Avengers #71 - "Whirlwinds"
by Geoff Johns, Steve Sadowski & Andrew Currie
A neat one-off tale concentrating on the current and past relationship between Janet Van Dyne (aka The Wasp) and Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man, YellowJacket, Goliath, Giant-Man…). Kicking off with possibly the first depiction of oral sex in an all-ages Marvel comic (okay, so it's implied rather than explicit), it smacks into high gear when Whirlwind hits the couple and proceeds to fulfill his long-held desires for the Wasp - he tries to rape her. Possibly the most "adult" the Avengers has ever been; good story, good art, excellent cover by J.G. Jones…and Pym proposes to Jan again - what's her answer? Buy the issue and find out! Subsequently to writing this, I find out that the issue has been delayed a week and had a "Mature Readers" advisory slapped on it...not surprising!Incredible Hulk #62 - "Split Decisions, Part Three"
by Bruce Jones and Mike Deodato Jr.
Things have got so convoluted in this title since Bruce Jones took over a few dozen issues ago - and he's still on the same plotline - that the introductory page contains dozens of lines of small type to try and convey the most recent plot developments, yet still fall somewhat short. However, this comic itself is excellent - Jones has a superb grip on how to structure a cliffhanger; the story leaps from situation from situation, devoting one or two pages to advancing each particular story, and leaving you on tenterhooks as he leaves his characters in nasty situations. Deodato Jr's art is also excellent - there is judicious use of full-page spreads when the plot demands it, the sequence featuring Nadia and Mr Blue attempting to escape a farmhouse infested with aliens-esque creatures is tense, surprising and even stunning. And that final page… This could well be one the five best comics Marvel are currently producing.Iron Man #73 - "The Best Defense, Part One"
by John Jackson Miller and Jorge Lucas
Another issue of Iron Man, and another new writer - or so it seems - as Marvel continue their quest to find the "right" writer for this book. Crimson Dynamo's JJ Miller is given a shot, and he provides an adequate, although not demanding, script and plot for his opening salvo. In essence, Stark is back to worrying about his munitions being used by the wrong people, except this time the US government are involved in what seems like out-and-out theft of his designs and ideas. The hook for getting Stark to agree to work for the government seems unlikely - and I dislike the "dodgy people working for the government without their superior's knowledge" idea as it's tired - but the book picks up right at the end when Miller pulls the most influential figure he can find in the Marvel Universe out of his hat and puts Stark in a hugely implausible, yet potentially exciting, position. One to watch.NYX #1 - "Wannabe, Part One"
by Joe Quesada and Josh Middleton
So, NYX is finally here - what's it all about? Kiden Nixon is a cute little kid, taking a walk in the park with her cop dad ... whereupon he gets his brains blown out in front of her. Fast forward ten years or so, and she's a teenager, skipping school, popping pills, clubbing it, and taking no shit off anyone - not her mum, not her teachers, and certainly not the school tough-guy. This last looks to earn her and her friend a savage beating - under the stress of this, her mutant power manifests itself; and it's a cool one, with which fans of Nicholson Baker's The Fermata will be familiar. Middleton's art is beautiful as you might expect, although he does overuse the changing focus movie-style effect in the middle of the book. Very much a setup issue, and I have concerns over Middleton maintaining this quality on a monthly basis - but it has bags of potential.The Punisher #33 - "Confederacy of Dunces, Part One"
by Garth Ennis, John McCrea & Crimelab Studios
All the usual ingredients for an Ennis-Punisher story are here - extreme violence, witty dialogue, inane bad guys waiting to be blown away…oh, and the return of Spacker Dave…"just Dave now, actually". The Dunces of the title are Spider-Man, Daredevil and Wolverine, meeting up to deal with Frank Castle once and for all - there's a clue in their dialogue which maybe no-one has picked up on before, around Frank "things has a way of…happening". It almost makes one think that Frank Castle is actually a mutant, his power being that of extreme good fortune. If you do nothing else this week, check out the last two pages of this issue - it's a killer final line from Frank you just have to read.Spectacular Spider-Man #5 - "The Hunger, Part Five"
by Paul Jenkins, Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher
Maybe Jenkins is finally losing his touch on Spider-Man, as by the end of this arc effectively nothing much has happened – Eddie Brock and the symbiote are reunited and free to continue their ever-violent and murderous ways, and Peter Parker has a dislocated shoulder and not much else to show for it. Disturbingly, Parker’s actions just didn’t ring true this time around – faced with a dying Eddie Brock in front of him, and a dying symbiote elsewhere, one big headache for the world would be removed if one just kept them apart. Instead, Spider-Man takes active steps to reunite the pairing, after a miniscule amount of agonising over the decision. I mean, really really small – he hardly even thought about it. Given that this pairing is just going off to kill another load of people, or make them destitute and/or severely wounded, it’s incredible that he barely considered letting the pair of them die – Spider-Man obviously believes that the needs of the few (or the one) outweigh the needs of the many. Here’s hoping the next story-arc puts this series back where it belongs.Venom #5 - "Shiver, Part Five"
by Daniel Way, Francisco Herrera and Carlos Cuevas
OK, so there’s nothing in the plot précis at the start of this book to indicate we’re in a whole new alternate universe, but we obviously are as the Venom here is unattached to Eddie Brock, it’s running wild in a research lab in the Arctic, in a total rip-off of John Carpenter’s classic movie, The Thing. Even the ending of this story apes the very beginning of the film. However, with this and Spectacular Spider-Man being released in the same week, along with the art styles of Herrera and Ramos being exceedingly similar, you’d be forgiven for wondering how two radically different stories of the same character could possibly belong in the same universe – that they don’t is not necessarily obvious to the neophyte reader of this title, and as with the other book, it would be better to wait until the next story-arc – go and rent the movie instead.Weapon X #13 - "The Underground, Part Seven"
by Frank Tieri, Barry Kitson and Sean Parsons & Rich Perotta
Tieri has been building this plot for a while, and despite a nice lead-in memo from “The Director”, not much is readily explained for the new reader; it heavily relies on knowledge of at least three or four earlier episodes of the storyline. A number of strange situations occur for various characters throughout the book; one in particular rankles strongly, where Deputy Director Jackson leaves a trial, almost, into his conduct, only to declare himself outside to be the new Director. OK, so he may have been lying, but the following pages seem to back up his assertion – there seems to be a page or two missing, maybe where he killed the people judging him as he wrested control. I’ve a feeling this will read a whole lot better in trade format.What did you think of this book?
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