Captain America 25, Thor 1

Captain America 25

The gathered heroes and villains wait below while Falcon brings the bomb into the sky, detonating away from everyone else. Iron Man catches Falcon's falling body before he hits the ground and, while Cap lauds him for his bravery and calls him more than just a hero, he opens his eyes again, saying that he got Tony to whip him up some vibranium wings that took the brunt of the blast. All isn't entirely well though, as Zola tells Jet that these people don't see her as a hero and that she won't change their minds only to be almost instantly proven right as Sharon begins to accuse her of teaming up with her father to enact this plan. Furious that even Steve won't stand up for her, Jet leaves with her father back to Dimension Z (why is no one stopping him??). One week later, Steve calls together all past and present Avengers to Avengers Mansion to announce he's taking on a leadership/behind-the-scenes position and handing off the Captain America mantle to Falcon. An epilogue also shows that one of those Avengers is a double-agent for Hydra and the Unknown Council. The traitor reveals that Falcon is taking over the position and Madam Worm and the Drain, from Remender's WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH series, believe they're ready to break the new Captain.

Sam says it himself in this one as he's introduced: "You guys all knew it was me, didn't you? There's literally no drama left in this reveal." I recognize that that's something of a tongue-in-cheek (or perhaps just blatant announcement) bit of dialogue from Remender, who voices what the audience is thinking. As I said last issue, Falcon's heroic sacrifice isn't made meaningless by the fact we, as the audience, all know he's going to survive (though the vibranium wings take something of the heart of it, even if it makes more sense that he survived because of them, though ostensibly less sense because where did Tony get vibranium and...you know what, tangent, whatever). Falcon didn't know he was going to when he chose to sacrifice himself, so it's still just as meaningful. It's the argument for characters dying in stories even if we know they'll come back: these keeps some level of stakes on the table and the hero's death is still meaningful because they still sacrificed their life without the intention of being reborn. ANYWAY, all that isn't to say that this issue isn't still predictable and a bit slow for it. As a special size issue (and primarily as a big, undoubtedly high-selling book), it costs $4.99 and, for the first time in this series, I can't say it's particularly worth it. We know what's going to happen, the Zemo storyline wraps up so anticlimactically (the climax was really last issue when Falcon took the bomb up, then things just kind of peter out this issue as Zola straight up just leaves the area with Jet), and there's an extended scene at Avengers Mansion that's played for laughs but doesn't quite hit (a little baffling since Remender certainly can be funny, I've seen it plenty). Pick it up if you're interested in owning a big moment in Cap/Marvel history, but if you're looking for an entertaining and compelling story, there are other places to look.

Total Score: 3/5


Thor 1

Thor has been sitting on the moon with an inert Mjolnir for some time now, not sleeping, not eating, and not talking to anyone but his beloved hammer. All the Asgardians have come out to see and learned that not only can Thor not lift the hammer any longer, no one can. The Warriors Three have all tried to no avail and even Odin himself cannot lift the hammer he once enchanted. Thor is only coaxed from the hammer when he learns that Midgard is under attack by awoken Frost Giants in the sea. He gets Jarnbjorn out of the armory and heads back to Earth, where he runs afoul of Malekith, who relishes in the unworthiness, defeating Thor handily and cutting off one of his arms. Meanwhile, back on the moon, a shadowy figure prompts the writing on the hammer to change to say "Whomsoever holds this hammer, if she be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." As the inscription changes, the mysterious woman picks up the hammer and is instantly imbued with just such power. It is hinted that the figure is Freyja, or at least that it is she who is behind changing the inscription, but no firm details are given.

I think the story is an interesting one; something out there has changed Mjolnir's enchantment in some way and now Thor isn't the only one who can't pick up the hammer (woulda been weird if an elderly Steve Rogers went up there and grabbed it, imbuing himself with Thor powers now that his super soldier serum is gone). The mystery around the new Thor could remain interesting for some time but it'll have to be played right (or just revealed quickly, which would be the easier path to take). Still, it does feel like something is missing in this book and, like with the new CAPTAIN AMERICA reveal, I think that this massive and interesting twist is underhanded by the solicits and the press junket for the whole thing. In today's day and age, perhaps it's impossible to keep this a secret, particularly for a market that is, inexplicably, dependent on pre-orders, but this issue (and CAPTAIN AMERICA) certainly suffer for the lack of a twist in what would have once been a huge, huge shock. Though I do rather like the new THOR logo design.

Total Score: 3/5

Deadpool 10, A+X 8

Deadpool 10
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Hawthorne (a) and Staples (c)

Ben Franklin and Agent Preston are both disturbed and upset about the way Deadpool is handling the Vetis situation, which included killing Michael in the hopes he could go convince Mephisto that Vetis is trying to undercut him. Franklin leaves the group and drifts into, predictably, a strip club. We'll get back to that "predictably" bit in a second. Anyway, the next person Deadpool has to assassinate is a businessman named Daniel Gump who Vetis gave pre-cognitive powers to. When Deadpool arrives, he comes across Spider-Man, who is also investigating Gump, a suspiciously successful businessman who has suddenly acquired mercenary protection in the form of people like Batroc, Taskmaster, Stilt-Woman, and others. There's a bunch of banter, including Deadpool making fun of Doc Ock kind of out of nowhere, and eventually Deadpool catches up to Gump and kills him. Spider-Man webs Deadpool up with the other villains, denouncing him for killing Gump instead of letting the justice system have him. Meanwhile, Michael is trying to get to Mephisto but has run into some trouble with a gatekeeper demon.

Readers of this blog will know that I'm not particularly on board with this title the way it's currently running. That "predictably" tag I gave to Franklin going into the strip club could be applied to a lot of the jokes that pop up throughout this book and throughout this series. There are a handful of decent and original jokes peppered in throughout the ten issues we've seen so far but it feels like something like 80-90% of the jokes can be seen coming a mile away. That wouldn't be horrible in a book that doesn't sell itself on its jokes and that hadn't hired comedians to write it. However, where you have a book that makes just about every line a joke, it's a downside if those jokes constantly reach for the lowest hanging fruit. So no, this book hasn't really made me excited about anything they've done, despite including Tim-favorite Batroc the Leaper. It hurts when he shows up and I'm still not entertained.

A+X 8
Spider-Woman and Kitty Pryde: Duggan (w) and Larroca (a) and Ocampo (c)
Hawkeye and Deadpool: Hastings (w) and Brown (a) and Armstrong (c)

Hey, look at that. We start with a story written by Gerry Duggan, co-writer of the Deadpool series! I'm not going to say that what I said above about Deadpool 10 totally apply to this first story featuring Kitty Pryde and Spider-Woman and Lockheed trying to acquire a strange and unidentified space-metal for SWORD before anything bad happens to it. However, most of those things still do apply. There are a bunch of pop culture references and low-hanging fruit jokes and things like that. The other thing I couldn't help feeling, as is true with literally every issue of Deadpool I read, was that this book felt so long. Each Deadpool book, I get just about halfway through and can't believe the book is still going. Not because so much has happened, but because there's been such an overabundance of dialogue. Same problem here, which is particularly depressing because this story is half of an issue. So one quarter of the way through a book, I got annoyed with how long the book felt. Not the best feeling. Anyway, the three heroes fight Absorbing Man, who is trying to get his hands on the weird metal amidst a swarm of Hydra and AIM fighters. Kitty lets him take the metal then shuts his brain down after a whole ton of exposition about her history. Like I've said, A+X books aren't particularly plot-heavy or heavy in general and they don't have to be because of the conceit of the book. I would still rate this story under a lot of the stories that have spawned from this immensely long series.

There are still a bunch of pop culture references in the second story, featuring Hawkeye teaming with Deadpool to rescue a taco chef from pirates who intend to force him to make meals on their journey, but they make light of the fact that they're using pop culture references. Deadpool searches his repertoire for a new pop culture reference for Hawkeye only to learn that all of them have been used over and over again. Deadpool also decides to join Hawkeye in using arrows and shows off his own trick arrow, which uses a novelty Hulk hand at the end that punches people and roars when it hits them. The trick though, he explains, is that they all explode. The whole thing feels pretty genuine though, with two heroes who can more or less respect the way the other works and knows that their mission is a relatively fun one. Of course, I was a little biased going in as someone who likes both these heroes (and particularly roots for Deadpool to be halfway decent outside of his own books now, as it's the only place I can tolerate him now) and who likes Christopher Hastings (to my credit, I was a fan of Brian Posehn before Deadpool too). Anyway, this story was fun, nothing more, but that's what A+X is so can't fault it for doing its job well.