Luke Ross impressed me when I saw his art on Captain America recently. I could not profess how much I’d love to see him and Esad Ribic keep at it on this book with Hickman and Humphries. Following a bolstered 9-issue run, we see Reed Richards plummeting SHIELD and USA into despair. The despot known as Richards has wreaked havoc unto Fury, Tian – haven for the Xorn twins, and Asgard. Thor and Stark continue to wallow in self pity until Sue Storm injects some intrigue to the tale.
Of course, when Thor builds an enraged vein…things take a new lease on life. Especially, when Tony falters more and more, much to the chagrin of Sue who is in utter disbelief that Reed is decimating the world. Toss in Steve AWOL Rogers and a kicker of a last page…you’d see that the brilliant Reed Richards…aka Jon Hickman in real-life…has another thing coming. It isn’t as riveting as the issue before but it works. (7/10)
After seeing Cap and Logan slug it out last week, the Scott Summers play here is trite. Emma, Kitty, Rachel and Iceman all shed claws of their own as we see where lines are drawn in battle and who takes which side. It’s a shame AvX deviated from the Quinten Quire plan that rocked so hard on this title. Aaron does redeem himself, not only with Bachalo’s astounding art, but with a tasty plot seed in Genesis and Angel. Logans is stressed to the max and this underlying factor could well tilt the see-saw on this title. Angel and Genesis aren’t the pivot of this event but like Quinten, they make for better reads. With Summers basically recruiting, this issue felt like too much expansion of what deserved a few number of pages. Too much and too confounded at times…this issue made little sense in the wake of Schism. (5/10)
Deodato’s art never wavers but Bendis should have left this Phoenix/Iron Fist tie-in to Matt Fraction, who has dealt with Rand and the X-Men in detail. Bendis uses Leo Da Vinci here and tying the Phoenix to a past Iron Fist while the city of K’un Lun is Leo’s observatory seems like a bunch of random and abstract ideas thrown around in a maze of comic vomit. This is the most non-sensical of all the AvX tie-ins. Then again, maybe Bendis has gotten as fed up of the boring Luke Cage as I have. Either way, there’s a Sentry-like retcon coming…this way…and with Bendis piloting, I am not optimistic. (4/10)
Spencer and Paco Medina are on top their game here. Nimrods are razing the US and it’s all down to the fallen soul of Stryker. There’s a nice technological blend of killing and machinery while tying loose ends such as Kitty’s crew and Storm’s failed attempt to rally the mutants. Throw in mishaps with the president and a haphazard state of affairs in the Lensherr family…and this is a hapless powder keg that’s gonna blow soon. There are a lot of plot points that you feel converging in the right way. Spencer took his time and built this nicely from the ground up with a great artist. What solid redemption! (8/10)
IDW charts a gruesome, eerie tale of a family under siege from a pack of wolves. There’s a terrifying and mystical feel here with a profound sense of supernatural agony. The family incurs many losses and there’s a dark lingering feel that you sense will be reimbursed. The trauma and sordid script is done by Bobby Curnow…and when I mean sordid, it’s a good thing…as little children gored and maimed here…is in better taste than say…oh…Mark Millar? It’s an effective book…and chalk up the efficiently pristine pencils of Dave Wachter…oh yes…oh yes…the book keeps getting scarier by the page…and that too, is quite good. I endorse this fully! (10/10)
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