Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 2

Red Onslaught has waged an impressive war on the heroes of the world while kicking off what they've quickly dubbed World War Hate. His biggest asset are two Sentinels designed by Tony Stark during Civil War to capture or kill the heroes of the world he was then fighting against. Now, the Sentinels are staving off the heroes while Red Onslaught breaks down their telepathic barriers and disappears them one by one. The Sentinels handle the heroes, even defeating a good if very soft science (or soft magic, as it were) plan from Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange (THANKS NOVA, SCREWING EVERYTHING UP), leaving it up to Iron Man and Magneto (who is, understandably, not so happy that Iron Man built some straight-up Sentinels, even if they're not focused on mutants today). As Iron Man gets crushed by one of his own Sentinels, he sees Magneto looking on. Nightcrawler bamfs in to save Tony at the last moment. He wakes up the next morning to learn that the resistance is only him and a handful of others, who all get disappeared themselves in that day's fight, leaving Red Onslaught bragging to Iron Man about how he's the last one standing thanks to his own devices when Magneto and a cadre of villains show up to keep fighting.

After a disappointing first issue, Remender tilts the focus a bit, putting the spotlight on Iron Man's inner monologue, which goes into depth about his penchant, as a child, of discovering and recording the weaknesses and fears of his fellow classmates in order to exploit them later, a trait he attempted to repent for after he became sober, but something he never really stopped, as he explains. It's a deeply personal issue for Iron Man and one that really redeems a lot of what I didn't like about the first issue (not hurt, of course, by the reduction of double-page spreads and AXIS banners, which only appear on a couple of pages). It's a good story in the way that I liked the ORIGINAL SIN: HULK VS. IRON MAN tie-in before the end changed the story, a story that unquestionably vilifies Tony but also does what it little it can to explain it through his own problems. It's a good tact for the book to take. The book still does drag a bit as we see a lot of characters who have to develop their own voice here. Hard to really fault the pacing for that, I suppose. Certainly a more positive issue than the last one, and one that indicates things might be going somewhere.

Total Score: 4/5

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 1

Avengers and X-Men: Axis 1

Magneto killing the Red Skull at the end of the last UNCANNY AVENGERS backfired as it, for reasons unknown, turned him into the Red Onslaught, the Nazi version of X-Men villain Onslaught. With his already impressive power now made more immense, Red Onslaught is able to start broadcasting his hate across the globe, causing rioting and hate crimes everywhere. Iron Man, who has already built in precautions against telepathy into his own suit, manages to block out the Red Onslaught's telepathy to his team, stopping their inherited hatred before things get too disastrous, and leads the Avengers to aid Havok, Rogue, and Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch, though, has been taken over by the Red Onslaught and is nearly ready to convert the world to one where the Nazis won. Rogue, fortunately, whacks her out of it and then talks her out of it (being crazy, that is). Unfortunately, with Iron Man now onsite, Red Onslaught is able to access his contingency plans to defeat all of his friends if the need should arise.

Holy double-page-spread, you guys. This event officially kicks off (still with an extraordinarily clunky name, instead of the much easier name "Axis") with an oversized issue and I mean that in every sense. It's longer than a typical issue, it's bigger than a typical issue (thanks to all the DPS), and it probably should have been reined in a bit more. A good chunk of the first half of this issue finds the Avengers fighting some other foe and quipping and generally having a pretty good time. It doesn't really read so well, though, so it's rather a slog to get through it. Sadly, that trend kind of continues as Remender seems intent on getting out as much information as he can in this first issue, meaning this oversized issue drags quite a bit throughout, something you don't want happening in what should be the action-packed start of a new event. The story is compelling, though it smacks of a story of convenience, one created by people going "geez, wouldn't it be cool if we could do X or Y, let's find a reason for X or Y to happen." As a result, this first issue holds together only marginally well and the rampant dialogue and over-explanation drag everything down with it.

Total Score: 2/5

Uncanny Avengers 25, Death of Wolverine 3

Uncanny Avengers 25

Magneto manages to attack Red Skull, freeing Scarlet Witch, Rogue, and Havok from his mind. They all fight with Skull's S-Men for a bit while Magneto, helmet on, attacks Skull. Magneto forces Skull to the ground, beating him with all of his might, using his fists instead of his powers. After restraining Wanda so she couldn't stop him, he picks up a slab of concrete and slams it on Skull's head, horrifying the Unity Squad and bringing the fighting to halt. As Magneto explains his actions and shows no remorse for them, Skull emerges as the Red Onslaught.

There's obviously a lot happening here, between Remender exploring Magneto's youth and his understandable hatred for Skull, who is a Nazi, a mutant-hater, and who stole the brain of his dead best friend, and showing us the mutant contingent of the team he's spent the last 25 issues building. The way to connect the stories, of course, is through Wanda, so she's our narrator here, explaining the best she can the complicated relationship with her birth father. She also lets us in on the secret that she has to really restrain herself to not act like him, to not revel in his rage and allow him to do what he's doing, particularly against the Skull, for whom such rage is warranted. As a result, there are a lot of interesting things happening but it happens on a backdrop that is so chaotic and so necessary that it's easy to get lost in the jumble of things. We're still trying to get acquainted with the S-Men (especially since we haven't seen them in twenty or so issues now) and there are many moving parts here and yet they're not meant to be our focus. Remender, understandably, wants to get a lot done here in the preparation for next week's AXIS launch. However, the rush sets this one back a little bit.

Total Score: 4/5


Death of Wolverine 3

Kitty Pryde saves Wolverine from Lady Deathstrike, forcing Deathstrike to flee as Kitty injects a fading Wolverine with a quick regen serum, something that will heal him temporarily but certainly won't substitute for or replace his healing factor. She insists he allows her to come with him to help him fight off the assassins after him and get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately, Wolverine quickly discovers that her mind has been taken over by ninja master Ogun, who has a long history with these two and who is ready to deliver Wolverine to the one asking for him. Wolverine fights him and Kitty, who is somewhat used to having Ogun take over her mind at this point, fights back against him as well, forcing him out into a nearby innocent's mind. Wolverine follows him while Kitty comes back to her senses, though she reveals that the one orchestrating everything is a guy named Abraham Cornelius. Wolverine catches up to Ogun, who shows him the body of the killer Cyber, another one on Cornelius' list, which seems to at least have some tie-in to adamantium-enhanced individuals. Ogun just wants Logan to leave Japan and tells him so, saying that he'll spare the innocent man he's inhabiting of Logan just leaves. Logan agrees to, but tells him to warn Cornelius that he's coming.

I was legitimately surprised when I got to the end of this issue and found that there was only one issue left in DEATH OF WOLVERINE. It's really refreshing to see a major event like this start and finish in four issues (though I'll believe it when I see it, and when I'm satisfied with the aftermath stuff that's already been announced, THE LOGAN LEGACY, maybe it's called?). It's the first time in a long while that something with this magnitude has wrapped up so quickly and I'm one hundred percent onboard with it. I'm also really enjoying this book. There is a bit of a complicated note to make here too; I was reading this issue and had quickly decided this was the best Kitty Pryde I'd seen in literally years, someone who was strong and self-assured and loyal and smart and not some weird caricature of herself. Of course, then Ogun happened to be in her mind. Was it really Kitty steering the ship up until Ogun revealed himself or was Ogun the one who I thought was the best Kitty I'd seen in a while? I prefer to think it's the former, that Ogun just piggybacked on Kitty until it was time to make his move, because that way I can still credit Soule with the best recent Kitty. ANYWAY, it's been a really interesting series so far and it's moved extremely well, aided now by the revelation (that isn't so much a revelation as it is a known and expected fact) that the next issue is the last.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers 35, Uncanny Avengers 24, Avengers World 13

Avengers 35

We're eight months into the future and the entire world is completely different. Cannonball lives off world with Izzy and their newborn baby, though Sunspot, the new leader of AIM after he managed to hostile-takeover their business (one of the drawbacks, he says, of running your evil scientist group like a corporation), needs them to come back to Earth for what's coming. Hyperion has been working with his children in the Savage Land to build a device for...reasons, which he and Thor, now Mjolnir-less, will use to cross over somewhere. Likely it has to do with incursions. SPEAKING OF INCURSIONS, the Illuminati, comprised of the original members plus a bunch of other super scientist types like Amadeus Cho, Brian Braddock, and Hank Pym, is on the run from SHIELD and the now-SHIELD sanctioned Avengers. These Avengers catch up with Cho as he breaks into the old Avengers Tower trying to salvage some of on-the-run Tony Stark's data but the Avengers, led by Sue Storm, capture him, though he has no information for them.

Okay, so there's rather a lot that's changed, hm? This isn't an alternate dimension, this isn't a WHAT IF... story, this is the main Marvel Universe just eight short months from now. It's a bit reminiscent of CIVIL WAR but with a very different schism at the center and with a very specific sort of hero going up against SHIELD and the Avengers. The story, of course, is very interesting and compelling to get into because, as you'd expect with a story like this and particularly with Hickman, we just into a fully formed world just the way it is, no real explanation given yet besides what you can surmise from the natural dialogue and your own assumptions about the situation based on what's been happening. It's a strong start to the ambitious TIME RUNS OUT storyline and it looks like Hickman, as ever, has this well in hand. Have I mentioned that I adore Hickman's EAST OF WEST? That it's one of the best comics I've ever read? Good.

Total Score: 5/5


Uncanny Avengers 24

As the Unity Squad gets back to Avengering, the greater mutant part of the team (Havok, Scarlet Witch, and Rogue) finds itself abducted by Red Skull's S-Men and brought to his new concentration camps on Genosha. While unconscious, Rogue sees Charles Xavier (seen here with Banshee) in her mind. Charles says that he's just the last psychic residue in his old brain, now in the Skull's head, and tells Rogue that she has to keep Scarlet Witch away from Skull, that he has some horrible plans for her. He also reveals that she's the secret weapon because Skull knows all their powers but doesn't know yet that she has Wonder Man in her head. She wakes up and tells the others, chained up next to her, and together they break out, running into and rescuing Magneto on their way. Magneto wants to save all of the mutants and is furious and derogatory when he learns that they want to go and get more help first. The fight is interrupted, though, when Skull and his S-Men confront them.

AXIS seems ready to burst forth (I know it's now called AXIS: AVENGERS AND X-MEN but that's a dumb name and AXIS is a solid name) as Skull's fight with the Unity Squad continues, now more hateful than ever. There's some good character work here as Remender catches new readers up on all that's happened by having Havok talk about his disfigured and burned face and having Wolverine meet with Scarlet Witch and Rogue to talk about his part and his guilt in the whole last arc and to say how proud he is that the two of them are working together and have put the past behind them. It's perhaps a little too eager to chew some scenery, but it gets the point across and doesn't feel nearly as expository as it could. Running into Magneto helps the issue too as more characters are developed and as the plot advances nicely. Strong stuff, looking forward to AXIS. It's nice to have events every so often that seem like they stem from current events in the books (not like certain other events, particularly ORIGINAL SIN, AGE OF ULTRON, FEAR ITSELF, and BATTLE OF THE ATOM, which all spawned from nothingness and meant fairly little).

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 13

As the Hand, Gorgon, and the ancient dragon on whose back Madripoor sits fight against the newly revealed SPEAR, we get an introduction to the Ascendant, the superteam SPEAR has put together or, more appropriately, the superteam Weather Witch (formerly of The Dynasty) put together and leads with the go-ahead and support of SPEAR and the Chinese government. Included on the team are Saber, another former Dynasty member, Devastator, a Skrull loyal to the Chinese government and wearing the former Russian Devastator armor, Vector, a rebellious protestor with Darkforce powers similar to Cloak's, and Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. They hold their own in battle but it won't be enough to fully stop the dragon and SPEAR's Director Zheng calls up Maria Hill in the hopes for some aid, specifically in the hopes of technological aid, SPECIFICALLY in the hopes of getting some Pym particles, which Hill gives but only under the condition it be given to one of her team. Enter Shang-Chi, giant master of Kung Fu.

Spencer, interestingly, has gone back-to-back AVENGERS WORLD issues introducing a new team from another part of the world. It's a real WORLD style move, showing perhaps the inspiration of a team like the Avengers on the other parts of the world and allowing us to see how the world has reacted to the presence of superheroes all over. It's a pretty strong issue and gives us a sense of this Ascendant team and of SPEAR, which separates itself from SHIELD in a number of ways in this book. Also not going to act like I'm not excited about the idea of a giant Shang-Chi fighting a dragon. That feels like maybe it was the pitch of this entire book. "Giant Shang-Chi fights a dragon," said Spencer, and the rest was history.

Total Score: 5/5

Leftovers 9-10-14

Wowwwwww, managed to knock out enough books that I only have SIX ISSUES to quick-review today. Not saying I'm super-duper proud of myself but it'd be okay if you were all super-duper proud of me.

All-New Ultimates 8

The Ultimates meet to figure out their next plan, particularly where they're going to live and how they're going to operate now when Spider-Man tells them that J. Jonah Jameson offered them "whatever they need" to help and maybe he could help with this. Meanwhile, the Femme Fatales, a new villain group with some sort of puppeteer over them, attack Manhattan. The Ultimates dispatch them well enough but constant bickering between Cloak and Dagger comes to a head and the two remove themselves to break up. Oh, and the Future Foundation shows up for some plot device and someone is watching them/researching them on some monitors. You know how it goes. The series continues to drag with exposition and would-be playful dialogue hampering the pacing. The banter during the fight is as constant and as head-shakingly frustrating as it's ever been. Total Score: 2/5




Deadpool 34
In another throwback story, this one tied to ORIGINAL SIN, we learn that Deadpool used to work willingly (sort of) for Butler, giving him his blood and doing jobs for him. His personality is still there but there is an element of coercion to it. Things come to a head when Butler, testing the limits of Deadpool's subservience, sends Deadpool to kill his own parents. After a brief encounter with Alpha Flight, Deadpool burns his childhood home down with his parents sleeping inside. He returns home to find Carmelita on Butler's doorstep with little Ellie. Butler takes a blood sample from Ellie before Deadpool sends them away, shouting about how dangerous he is. He also leaves Butler's employ, leading to Butler to capture him covertly whenever he needs a new sample. Back in the present, Adsit has seen all of this courtesy of the truth bomb but Preston refuses to let Deadpool know about it. It's a pretty strong issue with the expected amounts of '90s comic-book references and homages which tend to be a lot of fun but can also carry on a little long. Instead, here, Duggan and Posehn front-load the issue with such references (making it a little bit of a drag but not giving it enough time to really slow things) and then really put some weight in the back half. Pretty strong stuff. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 10

Thing learns that She-Thing runs his Ryker's prison wing as dictated by someone higher up on the food chain, Sue steals one of the Fantastic Four transports from under SHIELD's nose, Johnny continues to party, and Reed finds himself alone in a fight in Chicago against the Wizard and the women of the Salem Seven, only surviving the fight with the appearance of Scarlet Witch. It's funny that this book should come after the '90s throwback DEADPOOL issue because that issue made fun of the '90s tradition of long-winded mid-fight exposition, among other things, then here all of that is in a real, non-tongue-in-cheek FANTASTIC FOUR book. Just further highlights why books aren't written that way any more. As ever, this book drags, the dialogue is terrible, and nobody has a thought they don't shout to the world. Total Score: 1/5





Magneto 9
Magneto sets off for Genosha, where he's learned more atrocities are being committed. He recalls times in the concentration camp as he finds mutants and Inhumans imprisoned at Genosha, held by the Red Skull, who Magneto soon learns has old friend Charles Xavier's brain. In his anger and his desire for justice, he goes alone to attack Skull and his S-Men only to be humiliated by the S-Men and captured. It's as dark an issue as that summary would make you expect, but it's a pretty good issue as Magneto fails for pretty much the first time in this series and as we get a little bit of a teaser of what we can expect out of the upcoming AXIS. More strong work out of Bunn, Walta, and Bellaire on this series. Total Score: 4/5


New Warriors 9

Scarlet Spider wants to quit the team and the mountain has brought him "home," which, to his chagrin, means Houston. He and Justice fight about the team and about Scarlet Spider's heroism but the two are interrupted by Choke the Bear, a giant former NBA mascot granted insane powers and size by a meteorite that once crashed through his court and landed on him. As Scarlet Spider tries to leave, hoping that Choke, who is set on fighting a villain in Houston, will follow him, he runs into old friend and police lieutenant Wally Layton who tells him that he was wrong when he blamed Kaine for Houston's problems, that Kaine really was a hero and saved the city and his own life multiple times. Kaine reluctantly goes back and, with the help of Justice, takes Choke down, even more reluctantly agreeing to stick with the team. Meanwhile, Aracely reveals to Speedball that Mictlan is coming and she will die soon. This issue is a lot of fun and Yost again shows off his prowess for taking any character, giving them a unique voice, and making you care about them. Everyone on the team gets at least one line this time out and there's not really a wasted line. Everything is meant to color a character or to advance the plot and it all works really well. Excellent work as ever and the book continues to be a really entertaining read. Really sad this one's ending. Total Score: 5/5


Nightcrawler 6
Nightcrawler and Scorpion-Boy team to fight their way through the Crimson Pirates in their attempt to save mutant genius Ziggy Karst. Together they plow through the pirates with seeming ease and Nightcrawler begins to believe there's more to it than the pirates just killing a bunch of people to get to Karst. Indeed, when they finally rescue Karst (who is immediately taken with Rico), they find that the pirates have been shooting everyone but the guns have been teleporting them to interdimensional slaver Tullamore Voge. Nightcrawler uses the gun on himself and rescues the civilians and Ziggy, returning home triumphant again. The book continues to be really start-and-stop with the dialogue and exposition stepping on the toes of the plot and the character-building. The plot twists, too, seem to come out of nowhere, which is kind of what you want a plot twist to do but a twist doesn't mean anything if there's absolutely no precedence for it, as in this case. This is a new mutant we know nothing about being attacked by pirates we haven't seen in decades for a slaver we haven't seen in decades and it's all over and done with in one issue. What a weird book. Total Score: 2/5

All-New Invaders 2, Captain America 16

All-New Invaders 2
J. Robinson (w) and Pugh (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Bucky was doing a job for the original Nick Fury, a job that went surprisingly well, when the Kree found him like they'd go on to find Human Torch. After evading the Kree and managing to interrogate one of them, Bucky called Steve to let him know what was happening and the two of them went together to Torch in the midwest. Back where the first issue left off, the Invaders manage to hold off the Kree and their leader Tanalth long enough that she gets called back by the Kree with the information that they seem to have all the pieces of the Gods' Whisper. After she leaves, Bucky and Torch exposit a bit about the scene that both Bucky and Torch were made to remember, explaining that it happened on a mission when Cap was busy elsewhere and that they defeated the Nazis and broke the Gods' Whisper into three parts with each of them tasked with burying a part and not revealing its location to the others. After they did that, they called on Aarkus, the original Vision, to wipe their memory of the device and its location. Now they all agree to go after the Kree in the hopes of both stopping them from using the Whisper and saving Namor.

It's a good enough plot and one that justifies this once-upon-a-team getting back together (also, as Cap himself intimates, they're just about the only group aside from maybe Atlanteans who would care about rescuing Namor). The characters all play their roles this issue as Bucky gets to be the younger-seeming and more brash wetworks guy while Steve plays the morally definite inspirational leader and Torch plays Steve. That's one of the faults that a lot of people tend to fall into writing Invaders stories: Namor and Bucky are very much not Steve but Torch doesn't really get his own personality unless he's made somewhat angsty by the fact that he's an android and doesn't fit in (don't misread any tone in there, that sort of story is still compelling and the character changes it requires work well for Torch but it's not really one that can sustain all the time). Hopefully this series will last long enough and Robinson will be compelled enough to develop Torch into a character wholly his own. For now, though, the plot continues to suffice and the characters are ones we can pretty easily understand, so even if you're not brushed up on your Invaders, it's an easy enough book to jump into. Hopefully it stays a book worth having jumped into.

Captain America 16
Remender (w) and Alixe (a) and Delgado w/ Fabela and Silva (c)

With Steve across the globe on a mission taking down Nuke, readers may be wondering how Jet Black is faring in this new world. Turns out it's about as well as you would expect. She loathes the world and kind of loathes herself for helping to stop her father from taking it over when he so easily could have and, in her estimation, would have improved it. She's perplexed by the kindness and compassion she sees in the midst of all the horrible parts of the city and she can't quite guarantee it's a good thing. She finds herself doing her first very-nearly heroic thing when she intercedes on the behalf of a shopkeeper being beaten to death by a couple of men he threw out of his store. Of course, she waits until the shopkeeper is very badly beaten before scaring the assailants off. When asked by the man why she didn't help, she asks him why he didn't help himself and goes on to say that if he cannot defeat life, life will defeat him. She soon finds herself being addressed by a man who calls himself a friend and who reveals himself to be an S-Man. Anyone reading UNCANNY AVENGERS will know where this is heading, though we haven't been on that plot in quite some time. He brings her to none other than the Red Skull, who assures her that he is a friend of her father's and calls on her to join him and rule like a Zola over these people who are begging to be ruled. Overwhelmed by all the images he's showing her (such as the image of a Captain America on his knees, admitting that he's fighting for ideals he doesn't believe in and the image of her father), she panics a little and "escapes" only to find that the whole thing has been playing in her head as she stands over the beaten shopkeeper.

Plenty of things happening here and Remender again shows elements of the long game he's playing in so many books right now. It's still fairly impossible to get a read on Jet Black, who has shown signs of compassion dating back to her Dimension Z days but who ultimately seems unconvinced by it. The last thing Steve needs is for her to be teamed with Red Skull, especially the Red Skull who has Charles Xavier's mind in his head. There are a lot of things in this issue that call back to UNCANNY AVENGERS but I don't think you have to be a reader of both books to understand exactly what's happening (though I'd hazard that there's a good crossover between readers of CAPTAIN AMERICA and readers of UNCANNY AVENGERS). Even going so far as showing the Captain America that Skull shows to Jet, which is obviously not the real Cap but is something that was hinted at by Skull when he dug around Cap's mind early in UNCANNY AVENGERS, is a nice touch. The art is solid here and works particularly well in the outdoor scenes as Alixe's art and Delgado's colors work well together to create the sort of miserable New York winter day. That said, I won't be upset if Pacheco's back next time out, really been liking his stuff in the book. Next time: more about Dr. Mindbubble. Dr. Mindbubble. Still can't really wrap my head around it.

Savage Wolverine 8, Wolverine MAX 11

Savage Wolverine 8
Wells (w) and Madureira (a) and Steigerwald (c)

Wolverine has been captured by the Arbiters, who Elektra continues to fight, while Kingpin is faced with his resurrected, though deadly and seemingly brainless, wife. Elektra was offered a chance to leave but refused to do so without Wolverine, which gave her more respect in the eyes of the Arbiters. Now they seek to test Wolverine by bringing the animal out in him and seeing what he will do with it around. He instantly jumps back into combat with the giant Shikaru and easily bests him. As the fight concludes, though, Logan takes control again and refuses to kill him, showing mercy and convincing the Arbiters to also allow him to leave. Meanwhile, Fisk attempts to talk Vanessa into stopping, trying to refuse to fight her, which is what the Hand wants to see. Eventually he cannot help himself, wishing to end her suffering by taking her away from it. As he does it, though, she shows just a glimmer of memory and awareness, causing him to slip further into his own wretchedness. By the end of the issue, Elektra is cutting her way through the Hand to track down Bullseye, Kingpin is firming up more brutal and violent takeovers for the Hand, and Wolverine is sitting in silence with Spider-Man at Avengers Mansion.

Another pretty nice issue for Savage Wolverine, which stumbled out of the gate. There's less open humor in this one than in the last couple as we get down to the nitty-gritty of the story, which involves an actual full-out judgment of character from the Arbiters, something that's worth putting Wolverine up against here and there. Wolverine is constantly his own biggest critic; he knows what he is and he may not like it (or he may, some debate there) but it's the role he exists in and he fills it. Occasionally a third party, particularly one with no interest in his future, has to appear to tell him that he's maybe not as bad as he seems. The Arbiters are downright wonderful to him, considering, as they tell him that he cannot take the things he does so hard, that you cannot blame the lion for the slaughter of the gazelle. Even when Wolverine retorts that he's not an animal, they agree with him. Can't get much nicer to Wolverine than that. Still, pretty good issue with really perfect art by Joe Mad to work with the story. He draws a good Wolverine and a pretty solid Elektra, among other things. Liked his Spider-Man too, frankly. Good issue. I think we might get a few written and drawn by phenomenal artist Jock soon. Rather looking forward to it.

Wolverine MAX 11
Starr (w) and Ruiz (a) and Brown (c)

Wolverine has made it to Vegas, though he's not quite at the Vegas everyone pictures when they picture Vegas. He's a little ways away, fighting in cage matches to make a little bit of money before he sets out into the city. After a good fight, he goes home with a woman he meets and talks to her for a while. She tells him that she's a psychic though later adjusts it to hypnotist. He eventually gets himself home, though he blacks out a little in the middle. The next day, the guy he'd fought the previous night wants a second round and Wolverine obliges, only to find out he has little to no control of his body now. He can't pop his claws and he can't even really fight. After getting thoroughly beaten down, he goes to find the woman again. When he enters her trailer, he begins yelling but she calms him quickly before revealing herself to be this off-shoot universe's Mother Night.

For those unaware, Mother Night is a somewhat big villain (not really huge) who occasionally went up against the Avengers and individual heroes. In recent years, she's largely come up as a lack for Red Skull, even being the one to raise Sin, Skull's terrible daughter, one of the orchestrator's of Fear Itself. That's at least a bit of an interesting turn and, truth told, this issue worked better than the rest of the series really has so far. I've voiced confusion at this series in the past based solely on the fact that it's honestly kind of boring. Not much happens in a book where no end of things can happen. Wolverine is kind of the essential MAX character, a guy who is unbelievably violent and dark but who also has plenty of run-ins with women. The MAX line, which can show tons of violence as well as nudity and swearing, seems tailor-made for that. So to write a story that doesn't flow well and that isn't particularly action-packed for the MAX line seems a bit of a waste. This one has a bit more by way of the violence and a bit by way of the nudity, which at least justifies it being its own MAX book and not an arc of another Wolverine book. He's still memory-less and the book continues to be a little heavy-handed in reminding us of that but the inclusion of a real, identifiable villain who has powers that can effectively hurt Wolverine but that might be able to help Wolverine (who knows, maybe she could get him to recall some memories?) could certainly help the book over time. Still not entirely impressed by the issue and series but this seems like a step in the right direction.

X-Men Legacy 12, X-Factor 258

X-Men Legacy 12
Spurrier (w) and Davidson and Leisten (a) and Peter (c)

David is still set on taking the pill as the issue starts, a move that thrills Red Skull. For his peaceful anti-mutant organization Darwin's Martyrs, this is perfect; the son of the most famous mutant of all hoping to rid himself of his powers. They start the cameras rolling as David explains who he is and why he's doing what he's doing. Right as he's about to pop the pill in, Blindfold and her quickly assembled team show up, stopping David from taking the pill. A fight breaks out on camera as the team recognizes Red Skull and attacks. Unfortunately, this is all still according to Skull's plan. When the camera pans to see what's happening, it simply looks as if mutants killed Marcus Glove, the figurehead of the organization (who, of course, was just a Red Skull creation). Now it looks like these dangerous mutants broke in and killed a peaceful man who had a peaceful solution to ending mutant threats. People watching the report are furious, rallying together against what seems to be a common enemy. On the plus side, this actually has all played into David's hands, who was never actually there to take the pill. He brings out one time Legacy star Santi Sardina, the boy whose mutant power is to take credit for things, and it confuses the watching populace, who all believe Santi is a hero but may have just killed Glove but who is also taking credit for leading Darwin's Martyrs but who is also a mutant and...well, it's all very confusing. David, of course, knew it would be and nothing kills a rally like utter confusion at its core. The mutants team on Red Skull, secure knowing that they won't be crucified for the events of today. Just as Skull goes down, the gold entity in David's head takes his minute of control of David's body. He calls himself Legion and makes his way for Skull, hoping to inhabit the body that holds Xavier's brain and claim the brain for his own. The mini X-team holds him for part of the minute as Blindfold tries to help David from inside his own brain (where she can hear all of his loudspeakered thoughts). Right as Legion is about to take hold of the body, Karasu-Tengu shows up with her psychic raven and attacks Legion, stopping him long enough for the minute to end and for David to regain control of the body and trap Legion in a cell. David reveals that Darwin's Martyrs was just another threat to mutants that needed eradicating and that there was never a chance he'd give up his powers. If he really is meant to do something awful to the world, he'll handle it with his own abilities because he rules himself.

I really like this book. I'm not sure I've said that enough here. Even this issue, which took the twist of last issue, which had twisted the entire superhero genre on its own, kind of reversed that twist and still didn't leave me unsatisfied or depressed. Of course, I knew David couldn't really lose his powers but the idea was so brilliant that he was willing to, even after everything converged to convince him to fight back. Still, I guess the way I figured his powers would stay was that the team would show up and they'd all fight and the day would be saved. That sort of happens but not in the straightforward way it could have, and that many lesser books would have done. That's cliche and old but this was new and exciting and worked so perfectly within everything else Spurrier's done with the series. Just a brilliant set of twists and turns and it's hard not to cite David among my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe at the moment.

X-Factor 258
David (w) and Edwards, Carnero, and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

X-Factor is winding down and, while for Layla and Madrox last issue that meant asking more questions, for Rahne this issue it means closing doors. She jumps into John Maddox's church (he's a priest who was a duplicate of Madrox but chose not to be reabsorbed when the time came) and kills two gunmen who were tearing up the church aiming to kill Maddox for his suggestion to the wife of one of the gunman that she leave him. The gunmen have killed members of the congregation already by the time Rahne launches through the window but she puts them down quickly, killing one and possibly fatally wounding the other. She leaves just as quickly as she came, leaving Maddox confused and alarmed. She comes back later to talk with Maddox, who recognized something was wrong with her when she came in. She tells the whole story about Tier's death and another story about where she ended up after the events. She was sent to the Arctic, though she fever-dreamed that it was Niffleheim, the land of the dead, and that Tier and his father were both there and that she was finally able to join them. Unfortunately for her, she's actually just talking to a polar bear. Guido appears and saves her from it then apologizes, sort of, for things that happened. He knows he can't make it up to her but he sends her to Maddox's church just in the nick of time. As Rahne is about to leave, having told her story, Maddox offers her a position in the church, learning to become a deacon. She accepts and Maddox recognizes that it's the start of a new life for her, meaning probably we're don with her through the end. One would think, but I've been burned before.

I'm not a big fan of Rahne so I wasn't particularly thrilled by this issue. Also, there are a lot of weird bits to this one. On the one hand, there's a couple of gunmen shooting up a church and then that storyline is done. Obviously it will still weigh on the town and on Maddox when he's not dealing with X-Factor related things, but it was weird for such a devastating attack to be thrown aside so quickly. There is also a bit of recap here as we recount what happened in the lords of hell arc and bits of Rahne's past. Still, David had to wrap up the character if his intent is to wrap up the series by ending each character's respective arc and this is about as good a place to leave her as any, with a person she's comfortable with and in a church. It'll do, I suppose. It'll do.

Uncanny X-Men 6, X-Men Legacy 11, Ultimate Wolverine 4

Uncanny X-Men 6
Bendis (w) and Irving (a and c)

Scott's team of X-Men are in Limbo right now (capital "L" means that they're in the place, not the state of being. Unless the place is a state of being. Look, just...it's a place in the Marvel Universe and we're all going to have to get over that) and Dormammu is enjoying trying to torture Illyana and claiming sole ownership of Limbo. The team, almost entirely consisting at this point of new mutants with untested powers and of teachers with broken powers, is nervous to engage Dormammu and his minions but are also unable to escape. The Cuckoos enter everyone's minds to give them courage to fight, which they proceed to do. Meanwhile, Maria Hill is trying to figure out who masterminded the attack on Cyclops in San Diego and what Cyclops' mutant revolution is planning on doing, exactly. To do this, she has enlisted another mutant to head up mutant affairs at SHIELD (I don't know if that's a real department, it's just what I'm trying to say): Dazzler.

There are some decent ideas in this book. Obviously training new mutants to use their powers and teaching them about what it is to be a mutant are cornerstones of X-Men books and those cornerstones are made more complicated by the fact that this is the first wave of new mutants since decimation. On top of that, learning that mutant powers can "break," as opposed to being simply magicked away or "cured," is an interesting thought if it's approached the right way. Speaking of approaching things the right way, there is really a feeling that Bendis can't get out of his own way on this. I've already spoken at great length in this blog and to anyone who will listen about how I don't like Bendis' writing style of late, which relies very heavily on snappy back-and-forth (he had a Tumblr post this week about how The Newsroom is not The West Wing in the same way that Bunheads isn't Gilmore Girls; both West Wing and Gilmore Girls are clearly pretty high up in his pantheon of shows and it DEFINITELY reflects in his writing style but, like I've said, that can work in TV and movies but works best if used very infrequently in comics). Putting aside the fact that I personally think it's obnoxious and gets pretty boring to read when done too often, I do think it slows up the actual good ideas he might have about the characters or about the world. It's a pity because I think there is still a Bendis out there I could not spend my time criticizing but, unfortunately for me, it's not present right now.

X-Men Legacy 11
Spurrier (w) and Davidson, Huat, and Yeung (a) and Rosenberg (c)

This book continues to be a joy to read. The secrets of the "red rage" and the Xavier (or at least one of them) in David's head are revealed as he continues through his tour of the I.B.S.S. facility to see if the "cure" pill is the real deal or some scam meant to kill mutants or steal their powers to be used by the stealer. As the issue pushes forward, David finds out a number of things about the facility, including the fact that the pill leaves mutants in a somewhat vegetative state, able to still feel happiness but not much else and never to really develop a personality again. Despite that, he still demands the pill, knowing that putting him in a vegetative state is better than him eventually losing control of his powers and destroying the world. As he reaches the last room, full of people who were the victims of mutant violence (all these victims have been unintentionally hurt as bystanders), he is surprised to find that they're not actually real. Well, they were. They are all dead, reanimated by an Xavier linked to David's brain. They're guarding any secrets perfectly from David because they're almost entirely shells. The red rage attached to that Xavier appears and berates David for trying to give up his powers and making himself a failed legacy to his father (X-MAN LEGACY), all of which David falters under and apologizes for. However, as the red rage disappears, he pulls himself together and understands that his father is dead and whatever sick being is corrupting David's mind to show him this has no control over him. He still demands the pill. In the end, the mastermind reveals himself as none other than the Red Skull, pulling off the Marcus Glove mask and starts soliloquizing, expecting David to lash out at him or something along those lines. Instead, David tells him that he's not going to be any part of the plan, the pill really does seem to work and that's all that matters because he still wants the pill.

The end of this issue was pretty amazing. On top of the reveal of the Xavier and the red rage in David being controlled by the Red Skull and the Red Skull running this little facility, David makes a real character stand and manages to do something that I'm not sure I've ever seen done in comics: not fight. Sure, fight scenes are great and comics are great at them, but there is a real expectation, especially when the mask comes off, that David is going to attack Skull or flee or decide not to take the pill because Skull is evil so this procedure is clearly evil or so on. Instead, David stands up to him and very candidly tells him that he doesn't care that it's Red Skull running the operation, he doesn't care that the Skull has his father's brain, he doesn't care about anything that could spawn from that. All he cares about is that the pill works and he's going to use it. It's a really brilliant twist in that it's not a twist from anything David's said over the last two issues but it breaks from everything comics are known for doing. Meanwhile, Blindfold is rallying the troops at home (by troops, I mean three other mutants who want to beat up David but are also willing to try to save him) to rescue David from taking the pill. That's more like comics but it's set opposite David insistence on taking the pill in such a way that it will still create new drama and a new story to build on. Really expertly done, great series, another great issue.

Ultimate Wolverine 4
Bunn (w) and Messina and Erskine (a) and Tartaglia (c)

The Ultimate Wolverine limited series concludes as Quicksilver and Wolverine brawl over what to be done with the Mothervine sample running through Jimmy's veins. Quicksilver wants to weaponize it to bring the mutant race back to its power and Jimmy refuses to let innocent people be hurt by whatever it is Quicksilver wants to do. Quicksilver, though, has the upper hand in this fight because he just needs blood and Jimmy doesn't want to kill him. However, Jimmy gets in enough hits to stall Pietro and is eventually saved by the reappearance of his birthmother, who knocks them both down. Jimmy, she reveals, will heal so she's not too worried, but she's willing to let Pietro suffer a bit. For Jimmy, that healing is going back to Utopia and forgetting about Mothervine for a bit while also embracing his heritage as Wolverine. For Pietro, suffering means whatever's about to happen next in Ultimates Disassembled, the Ultimates storyline set to start in Ultimates 25. Ultimates.

It's a neat and tidy story with a little bit of character building for both the Wolverines of this universe, giving us the father aspect of Logan that knew the best way to protect and raise Jimmy to live and be a good man was to give him to his old war buddy James Hudson and giving us a good amount of information on Jimmy, who has starred in plenty of Ultimate X-Men books but hasn't had a ton of time to really be explored in that series. The Ultimate Quicksilver is also a somewhat fascinating person; he's not so removed from his 616 parallel that his whole personality is different, but he has more of the villainous streak that makes Pietro such an interesting character across both universes. Obviously he's been a hero in each place, but he has done his fair sure of treacherous acts and is often viewed with suspicion or contempt from his peers. Adding to that feeling in the Ultimate Universe isn't a bad way to push forward. It'll be nice to see him re-emerge in the Ultimates in a few issues.

Indestructible Hulk 7, Red She-Hulk 65

Indestructible Hulk 7
Waid (w) and Simonson (a) and Mossa (c)

Fake out, you guys. Hulk didn't pick up Thor's hammer, Thor's hammer picked up Hulk. Apparently Thor called to Mjolnir right as Hulk attempted to pick it up, sending him along for the ride back to Thor. Fortunately, Thor doesn't seem bothered by Hulk's sudden appearance and finds it pretty hilarious that the monster rode the hammer back to Thor's side. They fight off a few more Frost Giants while a pair of the giants in another area discover the portal back to present day Midgard. They try to break in but are forced out by Maria Hill and Coulson as Hill blows the portal's control panel, sealing the Frost Giants (and the team) in Jotunheim for the time being. One of the Frost Giants, dismayed by being blocked from Midgard, casts an illusion over himself to appear as one of the team members and rejoins the group, set on returning with them. With the imminent danger subsiding, Hulk reverts back to Banner and he explains what's happening, including the fact that they've travelled in time, before they begin to speculate on why the portal is gone. Meanwhile, Leucenstern is back at the lab trying to restore the portal and get the team home under the watchful and threatening eye of Maria Hill. Banner reveals to team member Patricia that he knows she's depressed and he's trying to pull her out of the depression, though she reveals that she's terminally ill and is dedicated to suicide by Hulk.
So a bit of a fake out after the last issue's thrilling conclusion but I suppose it's for the best. I'm not sure any of us really want to see Hulk with the ability to wield Thor's unbelievably powerful hammer. Seems like bad news all around that. Still, can't say it wouldn't have been interesting. Regardless, we get a couple of nice interactions between Banner and Thor and we get a great picture of the young Thor, thrilled by the challenge of the Frost Giants and endlessly amused by the actions of humans. It's a neat little look into why Thor is so protective of Earth, even from the days before he really split time between Asgard and Midgard. On top of that we get another look at Banner as the scientific leader of the expedition and his methods as both a scientist and as a leader. As this book seems more interested in creating Banner as a character than it is in showing Hulk all the time, these interactions are important. The way that he views his team and the way he acts around them both give us a deeper look into his character. What suicide by Hulk could entail is worth checking in for again.

Red She-Hulk 65
Parker (w) and Pagulayan, Height, and Alves (a) and Staples (c)

Another sort of fake out, though this one is perhaps more on me. Despite all my hyping it up, Red She-Hulk and Machine Man have not been transported to another dimension with Mt. Rushmore replaced by the four carved heads of Dr. Doom, Loki, Red Skull, and Ultron. Instead, the Terranometer simply sent them to Mt. Rushmore in our dimension which houses another important piece of the Terranometer, one protected by a likeness of each of the four villains, who have all at some point attempted to enter and had an imprint of themselves taken and left to guard the place. Now the image of their heads on Mt. Rushmore may fluctuate on to the rockwall if someone knows what they're looking at. It's a little complicated, but it also gives a chance for our two heroes to fight copies of four of the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe (arguably the four biggest villains). Not one of them is nearly as strong as his real-life counterpart, though they contain the same knowledge and experience, as they have to dedicate part of their processing power to keeping their own personality separated from the machine. Red She-Hulk takes down Dr. Doom, Loki, and Red Skull with some difficulty while Machine Man outwits and outlasts Ultron in a battle that takes place in cyberspace. Finally they enter the Terranometer and discover how the four outside were created (Tesla's version of self-defense for the Terranometer). Machine Man plugs himself in and is quickly overwhelmed by the power and the feeling it leaves him with. He's unable to disconnect from they system, but Red She-Hulk is soon distracted by the four villains' return but now meshed together as one stronger villain, calling itself the Yologarch. She confuses it with some logic, telling it that it's still a slave to its creator, which it denies. However, to kill Red She-Hulk would be to serve the Terranometer still, so it decides not to do it and flies away, swearing revenge on her. Red She-Hulk pulls Aaron out of the Terranometer and passes out to be awakened five hours later, as Betty, as they drive away to the Florida Everglades, home to the nexus of all realities according to what Aaron saw. Meanwhile, She-Hulk has joined up with Fortean who has also accepted the Thinker's help in improving the Echelon forces. Next issue promises a showdown between Red She-Hulk and regular-type She-Hulk in the midst of Man-Thing. Lotta hyphens here.
So not exactly an alternate dimension which is alternately too bad and pretty swell with the addition and the freedom of this new and potentially very dangerous villain to the Marvel roster of villains. The secrets of the Terranometer are still mostly unrevealed but at least Machine Man seems to have a better sense than he did before of what the machine is used for. Also, She-Hulk's arrival finally seems imminent after having it teased for a couple of issues. Jen is a reasonable lady and She-Hulks are more reasonable by nature than their male counterparts so it's still up in the air whose side she'll land on when Echelon comes calling on Betty. Two Hulks and Machine Man teamed up would make a formidable enemy for anyone, even tailor-made Echelon super soldiers. Exciting things coming up.

Avengers 9, Uncanny Avengers 6

Avengers 9
Hickman (w) and Weaver w/ Deodato (a) and Ponsor (c)

The Starbrand storyline continues as the new Starbrand and Nightmask return to Mars to talk with Ex Nihilo and Abyss about the White Event and everything going on back at Earth. It turns out that Ex Nihilo, who has shaped planets before by more or less destroying planets that have no chance at further evolution and assisting planets that have the potential to evolve, has gotten bored with his normal routine and has made the Earth itself sentient with the bombs he sent out in the first arc. Now all the landing sites for the bombs are imbuing the Earth with certain aspects of sentience, such as consciousness, reproduction, evolution, and self-defense, to name a few. It's too late to stop the process without, essentially, killing the Earth, so Ex Nihilo tells Starbrand and Nightmask (who he calls sons, as it's because of his influence that they've come about) that they're welcome to stay with him on Mars or they can go and watch the show on Earth. They return to Earth, heading to Croatia to watch the bomb that carried self-awareness to the planet do its work. Though they're not sure what to make of what Ex Nihilo has done, they admit that it is pretty impressive to see. Nightmask attempts to connect with the weird newly formed consciousness and begins to get sucked into it. Starbrand attempts to make the growing pink brain release Nightmask but it refuses and Starbrand accidentally destroys it. Nightmask fears that they've killed the planet as the Avengers arrive and battle the two heralds. They subdue them both and tell them that they're going to try to help them but they're too dangerous to be left on Earth. They're put in Stark's newest creation, Sol's Hammer, seen in New Avengers as a planetary defense, a way to weaponize the sun.
Again, Hickman has done a wonderful job setting up story lines to return to later while showing us glimpses of stories he's already set up, as if to remind us that they're there and that he remembers them. The next issue is supposedly going to have something to do with Canada and Alpha Flight, where one of the bombs went off (the evolution seed Ex Nihilo referred to). We also saw, when Ex Nihilo was listing off all the qualities of sentience and we were shown the various results of the bombs that carried those qualities to Earth, that the piece of the Earth that AIM captured and is now working with was the self-defense quality. There have been, throughout these nine issues, a lot of irons in the fire and it's hard to say when Hickman plans to pull each one out, but it's exciting to know that there's a grand story going on here and that it feels like things won't come to the forefront until it's their time. I've been in favor of this book since the first issue's proposal of a rotating team of Avengers, calling in the right group of heroes for the specific job at hand. As far as I'm concerned, Hickman is doing a fantastic job weaving that idea into the story all while having the ability (as in this story) to bring everyone out against a common and huge threat. Hickman, across his books, is showing off his skill for story and pacing and it's really worth checking in on everything he does just to see where he could go with it all.

Uncanny Avengers 6
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

Marvel right now is on a binge of Thor history. I suppose it's a little much to say "Marvel" when it's really just "Thor: God of Thunder and Uncanny Avengers" but still. I suppose it's a nice thing to have a character who has lived for millennia to play around with because Marvel time is so muddled it becomes a little easier to simply go back before it and avoid breaking continuities. Like in Thor: GOT, Thor in Uncanny Avengers is challenged in the past by an impressive force set on his destruction. In this case, though, it is the mutant Apocalypse and not an entirely new villain decidedly anti-gods. Thor cannot harm Apocalypse through his armor and with a weapon like Jarnbjorn (his giant axe, seen with past Thor in GOT) and has to abandon the fight. Meanwhile, we find out that Apocalypse is being pointed at people who will harm his future by Kang (as Pharaoh Rama-Tut) and, after learning that he didn't kill Thor, Rama-Tut directs him to Folkbern Logan, an ancestor of Wolverine. Back in Asgard, Thor is told by Odin not to attempt retaliation on Apocalypse because he's a Celestial and Asgardians have a pact to avoid Celestials. Thor of course will not listen and gets help from Kang, now disguised as Loki, who tells him a spell to allow Jarnbjorn to damage Apocalypse. As Apocalypse's Middle Ages four horsemen descend on Logan, Thor intercedes and kills them with the newly powered Jarnbjorn before stopping Apocalypse from destroying London by cutting off his arm and forcing him to self-destruct his floating pyramid of doom. Thor escapes the explosion and celebrates in Asgard before Odin scolds him and tells him of the future he's wrought. In the present, Kang finds a long-dead Baron Mordo with Jarnbjorn left cleaving his skull and takes it, saying that he's sorry it had to end this way for Mordo but it's better to take Jarnbjorn from him this way than to try to take it from Thor. Bum bum buuuuuuuuum.
So we get a short interlude here from what's happening with our Uncanny Avengers team to see where the plot is going. It's still a little muddy here as we're not sure what Kang's planning and how the Apocalypse twins play into his plot but there's still a lot to like about this issue. It's always nice to see young and brash Thor knowing what present Thor is like and I certainly appreciate the sudden focus on Jarnbjorn in the pre-Mjolnir days. I'm interested to see (if we do) how Jarnbjorn ended up in the skull of Baron Mordo and not...well, I don't really know where abandoned Asgardian weaponry typically finds itself. I guess I always assumed that it was a storage room in Asgard. There definitely is one, it was raided by maybe the Thunderbolts in Siege. I suppose, though, that "lodged in the head of an enemy" would have been my next guess. ANYWAY, some foundation has been laid for an epic crossover of villains to make a giant headache for this Unity Avengers team. It's nice that they're going to combine major Avengers villains like Kang and Red Skull with major X-Men villains like Apocalypse. Feels like a good touch. I'm still excited to return to our team and their many problems, though, so while I certainly enjoyed this issue and found myself pretty engrossed in it and excited about the potential it sets up, one issue away from the team is enough for me right now.

Uncanny Avengers 4

Uncanny Avengers 4
Remender (w) and Cassaday (a) and Martin w/ Molinar (c)

I'm pretty sure I started my last review saying something along the lines of "Wow." There's no reason not to do that here too. This book was incredible. There's a major story going on and there are major threats around, but it didn't stop Remender from loading this with character and with small moments. It's a really gorgeous issue (both in writing and in art/colors) and, unless you have a real aversion to captions or a bit of bloodshed, you should read it. I said yesterday that part of why I was looking forward to this book was the haunting last images from last issue. That's no less true and that feeling was certainly well met. The book starts off right where the last one left off; there's crazy carnage all around New York as homo sapiens have attacked new mutants in the streets of the city under the mind-control powers of Charles Xavier as wielded by the Red Skull. Wolverine has fallen and Scarlet Witch and Havok are trying to shut a practically possessed Thor down to get to Skull. Captain America, meanwhile, is fighting his own battle against Skull's powers, trying to keep Skull's hate out of his mind. It's exciting and fascinating on every front. Scarlet Witch needs a tremendous amount of power to outlast Thor, which she eventually musters with the help of Havok to keep Thor in check while she charges. She ends up tapping directly into her chaos energies and unleashing a massive attack on the Asgardian that launches him out of the fight for enough time to allow Havok to get to Skull. It also takes her out of the fight for the remainder, as she needs rest to recover. Skull, meanwhile, is busy trying to convert Captain America to his side, playing on Cap's own insecurities about the country. With his psychic powers, Skull can see the frustrations Steve has in the America that is compared to the America that could be. It's a really revealing few pages (and only gives me more faith in Remender on the Captain America series itself) that explain perfectly what I've complained about on here before, most recently in my post on comic-based video games. Cap isn't a shill for America, blindly echoing patriotic sentiments. He has real opinions on the country and how great it could be but he knows it's not there and there's a chance it won't ever be there. His responsibility is to always fight to try to get it to that point. Skull, though, latches on to his problems and fears about America and tries to promise him real change in the way he'd run things. Cap, with the help of Rogue and Havok, keeps Skull from fully planting any idea in his head and beats Skull down with the shield. Skull manages to escape with one of his S-Men, but the spell is broken. Thor comes down from orbit restored and Wolverine's healing factor (previously blocked by a different S-Man, kicks back in, allowing him to slowly recover.

I usually try not to spend too much time on recap because a.) I don't want to give away the whole issue and b.) I try not to write five pages per review. This comic forces my hand because I think it's so near perfect. There's lots of dialogue and many captions from an omniscient narrator, as has been true so far in this series, but that never slows the book down, like it can in other comics. Also, every part of this book develops a character or shows off this team. Just in naturally recapping, I found myself painting a picture of how this team works together instinctively. It's really impressive, given that so many teams these days feel like they're cut and pasted together and everyone has their distinct roles. Here, every team member does whatever they can to try to ultimately stop Skull, which is how it should be. The fight FEELS real for a fight involving superheroes and villains. Skull's attempt to brainwash Cap not only shows off Cap's feelings about America (perfectly captured, I think, though obviously with a more Red Skull hatred bent than really shows up in Cap's thoughts), it lays out what Skull wants to do. Yes, it's likely inaccurate because he's simply trying to get Cap on his side, but it's an argument that you can picture Steve having trouble turning down (when he's under some amount of mind-control, obviously). It also wonderfully references some X-Men history, with Skull describing a future with mutants on the run that directly harkens back to Days of Future Past with the famous "slain/apprehended" wanted mutants wall. Remender ties in MORE X-Men history later, as he hints towards a future with Red Skull acting as Onslaught, whose identity is tied with that of Professor Xavier.

This book is making a real pull for Avengers and mutants to work together. These kinds of things tend to just focus on the Avengers or bring in the Avengers and mutants working together but don't deal with the fact that they ARE Avengers and mutants working together. Remender's doing a fantastic job to make everything connect and feel like AvX had real consequences and that mutants are a real piece of this world that make humans uncomfortable. It's masterfully done and we're only four issues in. This might legitimately challenge my love of New Avengers for best new Marvel book. There are also enough light moments and introspective moments and really, truly sweet moments to make this book fit a wide spectrum of emotion. If you're not reading this book, you're making a mistake. It's as simple as that. It's a pretty dark book at times because it's covering extremely dark subject matter, but if you can get past that, it's a wonderful read.



JUST A NOTE: I apologize for this being just one review. I tend to tie a couple reviews into one post, which was my intent upon starting this post. However, given how long this review was, I felt justified in leaving it as its own review. More importantly, though, I was so blown away by this issue that I actually had to take a break before I reviewed my next book (which I'm incredibly excited about) because I was worried another book wouldn't live up to the expectations this one set. READ THIS BOOK.