EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of December 5, 2012

Action Comics #15: So... everyone's going to assume any criticisms I make of Rag Morales's art are actually personal, aren't they? My bad. Didn't quite think that through... shit. I like the ideas that Morrison throws out here. Not sure how they actually work. But, it does explain the series so far to a degree. Isn't it convenient when the plot explains away the bits that people criticised? I think so. [***1/2]

All-New X-Men #3: A bit of a dip down. The 'our powers are going crazy because... uh... PHOENIX!' shit is a bit lame. Especially after there didn't appear to be any problems whatsoever in issue one. I dug the last page. Let's get to that: the interesting part. Maybe? Soon? [***]

Avengers #1: Unsurprisingly, this reminded me quite a bit of The Ultimates #1. Same writer, same general characters, a very similar art team... even a plot that bears some similarity. The key bits are in the differences, then. This is more hopeful, not as seedy. More inate goodness and heroism here. A sense of heroic epic -- myth in action -- that wasn't present in The Ultimates #1. That comic ended with Nick Fury looking freaked out, completely at a loss. This one ends with Captain America gathering more Avengers, because he doesn't get freaked out or find himself at a loss. This is a largescale story of heroes and goodness... that was the world falling apart and being changed forever. I think I preferred that one more, but I'll certainly take this one. [***3/4]

Daredevil: End of Days #3: Bendis and Mack recognise a simple fact: Daredevil fucks a lot and probably doesn't carry around a box of condoms. And James Bond died of VD. [***1/2]

Fury: My War Gone By #7: That felt like ages since issue six... The look of... fear in his eye on that second page... this is going to get dark by the end, isn't it? Also: more Frank Castle! Why isn't issue eight out next week, dammit? [****]

Hawkeye #5: Of course, my first reaction was that they took away the thing that appealed most to me about this story. Funny how a government-sanctioned superhero team can't actually... do... anything for said government. Also, I don't like fake Nick Fury, Jr.'s tone when discussing his father. Who the fuck is he? A poor plot contrivance brought about by casting a movie... But, I dig the vibe of this comic and the lovely art. [***1/2]

The Ultimates #18.1: Captain America is a boring president. All he does is play superhero. I could read any other comic featuring Captain America for that. In this one, he's president. That means I want more Jed Bartlet and less typical superhero bullshit. Christ. What's the use of doing anything different if all you wind up doing is more of the same? No. Really. What? [Fuck you]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of November 28, 2012

All-New X-Men #2: One of those second issues that make you miss the double-sized first issue that was once the norm. Stick this with the first issue in a single comic and you'd have a much stronger debut. Hell, skip the first issue save the final scene and start here and it's a better debut. The stuff with the original X-Men really works for me -- interesting juxtapositions and possibilities. Glad to see that things improved. [***3/4]

Batman, Incorporated #5: You know, whenever there's a large focus on saving Gotham City, I tend to always go "Why?" Because it's a shithole and any sane person would have used his massive resources to relocate all that deserved it, sealed it up, and wiped it from the face of the Earth. Then again, the Batman isn't sane, so... [***3/4]

Fatale #10: I reread the entire second storyarc and... yeah, I'm not feeling it. These feelings will be expanded upon in the next Direct Message. But, it's still a comic drawn by Sean Phillips, so... [***1/4]

FF #1: A bit more like the Matt Fraction we all know and love. Crisp dialogue, clear characters, an easy to get concept, and the Allreds. We all knew this was going to be decent going in and it did not disappoint. Scott Lang is rather compelling here as well, which is surprising. [***3/4]

Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #2: The meandering, lazy pace of this is nice. It's a hang-out comic. I like hang-out comics. [***1/2]

New Avengers #34: I think I'll discuss this at greater length in Random Thoughts this week. But, I do 'love' how Avengers #1 ships this week. Can't give it even a single week for the end of this eight-year run to sit and settle and sink in? Just shout "NEXT!" and we're off on the next run already with no break whatsoever? Why not ship it this week? That bugs me. It shouldn't, but it does. I'm not saying put off the next run or anything -- hell, I'm really looking forward to Hickman's run on Avengers and New Avengers -- but must it start the week after? Not even a single week off between the two? December is a big month, there's plenty of time for that comic to ship slightly later in the month... It just feels like "Thanks, now get the fuck out." Stupid sentimental bullshit. [****]

Prophet #31: I enjoy this series a lot. I like the characters, the art, the writing... [****]

Secret Avengers #34: As I've been reading Uncanny X-Force trades as they've come out, I've seen more and more threads from that title repeated in this one. I like that. Rick Remember building his own little world off in the corner. Well, I should correct myself: I like the idea of it. I'm not particularly bowled over by some of these ideas he obsesses over. I did enjoy the Captain Britan/Hawkeye banter, though. [***1/4]

Thor: God of Thunder #2: Dean White is gone and the colouring does take a dip. It's not as noticeable or bad as it should be. So, there's that. This god butcher story is intriguing and has a different feeling from other Thor stories. The whole difference between war and murder narration towards the end is especially engaging and good. And what would be a 'cool moment' in many other comics ("Thunder.") is played perfectly as desperate and slightly funny and just kind of sad. Thor barely survives... Now, to expunge that editorial full of bad jokes from my mind... [****]

Ultimate X-Men #19: "200 mutants? That's not near extinction! I'll show you near extinction!" And that's how Brian Wood turned the mutant race into 20 people living in the middle of nowhere on land that can't grow anything. He fucking saw you and raised. Fuck yeah. [****]

Uncanny Avengers #2: I have never seen so many ugly, half-formed panels from John Cassaday in a single comic before. Look at that final panel on page five. Hell, just look at page five. This guy drew Planetary and now... Also, will someone explain to me how altering people and giving them superpowers is okay, but mutants are not? I'm not a racist, so I can't exactly figure out the subtle difference. It mostly looks like bullshit to me. [**1/2]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of November 21, 2012

Avengers #34: The first of the one-two punch that is the End of Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers Run. I wonder if the essay at the end of this issue will run in next week's New Avengers finale as well. It seems like that would be the more fitting place. While Bendis began on Avengers technically, New Avengers was his book really. I liked this end well enough. Wonder Man is put back in the box alongside the Wasp. I'm not sure Bendis ever really did enough with Wonder Man, but I always liked the idea of his turn. Not a 'bring the house down' finale or anything, but I liked this. [***1/2]

Daredevil #20: A well-crafted comic. [***1/2]

Hawkeye #4: Probably my favourite issue of this series so far from a writing perspective. Some clever bits, too. A bit more balanced... Yeah, I dug it. [****]

Indestructible Hulk #1: One of the few Marvel NOW! titles that I'm giving a single issue to make me continue and, while I think the concept is clever and reminds me a bit of Joe Casey's approach to Bruce Banner, it doesn't really interest me. It's the sort of idea that can only go so far because of the limitations of the Marvel Universe and I can see that that will always be a frustration for me with a book like this. The conflict between Marvel's internal reality demanding it approximate our world and the level of genius it possesses is one that I try my best to avoid, because it's just hell watching. Also, the Hulk never seems to interest me. He smashes. Yay...? Whatever. [No issue 2]

Ultimate X-Men #18.1: Brian Wood jumps over 'the cure' almost as quickly as he jumped over the end of the Sentinel conflict. Good for him. A transition issue that allows the book to jump into "Reservation X" in issue 19 without too many distractions. The problem with the cure is that it's partly an effort to exterminate mutants, but it's also a story-ending machine where those that don't take it don't necessarily engender sympathy. There's the idea that mutants are born that way... but they also only get their powers as teens and most mutants in the Ultimate Universe are teens... is that who they really are? And given the sort of lives they've been forced to lead as mutants, why would they want to remain that way? Mutants in the Ultimate Universe have had a much harsher time of it than the regular MU and by sidestepping the conversation as much as possible, Wood doesn't linger on that too long. That QQ mention has me wondering, though... [***3/4]

The Unwritten #43: It's shocking to see fictional characters like that... but... there isn't any effect. I know that Leviathan hurt is bad for humanity, but the shocking lack of effect of the damage of fictional characters take a bit of the urgency out. As Tom says, this doesn't change anything in the real world. So, why care? This book has become about managing destruction that seems contained in a way where we know it's bad, but that's only because we've been told. What we've been shown doesn't actually seem to matter. There is something interesting in watching a book flail about like this, unable to find its footing, though. I'm with it. So: I'm with it. [***]

Wolverine and the X-Men #21: Amusing, but something that misses my sensibilities. That happens. No one's fault. This just doesn't click with me. [***]

Wonder Woman #14: Oddly, my least favourite pages were the final ones with Highfather and Orion. The rest was good: Wonder Woman winning someone over with patience and genuine caring, and the gods being dumb and petty... Good stuff. [***1/2]

Later

Riding the Gravy Train 31 (All-New X-Men #1)

The new beginning is the end. The train doesn't stop here, but this is where this series of posts is getting off. I was going to do a more general summary/finale post, but I don't want to do one of those. I've 'summed up' Avengers vs. X-Men many times. I've repeated myself many times. The posts are there, go read them if you need to know what it was all about. Or, actually, I'll tell you right now...

All-New X-Men #1 is what it was all about. This was the end goal, this comic. You might think it was Uncanny Avengers #1, but you'd be wrong. That was a book that I considered part of the Avengers vs. X-Men wrap-up/epilogue portion of the event. Avengers vs. X-Men kept going after that comic. All-New X-Men, on the other hand, follows a week after AVX: Consequences #5 shipped. This is the new beginning where Brian Michael Bendis takes over the X-books and does for them what he did for the Avengers titles. Avengers vs. X-Men was, as I've said, an X-Men story about returning to a familiar status quo with a mutant school, mutant terrorists/revolutionaries, and mutants plentiful world wide. It was the anti-"Disassembled" in many ways.

When Bendis took over Avengers, he destroyed the title and the group, leading to New Avengers where you had Captain America and Iron Man and, then, a bunch of 'non-Avenger' characters. During his time on New Avengers, he oversaw the moment where the X-Men were destroyed in a similar fashion and, only now, rebuilt back to what they were. Sure, some roles may have been shifted (Wolverine runs the school, Cyclops is the new Magneto), but it's a very familiar place.

The goal is the event was to get here. Sorry, a goal of the event was to get here. The story told in the event was a goal as well. But, ever since Bendis took over the Avengers titles, one of the major patterns in the Marvel Universe was that each event or new status quo seemed to exist to lead to the next, usually in an alternating pattern. Event A led to New Status Quo A, which led to Event B, which led to New Status Quo B, which led to Event C, which led to New Status Quo C, etc. There were stories in there and I enjoyed quite a few of them. But, there was also a general feeling of the events and new status quos not delivering all that they could, because part of their function was to produce what came next. That was something that I felt really hindered Avengers vs. X-Men where there was such a focus on hitting All-New X-Men #1 that the story being told didn't match the story they were trying to tell. Cyclops needed to be in this role, so everyone ignores that he was right and they never gave him any credit, nor recognised their roles in driving him to extreme measures by the end. There was a sense that they failed to see that, by the end of Avengers vs. X-Men, Cyclops was the hero and Captain America was the villain who just happened to win...

Even in All-New X-Men #1, there's an effort to make Cyclops out to be some sort of bad guy, while also doing everything they can to make sure that the reader can only view him as a good guy. We have two mutants who accidentally stumble on their powers: a timestopper and a healer. Cyclops and company rescue both from authorities -- the healer in particular is such a bad example if you're trying to show that Cyclops is waging war on human authority... he was arrested for healing someone! We're shown some of the 'good' X-Men fretting over all of the damage that Cyclops is doing to mutant/human relations, but they offer no alternatives nor any results. Take the healer -- what would Storm, Kitty Pryde, Beast, and Iceman have done in that mutant's case? Left him in the hands of police that arrested him for healing someone? There was an obvious overreaction at play here. Not only was no harm done, this man actively helped someone -- and was arrested. This is clearly a corrupt system being dealt with, making Cyclops and his group appear nothing but sympathetic, while his old teammates look like bumbling fools, sitting on the sidelines, ready to work with the corrupt and hateful, wringing their hands over the idea that protecting mutants actually requires action. There is no sense of Cyclops placing mutants above any morality: his actions, while illegal, are moral. That wasn't the case at the beginning of Avengers vs. X-Men where he endangered the entire planet on the belief that the Phoenix would save mutantkind. As that story continued, his actions were justified more and more until we get to the point where he's saving innocents from corrupt authority while the superheroes get all pissed off.

I keep wondering if that's what Marvel is striving for. It must be to some extent, but in such a one-sided way? Is the use of the original X-Men supposed to be the counterbalance? Their youthful innocence and naïveté causing us to see that Cyclops is, in fact, lost and immoral? Or will they simply look like dumb kids that don't a thing about the world? Will they even react poorly to what Cyclops is doing once they learn the entire history of mutants since their time at Xavier's school? I guess those answers are coming soon, because All-New X-Men #1 seemed content to end with its premise -- in fact, the only preview pages provided were of the final scene. Nicely done there, Marvel... way to underwhelm automatically.

It's hard not to be disappointed by All-New X-Men as payoff for Avengers vs. X-Men in the same way that New Avengers #1, Mighty Avengers #1, Dark Avengers #1, Avengers #1, New Avengers #1, and all of the other follow-ups to events were disappointing. It doesn't feel like enough. Avengers vs. X-Men ended with a "Stay tuned for the new status quo!" teaser, basically, and this is it and how can a single comic deliver on that, especially when its ends by stating a premise we all knew months ago?

And, already, Marvel is teasing Age of Ultron...

"And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it riding the gravy train..."

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of November 14, 2012

The Boys #72: I don't think any ending could have totally satisfied, but this came damn close. The final few pages in particular are wonderful. And Stillwell's realisation... I'll miss this book. [****1/2]

Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #14: This book isn't quite on autopilot, but all urgency is gone. It knows it's dead and is taking everyone is can with it. That's interesting, but also depressing. It's nothing but death and misery. [***]

The Massive #6: Another good character spotlight issue. I like the slow pace with this book. There's no need to rush. There's so much room that so long as the comic is interesting in and of itself, I don't mind a thin plot. Not many books could get away with that, but this is the sort of title where that seems almost preferred to heavy, plot-driven stories. [***3/4]

New Avengers #33: Thankfully, the cover didn't predict what happens inside of this issue. But, I guess that could be next issue... This arc hasn't wowwed me, but Bendis has one issue left. Two weeks. First, Avengers and, then, New Avengers... [***1/4]

Punk Rock Jesus #5: This comic reminds me of my teenage self so much. If time travel is ever invented, I may send him this. He'd love it. Love it. I'm liking it quite a bit. [***3/4]

Thor: God of Thunder #1: A fine Thor comic. Probably the best I've seen in many years. Not a home run -- a solid double that might have been stretched into a triple if they'd ran their asses off. I do like Aaron's take on the character here and who doesn't love the Ribic/White art team? (Idiots, that's who.) [***3/4]

The Ultimates #18: I wound up liking this finale to Sam Humphries's first arc than I expected. It somehow clicked. It's a bit rushed, a bit obvious... but, it works. And the status quo is still interesting enough that I'll stick with this for a while. I just need to remember that Hickman, Ribic, and White are gone and they are never coming back. Remember... remember... remember... [***1/2]

Where is Jake Ellis? #1: I dug Who is Jake Ellis?, though not as much as many. It was a great-looking comic with a story that grew increasingly thin. That seems to carry on in this first/sixth issue. But, it's nice enough to look at that I don't mind. And Edmondson gives Zonjic enough cool things to draw. Maybe it will turn out to read great, too. Who knows? [***1/2]

Wolverine and the X-Men #20: The other side of the coin, in a sense, to All-New X-Men #1. The final page isn't a knock-you-on-your-ass one... if only because I think that's meant to be Kade Kilgore and he looks about ten years older than he's supposed to. But, good issue still. [***1/2]

The Zaucer of Zilk #2: This is comics. This is superhero comics. This is you. This is me. This is them. If only... if... why isn't that... you and me and them and comics and superhero comics... why... Why don't we learn? [ZZZZ1/Z]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of November 7, 2012

Action Comics #14: That was a perfectly fine comic book I read, yes. Was that what they were going for? [**3/4]

Age of Apocalypse #9: Hey, Roberto de la Torre is back! And, once again, I can't tell any characters apart. I gave up on that long ago, though. Who they are doesn't really matter, does it? If they were worth knowing, I'd know them. I know Jean Grey and Prophet and Little Creed and Big Creed and Wolverine and Cyclops. Does anyone else actually matter? There's almost a plot in this issue. A sense of direction. That shouldn't last long. You know who I miss? That narrator fellow whose inclusion in this book was baffling at the beginning and never made to matter at all. Is he dead? Did I nod off and miss his death? And, yet, I do enjoy this comic. They still have a "From the pages of Uncanny X-Force..." tagline at the top of the cover. Really? Who are you fooling? [No one]

Avengers #33: It's always encouraging when the Big Three (plus Mr. and Mrs. Ant-Man) get their asses handed to them by Brand New Generic Villain. Tha baddie's mockery of Thor was kind of funny. The 'real world' stuff was good. This feels like such a throwaway, though. This how you want to go out, Bendis? [***]

Daredevil: End of Days #2: In the future, there will be "Hulk: The Musical." Screw President Wilson, that is the real story of this comic. That, and Nick Fury never dies. Ever. [***1/2]

The Defenders #12: A bit of a hot mess by the end there. Matt Fraction Explains the Marvel Universe and, like all big explanations, it just makes you wonder why he bothered. No. Really. Why? Why try to explain this? Why try to offer up a reason for why this fictional universe exists as it does when we all know the real reasons? It doesn't make it better. It doesn't make it better. When the fuck did Fraction become Straczynski? There is something amusing in that the world is saved by Dr. Strange tricking himself into not being as big a douchebag. I liked that part. I liked the storytelling technique used here to rush through in a manner that actually gave the issue a bit of weight. But, still... The Marvel Universe didn't need an explanation. [***1/4]

Iron Man #1: Did... did Marvel trick me into buying Invincible Iron Man #1 again? It sure as fuck feels like it. [Marvel THEN!]

The Manhattan Projects #7: I am intrigued. I do love the blue and red colouring. Every issue is a joy and a surprise. [****]

New Avengers #32: A bit better than what's going on in Avengers, but it is revisiting one of the worst New Avengers stories (the Brother Voodoo magic arc with the Hood). And this issue was pretty tedious in Dr. Strange trying to figure it out, while everyone else runs around like idiots. But, there's another issue next week! And Jessica looks shot on the cover! OH NOES! [***1/4]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of October 31, 2012

What a week. Not a happy week. Work kind of sucked, Wednesday night was killed putting together our new bed, and I was in an overall bad mood. But, it's the weekend now and I've spent the day sleeping in, watching wrestling, reading Metabarons, listening to good music, drinking a Slurpee, and generally relaxing. So, let's talk comics...

The CBLDF Presents Liberty Annual 2012: I bought this more for the charitable aspect than anything else. As usual, the stories tend to be preachy and not necessarily entertaining. But, there's also some cool things in here. I was disappointed that the solicited content from Warren Ellis was nowhere to be found. [I don't rate charity books... and, if I did so in the past, I don't anymore...?]

Fatale #9: Have not read. Letting this pile up a bit before reading. I find it reads better in chunks, not single doses. [Who knows?]

Happy! #2: When I first heard people dismiss this as "Grant Morrison trying to do Garth Ennis," I didn't agree. Then again, that was before reading the second issue. I assumed that Morrison would do his own thing a bit more by now, but hasn't. It does seem like a third-rate Ennis rip-off book. Except without the humour or the wit. I hope it gets turned around by the end... [**1/2]

Haunt #27: This Lady Haunt diversion was decent. The underlying story with the Second Church stuff is quite good -- fascinating. I've enjoyed the slow burn here. Still not a fan of the colours. [***1/2]

The Mighty Thor #22: And so does Fraction's run come to an end... Was this issue's goal to convince me that Thor is a menace for all living things? I always find stories like this amusing because, when applied to serialised corporate superheroes, all they do is point out that these supposedly good characters are, in fact, doing bad things simply by living. There's so much history built up that they're unwilling to part with that threats come for them, not some other reason. Because a writer thought putting Asgard in Oklahoma would be interesting, Thor had to make that choice and, as a result, he's been responsible for a town continually being attacked and terrorised. His defence? "Life would be boring without me!" and everyone just sort of buys it? It works with most superheroes and stories like this highlight how the external constraints of publishing these comics eventually turn heroes into villains without meaning to. Welcome to Marvel NOW! [***]

New Avengers #31: My shop didn't receive its copies two weeks ago, so I got this now. Like Avengers, this is clearly Bendis trying to tie up some loose ends. Michael Gaydos on art is a lovely treat for a Luke/Jessica story. Looking at the upcoming releases, the next two weeks bring new issues of this, so, for me, it's suddenly become a weekly book. Thanks, Diamond? [***3/4]

Ultimate X-Men #18: The action scenes in this issue seemed very rushed. They began and ended so quickly that there wasn't any sense of struggle. Just putting this whole Sentinel business behind us as soon as possible it seems. Which I don't actually mind too much. We've seen that before. Mutants put on a reservation while some choose to give up their powers? That has a bit more potential, I believe. For an 'end of the story' issue, this was surprisingly transitory. And Wood did a nice job with that final scene. Captain America came off as reasonable despite that not being what was required. Bring on the next issue! [***1/2]

Winter Soldier #12: It's a shame that there probably isn't much chance of Ed Brubaker leaving this book with both James and Natasha still brainwashed and acting all evil, right? That is the book I want to read. Those two running around trying to bring down America in the name of communism. Just kill off that lame James wannabe and we could have some fun, folks. Besides, it would be fitting for Brubaker to leave the character where he was at the beginning of his reintroduction to the Marvel Universe. Who wants to read about a whiny guy who's constantly holding back? Chump. [***1/2]

Wolverine and the X-Men #19: Kitty Pryde has pretty high standards for teachers. Like everything else in life, it's who you know... and if you're a mutant. [***1/2]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of October 24, 2012

The great find at my shop this week: a bagged set of Down #1-4 for five bucks. One of those Warren Ellis books that somehow slipped through the cracks. Funny thing: I always thought of it as a Warren Ellis/Tony Harris comic, but Harris only drew the first issue. It's more a Warren Ellis/Cully Hamner comic.

Avengers #32: Oh, so the woman with the reddish hair is the Wasp. That was obvious from the opening scene of this issue. Except, isn't her hair meant to be brown? Actually, doing a quick Google image seach, her hair is usually a dark brown, almost black at times. But, hey, why not fool readers by lying? Bendis is wrapping up the loose ends. 'Kay... [***1/4]

Batman, Incorporated #4: Jesus, issue three came out three months ago... I had forgot all about Matches Malone and all of that. The reveal of Wingman isn't too shocking -- I honestly can't remember if this is who I thought Wingman was way back when the idea of his identity being a secret was introduced. It's also clear that the Heretic is Damian II... simply left in the tank longer. This issue was entertaining in how well the entire organisation works together. Action! And Burnham's art is lovely. [***3/4]

Captain America #19: Ed Brubaker departs, wrapping up a loose end in a manner that seems ironic given how his run began: Bucky revealed alive, brainwashed by the Soviets to kill. Here, the issue ends with Steve telling '50s Cap that his mind will be repaired and he'll be given a new life, one where he doesn't remember any of his true identity. Another member of the 'Captain America family' brainwashed -- for a good reason, it seems. But still... An appropriate ending. [***1/2]

Journey into Mystery #645: That final scene took a reread to fully understand. Loki's declaration of victory and eating out Ikol's throat threw me -- like he was killing Loki instead of allowing Loki to subsume him. An even more fitting end than the comic I just briefly mentioned. A more purposeful 'end,' too. Partly because so much of what Gillen was dealing with here were things that he had introduced and, therefore, needed to put away. The end of this made Young Avengers an even bigger 'must read,' if only to see what happens now that Loki is Loki instead of it simply being Loki. [****]

Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1: This seemed like a low key, lighter take on some of the same material Graham is exploring in Prophet. Some of the same broad ideas occur, but the perspective and purpose is so different that it's still engaging and worthwhile. Putting those two books together side by side should make for some interesting compare/contrast pieces... [***3/4]

Prophet #30: Great pacing/structure that built to a big finish. I like the idea of Old Man Prophet returning to a world he once fought for only to see it ready to succumb to the empire he fought against. On the surface, that seems like a betrayal -- but, what loyalty does this generation have to a previous one? Just because they chose to fight, doesn't mean that it's the Right choice. Or, that that choice always stands no matter the context. Not something explored (nor is there any reason why it would be), but that part had me thinking for a bit. [****]

Secret Avengers #33: And now we print the "Black Widow Was Right," t-shirts, yes? [***]

The Ultimates #17: I'm very tempted to drop this title and forget that it continued on past Hickman/Ribic. It's so conventional and mediocre in its approach to the subject matter and the execution thereof. Very typical, unremarkable superhero fare when, a year ago, it wasn't. Also, the art continues to slide and grow progressively worse. It's so fucking disappointing. [**]

The Unwritten #42: Up until the final pages, this felt like treading water. Even the reintroduction of Lizzie doesn't completely wow me. Like I've said for a while, this book doesn't seem to have a clear purpose/direction and it's still feeling around for one it seems. [***1/4]

Later

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Weeks of October 10 & 17, 2012

So: I'm married now. We left town last Wednesday night and I didn't feel like bringing my comics with me. I'd read them all while Michelle was teaching a gym class as usual, but didn't have time to write about any of them (hell, I didn't even get to open Building Stories until yesterday!). That means you get a double-sized dose of my EXCLUSIVE! mini-reviews and star ratings this week. Aren't you lucky? Yes, you are. And a new Riding the Gravy Train will go up later today or tomorrow or this weekend, taking into account two weeks' worth of Avengers vs. X-Men fallout goodness.

Avengers #31: Is that Hope? Or someone else entirely? I DON'T KNOW! Comics are fun! A slight breather issue, which suits me fine. I'm glad that Bendis is trying to do something with the Wonder Man stuff. [***1/2]

Avengers Assemble #8: "Thanos loses because the US military can't make shit that works right." I didn't particularly enjoy Thanos being shunted back into basic bad guy mode, but, whatever, it was a clone. Thus ends the weakest part of the Bendis/Avengers era. I can say that with confidence. As much as I found the Secret Invasion tie-ins tedious, they were better crafted on almost every level. Avengers Assemble #1-8 were the worst Avengers comics released with Bendis's name attached to them. [Fucking horrible shit]

Captain America #18: Thus ends the worst Captain America story released with Ed Brubaker's name attached... I guess it really is time for people to move on, eh? [**]

Daredevil #19: Who doesn't love a cover that shows the end of the comic? ME! ME! ME! Another solid, good issue. [***1/2]

Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #13: And this title joins the "Rotworld" fray in time to end in a few months. This comic made very little of an impression upon me. The ending was good. I like the idea that Frankenstein is sort of outside the three 'realms' (or whatever you'd call them). [**3/4]

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #3: From a writing perspective, this issue didn't do a lot for me. Lots of exposition, just throwing details at us -- details that mostly don't matter. But, hey, James Stokoe drawing a bunch of monsters...! Can't go wrong there, can we? [***1/2]

Hawkeye #3: An amusing issue centred around the trick arrows and the word 'bro.' I dug it. [***3/4, bro]

Marvel NOW! Point One: The second one of these big Point One anthologies that Marvel has done and the central story tying things together is a bit better than the previous (with weaker art) and the teases are a bit better. Then again, they teased a lot of comics I'm already interested in like FF and Young Avengers. On the fence a bit about Guardians of the Galaxy and Cable and X-Force. I solidly don't give a fuck about Nova or Secret Avengers. A mixed bag where I enjoyed some bits quite a lot and skimmed through others. [If I waited a month, I probably could have gotten this for free from my shop... but I like them, so I'll give them my money]

The Massive #5: A really good self-contained issue that jumped away from the Kapital for the most part. An early bit of muscle flexing by Wood? I hope so. [****]

The Mighty Thor #21: A weaker finish than I was hoping for. I guess there just comes a point where the constant swerves and tricks and doublecrosses just become noise. This story was filled with them, so they lose a step by this point. Also, it felt like a lot of build-up for a lot of nothing in many ways. Surtur was a bit of a strawman villain here, wasn't he? Alan Davis kills it on art -- and, from an intellectual standpoint, I liked a lot of the ideas here, they just didn't carry the emotional weight you want from a big finale like this. [***1/2]

Punk Rock Jesus #4: There's still more than enough of a religion-hating young angry man inside of me to absolutely adore the end of this comic. I really enjoy this comic now, but my 17-year old self would have loved it. This would have been his favourite comic series of the year -- maybe ever. [****]

Secret Avengers #32: Decent end to this whole Abyss Crown story and I liked Black Widow calling Ant-Man out for being a LMD and no one believing her. [***1/2]

Ultimate Iron Man #1: I didn't even know what the point of this comic was until the end and, by then, the mediocre dialogue and ugly art made me not give a fuck. [Not buying issue 2]

Ultimate X-Men #17: You can see a bit of DMZ in Nick Fury's speech to Kitty at the end. This is humming right along, executed well, and one of the more interesting comics I'm reading right now.

Untold Tales of the Punisher MAX #5: At what point in the future does the father/son stuff take place if the father, as a teen, had a dad that had a giant DVD collection? Apollo 13 seems to have first come out on DVD in 1999 -- and, since the dad took it everywhere, you have to assume that his death happened at least a year or two after it was released, meaning that the flashback story took place in the 2000-2002 range. Meaning, that the framing story, if in the presents, would be 10-12 years later. Given that the son in the framing story looks to be in the 10-12 age range (maybe younger, but the art provides no solid clues), it clearly can't be the present, because the father didn't look like he was getting any girls pregnant while stalking the Punisher. Just the things you think about when reading a tired, cliched, mundane, tedious comic book... [*3/4]

Wonder Woman #13: A transition issue, sort of. Suits me fine. I'm enjoying the ride. [***1/2]

X-Men #37: The end of Brian Wood's tenure on the title and it's a good conclusion. His whole run told a nice story with a clever concept that mostly lent itself to exploring the differing views of mutantkind by members of the team -- and, in the process, bringing about conflict. The Storm/Colossus fight was so charged, because of the slow build to it. The way it was teased and the stakes slowly raised. [***3/4]

The Zaucer of Zilk #1: Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... [****1/4]

Later

Riding the Gravy Train 26 (Avengers vs. X-Men #12, AVX: VS #6, and Uncanny X-Men #19)

Cyclops was right and Captain America was wrong. Cyclops was the true hero of Avengers vs. X-Men and Captain America was the true villain. Cyclops lost (and won) and Captain America won (and won). Life ain't fair, kiddies. And superhero comics are still the most basic and thoughtless of morality tales, so wrapped up in ideas like "Cyclops killed Professor X" than "Cyclops defended himself against the entirety of the Avengers and X-Men, including Professor X, who was actively trying to shut down Cyclops's brain throughout the fight and, in self-defence, killed Professor X," which is kind of what actually happened. It's like the entire event was one long exercise in pushing the "Captain America is always right" rule that governs the Marvel Universe more than anything else as far as it could go. Just tossing it in the faces of the fans and daring them to go "Say he's wrong! SAY HE'S WRONG!" as everyone just sort of shrugs and mumbles stuff about how Cyclops is a bad guy and Dark Phoenix and Uncanny Avengers...

Is this what heroism is supposed to be? Insisting you're right and being proven wrong (forgetting that you were ever wrong, of course); not trusting one of your longtime allies, but trusting a teenager you've known for two weeks; continually attacking someone and, then, blaming them when, surprise surprise, they eventually say they've had enough and begin lashing out. In many ways, the Cyclops/Captain America relationship of Avengers vs. X-Men is the same as the Captain America/Iron Man one of Civil War, right up to the end, except for some subtle differences. Captain America is wrong here, as was Iron Man there, and both won, but, at least in Civil War, everyone knew Iron Man was wrong. I think I had a "Iron Man is an Asshole" tag for that event and its follow-up, and I could have the same one for Captain America here, too.

Looking back over the series, all I can see when looking Captain America is an aggressor who continually looks for a chance to fight and 'put down' his former allies instead of working with them -- and, then, when those allies are proven to have been right from the beginning, still blames them for everything that went wrong. Oh, he pays a little lip service to the idea that he's partially responsible, but it's Cyclops who's in prison despite the fight that resulted in Xavier's death was the result of Captain America leading about three dozen people in an all-out assault on two people. One of which was a person who continually tried to turn the other cheek, work at making the world better, and hope that Captain America would see that, maybe, violence wasn't the answer.

I guess it's the superhero comic line about killing that gets crossed and, therefore, must result in punishment, despite the circumstances clearly being the sort that 'justifies' killing someone (if any circumstances do). What's a little sad is that, if Captain America and the Avengers had killed Cyclops, he would have made some speech about it being 'necessary,' and everyone would have nodded along.

There's just something downright unfair about how it all played out. I'm amazed that I actually care. But, I genuinely feel a little pissed off at how things played out here. Hell, let's address the Dark Phoenix stuff from issue 12. You might be with me up until then, because Cyclops went out of his way to avoid violence and only responded when attacked, but, then, he went all Dark Phoenix and decided to burn the world down before starting anew (which, come on, might not have been a bad idea all things told...). However, given past experience with Jean Grey and how fragile someone's hold over the Phoenix could be, that makes Captain America's call to use violence even more questionable. You have a god-like being that, if provoked enough, could be subsumed by the cosmic force possessing it, and you continually poke that being with a stick? That's the brilliant strategy one uses instead of talking to it, trying to pacify it, maybe try to work with it and avoid any sort of stress/provocation that might trigger an event like this until you can figure out a way to get the cosmic force out of its host safely and voluntarily?

I'm not saying that Cyclops should be given a gold star, a pat on the back, and sent on his merry way, but, Christ, how much can you blame a guy who was right, was instrumental in making the world MUCH better, went out of his way to avoid violence, and only succumbed to violence through continual provocation from the guy who helped start the initial conflict only to turn around at the end and admit he was actually wrong without ever saying that? Oh, and was under the influence by a cosmic force that kind of leans towards mass destruction during all of that?

I've questioned the standards of heroism in the Marvel Universe throughout this event and, under those standards, Captain America clearly is the true example of heroism in the Marvel Universe. That fallen, tarnished, sad, pathetic little place that probably should have been burnt to the ground if this is how its heroes behave.

***

Also: bravo on the completely unpredictable final issue, fellas. I mean, I did get it wrong about Hope going into space, still the Phoenix host, so I guess I'm not perfect either.

***

Match #11: The Fate of the Mutant Race Match - Hope vs. the Scarlet Witch

This is it. The main event match of AVX: VS where the fate of the mutant race is on the line. If Hope wins, we get "more mutants," while, if the Scarlet Witch wins, "No more mutants" stands as the rule of the day. The stakes can't be much higher and given Hope's ability to copy other people's powers, she seems to have the edge. Also, you don't earn the nickname "Mutant Messiah" without having SOME skills. It's actually a fairly lacklustre match, relying more on big, flashy moves that don't really do much than some real technical skills. Hope is more of a brawler than the Scarlet Witch, evidenced by breaking their lock-up with a quick headbut to the face. As with a lot of big main events with longstanding consequences for a promotion, there's never any pretense of delivering a good match and outside interference happens fairly quickly. All we basically get are a few lock-ups and the aforementioned headbut before Captain America and some others jump into the ring to break it up. The post-match sucker punch by Hope seems like an attempt to put over the younger competitor without actually putting her over. Terrible booking that sort of summed up the entire AVX: VS card.

Winner: Cyclops

***

The 'comedy matches' that filled out AVX: VS #6 were pretty good for the most part. I really enjoyed "Verbal Abuse" by Bendis and Jim Mahfood where Cyclops and Captain America settle their problems with words -- and, of course, the Squirrel Girl/Pixie strip that everyone is talking about and is a wonderful deconstruction of how truly nonsensical and bad AVX: VS was as a series. My favourite comments on the series came after the first issue was released, basically going "Well, it delivers what it said it would" like that's an excuse for being really, really, realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly fucking bad. Most comics deliver what they say they will and no one gives them a free pass. But, hey, promise nothing but fights and no one will bother to judge if the fights are any good. They weren't. Not a single one. Everyone involved: you suck at this.

***

Kieron Gillen at least gets it a bit, it seems. Now, he's writing Uncanny X-Men where part of that title's mandate would be showing things from Cyclops's perspective. Still, the end of that issue is great. Cyclops doing everything but going to Beast, "I was fucking right, asshole. All of this fighting was for nothing -- if you'd listened to me, this could have all been avoided. Fuck you." Instead, it's a simple admission that he wouldn't change a thing and a fantastic triumphant final page where he seems to be embracing the next stage of his life as matyr for the cause who can now preach about being right from a jail cell. It gives me hope for the Consequences mini-series.

***

I focused mostly on the Cyclops/Captain America stuff these past few weeks and I will discuss the event as a whole. I'm just waiting for it to actually end since we've got five weeks of epilogue books to go. Once that's all said and done, I'll do the big summary post where I try to move past Cyclops/Captain America and look at the event in a larger way.

Next week: Avengers vs. X-Men: Consequences #1 and possibly Wolverine and the X-Men #18 (it has an "AVX" suffix on Diamond's list) and Avengers #31 (which carries the "AXFO" suffix, which I assume stands for "Avengers vs. X-Men Fall-Out," but I could be wrong and will decide if it counts after I read it).

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of October 3, 2012

Action Comics #13: A solid superhero comic. Nothing too special. [***1/4]

Age of Apocalypse #8: An interesting issue up until the end where it punked out in the same way that mainstream superhero comics always seem to punk out. "They're not just fighting for humanity, they're fighting for their humanity." Shit. I'm rooting for the mutants. [**1/2]

The Boys #71: The minute Butcher started talking about Hughie's family, you could tell what he was doing and that was the point: we could, but Hughie couldn't. That's part of what Butcher was talking about the rest of the issue. That trusting, emotional nature of Hughie -- how he should know better, but never does. And that's fine, because he's a good guy and you'd rather he was like that than be a right bastard. There's a sense that he never really got Butcher and that's sad. If Hughie has a flaw that needs correcting, it's his absolutist thinking at times. Butcher was always more nuanced than Hughie gave him credit for -- and more simple than he appeared to us. This wasn't Jesse/Cassidy, but it was pretty fucking good. I don't know where we go from here for next month's finale, but I can't wait. [****1/2]

Daredevil: End of Days #1: "You don't understand... I tried everything else." Line of the year. [***1/2]

The Defenders #11: Wow, that's a big crock of shit. Here it is: the reason why so many superheroes are in the Marvel Universe aka the explanation that no one needed or wanted. At all. Why the fuck would anyone waste their fucking time thinking up that shit? What is this obsession with everything requiring an explanation no matter how unnecessary or downright fucking awful? Maybe the final issue will redeem things... probably not. Issues like this lead to my weird, complicated feelings on the work of Fraction. He's so incredibly hit or miss it seems. [BIG FUCKING MISS]

Fatale #8: Okay, this book only really works when read in big chunks it seems. I enjoyed the first arc more when I read a bunch of issues and any sort of delay nearly kills whatever interest I have in this series -- which I'll admit is on the lower end of the scale. [***1/2]

Later

Riding the Gravy Train 24 (Avengers #30)

I have only a limited amout of control over what these posts will be like. That's a counterintuitive thing to write, but it's also fairly obvious. After all, I'm not 'choosing' what to write about each week (beyond choosing to continue this series of posts). That's determined by Marvel's release schedule -- and, then, by the people involved in actually making the comics. Last week, there was a wealth of material to explore and an approach that I could latch onto with ease. "Scott Summers is the hero of Avengers vs. X-Men!" Just say the opposite of what is generally believed and, boom, instant material. Helped by the four comics released last week, specifically Avengers vs. X-Men #11. This week, the Avengers vs. X-Men comic released is Avengers #30 and it takes place after the event is over. How am I to write about the event then? This is an issue where Spider-Woman spends much of it acting as a means for Brian Michael Bendis to convince you that he's an awful writer before she turns around and acts as his in-story critique of that sort of portrayal of women... for no real reason. You could lose the first half and probably have a stronger comic. In the end, it's a comic that's not terribly good or memorable or worthwhile, even when taken out of the context of Avengers vs. X-Men and placed back in the context of Bendis's Avengers work. Were I reviewing it for a site like Comic Book Resources, I would probably spend 500 words saying those things in, possibly, nicer ways, but not too many people would read those words, because the one-and-a-half- or two-star rating would be enough.

But, here we are and I guess I should try to get something out of this comic...

I'm a little fascinated by the fact that both New Avengers #30 and Avengers #30 seem to take place after the end of Avengers vs. X-Men and... things are fine. We all expect that to be the case, but it's more than that. Things aren't just fine, they're almost 'normal.' You could put either issue in a different place in Marvel's history and not much would change. You'd need to rework some of the specifics in New Avengers #30, sure, but the basic idea of that issue was, after a big superhero to-do, Luke Cage struggles with what it means to be a husband and father while also being a superhero, and joins some other Avengers in fighting some bad guys before quitting the team. Take out Emma Frost and the fact that the bad guys hate mutants and... nothing that matters would change. The same thing applies in this issue, except in an even bigger way. You literally just need to take out the opening double-page spread and I'm not sure there's a specific Avengers vs. X-Men reference in the comic.

This is the event that Matters (capital M, of course) and Will Change Everything Forever (for now) and, before it's over, we're being treated to comics that demonstrate just how much it doesn't matter. At all. It's just another crisis -- another big event. Another giant threat to the planet that the heroes have to stop. The specifics don't matter. Phoenix? Might as well be Thanos or the Beyonder or Norman Osborn or an act of congress or the Scarlet Witch or Apocalypse or Kang or Ultron or Dr. Doom or the Skrulls or the Kree or the Kree and the Skrulls or Galactus or anything else. Because it doesn't matter.

Do you know the sort of balls it takes to put out comics that send that message before the event is even over? Avengers vs. X-Men #12 comes out in 12 days and Brian Michael Bendis has already moved on. Marvel clearly has with its promotion of Marvel NOW!

That's the reality that we all know when it comes to event comics. No one really thinks that this is the end-all, be-all of the shared superhero universe we are dropping in on. Next month, Avengers and X-Men comics will come out. And the month after that and after that and after that and after that... We know that. Marvel knows that. The creators know that. And we all know that everyone else knows it, too. But, I guess what I'm struggling with is this:

Do they have to be so obvious about it? Can we not at least pretend that this matters until it's done? Do they really not have the stamina to keep up the bullshit through to the end?

Tony Stark has the answer to all of those questions and more: "I'm zonked. [...] Can't SHIELD take care of it? [...] Ugh... Avengers Assemble."

Next week: Wolverine and the X-Men #17. (In the solicitations and house ads, this is listed as an Avengers vs. X-Men comic, but it doesn't have the 'AVX' code on the Diamond list like every other Avengers vs. X-Men book so far. So, we'll see if it's actually an applicable comic or not when it ships on Wednesday. If it is, great. If not... well, I guess I'll have to do something quick thinking, eh?)

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of September 19, 2012

Daredevil #18: It won't end this way, but there's part of me that wants to see the conclusion to this story be that Matt has gone insane finally. Just fucking lost touch with reality. There are many reasons why that won't happen, but it would be fitting. What are the odds that the cause of Matt's problems also caused the death of the gangster guy? [***1/2]

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #2: This issue had a little more meat on it than the first. The backdrop of Vietnam, for what little the comic did to address that conflict, allowed for the American presence to bring something to this issue. It's also helped by the main characters knowing what they're doing to an extent. Stokoe's art continues to wow. Great settings and his Godzilla is fierce. [***3/4]

The Mighty Thor #20: The way Loki brings down Volstagg is masterful and we see him already pushing towards his turn back to the good side. A more low key issue than last week's installment. An adjusting issue as we prepare for the big push to the end. But, Alan Davis, motherfuckers! [***3/4]

Spider-Men #5: There are two types of people in the world (for the purpose of this post): people who find the whole "And, most of all, I have to tell you that--" tease cute and those that don't. I do not. But, hey, it beats actually having to say something then, eh? I did like the final page and am curious what that will lead to. [***1/4]

The Ultimates #15: Americans would vote Ultimate Captain America President, too. [**1/4]

Untold Tales of the Punisher MAX #4: That twist was easy to spot (immediately) and this issue didn't offer much else. An empty exercise. That's all this was. [**]

The Unwritten #41: At what point does a supporting character get to be pissed off that they're a supporting character? After all, Savoy's actions put him in this place -- he chose it. He chose to be Tom Taylor's sidekick, so is it fair for him to turn on Tom here? Fair to blame Tom for what he is and what Tom is? Tom has a strong influence, yes, but it's unintentional. His reaction is so hateful in many ways... and futile. We know that he won't become the protagonist of this story now. The sooner he accepts that... [****]

Wonder Woman #0: Excellent issue. Nice to see War take a central role here after he's mostly stayed off the sides in the present (perhaps in part because of what we see here). Interesting that Azzarello only refers to the character as 'War,' too. I haven't checked thoroughly, but his proper Greek pantheon name isn't used, I don't think. Cliff Chiang's art is simple and clear, but conveys a stunning amount of emotion. A light tone on the surface from both the writing and art that makes the darker, deeper stuff below the surface hit harder. [****1/4]

Later

Riding the Gravy Train 23 (Avengers vs. X-Men #11, New Avengers #30, Uncanny X-Men #18, and Wolverine and the X-Men #16)

Scott Summers is the last sane man. The last true believer. It's all a matter of perspective. He's touched the hand of god and had his faith rewarded with more power than he ever imagined. He can remake the world, he can save his race... and all he sees are the weak, the tempted, the jealous, wrongheaded, so-called heroes that see it as their mission to preserve the status quo, to maintain the rule of humanity, to wallow in endless conflict, death, and misery. He sees his 'father' proclaim his love for everything and everyone before deciding that the ability to make that love manifest is 'too big' and 'shames' him. And it's understandable why they would suspect those with the power of the Phoenix, because the others were corrupt and brought low by the power. It was too much for them. Not for Scott Summers, though. He was never corrupted. He stayed the course, maintained the path... no matter what. The rest embraced the destructive side of the Phoenix in the most cliched and obvious ways. They sought to destroy things literally. Scott simply seeks to destroy the ideas and practices that drove his people so close to extinction. He's greeted by betrayal and scorn. So were all true saviours and prophets. So were all who could truly change the world for the better. The test of Scott's faith is remarkable and he never strays. His focus is always on a specific endpoint and it's only when everyone abandons him that he truly looks like the bad guy, the villain. But, of course, he's not. He's the saviour of mutantkind, of the entire planet. The man driven to do so much good, surrounded by such weak and fallen individuals, that he can't help but appear evil. His actions are defensive until he cannot simply react anymore. Beaten down and persecuted, he did what any true hero does: he musters his strength, redoubles his effort, and overcomes the odds. You see Dark Phoenix, I see Scott Summers, the mutant son of god refusing to be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

***

That perspective on Avengers vs. X-Men #11 is part exercise in amusing myself and part a reading of the comic that makes far more sense to me than it probably should. Honestly, I've yet to see Scott doing anything villainous or corrupt. He's insane, no doubt -- a true zealot. But, that zealotry has also kept him from succumbing to the same flaws as the others. In Avengers vs. X-Men #11, he doesn't do anything 'bad' until he's pushed so far that it seems justified to take the remaining Phoenix power from someone who has admitted to corruption (Uncanny X-Men #18 lays it out quite a bit) and lash out at someone trying to literally shut down his brain. I don't know... he seems like the hero of the story at this point to me somehow.

***

The death of Professor Xavier is done in a pisspoor fashion. It's not clear that he's dead. Emma looks worse off than Xavier. Had there not been a newspaper story about Xavier's death, I don't think many would have assumed he's dead. It's like someone at Marvel read this issue and went "Oh shit... we better spoil this so people actually understand that it happened!"

***

New Avengers #30 isn't a great issue, but the Luke Cage stuff is fantastic work by Brian Michael Bendis. Another step in this large story he's told with this character where he's grown so much. His internal conflict during Avengers vs. X-Men has mostly sat under the surface -- introduced at the beginning and resolved here. It's basically the endpoint that most superheroes would face: giving it up for his family. It's the place where Spider-Man ends. Where you realise that "With great power comes great responsibility" applies to more than superpowers. It applies to the choices you make, the relationships you foster, and the power you have to create life and the responsibility that comes with it. I won't be surprised if Bendis has Luke Cage 'rejoin' the Avengers in his final stories in those books, but I hope he doesn't.

***

We're almost at the end of this story and I'm not exactly expecting a lot from the final issue of Avengers vs. X-Men based on issue 11. The fall of Scott Summers no doubt. The continued depiction of heroes as thugs. Tonight, I saw Captured Ghosts, the Sequart documentary on Warren Ellis (and enjoyed it quite a bit) and, when they got to talking about The Authority, I realised just how much damage Ellis's tenure on that comic has done to superhero comics (through no fault of his own). He spoke of how the Authority was a team made up of bad people who just happened to be fighting against worse people. They seemed like the heroes because they were the lesser of two evils. They still killed large numbers of people, destroyed cities, and did awful things.

And they became the new standard for superheroes.

My biggest problem with Avengers vs. X-Men is how awful these characters all come off. How quick they are to use violence, how quick they are to sink to the lowest forms of paranoia and hatred and idiocy when confronted by a friend who has a different opinion. I mean, come on, there shouldn't even be a story here! Captain America should have arrived at Utopia, explained his reservations about Hope and the Phoenix, and Cyclops should have listened and said, "Well, how about we take Hope into space to meet the Phoenix before it reaches Earth in case something goes wrong? And, if something does, then the combined Avengers and X-Men will be there to stop it before the planet is placed in danger." And then the heroes go do the logical thing that any child over the age of six could have thought of. And that's a story with potential for drama and adventure and excitement that doesn't make the 'heroes' look like fucking assholes. Because they have to simply hit things until they don't move.

Fuck...

Scott Summers is an evil motherfucker. But he still seems like the most sane one of the bunch right now to me. And that's fucked.

Next week: Avengers #30.

Venture Elsewhere

This week's EXCLUSIVE! mini-reviews and star ratings are over at Comics Should be Good. Why? Because I felt like it. So look there.

Riding the Gravy Train 20 (Avengers vs. X-Men #10 and Avengers #29)

What does Scott Summers want?

I've been pondering that question and I'm not sure I know the answer. I don't think there is one, because he doesn't know what he wants. I've argued that he was the only 'pure' one of the Phoenix hosts; that his belief in his cause and in Hope kept him above the pettiness of the others. He was never corrupted by the Phoenix and still hasn't been. It's not power that has driven Cyclops to his actions in Avengers vs. X-Men #10, despite all appearances. It's all Hope's 'fault.'

She didn't ask for Summers's belief in her. She almost always bristled against, not considering herself the saviour of anything, but that didn't stop Scott from believing more and more, becoming an extremist and zealot for the mutant cause with her at the centre of his belief. Avengers vs. X-Men, in a sense, has been a story about Scott's faith being proven right. The Phoenix arrived and, theoretically, has been an instrument for good as the 'Phoenix Five' worked to make the world a better place, let down only by their own weaknesses. They succumbed to corruption because they weren't strong enough to stick to the path. Scott never had that problem. When his fellow hosts wanted to simply kill the Avengers, he stood firm in the knowledge that their cause was just and, eventually, that would win out. There's only so long that you can stare utopia in the face and decry it.

What's driven Scott into similar territory as the rest is the rejection of the saviour he put so much faith in. Hope chose to turn her back on the mutants, on the X-Men, on the cause -- on him. He never thought that he was going to be a permanent host for the Phoenix. He, and the others, were placeholders until the true host, the saviour, would take her rightful place, assume the mantle of the Phoenix, and save mutantkind from extinction. Except, of course, Hope didn't want that. She never saw herself as the saviour and wasn't comfortable with that role. More than that, she shared the Avengers' view on the Phoenix hosts and their descent in corruption and weakness. So, she ran away with the non-believers -- the heretics -- and turned her back on Scott, denying his faith.

Reading Avengers vs. X-Men #10, it's obvious that Scott isn't like the others. He's angry and grows angrier as the issue progresses, not at the Avengers, but at Hope and her refusal to accept his set of beliefs. It's a little surprising how much of this story is based around religion. When Hope chooses the Scarlet Witch and the beliefs of K'un L'un, it's basically Jesus succumbing to temptation in the desert in Scott's mind. After all, the Scarlet Witch (red witch -- definite satanic imagery) is the person responsible for the destruction of mutantkind, while K'un L'un's beliefs are based around a dragon (a lizard -- a FLYING SNAKE!). She is the fallen saviour is his eyes... maybe the false saviour? Is Hope the Anti-Christ of the mutants? The false prophet that everyone is fooled by and brings ruination...

It's easy to write off Scott's actions as further proof of power corrupting, but that feels wrong to me. Especially when you look at the cover to issue 11 where he is fighting Emma Frost on the cover. It could be a similar situation to the Colussus/Magik 'fight' from issue nine; or, it could be Scott embracing the idea that is sure to be growing in his mind: if he's the only 'true believer,' if he's the one that's kept the mutant race alive for so long, if he's the one who has resisted the corruption of the Phoenix... maybe he is the true saviour. Maybe he was the answer all along and all false prophets and those who stray from the cause, who use it for selfish reasons and wallow in corruption, must be eliminated.

And, yet, oddly, I laugh at the idea that Scott is anything but the picture of sanity.

***

In all of the contradictions in Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers #29 is not one of them. It shows an alternate version of the events from Wolverine and the X-Men #12 -- drastically different, even. But, it also ends with Charles Xavier wiping everyone's memories and letting them believe it played out how it would if he weren't involved. What we saw in Wolverine and the X-Men #12 was the version of events as the participants remembered it. I like that idea.

Next week: Uncanny X-Men #17.

Riding the Gravy Train 19 (New Avengers #29)

This right here is the high point of Avengers vs. X-Men. Throughout his time on the Avengers titles, Brian Michael Bendis has used the Illuminati to varying degrees of success. The group, through its various incarnations, have led to some of the Bendis's smartest writing and some of his worst. The mini-series devoted to the group's actions at different points in the past was pretty terrible on almost all levels. The original one-shot was interesting in the way it showed the beginnings of the group, but fell apart near the end. Bendis tried to recreate the concept with Norman Osborn's Cabal at the beginning of "Dark Reign." Most recently, the Illuminati was revealed to the Avengers in Avengers after the Hood stole the Infinity Gems that they each kept hidden. There, Captain American first condemned the concept of a group like that before agreeing that it was necessary and joining.

If you're unaware, the Illuminati is a group of heroes that meet from time to time to consider problems that affect the world as a whole and decide how best to solve them. It's a smart idea, one that takes the idea of superheroes to a logical place, one that, on the surface, seems like it's too far, but, upon reflection, isn't actually any different than anything the superheroes do. And every time someone like Captain America tries to act like it is, he stands revealed as small.

The emergence of the Phoenix Five actually makes for an interesting counterpart to the Illuminati. They are, basically, the same leap that the Illuminati was from the Avengers/X-Men/Fantastic Four, but from the Illuminati. They seek to reshape the world, affect large change, except they do it overtly rather than covertly as the Illuminati preferred. None of this is stated directly in New Avengers #29, but the underlying sentiment that there isn't necessarily anything different or wrong about what the Phoenix Five are doing is seen throughout. Is it that the Phoenix Five are, somehow, evil, or is it that Captain America sees himself small and weak next to them, jealous that they can affect more positive change on the world in a week than he has, perhaps, ever done?

This issue is a series of conversations as people arrive and depart. Captain America has called a meeting of the Illuminati, particularly for Namor, hoping that they can all talk to Namor and convince him to turn on the X-Men and see the error of his ways. Given that Namor still has the Phoenix here, I think we all know that that doesn't happen. But, even if he were still a host of the Phoenix, no one would really think that that would happen. In the comic, only Captain America thinks he'll actually show up at all.

What impresses me most about this comic is that it's the first that I've read to step back and really try to examine the various implications of what's going on in Avengers vs. X-Men, what that means to these characters, and how it fits into the larger context of the Marvel Universe since Bendis took over the Avengers books. If Avengers vs. X-Men is meant to be the culmination of culminations, this is the first comic that seemed like it was trying to make that explicit instead of simply confusing repetition for allusion.

The inclusion of Reed Richards and Charles Xavier is what sets this comic apart. Xavier has made some small appearances in Avengers vs. X-Men so far, but this is where you see what he truly thinks of what's happening. The anguish he suffers over his dream perverted, of his first student and the man that's basically his son (despite their estangement in recent years) setting himself up as dictator of the Earth. Xavier's reactions in the main series to what's happening have never quite felt clear/explained because of the demands there. Here, he's bitter and angry, pissed off that the other all blame him for what's happening and even more pissed off because he agrees with them. His angry rant is great and a brief moment where that character actually felt like he mattered for the first time since... when was the last time Charles Xavier actually meant anything to anyone? In a sense, his appearance in this issue addresses that: this is all his personal failure. His falling out with Scott Summers, his basic excommunication of sorts from the X-Men and the mutant community... it has allowed for this situation to happen and this is the payoff of those earlier stories. Even if the payoff is a man looking at what he's created and realising that he fucked up. He fucked it all up and, now, he has to decide what to do. Bendis offers no solution or answers, and that's rare.

Richards's contribution is that of logic and reason: just because you assume that the X-Men will become corrupt with power, doesn't mean that they will. At that moment in time, there was no reason to think that Cyclops and the others had anything but good intentions. After all, the only actions they'd undertaken that seemed 'off message' were their skirmishes with the Avengers and the Avengers had as much to do with causing those as the X-Men (probably more). Instead of continually poking at Cyclops and trying to undermine his work, what would happen if Captain America and the Avengers joined them, tried to help and, in the process, work to keep them from losing sight of their goals with corruption? Richards lays out a compelling argument for stopping the fighting and working with the X-Men, even raising the events of Civil War as evidence of the a previous time when Captain America and Iron Man decided that violence was the solution to an argument with friends and allies over different ways of seeing the world. It's an implied shaming, a moment where Richards reminds them (and us) that Civil War and the ensuing fallout taught them nothing.

The final scene between Captain America and Namor, along with the opening sequence, is Bendis trying to reconcile Namor's behaviour with the fact that people like Cap continue to consider him a friend/ally. In a sense, Cap's problem is also his strength. He is a man of the past, so things like loyalty are hard for him to shake, but that also means that he struggles with change. He doesn't trust new. And that's understandable. He's had more new than most people could ever hope to see and, to a certain extent, he probably thinks all of it is worse than what he used to know. That means he stands by the man he fought side-by-side with in World War 2, but it also means that Namor has a point when he says that Cap's problem could be that he fears what the world will look like soon, because he doesn't know if there will be a place in it for him.

On the surface, New Avengers #29 is an issue that should present the Avengers's perspective (something that's been lacking in the tie-ins), but, instead, critiques it while contextualising Avengers vs. X-Men into both the Avengers and X-Men's recent histories. This is a story that's the result of both Charles Xavier's failed dream, and the inability for Captain America and Iron Man to allow change to happen except on their terms. It's the best issue of the entire Avengers vs. X-Men event so far.

Next week: Avengers vs. X-Men #10 and Avengers #29.

EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of August 8, 2012

Avengers Assemble #6: You fuck with Thanos, you get to die in space. He's already killed ya before, Avengers... why you wanna fuck with him again? [**3/4]

Captain America #16: This storyarc really isn't clicking with me. I understand mind control is involved, but it seems so lazy -- a way to justify a plot where, uh, a TV pundit turns Americans against Captain America by pointing out that he's not able to defeat everyone everywhere at all times? It's just dumb. Never mind that the art totally kills a central scene of this issue because Eaton can't make it clear what's going on. [**1/2]

Daredevil annual #1: The second of the three Alan David ClanDestine-centric annuals being done this year and I like how this one follows up on the first one, centring things around Vincent's death and showing the next step in that. Though it's not Davis's fault, how many more comics will we have to read where someone gets inside Daredevil's mind and freaks out at his enhanced senses this year? My favourite moment: "But I didn't win." [***1/2]

Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #12: An unexpected approach to the storytelling in this issue. It's not quite as effective as you'd hope, mostly giving the whole thing a sped up, rushed through feel, like Kindt needed to cram it all in so the story wouldn't be broken up too much by next month's zero issue. Is that what happened? I don't know. I also don't care, because that's what it reads like. Which, of course, makes the decision to tell this story a poorer one if that's not the reason why he made it. [***]

Godzilla: The Half-Centry War #1: I don't really know much about Godzilla specifically beyond the most superficial of things. James Stokoe's visual depiction of the giant thunder lizard surprised me a little, but I rather like it. I love the fiery word balloon he does for Godzilla. The story is pretty basic, but the art is gorgeous. I'm glad I'm picking this one up. [***1/2]

The Massive #3: Man, I'd just rather read about Unalaska. Not really a negative thing about this comic since I enjoy it -- more that I think I'd rather read about Unalaska. Especially during the Cold War. Beyond that, I really like the idea of trying to be a pacifist group in this world and the struggles that would create. Clever stuff. [***3/4]

The Mighty Thor #18: More Alan Davis! How lucky are we this week? VERY. That's how lucky we are this week. A solid mood-setting issue for "Everything Burns." [***1/2]

Punk Rock Jesus #2: Oh shit, I didn't have time to read this yesterday. It was the only comic that I didn't read. Er... Be right back.

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...

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...back. Another great issue. I wasn't sure what to expect from Murphy as a writer, but he's quite good. Engaging, a little melodramatic at times, but also unexpected. He's taking his time getting to the 'punk rock' teenage 'Jesus' from the promo images, isn't he? And I don't mind one bit. The "I painted it pink" part was both hilarious and a clear window into how fucked up Thomas is. Damn good. [****]

Spider-Men #4: That cover is a total lie. But, most of this issue simply consisting of Peter, Miles, May, and Gwen talking was great. Bendis really knows how to write those scenes well. I could read a monthly comic called "Conversations" where it's like Marvel Team-Up except it's just two heroes in a room having a conversation if Bendis was writing it. [***3/4]

Later

Riding the Gravy Train 18 (Avengers vs. X-Men #9)

In many ways, this issue feels like an issue that, somehow, sums up the various external problems that have plagued this event from the beginning. Contradictions, an uneven flow from issue to issue, and a generally predictable path as the Phoenix Five Four Two become more and more corrupt in the most obvious, unsubtle manner possible. Yet, it's a surprisingly engaging read if you ignore all of that stuff and try to take the issue on a single-serving basis. Ignore that anything came before and anything will come after and it's good. It's too bad that that's now how this comic exists, nor how it was meant to exist.

Though, even taken by itself, there are some big problems with this issue. The unsubtle (which should be the official 'buzz word' of this event) way in which Spider-Man tells Hope in a rather repetitive manner that every Avengers gets his or her moment and you just need to wait and take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself... right before opportunity presents itself for Spider-Man. Or, there's the puzzling way that Spider-Man's narration on the first page is somehow taking place at the same time as his narration when the issue catches up to that moment in the future. Somehow, he's thinking two different things at the same time while barely maintaining consciousness and facing a likely death. (Also, he was unconscious at some point?) It's a convenient cheat that's beneath Jason Aaron (who hasn't exactly been setting the world on fire during this event); it's also something that sets this issue apart stylistically from the rest of the Avengers vs. X-Men mini-series, much like Aaron's narraton captions in issue two. He is clearly not even trying write towards a cohesive style, which is either good or bad depending on what you want out of this book and its quintet of writers.

But, also within this issue is Spider-Man doing what he does best: refusing to quit. He stands up and takes a hell of a beating for the sole purpose of making sure his friends get away safely. If you ignore the heavyhanded foreshadowing and the flashforward, it's a strong moment for the character. It may be an obvious attempt to create such a moment, but it's true to the character and is the sort of thing that was required to hammer home just how corrupt and pathethic the X-Men have become. Two of the Phoenix co-hosts can't help but kick the shit out of a guy that one of them beat up before getting Phoenix powers.

I also loved the panel where the Avengers help their Limbo-imprisoned teammates back to K'un L'un and everyone needs help of some kind... except for Luke Cage. The Thing can barely walk, Thor needs to be carried, the rest all lean on a teammate and Luke Cage is leading the way, clearly wondering why they even bothered to escape to K'un L'un, ready to rush back and kick some ass. I don't know if that was in the script or if Adam Kubert just knows that Luke Cage is the fucking man.

If you try to put Avengers vs. X-Men #9 in context, it seems weaker. The Spider-Man/Colussus and Magik fight is a simple retread of the Spider-Man/Colussus fight in AVX: VS #2, but more heavyhanded and forced in its attempt to make Spider-Man look like he doesn't give up, while showing that Colussus and Magik have lost it. It's making the same point we've already seen with the same characters and doesn't add anything new. If Spider-Man was in a hopeless, unwinnable battle against pre-Phoenix Colussus, are things actually worse when he's fighting Phoenix-possessed Colussus and Magik? No. Once you hit 'hopeless and unwinnable,' degree doesn't matter. If we already saw Colussus pound Spider-Man to a pulp and Spider-Man continue to stand up, why should we care now?

The method of Thor's capture by the X-Men also seems somewhat contradictory to what we saw in AVX: VS as the fourth issue had Emma Frost no sell Thor's attempts to beat her up and completely destroyed him. Yet, here, we see that Thor was captured fighting Colussus and Magik. Was this because Emma somehow just walked away, leaving Thor to wake up and go about his business? Or was it because we just needed a scene showing how formidable Colussus and Magik are before Spider-Man stood up and got pounded into the ground? Either way, it adds little (though I almost appreciate the effort to show us the power of the Rasputins) and is another case of scenes in two comics not lining up in this event.

***

Tony Stark sitting in a dark room, muttering, "The Phoenix. Wanda's hex magic. Hope. The Iron Fist. Somehow it all fits together... Somehow..." In that scene, is he the readers or the writers?

***

Next week: New Avengers #29.

Riding the Gravy Train 17 (Avengers #28, Wolverine and the X-Men #14, and X-Men: Legacy #270)

The Phoenix Four are officially villains. The turn hasn't been long or subtle, but I think we can safely say this week that, yeah, they're the bad guys. Isn't it nice to be right?

What's sad isn't how terribly obvious this direction -- where the hosts of the Phoenix are corrupted by power, assuming thay just because they can do something that it's just -- is, since it has been obvious from the moment we saw the five of them in action. What's sad is just how poorly executed all of this has been with few cases worse than Wolverine and the X-Men #14 and X-Men: Legacy #270, the former more than the latter. We are shown the Rasputin siblings as they make it very, very clear that, yes, what everyone said would happen has. And it's happened in, like, a week. These are heroes, supposedly, and they are driven this far over the edge in a week?

It's actually another example in the argument I've been making since this event began: the heroes are fallen by this point. The corruption has set in for all of them, not just those given these incredible powers. They no longer fight for what's right -- they fight to fight. They don't know anything else. Look at how the Red Hulk looks at this entire thing in Avengers #28: "They do not get it. This is war." And he's not the only one. Everyone speaks of this conflict in militaristic terms and, actually, have since the beginning. This was never a disagreement between allies that could be solved through reason and discussion. It was war. War without killing, but war.

The lack of killing given the mindset of these characters is laughable. They've moved so far beyond righteousness in non-killing to simply being naive and delusional. They don't kill because they don't kill because they don't kill. They fight and fight and fight and do nothing but fight, but they don't kill. This is the war without end. The never-ending battle. Fallen heroes slugging it out in new ideological conflicts forever, constantly rearranging the sides, switching things up, picking new teams... They are fallen and the world is their plaything. 'War' is some game that they play like children at recess. These events are their recess where, this time, Captain America and Cyclops were the captains and chose all their buddies. None of this matters because there are no true consequences, much like a game. It seems important at the time, they play their hearts out, but soon the bell will ring, they'll go back inside for a while and return later to do it all over again.

Even the Red Hulk and others willing to 'kill' fit into that mindset. He's the big thug that is too overeager and is willing to do anything to win that game of touch football, even breaking some poor kid's arm in an ill-advised tackle. There's a few of those in every school yard.

I am at a loss at how awful Wolverine and the X-Men #14 and X-Men: Legacy #270 are. In Wolverine and the X-Men, Colossus forces Kitty Pryde to have dinner with him, gets increasingly pissed off when she doesn't seem interested, and damn near destroys the school, killing everyone in the process, because he's god now and she will love him if he says to love him. It's one of the worst thing that Jason Aaron has ever written, lacking in anything close to subtlety or nuance, choosing to go for cheap in-your-face storytelling that's very forced and unnatural simply to shoehorn characters that were mindless drones a few months ago into going "Hey... maybe we shouldn't have just shouted 'Viva mutants!' and tried to kill those Avengers guys..." It's awful writing used to fix bad writing.

X-Men: Legacy is almost as bad, but at least uses a character that's a little closer to the corrupt, evil person she's shown as. Magik using Limbo as a prison for the Avengers isn't even close to as big a leap as Colossus deciding to destroy a school for mutants run by his friends. In fact, given the way the character has been written (aside from a few recent bits, I've been told), if she were doing this before acting as a host for the Phoenix, I don't think anyone would have blinked. That doesn't make it any less obvious a comic in the way that Rogue goes from "Mutants forevah, sug!" to "Avengers forevah, sug!" in fairly short order. It's cheap in the way that it tries to make the Phoenix Four look evil, particularly when Rogue tells Magik that they'd be more likely to side with her and Magik basically tells her that, no, they'd kill her to live the mutant dream. The unsaid obvious thing is: the Avengers were previously being held in the X-Brig and, then, were moved to Limbo, so I think they already knew about the Limbo prison, Rogue.

After the first half of this event focused on the X-Men perspective, building up the Avengers as the giant bad guys trying to oppress a race (somehow), we've now had those same X-Men turn on their leaders, because, no, they're wannabe killers of kids, destroyers of schools, and use Hellish landscapes as prison as they torture the inmates.

Except, we're to believe that these characters have only recently fallen and I don't see any change (aside from the over-the-top Colossus bullshit). They were always like this. This is their true selves coming out, the true selves we've seen for years now. This truly is the columination of everything we've seen going back to Avengers Disassembled. The mutants/humans tensions, the superheroes fighting superheroes, the questions of when killing is necessary... the inability to do anything but hit things and then condemn people who do nothing but hit things. This is the low point, the moment where they stand around in pools of blood wondering why they used to smile in old pictures.

Next week: Avengers vs. X-Men #9.