Best Marvel comics of 2013 (part three of five): 11-15

Let's keep it rolling with picks 11-15.

15. Scarlet Spider

One of the real surprises on the list even though it probably shouldn't have been. Writer Chris Yost has an impressive resumé and 2013 saw issues 13-25 of SCARLET SPIDER so it's not like we hadn't had a year's worth of comics to deem this one "good" already. Even still, I think there's a part of me that still believes this book had no right being good. An evil clone version of Peter Parker flees New York to start a new life in Mexico and gets held up doing good in Houston with a whole new cast of characters doesn't really sounds like the best pitch. Yost never gave it up, though, and showed us what a well-written and well-established Kaine can do. The character was great, the writing was fun, the story was engaging, the fights were impressive and unique, and the ending was appropriately brutal for Kaine. After establishing himself as a reluctant hero in Houston, a city that apparently desperately needed one, and finding himself a slew of new friends in the city, Kaine's life was turned upside down by none other than Kraven the Hunter, the man who most recently killed Kaine, and things spiraled out of control quickly from there, culminating in an unhappy ending as Kaine finally reaches Mexico after all. Sad to see the series go, glad that Yost will pick up Kaine's reins again on NEW WARRIORS in the coming year.

14. Venom

This is another one of those books that lasted far longer than I would have predicted going in. This book kicked off a few years ago with Rick Remender at the helm of a Flash-Thompson-is-Venom story where the high school bully of Peter Parker turned war hero turned paraplegic alcoholic is called back into duty as a newly weaponized military-controlled Venom. Solid start to the series back then and Cullen Bunn this year managed to take the helm and still tell a worthwhile story with some worthwhile characters. As everything starts to crash down around Venom from his new home in Philadelphia, Flash is put up against challenges in the form of Toxin, Carnage, and his own demons. That's not a metaphor, he really did get his own personal demon fighting for control of the Venom symbiote somewhere along the line. On top of that, he lost longtime girlfriend Betty Brant and he gained new pseudo-sidekick Mania after he tossed some symbiote to her to protect her from the attack of his kind-of archnemesis Jack O'Lantern. A more angry and wild new symbiote-wielding character, Mania had the demon transferred to her and began fighting like the dickens (if that's what the dickens does) to avenge her father's death while Flash struggled with the morality of allowing this girl to be a symbiote and a killer. Nice book all the way around and one that allowed Cullen Bunn to play around a little in the Spider-Man world and come out of it with a successful book after all was said and done.

13. Red She-Hulk
For as much as I said I couldn't really believe SCARLET SPIDER worked, RED SHE-HULK certainly shouldn't have worked, at least for me. I was never the biggest Hulk fan (though my top-ten books to watch list early this year will describe my turnaround on the character) and I didn't know these characters very well. Jeff Parker, though, did a phenomenal job creating and developing a wonderful friendship between the rather new character Red She-Hulk and the older but not particularly used X-51. The two had really distinct personalities and their team-up came about incredibly naturally as X-51 was tasked with keeping tabs on Red She-Hulk and bringing her down when the Avengers decided she was a hazard. X-51 analyzed his own findings and decided there was something more to her than what the Avengers had seen and chose to intervene on her behalf, eventually siding with her in the fight against the sketchier branches of SHIELD and General Fortean. Really good characterization supported by an intriguing story that took the pair all over the world and eventually into an alternate reality where Betty Ross became the Hulk back at the test site when Banner should have. This series certainly would have ranked higher if it had continued past the summer but what we did get was a really great book that was able to very clearly do what it set out to do and tell a story worth telling with characters that mattered. Very fun book.

12. Superior Spider-Man

The way I went about constructing this list was to first list off every book I thought worthy of consideration for the top (then) ten. When the list got too long, I adjusted it to the top twenty. Then I looked a little deeper into it and started to arrange by "top ten" and "bottom ten," finally beginning after that to sort more directly within those lists. As we near the top ten, only two books have really switched sides, one jumping out of the bottom ten and into the top ten (to be revealed TOMORROW) and the other sinking down to number 11, only to eventually fall to number 12. That was THIS VERY BOOK. I really love the way that SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN started this year, giving us a look at the brand-new Superior Spider-Man, Doc Ock with the powers and (kind of) the responsibilities of Peter Parker. It was a real separation from the Peter Parker Amazing Spider-Man, someone who leapt headfirst into danger to help and save those who needed helping and saving, no matter if he was playing into a villain's hands. The Superior Spider-Man, meanwhile, plotted and planned, rapidly developing his own methods for protecting the city and doing it with such aplomb and vigor that...well, that he was put on probation from the Avengers. Regardless, it was a great new look at a new type of Spider-Man and one that Dan Slott really stuck with despite plenty of hate tweets and death threats (still illegal, you guys). It slipped out of the top ten with the last few months of 2013 as it started to get into weaker arcs (notably one that stranded Spider-Man 2099 in the present) and started to present more of Doc's personality than I think we really needed at this point. Still, the series never became a bad read, necessarily (okay, it got a little tedious in the late months there) and it seems to be coming out of its spin a bit but the first half of this year with the new Spider-Man really solidified its place somewhere in this list; then it just became where it would land.

11. Avengers

Jonathan Hickman has taken over the major part of the Avengers wing of the Marvel Universe and has really done absolutely phenomenal things with it. I said in that very same top ten list at the start of this year that I wasn't really onboard with what Bendis had been doing in Avengers the last few years (as I'm suddenly even more vehemently against the happenings over in the majority of the X-books now) and that I was hoping for a solid change out of Hickman. Well I got it and I couldn't really be happier about it. All three of Hickman's AVENGERS related titles (INFINITY, AVENGERS, and, spoilers, NEW AVENGERS) will have made this list when it's all said and done and everything about that part of the universe seems to be on the upswing. AVENGERS has been a really interesting book, one that hoped you'd be following along but wasn't ultimately too concerned if you missed a beat or two. There were a lot of really cool single issues at the start of the series to establish some of our newer characters (like Smasher and Hyperion) and eventually the whole series got wrapped into INFINITY and told the tale of the story with a focus on the fight against the Builders. It was a pretty masterfully executed event and all of the groundwork was laid here, in AVENGERS. Looking forward to the next movements by Hickman as the Avengers celebrate one of their biggest victories with no doubt larger foes on the horizon.

Deadpool 20, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3, Indestructible Hulk Annual 1

Deadpool 20
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)

It's another flashback issue for DEADPOOL as this time we find Deadpool visiting Wakanda in the 1960s only to find himself embroiled in a search across the map for four cosmic puzzle pieces. His search starts in Wakanda, leads him to the Savage Land and then to the Negative Zone and finally to Tibet, showing Deadpool making jokes and enemies in each place. He completes the puzzle and it calls forth a baby Watcher, sort of, and Deadpool inadvertently blows up the moon before meeting with Odin and getting on his good side, inevitably leading Odin to restore everything. It's...it's not particularly well-explained, though you get the sense we're not here for the story of this one, which is truly too bad because I don't know what else you'd be here for.

By and large, the DEADPOOL flashback issues have been interesting, whether for a story or an interaction or a change in the art style or whatever it might be. This one is an exception, which reverts DEADPOOL back to a mess of references and jokes without punchlines. It kind of reminds me of a recent article on Cracked.com (which is relatively more swear-filled and what not than I am here so, you know, if you're against that sort of thing, use your own judgment on clicking that link) that talked about the "comedy" of the new Grand Theft Auto game and pretty much summed up my thoughts on it. I'd say this is a step above that but it's not exactly a leap and it's the problem I have with humor that simply references things and expects you to laugh. In this case, I think it wasn't a bad idea to move to a flashback issue because Deadpool's in a pretty dark place and probably many readers aren't picking up DEADPOOL because they're looking for a brooding anti-hero. So we break up his story by looking back in something a little lighter but I think it went overly light for this. It's reminiscent of the first arc which I hate enormously so I'm hoping this spins back to where it was soon.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3
Hastings (w) and Camagni, Calderon-Zurita, and Pallot (a) and Milla w/ Campbell (c)

Chaos watches in delight as the helicarrier falls from the sky, though he's saddened to find that either Longshot's luck powers or Dazzler's competence stops it from all-out crashing. Bitter, he starts to pull chaotic beings from time and space, including an old Magneto, a werewolf Captain America, and two vampire lords in Dracula and vampire Wolverine. The real Captain America shows up to help Longshot and together they manage to take everyone down, only to have Chaos call more in. This back-and-forth continues until Order shows up and the two fight. Longshot realizes that his luck powers have also been having unintended consequences; for all the good luck it's provided him, it's been followed by equally bad luck for someone else where it normally just results in good luck if his aims are altruistic. Meanwhile, Superior Spider-Man brings the woman and girl Longshot had been protecting to Dr. Dipson, the scientist from the first issue! It's all coming together!

Really fun book now that Hastings has had some time to develop what he needed to develop and to explore the world he's created, one based around Longshot's interaction with the cosmic cube. The plot is certainly compelling enough to keep readers interested but the fun comes from all of the interesting ideas and the duel between Chaos and Order. Cap's appearance in here is great, pitting him against his werewolf self (from the past; he claims that he remembers a version of himself shooting himself as a werewolf with a single-use chronodisplacer gun and has been carrying it around ever since, ready to fill his role) and against a pair of vampires, among others. There's a shot of Venom-Punisher and Carnage-Silver Surfer and all sorts of fun tidbits like that but it's really the quick and fun writing that ties it all together. A series of ideas in a book is still just a series of ideas until someone ties them together effectively and Hastings has done that very well with fun dialogue and pretty good characterization. Looking forward to the next issue.

Indestructible Hulk Annual 1
J. Parker (w) and M. Asrar (a) and N. Daniel (c)

Annual season pushes on as INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK gets its first, giving us a little bit of time with the Science Bros, Banner and Stark, as they track down a former mentor of theirs on a secluded island where he's doing a bit of Dr. Moreau work, but on the island as a whole, not on the people or anything like that. So maybe Dr. Moreau isn't the best comparison but I'll not be changing it. Anyway, Hulk and Iron Man have to work together to stop Doctor Zadian, who has practically weaponized the entire island with his research and who has measures in place to stop both Iron Man (whose armor nearly entirely breaks down on him when he interacts with the sand) and Hulk (who cannot stay Hulk for any more than a few seconds at a time on the island). The two heroes talk and trek across the island to find Zadian and discuss their past and a little bit of their motivations while they search before ultimately finding Zadian's base and, with a bit of a fight (and Iron Man resorting to tormenting Banner enough to keep him Hulked), manage to bring him down.

I tend not to be the biggest fan of Annuals; I tend to think they're not great stories and that we don't get the best characterization out of them on the whole because there simply isn't much time to let a story develop these days when given just one issue. However, I've been really impressed by Marvel's batch this year, from (admittedly) Fraction's fantastic HAWKEYE ANNUAL tothe fun and chaos of DEADPOOL ANNUAL to this week's really high-spirited AVENGERS ANNUAL and now INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK ANNUAL, I think Marvel has really dedicated itself to providing a good story and good creative teams to work on their books. As I said, HAWKEYE was still helmed by Fraction so there was a guaranteed unified feel for that Annual compared to the series but the rest have featured teams that, each time out, have made me really excited for the book, starting with Acker and Blacker on DEADPOOL, moving to the much-missed Kathryn Immonen on AVENGERS and now Jeff Parker (from old favorites RED SHE-HULK and DARK AVENGERS, notably for this blog) on INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK. I couldn't be happier with the teams or the results. Parker here explores the trend we've seen with Banner as someone who can't quite keep his jealousy in check and who realizes how much of his life has been spent on Hulk whereas people like Tony got to spend so much of his life with science and bettering the world with what they do. There's also a lot of characterization for Tony, who is secretly just as envious of Banner's intelligence but refuses to let it show nearly as much as Banner does. Really sharp writing, lots of fun, and a really nice character study for the two of them. I've heard Parker's been killing it on BATMAN '66 for DC and he's just taken over, I believe, as writer on AQUAMAN but I haven't had the time to check either out. I'd love to at some point as Jeff Parker has yet to disappoint me in any capacity. This year has made me less reluctant to review Annuals and more willing to actually be excited for them. Thanks Marvel!

This week's picks

Tough picks to make this week with two sure bets and one that could go a couple different ways. On the plus side, it's pretty much just those four or five that I'm debating, everything else is significantly behind.

Avengers AI 1

It was between this and Iron Man (and a little bit Venom but not that much) and I'm still not sure which was the right one to choose. I think Iron Man may have been the actual better comic but this one's worth checking into for the feel of the comic and the nice way it's set itself up. Iron Man continued its great pace and its stellar story and writing but my recommendation, I think, goes to Avengers AI because I think it may fill a role in the Marvel Universe that isn't filled yet so I think people should be keeping an eye on it. No guarantee that it will all pan out but there seem to be places to go with this story and these characters and the book was fun overall. Read it, enjoy it, maybe pick up the Skottie Young variant if you can find it.

Red She-Hulk 67

I would be lying if I said that this wasn't always going to make my final pick. Bear with me, though, it's my last chance to be able to pick it. On top of that, it delivered an end to a good story and gave us some nice character resolution bits, including Red She-Hulk figuring out both worlds were real and choosing her world and X-51 learning that, although he's a machine with specific coding, he can still be an individual in the way he manipulates that coding. I'm particularly sad to see the main duo of Red She-Hulk and X-51 disappear for at least a bit because their relationship proved to be one of the most enjoyable in the Marvel Universe at current. It developed very naturally and improved along the way and became an incredibly fun and dynamic friendship. It's not easy to do that and it's especially not easy to do that in as little time as Parker had to set it up and build. A satisfying ending to a regularly pretty great title.

X-Men Legacy 13

Very interesting to see Spurrier switch narrator from our main character over to Pete Wisdom. It's rare to see a solo book (especially one as decidedly solo as this) take the focus off of that character and place it on another, particularly another established one in the Universe. I feel like most books that switch narrators for an issue or two will put it on someone who hasn't been developed enough to give the audience a sense of who they are. Wisdom is more developed though certainly I'd say he still fits that bill. Even more interesting is how defined David's voice has been, meaning that the decision to switch narrators isn't so simple. David's voice very much drives this book. Taking that away is a risky play but it worked out very nicely here and keeps us in the dark about whatever David's plans are, be they righteous or nefarious. More so, as I think we can fairly safely believe his motives are righteous at this point, we don't get his opinion on whether what he's doing, which is pretty clearly nefarious, is worth the righteous ending. Lot of questions opened up here and really should push this arc and this book as a whole to another new interesting place.


Best Cover

As I said in my review this week, Daredevil Dark Nights' art felt a little like cheating because anything set on snow is going to be pretty gorgeous (unless it's crazy hectic snow, like we've seen in Astonishing X-Men; interesting question, why does this, which is set up to be a huge and impenetrable storm, seem so much calmer in the images? Oh well, not what I'm getting at here). However, I also said that the art is pretty great in this book overall and this cover is no difference. It's maybe a little heavy-handed but that doesn't mean it's not still pretty great looking. don't miss the forest for the trees and all that. If that applies. I'm going to say that it does and I run this blog so no one is editing me out. Fantastic work again, Tim.

Winter Soldier 19, Red She-Hulk 66, X-Factor 257

Winter Soldier 19
Latour (w) and Klein (a and c)

The final issue of Winter Soldier finds Tesla having created a cosmic cube of some sort, the Tesla Tesseract. Her plan is to create chaos by going back in time with it to kill the people who have brought her pain. She advises Bucky to take the opportunity to go back and finish Novokov before he can hurt Natasha or wipe her memories. He refuses, knowing that time shouldn't be broken this way. He watches helplessly as she jumps them to various points in her life where she was hurt and kills whoever was torturing her. All the while, Bucky pleads with her to return and live the life she has. Finally, she brings him back to the day he killed her father and tells him that now he has the chance to make all of this go away by not killing her father. He explains that he understands what he was and who he is and how everything feeds into his life and how he can't just go back in time and change things, as much as he wants to erase his Winter Soldier past. No good can come from altering the past. Tesla attacks him, using the body of Father Hammer, who was evidently watching Bucky even at this point to see his skills. As Bucky gives up the fight, he shows Tesla her reflection on his knife. When she could have gone to see her father in this time, she chose instead to look like Father Hammer. Mortified by this, she brings them back to the present and admits her mistakes, fighting a war on soldiers. Unfortunately, it's too late to save them as the cosmic energy is expanding too quickly. Bucky uses his arm, rigged with a homing beacon, to send them back to Earth while she keeps them intangible so they don't crash into anything. They land in the ocean and she sinks away, disappearing, while he emerges at the top. There's a nice wrap-up for Joe Robards where he acknowledges without acknowledging that he knows Bucky killed his wife but he understands the weight of having a mission. Bucky returns to the cube despite himself and goes back in time to kiss Natasha at a time when she knew him before leaving again.

It's a wonderful and fitting wrap-up for the Winter Soldier, whose biggest demon since his return, and rightfully so, has been his past as the Winter Soldier. This issue gives him an out, a way to try to erase the things he's done and the person he was in that time, or even small parts of it. He could erase the horrible acts he's committed, he could erase Novokov and get back Natasha, he could do just about anything. Instead, he comes to terms with what the past means. Will he ever be over it? No, probably not. He probably shouldn't ever be. But maybe he can move past it with this feeling. Latour and Klein inherited an almost impossible job (replacing a beloved writer who created this character on a near-failing book) and did very nice work anyway. Klein's art really stands out here as there's a great piece at the beginning that shows the Winter Soldier's beginning as Bucky falls into the water from the drone he couldn't stop which calls back to early Avengers style art and uses great colors. The issue is solid and their run was well-executed. Still very sad to see this book go. Well at least the other two books in this review are still going strong and will never-oh.

Red She-Hulk 66
Parker (w) and Pagulayan, Olliffe, Bennett, and Jose (a) and Staples (c)

Red She-Hulk and X-51 arrive in the Florida Everglades, the Nexus of Realities, according to the Terranometer. Time is different here and Aaron is hopeful that they'll have the best shot of changing a fixed point in time by going to where time is least fixed. As they arrive, Red She-Hulk instantly spots and attacks Man-Thing, home after his journey with the old Thunderbolts some months ago. He teleports her into a different reality, one where she goes out and saves Bruce Banner on the gamma testing site where he saved Rick Jones and became the Hulk. As a result, she becomes the Hulk (still red and a she, but now the only Hulk) and he's just a great scientist. In this reality, Banner is able to help Betty keep Hulk in check and maintainable, leading to her eventual transformation into a form far more like the Red She-Hulk we know. As a result, she's more accepted in society and is a valued Avenger (who makes out with Thor at least once in her lifetime), all of which makes Banner jealous. Banner teams with Dr. Stack and creates the Machine Men, used to attack super-powered individuals. This whole time, Aaron has been trying to contact Betty in this world to get her to remember who she really is and bring her back to their universe. He can only effectively communicate with her through dreams and she shakes them off in the morning, fully embracing her new life when awake. When Banner and Stack create the Machine Men, Aaron is finally able to enter the world as more than just a spectator, as he enters his own alternate body. Man-Thing continues to watch from the sidelines, unsure of what exactly is happening and unable to teleport them back in any useful way. On the plus side for them, though, She-Hulk has tracked Red She-Hulk with the help of Echelon before leaving them in the dust to reach Betty and Aaron first. She arrives as Aaron, who, in this world, is programmed to hunt superheroes, is trying to tell Betty that this world isn't hers and she needs to go back with them. Unfortunately, Aaron is just a machine and must continue attacking her while trying to give her advice so it comes off pretty misleading. Man-Thing is able to open Betty's eyes to her past, but now she has both histories running through her mind so she's not in great shape. Man-Thing and Aaron try to get She-Hulk to help but Betty goes full Hulk right as General Fortean arrives so everything is going completely wrong and crazy as the series ends next issue.

GUYS, I can't believe this series is ending. I've loved this book since it switched over to Betty as the primary character and this issue illustrates again how perfect it is. First and foremost, this is an alternate timeline done right. Parker did it very well in Dark Avengers but this is a different animal, as it's one change that has meaningful implications and that logically moves from one step to another. I could name other books where, for example, Hank Pym is killed and then everything changes to such a ridiculous degree that you might mistake Hank Pym for God. Instead, one switch changes the whole Hulk dynamic of the Marvel Universe and everything naturally follows from that switch. On top of that, we have our characters acting in character (except occasionally Betty, who doesn't actually know what her character is) and doing what they can to solve this. One of the best parts, though, comes from Aaron who is fresh off his failure against the Yologarch because he couldn't escape the fact that he's just a robot following code. In this new universe, he is humbled again to find that he still can't break code so, as human as he is, he can't stop attacking Betty, his friend, while he's trying to save her. It's a brilliant extension of the ideas addressed with Aaron before this, and something that comes up occasionally with AIs but is still an engaging idea made far more engaging by the long game Parker has been playing to make us like Aaron so much and to give him so much personality over the course of this series. It's hard for me to understand why this book is ending, though Jeff Parker has assured me it's not my fault so I feel pretty good about that.

X-Factor 257
David (w) and Edwards and Carnero (a) and Milla (c)

"The End of X-Factor" six-part arc has officially started which should bring us right up to Peter David's final X-Factor issue and the final issue of this run on X-Factor (there is some speculation that it will be restarted as a part of Marvel NOW! or Marvel NOW! 2 which is apparently a thing that is happening that I'll probably have to look into more when I haven't written a few overly giant reviews already (stop writing and canceling great books and maybe I'll stop typing so much...but don't actually stop writing great books, okay? And look, in the interest of honesty, I probably won't stop typing so much). We jump right into it as Layla has tracked the demon goat-headed Madrox to Marrakesh, Morocco where he's being held by a boy named Aziz who hopes to use him to open a portal to the afterlife and bring his mother back from it. Yes, it's already kind of the saddest story. Layla, who knows things, has found her powers to be a bit off of late. This run-in with Aziz and his uncle (who has dabbled in dark arts and thinks he can use Jamie to open the portal successfully) was something she saw in her thoughts but it was supposed to be a quick detour as the portal never opened and Madrox was supposed to still be Madrox when it happened, not goat-head Madrox. Unlike her visions, though, they successfully open the portal and goat-head goes in and pulls the mother out. Unfortunately, the mother is a horrible demon thing now and kills Aziz almost instantly before approaching Layla. Layla's forcefield doesn't protect her from this otherworldly being and she's about to suffer the same fate as Aziz when goat-head Madrox pulls the demon back and throws her into the portal. Layla disguises Madrox and they leave, still unsure of what to do next and Layla unsettled by her inaccurate visions.

This is a certainly compelling storyline. I love Madrox, as readers of this blog should certainly know by now, and so I'm happy if this final arc focuses on trying to get him back. The idea that Layla's visions aren't predicting the correct events is an interesting one and how exactly she'll be able to translate those to help could lead to a great story. On top of that, this seemed to be the first time that we saw goat-head show some sort of semblance of an idea of what was happening, as he saves his wife and escapes with her pretty willingly. Whether that's more a survival instinct or part of Jamie's personality coming through is up for debate. Still, the issue was a very quick read and was over well before I was ready for it to end, which is always a good sign, if a little depressing. I'll be interested to see where this one takes us to trigger the ending.

New Avengers 6, Dark Avengers 190

New Avengers 6
Hickman (w) and Epting and Magyar (a) and D'Armata (c)

This incursion is different for a few reasons. The first is that the team is somewhat ready for it, having created ways to destroy the opposing world if necessary. Second, it's happening over Latveria, adding all sorts of potential problems to this work. Third, as Black Swan explains, the world that's coming has blue skies and not red. Blue, she says, signifies mapmakers, who deplete the Earths of all living substance to power themselves, then allow that Earth to continue its path towards other ones. Eventually, a piece of that dead Earth is meant to break off and lead the mapmakers to the newly discovered Earth so they can start the process all over again. Though the team has far more time to destroy this incurring Earth (and far fewer moral qualms, given the fact that the planet is already dead, which is not to say no moral qualms), the piece of the Earth will break off within an hour and doom the new Earth (the 616 Earth). The team goes to the dead Earth as Doom and his son fight off an invading army from the dead Earth (they serve as sort of a distraction, it seems) and manage to blow it up. When they return to the 616 Earth, they put Black Swan in her cage where she begins to telepathically communicate with the similarly trapped Terrax. They may be coming to some sort of arrangement. Meanwhile, it seems like the piece of the dead Earth may, in fact, have arrived as Doom's men bring him an artifact.

I will admit there was a little less Doom than I was kind of hoping for here, but I think that this is probably a better way to throw him into the mix. Instead of making him fully aware of everything, he knows some basics (other Earths are attacking this one, the Illuminati are somehow connected) and will be thirsting for more. Keeping him in the dark will just make him more hostile, which is especially great considering we already have someone on the team who is purportedly willing to do whatever it takes to save this Earth without concerns (Namor). The character relationships are growing and the characters on an individual basis are becoming incredibly interesting, even if they were already. Black Panther has always had the willingness to do whatever it takes but his intelligence almost always made it so that he could win every situation without huge, huge sacrifices. Now he has to cope with blowing up other worlds to save his own, which can hardly count as a win. One of the more fascinating things about Reed Richards to me has always been the fact that seemingly every alternate universe Reed we see is evil in someway or another, whether he's been corrupted by knowledge or is just sociopathic, preferring intelligence to human emotion. He's kind of straddling that line here as he forms a strange bond with Black Swan and knows that her cold understanding of this situation is going to prove useful. There's a lot happening in this book in the immediate and in the background that will inevitably boil up. It's very exciting to get to watch that happen.

Dark Avengers 190
Parker (w) and Edwards and Pallot (a) and Sotocolor (c)

The mysteries of this alternate universe unravel as Reed Richards reveals that the whole world was a sick experiment of sorts by AIM, meant to twist the genius heroes of the world into open warfare so that they could steal the weaponry that was created. They were able to steal a sliver of time from Kang after he had recently attacked the Avengers and had been exploiting that sliver of time to create this little pocket world. With the sliver closed, everything will return to normal and this reality, if it's remembered at all, will only be remembered as a sort of bad dream to whoever was involved. However,  if the sliver closes with the actual Dark Avengers still inside (it's their appearance that has destabilized the sliver as a whole), they could be erased from existence. The issue features a lot of little team-comes-together moments and everybody-helping-out bits as the Dark Avengers join with the few remaining heroes of this world to take down Grimm and Tony. After Reed explains everything, they find themselves chasing down the AIM unit that's busy escaping through the sliver themselves and they manage to pour out of the sliver, beating up (or possibly killing, who knows with this team) the AIM unit and shutting down the sliver forever. There's a quick page of the heroes of the 616 shaking off the bad images the sliver created and the team re-emerges just outside of Avengers Tower. Skaar leaves, free of the team, and the rest of the team seems destined to stick together, except for Ai Apaec, who June steps on. There is still some intrigue left over from this arc as we're not totally sure if June is controlling certain aspects of US Agent (who has no intention of bringing the team to prison, as they were headed the first issue of this long arc) or anyone else, but more or less, this book is closed.

As I said in my pre-game this week, I was very disappointed to see that this series was ending. I do think there are more stories to be told by this team and I can't say that there's anyone out there who should be telling them more than Jeff Parker. His wit and quirk mixed with the impressive stories he's wanted to tell both here and on Red She-Hulk have made these books, which could have been disasters as they abruptly followed on the heels of Thunderbolts and [Red] Hulk respectively , something different in this Universe full of great, if sometimes same-y, stories. It's been nice to learn more about these characters and to question their motivations while also exploring a world pushed mad by AIM and what happens if the heroes of our world are pushed just a little too far. Don't be surprised to see these characters used again soon or appearing in other books across the U, but be saddened that we lost this particular book.





Also, quick note, this is my 200th post on this blog. Thanks for everyone who's been reading and all of you who haven't, even. Just, thanks to everyone.

Comics this week

Another somewhat short week with a bittersweet bent to it; somehow Dark Avengers is releasing its last issue this week without me realizing ahead of time. I'm somewhat depressed about it, but I suppose I'll get into that more when I choose it as one of my five to watch for this week. SPOILERS, Dark Avengers 190 is on there.

Captain America 7
I'm excited for this book whenever it comes out. Of course, Cap's my favorite hero out there so I know I'm likely to be excited for it for my own personal reasons but I can't stress enough how interesting I'm finding this series. From seeing new angles of Steve's life (including as a child and as a father) to leaving Cap in a place where the flag on his uniform doesn't really mean much and he can't hope for support to come, every part of this series is dedicated to exploring different facets of Steve Rogers and Captain America and it's all great.

Dark Avengers 190
I was rather sad when I checked the new comic list and saw that this was the final issue of Dark Avengers for a few reasons. First and foremost, this book has been interesting all the way across and has featured a team of villains who might be heroes in a place where heroes are villains. Very interesting in its conceit. Also, it follows a trail of other cancelled books like Winter Soldier, Age of Apocalypse, and Red She-Hulk which have all featured heroes who maybe aren't quite popular enough to sustain a solo book but also don't really fit into any team or take place somewhere on the outskirts of the Marvel Universe. There are books far more deserving of cancellation and there are corners of the MU that are over-saturated with books so we see too much of them. Dark Avengers was different and had already gone to different places. Also, it means (unless I'm forgetting something) Jeff Parker isn't writing a regular book for Marvel and that's a shame after fun runs on Dark Avengers and Red She-Hulk. Hurtful, guys.

New Avengers 6
I love this book. I don't know if there's more to say than that. I love everything this book has done and every place its been willing to go. It's a very dark story with appropriately dark characters delving into the darkest places they can go. They've been trying to keep the incursions on the down-low and have attempted to keep the information between only themselves, to the point of erasing Cap's memory of the disasters. However, it's going to be awfully hard to do that for this issue as the newest incursion is happening over Latveria. Adding Doctor Doom to this mix is very exciting for me. Doom fits so interestingly into this equation and I'm thrilled about where this could go.

Uncanny X-Force 5
This is going to be a very important issue for Sam Humphries' X-Force issue as it's the issue that will bridge the first two arcs. The first arc wasn't a bad arc but it certainly didn't blow me away either. This issue will help establish the team and its goals and the way that the team interacts with one another outside of an event. Not to say that an event won't start up in this issue (it probably will) but there's likely to be a bit of cool-down to establish the team a bit further. This issue will be crucial for setting up the rest of the series so here's hoping for a strong showing.

X-Men 1
Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel return into the Marvel Universe with a new X-Men title. The most notable thing about this series, though, is the decision to make the team an all-female one, featuring Storm, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rogue, Jubilee, and Rachel Grey. There are some cases where this kind of team would feel like pandering (and make no mistake, Marvel comics should absolutely be pandering. Well, not pandering, but they should 100% be featuring more female driven-comics) but this team works on paper. It's a very powerful team with a lot of character but also it seems to have a reason for these women to come together. They don't feel just thrown together out of nowhere, they're all friends and they're fighting for the same causes, by and large. This is a big deal book because Marvel needs to see more female-led books survive and thrive. It's also a flat X-Men book, without any sort of bells or whistles on the name. This isn't X-Treme X-Men or All-New X-Men. This is X-Men, plain and simple. Calling this book "X-Men" shows a dedication to this team and the female-led principle, now the audience (and the writer and artist) need to make that pay off.

This week's picks

Small list of comics for this week; 11 books is a nice little vacation from the recent string of 17-20 per week. Didn't stop me from missing a day of reviews and having to squeeze the most into Saturday. Look guys, maybe aim for like, two next week? I nailed it when I just had ASM 700 and Avenging Spider-Man that first time. Killed it. But really, don't not release comics. I...I really like comics, you guys.

Age of Apocalypse 14

I'm very happy with the way this event is turning out so far. The story is moving along pretty rapidly and there are real consequences to the actions of these characters which is...well, I don't want to say that actions don't have consequences in comics, but major actions like this tend to only matter in...well, giant events. Okay, look, I guess I don't know what I'm saying. But compare this event to Age of Ultron. There's not a thing happening in Age of Ultron that I think isn't reversible and won't be reversed. There's a chance of some changes coming out of this event, but nothing like a universe ending. I'm not saying that this X-Termination event will certainly end with people dying and universes ending for good, but the very idea that these things COULD happen is intriguing. And it seems so small billed for something where so much could happen. It's a little sad but definitely a result of the ending of both Age of Apocalypse and X-Treme X-Men. They had the chance to go out with a bang, so they are, which is nice, but it's still a little depressing to find that it takes a couple of cancelled books to make an event feel so real. Still, that's nothing to fault this book for. It's a solid book with great pacing and interesting dilemmas and characters. Looking forward to the next link in X-Treme X-Men 13.

Red She-Hulk 64

I think that this book probably made me the happiest this week. For starters, I've liked this plotline and I've liked how its been paced. We got Jen Walters appearing a few issues ago searching for Red She-Hulk but we haven't seen her since then, until now. It's a nice touch for this book that's especially significant given a couple of books holding our hands as we near a big meet-up. The Venom series has had Toxin knocking on doors for a couple issues now as he makes his way to Philadelphia and I'm SURE that there's another example that's not coming to mind right now but WHATEVER. It's the idea that we can't be trusted to remember that an important plot event is coming. Instead of letting us either quietly look forward to the meeting or letting us forget that things are coming only to be pleasantly surprised when the plot shows up, we're constantly reminded to keep paying attention because PLOT IS COMING. Instead, we're given enough time to forget She-Hulk was on Red She-Hulk's trail only to be reminded as she crashes Fortean's ride. I also really love the way that the relationship between Red She-Hulk and Machine Man has developed and how it feels like a natural progression. Like I said in my review of the book, I didn't know much about X-51 going into this arc but he has won me over. Always exciting to discover a character I didn't know and find that I'm excited by their appearance. Good book, solid arc, great characters.

Ultimate X-Men 25

Most of what I have to say about this issue I covered pretty thoroughly in my review. I was really taken when I realized how tense I was getting reading the issue and realizing in just how much trouble the mutants of Utopia were. I'm intrigued by Mach Two's power too, and Psylocke's motivations. Wood has created a convincing group of worrying mutants who are convincing because of what they seem to represent. Mach Two has seemingly come out of nowhere to turn against Kitty and, though she's still young and often viewed as such by even her followers, she's got some semblance of control over them. But how serious is that control? Two members of her team meet with Jimmy Hudson to agree to cooperate in the case of an outside attack on Utopia. It's a seemingly completely sensible agreement to come to but Mach Two is unhappy with the fact that the two went behind her back and directs Psylocke to mentally torture them. She does, but it seems like she might not be on Mach Two's side for the long run, just in the immediate as she gets what she wants. There's strife within their tiny community, but is it strong enough to send them off their mission of overthrowing Kitty? They still seem organized enough in their belief that Kitty's gone about things the wrong way, so maybe they'll still be able to work together against Utopia. And that's just one of the threats encircling Utopia, waiting to pounce. Boy, they really could be in some trouble, huh? Worth keeping your eye on, everyone.



Just a quick note: I will be gone from the 14th to the 18th, so probably no reviews in that time. Maybe I'll write up a few things and autopost them, maybe I won't. Who knows? I'm a MYSTERY everyone.