If the last issue was inspired super hero work, this was so run-of-the-mill that I could have replaced just about any of the characters with almost any other character. Heck, in the sense of Captain Freaking America trying to have it both ways on torture, it would have made more sense to have another character in there.
9 - Captain America #7 (last issue - 7 out of 7 books)
So, once again, the problem is that everything hinges upon these doubts that were seeded in Cap’s head two issues ago. Except those very real, very concrete doubts in #5 have been replaced by vague “what if I’m not such a super soldier” doubts that don’t seem as urgent or ring as true. Follow that up with a bunch of sci fi gobbledygook about madbombs, and it’s the second disappointing issue in a row for this series.
8 - Brilliant #2 (last issue - 1 out 14 books)
Something is missing here, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The group of kids messing around with this stuff makes sense. The suspect money-raising methods make sense. The infatuation and secrecy around the project kind of make sense. At the end of the day, though, the dots didn’t quite connect in a way that made me care about the characters involved or the horribly non-specific problems that are keeping them from realizing...a vague goal. Maybe it was the space between issues?
7 - Journey Into Mystery #633 (last issue - 2 out of 10 books)The cleverness was there, but the story seemed less so. Don’t get me wrong. I think I could probably read Gillen write a comic about Kid Loki and Leah moving furniture without dropping the title from my pull list, but it would always find itself rated in the bottom half in spite of itself.
This time, there was just a little too much meandering and foreshadowing without any real meat on the bones of the story. As always when quality titles have down issues, though, the setup for the next issue is very promising.
6 - Amazing Spider-Man #677 (last issue - 9 out of 14 books)
Mark Waid certainly has fully embraced “it sucks to be Peter Parker again” in the opening act of this issue, showing just how lame a bad breakup can make someone. The introduction of the mystery at the heart of the story and Daredevil to the story was a nice little maneuver, and Emma Rios’ art is a thing of beauty.
There were a few odd clicks, including an awkward quazi-outing of Matt Murdoch by a guy who - especially given recent events - should be a little more cautious about such things and a strangely transitioned trap, that kept this issue from really hitting the mark, but it was still a good time.
5 - Suicide Squad #3 (last issue - 8 out of 12 books)
There were some high water marks here, like Deadshot dealing with his possible infection and making sure that everything works out for him (or at least trying to), King Shark in the woods, and the budding friendship between El Diablo and Black Spider.
There were some low water marks as well, though. Harley still seems to just be a stand-in for an adolescent fantasy and we were reminded about the nanite bombs roughly 100 times in 20 pages (though one of them was a fun bit of dialogue from Harley - so things weren’t all bad).
Still some interesting work being done here. Still not entirely sold on the series yet either.
4 - Scarlet Spider #1 (last issue - n/a)
I’m going to be honest. I wanted to hate this. I wanted to be able to say I didn’t like this book and that I was going to put the tragic history of 90’s-era Spider-Man behind me (in spite of how much I love Venom right now). The tag line at the top of the cover, “All of the Power, None of the Responsibility,” seemed to drive home that what I was about to drop $3.99 on was an attempt to capture the weird 90’s anti-hero for a modern audience. To make Peter Parker a brutal jerk by removing most of his moral compass.
So imagine my surprise when this book picked up with Kaine right where Dan Slott left him off...struggling with the idea that he wasn’t literally a monster anymore, and wondering if that means he can stop figuratively being one. He is not Peter Parker. This much was established in “Spider Island.” Here, though, while on the run, Kaine accidentally gets himself involved in something that will make him question if he can’t try to be.
There are moments where he falters, both in summoning the will to be a hero and in the actual heroics. Here, Chris Yost lets us know that this is going to be more about the journey than the destination. Suddenly, I’m on board for the journey.
3 - Wolverine & the X-Men #4 (last issue - 1 out of 14 books)
There aren't many covers that so accurately give you what you're about to read.
It would have been very easy for Jason Aaron to just write another Wolverine book where there was a strong supporting cast of X-Men. He could still saunter around talking about how he’s the best there is at what he does...but this book is actually about the school. And Wolverine is not the best at being headmaster.
Following up on the initial failings from the first arc, we see some very school-specific problems. Most of these are pure gifts for this title stemming from the recent events in Uncanny X-Force, which provides a nice juxtaposition to a role where Wolverine may actually be the best there is at what he does.
There are still a few gaps. Beast and Iceman seem a little too cool with letting X-Force go on, and Aaron re-introduced almost the entire cast of characters here as if we hadn’t yet met the kids. It provided some fun moments (particularly with Quire and Broo - quickly becoming the stars of this book), but seemed a little unnecessary.
By and large, though, this continues to be everything I want out of an X-Men book. I adore the focus on the school and hope it never quits.
2 - New Avengers #20 (last issue - 4 out of 10 books)
No matter how many times we see Heroes vs. Weird Versions of Themselves, I never find myself unable to enjoy it. So Bendis and Deodato could have phoned this one in. Neither did. The action popped and fell into itself (rather than getting boring, isolated one-on-ones) all while Osborn pushed the plan and the public reacted accordingly.
Little chestnuts like Spider-Man’s Bugs Bunny line and Luke Cage’s unfocused rage were just bonuses to an already amazing issue to show that you can accomplish so much more than just splash pages in these knock-down, drag-out issues.
1 - Severed #6 (last issue - 3 out of 10 books)The thing about episodic stories is that occasionally you’re treated to the one installment where absolutely everything that’s come before suddenly makes total sense. This is that issue. Snyder and Tuff followed through on every thread - answering nearly every question.
The most important question, especially. We know why our monster has been toying with Jack. We know why he’s passed up every opportunity to just end it. We get a payoff for character beats like replacing the salesman. We even get a payoff for the introduction of the bear trap into the story.
The reveal at the end, the true nature of the game being played, added the true horror element to this story and gave as emotional and scary a climax as can be given in a comic where we all know where thing have to go eventually.
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