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.

This week's picks!

Smaller slate of books out this week means that, unless we hit an improbable 50% amazing books mark, the selection process is more about picking the clear winners and then, the far trickier part, deciding who takes third place. In a week with more books, there's a far greater chance that you have four or five deserving books so the trouble becomes trying to pare down to how those four or five rank. But we should have plenty for this week, right?

Captain Marvel 17

The final entry of this volume of CAPTAIN MARVEL, which has been a truly tremendous run and which I imagine will continue to be tremendous when DeConnick moves to the next volume, starting early next year. I'm interested to see the changes between the two books (Captain Marvel...in SPACE) but, for this book, it's been a near perfect series and this was an absolutely perfect send-off. Very sweet, very character-driven, wonderful book. I don't think this book could have turned out any better than it did and to end this run of it (even if it's just ending for a month or two before kind of restarting) here, in an issue focused on the people in Carol's life as much as on Carol herself, is an absolutely perfect decision. Definitely one of the best series of this year (I know, we're getting to the time of year where people have to start thinking about best of lists. Gross) and a beautiful and meaningful and emotional ending for it. Perhaps the saddest thing about this series ending (particularly saddest in the respect of "it's starting over again soon so don't get too sad") is that it seems the end of DeConnick and Andrade teaming up, which was the most amazing team-up. What an artist, that guy.

X-Men Legacy 19

Okay it was either this or CAPTAIN AMERICA and neither one is ever really off of these pull list picks but I went with X-MEN LEGACY because this one is rather sticking with me more. I talked a lot about how DeConnick made this last issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL more impressive and emotional by playing a long game (long con) and making all of the characters in Carol's life mean something, making it a far bigger impact when she has to fall back on them. Spurrier's done very much the same thing in LEGACY in a very different way; he's built a resourceful, smart, sympathetic, and extremely powerful, if entirely broken (borked, as David would say) character throughout the length of this series only to now show us just how hard it is to be that character. David has such a well-defined personality and such a specific voice that building an entire issue where we see the culmination of all of the events of the series and their repercussions while also watching him battle through those repercussions and try to find a way out. And that's before we even TALK about the evil Xavier and the shadow of the Phoenix. Come on guys, great stuff.

Thor: The Dark World

SURPRISE, this one's not a comic. If I had picked a comic it would have just been CAPTAIN AMERICA and we all would have been like "hey, look at all this diversity Tim's pulling out, X-MEN LEGACY and CAPTAINS MARVEL and AMERICA. Not at all like any other week!" You guys are being awfully judgmental, huh? Anyway, I get the chance to throw a major Marvel movie in my picks once every six months or thereabouts so you can bet I'm taking my chance to do it now. Really fun movie, not without its faults (more tomorrow!) but ultimately a really well-done, exciting, fun movie. Bonus: the casting of Christopher Eccleston as Malekith is pretty well hidden so you very rarely, if ever, think of him as the ninth Doctor while watching the movie. But sometimes you do. And sometimes that hurts. Anyway, lot of fun, can't say much more but I will tomorrow. The idea of the thing, though, is that it makes my top picks of the week because you should really check it out. I'm sure Marvel Studios could use your support.



Best book that was repeatedly mentioned in this post but not actually given a spot

Captain America 13
Pretty good, you guys!

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.

Quick thoughts on emerging Comic-Con news

Avengers: Age of Ultron

That's the official name of the second Avengers movie, slated for release in the first half of 2015. I'm...torn about this. We've gotten hints about things like this with Vin Diesel rumored to be playing Vision in the Avengers 2, which led to speculation about Ultron being a villain in the movie. Also, Marvel had long ago announced Ant Man would be getting his own movie, which opened the door to Ultron's creation. Ultron's an impressive villain and gives us plenty to talk about, especially in recent days where Marvel AI is getting some interesting storylines. So it'll probably be a good movie. Don't forget, Joss Whedon is still set to direct.

However, I've been pretty vocal on this blog about my dissatisfaction with Marvel's recent Age of Ultron event. It was long, it was boring, there was a lot of grandstanding about reality-warping and what-not. If it's based on that, I'm going to be a bit disappointed. None of this, of course, would ever stop me from going, but these are my quick thoughts on it. I can't imagine they'll make a movie just like this story; it's too complex for average moviegoers and, I say again, too boring for comic fan moviegoers. Guys, that event was pretty boring. Still, let's all cross our fingers and hope for the best. Still a lot of time before the release even approaches.

Captain America: Winter Soldier

I'm actually hurting inside because I can't see all of this footage. I'm hearing it described and it sounds amazing. It also sounds like Marvel and the directors and writers had a vision for this movie and that they're really executing. The cast is supposedly pretty huge and I think it's going to do a great job pulling everything in and really tightening up the superhero universe while expanding it enough to allow for new additions (like Falcon, who sounds awesome). Very, very exciting. Can't wait to see more about it as we move closer to next April.

Thor: The Dark World

Honestly haven't seen much about this. Tom Hiddleston came on stage and people apparently went nuts. That's all I know. QUICK THOUGHTS, GUYS, JUST SOME QUICK THOUGHTS.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Seems interesting enough. That's another one with a big cast. We have a big team and a slew of villains. Karen Gillan shaved her head for this one. Pretty weird.


Final quick thoughts

Marvel countered the news that DC is planning a Batman/Superman team-up movie for 2015, a possible Flash movie for 2016, and finally a Justice League movie for 2017 by revealing actual footage and making people remember that we all love these movies pretty unequivocally. Also, by the time a Justice League movie would come out, Marvel will be well into, if not coming out of, Phase III, with a probable Avengers 3. Hard to compete. Marvel's really going for it and they're not wasting time doing it. Beautifully done. Chris Evans apparently said it best: "It turns out Marvel knows what they're doing."

Fearless Defenders 6, Thor: The Dark World Prelude 2, Ultimates 27

Fearless Defenders 6
Bunn (w) and Sliney (a) and Gandini (c)

Valkyrie had to give herself in to the Doom Maiden Brunhilde that was inside her all along, hidden away, to defeat the other Doom Maidens. We get a bit of her past in this issue, clearing a lot of this up. She had led Odin's hand-chosen Shield Maidens, who were glorious warriors, almost untouchable in the battles they entered. They went around the universe, showing Asgard's influence and reminding worlds of their existence but they traveled too far, to the cold depths of the universe, and saw things that broke them. Eventually they became Doom Maidens, still unable to be defeated but far less honorable. Odin himself finally had to step in, vanquishing them. He had a soft spot for Brunhilde though, as his first Shield Maiden, and he was able to box away her memories inside of her, keep them untouched, and give her a new personality to go with her new job as Valkyrie. It's all come out now though, as she defeats the Doom Maidens and her bloodlust turns towards her friends. She takes everyone down brutally and swiftly, eventually leaving to head for the nearby village for more battles and deaths. Only Annabelle is left conscious, having been hidden by Dani Moonstar, and she takes it upon herself to try to go wake Valkyrie from this. She goes and talks to Brunhilde, hoping that she can call her back. She's able to glimpse Valkyrie through Brunhilde the more she talks but not without alerting Brunhilde. Finally Valkyrie does return in full, only to discover that she's too late: Brunhilde has killed Annabelle. Valkyrie brings the body and her story back to the other heroes, where she explains that there will always need to be people monitoring the rise of evils like these Doom Maidens but that there always have been; they're the heroes of this Earth who Valkyrie has fought alongside time and time again. There will be a time for the Valkyrior to rise but it's not now, now the world needs defenders. Her stirring speech leaves little impact on the rest of the group as Misty punches her in the face and they all walk away.

I don't totally know what to make of this issue. I thought a lot of the backstory into the Shield Maidens was kind of interesting but it faltered with the vague "saw something at the edges of space," which is both cliché and a bit of a copout. I also saw a lot of discussion on something I hadn't heard defined before but something that it's hard not to think about if you read enough comics or watch enough movies. It's called women in refrigerators (I think the verb form I saw was "fridging") and it refers to women who have been created for a story or an arc only to die or lose their powers or so on. Sure that happens with tons of characters, both genders, but it's far more common with women. It's true of Annabelle Riggs here, though I'd be interested to hear what people think about it as it relates to gender, as the entire cast so far has been female. Still, there is that feeling regardless of the idea of women in refrigerators that felt weird even before I knew the term, which is simply creating a character to die that arc. That takes away a lot of what the character's life was or what they did and makes them a plot device instead of a character. It's hard for me to, retroactively, feel too good about Annabelle (the series hadn't won me over on her to this point, either) because this kind of casts her whole creation as simply a means to an end. Plenty of characters play that role but rarely this quickly do they reach their end and rarely are they so shoved at us, trying to will us to care about them. It's also a weird decision to have her die because it's more or less left us in the position we were in before this title started; six issues after the series launched, Valkyrie is looking for people to defend this Earth and has decided that heroes are the best ones to do that, she and Misty don't really have a relationship, and Annabelle Riggs doesn't exist. I would have said those same things before the series started. Sure the Doom Maidens and all that, but frankly I would have believed you if you told me that had happened anyway.

Thor: The Dark World Prelude 2
Yost and Kyle (w) and Lim and Hennessy w/ Magyar (a) and Troy w/ Sotomayor and Mossa (c)

As we build our way back to bridge the gap between the events of The Avengers and Thor: The Dark World, our story focuses more and more on Jane Foster and pal Darcy. As Coulson told Thor in The Avengers, Jane and Darcy have been relocated to Norway on some specious assignment but, unlike anything we thought about in The Avengers (I think we mostly decided she just wasn't part of the plot, or, more specifically that Marvel didn't really feel like paying Natalie Portman for a minute of screentime that wasn't part of the plot), she's figured out it's a specious assignment and wants to know what's really up. Darcy, showing a level of computer knowledge I did not grant her in Thor, has found a stream of the events in New York and the two settle in to watch. Of course, the good guys win and Thor returns to Asgard with Loki and the tesseract. He arrives home amidst worrying reports about the nine realms in chaos. Since the destruction of the Bifrost, isolating Asgard from the other realms, things have gone a bit haywire all over, leaving Asgard woefully out of the loop. Thor, home with the tesseract, believes that they can rebuild the bridge and straighten things out. Jane Foster, though, back on Earth, is a bit peeved that Thor didn't even stop in to visit.

So we have a lot of plots swirling to give us some background information here for November's release of Thor: The Dark World (which still seems awfully far away from this prelude's conclusion). This is a tricky book to write as you want it to be meaningful and worth reading for the audience without making it essential reading for the moviegoers. You can't add too much in that you won't see in the movie because you can't and shouldn't assume that everyone will read it (even as a big comic reader, I wouldn't have if I wasn't reviewing it and I rather love Christopher Yost) and yet you want to add enough by way of fun tidbits to make it an actual worthwhile read. I think they toe the line pretty well; again, I don't think I would have read it if I wasn't reviewing it unless I was a huge Thor supporter (the movie, not even the character, hence the italicization) and wanted to just imbibe every fact about the movie I could. Still, it's definitely readable and it moves fairly well. Seeing characters drawn to look like real people that I can actively identify is still a bit jarring but that might be a more personal note. Take this for what it is: a book to reignite the story for potential moviegoers and a decent jumping on point to either. It's not necessary to read to keep your head well above water with the story of the movie or of the comics but it's not a waste of time either. Mission accomplished.

Ultimates 27
Fialkov (w) and Di Giandomenico and Ruggiero (a) and Charalampidis (c)

The Ultimates are split up and broken, with Thor battling Hulk in Arizona, Hawkeye and Cap captured by Kang and co, Monica Chang unconscious and left behind, and Tony Stark on the operating table of Reed Richards, having his skull opened up so Reed can dig out the Infinity Gem within. Tony, fortunately for the reader but probably far less fortunately for him, is still conscious during the surgery and Reed happily explains why he's doing what he's doing. He's learned the way that universes die and he's seen it happen, in the Negative Zone specifically. The Negative Zone was once a fully functioning universe but had reached its extinction event. Just before, though, a genius there had discovered that the Infinity Gems of his universe might save them all. The Gems are unearthed by these catastrophic events, as we learned from Sue's explanation two issues ago or so. The Negative Zone's genius figured it out and used the Infinity Gems to try to stop the extinction but he was too late. He saved himself, becoming the Watcher in the process, but couldn't help the Universe beyond what it looks like today. Reed, though, has figured this out and found the solution thousands of years ahead of schedule, hopefully giving him enough time to dig out the Gems and set to work. He even rather hints that his last appearance created a Gem's appearance and that it was intentional. He's also putting a lot of faith into the hands of Kang, who comes from the future and has seen that he survives what he's attempting. Meanwhile, Cap and Hawkeye are being watched by Kang, kept from an escape, Sue and Ben Grimm are fighting an extension of Reed's body that he grew into a full size replica and very soon after have to deal with Quicksilver, who kills Ben and stops Sue, and Monica is found by Nick Fury, the one bright spot to all this. Fury has assembled his army, consisting of heroes like Cassie Lang, Falcon, Abomination, and others, including newcomer Hercules, to fight against Reed and his crew. It's possible, though, that it will be too late for Tony, who apparently dies at the end of the surgery.

This is an interesting idea as it posits that, if Reed is correct, he is definitely saving the world by unearthing all of the Infinity Gems and using them. However, he's also quite possibly totally insane. I don't know the Reed of this universe well enough to guarantee either option (though I'm not sure anyone could guarantee any option) but it's definitely a story worth telling. It also puts the Ultimates up against a line of foes that strategically counter them and are smart enough to know what's coming next in all of these plans. Tony has a bit of bravado talking about how the Ultimates will never stop coming after them and how they will fail because the Ultimates always win, but it's punctuated with his death so it's a little hard to fully feel threatened by that. There's a lot going on here and much of it is interesting. We'll have to see how Fury's ragtag bunch of hooligans enter into the equation before we can see the chances for the Ultimates. Still, it's a good story on its own as it is and hopefully it continues to be one as we push forward. It will also give us a chance to examine death in the Ultimate universe, which is always a more interesting examination than in the 616. Solid issue improves an interesting arc.

Age of Ultron 9, Thanos Rising 3, Thor: The Dark World Prelude 1,

Age of Ultron 9
Bendis (w) and Peterson, Pacheco, and Bonet (a) and Mounts and Villarrubia (c)

One of my problems with this series, as I've said time and time again, is that it is way too long. I tend to have issues with Bendis on this front, which I'm sure I will examine again tomorrow as I write a review for the final issue of Daredevil: End of Days. However, I think we've officially reached the point where I have nothing more to say about this series. Everything I've written about this series (and recent Bendis as a whole, honestly) holds true; it expects that the readership, people currently reading comic books, I'd remind you, don't know anything about time travel, it focuses on characters who like to talk in quick bursts of snippy dialogue, and a bunch of the tones don't match with the seriousness of the situation. I'd add to that, in this case, that there are literally three pages of this penultimate issue which feature panels of destroyed New York and Wolverine making a plethora of grunts and groans and the like. All in the same area of blown-up New York. Then Tony Stark tells Wolverine that time is an organism and traveling back and forth through it to change things tears it apart and Wolverine proceeds to travel back to talk to himself about killing Pym. As the both talk to each other in snappy repartee, with the occasional interruption from Hank Pym saying "this is fascinating" and the likes, the opposite of what the audience is thinking before all three are greeted by Sue Storm, also still back in time, who jumps in to, first and foremost, blame Wolverine for knocking her out at the car so that she didn't come in to see what was happening. This might not sound that objective, but this is all so stupid. Then they tell Pym to create Ultron but make it so he has a design flaw that he can't fix and that Pym can activate to stop Ultron but Pym can't know he's activating it because this is all so stupid. Then he makes a weird new Ultron as the Wolverines and Sue arrive at the Savage Land and watch as one Wolverine kills the other, which is all so stupid.

As I said above, I'm not convinced I can say anything else objective about this book. This is one of the problems with a series that has dragged on too long; a once-noble reviewer dedicated to try to look objectively at the book is now forced to admit that maybe he's not in the right state of mind to do just that. Instead, he wants to type "stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid" all over this review. Frankly, we should all praise him as a hero for not having done that from word one of this review.

Thanos Rising 3
Aaron (w) and Bianchi (a) and Svorcina (c)

Thanos leaves Titan after killing his mother to go on and push forth in his new life. He goes across the universe, from galaxy to galaxy, with a crew of pirates, landing many wives and spawning many children across the cosmos. None of it is satisfying for him as he keeps taking more wives and fathering more kids and killing more aliens with his pirates in order to simply feel something. He doesn't, except lingering remorse over the things that happened at Titan. Mostly, he's upset that the mysterious girl didn't reciprocate his feelings towards her. She, he is convinced, is the only woman who will ever make him feel love. In this new life, he leaves all of his wives and children behind time after time and has sworn off killing, even though it enrages the pirate captain. He keeps his job because he's adept at finding new targets and turning off all of their sensors and everything. However, his seeming inability to kill is a point of contention with the captain, who eventually attacks Thanos to provoke a response. As Thanos continues to refuse to fight, he accepts his fate, ready to be beheaded. Instead, though, he seems to black out and opens his eyes to find the pirate captain disemboweled before him. He returns to Titan later to see his mother's grave and comes across the mysterious woman again. He asks her to marry him, deciding that she needs him just as much as he needs her, and promising her that he'll give her anything she could desire. She sort of consents, saying that he'll need to be hers and hers alone and demanding that he go out and kill all of his once wives and children, which he begins to do as the issue ends.

I'm unsold on this series. I'll be honest, I don't know the full history of Thanos. I know only what I've seen reading the books that I've read in my lifetime which means I've seen him more than a few times and through several different lenses. However, this is comics and he's been around for four decades now so I certainly don't know his full character. In what I do know of him, though, he's a comic book villain in every sense of the word. He's cold, he's calculating, he's powerful, and he's evil. Sometimes that can come off as cliche or lazy or any number of other negative attributes. However, sometimes the best villains are simple brilliant sociopaths, dedicated to chaos for chaos' sake. It's the character of Iago from Shakespeare's Othello and it sustains over time for a reason. Sometimes, then, giving these characters a background can actually weaken them. I'm not a hundred percent sure that's true of Thanos (particularly where I'm not sure of his background in general) but it kind of feels like, as the mystery is unraveled, it's going to leave people feeling a bit unfulfilled. I suppose if this woman turns out to be inside Thanos all along (a definite possibility) or something along those lines, it's going to equate to about that same thing and it will have been nice to watch his descent into madness (well, maybe "nice" is the wrong word). However, if it is a woman, I have some serious qualms about the message here and Marvel should probably be a little careful about the idea that one of its universe's biggest killers was turned this way by a woman. So let's all just hope it's his imagination.

Thor: The Dark World Prelude 1
Yost and Kyle (w) and Eaton and Hennessy (a) and Troy, Sotomayor, and Mossa (c)

This is a weird one. If you saw The Avengers, and you're reading this blog so I have a feeling you did, you'll recognize about 50% of this issue. This book takes place before and concurrent with the movie as we learn exactly why Thor hadn't yet returned to Earth prior to Loki's attack on the Tesseract. We also see a little bit of how Thor came back to Earth with the Bifrost destroyed, something that was glossed over a bit in the movie (with a throwaway line talking about dark energy and the cost to send him through). More or less that's what we get here as Odin shows Thor some dark energy and explains it will cost them both to send him through it. So pretty much exactly the same. However, we also get some interesting stuff about how hard Jane has been working to reopen the portal and what the universe is doing in Asgard's absence from it. For someone looking to get into the spirit of Thor: the Dark World with only knowledge from Thor and The Avengers, it seems that this comic is certainly accomplishing that. It's a good interweaving (not necessarily seamless, but good) of the storylines from the Cinematic Universe with some behind-the-scenes Asgard stuff tossed in. I don't have a huge idea of what's coming in the newest Thor movie, set for release in November, but it certainly feels like this book is going above and beyond to tie some plots together.

What intrigues me most about this book is that it's co-written by Christopher Yost, writer for Scarlet Spider and Avenging Spider-Man, most episodes of the amazing TV series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (available on Netflix streaming), and, most importantly, co-writer for the screenplay of Thor: The Dark World. It's encouraging that one of the writers of the movie is entrenched in comics and has already had success translating comics for media with EMH. It's also encouraging for this two-issue prelude (which feels like it's being released too early to coincide with a November movie release) that one of the film's writers will be helming this tie-in. Fun stuff, probably not a ton of substance for long-time fans but great to get caught up in the Cinematic Universe and probably great for fans whose only knowledge of Marvel comes from the movies. Good way to introduce a lot of concepts that could be lingering on the shelf before this movie.