Astonishing X-Men 62, Uncanny X-Force 4, Wolverine 3

Astonishing X-Men 62
Liu (w) and Walta (a) and Peter (c)


As Astonishing X-Men returns to what it considers normalcy following the X-Termination event, we find Bobby Drake having some serious issues coping with what happened in the Age of Apocalypse. On top of that, he seems to have brought something back with him that's keeping him from sleeping and apparently, a little more sinisterly, has created a whole new thing inside of himself. It seems to be that thing that is bringing a massive snowstorm down on what seems to be the entire world and calling all of Bobby's ex-girlfriends up to seriously confuse and rattle him. It's also what's making his eyes turn red occasionally and rip open his chest to reveal a big purple blot. So he's apparently brought something back with him from the Age of Apocalypse, something that Thor either recognizes or drives Thor completely insane, as he starts repeating "FIMBULVETR" over and over (herein lies the trouble of Asgard, you can never be sure if it's just insane babbling or something Nordic and threatening). The appearance of Bobby's ex-girlfriends has also rattled Kitty, who isn't sure what she feels about her current relationship with Bobby as it is. Seeing all of his exes and the way that he reacts when they're around (he seems to forget that she's even there) confuses her and makes her think about Colossus again, who she knows wouldn't ever have acted that way. Of course, she says to Wolverine in their early morning feelings-chat (to Wolverine's dismay), Peter also helped try to destroy the world when he was Phoenix-possessed, so win some, lose some.

There was some talk, especially around the time of Schism and the creation of Wolverine's school, about Bobby seeing his potential. I think it's a really interesting discussion and is a really interesting question about Bobby's character. He has near limitless power, in a way, and everyone knows it. He's certainly gotten more powerful as time has gone by but he hasn't seen this sort of power at any time in his existence (save, maybe, the Age of Apocalypse Iceman in Remender's X-Force, but even that wasn't the Bobby we're talking about). Now he seems to be imbued with extra power but it's unknown to him and, arguably, it's not his power. On top of allowing fans to ask the question "is Bobby reaching his true potential?" this arc is going to ask plenty more questions. It's definitely a good follow-up to the major X-Termination event and will serve as a good link between a full event and a major story in a dedicated book.

Uncanny X-Force 4
Humphries (w) and Garney and Hanna and Alphona and Strain (a) and Gracia with Gonzalez (c)

Psylocke has entered Bishop's mind only to find that he's not really in control of it anymore. Instead, she's faced off against a couple of huge bears and an owl. The owl seems to be in control of the takeover and, after Psylocke battles with the bears for a bit, expels Betsy telling her that they're searching for a different psychic. That psychic, of course, is Ginny, the girl that Spiral has been protecting for some time. Spiral and Ginny have run off hoping that Puck, Psylocke, and Storm will successfully hold Bishop at bay long enough for them to escape but find that they are out of luck, as Bishop is in close pursuit and Spiral hasn't had enough rest to start teleporting them away yet. Spiral decides to take the fight to Bishop in a last stand of sorts, telling Ginny to run. After seeing Spiral take a few big hits, Ginny jumps into the fight anyway, controlling Bishop with her mind before being overpowered by the psychic owl in Bishop's mind. Ginny disappears as Bishop is released by the owl and bear. With no recollection of how he got there, Bishop is surprised as Puck knocks him out. Spiral begins to grieve while Psylocke demands she finish their fight. Storm calms Psylocke down before Psylocke can kill Spiral, who clearly has no intent of fighting back. The reader sees Ginny enter a hotel, with the owl speaking through her, and promptly take control of everyone she can find. Meanwhile, this whole issue serves as a backdrop to the Fantomex trinity (which is a rad name I picked up from the recap page), with Fantomex and Cluster deciding whether or not to aid Spiral while dark Fantomex gets the drop on them and attacks from behind. Hopefully more to come out of those guys.

The first arc winds down though the story clearly isn't over as Ginny is now possessed by the owl/bear duo (which reveals it's been lying in wait for over four thousand years) and Spiral, in the very least, will have something to say about that. The team itself could shape up to be a good one but it's still too early in the game to tell even what the team will be. If Spiral joins up, that will give an unpredictable ally who will force Betsy to stow her personal feelings about the villain. I will say that, at least for me, the most interesting aspect of the book so far is the Fantomex trinity and I feel we haven't gotten enough of them yet. I'd say we have about enough to rope us into their story but Humphries will need to expand on it in the coming issues to keep readers onboard. I think he will as their limited inclusion feels very deliberate to this point, but it will definitely play a role in the ultimate judging of this book.

Wolverine 3
Cornell (w) and Davis and Farmer (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

The mind control arc continues as Wolverine and new Nick Fury discuss the Watcher's sudden and brief appearance and the strange bullet in Wolverine's arm, respectively. Fury demands they operate on Wolverine to remove the bullet an study it, which leads to a somewhat arduous scene of Wolverine talking with some non-superpowered superhero experts including a superhero fight bookie, a comic book writer (LOL), a detective, a cataloguer of supers (dude, I just pretty much use Wikipedia and it almost ALWAYS has a good description of any superhero, even minor ones. Can you imagine the Wikipedia in the world where superheroes are actually REAL? This guy is SO easily replaced), and the head of Damage Control superhero clean-up crew (not superpowered, they just clean up after supers). Wolverine and Fury then speed off to a corrupt pharmaceutical plant where they've gotten reports the gun has zoomed off to. Wolverine sneaks in and gets a security guy on his side before they both try to break up the mind-controlled party, leading to nothing good. The other guy seems to die, Wolverine and Fury can't stop the gun and shipment from getting away, it all just goes wrong. The last scene shows the aliens (in human forms) using the shipment and explaining that it will help them to breed fast enough to multiply quickly. Weird.

I'm not sold on this series yet and I think probably my review of that shows. I tend not to have a lot of patience for convenient side characters who are so obviously just convenient side characters. If they're developed characters who happen to be on the side, cool, they're just people in our hero's life. But here, it's clear that it was Cornell saying "these people must exist in that world, I'm going to stuff them into a book where they probably don't belong." It's too bad too because I was interested when Wolverine introduced the bar as a place where people like him could go (which has never really been a problem for Wolverine). I like thinking about the ramifications of being a superhero on everyday life and about how they would possibly walk around on the streets and go anywhere, but I don't need to see the kitschy characters that go with those ideas. I still don't really know where the mind thing is going and this issue focused on enough ancillary stuff (like that team scene and Wolverine's fight with the other security guys, riddled with stock fight banter) that I got to the end a little less interested in what was happening. That's a bad place to be going into the thrilling next issue.

Avenging Spider-Man 20, Alpha Big Time 4

Avenging Spider-Man 20
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man, in his quest to gather the Sinister Six for some no doubt sinister plan, has struck the SHIELD helicarrier to try to free Chameleon. Black Widow and Hawkeye also appear, alongside Agent Coulson (whose nickname in this book and in Secret Avengers this week has been revealed to, inexplicably, be "Cheese" in what feels a little desperately like saying "Accept this movie character into your comic book world!"), fresh off an off-panel Secret Avengers mission. All heroes and new Nick Fury are brought into the debriefing room when Ock's plan to use his mini-spiderbots goes into effect. The power aboard the helicarrier goes down and Spider-Man starts to use it as a way to track down Chameleon before discovering that there are other villains breaking onto the helicarrier following the power surge also looking for Chameleon. They're two previously unseen villains, both wearing masks and one who has the power to kill with his touch. While the heroes fight them, Spider-Man slinks off to look for Chameleon only to find that Chameleon has killed his guards and escaped his cell. Doc starts to realize that his bringing the power down allowed the other killer villains on board and allowed Chameleon to escape and kill the guards so he is ostensibly responsible, despite his feelings that he's the better and more responsible Spider-Man than Peter Parker. He thus pushes the thoughts out of his head and starts to fight the villains, who have also made their way to where Chameleon should be, before Hulk shows up (Banner was also somewhere on the helicarrier.

Avenging Spider-Man (which, I should mention, is technically going to be cancelled I believe after next month's issue but will be relaunched, with Yost still at its helm, in July as Superior Spider-Man Team-Up or some such) continues to be as compelling as Superior Spider-Man, which is especially interesting given how the series started. I'm not saying it was a bad series to start but it was certainly a more puff piece kind of series. The team-ups were fun and no one's going to complain about getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal, but there wasn't a point to it beyond getting to see Spider-Man in more places and interacting with different heroes than normal. That's okay, but a full story is almost always going to make for a more compelling series. Doc Ock capturing the Sinister Six for some unknown purpose is certainly compelling enough, added to the fact that he's had his own interesting team-ups and complicated relationships with other heroes in this world as Superior Spider-Man. It's been a solid book and hopefully it will continue to be as, presumably, this Sinister Six arc reveals itself to us with the book rebranding in July.

Alpha Big Time 4
Fialkov (w) and Plati (a) and Rauch (c)

Alpha Big Time, the surprisingly good mini-series about the boy Peter Parker accidentally imbued with godlike powers before limiting them down severely for a bit of time, is roaring along to its conclusion (issue five). There's still plenty to get through, though, as the mugger whose face Alpha kind of smashed in at the end of issue one is now mutating and absorbing energy in the form of over four hundred people all the while growing larger and larger makes his presence known to Alpha, who can't successfully fight him. He has to leave midfight, though, as he hears his mom screaming from their house. He pushes his powers to the limit to race there only to find it on fire, a threat from the mysterious Boss Cohen who has been setting fires throughout Pittsburgh. Add to that the typical teenage angst Alpha is feeling (including girl trouble, as always) and the questions about his powers that are looming ever bigger and Joshua Fialkov has engineered a pretty solid book about a character that, when he debuted, nobody liked. I think people might have liked the idea of Alpha but he was designed to be unlikable and Slott made sure he was. Now, with his powers a fraction of what they could be (and eventually will be), Alpha has learned a bit about maturity and has a bit of a cooler head with these things.

I said that he has a bit more maturity but that still doesn't make him mature. He confesses to guest star of this issue Thor that he can't help but feel like everyone is so small compared to him (which is, on top of being remarkably conceited, supervillain sort of talk). Thor is the right guy to talk to and he admits that it's sometimes challenging even for him to keep his mind on task. He talks about the brash and arrogant young Thor but reveals that he has since learned that they feel bigger and so need to raise up everyone else. It's a nice message and definitely one that Alpha will have to take heed of if he intends to continue as a superhero. Despite what I said about it being supervillain talk, Alpha doesn't act like a supervillain. Sure he's young and cynicism and horrible events could turn him into a villain down the road, but he seems mostly good-natured throughout this series, even going so far as visiting the mugger in the hospital between almost killing him and him turning into a giant monster. Still, there are plenty of directions for this last issue to go and, though I wouldn't have expected to be saying this when the first book was on the schedule, I'm excited to see what the conclusion brings.

Thor: God of Thunder 8, Iron Man 258.2

Sorry about the late first post today. We had a new fridge delivered and, as you might expect, my dog peed and pooped all over the floor at the very sight of the movers. Oh, did you not expect that? THEN YOU DON'T KNOW MY DOG.

Thor: God of Thunder 8
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

The older Thors sail for Gorr's godbomb while the young Thor tries to break free from his captors. Before he can make a significant attempt, three goddesses stop him, saying that all his attempt will bring is the crucification of other gods. He unhappily lets up the rebellion to later find that those three goddesses are, in fact, his granddaughters. Together with the other gods, they plan a full scale rebellion to be put into place immediately, as the godbomb is only days from completion. Their plan involves using the unstable cores they've secreted away during all their expeditions for Gorr to destroy the godbomb. Knowing that the successful detonation of the cores will cost whichever god attempts it his life, Thor's granddaughters ask who will be the one to sacrifice himself for the rest of them. Of course, by this time, young Thor has already taken the cores and is heading for the godbomb. He launches it into the bomb and is blown from the planet and sent hurling into the debris around the planet (which contains a whole slew of slain gods already). He happens to catch on to the ship the other Thors are traveling on and they bring him aboard, after a quick shark attack. The three prepare to team up and fight against Gorr as we push forward.

This is all rising action and it's all important to keep this exciting story going. It does mean we're taking a little longer than you might want to reach the team-up we've all known is coming since present Thor stepped out of the portal to find future Thor. Still, it seems we're there and there are a lot of irons in the fire for this team-up as future Thor seems to resent both other Thors and young Thor is apparently jealous about present Thor having control over Mjolnir, which young Thor regretted not being able to lift prior. On top of that, we've seen some of the other gods on Gorr's planet, all of whom are unable to use what powers they might have aside from a short burst from Thor, who manages to call down lightning and fire (a new trick). So there's a lot to like about this issue, even if it kind of leaves us where we expected to be all along. As ever, though, the book has lighter and more fun moments and has phenomenal art from Esad Ribic that comes out particularly strongly when he draws the three Thors and Thor's granddaughters and young Thor. Another solid entry.


Iron Man 258.2
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Finally got around to getting the details on this story, beyond where it fits into the series as a whole. This is a four issue limited series that will run probably into June, as issue 258.3 comes out in two weeks. Good thing, then, that it's developed into a pretty interesting story after a somewhat inauspicious start. The brilliant but moral-less Tony Stark in the computer system of Stark Enterprises (referred to as the Entity) has successfully framed Iron Man for the murder of Doctor Sondheim (at the end of last issue) and given reason enough to keep himself isolated (as he's pretending to be Tony Stark right now). The real Tony, in the Iron Man suit, manages to get word to Rhodey about what's happening and brings Rhodey to a secure off-the-map location he had built in case he couldn't access Stark Enterprises the normal ways. While the two are there (with Rhodey maneuvering in the secret base while Iron Man pilots him from outside), an explosion erupts from the city. Iron Man leaves Rhodey behind to fly to the scene where he finds love interest Rae Lacoste in battle with Stark-built army vehicle the Behemoth. Tony is unable to prevent the Behemoth from blowing up Rae's car, killing her in the process (though the audience sees that she's apparently a robot, Tony flies away before her flesh melts and reveals the metal inside). He dismantles the Behemoth and flies back to Rhodey in sadness, where he's informed that the Entity has labeled three people who could bring down his plans (and who therefore have to be eliminated). They are Doctor Sondheim, Tony himself, and Justin Hammer, forcing a presumable team-up between Iron Man and Justin Hammer.

There's certainly enough going on here to keep the reader interested and it's a classic Iron Man story in the way of Tony faces off against himself. It's quite literal this time, as the Entity seems to be Tony without the scruples. Iron Man stories tend to be at their best when facing off against something he doesn't quite understand or someone whose intellect matches his. That's the conceit of most major Iron Man storylines and why his biggest villains are the likes of the Mandarin and Justin Hammer. To make the villain Tony himself both limits what Tony can do within Stark Enterprises and forces him to square off against the only person he'd admit was as smart as him. It's an interesting enough story to keep focus and a four issue arc gives ample time to set up and close down shop without too many extra bells and whistles.

Avengers Arena 9, Ultimates 24

Avengers Arena 9
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

The mystery of Apex's gender-switching is revealed as the newfound Tim (far too few Tims in comics) stops Darkhawk and Juston's fight and tells their story. They're technopathic twins who share a body, female when Katy's in charge and male when Tim is. Katy is very much the devilishly clever aggressor we've seen throughout the series already and Tim is the pacifier who watches it all happen because Katy has overpowered him. He comes out after she's been defeated by the events of last issue and explains everything causing the other kids to vote on whether to kill him to stop Katy or not. They decide against killing him (in a big decision that ultimately causes Nico to cast Chase/Darkhawk out of the group) and tie him up. Unfortunately, when their guards are a bit lowered, Katy comes out again and takes control of Death Locket, freeing herself and finally killing Juston to take control of his Sentinel as she had tried to do way back in the first few issues. The narration comes from Tim all issue as he reveals to the audience that Katy plays these games and always plans to an end that only Katy could benefit from. Of course, the end of the issue reveals that this whole situation had been one of those plans and Tim knows that he's responsible for his sister's actions because he was incapable of sacrificing himself to stop her.

The moral dilemma behind good cop Tim and bad cop Katy is a really interesting question and definitely carries the issue and could carry more, assuming Apex sticks around for a while. Tim is responsible for Katy's evil insofar as he doesn't want to die himself. It's hard to blame him for that as accepting his role as a martyr to stop Katy is no easy feat, especially not for someone so young. Katy is clearly the more powerful of the two, having used her powers to force Tim back in the first place, and the more aggressive of the two. Tim prefers the passive, non-confrontational approach and, as a result, he ends up cleaning Katy's messes up more often than not. Add to this whole drama the drama of Nico kicking Chase out (and calling him the stupidest among them) and Death Locket's feelings for Tim and we have a full-bodied, worthwhile drama on our hands. Oh, and did I mention that Juston just died and Katy the technopath has access to what's left of his Sentinel?

I know I talked about all five Avengers-related books in my pre-game so it may have SEEMED like I would tie those five together in day one of reviews, but thanks to being unable to get my hands on Assemble so far, please enjoy this review for The Ultimates 24. GUYS, it's just a DIFFERENT Avengers team. It still totally fits.

Ultimates 24
Humphries (w) and Bennett and José (a) and Milla (c)

The J-Rice satellite is hurtling from space down onto Sacramento, exactly as Ford had planned. Tony is still captured, Thor and Sue are still on the moon with Black Knight and Cap is still in Washington with Quake (who reveals the whole plan, having herself been double-crossed). Thor is being goaded by Black Knight into keeping up the fight while Tony, who has managed to successfully call his heavy Iron Man armor to him, feels like he can stop the new and unbelievably powerful Wonder Man and Ford himself if he stays. However, Monica Chang points out about a million times that Tony staying outside of Bakersfield (in the top secret West Coast Ultimates HQ) and Thor staying on the moon is exactly what Ford wants and that they have to choose between stopping those guys or stopping the nuke from hitting Sacramento. The team one by one reforms on Sacramento and contains the nuke (with Sue doing the actual containing after Cap, Thor, and Tony slow down the nuke and destroy the container), winning the day. With the victory, Cap resigns his presidency, saying that the war is over and, though there are still threats looming on the horizon, the wartime president is no longer needed. For better or worse, he plans to put the power of choice back in the hands of Americans, despite protests from Tony (who says he's the most popular president pretty much ever) and Thor (who says that he's a born leader and the country needs a leader now).

The President Cap era seems officially ended, which is probably good because Steve seemed on the verge of killing people in his last few times being a diplomat. However, Thor nicely lays out for us how much story there still is left to resolve, including these new West Coast Ultimates and Spokesperson Ford, the appearance of the gems, the new Hydra, and the general discontent around the country. There are a few nice moments in this issue, including Cap prepared to die under the nuke as a symbol to the country (not knowing if the other heroes will arrive in time and being the least capable of stopping a nuke) and a nice full page panel of the three best-known Avengers/Ultimates working together to try to stop the nuke. There's still a lot to go here but the story of the West Coast Ultimates comes down to an intentionally anti-climactic finish as the various members of the real Ultimates have to abandon their fights to save Sacramento. Still, as I said, there's a lot to look forward to (including their reemergence) and this arc has left the series in a healthy spot.

Avengers 11, Secret Avengers 4, Uncanny Avengers 8

Avengers 11

Hickman (w) and Deodato (a) and Martin (c)

Secret Avengers is the next book in this review (as you could tell by the title or by scrolling down) but it might as well be in parentheses at the start of this book too. Like "(Secret) Avengers 11," if you needed the visual. For the first time in a long while with this book, we're not overly concerned (but for tangentially) about Ex Nihilo and his plan of reshaping and evolving Earth. Today, we're concerned about AIM which we know has its own island and seems to have a piece of Ex Nihilo's puzzle all to itself. There's an arms deal of some sort happening in Hong Kong and a select team of Avengers (the best for the situation, as this book has promised) comprised of Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Shang Chi, Sunspot, and Cannonball are sent to figure out what it is AIM plans to sell. Captain Marvel comes up with a plan to pull the information out which involves her trying to get information out of AIM's lead negotiator, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Shang Chi trying to identify all the buyers, and Sunspot and Cannonball infiltrating the beekeepers (the AIM henchmen). Black Widow points out that it's a complicated plan that could be avoided if they just want her to torture the lead negotiator and there's a bit of a fun dynamic for this little team that revolves around that throughout the issue. They go with Captain Marvel's plan and set to work, with all being identified by their marks almost instantly but succeeding nonetheless. Only Shang Chi has success though, as he disables a newly formed assassin group out of Hong Kong and discovers that AIM isn't there to sell, they're there to buy assassins.

There are a lot of things to like about this issue. First and foremost, I appreciate that the team doesn't try to disguise itself and is instantly recognized. When reading comics or any sort of media in general that requires disguises or things of that nature you tend to find the plot going one of two ways. Either the disguises will work and no one will recognize Earth's mightiest heroes out of costume or the plan will seem to work before the heroes find out that the bad guys knew who they were all along and they've now been captured. Here, no one comes in a disguise and everyone is identified immediately. They don't need to keep up a charade or play along or anything, everything is out in the open. It's kind of refreshing in a weird sort of way and it allows the characters to be more free, including some nice scenes with Carol and with Bobby and Sam, who we haven't seen a ton from in this book. The other thing to like is that Carol's plan, more or less, seems to work but still leaves them with nothing until they find that Shang Chi has gone off on his own and taken down Chimera, the assassin group. As always, it's also cool to see Shang Chi in action. Fun issue, nice expansion of the story and brings us to an interesting new place for the book to go.

Secret Avengers 4

Spencer (w) and Ross (a) and Wilson (c)

Hulk has made his long-awaited debut into Nick Spencer's new Secret Avengers book. It's only issue four but, thanks to solicits and advertising early in Marvel NOW!, everyone's been waiting to see how Hulk would fit into the covert plans of Maria Hill. Of course, Hill has been working with Banner and Hulk over in Indestructible Hulk (hence how she convinced him to come to this mission) so there's a bit of a working relationship there right now. Still, he's needed more than ever as AIM has stolen the Iron Patriot, as well as taken control of an entire Iron Patriot manufacturing line, and, with the newly found technopathy of Mentallo, has managed to upgrade their minor AI into full-blown (if slightly low-level) sentience. This leaves SHIELD with more problems than it wants, especially as the fleet of Iron Patriots attacks known terrorist sites all over the world. The sites have all been targeted and monitored by the US but were deemed unsafe to attack because of the risk of high civilian casualty rates or because they were merely under suspicion of terrorism. Still, the government doesn't want to put the world on edge by saying their drones were hacked, so they claim responsibility for the attacks. Banner is brought in to help figure out how to proceed and he recommends, as the Iron Patriots are sentient, attempting to communicate with the bots. They put a plan in place to establish communication but they don't have time to talk one group of bots out of attacking as they make their way for Tehran. It they strike at Tehran, Iran will see it as an American attack and will likely respond with a nuclear attack, so Hill sends Hulk to stop the Iron Patriots. He does, then reverts back to Banner and is escorted away by SHIELD, who has to claim he was working by himself or under the influence of Mentallo. Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, and Nick Fury travel to AIM island to try to find a way to communicate with the bots and to try to assassinate the Scientist Supreme.

So yes, that summary was a bit long, particularly as a whole bunch happened. I said in my pregame this week that this issue was going to have to cover a lot of ground to try to prove itself as a legitimate contender and I think it's gone a long way to doing that. A ton happened and most of it was interesting. On top of the political intrigue and the look into the way SHIELD has to operate alongside the government and the superhero community, Luke Ross seems to have gone out of his way to try to distinguish Daisy Johnson and Maria Hill who look the same and hold similar positions within SHIELD. They appear side-by-side in this issue for a bit of time and it's never a problem telling which one is which, the first time that's ever been true. Little victory, I suppose, but a victory all the same. The real successes come from the continued interest in the Hulk's rebirth under Banner's direction and the carefully planned moves SHIELD is making that make them look like a halfway competent organization. So yes, lots happened in this issue that I would never have expected possible. If you told me a little over a year ago that I would be writing a review that said "Hulk is great, Maria Hill and Daisy Johnson look different, and SHIELD is successfully maneuvering an extremely delicate and interesting situation" I would have called you a liar and indicated that I don't even review comics. Take that, last-year-Tim.

Uncanny Avengers 8

Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

The plot is starting to become a little less muddled in Uncanny Avengers, thanks largely to the Apocalypse twins Eimin and Uriel cluing Thor and Shiro in on the plan. They were plucked from time by Kang to destroy the Celestial, ensuring no more Apocalypses rise after them, and then Kang attempted to destroy them by leaving them in Red Skull's onslaught (the word "onslaught?" The Marvel villain "Onslaught" formed from Charles Xavier? Who knows which it will be?) but it, instead, hardened them. Now they seek to promote the mutant race again while destroying humanity (like an Apocalypse do) as well as seeking revenge on those who have wronged them (including Kang and Wolverine). It's still a bit convoluted but it's certainly interesting and it's clearly going to make for a great series. They're incredibly powerful foes and will force the Unity Avengers to either work together or face annihilation. It may even require them to work alongside enemies, as Captain America may or may not be finding out right now. His escape pod landed in Sudan and he suspects that someone sabotaged it to send him there. His suspicions are confirmed as he finds himself in an abandoned church basement with a message waiting for him specifically. The sender of the message is unrevealed but don't be surprised if it's a villain involved with the plot (Kang is my bet, though I could see it being Red Skull. Of course, it could be anyone else too but whatever). Meanwhile, the other Uncanny Avengers are flying up to the North Pole, to the metropolis of Akkabar, a hidden city dedicated to serving Apocalypse. They bicker on the way and everyone feels that everyone else is hiding secrets. There is no easy unity amongst this team and it is that, the Apocalypse twins feel, that will doom them.

There are a lot of great pieces in this issue. As always, I'm impressed by the way it calls back to comic history in its narration and the idea of a team not meshing and in something as simple as sound effects. Sound effects (except for iconic ones like "snikt," "bamf," and the occasional "thwip") have mostly fallen out of comics today, which prefer not to risk breaking flow by putting in an onomatopoeia clunkily on the page. However, at separate points both Thor's hammer and Cap's shield return to them with a simple "Wap" and it feels right. Add to that the way it feels rather like the first few issues of the very first iteration of the Avengers in the way that the team bickers and doesn't quite know what to do with one another (albeit with a lot more history behind them now) and throw in a few great character pieces (Thor asking Sunfire if perhaps he needs a hug to sort out his disposition, Scarlet Witch sarcastically disbelieving that Wolverine is withholding information, etc) and you're reading a first class, ages-old book retooled for modern times. That feeling seems never to lose its charm and Remender's story and storytelling continues to impress, as does Acuña's art and sense of color, appropriately flashy and dark to match the verve and tone of the story. Another great issue.

Comics this week!

I was tempted to make my pre-game five selections the five Avengers related books that are out this week (Avengers, Avengers Arena, Avengers Assemble, Secret Avengers, and Uncanny Avengers) but I've decided against that. However, I didn't decide TOO much against that. If I were the kind of guy who bets on my picks (if there are people out there betting on my picks, that's the most amazing thing I've ever heard. Also, who are you betting against? I would love to find that out. Not so much because I have insider info but more because it seems REALLY easy), I'd say that the Avengers selection method is a pretty solid one and that, in this case, you're probably only 1/5 wrong.

Avengers 11
I've gone back and forth on this book, particularly where pre- and post-game selections are concerned. They've been solid and I've really enjoyed the book's willingness to test its audience. On the other hand, we're not getting nice tight arcs, we're getting a long involved story so it's hard to pick out specific pieces of that story as highlights. Still though, it's a consistently entertaining book and it's one that I typically seem to come away from satisfied. I will say, I come away most satisfied AFTER I've written my post for it down. Only at that point do I really feel like I have a whole grasp on the issue. Any students out there should know that THIS is why you write essays.

Avengers Arena 9
I can't get enough of this book. I can't put my finger on what's so great about it (other than to say that Hopeless isn't stupid; The Hunger Games is a runaway success for a reason) but it's kept me excited about the book through eight issues. I was skeptical about this series when it started and I felt that, at best, it would carry a few interesting issues and then run out of steam as the main conceit became less novel. It turns out, on the other hand, that my imagination simply isn't up to par because that was what I though would be a best case scenario. Instead, it's a thoroughly entertaining book with thoroughly entertaining characters doing just horrifying things.

Secret Avengers 4
I'm still not sure where I'm going to end up landing on this book. I'm not sure how I feel about brainwashed heroes doing things for SHIELD (as someone who is opposed to brainwashing and typically opposed to SHIELD) and I'm interested to see how it holds up over the course of a series. There are still a number of teased characters yet to be included (namely Winter Soldier and Hulk) which could open a whole new playground for our team. It's certainly an intriguing book but I'm not totally onboard with it yet. If fans don't start coming away from every issue with something new at this point, it's going to be hard to sustain.

Uncanny Avengers 8
I'm having some trouble believing there have already been seven of these but it seems like there have been. I love the feel of this book, both sinister and dark and also disarmingly retro. There is more narration and more nods to the history of comics than you'll see in many books but the story itself has been imbued with a real horror to it, particularly the business with the Red Skull. There's a real appreciation of Marvel history here, both in the telling and in the characters, that doesn't come through in a lot of other books (not that it needs to in other books, just that it feels new and rather loving here). On top of that, the team certainly isn't a perfect one and they're being thrown into situations that are more dangerous and bigger than most other stories, even Avengers stories.

Thor 8
Modern and future Thor look to finally enter the fray together as they pursue Gorr to his Godbomb, where young Thor is enslaved with many other gods. On top of the promise of seeing two to three generations of Thor fight alongside one another (reason enough to read this book) we have an interesting plot with an interesting and seemingly unbeatable villain. Good news for Thor, Thor seems to be the only one who's ever survived an encounter with Gorr, so three Thors v. one Gorr is probably a pretty good fight. What am I saying, of COURSE it's a good fight, there are going to be THREE GENERATIONS OF THOR AVAILABLE FOR A TEAM UP.

Iron Man 3 review

SPOILERS. Guys, there are going to be spoilers here. I don't want to spoil comics for people (I do anyway, hoping that people won't be too mad) but I really don't want to spoil a major motion picture. DO NOT read this review unless you have no desire to see the movie, have already seen the movie, or do not care about spoilers. On with the show.

There's a real flaw with my vocabulary that extends beyond my inability to think of words to describe comics aside from "interesting." That flaw is the term "comic book villain." When I say it, I think of a villain who is over-the-top evil and seemingly evil for evil's sake. I also know that if other people used that term, I'd be mad because plenty of comic book villains have nuances and real backstory and history and a trajectory on their arc that got them to where they are. In many cases (not all of them) the ones who ARE evil for the sake of evil are still done well enough to make them compelling enough to watch. They have motivations. Iron Man 3 has two villains that eventually, thanks to a twist in the movie, becomes one villain. For about half of the movie we have a terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) bombing locations in America with impossible to trace bombs the put out an absurd amount of heat, vaporizing anyone within a few feet of the explosion. Mandarin interrupts all broadcasts and claims responsibility, promising more bombings in time. Not to any end, just to "teach America a lesson." Working under him is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), creator of a think tank called Advanced Ideas in Mechanics, or AIM. Killian had tried to get Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., of course) onboard back in 1999 but Tony had ignored him. Tony's date for the night though, a biologist named Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), apparently took Killian up on the offer, bringing her invention of a way to recode DNA to heal a person, among other things, over to AIM. We eventually find that Killian is, in fact, not working under the Mandarin but directing things himself and that the Mandarin is a construct, with Kingsley actually playing an actor playing the Mandarin on these broadcasts. It's a twist that will throw off most moviegoers and most comic fans, as the Mandarin is a long time real enemy of Stark in the comics. Killian is behind it all, spreading Hansen's data, called Extremis, I'm not sure there's a huge point to the twist other than being a twist though. This might just be from me as a fan of the comics (though I've been told from non-comic readers this was true) but I feel like we knew Killian was a bad guy all along and we even see him working with the Mandarin before knowing that the Mandarin is fake. So if it's a minor twist, at least we have one solid villain instead of several weaker villains who don't get enough screen time to develop.

Guys, that line was meant to make you think that would be true, but it's not true. Aldrich Killian is a comic book villain. He created the Mandarin so that he has a face to hide behind and a lightning rod for hatred. So what is Killian's end game in all this, now that he has the pieces moved into place? I don't know. I mean, he wants power, I guess. He strings the vice president into his plans which, assuming his last bombing wherein the president would be killed goes off without a hitch, would put an AIM supporter in the White House. He mentions that he controls the war on terror with the west's biggest hitter and its biggest terrorist in his hands. So is he in this for the power? For the money? He seems pretty wealthy already. I didn't get the sense in either of my two viewings over the weekend that he particularly cared about money. There's a little subplot with him in love with Pepper and using her as a trophy that seems a little sudden. Simply put, he seems evil for evil's sake, but without the race hatred of a Red Skull or the power and ego of a Doctor Doom. This might seem like picking on just one aspect of a long movie but it's kind of a make-or-break point. A villain without a sincere motivation is just confusing because there are no terms on the table. I think the film tries to set up the idea of Killian as a once-good guy, back in 1999 when he was a nerd hanger-on with physical deformities, who has been slighted one too many times and snapped, but it doesn't stick. The same is kind of true for Hansen, though we see more of her before and after and she gives us a speech about science meant for good being used for evil. Still, there isn't enough time spent on developing these characters to give us a real sense of why they're doing what they're doing. Hansen is definitely better, showing a woman who is doing important research and will do whatever it takes to get it funded, but she also comes away as someone who has seemingly accepted the Mandarin solution and only thinks better of it later.

Yikes. We've gone two long paragraphs without even touching the titular character. Let's talk about the good first because those paragraphs were definitely huge negatives. The action scenes are intense and fun to watch (if at times a little cluttered and confusing). The film never feels really painful to watch, which seems like a backhanded compliment but really isn't; there are plenty of superhero movies (and movies in general) that don't just drag, they actively seem to resent the viewer. Tony is Tony, suave and cool but able to recognize, eventually the good things in his life. It will never not be fun to watch an Iron Man suit fly through the air and in this movie we get a whole slew of them doing just that. The performances are largely what we would have expected out of the talented group of actors. The film also did a great job of keeping to itself, not reaching out to the Avengers in an attempt at pleasing fans (except in a cute post-credit scene). That can't be easy to do in a time where The Avengers made over a billion dollars.

So let's move on. My biggest flaw with Tony is that there's a plot surrounding his time in The Avengers. Tony has come away from the experience a different person. No matter how cool he seems on the outside, he's torn apart inside trying to cope with things that are bigger than him when, before The Avengers, nothing had really BEEN bigger than him. He knows aliens exist, he knows a little about Thor's nine realms, he knows that there's a guy who can fly and call lightning, and he's the only one on Earth who saw what he saw beyond the portal. Tony's now prone to anxiety attacks and hasn't slept soundly since the events in New York. It's explained as how he has so many new suits; he's spent all of his free time (which is considerable now that he doesn't sleep) building new suits and inventing new tech for his new suits. His newest tech is an ability to call his suit to him at a moment's notice, or to throw it on someone else (like Pepper to get her out of the way of debris). But anyway, the idea of his anxiety attacks is an extremely interesting one. It's easy to forget, given the scale of the movies and the fact that the audience has seen all the Marvel movies and is no stranger to Thor nor to sci-fi as a whole, that Tony Stark wouldn't be comfortable with these things appearing in his world. The anxiety attacks fit well with the character and the problems behind them are real ones that are fascinating to unravel. Then, halfway through the movie, the plot drops out to make way for action scenes.

I'll say again, the action is good if a bit dragged out, but when you set up your main character to have a hugely interesting new flaw then kill it with no resolution and no apparent memory that it was a problem (except for a throwaway line later about how he's sleeping better), you've got a problem in your storytelling. Tony's anxiety attacks, which had played a major role in the first half of the movie, all but disappear when he's told by supporting character Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins), a precocious child with a scientific mind and no father, to go build something. Did...did that solve the problem? Because, from Tony's own testimony and as evidenced by all of the Iron Man suits, he's been building things. Then the anxiety never reappears because we have action scenes to get to. So we take a really interesting and new idea of a character who has always been in control and has understood what he's been doing losing a grip on that control and that reality before completely forgetting we did that and watching Tony and his army of Iron Men attacking an army of Extremis powered soldiers (quick side note: Extremis isn't particularly well-explained either. It "rewires" DNA for the next step in evolution and that MIGHT mean that it makes people able to heal, makes them run faster, makes them stronger, makes them hot to the touch, and so on. But all of that is shown, not told, so who knows what this thing really does?) while trying to save the love interest only to find the love interest saving him. TWIST.

I love Marvel movies. I think that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been unprecedented in its boldness and its willingness to tie together this huge web of movies and characters, despite legal flaws like "you can't use Spider-Man or mutants." I think The Avengers was a pretty near perfect film for what it set out to do and I've been impressed by the depth of story and character each film has put forth when it would have been so easy to just make a popcorn flick. I think Iron Man 3 is a popcorn flick. It's got good action, quippy characters that we know and love, and a rather undefinable antagonist and plot. I think it's the weakest entry from Marvel since Iron Man set the whole universe in motion. On the plus side, the Iron Man franchise as a whole never reached Spider-Man 3 or X-Men the Last Stand depths. The movie is still totally watchable and never gets painful to watch. I like the introduction of both AIM and Roxxon to the MCU. Hopefully it's not a sign so early on into Marvel's Phase II that the direction from here on out is going to be coasting. I still have high hopes for Thor: The Dark World and remarkably high hopes for Captain America: Winter Soldier. For the first time seeing a new Marvel movie though, I can honestly say I'm not dying to see Iron Man 3 again.