Daredevil 34, Indestructible Hulk 17, Thor: God of Thunder 16

Daredevil 34
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)

Matt brings the piece of sacred text he took to Dr. Strange who admonishes him for stealing from Satana, swearing that will catch up to him. Strange also informs him that the text holds a secret word, a name that, when uttered, can have intense persuasive abilities but warns him that he'd have to research the word before saying if it had a harm on the user. Matt comes up with a plan to bring out the Serpents but he needs Kirsten McDuffie's help for it so he drops the not-Daredevil act and enlists her for her fearlessness. With the help of former Serpent Nate Hackett and favors called in (off-panel) to various Avengers, they put together a city-wide broadcast system for Matt to call out all of the Serpents. As he demands Jester be released to him alive, Kirsten reads the word out to prove they mean business. The Serpents comply but try to leave a trap for Daredevil, which he easily bests. However, Kirsten goes off book while Daredevil's roaming the streets and puts herself in harm's way while delivering an important message about the Serpents. The Serpents find her (tracking her from the wind behind her in the broadcast) and try to shoot her but Nate tackles her, saving them both long enough for Daredevil to bring the helicopter down. As they prepare to celebrate (seems like Matt and Kirsten may be getting back together), Kirsten gets a call from the office and tells Matt it has to do with Foggy.

Another really solid issue. Daredevil is on top of his game after a stretch of self-doubt and seemingly overwhelming odds. This one strikes again at the heart of Waid's run, showing Daredevil as resourceful, clever, fearless as ever, and just a ton of fun. The height of fun comes as Matt officially outs himself to Kirsten in the most show-off way ever, jogging backwards alongside her in the park, skipping over roots and obstacles, and, still as Matt Murdock, stopping a mugging under a bridge they cross. If Matt's going to reveal himself, this is how you want him to do it, particularly this iteration of Matt. Great story, solid cast, fun writing, and really incredible art. Even with Samnee off the book for a bit, it's been amazing to see Javier Rodriguez step so comfortably into the artist role and match the tone and pace of the book so perfectly. Also glad that Kirsten McDuffie doesn't even really mildly annoy me, which has been a downfall of Matt's typical love interest (other super-people very obviously excluded). Anxious about the word on Foggy but couldn't help laughing when the book ended with the worry about Foggy juxtaposed against the words "Next: Elektra." Oh boy, I'd love to see more Foggy-Elektra team-ups.

Indestructible Hulk 17
Waid (w) and C. Mann, S. Mann, and Sepulveda (a) and Staples (c)

INHUMANITY has struck and the big scientists of the Marvel Universe are out in force trying to learn more about the Terrigenesis and its effects. Banner demands Stark and Pym, who turn up in his lab, and the rest give him a 24-hour window to look into it alone, as the de facto expert on "monstrous physiological changes brought about by radiation." They give him his start but quickly take it back as things go south for Banner, who prepares to bring his team into the field only to find that they've been grounded by Maria Hill because at least one of them may undergo Terrigenesis. Pym and Stark return, now with Beast, before the window closes and see that Banner's project is in the form of a bomb, which immediately puts them on edge and they prepare to shut him down without listening to him. Banner can't stop himself and transforms, taking the bomb and leaping out of the lab. The other heroes chase him and fight valiantly to stop him before Beast and Pym point out that this is rather all Tony's fault for belittling Banner and Beast points out that maybe this bomb things will work. It's Tony's call, as the scientist who's known Banner longest, on whether they keep fighting or give up. After a moment's hesitation Tony shoots the bomb himself.

I really like this issue and it continues to play to the themes Waid has built up (something, judging solely by this issue and the above DAREDEVIL, that Waid is phenomenal at doing). Everything is here, making this a pretty solid jumping-on point if you're thinking about getting into this new HULK series. You can get a good sense of Banner's desire to impact the world with his science more, you get the way that the science and superhero community view Banner and the way he's been ostracized, you get a good quick look into his team, you get some solid action and some good writing, you get some good art, just a lot of really good things to this issue. I think, and this may sound like a weird sort of slight but isn't, that Waid might be the best at creating natural jumping-on points for readers. A lot of the would-be jumping-on points for books (which comics are constantly doing because it can be incredibly overwhelming to get new readers into a series that's had 50 years of history go into it) fall short because the writing is stunted, giving way too much exposition for new readers to follow or old readers to care about, or because it's such a basic introduction that it doesn't really tell anything about the character. Waid creates jumping-on points by rehashing themes of the book and establishing characters with little glances here and there, not with full-on stares. Great work overall, which is more than I can say about my attempts to quick-hit these things.

Thor: God of Thunder 16
Aaron (w) and Garney and Lupacchino (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith, having proven his point with the appearance of his new Frost Giant allies, disappears, leaving the League of Realms to sulk and stew and to point fingers. Everyone begins to believe there's a traitor in their midst, someone feeding information to Malekith. The most fingers start pointing at Lady Waziria and most of the League wants her burned alive. Thor, though, has his eyes set on the troll as their traitor and knocks him out before executing him. The League, somewhat in horror and not really believing he was the traitor (not to mention this won't please the troll community), disbands. Thor has a plan, though, and brings Waziria with him to Midgard to a hidden Dark Elf guard station. Shortly after their arrival, Malekith again strikes, leading Thor to assume that Waziria is indeed a traitor. However, Malekith reveals that Thor is the traitor by calling forth a horrible worm thing from his body.

The fight against Malekith rages on and it continues to be just a little bit boring. The actual fight stuff isn't that bad and some of the interactions aren't awful but the League of Realms stuff continues to feel a little too Lord of the Rings for me and it kind of cheapens the whole thing. I don't know if that's entirely fair to say since THOR: GOD OF THUNDER is a little too easily put into that fantasy camp, as the realms are populated almost entirely by fantasy tropes which kind of all spring from LOTR, meaning that any sort of team-up will have an LOTR feel to it regardless of its content. However, there is a cynical part of me viewing this arc as a cash in on November's Thor: The Dark World and a cash in on The Hobbit and the new one (with that dragon, you guys). I imagine the creative team was working on this book and then went to see the movie and was disappointed to learn that Malekith's role in the movie was less a cunning psychopath and more a set piece with maybe a total of five lines in two hours. Oh well, guess you should have put more Jane Foster and more...Kat Dennings character in this one. So I guess what I'm saying is "it could be worse."

Quick note about posts today

Hey guys, I've fallen a little behind my own schedule both personally and on the blog but we are going to soldier forth. Sorry for late posts that you maybe didn't notice were late but I assume that everyone is just freaking out about it right now. Anyway, to remedy this, I'm going to attempt to quick-hit all the books I'm behind on (and likely tomorrow's books, when the time comes, but largely because there are two of those AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700.- issues coming tomorrow). I know you're like "wait, you're going to quick-hit those? I don't know what that means. You keep internet-yelling it on your pre-game picks but that doesn't explain anything." Well you're absolutely right. But know this, today's posts have been quick-hit, if I've done my job right (it's worthwhile to mention that there's a good chance I did not).

Superior Spider-Man 24, Scarlet Spider 25, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 8

Superior Spider-Man 24
Slott and Gage (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado, Fabela, and Gandini (c)

The Venom symbiote has jumped on to Spider-Man and Flash tries to call it back, hoping he can coax it back to familiar territory before Spider-Man loses control. Doc Ock, though, assures everyone he can control it and attacks anyone who thinks otherwise, namely Cardiac. He points out that, if he couldn't control the symbiote, Cardiac would be dead instead of just seriously wounded. Sound logic. He decides to show the world his control of the symbiote by tracking down some crimes and brutally and efficiently stopping them. In the midst of doing this, Anna Maria calls him and he hurries to her, where she's upset that she's damaged his relationship with Aunt May. He vows to take care of it and storms to May and Jay's, where he immediately begins yelling at her for bombarding Anna Maria with questions. She relents but things get crazier as MJ, trying to obey Carlie's wishes on her voicemail, goes to warn May and Jay to stay away from Peter and also gets screamed at by Peter, who reveals the Venom symbiote and leaves. MJ contacts the Avengers as Carlier, deep underground with the Goblins, gets sprayed with the goblin serum.

There's almost too much happening here. There's not and it actually works pretty well as a coherent storyline and as a good example of Doc teaming with Venom but, for someone trying to summarize, there's almost too much happening here. Still, the majority of this issue is dedicated to showing Doc Ock with the Venom symbiote and the effects it's had on him. Though he swears he can control it and loves the additional power it grants him, it's clear that he's extremely unbalanced with the symbiote. Well, more so than usual. He's at everyone's throat and his rage is bubbling at the slightest provocation. Calling the Avengers in on him is certainly going to shake things up as they'll be tasked with taking down Spider-Man, already a worthy foe, powered up by the symbiote, a worthy foe in its own right. Interesting storyline and one that lets us see a slightly different side of Doc Ock, or perhaps an amplified side of him. I'd like to, before I wrap this review up, thank my incredibly aggressive autocorrect for not trying even once to correct the word "symbiote," even though its repeated use is clearly driving autocorrect nuts.

Scarlet Spider 25
Yost (w) and Baldeon (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The final issue of SCARLET SPIDER fluctuates between showing us the immediate aftermath of the explosion in Kaine's hotel and his new life in Mexico with Aracely. He was forced to flee Houston after saving the lives of everyone in the hotel room and below by webbing them all up and webbing up the falling debris on its way to Earth. When he hit the ground, he was attacked by Shathra, the Spider-Wasp that has had run-ins in the past with Peter but who was posing most recently as Annabelle to get close to Kaine. She's seemingly unstoppable and ready to kill anyone in between her and Kaine, namely Wally who tries to step up and protect him. Kaine refuses to let it happen and unleashes Prey, who dispatches Shathra quickly and extremely brutally. Everyone is horrified and Wally tells Kaine he has to leave, promising to take care of the police in Houston but that he cannot stay. So began Kaine and Aracely's journey into Mexico on the hunt for her parents. Kaine is back to where he started, albeit with the addition of Aracely and a world of now painful memories. He doesn't consider himself a hero and he doesn't believe he can get a happy ending. Fortunately, it's not entirely an ending for him as he'll pop up again in Chris Yost's NEW WARRIORS.

Fitting end to a really surprising series. Yost has really nailed down Kaine's character through the course of this book and has been sure to never stray too far from it. He had given Kaine friends and relationships and grudging amounts of friendship but he'd never allowed the darkness in Kaine to leave him or for him to feel fully comfortable in his new life. There was always the chance that Kaine would pick up and leave Houston at any given second but there was also always the chance that he'd stay forever, making his eventual forced exit all the more painful. Even still, in a somewhat depressing final note for the series, there are fun moments here and there, including a moment where Kaine, in Houston, yells that he's not a superhero before watching his Scarlet Spider costume, still impervious to the flames that are hanging around it, float down to him. There's a lot to really like about this series as a character study for Kaine and the book ends in exactly the sort of fashion it should. You like your superhero books to typically end on an up-note, telling us that the hero has done may worthwhile things and has learned from them and made a better world for everyone else, but this book would have felt a little wrong if it ended that way. The truth is Kaine ended up being pretty right. Maybe he's not a hero. Maybe he can't have a normal life. Maybe the evil clone of Spider-Man was never meant to do more. Good series, solid ending.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 8
Yost (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c)

Fresh off the disappointment of losing control of his reformed Sinister Six and the fact that his arrogance nearly caused the death of millions, Spider-Man is in a bit of a more somber mood than we've found him since the death of Peter Parker. After examining himself and being thrust into self-doubt (wondering how Doc thought he could have done any better than Peter, who constantly beat him, among so many others), he's decided he's going to go to the Avengers and hand himself in, explain everything, and hope that they can reverse it still somehow (which would be the absolute cleanest way to get Peter back). On his way to Avengers Tower, he comes across Namor, hunted by invisible-to-the-naked-eye Hatut Zeraze in the war between Atlantis and Wakanda. Despite his negative feelings for Namor, Spider-Man jumps into the fight (able to see the Hatut Zaraze with his lenses) and gets the injured and protesting Namor out of harm's way. They bicker for a bit but eventually sit for a spell under the Brooklyn Bridge where Spider-Man reveals his doubts to Namor and Namor laughs at them, reminding Spider-Man that they are always more important and more powerful than the sheep they protect. The Hatut Zeraze show up there and Spider-Man again dispatches them but quickly learns that these aren't actually Hatut Zeraze, or at least not authorized by T'Challa or Shuri; these ones have been sent by some coward wishing to use the war as a way to attack Namor. These fighters are actually robots with self-destruct options inside, options that will destroy the bridge if they go off. Namor doesn't really care, saying that the perpetrators will face justice at some point, but Spider-Man wills himself to stop the bomb, reminding himself of the promise he made a dying Peter. Namor shares a moment with Spider-Man, telling him that he's shown true bravery and that his display here was superiority. Spider-Man punches him and tells him not to come back to his city, emboldened by his recent victory and even by Namor's words.

Okay, of the three books here, this shouldn't have been the longest summary. I do tend to slip into longer summaries when I'm excited about a book or when I get really interested in a book. This was just such a case as I found just about every beat of this issue to be delightful and a really well-thought out look into Ock's mind. Take Doctor Octopus, a crazy megalomaniac who believes himself to be the smartest person in any room. Now give him morals somewhat based on Peter Parker's unflinchingly good guy mentality. Now make that ego solely responsible for nearly destroying New York City. It wracks Ock with guilt and doubt and it's absolutely a perfect and logical step. However, it also means that Yost may have dug himself a hole because how do you make anyone break out of that? Who out there can both be considered a hero and can support the way the Superior Spider-Man parades himself? Who can have that same sort of ego and talk him out of his perceived inferiority? Well, Namor, of course. It's a great issue with a great premise and near perfect dialogue throughout. It's a much deeper look into this character than we're thus used to and, maybe, than we've had so far. Even the ending, which could very well have just copped out and had Spider-Man swinging away while Namor flies away as grudging allies, is pitch perfect as Spider-Man retakes his pride and punches Namor before demanding that he leave the city. Great issue, solid art and writing and character.

Avengers Assemble 22, Secret Avengers 13

Avengers Assemble 22
DeConnick and Ellis (w) and Buffagni and Diaz (a) and Woodard (c)

Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman, and Black Widow have been captured by Kashmir Vennema and AIM and Vennema is prepared to have them killed. Thanks to Spider-Woman's pheromone control, though, it doesn't happen, as Jessica befuddles all the guys guarding them in the room and uses her spider bursts to get them out of their binds, allowing them to dispatch the AIM guards easily. They enlist the help of Wolverine and Bruce Banner to surprise Vennema in her private car and find out who she sold the Inhuman cocoon to. Vennema reveals that it was Toxie Doxie, Dr. June Covington, and the Avengers (after a sincere scare to Vennema) reconvene at Avengers Tower. Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman plan to go after Covington (the others, including Black Widow, have to back out and deal with other problems around the globe), who has done some research of her own into her detonated cocoon. She managed to salvage the man inside and has reasoned that he doesn't show up on mechanical scans, a power she'd like to add to her own collection. Her penchant for accruing genetic abilities means that, by issue's end, she's identified the gene in Anya's teacher that is responsible for his new powers.

Another pretty interesting issue as the tie-ins to INHUMANITY continue to press on. I'm not wholly decided on them, positive or negative, just yet and I think it would probably be wrong to lump them all one way or another anyway but it's certainly, in many cases, provided for some intriguing stories. Here, as with the entirety of AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, the key to the issue's appeal comes from the typically fun and entertaining writing. The team interacts far differently in this series than it does in any other, but not in a way that entirely breaks character. They just seem more friendly with one another here, or, in the very least, far more personable. Not to say characters are done poorly in, say, AVENGERS, but that book has its focus and tone and this book's focus and tone tend to be a bit different. It's always nice to have this book around, which gives us a somewhat lighter feel for the team, not always so incredibly heavy but with its own sorts of drama and tension. Comic pro Warren Ellis jumps in to co-write with regular writer (and rising star at Marvel and in comics in general) Kelly Sue DeConnick but the series tone doesn't seem to shift in any real way, feeling as natural and as fresh as any other issue. Fun book, always a pleasant surprise.

Secret Avengers 13
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice, Rubinstein, and Palmer (a) and Wilson (c)

Things are going badly for the Secret Avengers as Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Fury have been ambushed at the underwater AIM station MODOK had led them to, Mockingbird is still in the field and apparently discovered, and their one useful outside-asset is the ever-unreliable Taskmaster. MODOK and Maria Hill bicker about whether or not he's setting her up and what he has to gain from SHIELD's involvement taking down Scientist Supreme Forson. In another attempt to gain favor with Hill, he reveals another secret base and Hill sends Banner and Iron Patriot there to collect AIM secrets at the base, which Forson detonates shortly after their arrival. She again accuses MODOK of treachery and he again says that he wants Forson removed and points her to her own organization as having leaks in it. Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Fury have been captured by what seems to be some AIM-led adaptoids and are being transported back to AIM Island. Taskmaster is betrayed by his new apprentice, a beekeeper who turns out to be Anton Trask, and is apparently executed by Mockingbird at the behest of Forson.

Plenty happening here and it's getting a little tricky to keep track of it all. I have to say, I think the idea of pitting MODOK against Hill in a battle of possible lies vs. almost definite incompetence is probably the best way to build suspense while also keeping to continuity in a SHIELD book. As I was writing this review, I kept saying "boy, how could she be so stupid as to send teams in on MODOK's advice?" At the same time, I don't necessarily believe that MODOK is lying; I believe him when he says that he wants Forson deposed and that AIM has become something unrecognizable to him, not to mention that I believe him when he says that he could have just sent a proxy in to tell Hill these things and keep out of harm's way. However, by the same token, this is MODOK we're talking about and, to add to it, Hill seems to be playing this guns blazing, even worse than Daisy sending a hit team to AIM Island in retribution for killing her friend. This keeps MODOK in character, playing his cards to regain AIM's control, and keeps SHIELD in character, being terrible. Boy, do these guys miss the original Nick Fury or what? Anyway, plenty happening and I'll admit that I'm going to be pretty sad if Taskmaster is actually dead. Always liked that guy. Also interested to see what's happening with Bobbi; I hope she too isn't dead but I don't believe that she's a traitor, which doesn't seem to fit her character in any way. Probably something more with adaptoids, am I right?

Uncanny Avengers 15, Young Avengers 14

Uncanny Avengers 15
Remender (w) and McNiven and Dell w/ Vines and Leisten (a) and L. Martin (c)

Steve and Alex are rushing forth to stop the Apocalypse twins when Alex is suddenly magicked away. Wolverine duels with Grim Reaper and Daken before also being magicked away while we get a glimpse of all the major mutant establishments and see all of the mutants magicked away together. Unfortunately for the Uncanny Avengers, Uriel and Eimin have seen through Wanda's attempt at treachery and have directed all of the mutants into their transport sarcophagi (not creepy at all) straight out of the teleportation spell, rendering all of them inert and allowing the ark to take off without incident. It does just that as Wasp rounds the corner, hoping to call forth Immortus and his band of powered-up people but failing to do so in time. She battles Sentry who reveals himself to be just absolutely horrifying. Thor shows up in time to provide support but they're not able to bring down Sentry until Jan communicates with some local bugs who tell her of another giant worm deep under the surface. She call it out and gets it to eat Sentry while she and Thor prepare to go to the Apocalypse twins. Cap, meanwhile, overhears the fate of Scarlet Witch, Simon, and Rogue as he prepares to attack the twins and it both causes him to doubt himself as a leader and to attack even more fiercely. Still, he's pretty easily beaten and forced to watch as Exitar the Executioner turns up on Earth to, as the Watcher explains to Thor and Jan, sentence the Earth to death for the killing of a Celestial.

Whoa. So there's a lot going on here and none of it is good for the Unity Squad or, in the least, for mankind. It's probably not great for mutants either but mankind is in a real pickle. One of the treats of this book has been the way that it continually ramps up the stakes without ever making it feel like it's going crazy. This plot, in its entirety, probably should feel like it's gotten absolutely absurd with so many moving parts and such high stakes but it never really gets to the point where you check out. By the same token, with the number of events that the Marvel Universe seems to constantly have, it's almost a little strange to see something this massive and this interesting come as anything less than an event. Such is the problem of events (or one of the problems, anyway): saving your biggest stories for events means that big stories in standalone comics feel somewhat out of place. Still, the story here is great and a lot of the character developments have worked really well for the series, despite being chock-full of characters and plot. Who would have thought that the death of three giant characters in the last issue wouldn't have even been the climax of the story? AS AN ASIDE, I've seen a lot of people accusing Remender of "fridging" Scarlet Witch and Rogue last issue, that their deaths were only there to make Wolverine or the rest of the team feel the stakes by sacrificing a female character. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard, just as the accusations that Remender was fridging Sharon in CAPTAIN AMERICA. In both cases, these were long established characters with huge histories whose deaths, yes, did motivate the males (and females, particularly in UNCANNY AVENGERS) in their lives but also who sacrificed themselves exactly the way that any male could have died. This isn't a new female character killed solely for a reaction. ANYWAY, this is already too long, just let it be on record that I do not agree with these claims whatsoever. Good issue.

Young Avengers 14
Gillen (w) and McKelvie, Vieceli, Ward, and Wu (a) and Wilson, Loughridge, Ward, and Bellaire (c)

The foes have been vanquished and now all that's left for the year is the after-party. In an issue littered with excellent artists doing vignettes for our characters, we get to see some resolution (the two-issue arc that will finish out this incredible series, in fact, is called "Resolution") at long last. America and Kate prepare for the party and travel there together, having something of a nice moment together for the first time in the series in pages drawn by Jamie McKelvie and colored by Matthew Wilson. Emma Vieceli and Lee Loughridge provide the art for a nice story that shows Billy and Teddy working their way through their doubts and their worries as Billy gets a nice confidence boost from both David (who admits he would be with Teddy in a heartbeat if Billy were out of the picture) and, somehow even more unexpected, from America. The story transitions nicely into the Christian Ward illustrated story for America, which gives a fair amount of backstory and explains America's childhood to a point, which involves her mothers seemingly giving their lives to close portals into the common multiverse from their home, the Utopian Parallel. The Utopian Parallel is, as it sounds, a utopian parallel to the regular multiverse that was created by, get this, the purest incarnation of the Demiurge's magic. When America learned of her moms' sacrifice, she too leapt into the closing holes to find herself in the multiverse, where she could be the sort of hero her moms were and the Demiurge seemed to be. Now she's met him and, by her own admission, he's an idiot like everyone else. Annie Wu beautifully closes the issue out along with Jordie Bellaire to tell a tale of Kate and Noh-Varr making awkward smalltalk before she chooses to walk away. As they stand apart, looking at one another again, Speed shows up and yanks Kate away, demanding she dance with him. He has no time to answer her questions about where he's been and how he returned and she decides that she doesn't care anyway. They kiss as midnight strikes on the new year.

Look, I've said everything I've ever needed to see about this book and this issue falls right in line. Kieron Gillen continues to absolutely marvel with his stories and his characters and the realism and depth of his dialogue. The twist that America was born from the Demiurge and the events of this book is incredible and really provides the only true story in this issue, leaving the rest to character interactions and resolutions of relationships. To boot, all of the artists were chosen perfectly and each and every one of them brings their A-game to the issue. I'm so looking forward to the next issue to see what else it holds in store; plenty more great artists will be there but looking at this one will truly make you say "well who else could they possibly have for the next one? This one really covered it all." Great issue all around and there's no doubt that these two issues will be the absolute perfect way to wrap this series, if there was any doubt before.

Comics this week!

OKAY GUYS, homestretch of these long release weeks before next week (Christmas Eve is the Wednesday) gives us just TWO NEW BOOKS. AND THEY'LL BOTH BE WORTH READING (prediction: they will both make my pre-game and post-game lists). This week promises a slew of new and interesting options for readers and, for some strange reason, another two AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700.- issues. That is just a strange thing to be happening, you guys. Easy enough to pick out five most-anticipated though, as is this weekly entry's job. QUICK HITS TIME.

Daredevil 34
Barely making the pre-game this week over pleasant surprise LONGSHOT SAVES THE MARVEL UNIVERSE's conclusion, DAREDEVIL has been a phenomenal series overall and it's inching its way to its conclusion...before being renumbered with the same creative team. Okay, so it's not really a conclusion but PRESUMABLY we'll reach an end to an important storyline to justify the renumber. Matt will be back in New York this issue (I would assume) after snagging the magic needed to go after the Sons of the Serpent. Should be fun, this series always is.

Scarlet Spider 25
You want to talk about pleasant surprises, there's no better place to look than SCARLET SPIDER. A 25 issue run concludes as we see what will become of Kaine and his Houston co-stars as Chris Yost wraps up his extremely fun and always-intriguing tale of the dark Spider-Man clone gone good. Excited to see the end of this one, sad that it will be the end.

Thunderbolts Annual 1
Like with DEADPOOL ANNUAL a couple of weeks ago, this one makes the list thanks to its writing team of the Bens, Acker and Blacker, who write, among other things, the incredible THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR podcast (and the graphic novel which I still need to check out). Good news: DEADPOOL ANNUAL did not disappoint after I went in with high hopes for this team. Better news: I like THUNDERBOLTS more than I like DEADPOOL right now and I think, as a series, THUNDERBOLTS has portrayed the better Deadpool. Looking forward to it.

Uncanny Avengers 15
I dare you to find a pre-game list that doesn't include this book (don't look anywhere but this site though, in case it's very easy to find and I'm misinterpreting how important this book is). After the shocking conclusion of the last issue, this issue's importance can't be overstated (unless it can, which goes back to the last parenthetical aside). Not only are we racing towards the conclusion of a really long arc, we saw major characters die the last time out and now we'll have to see the effect of that. Don't miss this one.

Young Avengers 14
It pains me to say that we're only two issues away from the end of this series and the final issue will come just two weeks later. So incredibly sad to see this series, which has done so much in so little time, go. These two issues should be a lot of fun, though, as we get the afterparty for the entire series, with a ton of major young characters in the Marvel Universe heading out to the clubs. On top of that, we'll get a ton of big-name artists and colorists jumping in to highlight these final two issues. Very excited that a book that has changed the way stories can be told in comics will end with a two-part non-standard ending. Really love this book. If you haven't read it, pick up the trades when they're all released.

This week's picks!

Another long week filled with long comics and some that felt too long and some that felt too short. Honestly, more that felt too long than ones that felt too short. I feel like I have to note here that CABLE AND X-FORCE barely didn't make the cut this week, which would have made this an incredibly easy list of picks to find in the comic book shop as they would have been all perfectly in a row on the shelves.

Captain America 14

Rick Remender continues to push Cap to his absolute limits and we're seeing it out there. It's rare that Cap is put through such unquestionable tragedy and put through something that maybe even he, who has seen just about every sort of horror, can't get past but it's possible Remender has found something of that sort here and it's coming through in very intense ways. One of the debates that has raged for a while with Bucky-Cap carrying a gun and whether or not Cap kills people and so on but I've always landed on the side of "Steve Rogers is a soldier. He has done these things. He's a great guy and has an unflinching moral compass but he does what needs to be done." That starts to come out in this issue with the idea that he might kill Nuke, with his rational brain saying that it's this or all of Nuke's future rampages are on his head but we can see as an audience that there is no rational brain here. On top of that, Falcon has some good moments and has to ask some questions himself. Just a lot of strong stuff happening here.

Captain America Living Legend 4

I've really liked this mini throughout and I think it ended just as strongly as it started. Throughout, I lauded this book for creating real-feeling peripheral characters who created sympathy for an entire nation and for the civilians in these crazy situations. It continues right up to the end as Colonel Gridenko immediately develops into a strong character when he's brought to the forefront of the story. It's a really interesting story and it's got solid writing and absolutely phenomenal art, making the whole of this series totally worth reading. Always nice to see writers I've not seen write Cap before write him really well. Sometimes you run into popular writers or people you've seen before take him and really just blow it. I didn't see that at all here. It didn't hurt that everyone had a good role in this series.





Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6

This one makes the cut over CABLE AND X-FORCE and THUNDERBOLTS, particularly, because of its sense of fun and it's pretty quick-paced tone. There's a lot happening here in terms of story and character but the fun of it all really comes out in the dialogue. I mentioned in my actual full review that the best scene came in the argument between Boomerang and Mach V as Mach V accuses Boomerang of breaking his parole and suspects him of continued supervillainy. One thing that's been obvious throughout this series is that Spencer has a real voice in his head for Boomerang and that's really been the driving factor of the book as a whole. As intriguing as parts of the plot have been (even when they move somewhat slowly) the key to the series has been the distinct voice and the tone of the book as a result. It's at its strongest here and it makes the book strong in turn.


Best Cover
Thunderbolts 19

I mean, look at this cover. Hilarious. Compare it to the first issue of THUNDERBOLTS and you can probably see the change in tone for the book, a change that I think has made the book far better and far more unique.