Superior Spider-Man 14, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 1, Scarlet Spider 19

Superior Spider-Man 14
Slott (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

The Superior Spider-Man has officially established himself as a force in the new Marvel Universe and now, with the backing (or blackmailing, I suppose) of the mayor, he's waging a one-man war on the crime bosses of the city. He's been taking them down quietly throughout the series, in the background of other, more intricate stories, but now he's at full-on war. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Jameson granted him use of the Raft last issue as a base and he's already enhanced that by creating weapons and hiring a veritable army of henchmen. His first stop on this new power tour? Shadowland to remove the Kingpin. However, patiently waiting out Spider-Man's purge of the underworld is the Green Goblin, whose army is snapping up the underlings of every fallen organization to build a rather impressive force of his own. Will Spider-Man turn his attention to Goblin too late?

This is certainly a very interesting story and anyone nervous that Doc Ock might too quickly discover his humanity and turn into just a jerkier version of Spider-Man is probably feeling pretty assuaged of that fear right now. This is clearly not the same Spider-Man Peter Parker was. He's not the ever-innocent young man who finds himself caught up in desperate problems and may regret the innocent way out later. This is a guy who solves the problem the most permanent way he can, someone who sees black and white in terms of what's right and wrong and who acts on it, even if it's not particularly popular. It's kind of Punisher like, but if Punisher was very slightly more concerned with who he kills (Spider-Man often doesn't deal with lower criminals, hence why so many henchmen are escaping to join up with Goblin) and if Punisher was an awful lot smarter. When this series was announced, I saw it going a lot of different ways. I'm happy to say that this isn't one of them. I don't know who would have predicted that Doc Ock actually becoming a superior Spider-Man in maybe not-so-savory ways was coming to us with the death of Peter Parker, but I'm certainly not disappointed by it. It's a nice change of pace for the book in general and it's an even nicer change from what I expected to get (which mostly ended up going back to "Peter will be back within six months." We've officially passed that deadline and, while it's certainly not unlikely that Peter will return sooner or later, the book is moving really well.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 1
Yost (w) and D. Lopez and A. Owens (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The days of the Avenging Spider-Man are over. Spider-Man doesn't really avenge any more, preferring instead to strike first, and the Avengers have him on probation anyway (my girlfriend pointed out to me that he's still appearing regularly in Avengers, though. My theory is essentially that if you have a world threatening problem on your hands, are you really going to not call Spider-Man? Seems awfully petty. Really, not sure what "probation" means for the Avengers. You don't have access to Jarvis?). However, he's still out heroing which means he's still going to interact with other heroes pretty often, and maybe some other villains, especially considering the way he was gathering them up at the end of Avenging Spider-Man. At the start of this series, though, he appears to have gone crazy, attacking and beating up many of the city's superheroes in what looks, from the outside, like something of a power play to show who is who in this Universe. But not everything is as it seems and, while it's a step above the old comics that had a cover showing the Avengers fighting only to reveal on the first page that they were fighting in the training room, comic readers will probably take to the explanation pretty quickly. That said, the book has kicked off pretty successfully with Christopher Yost again proving why he's one of my favorite people on this Earth with his delightful comics and the long-standing appreciation I have for him after the amazing Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (my appreciation for him and that show has only gone up after watching as much as I could bear of the truly awful Avengers Assemble cartoon that took its place).

Despite what I said above about the reason Spidey's attacking heroes being somewhat predictable, it's delivered in such a manner that it keeps the audience guessing until the reveal, wherein the reader goes "oh, of course it's just that." It doesn't hurt that no one is quite sure what to make of Superior Spider-Man right now and we're all waiting for the penny to drop with Doc Ock at the helm, so it's not unbelievable to the audience particularly (but even to the Avengers) that he would go around showing his strength by putting down the other heroes. Yost is also careful not to explain until he has to, not even giving Spider-Man any significant lines until he has to exposition a bit. Issue one is certainly a fun ride and the art helps the book stand apart. Running afoul of the Avengers again does make Spidey recognize the usefulness in having a team but he refuses to be a part of a team like that. Doc Ock doesn't play particularly well with others; he plays fairly well above others. Don't be surprised to see him using his own team in less of a "team" fashion and more of a "I will make you do what I tell you to do" sort of fashion. No guarantees, but it certainly fits more. Still, good first issue, solid writing and nice character ideas to boot.

Scarlet Spider 19
Yost and Burnham (w) and Barberi, Wong, Pallot, and Bit (a) and Lokus, Soto, and Fabela (c)

Kaine and Wolverine are still in the heat of battle against the Assassin's Guild and the matter is complicated more by the appearance of the mysterious Red Death, someone who had been killed by the X-Men at some point in the past, according to a little bit of a flashback for Wolverine. The Assassin's Guild is caught totally off-guard by her and isn't quite sure how to proceed. Belladonna wants to stay in her good graces and work alongside her, fearing her retribution, while many in the Guild seem to think Wolverine and Kaine have a good shot at killing her, keeping them potentially alive. Kaine and Wolverine continue to interact pretty flawlessly with one another and the writing is quick and fun. The threat itself is pretty intimidating as well, which helps the book. Kaine uses a bit of wily thinking and he and Wolverine work well together (making it honestly a little sad that they've sworn never to work together again, a promise that I can't imagine will be broken given the ending of this issue). Still, there seems almost no respite as they have to battle the Red Death herself and, if they should happen to survive that fight, they'll still be facing the Assassin's Guild. Read the issue to find out if and how they manage it.

The thing that impresses me most about Christopher Yost is the ease that he seems to have slipping into characters. Everyone he writes has their moments of humor, like everyone in real life, all while sticking to their basic character. Obviously Kaine and Spider-Man are both characters he writes regularly, so there aren't many surprises there, but even when he throws guests into any of the books (which he's had to do with regularity, particularly since the Spider-Man book he writes is entirely made up of guest appearances), he manages to write them within their own character but in a manner that slides so well into the tone of the book and alongside the tone of his main character. It was certainly what drove Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the dialogue between characters and the way that they fit alongside one another, and it continues to work perfectly in the books he gets involved in. Scarlet Spider is reaching its 20th issue and is really roaring along. Each issue is interesting in some way or another and the characters have developed nicely, particularly Kaine and Aracely. This book is always entertaining and always worth reading. Just a fun book.

Gambit 15, Journey into Mystery 654

Gambit 15
Asmus (w) and C. Mann and S. Mann (a) and Rosenberg (c)

After weeks of impressive thievery, Gambit finds himself at a bit of a crossroads. Is the thievery fulfilling enough to return to full time? Should he go teach at the Jean Grey School again? Would he make an awful Avenger if he took up Rogue's offer of joining the Unity Avengers? Could he and Pete Wisdom get along together if he went to work for him, taking up an offer that I'm not sure was ever extended? To add to it, he's brought more than a little attention to himself in the thieving community with his recent exploits and now someone is trying to get to him by stealing the NYSE bell, which signifies the start of the day for the stock market and which was always a goal of Gambit's, and leaving clues that he's sure to respond to. He and Fence investigate but it's likely Gambit won't like where the investigation leads.

This probably final arc of Gambit (not sure how long the arc is planning to go but the book isn't far from its final issue) will see Gambit pitted against his past, among probably other things and it's off to an interesting start as Remy has to start piecing things together here to try to get a jump on someone who clearly has a significant jump on him. This isn't like Joelle or Cich, who he had to get involved with before they knew who he was; this is someone who is targeting Gambit for one reason or another who Gambit has to work backwards to match. The writing of this book, as it has for a while, alternates between fluidity and somewhat clunky dialogue with Gambit throwing in a few somewhat forced jokes to keep up his "wisecracking Cajun" persona. There are a couple of vague references to distaste with the 1% and wealth and everything but none of it really adds to his character as none of it is said with any sort of passion beyond "ah well, I'd like ta steal from more people and they have a lotta money and Robin Hood, ya know?" (Perfect Gambit, nailed it) That's been kind of an issue with this series throughout; for everything we've seen from Gambit I'm not sure we've actually learned anything new about the character or anything even particularly compelling. Sure he had a love interest in Joelle mixed against his love for Rogue but the things we knew about Gambit prior to this, the things that were set in stone for his character, were essentially "thief," "Cajun," "womanizer," and "wisecracking." I don't know that anything in this series has characterized him beyond that in any way, leaving the series still readable and enjoyable, but somewhat forgettable. Can every issue bring some revelatory truth about a character? I don't know, probably not. But some should. I can't honestly say that any have, to this point, in this series.

Journey into Mystery 654
K. Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

Sif and Bill are dealing with their problems in their various manners, with Sif trying to track Gaea and Bill agonizing over the loss of Skuttlebutt. Sif manages to find Gaea in the garden Bill had been rejected from and discovers that the garden has worked wonders on the All-Mother, leaving her rejuvenated and fresh. Sif doesn't feel comfortable with how quickly it's happened and wants to return Gaea to Asgardia but Gaea is wary of that, as she feels her sickness was brought on by all of the Stark Technology used to build Asgardia leaving her with little real plant life to keep her happy. Meanwhile, Bill has been found by Skuttlebutt, now inhabiting the thought-dead body of Ti Asha Ra, pulled out of the ship by the entity that's driving this whole story and put into the new body. Something sinister is afoot and Sif needs to get to the bottom of it before it corrupts everything.

Unlike Gambit, there's less that's been explored in Sif's character over the years so there's more for Immonen to really introduce for her. That said, I don't think it's been an easy task for Immonen to take a great warrior of Asgard(ia) and cast her in this new light, one that really gives her a full-fledged personality and one that, at times, has the ability to be something silly and fun. Frankly, this book has been astoundingly good each issue and it's almost entirely on the back of Sif, who does exactly what's needed of her for the plot but does it with a character that's wholly entertaining. This story is certainly an interesting one with some sinister machinations behind it and a solid mystery for Bill and Sif to get to the bottom of but the driving force is certainly the writing and the characters themselves. Like I said with Gambit, there are times where certain writers know that the dialogue should be fun but don't seem to have anything particularly fun to say, so they strong arm some predictable joke in to take advantage of the timing. Here, as with just about every issue of Immonen's JiM, the writing flows pretty naturally and the quick and fun writing catches you off-guard. Sometimes the humor comes from the situation, sometimes it comes from the snappy dialogue, sometimes it comes from the tried-and-true Asgardians talk funny method but it almost all always works. Schiti's art perfectly compliments it, giving exactly the right feel to every situation and Bellaire's colors continue to be among the best in the industry. Letterer Clayton Cowles gets in on the fun too, setting up word bubbles nicely to give a sense of flow to the conversation, directing your eyes to read the dialogue the way its meant to be read (I don't highlight letterers enough but they do some pretty astounding work. The general rule of thumb is that if you're pointing out a letterer, it's never because they've done something well, just because they've screwed something up. They're kind of the referees of comics). Solid book throughout and another particularly good issue. Here's a panel from this issue because I found it especially funny (not sure it is out of context but whatever, my blog my rules) and I don't think I'm going to highlight it at any other time this week.

Captain America 9, Hawkeye Annual 1

Captain America 9
Remender (w) and Romita Jr. and Janson w/ Hanna and Palmer (a) and White (c)

Sharon has arrived in Dimension Z, telling Cap that everything that's happened must be false memories or some other manner of brain manipulation; he can't have been here ten years because she followed right behind him through the portal. Everything, this now included, sends Cap a little off the deep end. He's dealt with a lot already this series and now, bruised and beaten with his adopted son apparently dead, shot by the woman he loves, while she tells him that it was all a dream seems too much to bear. Still, he's Captain America so even at his lowest he stands and, instead of leaving with Sharon immediately, demands they go save Jet, who is still working to free the Phrox.

Plenty happens in this issue, no less the idea, planted into Cap's head, that this may have all been a dream. He will not believe it but Sharon is adamant. Whether she truly believes it or if she thinks this is the fastest way to get Steve standing is debatable (though the first instinct, if she did follow just moments behind Steve, is obviously to believe that this isn't real, Sharon's certainly seen enough in her time to accept it as real), but the revelation that it could have been a dream really floors Steve. Still, his mantra of "always stand up" kicks back in and he manages to revive himself enough to keep moving and to attack Zola on Jet's behalf. There's more interesting stuff with Jet that rings up more questions about her character and what she's working for but one of the most interesting parts to me is the way that Remender has played this whole arc nicely into Uncanny Avengers. We were told in that book that Cap has just returned from Dimension Z, which no one else knows, and that plays into why he's so on edge. At first, there's a real sense that his anger at Logan is driven by what Logan's done, then the first instinct after you learn this is post-Dimension Z is that Steve's just been through a lot and he takes it out on Logan. However, knowing what we know about this series and about what made him so mad at Logan, we can really start to see deeper into what's happened with Steve. He's mad at logan because Logan killed a child who was bred to be evil but was still only a child. Remind you of anyone? It certainly should and it gives us pause as to how he's going to react to Sharon with this attitude. Another solid issue. The conclusion of this first arc comes next issue and the fallout will probably come with it.

Hawkeye Annual 1
Fraction (w) and Pulido (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Annuals, for those unaware, tend to be given to popular books at Marvel and are generally a double-size issue that may or may not be pertinent to the story at hand. You don't want to assume that everyone buying the series will buy the annual so you don't want to load it with too much giant stuff but you also want to give everyone a good read and a read that falls within the scope of the book that spawned the annual, especially since annuals tend to be more expensive. This one is 4.99 instead of Hawkeye's typical 2.99 (I believe it's still one of the 2.99 books; it might be 3.99 and I'm too far away to look at old issues right now. Well I could. But I won't. Could I look it up on the internet? Yup. But we're really already taking too much time from the review). With that in mind, you should buy this book despite its cost and its possibility to be skipped (I'm not sure it is really possible to be skipped at this point but I think you could gain just about everything you need to gain for the future out of past issues and future issues. Hard to say as I, too, am not in the future). This annual focuses on Kate Bishop, the Lady Hawkguy, the Hawkeye, the Young Avenger, and so on, and her travel westward. She's done with Clint and his desire to push everyone away when he needs them most and she refuses to be dragged down by him. With Lucky in tow, she drives out to California, happy to get away for at least a little bit and desperate to figure out who she wants to be in this world. However, she's not the only person interested in her identity (perfect segue); Madame Masque, who Kate royally pissed off back in Hawkeyes 4 and 5, has had her ear to the ground all this time, waiting for Katie Kate to resurface. Now Kate has to get away from a solid Marvel villain as well as the people she actually cares about, though frankly Madame Masque is the more threatening in that situation.

This is a phenomenal issue with a lot of fun energy from Kate, some good twists and turns, and a great emotional core to it that gives us a lot of background into Kate's life as well as her motivations for doing what she does. Kate's been around in the Marvel Universe for a while now but she's still something of a mystery, in truth. I think, because she's been here so long and she's so personable, it's easy to forget that we don't know all that much about her. Maybe it's because there's not much to know; she doesn't have a hugely tragic background like Spider-Man or Iron Fist (guys, his mom was eaten by wolves practically in front of him). Her mother died and her father is a powerful business man who remarried someone not much older than Kate. He seems to be a good enough guy (he had been, if I'm remembering right, more overprotective in the original Young Avengers books than he seems to be in this one) but he's not a terribly interesting character nor a terribly interesting backdrop for the drama we crave from our superheroes. So where does the mystery come in? It's the question of why for Kate, and a little bit the question of how. They're, of course, interconnected and well explained here. The truth is, beyond this explanation, you don't necessarily need much. Heroes don't need to have a harrowing story behind them; they need to be heroes. Still, it's nice to have Fraction know that and, instead of trying to spice up Kate's past with darkness that she had to overcome, highlight the aspects of Kate that make her who she is. Great issue. Pulido's art is decidedly a switch from Aja's and gives the book a completely different feel. I can't quite put my finger on what I'm thinking of when I see it but it reminds me of an older time in comics. It's pretty gorgeous and there are some really great moments with it. Spend the five dollars, dudes. It's worth it.

New Avengers 8, Uncanny Avengers 10, Young Avengers 8

New Avengers 8
Hickman (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

Infinity seems to be kicking off and there are clearly lots of things that Hickman really wants to do with this event. It's exciting but, at the same time, a little intimidating. So let's see what it has to do with our New Avengers. One of the trickiest bits, to start, is that it's hard to say chronologically how things are going. Iron Man is back on Earth in this issue and the Avengers are not. None of those things are true in either Iron Man or the Avengers right now, but it's where we stand at the start of New Avengers. We also stand on the precipice of war between Atlantis and Wakanda and, in fact, Wakanda is taking the first steps. In addition, Black Bolt is hiding things from everyone and now has machines in place, thanks to his brother Maximus (who comes off a little crazy in this issue but mostly fun, honestly), for seemingly ill purposes, including something to do with the terrigen mists. More will likely be explained down the road. Finally, an invasion starts on Earth, leaving the New Avengers the most available force to fight it.

Right now the event and, in turn, this book are both a little chaotic. On top of the fact that this seems to fall very slightly out of order, giving the reader a sense that he's missed something (he's right, but how much he's missed that's necessary to understanding this part of the plot is debatable). In addition, this is a Hickman-driven event, meaning it's bound to have lots of little pieces and parts covering grand sweeping gestures. He's a phenomenal writer and his ideas are often grandiose but they can certainly take some time to make themselves clear. Meanwhile, the team itself seems to be going through its own issues, as Panther and Namor have plenty left to settle, Black Bolt hides something or other, and Iron Man and Reed have machinations of their own. There are plenty of things happening here and all of it is interesting. It's tempting to get bogged down in the event even before it starts, which is definitely a problem, but there is the sense that this will be worthwhile if it can find its footing. It's easy (and right) to be wary of events at Marvel, especially the way they've begun bleeding into one another, but it's not worth throwing them out just yet. Comics are stories and stories worth telling are still stories worth telling. You can write off events after they lose purpose or if they clearly drag on just to sell more issues. I'm not willing to write anything off before it starts. Boy, this got weirdly accusatory for something that literally no one is capable of responding to as I write it. Suppose I'm a bit defensive.

Uncanny Avengers 10
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c)

The team is split up into two factions right now, people who are siding with Rogue and Wolverine and people who are siding with Alex and Cap. It's a really interesting division that feels like it's been a long time coming and this issue revolves mostly on what the people in these factions are thinking as they superhero about and try to locate Uriel and Eimin. That's not going so well but specific people pretty quickly run into the twins' new Horsemen as each Horseman hones in on the Uncanny Avenger who is most affected by their rebirth. Therefore Banshee goes after Alex (whose younger brother Gabriel, AKA Vulcan, caused his death), Sentry goes after Thor (who officially killed him after the Void went crazy during Siege and killed Loki), Grim Reaper goes after Wonder Man (who, you know, is his brother and is, in fact, the only one who didn't go after someone related to his death), and Daken goes after Wolverine (who killed him and is ALSO his father so double whammy). Everything is going crazy for the Uncanny Avengers and there are workings here that Uriel and Eimin have ready to put into motion but aren't ready just yet. Those workings mostly include who is taken and who is killed and who is spared and so on, or so it seems, but not everything is working out that way immediately. Look, it's a very interesting, very action-packed book and it's well worth your time.

The two factions have a chance to interact amongst themselves for the first extended time as the lines in the sand have been drawn. What's most interesting, though, is that despite the faction dividing up mutants and Avengers, there are people from both the X-Men and the Avengers within each faction. Thor, with the mutants Sunfire, Wolverine, and Rogue, is hailed for his loyalty in staying with the mutants and protecting them from Cap's anger. Rogue and Thor, particularly, hit it off, despite Rogue's problems with the Avengers and this whole team in general. Havok and Scarlet Witch, still siding with Cap, talk about what Xavier's dream means and Havok is lauded for his dedication to this team. Wanda even invokes Cap, telling Alex that Steve looked truly proud when Alex stayed with his team. Meanwhile, like in New Avengers, things in this book are a little ahead of where they should be, though it's not so sudden as in New Avengers. We learn here that Cap has just returned from Dimension Z, a fact he's refusing to tell anyone else in the fear that it will make him look weak, shaken, and off his game. Wasp gets the truth out of him but he won't go further into it. I don't think it's as distracting as the weird discrepancies in New Avengers because this question has loomed over this book through its duration so far and it's just getting a bit settled now. Cap also uses it to explain why he's been so quick to anger in this book, which is a welcome explanation but not one that really needed explaining. He was acting a little out of character but not so far that it couldn't have been ignored. It's even better to have that explanation, though, because it grounds this more in the Universe and it also does satisfy any of those character discrepancies between books. Solid issue. Things are moving rapidly now and it's hard to say where we'll end up next.

Young Avengers 8
Gillen (w) and McKelvie and Norton (a) and Wilson (c)

Even more time has passed and now we're five weeks from where we left off last issue, which was three months from where we had left off the issue before. However, it only serves to enhance the book again as the team has developed very subtly, leaving us with a seemingly fully-formed team without any sort of training montages or the like to get us there, which is a welcome relief. Anyway, they've been dimension-hopping on the trail of the fake Patriot, or the dubbed Patri-not, and it's led them to plenty of nightmare universes (many of which feature evil versions of themselves) and a handful of decent ones. The team is exhausted and on edge and it's evident that this venture has worn all of them down. Kate notes in her narration that "even Chavez is exhausted," which is a nice touch both in how the team views America and how much the team has been through. There are lots of twists and turns in the issue and none that I want to spoil for you (thanks to my newfound desire not to summarize as much) but it's another fantastic issue for story and for characters, which, good news, I'll be talking about below. Which is to say now.

This team is perfect. It's something that's so hard to do, giving every character in a team book something to do and a personality that both differentiates itself from and gels with the team in general. It's also a great idea to change the narrative between different characters which, in truth, has changed the outlook of the book for me from even what it was before it started. Young Avengers has always kind of had Billy at its center. Billy's certainly an interesting character but putting him in charge of narrating and giving him the biggest set of powers made him something of the team leader, even if the team leader had been announced as Patriot or Kate. Billy's an interesting character but he's not the leader of the team and it's hard to say he's the most interesting; in a really good team book, no character should be the "most interesting," they should all have their moments and their qualities. Just in this issue, we see Kate and Noh-Varr acting in a sort of leader way, with Kate actively leading and Noh-Varr's extensive experience peeking through. At the same time, America is physically leading them from dimension to dimension and often at the direction of Loki, who is the one most closely following the trail laid by Patri-not. America doesn't seem to want anything to do with leading and Loki's style is to stick to leading without appearing to lead, so everything is working perfectly according to these characters. We also get delightful moments of real shock from Loki and an extremely fascinating relationship brewing between, well, everyone really but specifically America and Loki. Gillen made a great name for himself in his Journey into Mystery run and he's brought that Loki perfectly into this book (even if it is technically a somewhat different Loki now). Amazing book. If this review got you at all interesting in reading the issue (despite the babbling), it's worth remembering that I didn't even get into any specifics or any of the many twists and turns. You should probably be reading this book.

Comics this week!

This week is tricky for picking pre-game comics because we have 15 books and my five picks are all insanely obvious, leaving out other stories I'm excited about, like Superior Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, to name a couple. But I can't ignore the fact that these five are the ones I'm looking forward to most.

Captain America 9

Hey guys, last issue ended with Sharon Carter shooting Ian in front of Steve. Like, Zola is ready to invade Earth with his mutates after he fights his own daughter and THAT'S NOT THE PART THAT MATTERS MOST. There's a lot happening in this book right now and Remender's done a tremendous job setting up the series so that all of this right now has real weight to it. Should be a tense one.

Hawkeye Annual 1

I love this Hawkeye series and I'll never be able to not pick it for this. It's just such a well-done book with such well-crafted characters and heart. Here we'll focus on Kate as she moves out west with Lucky. Since this happened with Lucky as our narrator, things are still a little hazy as to what happened but we've seen enough to have our guesses. Great book, very excited to see it so soon after the last book. Also, the format is switching soon to alternating between Kate and Clint every issue, which is super interesting to me. Aja will still draw Clint's adventures with Barney while I believe Annie Wu will be drawing Kate's half. Very cool.

New Avengers 8

Like with Hawkeye, I think I'm always going to pick this book for my top five. You all already have heard how much I love this book. I'm interested to see how this book interacts with Infinity and with the Marvel Universe at large. Should be pretty neat. Regardless, it's a regularly spectacular book and storms are gathering as the team works out new ways to protect the Earth from incursions, as Doom tries to earn more, and as Wakanda readies for war against Atlantis. Wow, I'm more excited than I even thought I was before writing that sentence.

Uncanny Avengers 10

I really like the way this series has progressed and I'm excited to see where it goes as we start to inch closer to confrontations with the Apocalypse twins and as the team gets more and more splintered. This book really is about the people far more than the plot, which is interesting because the plot is so intense right now. However, if this is just a standard Avengers team, we end up with just a standard action-filled book, which could be fine anyway, given the scale of this plot. With a team that's so internally complicated, we completely change the way the story is handled and the perspective it's placed in. Excellent book.

Young Avengers 8

The more I read for this title, the more conflicted I am by trying to name the best series Marvel has. Hawkeye? New Avengers? Uncanny Avengers? All phenomenal books with weight and tension and great characters. But Young Avengers feels like a different animal entirely. It's gorgeous, it's often ground-breaking, it's loaded with heart and character and story. It's hard to say what the best book at Marvel is right now and I'm very happy to say that. Thrilled for this book, as I am for the rest this week.

This week's picks

Kind of a tough week to pick three. There are a few standouts and many that are just on the cusp of being standout. Always tricky. Let's dive right in, hmm?

Avengers Assemble 17

I love the pacing of this story and how the characters are coming through. Kelly Sue DeConnick has been laying significant groundwork for this without any of us even noticing because she hasn't necessarily been laying groundwork to the plot. What she's been doing all along, so brilliantly, in Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble is building a cast. Both books have their own independent casts and it's all coming together nicely now. The Avengers still talk like the Avengers that lay a wager on whether Banner or Iron Man would get to a remote science base first. Carol's team still surrounds her, tightening up to protect her, as they did when she got the news of her illness. This event doesn't work so well without all of that, without all of the pieces sliding neatly into place, so neatly that we didn't even really notice them doing it. This is a book and an event where the characters act like people and it's wonderful that we can fit that around an interesting story instead of sacrificing character to serve plot.

Iron Man 13

This series has quietly been really impressive. I don't know why it's been so quiet, considering how popular Iron Man is as a character right now and how fantastic Kieron Gillen's been for Marvel, but it's felt like something of a slow burn from the start. Now the book is pretty on fire though as 451 is close to his endgame for Earth's protection and reveals that it also means the end of Tony as an independent character. His body and mind would be more or less absorbed into the Godkiller. Death's Head makes another great appearance and Gillen again shows off his aptitude for writing the "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent," as he prefers to be called. Now Tony has quite possibly one more moment of freedom before 451 retakes him in which to try to solve all of his mounting problems. Who's not excited to see how that plays out?

Savage Wolverine 7

This one had some fairly strong competition for the three-spot, going head-to-head against Thor, Cable and X-Force, both F4 and FF, and Thunderbolts, in particular. Still, this one won out because it's something of a pleasant surprise. I was fairly against the first arc of this book and I was worried about the direction of this series as a whole but the last two issues have been solid, with nice character moments mixed into an interesting plot. This issue specifically is the best Wolverine book we have right now. Cornell's Wolverine has a couple of interesting ideas kicking around but it's bogged down by a dragging pace and supporting characters that you couldn't pay me to care about (unless you wanted to try, I'd be willing to give it a shot). Wolverine MAX is equally slow and when Wolverine actually has a personality it's just a heavy brooding. Here he's got all of the trademarks of Wolverine, asking interesting questions about his nature and the nature that someone like Elektra, who is not so different than him, brings out in him. On top of that, the story has gotten more intriguing as we learn that Kingpin is being Kingpin and manipulating Elektra and Wolverine to do his work for him.


Best Page

This was going to be a best panel but I couldn't narrow it down far enough. I suppose if I had to it would be the fourth panel of this page but guess what, it's my blog, I don't have to. Anyway, I talked about this in my actual review for Iron Man but this page stood out so strongly to me as we get a real moment of seemingly true emotion for 451 and it's so palpable, what he's feeling. It's a really well-timed moment and it's perfectly executed as it shows 451 in something of a brief moment of weakness, which we haven't seen at all in his calm and collected manner. Of course, the weakness is detracted a bit because he accomplished his goal of taking over Death's Head before getting smashed, but it's still there, that one-off feeling. It's amazingly well done and really very quickly and quietly adds depth to his character.

Wolverine on teams

Mini-post! Because I have thoughts about Marvel, like, all the time. The Wolverine is coming out this week and it's in the line that also had X-Men Origins: Wolverine in it, as far as I know. Not sure when it happens, not sure how it fits into any other movie, whatever. The movies are a big deal for Wolverine (well, kind of. You know, as big as these movies are) because they allow Wolverine to be brutal and angsty and everything else that we love from Wolverine. I was watching a commercial that had a pull quote that said it was "the Wolverine movie fans have been waiting for." Obviously the ad campaign will say things like that but it got me wondering what made it deserving of such specific praise. Of course, as that's being said over the commercial, the video is of various clips of Wolverine in action and using his claws a whole bunch. The key is that we want to see Wolverine being violent and rather unkillable (though this movie posits, allegedly, what if he was killable?), which is why X-Men Origins: Wolverine got a sequel despite being, you know, kind of objectively terrible. But it was a decent action movie and that's all we want from Wolverine. That's what makes for fun Wolverine stories, too, in the comics. Obviously we want some deeper character business in the books, especially since he's been around now for 30 years or so and we like not to be bored. So Wolverine solo books are (typically) nice because it's kind of that fun story we like from him where he beats a bunch of guys up, heals, maybe gives us some character and some sadness and we all move on.

That's why Wolverine should probably choose never to be on a team. He's almost too powerful. Like, he's not, but that healing thing always gives him the edge, which means he is ALWAYS knocked out or horribly damaged so that his healing takes a while to kick him back in. No one else EVER gets that.

It's only EVER Wolverine who is charred to a crisp or beaten mercilessly or punched half a mile away. Maybe he just doesn't play defense as well as the others because he knows he'll heal. I don't know. What I do know is that, even on the occasions when this happens in his solo book, he doesn't have to resent the rest of the people he's supposed to like simply because they didn't get pretty much killed on the first attack. I like Wolverine. I think he's an interesting character and I think that the Marvel Universe has done pretty well by him. I even rather like the way he interacts on teams. But for his own sake he should probably never join one again. Poor guy.