Part Two:
AVENGERS X-SANCTION #3: "IT'S COMING! 2 MONTHS UNTIL A VS. X!" proclaims the banner running across the tops of all of Marvel's comics lately, including this one. However, this statement is a bit erroneous. AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #0, the official prelude, starts in March and is written by approximately a third of the committee of writers who will helm the project. Marvel has also sold this mini series by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness as a prequel series, which began in December. Alongside inker Dexter Vines and colorist Morry Hollowell collaborate on what Loeb and McGuinness do best - create stories high on combat and low on sense. To this end, this issue has Red Hulk fight Cable and features sudden guest appearances by Blaquesmith, Cyclops, and Hope herself - the adopted daughter Cable has returned from the future (and death) to save. While Blaquesmith has been featured in flashback sequences, his appearance here seems sudden, as are the other characters here. Loeb continues to tell a story more like a child, in which things appear made up as they go along and exist as a train of moments; aside for some tender flashbacks and lines from Cable about being a father, the script could be summarized as, "and then this happens and that happens and those happen and this happens and.." on and on. This is par for the course for a child, but for a long time professional writer like Loeb who has written for TV, it often appears crude. However, why is this still "semi-obligatory"? It is better than some of Loeb's prior recent work; the artwork is fine, and it is a better read than FEAR ITSELF or AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE. It may boil down to it being "less bad" than expected, but it is what it is. The biggest challenge is readers accepting that the Red Hulk - a character Loeb has written as being able to easily punch out Thor, the Watcher, and Galactus - losing against Cable due to an utterly ridiculous fashion. It proves that Loeb's method of writing is just to have a lot of crude moments and have characters "job" to each other - suddenly Mark "Hollywood" Millar is looking nuanced. The irony is the Avengers probably barely knew Hope existed until Cable brought her up and was willing to kill them all to save her without notice, which may in fact be what endangers her. This series is important to continuity and the near future of Marvel's line, and is at heart a crude action story with a punch-drunk script, but, it could have been worse.
DEFENDERS: "What if it's not just a canker core" is as good a quote as any to open a review of this highly bizarre but completely entertaining relaunch of the DEFENDERS series. It sold quite well according to December's sales, but Marvel also double-printed it; it's real numbers are around 57k, but Marvel sent 2 copies for every 1 a shop ordered to promote it (and not force retailers to eat all the risk). Given that it is a Matt Fraction project, at worst it should last about as long as Bendis' MOON KNIGHT. Terry & Rachel Dodson return on art, but will get a break for the next few issues; given that there is some sign of rush with a few panels, it makes sense; in fairness, the two also worked on preview material in FEAR ITSELF #7 and POINT ONE #1 before the first three issues. At any rate, Fraction and the Dodsons run wild with the secondary premise for the Defenders; that they were the team that fought very weird stuff. To this end, a chase after Nul, a spare "Worthy" left lying around after the Serpent's defeat by Thor, has led them to Wundagore mountain and an incredible reality altering engine which Dr. Strange has seen in visions. They must battle past Prester John and the New Men to get to it, and apparently John is hardly the only Prester in existence. To a degree the characters are lost to the spectacle of the action and the weirdness, but that is to be expected. The Surfer at least has one incredible feat regarding John and his giant space-ship. The fight with Nul is a bit anti-climatic, as it seems to be there by obligation; to a degree Red She-Hulk seems to fill the place on the team that both Valkyrie and Hellcat used to historically - the exhibitionist woman who is secondary muscle to Namor. This issue isn't exactly ground breaking, but I like where this series is going, at least in that I can't predict where it is going, but I actually have faith that I'll like the result - which has been rare for a Fraction comic for years to me. The next few issues will feature guest artists and focus on the characters, which is nice - even if it is a recipe for Fraction's usual trick of stretching a 4 issue story to 8, an 8 issue story to 16, and a 16 issue story to 1,556.1 issues. For the moment, however, I hardly regret investing in this series and am interested in where it is going. It has a lot of Morrison-level weirdness, but it doesn't overload the reader as much with technobabble, and the text at the bottom of the pages often break the tension nicely. Given Marvel's new policy of betting only on safe bets, DEFENDERS may be the last of it's kind - a relaunch of a team book without X or Avenge in the title.
THE TWELVE #9: This is surely the sign the Mayans were right. End of the world, destruction of the universe, dogs and cats, living together, total madness. After a "mere delay" of 38 months, JMS and Chris Weston once again unite for their maxi series about obscure Golden Age heroes who have suddenly found themselves living in the present day...of 2008. There is a murder mystery at play, but even if it wasn't a bit obvious in prior issues, the solicitations have long since revealed that it is the robot Electro which has gone mad and started killing people - including the Blue Blade. The Phantom Reporter naturally has an interesting take on the dilemma he and his fellows are facing in "the future", which boils down into believing that the past was ideal, the now is terrible, and there's no going back - the basic feeling of every old man who was ever lived. I can't help thinking that this series would have been tighter if it was "THE TEN" or had fewer characters, as many of them seem to exist to fill the pages and allow JMS a chance to focus on them and thus stretch this mundane murder mystery out another issue or four. Perhaps a few exist as "red shirts". Weston's art is solid, although some bits show some rush - which is ironic as Marvel has touted inked pages of this issue every year as proof they'd not forgotten about the project. After all, JMS likely commanded a high salary for it, so it was one project Marvel didn't want to eat costs on. The shame of it all is that this isn't a bad story, but it isn't a story which can survive the weight of an over three year gap between issues. The fact that not a soul at Marvel - not an editor, writer, junior editor, or copy boy - felt a need to offer at least a basic apology for the delay on the recap page says a lot. In contrast, Joss Whedon won back a lot of goodwill for his latest "season" of Buffy comics by admitting some fault in his last run. This series was hardly selling well back when it was close to schedule - if memory serves, around 23k or so - and I imagine the delay won't have helped it. Frankly, I got my itch for Golden Age Marvel heroes scratched with Liss & Zircher's underrated MYSTERY MEN, but I figure I already got issues #0-8, I may as well finish it out.
VENOM #13: A story called “Circle Of Four” will technically be sold in six issues worth of material; this in a nutshell perhaps tells you all you need to know about Marvel’s strategy in terms of putting all their eggs in one basket. Rick Remender’s relaunch of VENOM has been critically acclaimed and has successfully reached past a 12th issue without sales being in cancellation range. How best to celebrate? Utilize the “Point One Initiative” to essentially publish five issues of VENOM this month, to attempt to bring attention to X-23, GHOST RIDER, and RED HULK – despite the former two characters having their titles canceled. Former regular artist Tony Moore returns to the series for this over-sized, extra priced issue of VENOM, which unites four characters which Remender sees an homage to the “New Fantastic Four” of the late 80’s – Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) and (Grey) Hulk. While the Red Hulk’s appearance has been foreshadowed in several prior issues, X-23 and the newest Ghost Rider have never shown up in this series before. How well handled is this team-up plot?
In execution, this is a mixed bag. In the previous issue, Flash Thompson/Venom had been blackmailed into performing a mission in Las Vegas for the Crime-Buster. Flash once again lost control of himself to the symbiote and went on a rampage – which at least bought him and his love Betty Brant some time from the wrath of Crime-Buster and his Stockholm Syndrome “son”, Jack O’Lantern. In order to get this far, Thompson had to steal the alien symbiote from the military, fight past Captain America (stealing his Harley in the process) and has insisted on breaking up with Brant to spare her the misery and danger of his life. Plagued by his life, Flash has succumbed to his (and his deceased father’s) old vice of alcohol. To pursue Venom for a court-martial, Cap has tapped the Red Hulk, who is the alter ego of General “Thunderbolt” Ross, who has been tracking Venom across the country. In this issue, they run into each other and have a brawl which wrecks a great deal of the Vegas strip. By sheer coincidence, Mephisto’s exiled son Blackheart is secretly the owner of THE DEVIL’S IN casino, which is essentially a front to create a massive engine powered by harvested souls to open a doorway to Hell. In order to power the engine, Blackheart anticipates the new inexperienced female Ghost Rider, Alejandra, will rush foolishly into the heart of it – which she does despite the insistence from her mentor Johnny Blaze (the original and former Rider) not to. This casino was featured in the last issue and the idea of Blackheart being the owner of it is a coincidence but a good enough reason to involve Ghost Rider – even if virtually any other mystically powered superhero would do (Hellstorm and Dr. Strange are mentioned, for instance). So, what brings X-23 into this mix? Turns out Blackheart’s men stole a sample of her blood to create more “warrior clones” of her combined with artificial alien symbiotes because…there needs to be a reason for X-23 to be there. Quite why Blackheart would do such a thing is unrevealed and remains obligatory at best. At any rate, Venom and “Rulk” stop fighting each other when a literal portal to Hell opens under them and demons emerge on a rampage, and they bump into the ladies at the end of the issue. What do they face? Their own mirror reflections, which is too darkly humorous to spoil here.
The artwork by Tony Moore is quite good, with Remender’s script giving him oodles to work with. From sleazy casinos to muscle bound metahumans to demons and monsters and scenes of carnage, Moore makes it all work as only a true master of comic horror can. Val Staples’ colors are the cherry on top, as usual. Moore has quite an interesting interpretation of Blackheart, especially. Remender’s script works mightily to make the editorial team-up seem organic; he handles each character’s point of view quite well, even if this makes Venom become a bit character in his own book. Since the strength of VENOM often relies on Remender’s character work with Thompson, this diminishes this issue into more standard fare than it should be. The best parts are easily the meeting between Red Hulk and Venom, as two freakish soldiers on different sides of the coin. The bits with Alejandra and X-23 are serviceable, if not more awkward. Still, nothing which is out of place or uncommon in superhero comics – prior team=up stories have occurred under far flimsier circumstances. At the very least, all of the characters haven’t decided to fight each other first – yet.
The rest of the publishing scheme is as follows. VENOM #13.1 through #13.4 will ship every week this month; two issues will be written by Rob Williams, who wrote GHOST RIDER. The third will be written by Jeff Parker, who writes HULK (which as of this writing hasn’t been canceled, but give it another few weeks). Remender himself returns for the last “point” issue and naturally issue #14 in March. If it ships the first week in March, that will literally be six straight weeks of VENOM. It will be curious how well, or poorly, VENOM’s modest readership follows through with this. There is the fear that they’ll decide to skip this arc and then perhaps the entire series – a “jumping off point” to what had been one of Marvel’s best relaunches in years. Despite having their titles canceled, X-23 and Ghost Rider will now show up more often in February than when they had their own titles – the former especially since she also has popped up in AVENGERS ACADEMY. Blackheart also seems to be a villain who inspires awkward hero alliances; prior stories with him have seen Daredevil team up with some spare Inhumans to thwart him, and at least two stories featuring Dan Ketch, Punisher, and Wolverine in a brutal tag team.
To a degree, this is a “mini crossover event”, only VENOM is essentially crossing over with extra issues of itself. I’ll be along for the ride, which at the very least looks to be solid, although not ground breaking, entertainment.
VILLAINS FOR HIRE #3: This is another issue this week which seems to devolve into a lot of action. Purple Man has found out that Misty Knight is the one running a rival "Villains for Hire" type crew and has been competing for turf. At first thinking it was a set-up, he is convinced of her legitimacy when she takes out Paladin. Having convinced most of Misty's team to turn on her for cash - no honor among villains - she is forced to defend herself against an entire team of villains. When only Crossfire has your back by the ending act, that's often a bad sign. In the end, it seems Misty has remained controlled by Puppet Master - perhaps since that first arc of H4H. Abnett and Lanning usually do a good job of having Misty be a strong, take charge character, so her having been possessed the entire time would not be ideal - although as this mini was chopped an issue shorter due to Marvel's purse string tightening, this may be part of that. Renato Arlem is aided by two colorists here, and the art is pretty solid. I did think Speed-Demon went down like a chump (a sudden 20 foot drop is apparently all you need to beat a speedster) and Man-Ape begging off Tiger Shark seemed a bit much. Ironically, we have quite a few actual Daredevil villains (Purple Man) or new legacy versions of Daredevil villains (Death-Stalker & Stilt Wo/Man) who aren't actually appearing in DAREDEVIL. Did Crossfire REALLY die just there? Would "DnA" be "allowed" to kill Hawkeye's arch and only nemesis? This mini series has been interesting, but this issue seemed a bit mundane, and it would be a shame if another "DnA" run which had been good ends on a bit of a whimper, like ANNIHILATORS did.
WINTER SOLDIER #1: Marvel's newest ongoing series launch of the month, as well as, technically, the third "CAPTAIN AMERICA book". It is also the third which is written by long time franchise helmer Ed Brubaker, although he is being phased out of CAPTAIN AMERICA & BUCKY (which is ultimately becoming CAPTAIN AMERICA TEAM-UP in all but name). This is a rare #1 issue from Marvel which is priced at $2.99 instead of the price gouging $3.99; an Internet rumor is that Brubaker took a pay cut to make this so, but this remains unconfirmed. The policy of making debut issues more costly than regular issues has long been foolish for the long term, and it is good to see Marvel give it a rest. Brubaker has invested most of his work on CAPTAIN AMERICA on James "Bucky" Barnes; he revived him as the Winter Soldier to critical acclaim at the start of his run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, ultimately redeeming him and even having him fill the mantle when Rogers took a dirt nap for a couple of years. Once Rogers returned and became Cap again in time for his film last year, the place for Bucky was always a concern. Seemingly killed off in FEAR ITSELF #3, Brubaker revived the hero in FEAR ITSELF #7.1 and this issue picks up from that, as well as the conclusion of the last issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA before the relaunch (the "GULAG" arc). The set up is thatBucky is capitalizing on him being considered dead to dig up more secret Soviet era plots and weapons alongside his lover, Black Widow. While he doesn't actually call himself Winter Soldier and takes his intel from SHIELD directly, he wears the costume from that era and is considered this for trademark purposes. The art is from Butch Guice and the colors are by Bettie Breitweiser, longtime collaborators with Brubaker, and it is simply stunning. If there is one quibble, it is that Brubaker's predictable plot with Bucky is "yet another secret Commie plot from the 50's layered with angst ridden narration", which this issue (and arc) has in spades. However, Brubaker is able to execute his story well enough that this flaw is hardly noticeable; and some clever use of some obscure villains at the end is the icing on the cake. The dialogue between Bucky and Natasha is quite solid and cements their relationship as lovers and as products of the Cold War themselves, and gets back to Brubaker's roots in black ops superheroism. Is Brubaker's heart more into this as opposed to CAPTAIN AMERICA? It is unknown, but this debut issue has had more life and vigor than quite a few of Brubaker's recent CAPTAIN AMERICA series lately, AND better than Brubaker's run on SECRET AVENGERS. With fans not being gouged at the wallet for trying out something new, it will be interesting to see if Bucky can sell for long without being Captain America (in CAPTAIN AMERICA). For the moment, WINTER SOLDIER is off to a good start.
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