SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: Nova 17, Magneto 4

Nova 17
Duggan (w) and Medina (p) and Vlasco (i) and Curiel (c) and Deschesne (l)

Sam wants to help his mother out of their financial woes but, as so many have learned before him, there's not a lot of money in superheroing. Meanwhile, his comings and goings have attracted the attention of plenty of UFO-seekers and his mom requests he keep a lower profile. They talk about the possible eviction and about his dad, who Sam tells his mother is alive, according to the news he received from the Watcher. Sam decides he'll talk to the Watcher more to try to get help (but he won't, because ORIGINAL SIN).

It's a little bit of a rest issue here after the long space-based arc with Beta Ray Bill but it does its work to ground Sam a little more. One of the challenges of such a book is to make sure that it still feels human, even with all of the space travel and such. It's helped by the fact that Sam is just a child so he's limited in how long he can go without returning to Earth. As such, it's a nice break issue and it helps to keep this series feeling pretty human, even if it means we're not seeing a huge advancement in the plot. The writing is still pretty strong and the characters get a chance to really shine through in this one. Medina and Vlasco do some solid work here as well, I don't usually have anything to complain about with them.

Total Score: 5/5


Magneto 4
Bunn (w) and J. Fernandez (a) and Bellaire (c) and Petit (l)

Magneto has found a base of Purifiers who have been taking unsuspecting mutants (particularly those with more evident physical mutations) to "a farm where they can be free" which, of course, means to their death so they can be studied. Magneto wrecks through the compound and adds the names collected by the Purifiers to his giant list of lost mutant names.

With the first arc over, we get a standalone issue here, a sort of standard "this is my mission" issue which finds Magneto going after standard hate-based enemies the Purifiers. It's not a bad issue, per se, and it's a good standalone of "this is what Magneto does," but it does feel a little perfunctory, as if it knows it's just filling space. Javier Fernandez does a pretty good job stepping in for Gabriel Walta but the art star here is Jordie Bellaire, whose colors take us all over the world to all sorts of environments and still she manages to keep the book feeling like the series has so far and make the art leap off the page. Full marks, as ever, to Bellaire.

Total Score: 4/5

Nova 15, Thunderbolts 23

Nova 15
Duggan (w) and Baldeon and Pallot (a) and Curiel (c)

Nova rushes Cosmo to medical help and manages to get him there just in time and even ends up aiding the doctors in taking the poison out. Before Cosmo has fully recovered, Nova goes to try to slow up Skaarn's next plan, which involves using the continuum cortex transfer on Knowhere. It's essentially a teleporter and he wants to use it, with the assistance of a few other criminals, to break into a secure vault. He scouts ahead leaving the other criminals to wait and use the teleporter to enter as backup. Nova manages to catch up with the three other criminals and defeat them pretty handily, whipping out a couple more new skills, eventually throwing them into the teleporter without allowing them a chance to program it to where they wanted to go. It reverts back to the last destination used, sending them to Beta Ray Bill in Jotunheim. While they wait for Bill to return and for Skaarn's plan to become more evident while Cosmo heals, Sam uses the teleporter to return to school before he can get in any trouble for missing. He completes the day then heads back into space to finish the job. He and Bill meet up again and track Skaarn only to find that he's broken into the vault on his own and that the vault housed big time weapons, not money like Sam thought.

This is sort of a weird issue to critique because, like last issue, Sam spent most of the time this issue fighting obstacles we didn't know were going to be there and the outcome of the fights didn't actually seem to weigh on the completion of whatever mission they may have hurt or aided. To simplify, we had no idea about this vault heist plot until this issue, nor about the criminals Skaarn would need to complete the heist. However, when Nova defeats the criminals, it doesn't seem to stall Skaarn's plan even a little bit. It's hard to say that this was a worthwhile little pit stop since it seems almost entirely unrelated to any plan while posing as something related to the main plan. So it's a weird issue to critique because it's not necessarily a bad issue, per se; it's still rather entertaining, we get a nice little fight scene and we learn a little bit more about Sam (plus some decent Beta Ray Bill), it's just not an issue that feels like it belongs in this story and it seems like little more than a filler story because of that.

Thunderbolts 23
Soule (w) and Jacinto (a) and Silva (c)

It's Deadpool's turn to call a mission but Flash asks Deadpool to cede his mission time over to him, saying that he's going to be leaving the team and wants the team to complete his mission before he's gone. Deadpool is hesitant but when he hears that Flash wants the team to take down the symbiote, he's onboard. Flash says it's getting to hard to control the symbiote with the team considering how much killing they have to do and he wants to see them take it down. He lets the symbiote take control and it beats all of them (save for Deadpool) individually before they decide they need to work as a team to take down Venom. They manage to come together just well enough to separate the symbiote from Flash and contain it. Red Hulk asks Flash if he wants them to contain or destroy the symbiote but Flash declines, saying that it always finds a way to survive and he knows he can control it so he'll continue to wear it. As Flash departs with the symbiote bonded to him once more, Ross tells him that he understands the Flash wants and needs the symbiote but that the mission was good for him in proving that someone is capable of taking down the symbiote if it ever gets out of hand.

There's a lot of really good stuff in this issue. As ever, there are several laugh out loud moments, particularly as Deadpool, who claims he has contingency plans to take down any of his teammates at a moment's notice, showcases his anti-Venom plan that involves drawing on his costume to make it look like Spider-Man and setting it up as bait under a plane ready to drop on any incoming assailants. On top of the funny moments, there's a real core to this issue. Obviously there's something to the Flash-Venom relationship that's always somewhat interesting in the idea that Flash understands the power and danger of the symbiote but knows he can control it and, more telling, knows he wants/needs it. Even beyond that, though, Venom yells some things while it's in control that, as Flash later reveals, aren't lies but are somewhat damaging to the ego of the group, including the idea that Flash also kind of has a crush on Elektra and wouldn't mind if Punisher died, that Flash thinks Ghost Rider is an abomination, and that Flash thinks Red Hulk is the worst of the entire group. It's still a nice issue and one that ends a little bittersweet as Flash admits to Ross that the symbiote doesn't lie about things but that he believes people are capable of changing. Sad to see Venom leave the team but I don't think the roster is a lot weaker for it, especially considering the recent addition of Ghost Rider.

Nova 14, Night of the Living Deadpool 4

Nova 14
Duggan (w) and Baldeon and Pallot (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Nova and Beta Ray Bill have teamed up and they're headed after Skaarn. Sam remembers that Skaarn said he was going "nowhere" which Bill translates as "Knowhere," an old Celestial head that now serves as a neutral ground to many travelers. Skaarn IS there, meeting with a sketchy alien from whom he's trying to buy (or, as eventually happens, steal) a weapon called War Bringers. Bill sees him as he kills the alien and takes the remote he wanted anyway but Skaarn stops Bill mid-attack by radioing to his ship to tell them that if he dies or doesn't come back for some reason, they're to kill the Korbonites onboard. Outside, the War Bringer comes online right beside Sam and he, of course, ends up fighting it. It's very nearly powerful enough to kill him but his last minute adrenaline surge and will to live end up overpowering the robot and he survives. Bill comes to meet him there and tells him that they have to go to Knowhere's Continuum Cortex to be teleported away or else many on the ship will die. Skaarn teleports Bill away as Nova projects an image of himself into the teleported, making Skaarn believe both have gone. Free to try to follow Skaarn now, Nova finds himself called away telepathically by Cosmo, the "watchdog of Knowhere." He is, of course, an actual dog (one time member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Annihilators) whose powers have been weakened by a poison Skaarn used. Nova isn't alone as the story continues.

There are important pieces here, obviously, but a lot of the issue is dedicated to filling out the arc and to giving us just a little more character. The issue starts with Nova and Bill saving a damaged spaceship on their way out to Knowhere which leads into a story about how Bill nearly died saving his people once before being saved by another of the Nova Corps. The story is meant to inspire Nova and it clearly does enough of the trick as he recalls it when he brings down the War Bringer. This is Sam Alexander's real first experience with the things that are more his birthright, the deep cuts Marvel Cosmic stuff as he has now gone to Knowhere, dealt with Beta Ray Bill, and even met Cosmo, ratcheting the number of Guardians of the Galaxy he's met, past and present, up to three. This Nova is clearly going to be something interesting as we've now seen him deal with things on Earth, which he'll likely continue to do here and in NEW WARRIORS but he's still spending a good amount of time in space. Not often do characters drift between the two, usually preferring to stick to Earth or space. Could make him a pretty important cog in this universe.

Night of the Living Deadpool 4
Bunn (w) and Rosanas (a and c)

Deadpool finds himself seemingly alone now in a world filled with reluctant zombies, wondering how he turned zombie and back to kill everyone he was trying to save. He finds the zombie AIM agent he had met last issue and uses his head to direct the two of them to the AIR base, hoping that there would be some semblance of cure there. He gets there after a long and hard struggle and finds what appears to be the cure derived from clones of Deadpool himself. He doesn't have much time to celebrate as he's quickly overwhelmed by zombies. In a last ditch effort, he drinks as much cure as he can and allows himself to be eaten by the zombies. Anyone that bit him or was bitten by someone who bit him or so one and so forth ends up replacing their zombie tendencies and their mind with Deadpool's, making it essentially a plague of Deadpool now.

I've been very lukewarm about this book all the way through. I've thought some of the ideas were interesting, though the book was maybe a little overtly laden with references for me. I also liked the art and I'm kind of a sucker for black and white with only a specific splash of color, as this book had. It's hard to criticize this ending too much because, frankly, you don't see a lot of zombie related media ending well, or even ending at all. Sure sometimes people will get to some island, or embrace the zombies, or find some little hideaway home somewhere, but it doesn't explain anything major. No one has ever shown a real cure for zombies (aside from removing the head, destroying the brain) so, if nothing else, this one gets points for trying something new right as we got to the end. Of course, it's rather deus ex machina as a severed head directs Deadpool to the AIR lab and the lab has, in good condition, gallons of "cure" derived from Deadpool himself. Still, it's a bold choice, even if it's one that doesn't really track with me. Whatever, play by your own rules, I suppose. This style off-shoot Deadpool will return in DEADPOOL VS. CARNAGE.

Nova 10, Deadpool Annual 1

Nova 10
Wells and Duggan (w) and Barberi, Lopez, Medina, Livesay, Vlasco, and Pallot (a) and Curiel and Stewart (c)

This is technically issue 100 of various NOVA books so we get an oversized issue with a couple of stories in it. The first continues where we'd left off, with Zeb Wells showing us a contract negotiation between Sam and his mother as they try to find a common ground that will allow Sam to join a superhero team. He's under the impression that this team will be the Avengers, who he still recalls being asked by Thor to join, but, in truth, it's for the position of reserve on the New Warriors, soon to be formed by Speedball and Justice. He's angry that he has to deal with this contract at all and angrier still that it'd be for a team without much prestige or power, so he throws a bit of a fit and, against his mother's wishes, he flies off to talk with the Watcher. The Watcher, of course, doesn't really talk back, but does show Sam images of the previous Nova, Richard Rider, teaming up with unknowns and providing them a lot of firepower before teaming up with the Avengers and providing them next to nothing. Sam understands and goes home, signing the contract and optimistic that he can be of use on a smaller team with more realistic goals. The second story gives us our first taste of Gerry Duggan as the new NOVA writer, giving us a quick story that shows Nova responding to a distress call in space and saving the human and alien onboard while his mom, back on Earth, argues with the school principal about Sam's truancy issues. Sam saves the aliens and heads home, hoping to make it to school on time only to find himself nearly mysteriously blinded when he reaches Earth again. Likely, that's where our story will pick up next time. A third story (comprised of solely a double page spread) shows us a peek at what NOVA 1000 would look like. It's cutesy but lacking most charm, honestly. Fortunately, it's two pages so whatever.

Not a bad book. It's certainly a nice transition from Wells to Duggan as we see the official conclusion of the storyline Wells brought to the book throughout INFINITY and with the New Warriors' appearance. Wells brings the same sort of energy to Sam that he'd done throughout his short run on the series and it's easy to recognize why he'll be missed, pushing forward. It's still obviously far too early to say anything about Duggan and a rather short second story in here doesn't give us enough to judge but Wells did a phenomenal job bringing an energy and an easy levity to the series, which is not as easy to do with superhero books as you might expect it to be. Solid conclusion for Wells and a nice little start for Duggan, even if it was too short to really glean a ton about what's coming next, beyond sudden blindness.

Deadpool Annual 1
Acker and Blacker (w) and Shaner (a) and Gandini (c)

A quick trip back in Deadpool's somewhat recent past shows him hired, just before SECRET INVASION, to kill Matt Murdock, Hell's Kitchen's most famous attorney. Deadpool bemoans the fact that New York is a tough place to get things done, what with all of the passing-by superheroes and ninjas and what-not. He's interrupted before he takes his sniper shot by a character calling himself Madcap, someone who seems more than a little crazy and who, like Deadpool, has healing factor powers as well as the power to make people go varying levels of crazy. For the already-crazy Deadpool, it backfires on Madcap and ends with Deadpool feeling pretty relaxed. At this point, Daredevil shows up and delivers a solid beating to the two of them before Thor also appears and lightnings the villains into dust. Deadpool eventually re-shapes but Madcap is nowhere to be seen; at least not until Deadpool starts thinking and realizes that Madcap has clearly reshaped with him. It's been a rather long-time thing with Deadpool that he has two different caption boxes, one yellow and one white. Turns out the white one has been Madcap, trapped in Deadpool's mind. 'Pool admits that it grew on him after a while, having someone else to talk to, but another contract to kill Murdock leads to another superhero smack down when Luke Cage confronts Deadpool (near the start of Marvel NOW) and punches him enough to let Madcap take temporary control of the body, which doesn't sit well with the mercenary. Thor again shows up and Madcap, using his powers, gets Cage and Thor to start a tug of war using Deadpool's body and ripping Madcap from him, hence why there are no more white caption boxes. Daredevil shows up again and beats Deadpool down and Deadpool can't help but miss the other voice in his head.

Fun little book that both gives a direct reason for part of Deadpool's craziness and then takes it away, changing very little but giving us a nice little origin story of sorts. It's a clever little twist, not without its own charms, and it's presented well. Madcap and Deadpool are rather funny together and everyone else that has a cameo is well-written and funny in his own right (as a "Thrilling Adventure Hour" fan, I couldn't help notice that Acker and Blacker wrote Thor a little like Croach the Tracker which did not upset me in the slightest and which also made Daredevil feel a little like Sparks Nevada but probably only to me). Despite the slight shift in "origin," the book certainly isn't particularly serious and it's hard to say if this will impact canon or anything or if Madcap, who leaves this issue miraculously in one piece, will turn up again at some point or if this was a one-off deal but it's certainly a fun book and it has a good deal of charm to back it up and to slot it nicely into its role as an Annual issue.

Indestructible Hulk 5, Nova 2

Indestructible Hulk 5
Waid (w) and Yu and Alanguilan (a) and Gho (c)

Even though it's something I write about every time I write a review for an issue of Indestructible Hulk, I find myself surprised by the focus of this series with every new release. Like I talked about yesterday with Captain America's Steve Rogers-centric book, Waid is writing a Bruce Banner-centric Hulk book and it's working. Frankly, no one writes a successful Steve Rogers or Bruce Banner book because we're not reading these comics to hear about morally unambiguous people and genius scientists. We're typically here for super-soldiers and unstoppable monsters. However, when we're given books about Steve Rogers and about Bruce Banner by good writers with good artists, I'm one hundred percent sold. Bruce Banner, for possibly the first time in my experience with the character, is an interesting person. Sure you still can't really help but wait until Hulk shows up to punch whatever he's aimed at, but it never feels like wading through (WAIDING through, more like, haaaaaaa) interminable grounds to get there. I've felt genuinely interested in what Banner has been up to this whole series and that's a place I'm not sure I ever expected to end up but it's a place I'm glad to be. As I've said time and time again, I'm a guy who likes character. Sure I like plenty of the stories but, at the end of the day, a good character can compel me to read a bad story in a way a good story can't compel me care about a bad character.

Waid is making Banner a good character. I'm not just rooting for Hulk to punch something in this book or for Hulk to go sulk somewhere about how he's never left alone; I'm rooting for Banner to make something good come out of his relationship with Hulk. I'm rooting for Hulk to work alongside Banner. There's also something going on in the background. Banner has forced this team up with the Hulk so that he can get SHIELD support with his scientific aspirations. He has recruited several suspicious characters to assist him in his lab. He came away from this issue with a Lemurian scroll that contains the formula Attuma's magicians used to create a universal solvent, a liquid that can eat anything. Banner's up to something and the pieces seem to still be a ways off from fitting into place. Next issue sees a team-up of Waid and Walt Simonson for a Hulk and Thor arc. Bound to be exciting.

Nova 2
Loeb (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Okay, so maybe a little more boilerplate than I would have hoped but I suppose I'd be complaining if Nova 2 had done anything different too so we appear to be at a stalemate here. Sam, last issue, awoke in a hospital bed faced with Gamora, Rocket Raccoon and the idea that maybe all of his father's stories were true. At the start of this issue, they present him with the Nova helmet before he freaks out and provokes Rocket to attack and Sam runs out of the room to get help and when they go back to the room, Gamora and Rocket are gone. Sam eventually puts the Nova helmet on and gets the full armor and flies a bit after hearing a short message from his father. The message is of the "if you're hearing this message..." variety. Sam panics again and goes home, but eventually puts the armor on again and flies to the moon, where he runs into the Watcher as the issue ends.

Like I said, I probably would have been annoyed if this book hadn't gone through the whole "you are the Chosen One, meet your destiny" kind of steps. They feel worn and tired but they're there because they work. In theory, it's what everyone would go through upon learning that they were the one meant for this life, that the armor was coded to their specific DNA and no one else could use it. You can't typically skip that part because you have to see our reluctant hero realize that he's in this position and begin to embrace this fate. Likely he'll push it away again at some point, citing that he never asked for it, but we'll get to that when we get to it. So yes, you know this story already. Hopefully whatever comes next is a bit more of a surprise.