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

Thor: God of Thunder 25, Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor: God of Thunder 25

Thor's granddaughters, by order of King Thor, must spend time daily in the library honing their minds just as they hone their bodies. One day in their required library time, they read the origin story of Malekith, watching him grow from a shy and scared young elf to the hateful and powerful magician he is today. They next read a story about young Thor, along with an army of humans, stopping Frost Giants from resurrecting Laufey, though they came awfully close and the king's head is still out there ready to be pushed the extra step. Finally, a hidden and chained book falls on to their table, which they eagerly dive into, learning of a dark time in Thor's history when he was deemed unworthy and an all-new Thor took up Mjolnir. King Thor bursts in and closes the book, sending his granddaughters out and closing the book again.

Jason Aaron ends this volume of THOR: GOD OF THUNDER in the sort of classic series ending way, where he tells a few single-shot stories with the ability to be extended later, and teases the next volume, but he does it well enough to keep the reader interested and invested and artists like Esad Ribic, Simon Bisley, and RM Guera provide an extraordinarily good looking book to go along with the stories. It's a nice ending for the series that brought us the epic Gorr storyline and created a couple of new and powerful supervillains like Gorr and Roxxon CEO Dario Agger AKA The Minotaur and it certainly builds a bit of hype (if there wasn't enough out there for you already) for the new THOR and the new Thor. Pretty good series, this one.

Total Score: 4/5


Original Sin 5.5 - Thor and Loki

Thor is free and wreaking havoc on Heven as Loki, having betrayed his new sisterhood in record time, leads Odin back into the tenth realm to end this fight once and for all. As Thor and Angela prepare to kill one another, Odin arrives and demands his son stop, revealing that Angela is very clearly his daughter Aldrif, alive after so much time thought dead. The news is pretty quickly met as true but isn't received well otherwise, as Angela is banished from Heven and swears she'll kill Odin the next time she sees him, leaving her out in the galaxy somewhere, trying to find a place she's welcome and wants to be.

As I said from the get-go, maybe some of the drama was ripped from this one given that the very first images of this book, that asked who Thor's sister was as it's main question, were images of Angela standing between Thor and Loki, as if shocked by some recent revelation. Kind of a give away and it takes a bit of the tension out for the reader, though it was likely a measured choice, with Marvel likely deciding that fans would figure it out early into the series even without the reveal and hoping that fans would still be interested in learning about how this could be possible and in learning more about Angela, Asgard, and Heven. It pays off well enough; though it's not something that particularly blows the reader away, it serves its purpose and establishes something of a new status quo in the Thor universe (which, coincidentally, is going to have all manner of status quo changes to contend with in no time at all). Solid Simone Bianchi art, teamed with Lee Garbett, Szymon Kudranski, and Marco Checchetto, carries this issue.

Total Score: 4/5

Iron Man 26, Iron Patriot 3

Iron Man 26

Gillen (w) and Bennett and Ross (p) and Hanna and Ross (i) and Guru eFX (c) and Caramagna (l)

Malekith, unable to defend himself from the other six rings and their wearers, makes a deal with Tony: he'll give the ring up if Tony will get him out of the area safely. Tony is wary but agrees, preferring, as Malekith puts it, to win than to take revenge. Tony returns to Earth with the rings intact and hides them away in his encasement. something is happening with the Bride (from way back in the Extremis storyline) and it may just be tied to the fact that Tony has discovered that Arno is trying to perfect Extremis. It's a problem Tony will have to deal with later, though, as four rings has brought them closer to their own goals, which seem to be constructing a ring of their own.

The book is appropriately dark, both in tone and in art/color, for the sorts of shady goings-on that are happening here. Between Iron Man making a deal with Malekith to protect him from the ring-bearers and Iron Man discovering who some of the other ring-bearers are and Arno trying to work the kinks out of the extremely dangerous Extremis and the two of them concocting something to do with the rings, there are a lot of threads here and exactly none of them guarantee any sort of a happy ending. There are outcomes, potentially, that may be less terrible than others available, but many of the possible outcomes are very worrying for Iron Man and it's impossible not to recognize that to some extent in this story. Well done overall.

Total Score: 4/5

Iron Patriot 3

Kot (w) and G. Brown (a) and Charalampidis (c) and Cowles (l)

Rhodes nearly dies from his time underwater but his mysterious savior/possible attacker revives him with a jolt of electricity as a homemade defibrillator. Rhodes attacks him but is forced to stop when the armored man threatens James' father and Lila. Meanwhile, James' father throws himself at the kidnappers, who seem to have some personal issue with him, allowing Lila a chance to run. Back with the masked man, a former agent of SHIELD, James learns that the man has kidnapped him in the hopes that he'll assassinate the former president for him, throwing the country into a civil war over how soldiers are used.

It's a compelling enough story and, I'd say, the most compelling aspect of it is how fast each issue reads. I try not to compare a writer's work to his other work (I do this unsuccessfully OFTEN) but it's hard to separate that I haven't really liked Kot's work with Marvel to this point, mostly because I think it's trying too hard to hit too many points and it ends up slowing an issue down or needlessly complicating things. Here, Kot has an interesting story and seemingly complicated moral decision for our protagonist to make and he's keeping the exposition and the dialogue to a minimum, letting both the art breathe and the story to stand on its own. Each of these issues has read quickly but not because they're uninteresting or poorly written or anything along those lines. They're gripping and compelling and Garry Brown's art and Jim Charalampidis' colors work extremely well with the tone and the content.

Total Score: 5/5

Iron Man 24, Captain Marvel 2

Iron Man 24
Gillen (w) and Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony's trip into Svartalfheim is not off to a great start as he has been quickly spotted. He's able to fight off the first wave of Dark Elves but his stealth suit isn't really made for combat and so he's forced to flee when Malekith attacks and before Shevaun can send the weapon he needs. He escapes into the woods and hides out, hoping that he left enough of a trail for his pursuers to track him. Malekith, who holds four rings (Spectral, Incandescence, Remaker, and Lightning), divvies up his rings among the search parties, giving the leader of each a different ring and keeping the Remaker for himself. Shevaun sends the gun, tailor made to defeat elves and rings alike, to Tony's new location and he's able to use it to put down the holder of the Incandescence ring, taking it back, but he's forced to cloak again when the others arrive. Malekith taunts him, knowing that he's around, and really cuts to the core of Tony. When he and the rest of the elves leave, preferring to wait for Tony's eventual emergence rather than searching him out. Shevaun suggests that Tony use the third and final available portal to come home with a partial mission success but he refuses, furious with Malekith. Instead, he has Shevaun send his big, dwarf-killing armor to him.

It's a real culture clash over here as Tony learns that the Dark Elves are maybe a little bit more than he bargained for and that maybe he's not entirely prepared to wage war against them. Just when those thoughts are settling though, Malekith, who used Tony's flesh to see into his heart, starts talking about Tony being an unwanted child and how the Dark Elves are no strangers to unwanted children; they just tend to eat them because, as Malekith puts it, what else are they good for? It calls back on some of the thoughts that Tony has had to put aside in order to deal with his city and the Mandarin rings but that are clearly still pretty powerful in his mind. That alone would make for an interesting story but putting Tony in Svartalfheim up against a vicious enemy powerful already wielding three rings that make him much more powerful seems like the recipe for success. We'll see next how the Dark Elves, with a notable hatred for iron, deal with one of Tony's offensive suits instead of his defensive one. Plenty of good stuff happening here and I think the adrenaline is really about to start pumping.

Captain Marvel 2
DeConnick (w) and D. Lopez (a) and Loughridge (c)

Captain Marvel is transporting the Nowlian girl Tic to the planet Torfa, where supposedly the rest of her people have been moved after the Builders destroyed their home planet. She and her ship, with an AI named Harrison, and her cat Chewie who, apparently every single person on Earth refused to watch (not that unbelievable), are intercepted by two smuggler ships guarded by a mercenary ship. She explains her mission but the mercenaries, on the order of their client, fire on her anyway. The ship takes damage quickly and Carol is forced into the fight herself, directing Harrison to protect the medical bay and get the thrusters up while she deals with and/or distracts the ships. Out in space she begins to tear apart the smuggler ships. The mercenary ship flees as the Guardians of the Galaxy show up to dispatch the ship on her tail. Carol's ship and the Guardians' ship link so that Rocket can help with the repairs but he pretty quickly starts attacking Chewie, swearing that it's a Flerken and not a cat. Carol and Star-Lord separate them and she finds out that Torfa seems to be a poisonous planet so perhaps bringing the girl there isn't the best plan. Meanwhile, the gunfire as Rocket attacked Chewie woke up Tic and she emerges as Star-Lord reveals to Carol that he's the son of J-Son, which isn't what Tic wanted to hear. She flees into Carol's ship, locking them all on the Guardians' ship in the hopes that she'll be able to steal it. Captain Marvel sets out after her by herself in the depths of space, anxious to get her ship back and to rescue her cat.

Good introduction of the Guardians here, with whom Carol is primed to spend a good amount of time. She's immediately accepted and the DeConnick does a pretty good job writing all of the Guardians, though we really only get extended dialogue and looks at Star-Lord and Rocket. In addition, any thought that the book might suffer unduly from the loss of Carol's supporting cast (Wendy, Spider-Woman, Tracy, Kit, Frank, etc) should be more or less assuaged here. We're only an issue removed from her leaving them all behind and going into space but it's clear that DeConnick's take on Carol and her character alone are certainly capable of carrying a book. Obviously the introduction of the Guardians and the hint from the first issue that Captain Marvel will form a team of her own don't hurt things but regardless, Carol has returned to this book as the same strong and confident character, totally able to drive a book, that she left the last series as. David Lopez's art is remarkably good and he draws a mean Carol as well as a mean suited-up Captain Marvel, all of which I was happy about and, admittedly, a little relieved about because I did not particularly care for Lopez's cover. Fans of the last series should absolutely be picking this one up. It has the same heart and the same enthusiasm as the first series, not to mention that there are already a couple of irons in the fire for story ideas and new characters. Even if you didn't read the first series, check this one out, see if the tone is for you. I find it hard to think it isn't.

Iron Man 23, Thor: God of Thunder 20

Iron Man 23
Gillen (w) and L. Ross (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Iron Man is on the hunt for the Mandarins out there and happens to find that one of them is the fired director behind a musical based on Iron Man that created Tony to be a pervert. Of course, Tony's people fired him and now a ring has made its way to the disgruntled artist. Tony tries to put him down softly but, before he's able to, Malekith appears and straight up murders the guy, taking the ring and disappearing before Tony gets his bearings. Tony now knows who's behind the capture of the rings and so he turns to his new specialist on magical affairs, Shevaun Haldane, Dark Angel. He explains to her that he doesn't want to go to Malekith expert Thor because then his attack on Malekith ends up being political between Asgard and Svartalfheim as opposed to being simply about the rings and he doesn't want to put that on Thor. Shevaun builds him a weapon that she thinks should render the rings inert temporarily and creates three magical one-use doors that will, if all goes according to plan, drop him in Svartalfheim, drop the weapon next to him, and return him home from Svartalfheim when it's finished. Wearing the stealth suit with the hopes that he can sneak through Svartalfheim without alerting too many people to his presence, Tony is sent through the first door only to find that he's been dropped right into the center of Malekith's hall.

Plenty going on right now and the book moves really quickly as a result, even despite the amount of explaining and backstory they have to give. On top of the A plot summarized above, there's a B plot involving a relationship developing between Arno and Abigail Burns, the Red Peril who just lost her hands to Malekith's attack. There's a good chance that none of this is ideal news for Tony but you can't help but feel good that Arno's making friends. Anyway, there's always the chance that a story like this, one that crosses a couple of different mythologies, can come off feeling really forced and leaving the audience feeling cynical about the motives behind the crossover, as it were. Here though, Gillen nicely threads the needle between the science vs. magic and the Iron Man vs. Malekith so that the story feels like a really solid one developing instead of some kind of weird opportunistic cash grab. Pretty neat, you guys.

Thor: God of Thunder 20
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

Thor and Rosalind Solomon are out to stop Roxxon, whatever it takes, as Rosalind hates them and what they're doing to the environment and Thor is pretty sure that Earth hates them and also he likes Rosalind. Thor has taken several books out from the godly library he's visited in recent days about the death of many different worlds and he's prepared to do what it takes to bring Roxxon down. In this case, it means blowing up a few of their plants in an "Act of God" manner that means insurance won't pay for it. Of course, increasingly evil Dario Agger knows who is behind it and insists that his men find a way to hurt Thor, to strike back in this new war. Their suggestion to the evil man who is both nicknamed and physically, on occasion, "minotaur" is that they strike at Broxton, Oklahoma. MEANWHILE, in the far-off future, King Thor tries to talk with Galactus about maybe not eating Earth and then, when words don't work, prepares to fight.

There are parts of this story I like and am intrigued by and there are parts that I can't help kind of rolling my eyes at. For example, I like the idea that Thor wants to get into the conservationist mindset because he just straight up loves Earth and anything that harms it, whether it's Dr. Doom trying to take it over, Ultron attempting to kill everyone on it, or Roxxon actually killing it, is in for a fight. The idea that he'd be behind the "hey, let's make nature be great!" kind of fight is one that I both get and that I like for his character. On the other hand, Dario Agger is eye-rolling villainous. He admits that he's caused chemical spills just to kill wildlife, that he's introduced predators who don't belong in certain places to be in those certain places, and that he's altered several bears to completely deplete the salmon population in certain rivers, all so that Roxxon can provide the solutions eventually. While I don't doubt that there are evil people out there, this is so frustratingly comic book evil that I can't help but be a little disappointed by it. I tend to prefer my villains either untouchable and evil or even a little more complicated. It does seem as if they're ready to build up a sad backstory for him but I think it may already be too late. Anyway, King Thor calls Galactus rude so I GUESS I'm saying you should check out this issue?

Comics this week

Buncha new comics out this week, ranging from pretty exciting to not so exciting for me. As is the Marvels way, I'll be highlighting the ones I am excited about. Let's get to it.

Daredevil 1
Daredevil has moved out west and is presumably about to settle in as a new number one drops this week. Excited to see how Waid and Samnee are going to shake things up for everyone's favorite blind lawyer/superhero as he makes his home in a new and alien city. Matt's journey, of course, wasn't without its own trials as has been documented in the infinite comic DAREDEVIL: ROAD WARRIOR, which I've been reading but not reviewing. I'll...I'll cover it if it matters. Super Adaptoid and the likes, you know?

Iron Man 23
Iron Man vs. Malekith in what should be a very interesting battle. Well, that's what's coming, anyway. I would guess we won't see too much of that right away because Tony still doesn't know who it is that's orchestrating the sudden capture of several of the Mandarin Rings. So with Tony hunting down Malekith and Arno left to run Troy, where will those Stark boys go next?

Ms. Marvel 2
The expectations were high for MS. MARVEL 1, a book that would create a new character, a Muslim superhero teenage girl. Most of those words, as far as publishers go, are risky ventures. I thought MS. MARVEL 1 was good but not amazing so I think the onus will really be on issue two to set up the world a little more and to show us our new hero in action.

New Avengers 15
Hey guys, is Dr. Strange going to be okay?

Winter Soldier: Bitter March 2
I really enjoyed the first issue of this series, which introduced a compelling plot, some interesting characters (perhaps made more interesting by the fact that we know who these characters will turn into), and a really swell layout and feel for the comic. I'm looking forward to this one for all those reasons and for a cover that, when I saw it last time, totally blew me away. In that way, it edges out THUNDERBOLTS 23 for my excitement, though I'm sure that cover is going to be amazing too.

Captain America 18, Iron Man 22

Captain America 18
Remender (w) and Klein (a) and White (c)

Mindbubble has control of Fury and, in turn, control of the Gungnir, a new helicarrier the size of a city and probably with the firepower to level more than just that. Maria Hill calls for all the backup she can get to try to stop Mindbubble. Fortunately for her, Cap and Falcon were nearby trying to spy on the goings-on, suspicious of SHIELD for having weaponry and villains that even Steve isn't allowed to know about. As they approach, they find themselves set upon by SHIELD agents thinking that the two heroes are Hydra. They take them down non-lethally and Cap steals one of their bikes to go after the helicarrier. On the way, Steve calls Jet, who had been interrogating a cyborg tasked with guarding Weapon Minus, and learns from her about Mindbubble, an ex-SHIELD scientist who had wanted to create a less violent alternative to warfare. SHIELD, of course, wanted an alternative to Weapon Plus, in case their experiments ever turned on them. Mindbubble used the super soldier serum and LSD to create a new concoction he hoped would be more peaceful. With no willing test subjects, Mindbubble used the serum on himself and quickly went crazy, turning on SHIELD and taking down a number of SHIELD agents before he could be restrained. Jet also informs Steve that Mindbubble's mindbubbles create a sort of dream map for the victim, placing him in the fantasy world his own heart desired. When Mindbubble is done with them, the fantasy turns dark and kills the victim. She advises Steve to kill himself rather than let the fantasy do it if he's mindbubbled. Steve arrives on the helicarrier with an entire SHIELD fleet on his tail as the issue ends.

Still a lot going on here though this issue does feel a little redundant. The Mindbubble origin isn't exactly foreign to us at this point so retelling it isn't too effective only a couple issues later. Also, much of this issue is fighting and a chase scene between SHIELD and Steve and Falcon. Despite all that, though, the issue is still entertaining and it moves really quickly for how much information is dispensed. Hill somehow remains the only one un-mindbubbled of the agents sent to take down Mindbubble and Fury and she sets the Gungnir to self-destruct though she's surprised and stopped by the Iron Nail amidst everything else that's happening. It's a solid issue and there are some nice moments between Steve and Sam. The narration continues to be fairly strong and sets up plenty of feelings for Steve, letting us know that he's got a lot to fantasize about when he eventually has to go up against Mindbubble and letting us know that he has just about exactly the right amount of trust in SHIELD. The colors on this issue were a nice departure from the grim and dark metal colors we've seen lately in this book, setting up the chase over plenty of orange desert making it seem a little more light than it had lately, even if it's only as an interlude between tense moments. I don't think you'll miss a lot if you miss this issue but it's still one worth reading. Can't complain.

Iron Man 22
Gillen (w) and Bennett and Hanna (a) and Guru-eFX (c)

It's Red Threat and Iron Man up against Lord Remaker and the Exile in a battle of Mandarin Rings and Stark Tech for the new city Troy. Abigail Burns has changed her mind about the city and fights alongside her hated foe Tony Stark to defend it but Tony's mind is on the Troy Core, the heart of the city and the last known whereabouts of Arno Stark, that Lord Remaker just destroyed. Tony continues fighting but is soon surprised when Arno emerges from the wreckage in his new battle suit, a giant Iron Man suit of his own design. The reinforcements force the Exile and Lord Remaker to flee. Red Threat tracks Lord Remaker in the city with her own ring and finds him dead at the hands of someone else, the ring gone. Just as quickly, her hands are sliced off and the attacker again disappears with the ring. Tony finds her and brings her to a hospital where he and Marc question her about the rings. She tells them that the rings just want to destabilize and cause chaos and that they seem to really hate Tony Stark. Therefore, their mission is two-fold: wreak havoc and wreck Tony. According to Abigail, this means Stark has painted a bullseye on Troy with his very presence. He acquiesces and holds a press conference to announce his decision to leave the city in the hands of the capable and mysterious new designer Arno. Meanwhile, new series villain Malekith counts the three rings on his fingers and vows to complete the set.

This is one of those situations where I hate hate hate solicits. I understand, to a point, the purpose of them. In this, the information age, no one wants to wait three months to find out what to expect from a new series or, for retailers, to know what's going to be on the shelves. Sometimes, books are able to guard their secrets in solicits but that's usually just for big events and deaths and things. This would have been a crazy reveal, one that really shakes up what's happening in IRON MAN and leaves a lot of questions to the reader. I try not to read solicits as often as I can but it's impossible at this point not to see some things, given the websites I frequent and the twitterers I follow. Even though many in the comics industry tend not to like solicits, they're forced to lean into them and advertise storylines in advance. I can't blame them for that; the news is out there, best to control it and answer questions the way you want them answered. In this case, I knew about Malekith joining the book a couple months ago so when a hand appeared and snagged Lord Remaker's ring, I wasn't at all surprised. It's too bad too. I kept thinking about this as I was reading, how curious I'd be if I wasn't aware of what was coming. GUYS, I think it'd be PRETTY CURIOUS. Still a good book and one that's well-written and exciting. Still a fun and exciting book as IRON MAN presses on.

Daredevil 35, Thor: God of Thunder 17

Daredevil 35
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt rushes to the hospital with the news that Foggy's cancer has taken a turn for the worst. He gets there to find a new doctor treating him with a highly illegal but potentially life-saving drug. The doctor claims that he's associated with people who would rather keep Foggy alive and moves aside to allow high-ranking Serpent Society members in. They reveal to Matt that they have done extensive research on him and have figured out his entire backstory, right up to the moment he became Daredevil, meaning they know definitively who he is and how his powers work. Between that and the repercussions of them letting his identity and his weaknesses out into the world (not to mention leaving him disbarred and unemployed and therefore unable to foot the cost of the health insurance Foggy so desperately needs), they feel they have him pretty under their thumb, enough so, anyway, that they are prepared to hire him to defend one of their sons, who is charged with arson and twelve counts of murder. The fire that caused the deaths was a Serpent job but, the men maintain, Donald was not involved. So Daredevil has to choose to take the case and protect an innocent yet not-innocent man or walk away and potentially lose everything. He calls up Elektra to try to make up his mind, hoping that she'll spar with him to get him thinking. Before they can start, though, they run into a pair from the Serpent Society (unrelated to the Sons of the Serpent but clearly hired by the Sons of the Serpent in this case) guarding the ashes of the building Daredevil's investigating. After a quick fight, Elektra imparts some solid wisdom on DD that helps clear his mind and helps him make an unexpected decision. When Matt and Kirsten go into the courtroom the next day, he pulls off a gutsy move on the Serpents as he turns over lead defender duties to Kirsten and she sends him to the stand as their first witness. When she asks Matt's name, he offers "Daredevil."

Huge, huge shakeup to the DAREDEVIL book as this run comes to a close and gives way to another Waid/Samnee run. At least there's no doubt that the new run will be significantly different to this one now, huh? It's a bold choice for Waid and I think it's absolutely the right one to make. Waid came into a book that, as I've detailed plenty of times (most recently in my Top Books of 2013 list), was kind of a mess. Not that it was bad, just that it left its protagonist an angry shell of his former self, exposed but refusing to seem exposed, and very much on his own both by choice and by his actions. Instead of continuing the cycle, Waid broke from recent tradition and made Daredevil fun again. Of course, Waid's artists, from Paolo Rivera to Chris Samnee to Javier Rodriguez, were perfect fits and deserve much of the credit here as their crisp pictures and very sharply defined characters and bright colors went a long way to cement DAREDEVIL as something very different from its Alex Maleev/Michael Lark predecessors (for the record, I very much like both artists and they fit very well for the book at their respective times). Even in this issue, Elektra remarks that Daredevil is very "jocular," a big difference from the last time they met (which would be, if I'm not forgetting anything, SHADOWLAND, the height of angry DD). It's very true and it's perfect and now, even in this giant debacle, we're seeing a smart Daredevil who refuses to be played and who is playing his own game and still manages to have a good couple of moments with Elektra. Really nice issue, very interested to see how this last issue will play out.

Thor: God of Thunder 17
Aaron (w) and Lupacchino and Garney (a) and Svorcina and Loughridge (c)

Thor was the traitor to the League of Realms after all, with a bug slipped into him by one of Malekith's spies at the pub they went to. Fortunately, Thor had the foresight to realize that the Realm of Leagues may be better served if they banded together and used some sorcery of his own (which he offhandedly says he learned from Loki at some point) when he apparently killed Ud the troll. Sir Honeyshot and Screwbeard found Ud wandering the forests with a note from Thor on his back that explained everything and they followed Thor to Midgard, saving him and Lady Waziria from Malekith just as things looked their worst. After a long fight with Malekith and his band of dark elves, the hiding elves of Svartalfheim call on Thor to stop just short of killing Malekith, as they've come to a decision about their future. They've made Malekith their king, which, of course, enrages Thor but the Congress of Worlds has no choice but to accept. The All-Mother demand that Malekith serve the remainder of his time first unless he finds a proxy to do it for him. Lady Waziria steps forth, explaining that this is the only way to stop further bloodshed for her people. Thor knows, of course, that it only means more problems for the rest of the realms but it makes sense for Svartalfheim. Sir Honeyshot encourages Thor, though, saying that his ability to bring the League together as he did is as impressive as anything Malekith could have done. Of course, it won't necessarily help things when Malekith teams with Jotunheim and Muspelheim to form his own league, as the epilogue of the story hints.

Bold move by Aaron as the book ends and one that leaves him no end of stories to tell. I still don't love this arc as a whole but I can respect and appreciate the ending of it. I still a little feel like it's impossible to separate the book from the fantasy trope (thanks Lord of the Rings) of the unlikely banding together of heroes from different fantasy archetypes. It's also, as if there weren't enough things to compare it to, drawn to the audience's attention that this League of Realms is not entirely unlike Thor and the Warriors Three, which did not make things better (despite my affection for that group). Still, I suppose it's worth putting aside my boredom with that aspect of this issue (though not with this arc) to make way for the plot twist that is Malekith being named king of the dark elves. One of my issues with Aaron over in books like WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and the newer AMAZING X-MEN is that it often feels like the books talk down a little to the reader. Not necessarily the ideas or the characters, but the actual writing. I didn't think it was happening so much in the first two arcs of this series so I was pleased with that but this arc has gone for it a bit, with this issue particularly summarizing and name-dropping like a pro. Every character gets a name-check and, more obviously, a quick heritage-check which feels very forced and incredibly strange as it's the last issue of a five issue arc. Trust that the audience knows these people and where they come from and why it's so crazy they're together. If someone is picking up this issue as their very first THOR: GOD OF THUNDER issue, trust that they have the internet and can look it up or throw a better splash page on the book to briefly catch people up. Otherwise it makes the dialogue seem more than a little unnatural and slows the pace of the book. In the end, it's a nice little set-up that maybe took a little longer than I'd've liked getting ether. Should be some big things coming for Thor.

Daredevil 34, Indestructible Hulk 17, Thor: God of Thunder 16

Daredevil 34
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt brings the piece of sacred text he took to Dr. Strange who admonishes him for stealing from Satana, swearing that will catch up to him. Strange also informs him that the text holds a secret word, a name that, when uttered, can have intense persuasive abilities but warns him that he'd have to research the word before saying if it had a harm on the user. Matt comes up with a plan to bring out the Serpents but he needs Kirsten McDuffie's help for it so he drops the not-Daredevil act and enlists her for her fearlessness. With the help of former Serpent Nate Hackett and favors called in (off-panel) to various Avengers, they put together a city-wide broadcast system for Matt to call out all of the Serpents. As he demands Jester be released to him alive, Kirsten reads the word out to prove they mean business. The Serpents comply but try to leave a trap for Daredevil, which he easily bests. However, Kirsten goes off book while Daredevil's roaming the streets and puts herself in harm's way while delivering an important message about the Serpents. The Serpents find her (tracking her from the wind behind her in the broadcast) and try to shoot her but Nate tackles her, saving them both long enough for Daredevil to bring the helicopter down. As they prepare to celebrate (seems like Matt and Kirsten may be getting back together), Kirsten gets a call from the office and tells Matt it has to do with Foggy.

Another really solid issue. Daredevil is on top of his game after a stretch of self-doubt and seemingly overwhelming odds. This one strikes again at the heart of Waid's run, showing Daredevil as resourceful, clever, fearless as ever, and just a ton of fun. The height of fun comes as Matt officially outs himself to Kirsten in the most show-off way ever, jogging backwards alongside her in the park, skipping over roots and obstacles, and, still as Matt Murdock, stopping a mugging under a bridge they cross. If Matt's going to reveal himself, this is how you want him to do it, particularly this iteration of Matt. Great story, solid cast, fun writing, and really incredible art. Even with Samnee off the book for a bit, it's been amazing to see Javier Rodriguez step so comfortably into the artist role and match the tone and pace of the book so perfectly. Also glad that Kirsten McDuffie doesn't even really mildly annoy me, which has been a downfall of Matt's typical love interest (other super-people very obviously excluded). Anxious about the word on Foggy but couldn't help laughing when the book ended with the worry about Foggy juxtaposed against the words "Next: Elektra." Oh boy, I'd love to see more Foggy-Elektra team-ups.

Indestructible Hulk 17
Waid (w) and C. Mann, S. Mann, and Sepulveda (a) and Staples (c)

INHUMANITY has struck and the big scientists of the Marvel Universe are out in force trying to learn more about the Terrigenesis and its effects. Banner demands Stark and Pym, who turn up in his lab, and the rest give him a 24-hour window to look into it alone, as the de facto expert on "monstrous physiological changes brought about by radiation." They give him his start but quickly take it back as things go south for Banner, who prepares to bring his team into the field only to find that they've been grounded by Maria Hill because at least one of them may undergo Terrigenesis. Pym and Stark return, now with Beast, before the window closes and see that Banner's project is in the form of a bomb, which immediately puts them on edge and they prepare to shut him down without listening to him. Banner can't stop himself and transforms, taking the bomb and leaping out of the lab. The other heroes chase him and fight valiantly to stop him before Beast and Pym point out that this is rather all Tony's fault for belittling Banner and Beast points out that maybe this bomb things will work. It's Tony's call, as the scientist who's known Banner longest, on whether they keep fighting or give up. After a moment's hesitation Tony shoots the bomb himself.

I really like this issue and it continues to play to the themes Waid has built up (something, judging solely by this issue and the above DAREDEVIL, that Waid is phenomenal at doing). Everything is here, making this a pretty solid jumping-on point if you're thinking about getting into this new HULK series. You can get a good sense of Banner's desire to impact the world with his science more, you get the way that the science and superhero community view Banner and the way he's been ostracized, you get a good quick look into his team, you get some solid action and some good writing, you get some good art, just a lot of really good things to this issue. I think, and this may sound like a weird sort of slight but isn't, that Waid might be the best at creating natural jumping-on points for readers. A lot of the would-be jumping-on points for books (which comics are constantly doing because it can be incredibly overwhelming to get new readers into a series that's had 50 years of history go into it) fall short because the writing is stunted, giving way too much exposition for new readers to follow or old readers to care about, or because it's such a basic introduction that it doesn't really tell anything about the character. Waid creates jumping-on points by rehashing themes of the book and establishing characters with little glances here and there, not with full-on stares. Great work overall, which is more than I can say about my attempts to quick-hit these things.

Thor: God of Thunder 16
Aaron (w) and Garney and Lupacchino (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith, having proven his point with the appearance of his new Frost Giant allies, disappears, leaving the League of Realms to sulk and stew and to point fingers. Everyone begins to believe there's a traitor in their midst, someone feeding information to Malekith. The most fingers start pointing at Lady Waziria and most of the League wants her burned alive. Thor, though, has his eyes set on the troll as their traitor and knocks him out before executing him. The League, somewhat in horror and not really believing he was the traitor (not to mention this won't please the troll community), disbands. Thor has a plan, though, and brings Waziria with him to Midgard to a hidden Dark Elf guard station. Shortly after their arrival, Malekith again strikes, leading Thor to assume that Waziria is indeed a traitor. However, Malekith reveals that Thor is the traitor by calling forth a horrible worm thing from his body.

The fight against Malekith rages on and it continues to be just a little bit boring. The actual fight stuff isn't that bad and some of the interactions aren't awful but the League of Realms stuff continues to feel a little too Lord of the Rings for me and it kind of cheapens the whole thing. I don't know if that's entirely fair to say since THOR: GOD OF THUNDER is a little too easily put into that fantasy camp, as the realms are populated almost entirely by fantasy tropes which kind of all spring from LOTR, meaning that any sort of team-up will have an LOTR feel to it regardless of its content. However, there is a cynical part of me viewing this arc as a cash in on November's Thor: The Dark World and a cash in on The Hobbit and the new one (with that dragon, you guys). I imagine the creative team was working on this book and then went to see the movie and was disappointed to learn that Malekith's role in the movie was less a cunning psychopath and more a set piece with maybe a total of five lines in two hours. Oh well, guess you should have put more Jane Foster and more...Kat Dennings character in this one. So I guess what I'm saying is "it could be worse."

Avengers Arena 17, Captain America Living Legend 3, Thor: God of Thunder 15

Avengers Arena 17
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

We're one issue away from the end of Avengers Arena and the stakes have never been higher, which is saying a lot for a series which started with a guy with a metal exoskeleton exploding. The survivors are a day away from the final day of Murder World and tensions are running high. X-23 is still tearing through Hazmat, her consciousness blacked out from the trigger scent. Anachronism saves Hazmat by attacking X-23, who he blames for killing Nara. Reptil attacks Anachronism. Nico is trying to kill Cullen, knowing that, with the ring off, he's the strongest one left and Darkhawk Chase is watching her back. Cammi takes down Chase swiftly and rips the amulet from his chest, becoming Darkhawk herself and stopping Nico from killing Cullen. Meanwhile, below the surface, Arcade used Chris Powell's lingering sickness from stasis as a chance to escape. Death Locket and Chris go to get some water, leaving Katy to hack Arcade's system and shut down the game, which she will do as a pragmatist wanting to leave the island, despite her killer attributes. Unfortunately, Death Locket and Chris leave her alone long enough for Arcade to chime back in and convince Katy that she can be the winner of all of this and the video footage he has and will release will show her as the strong survivor of the games, not as the villain who killed without remorse. It's too tempting for her and she locks Tim out, allowing the games to continue. The issue ends with Hazmat going critical.

This is a series that has had absolutely no downtime since maybe the first few issues, when we were still getting to know our competitors (geez, remember Kid Briton? That was something). Even then, there was plenty going on in terms of the events on the island and the character-building. It's no surprise, then, that the last couple of issues would come down to almost non-stop action and compelling character moments. Everything this series has asked boils down to these last couple of decisions. What is the cost of survival in this world? What are the ramifications of being the bad guy? How do you play a game that relies on your worst side coming out? Finally, as an audience, who are you rooting for? One of the most impressive things Hopeless has done has been to make every character compelling and sympathetic. There's not really anyone left I don't want to survive. There are people who I had no knowledge of previously and who are going to be the biggest losses if they die. Granted, we're mostly down to previously known characters (mainstays like X-23 and our Runaways) but there are still a handful of Hopeless' creations and people who Hopeless has developed over the course of this series to a point that they're as or more compelling than anyone else out there. Exciting times and nerve-wracking times as we head to our final issue.

Captain America Living Legend 3
Diggle and Granov (s) and Diggle and Robson (w) and Alessio (a and c)

Volkov has been locked underground in a Russian facility since his return from space, where he seemed to have taken on a passenger, some sort of alien comprised of dark matter that wreaks havoc with human minds. In the past, it led to the death of nearly everyone in the Russian facility, encouraging them to kill themselves even if it was against their own will. The facility was sealed off and a soldier on the premises at the time, Gridenko, is now a colonel with the Russian army, tasked with bringing a squad back there and recovering the Deus project and, if possible, Volkov. He is, understandably, not thrilled with the assignment and says so to the Minister of Science, who has organized the mission. As soon as they get on site, other soldiers start transforming into the metal-like entities shown attack Cap and Doctor Fox at the end of last issue. The Russians' bullets have no effect but Cap shows up and his shield instantly destroys the enemies. After some half-hearted attempts to arrest Cap and Fox, Gridenko and his men relate the history of Volkov and the area. Fox realizes that the vibranium in the shield must be interfering with the dark matter and is effectively what's keeping them all human now. The team goes to destroy the Deus project but the one of the metal beings inside manages to evade the thrown shield, allowing it to sail out past him, leaving the group unprotected. The issue ends as Cap begins to transform.

Another solid and interesting issue as the plot begins to take shape and some questions start to get answered. There's a shift here that's leading the threat from something more scientific to something more science fiction, which is a neat little shift with a kind of classic science fiction set-up. My constant compliment of this series has been the way it's seamlessly developed background characters into real people with fully-fledged lives that you assume they'd go home to if they survived beyond their one line of dialogue (okay, very few of them do that). It continues and it kind of all pays off here as Gridenko is rather the ultimate example of someone developed through quick lines of dialogue and who then promptly went on to be a developed and necessary character. After seeing him for a page or so in 1973, we have a real and useful sense of who he is as we come to the present day. Frankly, I felt good for him because he was a colonel now! That dude worked at it! Way to go, Gridenko, I was rooting for you. It's things like that which have really cemented the series for me and made it something unique and enjoyable. Excited to go into the last issue of this one.

Thor: God of Thunder 15
Aaron (w) and Garney (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith is still running rampant through the nine realms, his legion always a step ahead of Thor and his League. They've managed to catch up and end a few of the dark elves following Malekith but by and large, the mission is failing at every turn. Thor takes a time out to try to get his team to work more favorably together by making everyone go an Alfheim tavern and bond while he makes out with Waziria, the dark elf on their team. The bonding seems to work at least a little and the team sets out for Jotunheim, land of the giants, to find Malekith chasing the other hiding dark elves. The fight is going well until Malekith launches himself into the mouth of the League of Realms' giant Oggy, killing him from the inside out. As Thor swears revenge, the team is dismayed to find that Malekith has managed to find favor with the dreaded frost giants of Jotunheim, adding considerable might to their side.

I'm a little torn on this arc as yet. On the one hand, I'm a little cynical from the get-go because I tend to roll my eyes a little at obvious sales ploys. I think this is a pretty good story and one that differs enough from Thor: The Dark World to justify its telling. However, it's hard to separate it from the fact that a major motion picture starring Malekith just came out and this is a clear "get the fans of the movie to buy the comic" move. I can't complain too much about that, though; comics are, after all, always a business and you do what it takes to survive. On top of that, this Malekith is a far different one than the one in the movie, who hates everybody and hardly wants to talk about his feelings. The comic Malekith is quite the chatterbox, more crazy than serious. Also, while I find the plot engaging and interesting, it's hard not to shrug a little at the League of Realms, which seems like a cliché at best and a silly conceit at worst. It's not so unbearable or anything that it's not worth reading but it rather seems to weaken a story that was working previously. Why the Congress of Worlds decided that they needed to present a united front to the realms against what is unquestionably a menace in this universe is beyond me. I would get the League if this was a more delicate issue and the realms needed to show how vast their support was but here, it feels like this is a guy whose downfall everyone benefits from. Now it just feels like a way to show us there are different realms and those realms don't really like each other but what an unusual foe who would bind these guys! I don't necessarily hate the characters (I also don't necessarily love them - it's hard not to seem them all as pretty stereotypical characters, despite their fantasy origins) but I think the idea that they have to be teamed up weakens the premise of the book, which is otherwise pretty strong. I have, you guys, some conflicting emotions about this story.

Thor: The Dark World review

Hey all my buddies, as ever with a movie review (or really any sort of review but particularly with movie ones) there are TONS of SPOILERS below. Read at your own risk.

Thor: The Dark World was released in America (who always gets these movies nearly last, much to the chagrin of comic book reviewers all over readmarvel.blogspot.com) on Friday, November 8th. Thanks to the magic of certain movies being allowed to release early, I got to see it on the 7th at 8 PM, which was reminiscent to me of when Amazon accidentally delivered Thor on blu-ray to my house the day before it was released. That is not where the similarities between the two movies end and, frankly, it's not really where they begin because that is a truly absurd and specific association to make. Probably where the similarities begin is right at the beginning of Thor: The Dark World. Like its predecessor, this movie opens with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) recounting for the audience a tale from Asgard's past. It's a little further back than the tale he opens the first movie with (which had to do with the war between Asgard and Jotunheim and the Frost Giants), giving us a look at Odin's father, King Bor (an apparently uncredited Tony Curran), and his Asgardian army taking down the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who had created a weapon called the Aether which, when bonded to it, would make him nearly invincible and would give him the power to destroy the nine realms during the convergence, the event every few thousand years when the nine realms align. If that sounds like an absolute whirlwind of exposition, it's because it is. Within five minutes of the movie starting, we know a movie's worth of plot. It's a bold move, though not a foreign one. It's essentially "A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away..." What makes it a bolder move, then, is that it's the second movie in this series to open this way. In most cases, you'd expect the first movie to have told the story you needed to tell to continue the series. Here we're telling a very different story with the same characters and so there's a different backstory. I've seen the movie twice and I remember the difference in feeling the two different times. The first time I was a little taken aback that they'd start the movie with another history of Asgard. The second time I was grateful. It gives the movie and this world a sense of the epic, a sense that this world has existed for so long that this story that's coming up, as good as it may be and as current as it may be, just brushes the surface of things Asgard has done. And that's how you kick your movie off. Bold choice, I think it pays off.

I did not intend to spend that long on the first five minutes but here we are. Malekith was defeated by Bor and the Aether was taken and hidden away, too powerful to be destroyed or allowed out in the open. Now, millennia later, the convergence is upon us again, aligning the nine realms. Suddenly, in the points where the convergence happens (where the branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, meet) small portals are opening and gravitational fluctuations are occurring. Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor's love interest from the first movie, is investigating one such portal with the not-so-much help of intern Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and, inexplicably, Lewis' intern Ian (Jonathan Howard), when she finds herself face-to-face with the Aether. It latches on to her and suddenly several interested parties are aware of its existence again, most notably an awakened Malekith. Malekith, along with top lieutenant-turned secret weapon Kurse (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), attack Asgard, killing Odin's wife and Loki's only supporter Frigga (Rene Russo), but fleeing before they can obtain the Aether. After the funeral for Frigga, Thor comes up with a plan to lure Malekith out by bringing Jane to Svartalfheim where Thor can sneak-attack Malekith and the Aether while both are weakened. Odin refuses the plan, preferring the Asgardians fight Malekith on their home turf, no matter the casualties. This sets Thor off on a clandestine quest wherein he breaks out Loki and the two, along with Jane, and with the help of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), and Fandral (Zachary Levi), escape Asgard and enact Thor's plan. It fails and Malekith obtains the Aether while Loki sacrifices himself to save Thor and destroy Kurse. Left with little time to mourn, Jane and Thor return to Earth and enlist the help of Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and soft science Malekith away. They trace the root of the convergence to Greenwich and realize that's where Malekith will come through, setting up shop to doom the universe. After an impressive, portal-hopping fight scene, Thor and the science gang win the day, splitting Malekith between the realms and eventually landing his own ship on him. Thor returns to Asgard where Odin plans to name him king but Thor refuses, wishing instead to protect the realms from the front lines, not with the pressures being king puts on someone. As Thor leaves, given Odin's reluctant blessing, Odin reveals himself to the audience to, in fact, be Loki in disguise.

That's a pretty long plot summary but you should have seen the first draft at this. Anyway, the movie is certainly an impressive one; the fight scenes are well done, Thor and Loki have an unquestionable chemistry and Loki continues to be handled extremely well. The plot itself is interesting and echoes, most recently, a 2010 or 2011 episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, written by...what's this, CHRISTOPHER YOST, CO-WRITER OF THOR: THE DARK WORLD. Don't act so surprised, you guys, I've been hinting at this for months. More than that, one of the things I found pretty interesting about Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, on top of how great it was, was that Marvel seemed to use it as a way to test out some ideas on young audiences, including the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Skrull invasion. In that episode, "The Fall of Asgard," the Avengers get separated between the nine realms and have to find their way to Asgard to defeat Loki, who had previously worked alongside Malekith to try to conquer Earth. Anyway, that doesn't make the story any less intriguing. What I would say makes it a little less intriguing is the insistence, as in the first movie, to draw parallels between the world of magic and the world of science, meaning that there's a ton of soft science in here that, when you start to really think it through isn't particularly well-explained. Still, the writing largely covers for it and the action and characterization of Thor, Loki, and the other Asgardians (particularly Frigga and Idris Elba's Heimdall) certainly make for an enjoyable film overall.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice that I'm not saying too much in my positive section about the characterization of Jane Foster or Erik Selvig or Darcy Lewis. There's, uh, there's a reason for that, eagle-eyed readers. As with the first movie, it feels a little like the screenwriters aren't totally sure what to do with Jane Foster. I listened to a podcast recently with one of the screenwriters for Thor who said that Natalie Portman wanted to bring more of a poet/scientist feel to the role of Jane Foster. I'm not totally sure what that entails but I assume it has to do with her clinginess to Thor. Not to say she's necessarily all over him but there are certainly lines here that imply that she's done very little in the way of science since he left (we're told the events of the first movie happened two years prior, with The Avengers happening somewhere in-between though probably closer to this movie than to Thor). She's instead spent time at her mother's and, if Darcy is to be believed (big "if"), hasn't looked at least at the equipment she was using prior to Thor's arrival on Earth in the last two years or so. This is a scientist who we're supposed to believe is incredibly smart and inquisitive who has given up because her boyfriend (who she knew for like, three days, mind you) disappeared two years ago. I have some real issues with that characterization.

Fortunately for Jane, it's far overlooked by my sheer annoyance at Darcy Lewis who is inexplicably still hanging around with Jane. The first movie posited that she was an intern for Jane and Erik, though not particularly into whatever they were doing (she was a political science major but she was the only one who applied for the job so neither party necessarily wants to be with the other). Somehow now we find out she's been at this for an additional TWO YEARS, still as an intern and still knowing very little (and seeming to care very little) about the science Jane does. Perhaps more inexplicably, she has found some dumb British kid to be her intern. Darcy talks non-stop and is given plenty of obvious laugh lines but they mostly come off as annoying and mood-breaking. I was encouraged to hear, in the second viewing particularly, that people by and large were not laughing at her lines which told me it wasn't just me being snooty about it. Her character is a waste and unquestionably hurts the movie. It would be a smaller complaint but her role is larger even than the first film, which had the good sense to pretty much knock her out of the second half. Selvig too sees a bit of a character decline from the first film, going a little over-the-top crazy after the events of The Avengers. All of this, I think, hurts the film and particularly hurts the final fight scene which shows all of them hard at work to try to evade the Dark Elves and to help Thor stop Malekith's attack. The problem is that, with the possible exception of Jane, none of them have shown themselves to be remotely capable of this and still they get an absurd amount of screen time.

Overall, despite these complaints, the film holds up on the strength of the plot and effects and on the characterization of Thor and Loki. Thor is different than the Thor we saw in the first movie, the brash and arrogant would-be king of Asgard. Here he's learned his lessons in worthiness and wields Mjolnir deservedly. He's still somewhat arrogant on the battlefield but, while it's certainly earned, it feels a little like a show for troop morale. Back in Asgard, he's somewhat removed, even covering himself in plain clothes and presenting a bit of a more brooding hero. He's more distant with the Warriors Three and with Sif (who has far too little of a role in this, in my opinion) and he's removed himself from many of their celebrations. Presumably a big part of this is Jane but it also seems to have to do with his newfound love of Earth as a whole, lending itself to the Thor we see in comics, a Thor who spends the majority of his downtime on Earth because he just prefers it. It also gives weight to the final scene, where he tells "Odin" that he wants to patrol the nine realms and that it wouldn't matter if Odin said he could rule Asgard with Jane by his side, he still would prefer to be roaming. It's a nice decision to make Thor someone who's matured as much as this Thor has but who still clearly aches for Earth. His character is far less complicated than someone like Loki; Thor is good, Thor is right, in the same sort of way that Captain America is goodness and rightness (that's not the last time I'll mention him). That means his moral decisions aren't ever really going to be huge draws for a crowd. Instead, it's Loki who draws us to questions of "what will he do here?" Thor, then, has appeal here as someone who knows what's expected of him vs. what he wants to do and as someone who believes firmly in the way he wants things done.

So Loki. Loki, thanks to Hiddleston's portrayal of the character in both Thor and The Avengers has become a huge star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here's the thing: it's completely well-deserved. I found his interpretation of Loki in Thor to be dead on, right down to every minute facial expression and movement. There's something utterly charming and utterly slimy, all at once, in this Loki. Here we see him in a sort of different light. He's still angry about the secret of his parentage and he sees nothing wrong with what he attempted to do on Earth during The Avengers. He lashes out at everyone but he has a tender scene with Frigga, giving us the appearance that he isn't just some evil villain. It also plays to Loki as he and Thor put on a bit of a show for Malekith later to try to convince Malekith that Loki is on his side. The audience can speculate that this is all part of a plan for Loki but no one in the crowd can be totally sure because, well, because it's Loki. Loki delivers some of the best lines in the movie and the writers throw in the funniest part based around Loki, wherein he and Thor walk down a hallway in the palace and (SPOILERS YOU GUYS, I KNOW I SAID IT BUT THIS PART WAS SUPER GREAT AND I DON'T WANT IT SPOILED FOR YOU) Loki alters their appearances a couple times, eventually landing on Thor walking with one of his "new companions," Captain America. Chris Evans has a near-perfect cameo as Cap here with Loki-Cap spouting lines about truth and freedom and the American way. It's hilarious, it's well-timed, it's a great surprise, and it's probably the highlight of what was already a good movie.

Final thing to talk about, then, is the post credits scene (there are two to this movie, one in the middle of the credits and one at the very end; the one in the middle is the one that's important to talk about for the Marvel movie-verse). Sif and Volstagg take a journey to a very odd showroom of sorts and are led to none other than future Guardians of the Galaxy villain the Collector (Benicio del Toro). Sif and Volstagg have been sent to deliver the Aether, captured again, to the Collector, hoping that he'll keep it safe there. The Collector asks why Asgard wouldn't keep it themselves and Volstagg reveals that they already have the Tesseract in their possession and it's not wise to keep two Infinity stones too near one another. The Collector lauds this as wise and agrees to protect the Aether. Sif and Volstagg leave a little warily and the Collector murmurs "one down, five to go." YOU GUYS. The Tesseract and the Aether are Infinity Gems! Thanos, key villain for Guardians (though there promises to be a slew of them), is always after those pesky gems and here we've already seen two of them and it rather fits. What is a cosmic cube? Oh, an Infinity Gem! What is this crazy weapon Malekith seems to have created? Not too much, just AN INFINITY GEM. AND NOW THE COLLECTOR HAS ONE AND KNOWS WHERE ANOTHER IS. Geez, that's exciting. Marvel laying some more in-roads here and there to get people talking about their riskiest movie in phase two, Guardians of the Galaxy. Overall, definitely a good movie, lots of fun and well worth seeing.

Tiny "Thor: The Dark World" review

I don't want to review too much just yet because technically the movie isn't out yet and I don't want to let any spoilers out of the bag (that said, SORRY IF THIS SPOILS ANYTHING FOR YOU) so I plan to go super-basic with just first impressions and give a more full review on maybe Monday.

Really fun movie, definitely another win in Marvel's book. There were certainly bits that felt a little coincidental and really existed to bring our plot and characters together but they're easy enough to overlook. I'd say the movie's biggest flaw, by about tenfold, was Kat Denning's character Darcy, who appears far too much in this movie, a complaint I had with the first Thor although she was in that one less. A couple of forced laugh bits here and there but some truly wonderful humor at points and really solid characterization and acting pretty much all around. Like I said, I plan to go more into this and more spoiler heavy when more of the world has gotten a chance to see it (okay, Monday, not that much more of a chance but you're lucky I'm waiting now) but for now, the takeaway is that I really liked it and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

OH, also, if they make a SANDMAN movie at any point (preferably soon for this plan), they REALLY need to cast Tom Hiddleston. He'd be amazing.

Daredevil 31, Thor: God of Thunder 13

Daredevil 31
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

Current events mix with the Marvel Universe as a case very similar to 2012's Trayvon Martin case (the trial was this year, I know you guys, I keep up with current events too) has cropped up in New York City. The details are extremely similar and, like in that case, the defendant walked free. However, that's where things change in the 616. In the 616, prosecutor James Priest, who has been hailed as a civil rights leader, leaves the courthouse, upset with the verdict, and produces a page with names, addresses, and pictures of everyone on the jury, should people want to exact revenge for their blowing the trial. The city is instantly whipped into a frenzy and only Daredevil knows that someone interrupted the live feed with an excellent impression of Priest and flashed those names. It's confirmed when everyone physically near Priest as he made his speech shows confusion at what they've been told happened on the television broadcast. That doesn't matter to Daredevil, though, as he needs to concern himself with protecting the jurors and finding out who did this. The Serpent Society is clearly behind it, considering their recent infiltration of the legal system and the case being one with such connections to race, but it's the Jester who actually did the impression of Priest and interrupted the feeds. Daredevil discovers that Jester left a trail; his name and address are on the lineup of the jurors though he wasn't one of them. Matt goes to Jester's house to find someone in a Daredevil t-shirt, distributed by Foggy at the hospital, hanging in the house.

You guys, it might be Foggy. I'm not sure I can objectively analyze this issue if that's Foggy so I'm going to pretend, for the moment, that it's not or that it's a ruse or something. Maybe even that he's not dead but even if he's not dead, the dude is still a cancer patient and he was brought there by Jester as part of this whole game and WHAT IS HAPPENING TO FOGGY LATELY? Crap, AND Matt and Foggy's last conversation ended with Matt angry because he found out it was Foggy who hired Kirsten in his place. You guys, that better not be Foggy Nelson. Everything about this issue is really intense and pretty good. There's another DD-Hank Pym team-up as DD gets Pym to use his ants to create rain throughout the city, pretty good at dispersing the riots that have started. Really interesting story rooted in a sad sort of realism with great art and solid writing. It's not Foggy though, right?

Thor: God of Thunder 13
Aaron (w) and Garney (a) and Svorcina (c)

A very small troop of Dark Elves (from the realm of Svartalfheim) have journeyed to Niffleheim to free their imprisoned king Malekith the Accursed. It's not an easy trek and most of the group die, leaving only one alive when Malekith is freed. Together, the elf Scumtongue and Malekith leave Niffleheim for Svartalfheim, where Malekith assumes he will be welcomed back to the throne. Meanwhile, in Asgardia, our Asgardian heroes are enjoying a feast to celebrate Volstagg's election to the congress of worlds. One of the Dark Elves living in Asgardia suddenly feels Svartalfheim's pain and alerts Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three to the issue. They journey immediately to Svartalfheim and find Malekith standing over the bodies of a village of slaughtered Dark Elves. He tells them of the civil war brewing (Svartalfheim, it turns out, was not exactly eager for Malekith to take over the throne again) and disappears before Thor and company can stop him. Malekith, for his part, swears to kill every single Dark Elf who goes against him, no matter where they hide.

This may be the most spell-check has ever disagreed with my posts. And I write a comic book blog. Anyway, solid issue and story, happy to give readers a look at Malekith before he stars as the main villain in Thor: The Dark World. Or cash in on that connection, LOOK, IT DOESN'T MATTER. It's still a good story and it seems it will be a nice reintroduction to the nine realms as this arc continues. With Dark Elves spread out across the nine realms, it seems we'll spend a bit of time in each and maybe give people a chance to, with relative ease, learn a little bit more about Thor's history. There's even a nifty map of the nine realms (drawn by Haemi Jang) at the back of this issue, which will certainly be good for spelling reference in the future for anyone who may have a comic blog. Always a little wary of books that aren't quite movie tie-ins but are clearly movie tie-ins, but this one seems like a story worth telling so far. This five-issue arc will be in full swing by the time Thor: The Dark World premieres, giving movie fans a quick book to jump into (they need only pick up the two to three issues prior to the newest one by the time they wander into a comic shop) and will give comic fans a nice introduction or re-introduction to Malekith before his big screen debut. Nice little mix. Well-respected comic veteran Ron Garney hops onboard for this arc as the new artist and his art is pretty stellar.