New Avengers 24, Mighty Avengers 14, Secret Avengers 8

New Avengers 24

We're eight months in the future and Namor comes to Doom for help getting rid of his cabal, who he has realized are maybe a little too violent and bloodthirsty for his liking, and for help with the incursions. Doom provides neither, resentful that he is Namor's second choice. Meanwhile, Black Panther and Shuri use the distraction of another incursion to attempt to steal back all the anti-matter bombs housed in Wakanda, currently occupied by the Cabal, but find themselves facing Maximus and Proxima Midnight, left behind to guard. They barely escape and Black Panther teleports back to the Illuminati but Shuri chooses to stay behind and fight for Wakanda. Back in Latveria, Doom explains to Kristoff that he didn't accept Namor's offer because it's clear he understands more of what's going on than Namor does, so he wouldn't benefit from an alliance. Instead, the Mad Thinker has been working for Doom to study the piece of a world the Mapmakers left behind and finally Thinker has used it to map out all of the marked worlds and to trace it back to its originator, the person behind all this. Doom intends to turn the tables on this person, hoping to use the Molecule Man to strike back at the incursions.

As with AVENGERS, this book has leapt eight months into the future and now has 30+ pages to get us somewhat caught up on the state of the world. Also like AVENGERS, it does a pretty good job of it. Hickman delicately balances things we need to know now with things that can wait, meaning that we largely get good explanation without over-exposition. We also get a glimpse at what the Cabal is doing to other worlds, annihilating their people and relishing the opportunity to destroy their incurring worlds. Where everything seemed slightly askew and mildly threatening in AVENGERS, everything in this book seems horrible, like every plan ever devised has gone wrong,w which seems to be Hickman's intent. Valerio Schiti does an excellent job on the art front and overall it's an engaging and exciting finished project. NEW AVENGERS brings the last two years of stories to a head masterfully, never hand-holding and never over-explaining, illustrating a world that came about naturally well down the line.

Total Score: 5/5


Mighty Avengers 14

The Deathwalker Prime begins to transmit nightmares to every living being on the planet, causing everyone to kneel to it, but Luke Cage stands against the nightmares, fighting back and ultimately securing the ceremonial goblet in which the blood was combined and passing it on to a similarly breaking-free Kaluu, who manages to use the goblet himself to create the Avenger Prime, a mighty being with the combined strengths of the entire Mighty Avengers (except for Cage, who remains out of it) and which manages to defeat the Deathwalker Prime, freeing everyone on Earth. Cage destroys the goblet and the team decides to take a little vacation, primed to return in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS.

It's a pretty strong ending to a book I mostly found middling. Most of my problems with the book have been tonal dissonance or inside jokes or whatever you'd call the captions strewn about the book and that sort of thing kind of continues here but mostly reins it in to let the story and the characters do the talking. When the book got out of its own way, I liked it more. As with my feelings toward SECRET AVENGERS (we'll get to that), it's entirely possible those captions and other little bits strewn here and there appealed to a great number of people. They weren't my thing and they got int he way of the book for me, taking what could have been a personal and strong tone and muddying it with a need for forced laughs. Still, that's more a critique of the series and less a critique of this issue, which remains rather strong, though I have little connection to the main villain so it's a little difficult to feel the weight of the story. Ewing does what he can by showing that the entire planet is affected by the attack but it's a global threat that feels like it came out of nowhere, so its actual threat-level is hard to take seriously (okay, it's comics, seriously is CLEARLY "comics seriously" here). Kind of nitpicky but you have to believe the villains just as much as you believe the heroes. Still a good book.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 8

Maria Hill believes that MODOK is behind everything and explains, bit by bit, why to Spider-Woman, who has more questions than answers. We also flash back to various points in the last eight months or so to see MODOK working with head scientist Snapper to plan their allegiance switch to SHIELD and to quickly rise through the ranks and take it over from Hill, a plan that is slightly stalled as he reveals by issue's end that he's, in fact, in love with Maria Hill.

Nope, still don't get and/or like this one. It's not helped that one of the key contributors to the series is Maria Hill, who I cannot come around to. Right now, we're talking about a personal, intimate battle of wits between Maria Hill and MODOK and I don't understand who that sentence appeals to.

Total Score: 1/5

SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: Ultimate FF 2, Miracleman 6

Ultimate FF 2
Fialkov (w) and Guevara (p) and Vlasco, Hanna, Pennington, and Leisten (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

The FF, complete with new member Victor Van Damme, are tasked with finding out what happened to group of disappeared rich people living in an underwater luxury destination built near the ruins of Lemuria. Falcon and Stark speculate that the abrupt disappearance has to do with dimensional shifts but they have to put their theories aside when suddenly Namor, the thought-dead emperor of Atlantis, appears, as does apparently the entire population of Atlantis, all of whom have super strength because everyone seems to be from a different dimension.

It's a little hard to follow some of the different dimension talk because the theories start to ask if just about everyone they stumble upon isn't from a different dimension but nothing is ever really confirmed. Some of the bickering between the team is fun (a good Doom is typically a welcome addition to any sort of team book or, you know, any book) but some of it feels a little out of place and forced. Still, the book has an energy and a sense of fun to it that's certainly welcome. I should mention that Tom Grummett is credited with layout work on the art in this book but I didn't want to double use the letter "L" above.

Total Score: 4/5


Miracleman 6
Moore (w) and A. Davis and Ridgway (a) and Oliff (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miracleman and Evelyn Cream head to Paraguay to find Gargunza, who Miracleman suspects has his wife. While Cream wrestles with his motivations for all of his actions, Miracleman stays decidedly quiet, seemingly scared. Gargunza, meanwhile, runs some tests on Liz thinking about how neat it's going to be to be immortal. We also get a flash to the past of Gargunza and MM as, back in the testing days of the '60s, Gargunza observed and experimented on Miracleman. One particular set of tests, though, started to see Miracleman's subconscious begin to try to rouse him from his sleep, to set him to the task of stopping Gargunza. Gargunza manages to set his mind at ease at the last moment but the fear he raised is palpable.

Another strong issue, though this one feels almost like a rest issue, giving us a chance to kind of catch up with the story and prep for the upcoming encounter between Miracleman and Gargunza. There are interesting things happening with Cream that we're only kind of privy to but dishing it out slowly is an effective way to keep us interested. Plenty of cool things still happening in this book and it continues to be a worthwhile read even for those not so interested in the re-release.

Total Score: 5/5

FF 16, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 9

FF 16
Fraction and Lee Allred (s) and Lee Allred (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)
Backup story: Kesel and Lee Allred (s) and Lee Allred (w) and Quinones and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

It's Scott Lang vs. Doom in the battle that the entirety of this run of FF has been building towards. The team has depowered Doom and kept him from the power he so desperately craves after getting his hands on it for such a short time last issue and wielding it like the god he wants to be. So it's man-to-man for Scott and Doom and Scott starts pounding on the evil dictator and giving him a piece of his mind. There's a lot to do with Doom being a sociopath and Lang being an ex-con Cassie's death and so forth. Just as Lang's preparing for his final Doom beat-down, the Living Tribunal shows up to punish Doom for striking the Watcher. He decrees that Doom's face gain a new scar for every horrible crime he enacts going forward. Then he leaves and Lang beats him up some more. The story ends as Ravonna brings Franklin and Val to Scott and gives Doom a vision that he killed Val in the same way he killed Cassie and I guess all is as it should be maybe? The issue ends with the same backup story as in FANTASTIC FOUR 16.

The fatal flaw of this issue is that it just seems to want to do a little too much. Between the really long and somehow rather preachy speech from Scott Lang as he pounds on Doom and the sudden appearance of the Living Tribunal and a somewhat ham-fisted explanation of how powerful Scott Lang is and how he harnessed the true power of Pym Particles and all sorts of other things, the issue really starts to drag on to the point where I was reading it and kind of saying "okay, we get it." It leaves you almost feeling bad for Doom who is very CLEARLY the villain here but who doesn't really come off that way after Scott's long speech. I think the problem has also had to do with focus as the series wound its way down. Bit of a strange send-off, really, and one that, like FANTASTIC FOUR 16, felt a little like maybe it snuck up on the creators a bit. Ah well.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 9
Shinick (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man can't help but feel like things are a little tense in the city despite his anti-crime campaign. Everything is eerily quiet until bullets start flying at him. He dodges them and decks his stomach and chest area in his webbing before flying down at his assailant. Spidey is surprised to find that it's Punisher shooting at him (and unaware that his new webbing is bulletproof) and quickly learns that Punisher was trying to get his attention for Daredevil, who is also hanging around. The two are suspicious of the way Spider-Man has been acting lately and they both suspect that he may have had a hand in the theft of a goblin glider from one of Punisher's armories. Spider-Man consents to bring them to Spider-Island to show them his own armory and to prove that he didn't take Punisher's stuff. They talk about how secure Spidey has made the place and how protected he's made the arms he's found but, of course, when he opens the weapons room everything is gone, save one pumpkin bomb flying at them. Punisher shoots it out of the air and he and Daredevil manage to see (or "see," in Daredevil's case) someone trying to escape, disguised as one of Spidey's henchmen. Daredevil sniffs the guy out and the guy reveals that he's covered himself in pumpkin bombs, ready to take the whole place down if need be. He asks for directions from the person he's working for but said person (who we know to be the Green Goblin) does not respond, realizing that Daredevil would hear him and preferring not to be in the open yet. Punisher shoots the trigger out of his hand but it doesn't stop the henchman from dropping a smoke grenade followed by a flashbomb, effectively blinding Punisher (wearing night vision goggles). Punisher throws a knife at the man, upsetting Spider-Man who hoped to get answers about other people that the man referenced. Soon, though, his answers come as seemingly his entire henchman army turns on the three superheroes.

Geez, plenty going on for a typically pretty self-contained book. AVENGING SPIDER-MAN also had a team-up between these three and it was a bit more tense in terms of the relationship between the three established characters, even though that one featured Peter Parker as Spider-Man. This one ties very nicely into the events of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN and builds well off both the imminent GOBLIN NATION arc and the pretty obvious building antipathy between Spider-Man and his henchmen. It also kicks off with the typical accusation that maybe something isn't quite right with Spider-Man, an accusation well-leveled here (geez Daredevil, get in on the action) and one that slots nicely into a time when everyone is at their most suspicious of him. In fact, the only real flaw I see with this book is that, as the back cover indicates, it takes place between SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 26 and 27, meaning that it comes out before the books its supposed to take place between. It's not bad enough that it really damages the issue in any significant way, just kind of gives you the sneaking suspicion that maybe there's even more to this story that we haven't seen yet. Otherwise, though, really good issue, fun and quick-paced. Lot of action and a solid team-up between these three oft-teamed heroes. Also really good Marco Checchetto art. I think I keep accidentally confusing his name with maybe Carmine Di Giandomenico (I know, don't ask me how) and I like Checchetto's art a good deal more so I'm excited whenever I get a book from the one I like more.

Fantastic Four 16, Thunderbolts 20

Fantastic Four 16
Main story: Fraction and Kesel (s) and Kesel (w) and Ienco (a) and Mounts (c)
Backup story: Kesel and Lee Allred (s) and Kesel (w) and Quinones and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

The Fantastic Four and the Other Fantastic Four are locked in combat with Doom the Annihilating Conqueror and quickly realizing that their powers are no match for him. As a last ditch plan, the F4 agree to take on the full power of the Other Fantastic Four, effectively doubling their own power. It works and they manage to take down Doom, in a manner of speaking. In truth, Doom has been spread about the cosmos, welcome to reform in any other universe if he should ever figure out how. In the course of the battle, the F4 died but the Other F4 revived them almost immediately so no harm done, I guess. After all this time traveling, the F4 finally return home. They talk with Old John Storm and some weird time travel stuff happens and he returns to his home dimension, setting off an explosion that distracts Doom the AC long enough to give the teams the chance they need to defeat him. It's a sacrifice that actually does cost him his life (for more than a minute, presumably) so the F4 celebrate him by throwing a party in the backup story, which finds everyone from the F4 to the FF catching up and hanging out before a final page send-off for the books and these creative teams.

It's the end of an era for the Fantastic Four as the current series ends. Although Marvel's first family will get a new book as soon as next month, it's still a giant era coming to an end as superstar Marvel editor Tom Brevoort ends his historic time with the title. There's a nice letter from him at the end of the issue that's worth checking out to get a glimpse at the man behind the curtain (who also has a tumblr where he answers even the most petty of fan questions with varying degrees of humor, brutal honesty, and "wait and see"s). As for this issue itself, it serves, particularly with the backup story, as a nice little ending to the series (I don't know this for certain but I wouldn't be surprised if the same backup story appears at the end of FF 16). The execution of the main story is a little lacking, with maybe a little too much of an emphasis on time travel to really work for me. People who have read my reviews of ALL-NEW X-MEN and AGE OF ULTRON and various other time travel books this year will know that I hold the "rules of time travel" in pretty high esteem. I don't believe that I do it because I think there are set rules that must be obeyed; instead, I do it because I think time travel is impossible to set rules to, which means there will always be questions that could otherwise be avoided. I think the "rules of time travel" are absolutely necessary because they're so ridiculously complex that it means any story involving time travel has to be so meticulously planned out that it can't be used lightly. Once the time travel genie is out of the bottle, good luck sticking it back in there. The most recent major example, I think, is probably Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think Rowling did a good job to work within certain parameters of time travel and tell an engaging story but it didn't stop every single person in the world from suddenly looking at all of the events of the series and saying "well if a time-turner exists, why wouldn't you use that to stop everything?" In the case of this issue, there are too many weird little rules that are kind of followed and kind of not, like Old John Storm's synaptic-relay arm that transfers memories between himself and Johnny and that then he uses to know he goes to the moment in time when there's an explosion that distracts Doom and dies but how does he even exist if the F4 defeated Doom in that and, ugh, time travel. It's often just not worth it. Boy this went longer than I hoped it would.

Thunderbolts 20
Soule (w) and Barberi (a) and Silva (c)

The Thunderbolts have reached their destination, an old, abandoned research facility that fronted as a diner before it shut down. Ross leads the others down to the facility and deems it acceptable as a new base. Deadpool brings out the hat again to choose a name but Ross says it's time for one of his missions. The mission in this case, of course, is to take down Mercy. The Leader proposes a perfect solution, assuming they can enact it: send Mercy to Hell, where she'll have no end of souls who clamor for death. It's up to the T-Bolts to figure out how to actually get her there and Flash and Ross have a plan. They seek out Johnny Blaze, original Ghost Rider, and enlist him to call Mercy to them and then send her through a portal to Hell that Blaze will open up. They set up in the research facility and form a five-pointed star (Blaze would prefer a seven-pointed star but Punisher refuses to take part and a six-pointed star does no good at all so he and Elektra both sit out) and Blaze tells them that, if the spell is done right, Mercy will appear before them and then be sent to Hell. Everything starts moving and then the T-Bolts in the star find themselves in Hell with Blaze saying "Oops."

Another front-to-back really fun book. There are great little moments spread throughout, like Deadpool somehow managing to accidentally pick the "impossible to pick" sequence of songs on a jukebox that opens the way to the research facility or the re-emergence of his ridiculous hat or murmurs of a failed Hollywood career for Johnny Blaze after appearing in two terrible movies (I'd like to note here that a lot of comics tend to start drawing characters a little more like they appear in the movies, if they appear in movies, but I'm both appreciative and amused that Johnny Blaze never started to look like Nicholas Cage). There are also human moments throughout the book that really help establish character more, like Elektra's very human "at least we're out of the van" line and her talk with Punisher about why he's still with the team now that his mission has been achieved. This is one of those rare team books where I'm never wishing we were focusing on someone else; when the story calls on a moment for the Leader, I'm not thinking about the time we could be spending with Deadpool and vice versa, all over the team. It's just a really enjoyable book with a solid cast (I think only improved by Ghost Rider if this issue is any indication of the way Soule will write him) and a really engaging plot. I'm not sure there's another book out there more fun than this one right now.

Comics this week

For anyone who happened to stop by the blog yesterday at some point (hopefully no other times) and found it down, my apologies. Something was going on with my Google account that was shutting down most everything connected to it. Really hoping we don't have any more of those any time soon. Anyways, onwards we march.

Captain Marvel 14
The likely climactic conclusion of The Enemy Within storyline as Carol confronts Yon-Rogg and the Avengers back her up. I honestly can say I don't know what's coming in this story but it, so far, has shown me again that events are best left in small and capable hands only involving a couple of titles and with a very limited run. This has essentially just been an arc that's run through two books for four issues, not a full-scale event in the way Marvel makes them these days. Still hoping Infinity pans out; I'm not sitting here waiting for Infinity to be bad because it benefits me to have something to write about beside my usual "pretty interesting!" tag. I'd much rather be boring and have great stuff to read than be more controversial and have crappy books. Oh yeah, but this Captain Marvel is the book we're talking about right now and I bet it's going to be a good one.

Daredevil 29
This book almost didn't make the cut because, as much as I love this book, it always makes the cut and this seemed like one of the few times where I genuinely wasn't as interested in the story as I have been every other time. It seemed like a prime opportunity to get another book in, like X-Men or Venom or Hulk. However, after I'd written my other four entries and was picking out my fifth book, I looked back and decided that I'm not going to leave a book out for being too good all the time. Instead, we should celebrate how lucky we are to have a really great Daredevil book that examines his character without throwing him through the worst of the worst at all times. We have an undoubtedly fantastic issue coming to us as Daredevil examines his own character through the eyes of former bully Hackett, a man he hated before he was gunned down in front of him by someone with ties to the Sons of the Serpent. Should be a nice entry to the series, like every other one. This book is just good reading all the way through.

FF 10
This book continues to be fun and fresh and the plot is going to an interesting place right now as the FF jump into the timestream to try to find the Fantastic Four. The Julius Caesar alien was a pretty neat guy back in his F4 introduction and hopefully will continue to be so here as he guides the FF on to their next adventure. This book has been surprisingly fun as its continued and it's worth reading every new issue as the team finds out more about itself and as Fraction shows us more and more about the workings of these kids and these adults. Solid book, should be another neat, new issue. And don't forget, somewhere out there, Doctor Doom is still holding Alex Power's parents and using him as a spy on the FF.

Ultimates 28
The Ultimates Disassembled storyline continues as it reaches all kinds of crazy new heights. Following the apparent death of Antonio Stark, the villains of this book seem to only need one more Infinity Gem to really reshape the universe in its entirety to their whim. Cap and Hawkeye are captured, Ben Grimm appears also to have died, Sue is separated, and Fury's strike-force team is preparing but is probably a bit untrained and certainly not on the level of the Ultimates, who were already handily defeated by these guys. They have a Hulk with Infinity Gems. Formidable.

X-Men Legacy 14
Hopefully here we'll find out a little bit more of what Legion is up to in this arc as he's now taken control, without any sort of permission, of several British/United Kingdom superheroes and appears to have decided that he has to do what he has to do, even if the people he needs don't cooperate. It's not exactly what the X-Men and others worried about with Legion but it's certainly along those same lines as his tremendous power makes him a worry for everyone else in the superhero community and in the world at large. As someone who has loved David throughout this run, I'm very interested to see what's going on in his mind; we didn't get that last time as we focused the lens through Pete Wisdom. I'm not sure we'll get it this issue but boy, I'd like to know a little more about what's happening.

FF 8, Guardians of the Galaxy 4

FF 8
Fraction (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c)

The Baxter Building has reappeared in New York, fresh out of the Negative Zone and carrying, unbeknownst to our team, a hitchhiking Annihilus. Alex Power sees the report in the newspaper and tells Doom that he should probably be heading home now to help those kids deal with what happened. Doom strikes him and drags him to a holding cell, where he's keeping Alex's parents. Alex will do what Doom says from now on, Doom decrees. Meanwhile, the FF leave Dragon Man in charge of the kids and head to Himalayas, former site of the Inhumans' Attilan. There Medusa offers herself up for challenge from any Inhuman who thinks he or she could protect the children of the FF better than Medusa has, given her recent brainwashing. No one challenges her, which frustrates She-Hulk. She-Hulk views the Inhumans at this little tribunal as a bunch of yes-men and she believes that they should consider replacing Medusa for this. Medusa herself seems a little unsure of whether she's qualified or not but it's She-Hulk who really drives the point home. Back home, Bentley-23 and Ahura have returned to the Baxter Building and are promptly set upon by the other children, who call them "bad guys." Traps have been set all around the building and Bentley-23 and Ahura must try to navigate them while explaining that they're not bad. Or rather, that he is, he was born to be, but he's no different than before. Ahura is increasingly annoyed by everything but Bentley is pretty patient with everyone, eventually winning them over and complimenting Tong's new lifestyle choice. Later, in the Inhumans' flying city, Medusa comes to She-Hulk in her bedroom and gives her the chance to speak more as no one else will. It goes badly and the two end up in a scuffle. The two crash through several walls, including into what seems to be a hallway that Scott is walking down on his cellphone. He breaks the two up and tells them that Dragon Man has reported that Alex Power has returned home. Back home, old John Storm wakes up again, still screaming about Doom, and we find out that Doom, joined by Annihilus now, is getting information from an outside source: a young Kang the Conqueror, sometime in his life between Iron Lad and Kang and going by Immortus (changed from Kid Immortus by his girlfriend Ravonna).

A lot happened here, which seems to be the norm for this book. They don't match up against villains every issue or even every few issues but plenty continues to go on behind the scenes for our heroes. Here we've set up a rift in the FF, a spy among them, questions about worthiness on the team, and a few key villains teaming up with their eyes on the FF. Immortus is an interesting choice of villain and one I hadn't seen coming. Yes, Kang is kind of all over the Marvel Universe right now but he's in a great spot here. If this is at a time where we've somewhat recently left Iron Lad of the Young Avengers behind, which his attitude and youth seem to point at, his last bit of time on Earth saw his then girlfriend killed in front of him while the Avengers refused to let him go into the future to try to save her, as he'll eventually attempt with Ravonna (fifty year old spoiler). That girlfriend? Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott. Who killed her? Dr. Doom. All kinds of questions come up with this villain team-up and it's exciting to see where it's all going to end up.

Guardians of the Galaxy 4
Bendis (w) and Pichelli (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Guardians have escaped the Spartax guard and now celebrate at a shady bar, especially praising Groot who saved them all. Drax is drinking a fair amount and getting pretty belligerent, Peter is trying to attract a woman he found, and Tony is still fretting a bit about Earth. Rocket gives him a sort of phone that will allow him to call back to Earth from pretty much anywhere. Tony and Gamora flirt briefly and pretty quickly end up back in a room on the ship together. We flash from the bar to post-coitus and Gamora decides she's going back to the bar. On her way back, she's targeted by an assassin and shot in the back. The shot stuns her and her attacker, Maxilin the Accuser, comes to brag a bit about how she didn't even seem to realize there was a bounty on her head and how he so easily brought her down. She, of course, gets up and beats the crap out of him, only being brought down again when she tries to use his gun which will only work for him. Down again and this time with fewer tricks left, she's surprised to find Maxilin shot instead of her, as Rocket and the rest of the Guardians come around the corner, fleeing the bar which is quickly filling up with Spartax royal guard. They head back for the ship, where Tony has just called home to ask Pepper how things are going and if Earth is okay (it is). As they make their way to the ship, the audience sees Maxilin, still alive, slink away.

It seems if anyone is enlightened by Peter's announcement to the Spartax about they're corrupt king, it's not the Spartax royal guard and so we haven't eliminated any sort of fugitive feel for the team. Add on the bounty hunter(s) who will no doubt be coming after Gamora and the intrigue of whatever has caused those hunters to come after her and we have a bit of a story developing. The issue moves pretty well and Pichelli's art continues to stand out. There's a little of the back-and-forth dialogue but "a little" isn't detrimental. I think I can pretty easily say this is my favorite Bendis book coming out right now (I'll be ranting about two others tomorrow), though it's still too early for me to deem it a particularly successful book. I like a lot of where it's going and what it's doing but we'll have to let it feel itself out more.

Fantastic Four 9, Indestructible Hulk 9

Fantastic Four 9
Fraction (w) and Bagley and Farmer (a) and Mounts w/ Guru eFX (c)

After Ben's reveal that he believes it's his fault that Doctor Doom is the way that he is, the gang needs a bit of closure on the subject. Fortunately, this is the type of gang who is liable to travel around with an observational time machine (something that allows them to travel through time but not be seen) so Ben and Reed decide to peek in and see what they can find. Reed first explains to Ben that, no matter what happens, nothing is ever as simple as "you bumped into that guy and messed with his lab and now he's evil," which is the situation Ben is leaning towards. Victor, he continues, had a very difficult childhood that led him to many dark places and it's hard to say what is, let alone what could have been. Still, they go back to the day of Doom's "birth" and intend to view what happens. They're surprised to see a score of other Dooms doing more or less the same thing, invisibly witnessing the transformation from Victor Von Doom to Doctor Doom. Reed tries to use this fact to soothe Ben, saying, more or less "look what an egotistical jerk this guy is, he would have gone crazy anyway" but it doesn't really help Ben. Finally, as a young Victor is about to climb into the machine, Ben reveals himself and tries to keep him out of the accident. The other Dooms uncloak and a fight breaks out. Victor immediately recognizes Ben and scolds him, nothing that nothing that Ben could have done would ever have impacted Doom. Ben and Reed leave, dejected that Doom would choose this knowing something would go wrong, and have another talk about Doom's nature and the causality of time. Meanwhile, Doom becomes Doom.

This is definitely an interesting look into the creation of Doctor Doom and it's nice to have that "I think I caused this" angle from Ben. There's also, Reed points out, reason to believe that it was Reed and not Ben who caused this because he knew Victor's math was wrong in the experiment that deformed him but he backed down when Doom refused his help. However, Reed isn't nearly as bothered by this, which is telling for both characters. Of course, Reed's character is supposed to be one who looks into the future and doesn't think on the past whereas we're getting a far more introspective side of Ben that would be driven by some regrets. Even after seeing that the creation of Doom, ostensibly, wasn't his fault, he still feels that the accident that spawned the F4 was some sort of karmic retribution for trashing Doom's lab. It's not a happy place, Ben's mind, and it's clear that we're not quite done with it yet. In related news, I find myself more and more enjoying the Marvel Universe's representation of Reed these days, between Fraction's books and Hickman's New Avengers. Solid stuff.

Indestructible Hulk 9
Waid (w) and Scalera (a) and Staples (c)

The full terms of Banner's deal with SHIELD are revealed as we learn that Banner put some sort of insurance on himself. If he doesn't report in to his own agent to assure him that SHIELD hasn't tried to drop Hulk into the sun or something, his agent is supposed to rain hell down on Maria Hill and the rest of SHIELD. That's why he chose, as his agent, a lawyer with superpowers. Matt Murdock is constantly checking in with Banner and the two plan a meet-up while SHIELD brings Hulk to take down a super high grade arms-dealer. Daredevil meets up with Hill as Hulk is launched onto the large vessel, quickly accusing Hill of dropping Hulk into an unknown situation wherein he's charged with facing off against supremely high ordnance weapons. Hill waves Daredevil off, explaining that this is why they have Hulk and it's far less of a risk than sending her agents, one of whom promptly falls through the hole Hulk created. Daredevil dives in and saves him, teaming with Hulk down below to bring down the arms dealers. The weapons are very powerful and have some sort of sonic element to them, making Daredevil incredibly outmatched against them. Hulk is able to shut down the organization and Daredevil is able to calm Hulk back to Banner before he kills a surrendered enemy. Daredevil and Hill talk about the sway that Daredevil has on him, as Banner within can hear the tone and pull himself out of the rage, particularly if the tone is coming from someone he trusts to have his best interests at heart. Banner, when he returns, notices that a gun is missing and he and Daredevil track the lone remaining gun dealer to a shady bar that Daredevil and Hulk enter. Another big fight breaks out with the enemy managing again to escape in the confusion. He brings the gun to an address of someone he's heard would be interested and, somewhat unwillingly, presents the gun as a gift to Baron Zemo.

Hulk team-ups have the potential to be really interesting things. Often, especially in Hulk's history or in media involving Hulk, they lead to whoever's teamed up with Hulk either realizing that Hulk's maybe not as dangerous as he seems or being outraged with the monster that is Hulk. Those aren't interesting things. Waid here gives us a different look; someone who really does have Hulk's best interests at heart and has a pretty decent method for calming the monster down. There's no surefire way to stop a Hulk rampage but Daredevil is probably one of the more capable heroes to do it in the Marvel U, when you get right down to it. He can monitor Hulk's pulse at any time and he understands the power of sounds and tone, as well as the power of keeping a level-head. It also doesn't hurt that he's the man without fear, which probably helps when facing down an indestructible monster. This is a great team-up of two characters who Waid has worked his magic on in their own solo books. It's a solid premise and it's got a lot of fun moments, including some nice dialogue between Hill and Daredevil and a great scene where Daredevil and Hulk walk into a bar. Excited for the next issue.

Daredevil 26, Fantastic Four 8

Daredevil 26
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

This plot has seemingly reached its climax as Matt escapes Ikari and goes to try to fix himself up a bit before the next encounter, whenever that may come. He's unsettled and freaked out and extremely paranoid about Ikari's attack and the threat that a new one could come at any time. He snaps during an interview with a possible replacement for Foggy's workload, lashing out at a man reaching for antacids to soothe his nerves during the interview. As the man rushes out of the office with Matt apologizing behind him, the man mentions Ikari and escapes. The same thing happens as Matt gets to the hospital to help Foggy through his chemo and attacks a nurse who's about to inject Foggy with something. Though the nurse seems to be legit, the syringe has braille on it that says "got you." Matt confesses to Foggy everything that's happening and Foggy tries to help him figure things out. As they try to piece together the related events, Foggy's notes start to form a bullseye. BULLSEYE (though, to cover my bases, I find it important to note that they never officially confirm it's Bullseye). Admittedly, it's a little weird the way they get to the end result, but the end result is super exciting as one of Daredevil's biggest foes seems back on the scene. DD evades Ikari, who is still following him, and heads to Bullseye's hideout (thanks to a tip from Hank Pym about where the radioactive waste came from). There he finds Lady Bullseye, who he takes out efficiently, before advancing on Bullseye. The issue ends as Ikari sneaks up behind Daredevil.

I really like Daredevil as a character and as a series right now and one of the reasons I've found him so compelling are his key villains. Elektra was always cool as a villain because she's so brutal and has such a past with Daredevil. Kingpin is a great villain because he's the exact kind of mastermind you want a criminal to be, always a few steps ahead and very cunning and ruthless. But Bullseye is the key villain to Daredevil. He's the same sort of build as Daredevil, with beatable skills but definitely very real skills. He's also got the Joker sort of mentality of never knowing what his real motivation is. He's sometimes in it for the money, he's often in it because he hates Daredevil so much at this point. He's very interesting to me and I can't help but be a little excited at the prospect that Bullseye is back finally, long after his "death" in Shadowland. This is my problem as a comic reader: I want death to mean something in comics and not to be cheapened by the fact everyone eventually comes back, but I also don't want anyone to be gone forever. Comics fans: we're exceedingly hard to please. The very end of this issue also features a second story (by the same creative team) about Foggy's time in the hospital. It focuses on Foggy going to entertain some cancer patient children as they wait for Iron Man to come see them. It's a very touching little mini-issue that isn't preachy but still comes with a great lesson while also giving us a good look at Foggy, one of the best support characters in comics.

Fantastic Four 8
Fraction (w) and Bagley and Farmer and Rubinstein (a) and Mounts (c)

It's Ben's one day in his human form a year and he has a full plan for the day. The F4 bring him back to Yancy Street of the past and he goes to pick a fight with the Yancy Street Gang. This isn't the YSG from FF, this is a group of gangsters with guns and a penchant for shakedowns. Ben steps in to protect a shop-owner from the gangsters and promises the shop-owner and his wife that he'll protect them. He relates his troubles, in short, with the Yancy Street Gang and tells them that he's seeking a bit of retribution, even if it means getting his hands dirty. The shop-owner's wife doesn't like the sound of that and asks Ben to leave. Ben has to admit to himself that he's come an awful long way just to beat someone up but ultimately decides it's still worth it. He sends the YSG running again but the shop-owner points out that they'll just come back with more guys and more guns. Ben checks the time and promises that they're going to get some backup by then. Of course, when the YSG shows up again, the Thing is back and fights them all off, swearing to always protect Yancy Street. The YSG runs off and Ben returns to the F4, who have questions of their own for him. While he was gone, the kids relate a dream they each had about the adults going away and leaving holographic messages for them (as related in their AU tie-in; pretty cool that these kids dream in alternate realities) and reveal that Ben had said something in the dream about a fateful run in with Doc Doom back in college. The F4 are about to set off for COLLEGE.

I found myself really liking this episode, though I've never been a Thing fan. It's very sweet and gives a really good sense of his character. We already know that Thing doesn't like the YSG and that he loves Yancy Street but we get a really good look at it here as he goes to try to shape the way his home evolves over time. It's genuinely touching and it helps to ground him on Earth and illustrates some of why he's so homesick when they're gone. It's also a good story on its own that stands alone while also fitting into the rest of the series. Add to that the intrigue of the children remembering the events of the AU tie-in issue (despite the fact they remember it as a dream and that it's part of a universe that will never have happened by the end of all that business) and where the team is going next to potentially correct errors in Ben's past and we have ourselves some story and some major character building.