hired, just before SECRET INVASION, to kill Matt Murdock, Hell's Kitchen's most famous attorney. Deadpool bemoans the fact that New York is a tough place to get things done, what with all of the passing-by superheroes and ninjas and what-not. He's interrupted before he takes his sniper shot by a character calling himself Madcap, someone who seems more than a little crazy and who, like Deadpool, has healing factor powers as well as the power to make people go varying levels of crazy. For the already-crazy Deadpool, it backfires on Madcap and ends with Deadpool feeling pretty relaxed. At this point, Daredevil shows up and delivers a solid beating to the two of them before Thor also appears and lightnings the villains into dust. Deadpool eventually re-shapes but Madcap is nowhere to be seen; at least not until Deadpool starts thinking and realizes that Madcap has clearly reshaped with him. It's been a rather long-time thing with Deadpool that he has two different caption boxes, one yellow and one white. Turns out the white one has been Madcap, trapped in Deadpool's mind. 'Pool admits that it grew on him after a while, having someone else to talk to, but another contract to kill Murdock leads to another superhero smack down when Luke Cage confronts Deadpool (near the start of Marvel NOW) and punches him enough to let Madcap take temporary control of the body, which doesn't sit well with the mercenary. Thor again shows up and Madcap, using his powers, gets Cage and Thor to start a tug of war using Deadpool's body and ripping Madcap from him, hence why there are no more white caption boxes. Daredevil shows up again and beats Deadpool down and Deadpool can't help but miss the other voice in his head.

Fun little book that both gives a direct reason for part of Deadpool's craziness and then takes it away, changing very little but giving us a nice little origin story of sorts. It's a clever little twist, not without its own charms, and it's presented well. Madcap and Deadpool are rather funny together and everyone else that has a cameo is well-written and funny in his own right (as a "Thrilling Adventure Hour" fan, I couldn't help notice that Acker and Blacker wrote Thor a little like Croach the Tracker which did not upset me in the slightest and which also made Daredevil feel a little like Sparks Nevada but probably only to me). Despite the slight shift in "origin," the book certainly isn't particularly serious and it's hard to say if this will impact canon or anything or if Madcap, who leaves this issue miraculously in one piece, will turn up again at some point or if this was a one-off deal but it's certainly a fun book and it has a good deal of charm to back it up and to slot it nicely into its role as an Annual issue.

Comics this week

GEEZ, HOPE YOU GUYS WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING OVER THE THANKSGIVING WEEKEND AS WE HAVE JUST TOO MANY COMICS TO READ. That's right, tons of books releasing this week including a handful of really big ones and a handful of ones I don't really want to read but I will because I, you guys, am a hero. Anyway, let's talk about some of them!

Avengers Arena 18
The final issue of the surprisingly amazing AVENGERS ARENA. I've loved this series for quite some time now and I'm sad to see it end but I'm glad that presumably we'll get some closure. Everyone out there should be interested to see who lives, who doesn't, who wins, what happens to Arcade, etc. Glad this one's lasted seemingly as long as it was meant to.

Deadpool Annual 1
Okay, so this maybe isn't the biggest book in a week filled with really big books and it might not even be the one I'm most excited for BUT this one definitely deserves a look. The preview for it looked like a lot of fun and it's written by the spectacular writing team of Ben Acker and Blacker, writers and creators of "The Thrilling Adventure Hour" podcast, among other things. The duo is immensely talented and clearly has a love for comics. They made their Marvel debut with WOLVERINE SEASON ONE early this year, which I didn't necessarily love, but I think Deadpool will fit their tone really well. Also they have a bit more experience now, as they just released the "Thrilling Adventure Hour" graphic novel I still need to check out.

Hawkeye 14
HAWKEYE this week, you guys! I believe this will be the first issue that officially splits Hawkeye and Hawkeye up, East Coast vs. West Coast, and will also kick off the artist rotation of the amazing David Aja and the increasingly impressive Annie Wu. This is one of the best books out there and it took a bit of a break in the middle there so now any time we get it back is exciting.

Infinity 6
The end of INFINITY (minus the last tie-in book) is here and I have some trouble believing that everything will go perfectly smoothly and that everyone will survive. I've been hedging my bets on this for a while and my predictions for who won't make it out are pretty well-documented at this point but, more than that, we're reaching the end of a major Marvel event, one that has very much defied expectations throughout. Looking forward to it.

New Avengers 12
DID SOMEONE MENTION A LAST TIE-IN BOOK? Yes. I did, in the parentheses near the beginning of the last entry. This was all planned, you guys. The event is ending and the phenomenal story of NEW AVENGERS will officially bring us there. There's so much happening in this event and so much in this book overall, both before and during the event. Really looking forward to where the tensions of this team land us in the aftermath. Should be a lot of fun and, as much as I've liked this event, I'm still excited for the main story to return.