Invincible Iron Man #597

THE SEARCH FOR TONY STARK pt V

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Penciled by Stefano Caselli and Alex Maleev
Cover by RB Silva
Published Feb 28, 2018
   While MJ, Friday and Amanda keep searching for Tony, Dr Doom zooms across Latveria with his mother Cynthia on his mind. He burns up a makeshift memorial to her and returns to his castle.

Burn the whole thing down.

   Meanwhile Riri Williams arrives at MIT in style where the acting dean welcomes her. He explains that things will be different from here on out, later informing her that the Ironheart armor is technically still her property. She summons it from a far off airport and it makes it's way back to her. Not only that, she's introduced to the team that is working tirelessly to find Stark, and recommended to them by none other than Blade.

Only person ever recommended to MIT by a vampire.

   Back across the planet, The Wrecking Crew is back and infiltrating the broken facade of Doom Castle when they're discovered by Doom Bots. The sentry robots take out some of the crew before an explosion interrupts them. Dr. Iron Man Doom has returned.

Take THAT! AND THAT AND THAT!

   Victor takes a few hits but although the goons think they got the drop on him, in reality he was just recharging. Finally Wrecker warns him the entire underworld is coming for him, before suddenly the Hood appears. The warning proves prophetic as the Hood and his gang rush in and team up on Doom. With orders to tear the place apart, Victor lies in a heap of trouble. But what happens next? We'll have to wait to find out as this issue is left to be continued.

We're coming for Doom.

   I mentioned in a review of Action Comics about how gleeful DC is on getting Bendis. While they're running ads about his introduction, it's a painful reminder that his tenure here is slowly coming to a close. Still, what a ride it's been. Thankfully giving Alex Maleev a chance to bid farewell too, this book just reminds me how great Infamous Iron Man was. I think I might go flip through that one again. I give this one a 9/10.

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Despicable Deadpool #295

BUCKET LIST pt IV

Written by Gerry Duggan
Penciled by Scott Koblish
Cover by Mike Hawthorne
Published Feb 28, 2018
   Kid Apocalypse runs into two pedestrians telling them Deadpool is coming to kill him. He appears behing them and knocks them out, lowering his pistol at the boy as Stryfe watches the red dot flash off the screen. Summoning Wade to his control room, he gives the assassin the last of his kill list.

Last on the list, pal.

   When he returns, he wakes up Evan to explain. Deadpool shot the boy with a dart that suppresses the X-gene, causing him to blip off Stryfe's screen. Unfortunately for him though, Evan called the X-Men, who immediately knock him through a wall, phase a baseball bat through him and later phasing him through a window.

Just had to be the Gold Team too.

   In excruciating pain, DP explains to them all that Ellie would die if he didn't do Stryfe's bidding. Evan tells him he should have just come to his friends, but before any more explanation, Wade throws a grenade at them and escapes.

Smell Ya Later!

   He travels through the sewer leaving a bloody mess. There he sees his final target. A civilian named Marietta Nelson. He walks inside and she wakens to see him sitting there. He explains to her he already owes her an apology. She's upset, but the weird serial killer side of Gerry Duggan makes you watch him kill her over 5 horrible pages.

How long can we drag THIS out?!

   The issue wraps with Captain America hitting Deadpool with his shield. It's time for the merc to face the music but Wade has one more item on his bucket list. What that is will have to wait though as we're left to be continued.

Sure I started all this, but who cares?

   Deadpool is one sick character and we all know it. Still, the point about how he's a compassionate psycho can't be lost here. Case in point, Gerry Duggan used 25% of this book to kill someone we'll never see again. He killed a Daily Bugle reporter in 3 panels a few issues back but makes you sit through this one like a trainwreck you can't look away from. Still - it's riveting. A character who used to make me crazy now only makes me sad this writer's time is almost up here. Now if only he could take Tom Taylor away from All New Wolverine while we're scrambling eggs. I give this one a 9/10.

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Avengers #682

NO SURRENDER pt VIII

Written by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub
Penciled by Sean Izaakse
Cover by Mark Brooks
Published Feb 28, 2018
   Nearly 150 years in the past, Sheriff Red Wolf stares into the barrel of a pistol. Today, he joins the Avengers in a fight to the death in the New Mexico valley and Falcon hurriedly brings he and Hawkeye up to speed.

Ok Clint - here's everything you missed...

   Meanwhile in the Antarctic, Rogue flies her exhausted team and prisoners through the frozen tundra. They share in her loss of Human Torch, and she allows Lightning to head for HQ to summon better transportation.

Guess Herc hasn't been reading Thor lately. Might not wanna be too mean to old Jane, jerk. #metoo

   At the hospital, Beast and Wasp work on Jarvis, using themselves as guinea pigs but having disastrous affects. Back in New Mexico, the Avengers and the Lethal Legion battle hard, with each suffering defeat and upperhand with every other blow.

I hit you, you hit me...

   In the past, Red Wolf was able to tell his assailant was unarmed by looking into the revolver chamber. In the present, he can tell there's something about the pyramoid that doesn't kill a person, so he asks Hawkeye to cover him. The warrior uses the distraction and leaps over the advancing Legionaires to touch the pyramoid. He disappears but Clint explains to Falcon that his friend knew something special about the item.

HAWKEYE RUINS EVERYTHING!

   Back inside the Grandmaster's gameroom, he and his challenger argue. He sends the final puzzle piece into the souls of the dead and they haunt Jarvis's hospital room. The butler tells them it's all a lie. While the Challenger reveals his ace - rage. Jarvis flatlines while original Hulk, Dr Bruce Banner walks out of a tomb. What's gonna happen next? We'll find out in 7 days as this issue is Hulktinued.

Good to see he's not chained up in Cho's trunk anymore.

   This series is essentially Marvel saying they can do anything DC can. Even using former 52 architect Mark Waid. but as the writer explains himself, those were all individual stories that later interconnected. With this weekly series, the story started off big and now it's getting even bigger. I'm really enjoying where they're taking this. I give this one a 9/10.

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All-New Wolverine #31

HONEY BADGER & DEADPOOL

Written by Tom Taylor
Penciled by Marco Failla
Cover by David Lopez
Published Feb 28, 2018

   Jonathan the Wolverine has destroyed a statue. Laura puts on his translator and Gabby takes him for a walk when he drags her down the street. They see a lab. She calls Deadpool

"What's going on, Wade? You got time to be in another shitty book?! OH YOU DOOO?!"

   Deadpool is killing someone when the phone rings and he comes running. She tells him that Jonathan was rescued from a lab like this one and DP is gonna help her infiltrate. She walks up to the guards and Deadpool chloroforms them. Once inside, she does the same but fails to catch the collapsing, elderly man.

This triggered me.

   From the control room, they open the cages. They walk inside and see an army of zombie rabbits. The rabbits attack and they kill all of them. Later a zombie sloth slowly walks up the hallway. he too is eventually killed.

He's actually just trying to crawl away from this book.

   Wolverine tracks Gabby to the lab. She walks in and finds the two killing everything. Later Doctor Boreland comes out with a shotgun and Deadpool opens the door to the Pit. Inside a pack of zombie wolverines are inside - presumably Jonathan's family. They throw the doctor in the pit, and later burn the place down.
   I... um...

I give this a 4/10.

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Action Comics #998

BOOSTER SHOT: finale.

Written by Dan Jurgens
Penciled by Will Conrad
Cover by Will Conrad
Published Feb 28, 2018

   Booster Gold and Superman are strapped to a cross made of kryptonite. As the Zod family pelts them with eyeblasts, the recently departed Skeets overides an Eradicator droid and takes Lor-Zod out. Newly freed, Superman wails on the youngest Zod before Papa comes flying into him.

Hands off, Superman!

   Mother and Son are able to get his arms, and as Lor-Zod prepares to pull Kal-El's heart from his chest, Skeets overrides the entire army and Booster gets Zod in a headlock. They entire crew makes their escape via the repaired time sphere.

For all the setup the Zod thing took, they sure got out of there fast.

   Finally their entire reason for going back in the first place is realized. Superman is able to see the past. Krypton is destroyed along with his mother in the process, but his father is swept away. Booster tries to comfort him but all Superman can think of is his wife and son. The trio makes their way down when trouble strikes.

I get it. An Avengers joke. Oh DAN!!!

   Lois and Jon went to Logamba - all the news Superman needs to hear. He takes off when Skeets further informs Booster that Lois and Sam Lane were machinegunned to death just seconds before. Booster takes action, risking scores of trouble but going back 95 seconds in time before the shooting occurred.

Just in time!

   Booster shoots the gun and takes out the troops before they can fire. The three of them make it to the chopper when Superman further becomes the hero shielding them from anti-aircraft fire. Just a little more fodder for his defense in the coming issues.

Sam's looking forward to hating on Supes.

   The arc finally wraps with Superman taking up for Booster and the theft of Flash's cosmic treadmill. With that, Booster leaves to face the music and this epic story is finally concluded.

Alright Skeets. Let's bounce.

   Inside practically every DC book is a massive advertisement that "Bendis Is Coming". Indeed the Jurgens era drifts to an end in but one issue later but it's best to remember the good times. This series has been in good hands for awhile. Some would even say that giving it to Bendis threatens to pull Supes into an even wordier mess. For now, Dan has continued to do right by the man of steel. I give this one a 9/10.

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X-Men Gold #22

BROTHERHOOD pt II

Written by Marc Guggenheim
Penciled by Diego Bernard
Cover by Dan Mora
Published Feb 21,2018

   Long ago, Lydia Nance was a cared little girl who lived in fear of a deranged, drunken mutant father. Today she watches other mutants captured by her former lackey Mesmero. But while the X-Men play possum, it's clear they don't intend to go down without a fight.
   They spring back to life aboard the yacht, attacking the new brotherhood while new members Avalanche and Pyro turn out to be worthy opponents. Rachel is attacked by Mesmero's mind control while Pyro explains a fight with the X-Men was never part of the deal.

You didn't say anything about X-Men!

   Suddenly they disappear, but Mesmero is still aboard with a phasing Kitty Pryde's hand through his skull. Several other legendary X-foes join the ruckus, and though the Gold Team struggles with them, something isn't quite right. 

So Kitty figures it out before everyone else...

   Kitty tells her team to stop fighting, but the Brotherhood goons don't look to be letting up. Nightcrawler bamfs high above the boat and drops X-Cutioner into the water, while Sebastian Shaw and Omega Red are also slowly dealt with. Rachel senses it's an illusion, and before long it's revealed the X-Men are simply fighting the NYPD. They arrest them and the police take the confused mutants back ashore.

In my day, the X-Men would have just took off.

   Meanwhile Mesmero reveals to his 2 assistants that they were being paid by Lydia Nance and the Heritage Initiative all along. Pyro refuses to be part of an anti-mutant bigoted campaign while clearly, Avalanche has no problem with it. While in Midotwn, She-Hulk tries to level with her clients. They're all stuck in jail and scheduled for hold at the Box while she works on freeing them.

Normally green.

   The issue wraps in the Negative Zone. Annihilus prepares for something huge to emerge, but he's silenced immediately by Scythian, the monster from the previous story arc. What does this mean for the X-Men? We'll have to wait to find out as this issue is left to be continued.

Did somebody tell Guggenheim we wanted more Negative Zone? Because we didn't.

   Just like a yo-yo, this book continues to rock between awesome and not awesome. Luckily for us, this is one of the good ones. Completely silenced are Colossus and Kitty's wedding plans, as well as Rachel's resurgent Hound markings while the X-Men deal with action. Maybe that's all it needed. I give this one a 9/10.

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Venom #162

POISON X pt III

Written by Cullen Bunn
Penciled by Edgar Salazar
Cover by Will Robson
Published Feb 21, 2018

   Cyclops and the X-Men are covered in symbiotes. But while they think they know how to use them, Venom knows they have no idea. The arms dealing gangster Haze Mancer holds him at bay while the X-Men use their new powers. First freeing each other and later freeing Venom.

Check out this new trick, Hank.

   Mancer makes a run for it but forgets the power of his original sale. Venom punches him out, completely enraged and about to end him once and for all but Jean stops him with the rest of the X-Men reminding him they're not killers. During their interrogation, Mancer tries to bribe them but to no avail. Jean scans him and discovers the rest of his inventory was rigged with tracking devices. 

Let's see what's going on in here...

   Hank combined with future tech and his own new alien suit track the bounty hunters who made the purchases. Meanwhile, they continue to torture Cyclops's father Corsair and the Starjammers. Killer Thrill tells him the X-Men are in pursuit but his son was critically injured. But as long as he's alive, Corsair knows his son will do everything to find him.

You blew it, Killer Thrill.

   Venom gives the X-Men some guff over not killing Mancer, but one thing's for sure. Jean knows the suits are affecting the mutants emotionally. While the Klyntar don't want to leave their new hosts, revenge is something their most certainly in the mood for.

I think the Klyntars dig us.

   The issue wraps on a Nova Corps satellite jail. Alarms sound around the now incarcerated Haze Mancer, and among a breach, an old friend has come to visit. Kraven The Hunter, clad in his own symbiote, is looking for one last hunt. What does this mean for Venom and the X-Men? We'll have to wait to find out as this issue is left to be continued.

YOU get a symbiote, and YOU get a symbiote...

   So I was doing a little digging and it looks like Cullen Bunn is subbing for Mike Costa on a few Venom books. I guess that's good as apparently this series is just a vehicle for crossovers, but I'm interested in seeing what Costa has planned for the future. This book has been a little hit or miss. Maybe the time off means he's got some good things ready for the #1 relaunch in a few months. I give this one a 7/10.

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