Comics this week!

Yikes, twenty books again. This time I think I counted right. Actually, at first I counted 19 but THEN Deadpool Killustrated was apparently there right after Deadpool. Go figure. Another busy week over at Marvels. Let's see what we're looking forward to.

Avengers Arena 8
I really enjoyed last issue's focus on Arcade and I'm incredibly interested to see how the revelations of last time (namely how Arcade is doing all this) might impact the book from here on out. That said, I'm still excited to get back to our young heroes on the island and see what's cooking down there. Hopeless has been writing a great book so far and I see no reason for it to be anything but great going forward. It's continually worth picking up.

New Avengers 5
The team is actually set to fight in this issue, as it's the heavyweights of the New Avengers squaring off against Terrax, the herald of Galactus. Making that fight more intriguing is the fact that maybe the New Avengers are better off losing it. Being heroes, they decide to intercede when they find Galactus eating a world that's set to crash into theirs, but is their heart really in it? If Galactus eats this planet before the planets collide, it saves their world and, ostensibly, leaves the blood off of their hands. If that's not a solution and they manage to defeat Terrax and stop Galactus, what then? Only Dr. Strange seems to have a plan to stop the worlds from colliding, but it would likely cost him his life. Great issue to be coming into and this series is just phenomenal all the way around. So excited to have another one coming at me.

Uncanny Avengers 7
The pressures keep coming at the Uncanny Avengers (who were not really involved in last issue, spare an appearance from an ancestor of Wolverine and a bit of a much younger Thor) as we know that, on top of the Red Skull out lurking somewhere, Kang and Apocalypse might well be conspiring against the team. It's a precarious position to be in as major villains from the Marvel universe converge on an already unbalanced team. This might be the most ambitious collection of threats to face a team so quickly, maybe spare something like Secret Wars which quite clearly never counts in a situation like this. Add to that the fact that the last time we saw the Uncanny Avengers, we saw Rogue seemingly kill the Grim Reaper (the Marvel villain, not the embodiment of death) in front of a press conference. There's got to be something to see with that coming up.

X-Termination 2
The X-Termination event concludes here, as does the fate of all the teams involved, most particularly the teams from cancelled books Age of Apocalypse and X-Treme X-Men. As Nightcrawler and the rest face a universe-threatening foe and near unbeatable odds, who, if anyone, will come out alive. Probably Wolverine. Safe bet there. Gambit's got his own ongoing so hard to believe he wouldn't. And Iceman is Iceman and kind of all over the X-books, so probably him too. But there's a GOOD LIKELIHOOD that a lot of people die and it's hard to predict who they'll be. On top of that, what will become of the Age of Apocalypse itself, as Prophet prepares for the dimension to eternally house monsters who know only death and destruction? What has been a pretty fantastic, action-packed, and suspenseful event comes to a close this week and it's definitely not going to be one to miss.

Young Avengers 4
I was just about to call Kate and Noh-Varr fan favorites, given Kate's recent re-emergence in Hawkeye and Noh-Varr's re-emergence in many fan drawings (probably safest not to try to find those, it's safe to say that McKelvie and Gillen's design, which was meant to brand Noh-Varr as a sort of sex symbol, has worked), but I don't think it's easy to call anyone on this team someone who isn't particularly a fan favorite. Still, Kate and Noh-Varr both have a rather large and extremely interested following and this book will serve as the first time we see them since a brief glimpse in issue one. How they'll fit into this team and how Gillen and McKelvie bring them to life is enough of a reason to check this issue out, but there are undoubtedly plenty more. If you pick this book up just to look at it for hours on end, I certainly wouldn't blame you. Gillen and McKelvie have toyed around with the page throughout the series' short run so far and I wouldn't expect it to end here. Very exciting, very fun, and very creative book. Pick it up this week.

This week's picks!

Bit of a hectic week, what with my vacation and all. Still got it in just under the wire though and now, to complete the week (the morning that I start the new week), let's delve into my overall picks. I think I want to add a couple things to the "this week's picks" posts. Not a hundred percent sure what that's going to be yet. I'm thinking at least of highlighting favorite covers or art or something. I don't know. Maybe favorite scene. Maybe a favorite panel. I don't know. Maybe I'll do a few things. Or maybe I'll pick three comics and I'll be done. I guess we'll all have to wait and see, hm?

Captain America 6

This was a tricky pick for me. Obviously I'm biased where ever Cap is concerned but even with that, it's hard for me to point to this issue and say it was the best issue I've read of this series. I don't know that it is (not that that would mean it's undeserving of this list) and I'm not sure it beats out some of the other strong books this week. However, it stuck with me more than any other book this week and it was the one that I most constantly looked back on. Actually, all three books I've chosen this week are ones that, after I finished reading (and I read each of them twice), I found myself thinking back to at any given moment. For this book, it was the angry Cap characterization I talked about at length in my review. I've talked about how much I like this book and how I appreciate the desire to look at Cap from different angles. He's been around for seventy years, it's not easy to come up with no approaches to the character. However, it's strange that simply "being angry" counts as a new approach. Make no mistake though, it definitely does. And it comes off strongly but appropriately in this issue. I think the next issue will be more on that lines with Cap angrier than ever and possibly crossing a few lines here. It's exciting territory for Remender to enter with Steve. And this book might stick with me more than it sticks with others simply because I like Cap over most other heroes but the fact is it still stuck.

Daredevil 25

Like with Captain America, this book stuck with me because it featured the lead character feeling something new. Not necessarily entirely new for his long history (as with Captain America) but new enough and one that's not typically seen out of the main character. Cap got angry. Daredevil gets scared. This is the issue we've been building up to for a long time now. In fact, we're not all the way there even yet, but we've gotten right to the breaking point. Now Matt has to deal with a mysterious figure in the shadows who knows everything about him and knows everything about his powers. On top of that, he's created Ikari, a near-clone of Daredevil but with sight on top of all his other enhanced senses. It begs the question of whether or not Ikari's sight is also enhanced. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it just begged me that question. I don't know. Anyway, it's interesting to see Matt paired up against someone who matches him so completely. It's not like Bullseye, who is as obsessive as Daredevil and maybe just a hair more unhinged. Ikari's powers are exactly like Matt's because they are Matt's, only Matt didn't anticipate how good he'd be with them. On top of that, the art continues to be fantastic and the colors match the book perfectly. It's particularly impressive because I didn't feel, reading it, that Matt was conveniently toned down in his abilities or anything of that nature, or that Ikari was getting impossibly lucky. It felt like Matt came in strong and was just outmanuevered. Maybe he would have been more successful if he didn't start off as confident, but that's how Matt would have entered the fight. It's another great issue and it's another great demonstration of how Waid understands the character.

X-Men Legacy 9

Another great entry for X-Men Legacy that proves what Spurrier and this book are capable of. It starts with a reference to Watchmen, a fitting reference that connects David to Dr. Manhattan and asks a well-informed comic audience what it would take for David and his power to disconnect from humanity in the same sorts of way that Jon Osterman did. The book then promptly goes on to ask if killing a once-hero to possibly save hundreds of mutants IF David's visions are accurate. We tend to believe David, as he's our focal point for this book and we know he's capable of powers that would allow him to accurately see the future, but it's worth questioning. Even if it IS true, is Ruth wrong in saying that they can't stop Aarkus before he comes to Earth? Is there no other way? You could start trying to get into it a little deeper, asking if maybe David couldn't have tried a little harder. Yes, he needs to stop Aarkus from destroying mutants. Yes, if all else fails, maybe it's worth incapacitating him to do it. And yes, it does seem Aarkus has gone a bit mad without any sort of filter, anyone to bounce his ideas off of and talk to. But he's not so far removed that David couldn't have maybe brought this to Wolverine and Wolverine couldn't have simply checked in with Cap and said "hey, your old bud the first Vision? We're not totally sure on this, but we think he might hate mutants. Could you maybe check with him and see? Maybe stop him from genocide, if you could? Thanks." But, at the same time as I say that, there's a voice in me screaming that David wouldn't think like that, that he wouldn't bring the X-Men or Captain America into it. It's entirely possible that he wouldn't dig into Aarkus' history beyond the basics. So now he's the judge and it's definitely worth Ruth asking how he could think himself worthy of that weight. Another great issue.

Best cover:

This was actually a really tough one. I went in thinking it was going to be one book, then remembered a handful of other worthy covers (including both X-Men Legacy, which always deserves mention for its cover, and Daredevil) and then ULTIMATELY decided to go against even my first thought (Venom), only to settle on this one. I've really liked the Thunderbolts covers so far and I've loved the color scheme of the team. This matchup of the brutality and tension between Deadpool and Punisher while also perfectly fitting in with this line of covers and the colors the book has centered on. Making the background the standard T-bolts red too was an interesting choice but it worked really well. Deadpool is still defined well enough and both his belt-buckle logo and Punisher's bloody shirt stand apart enough to draw attention to the images. On top of that, it definitely draws the eye to the cover and gives people an idea of what's to come. For those not reading the book, there's still not really a way for this cover to attract attention. Exciting cover.

Savage Wolverine 4, Ultimate Wolverine 3, Wolverine MAX 6

Savage Wolverine 4
Cho (w and a) and Keith (c)

Amadeus Cho (WAIT A MINUTE, I just connected that writer/artist of the book Frank CHO has brought Amadeus CHO off the bench and back into the Marvel Universe. I'm not sure what to make of that but there must be SOMETHING. Or maybe there isn't, that's a totally viable answer too) directs the natives of the Savage Land to bring Shanna to where ever it is they can revive her. That place seems to be a little bath in front of a creature that looks suspiciously like Man-Thing. Cho decides it can't be Man-Thing because he's off somewhere else with the former Thunderbolts right now. However, his onboard computer Calvin insists it has the same genetic makeup as Man-Thing, meaning that there's more than one Man-Thing out there. Anyway, Shanna is laid down in the little bath and Man-Thing covers her up in neon-green liquid. Moments after she's fully submerged, she springs out from it, her wound healed. She demands answers and is told that she is forever bonded to the Savage Land now. Her power is greater than it was and she'll live as long as the Savage Land does. Bad news on that front, though, the bomb that she and Wolverine were planning to bring to destroy the dampening field wouldn't be enough and would likely only serve to wake up the monster that the savages have kept trapped there. She runs full tilt to the machine (with Amadeus clocking her at 52 miles per hour, showing off her new enhanced powers) and launches a spear through Wolverine to stop him. It works, but the island brings someone new to them at the same moment: Hulk.
As the first arc pushes to its conclusion, we now have a scrappy brawler in Wolverine, a world-class specimen in Shanna, a genius with a powerful suit in Amadeus Cho and a heavy in Hulk. We pretty much have our own full-fledged superhero team on the island at this point. Whether Hulk will be the amenable Hulk who's eager to help (unlikely and possibly non-existent) or the angry and defensive Hulk (far more prevalent) remains to be seen. It also is worth questioning whether he's strong enough to serve as the three high-yield hydrogen bombs Cho determined they need to shut down the dampening field or just strong enough to wake up the monster. I guess we'll find out next issue as Frank Cho's first Savage Wolverine arc comes to an end.

Ultimate Wolverine 3
Bunn (w) and Messina and Carlucci w/ Erskine (a) and Tartaglia (c)

Project: Mothervine is revealed as a secret government project to inject women with chemical that would ensure their children would be mutants and, on top of that, mutants that could be weaponized with a single phrase. On top of the ethical problems that come right off the bat with that one, there are concerns about mutants as property and as created by the government as weapons and as being peaceful humans, which is what Jimmy is fighting for on Utopia. Kind of in the same way that Cable and X-Force had to stop a virus from killing humans and leaving mutants unharmed and therefore blamed in their first arc, Mothervine would make non-weaponized mutants culpable for the actions of the ones who couldn't help themselves. Quicksilver knows about the project and intends to use it to strike back at humanity, citing the Sentinels as reason enough to attack humans. He insists that Wolverine's blood is the key, though hasn't revealed how yet. He does demonstrate the power of Mothervine, showing Jimmy a young woman who, when activated, kills everyone surrounding her with a flesh-eating virus, unaware of what she's doing. Jimmy demands that he stop it and Quicksilver kills her. Jimmy attacks Quicksilver but finds himself outmatched as Quicksilver easily puts him down and contains him, along with Black Box. When Jimmy wakes up, Black Box reveals that he can open the lock to their prison and that the cameras are running on a loop. They decide to go after Quicksilver when he's hopefully not expecting it.
The mini-series is winding down and it shows with this issue. The pacing of this book has been solid, lining everything up well and explaining things when they need to be explained. The four issues give enough time to lay out the plot, explain the plot, give us characters, give us tension and action, and end the story. It's done well here and it gives us a good sense of most characters involved. If I'd say it's lacking anything, it might be a greater understanding of Jimmy Hudson. He's been mostly quiet and, aside from his desire to find out about his past and a quick stop in with his parents, we haven't seen too much about him. Of course, there has to be some amount of sacrifice when you only have four issues and, frankly, Jimmy gets the most screen time outside of this book so it makes sense that revelations about his personality might be few and far between. Quicksilver continues to be an interesting character in the Ultimate Universe, both brutal and horribly efficient while remaining dedicated to his cause. He also shows some regret and a desire for redemption for his past, though maybe his methods aren't the best. I'll be interested to see how this series wraps up. It's been impressive so far.

Wolverine MAX 6
Starr (w) and Ruiz, Jacinto, and Mogorron (a) and Brown (c)

I couldn't help but think back, when I read this issue, to the answer Matt Fraction gave this weekend on his blog about why he was promising not to kill Lucky the pizza dog off in Hawkeye. The asker had wondered if it had anything to do with a threatening email in issue three about killing the dog. Fraction, seemingly genuinely confused about the question, responded that it had nothing to do with that but instead had "everything to do with not wanting to be the hugest hack in the universe." Well good news because from panel two of Wolverine MAX 6, we could pretty much deduce the kind of person who would kill a dog to illustrate a villain. Yes, Wolverine gets a pet dog in this issue (names it Dog and everything) and instantly sets about telling the audience how much he loves her. As someone who loves dogs, the only solace I could take in its death was knowing from the very first word of the comic that it was going to die. Made it easier not to get attached throughout the book. Fraction's not wrong, it's a hack move to create a dog, known for its loyalty and near unwavering love and also for being a dog and not a superhero, and kill it off simply to show that the bad guys are bad. We know they're bad because they're the type of people who would kill a dog. So who are these bad guys? They're tied to a woman that Wolverine meets at the beach and promptly offers to drive around to her various "modeling" jobs. These seem a bit less than wholesome and Wolverine crashes one and attacks a guy who is attempting to rape the woman (who says her name is Candy). Wolverine demands Candy leave with him and they get away, with Candy warning Wolverine that he's angered the wrong people. He finds this out after he drops her off (and doesn't have sex with her, nicely done Wolverine, thanks for avoiding that at least) and returns to his car to find his beloved dog Dog dead. BAD GUYS.
I don't think it's wrong to give Wolverine a dog. After I had seen the dog and decided it was going to die, I thought about it a little more and overall the dog fits with Wolverine. He's dog-like himself, Marvel has never been particularly subtle about that. So I'd be okay with Wolverine having a dog. Like Fraction, though, I'm less okay with giving Wolverine a dog and INSTANTLY killing it to show the bad guys. I'm not sure I would feel better or worse about giving Wolverine a dog and, somewhere down the road a ways, killing it to show off some bad guys as particularly bad. I think it's a step better than what happened here, creating a dog solely so you can kill him, but overall it still has the same taste about it. So I guess my review for this comic boils down to "keep not killing Pizza Dog over in Hawkeye, Fraction. Bang-up job."

Superior Spider-Man 8, Venom 34

Superior Spider-Man 8
Slott (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

The Avengers run their tests on Spider-Man after successfully restraining him. Unfortunately for Peter, the tests don't show anything major that would prove Spider-Man as being anyone besides Peter Parker. However, there is an anomaly in the brain patterns that only Doc Ock notices (lucky that Iron Man and Giant Man aren't around for these tests) and he determines that he needs a more conclusive test. That means tracking down the neurolitic scanner Cardiac took from impound last issue. Spider-Man crashes the underground emergency room and begins to fight Cardiac again before the shocking revelation that the little girl who needs the scanner became sick as a result of Ock's attempt to take over the world last summer. Doc stops fighting Cardiac and instead offers to assist with the scanner and the surgery the girl requires. He does so successfully and he and Cardiac part as allies. Cardiac allows him to use the scanner, which proves to Doc what he was beginning to suspect: Peter's memories have taken a life of their own and are fighting their way back. The issue ends as Doc sets to work removing Peter.
Another interesting development which seemed like it was going to be more extended. I feel that the norm would be to bring Peter back this way, with Doc realizing too late that Peter's attempting to return. Instead, Doc has found Peter out sooner than expected and next issue will see him trying to remove Peter. That could leave this book in all sorts of different places. Also snuck into this issue is a scene with Carlie Cooper talking to a mysterious character on a phone about a theory she has that sounds ludicrous but that she needs to prove. Carlie throughout this series has been suspicious of Spidey and it looked all along like she might be the one to piece things together in the end. Exactly how she'll determine it and how much good it will do still remains to be seen and putting us on this new path of Doc removing Peter (or trying to) leaves Slott with plenty of directions to go. Meanwhile, Doc Ock saving the little girl in this issue rewarded him with new feelings of accomplishment, positive ones instead of the ones that often come with his nefarious successes. Could that make him pull back a bit on his quickly growing aggression? Will it enhance that aggression, citing all the people he needs to protect? Will it have no bearing on his aggression but affect his overall demeanor? No one can say just yet, but these are all things to consider as Doc Ock grows into the role of Spider-Man.

Venom 34
Bunn (w) and Shalvey (a) and Loughridge (c)

The fight that's been coming for a few issues now is at the forefront of this issue. Toxin is stronger and faster than Venom and it shows as Flash takes a severe beating from the ever-gloating Toxin. He tries to catch Brock off-guard a few times, pointing out to him that his bond with Toxin goes against everything he's been doing for the last few years, his hatred of symbiotes and his attempt to destroy them (particularly as Anti-Venom). Brock says that he still hates symbiotes and he hates Toxin, but Toxin hates Venom too so they're going to have to work together for now and choose to kill each other later. Flash has some trouble believing that, feeling that Brock is already too far gone and too attached to the symbiote. It seems to have little bearing at the moment, though, as Venom is still getting killed by the team-up. Flash uses a last ditch plan and brings out a syringe with the serum that dulls the symbiote. He injects Brock with it and it pushes the symbiote out for a bit. Flash is too weak to attack the now helpless Brock, who escapes, but he survived the fight. He crawls his way back to his apartment, stopping only to yell at a student of his who tries to help him. Flash can't let anyone close to him because Toxin will tear through them. Meanwhile, the cliffhanger sets up the idea of "symbiote slayers" who look a little like the Figure done correctly and perhaps not as cannibals.
The cover for the next issue (the covers right now are pretty amazing, by the way. They're the handiwork of Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire) and the term "symbiote slayers" seems to point to the idea that Venom and Toxin will have to put their differences aside for the moment and team up against the new foes. It seems that Flash can't catch a break, having left New York to protect the ones he loves and to get away from things for a while and get his head clear, he lands in Philadelphia only to find that he can't get close to anyone lest he bring them into danger and that he has dragged a villain along with him. Things are happening for Flash and Venom but we're these things are going to leave us is anyone's guess. We haven't heard about the demon vs. the symbiote in a while and it's worth considering whether that will effect the next couple issues and the fights he's going to have to have. Flash acknowledges that he's not as strong nor as fast as Toxin but the demon-possessed Venom would have a few tricks uniquely of its own up its sleeve, so we'll see where we go from here. Get ready for lots more action in this book.

Daredevil 25, Daredevil: End of Days 7

Daredevil 25
Waid (w) and Samnee (a) and Rodriguez (c)

I want to start quickly by saying that I like the idea in some Marvel books to christen the writer and artist as, like in this book, "storytellers" instead of "writer" and "artist." This book does it and Hawkeye does it (they don't really say "storytellers," they just present Fraction and Aja's names together in the credits) in the Marvel books (there might be more but I can't think of them) and I would bet more indie comics do it. It just feels like a nice touch and a nice response to the question of who drives a book. They're both necessary. This book has a killer team-up too, with Eisner award winning Mark Waid teamed with this year's Eisner award nominee Chris Samnee (totally deserving). Anyway, onwards we go.
Last issue ended with someone who had been experimented on turning up at Matt's doorstep (well, Foggy's hospital room doorstep). Matt has this guy, Larry, lead him to the place where the experiments were done, though he reveals as they touch down that he knows it's a trap. Larry didn't seem to know, just like he didn't know that the people trying to trap Matt gave Larry a defective pacemaker. Larry dies on the spot and leaves Matt waiting for an attack. He falls into the building below him as the glass on the rooftop breaks. There he's soliloquy'd to by a new villain, who reveals that the experiments were just the test subjects, weak and enfeebled already. They figured out the correct concoction and used it on someone more capable. Enter this guy, dubbed Ikari (Japanese for "fury") who comes in wearing Matt's father's boxing robe and wielding two Kusurigama blades (they're like baby scythes). Matt gets overconfident, feeling that he's mastered his own powers and there's no way a guy who has only just gotten them could be as prepared as he is. He's wrong, though, as he finds himself pretty evenly matched against Ikari. They do pretty equal amounts of damage to one another before Matt realizes the need to wrap it up. He flees momentarily from Ikari, disappearing into a closed sporting goods store. The store is confusing to a radar sense, with many different objects and smells, and Matt lights a match near a smoke alarm to set off a sprinkler system. Matt hides out, waiting for Ikari to get close enough and revealing to the audience that his radar sense is maybe 5% of what it normally is in rain but he anticipates that Ikari, without long training and experience, won't even be up to that. As Ikari inches closer to Matt's hiding place, Matt starts to grab at a bat. Ikari, next to him now, suggests he grab the red one. In a moment of nearly unprecedented fear and horror, Matt realizes Ikari isn't blind and Ikari beats him to within an inch of his life, allowing him to leave but warning him that the person who sent him will kill Daredevil, somehow and when he least expects it, but sometime soon.
It's another great issue with fantastic art and a lot of really fascinating ideas. Whoever is behind this (there is certainly speculation to be had on that front) knows how to scare Matt and how to enrage him. He also knows how his powers work and how Matt is trained to use them. We also get to learn a bit more ourselves about how Matt's powers work and how he uses them. It's always a fun part in Daredevil books when we reach a point where Matt explains the best places for him to fight and we can kind of see how his environment shapes the way he fights. In this case, learning about the sprinkler system (and Matt's own worry that someone would use that against him) is pretty interesting and, another bonus, negates what Daredevil, the 2003 really bad superhero movie, said on the subject, which was that his radar sense was enhanced in rain. Any separation you can get from that movie the better. This series continues to be one of Marvel's best and this issue is no different. Wonderfully done.

Daredevil: End of Days 7
Bendis and Mack (w) and Janson and Sienkiewicz (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

I am not against reading. In fact, I am very pro-reading. I also love reading comic books. I appreciate that comic books have moved away from the "block of text" style of narration because it breaks up flow. Comics are, by their nature, an incredibly visual medium. There has to be something of a balance between art and word or else you're pretty much just writing a book. Or a script. Maybe script is a more apt description for where I'm going with this. Where I'm going with this is that the first page of this issue has 22 different boxes of narration over four-ish panels of art. I say "ish" because there's one drawing on the background that goes across the entire page and focuses as one to two panels and there are three actual panels on top of it. Don't get me wrong, I like the art in this book. I like both Janson and Sienkiewicz and I continue to think that the series has done a good job spanning Daredevil art styles and even artists. The first half of the book or so, though, is like the first page, with dialogue and narration just cluttering the page like crazy. And not particularly worthwhile dialogue. This is the problem with Bendis' need for snappy back-and-forth writing. It might work in television or movies because those are inherently different. You can see the scene under the words. The words might only take a few seconds to throw out. In this, the same conversation covers up the drawings and distracts from the scene while taking pages to get through. Also, one character who talks through a bunch of the first half, a secretary at the Daily Bugle, is super obnoxious and unpleasant to read. That doesn't help anything. So the question, then, is "is all of this dialogue/narration necessary?" I'd say some of it is. Certainly not all of it. The bonus of having an inherently visual medium is that you can allow your artist to do some work for you. You want to see Urich struggling with the things he's found out and the questions that remain? Look at the pictures. And Janson and Sienkiewicz show him that way. Throw in a couple lines about how frustrated he is, sure. You don't need to cloud a page with it all. It gets to a point where you're forced to start wondering what the level of trust in the artist is. Most of these problems disappear midway through the issue or so, as Ben Urich is attacked by the Hand and the narration and dialogue gives way to action. Here we actually start to get to new information, as Urich enters the apartment Melvin Potter said he'd sent plenty of costumes to before. On the computer, he sees all sorts of files, including one labelled "Map" and one labelled "One." Don't think that this is going to bring us to the secret of "Mapone" because apparently we'd rather save that for the LAST issue, as Urich views the files and we get to see his horror. It's weird to follow a character as our main narrator and see what he sees through the series only to, at the biggest reveal, not get to see what he sees. ANYWAY, the Hand finds Urich there and attacks, but he's saved again by the new Daredevil and Punisher. The new Daredevil rushes Ben to safety before going back to try to help fight the Hand with Punisher, who is mowing the ninjas down. When Daredevil returns to Urich, the reporter has an arrow through his gut. Daredevil rips off the mask to reveal Urich's adopted son Timmy as the new Daredevil. I have some problems with this, but I'd like to see where the last issue goes before airing them. I think I've said enough already.

Iron Man 8, Nova 3

Iron Man 8
Gillen (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Tony Stark, now fighting Death's Head in the Voldi gladiatorial arena to clear himself of charges brought against him after he killed their god, the Phoenix, has run into a bit of trouble. The rules of the contest are that you have to fight naturally, so no technology for Tony. However, Death's Head is the Voldi's ringer; his "natural" is still pretty much a giant robot, only one who isn't allowed to use rocket launchers and flamethrowers. While Tony gets pummeled by him, the mysterious robotic watcher 451, who had orchestrated the plan for Tony to use the trial-by-combat clause hidden away in Voldi law, finds the Iron Man suit and sends it, with PEPPER, to Tony. However, 451 has his own designs, stealing a cloaking device ship called "the Heart" that the Voldi had in their protection. As PEPPER meets up with Tony and he takes off out of the arena, tailed by drones who now charge him as guilty for fleeing, the Celestials show up at the Voldi's home and destroy the whole thing. Tony tries to turn around and go back, but he is contacted by 451, who tells him it's too late. 451 reveals that this was the plan all along, for him to steal the Heart, which would result in the genocide of the Voldi but which would also allow him to save far more people than were lost, if we're believing him at this point. Tony is furious and knows that he's complicit in this. He vows to make 451 pay.
It's another strong issue from Gillen as the newest Iron Man iteration pushes on. Putting him in space continues to be a solid idea, as it puts Tony on new ground where he doesn't know the answer to everything and he can't be charged with understanding the ways certain cultures work. There would have been no way for him to know that the Voldis were using the Heart to protect themselves from the Celestials, nor even that the Heart was valuable. In this strange and foreign land, all he knows is that he's the enemy, so when 451 extends a friendly hand it's hard not to take it. Should he have been a little more suspicious of 451? Maybe. But if he didn't get 451's advice, he likely would have died anyway and 451 could have still gotten the Heart and destroyed the Voldi. Still, putting Tony out of his comfort zone pays off. The writing continues to be pretty fresh and snappy, alternating between fun and serious seamlessly as it needs to. Gillen is one of the best in the business at the emotional turn-on-a-dime kind of writing. It has the kind of Dr. Who feel, in that Tony can be laughing and enjoying himself and quipping and snarking one minute, then you can see the anger or the sadness build up in him. It's well done and it's a good personality for Tony, who is often (especially with Robert Downey Jr.'s somewhat re-invented Stark) hiding a bunch of emotions under a facade of humor. Strong series, excited to see where it goes next with two arcs down and one story just beginning.

Nova 3
Loeb (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

The story continues as Sam Alexander has a very one-sided conversation with the Watcher about what's happening. The Watcher doesn't respond, but points off in the distance. Sam can't see anything, so Watcher shows what it is he's looking at through his own eyes. It's a fleet of ships heading towards Earth. Sam has no idea what to do with this information and so returns home. At home, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora show up again to Sam's displeasure, but he learns some valuable information, as do they. He tells them about the fleet heading that way and they tell him that he's going to have to go to war. They also tell him that his father was the one who sent the helmet back with Rocket, though they don't tell what happened to his father, exactly. Furthermore, they claim that Richard Rider (the other Nova in Marvel) has sacrificed himself. When they learn that he saw the fleet, they determine that he's not going to actually be in the war (at least immediately) but that he'll be a scout instead. The Nova armor will allow him to space jump to where the fleet is and he'll be able to watch their movements and report how many ships there are. There's a brief training section wherein Sam gets beat about by Rocket and Gamora for a while before he learns about this enemy. It's the Chitauri, famous from last year's The Avengers. Fair, whatever. I think they'd only really appeared in the Ultimates universe as a sort of Skrull offshoot before the movie. If we're going to bring Coulson into regular Marvel continuity, we might as well bring the Chitauri as well. Rocket reveals that the Chitauri are a warrior race who only seeks destruction. They intend to destroy Earth because Earth is a constant pain in every intergalactic warrior race's neck. Whenever some kind of war starts, it's someone from Earth who manages to stop it. It's a bit of a funny, if true, explanation of why the Chitauri hate Earth and feels, though I might be reading into it too much, like it's Marvel poking fun at itself a bit. The idea that someone from Earth always stops these giant plans, a kind of ridiculous idea when it's boiled down, isn't any less true anywhere in Marvel. Anyway, Sam eventually space jumps to where they are (he speculates Jupiter) but he lands directly in front of them, which is not a great place for a scout. The Chitauri fire on him as the issue ends.
I think this book has an interesting place to go but I'm not sure how successfully it will get there. I personally have not really felt an attachment to Sam, whose only real redeeming qualities in the first few issues were that he loved and took care of his dad and family. Even that, though, is tinged with the teenage angst of being angry with his family. This is still only issue three so be sure that there is PLENTY of time for more nice qualities to come out about Sam, but at the moment I'm not feeling particularly concerned about him, which is a problem since the next issue will likely focus on him being in peril. Also, though Rocket and Gamora have appeared in the last two issues (appeared in all three, but had actual lines in the last two), neither has felt particularly defined in the context of this series. Rocket is angry and Gamora...sometimes has lines? I don't know, she hasn't really had much to do. A lot of plot has happened so there hasn't been a ton of time for character development and, like I said, we're only three issues into the series. These are concerns that require some attention all the same, so we'll have to see more movement on those fronts before falling in with this book.

Captain America 6, Captain Marvel 12

Captain America 6
Remender (w) and Romita Jr., Palmer, Janson, and Hanna (a) and White (c)

Cap is PISSED. Just looking at the cover of the issue should really define what happens next. Captain America gets angry occasionally. Dude hates injustice and cowardly actions and terrorism and everything else on those lines. So he occasionally flips out at some villain or gets worked up at some other hero or person or something. But he's not usually angry. Angry is more sustained and less reactionary. Cap often shouts about stuff at villains while he's hitting them with his shield. He has kind of a low-level disappointment with a lot of the things in the world and in his country and in the people, but he's not often really angry. Right now, Cap is angry.
Ian is back with Zola and demands answers from Jet about why she would side with Zola, who murdered the innocent Phrox. Jet gives him the corporate lines about how Cap is a kidnapper, not a father, and how Zola is just trying to get his family back together. However, Jet is having her own problems finding Steve as negative after he spared her life. On top of that, she's never really had interactions with other humans, let alone human males, so she has all sorts of conflicting emotions about Cap. It's an interesting development, and one that makes some amount of sense given her upbringing, and one that's made all the more interesting by the end of the issue. BUT WE'LL GET THERE. Cap storms the mutates of Zolaland like never before and annihilates his way through their forces on his way to Zola and Ian. Ian gets more of a talk from Zola about how Zola only wants the best for his family and how Ian will have to understand that, even if it means reprogramming him to feel that way and brainwashing him to show Cap as figurative vampire who takes in younger men and trains them to be murderers before they die themselves (Bucky, Nomad, other Buckys, etc.). It's a compelling enough argument for Zola to make, though Cap has raised Ian for ten years or so now and it seems tricky to convince the boy that his father is an abductor with ill intents. However, he does look a bit brainwashed by the end, though this could be a ploy like one Bucky tried to use when Faustus tried to brainwash him into hating Cap. Meanwhile, Cap has tracked down Jet (showering, it's a little weird, honestly) and threatens her with a gun he's taken from the mutates. She remains calm, saying that he won't shoot her, he's too good of a person, but that he also won't ever get to Ian and doesn't deserve to. Cap fires the gun. It had been point blank on Jet's face but we don't actually see her in the panel that he shoots it, so all bets are off.
There are still a ton of interesting things happening here. Jet's feelings towards Cap paired with Ian's feelings towards Cap (very different feelings) make for a somewhat unpredictable dynamic as Cap tears through Zola's base. Also, Cap sees the doorway that had been the portal that brought him here and contemplates going out and getting help before returning to Ian, but decides against it. He also reveals that, because Marvel time is so messed up, he's actually spent more time now in Dimension Z than he has in the present day, presumably since being frozen in ice. This is his normal now. It's an incredibly interesting idea and it'll be interested to see where it goes or if it gets resolved or something. Cap's anger pervades this issue and demands your attention as a reader, really pulling you in and gripping you as we watch Cap struggle with losing Ian and with seeing Zola's mutates (which have Cap's face in horrible, twisted ways). Another strong issue. Excited to see where we go as this arc continues.

Captain Marvel 12
DeConnick and Sebela (w) and Andrade (a) and Bellaire (c)

Captain Marvel's fight continues against Deathbird, as does her inability to fly. The two come at odds somewhere in the middle of the issue as Carol can't really help herself and lifts off just enough (after totaling her flying motorcycle when she picks it up and uses it to hit Deathbird) to sap the power right out of her. It's enough, fortunately, as the fight ends with Deathbird in custody though it does leave Carol sick and weak. Throughout the issue, there's also a dialogue going between Carol's doctor and a doctor who had a patient with similar symptoms to hers, despite her Kree physiology. That doctor reveals his patient was none other than Helen Cobb, friend and idol of Carol as well as a fellow pilot. Cobb's doctor reveals that she had started hallucinating before her death, but that her reports of these hallucinations were so vivid that they seemed real, to the point where she even smelled like she had been places the doctor knew she couldn't have. Carol's doctor, who has more experience with superheroes, points out that things that are impossible happen every day in this world, so they can't rule anything out. They decide that maybe this is foul play and that someone is pulling these strings, including Helen Cobb's disease and the fire that took her life and which seems to also include Deathbird's attack and maybe even Carol's disease. The culprit is revealed to be Yon-Rogg, a Kree officer who had allegedly died in the same explosion that gave Carol her powers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the original Captain Marvel titles.
This is a very interesting decision, delving so far back into Carol's history and pulling a villain out of the ether to torture this new Captain Marvel. Yon-Rogg has a long-seated hatred of Carol and is clearly a bit unbalanced. He's also obviously not one to object to using Carol's loved ones as cannon fodder in his hatred. On top of that, she still can't fly and her powers are waning but she's going to be angrier than ever when she finds out what's happening. Now we're going to head into Captain Marvel's very own event, "Avengers: The Enemy Within," which will start in May with a one-shot prelude and continue through July in four parts, spanning DeConnick's Avengers Assemble book in issues 16 (part one) and 17 (part three) and Captain Marvel 13 (part two) and 14 (part four). This will put Carol at odds against her Avengers teammates as she makes decisions that DeConnick promises will be devastating and important, but also the decisions she truly believes Carol would make. If that's not the most worrying sentiment, I don't know what is. This will definitely be an event to pre-order and pick up as it goes on. Trust DeConnick to know what she's doing here, as she's sculpted two wonderful books for Marvel in Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble already. Very excited and more than a little nervous.