Invincible Iron Man #2 was fantastic. I don't want RiRi to ever go away, she is one of my favorite new characters this year. This book is light and fun one moment, brutal and unflinching the next. It is the whole package. The Iron Man books are in a great place right now.
I am surprised reactions to
Ultimates #2 have been on the negative side. This was effectively a follow-up to one of the best issues of the last run. There is a lot to unpack here, as Ewing seems to enjoy using these cosmic entities as actors for meta-commentary. Of all four of these issues I am reflecting on this one the most.
Venom #2 is kinda crappy. I wouldn't have a problem with Venom being a villain book if the story was any good but none of the gangster stuff works and the new guy is not an enjoyable character to read on any level. I'm just not interested in this. Dropped.
Occupy Avengers #2 is a complete disaster, a misfire of its premise that wipes clean any goodwill generated by the first issue. From the wooden and forced delivery of the horrific problems confronting Indigenous Americans that sounds like a Wikipedia article, to Hawkeye complimenting Red Wolf on his eloquence (twice) while steadfastly refusing to refer to him by his actual name for the entire issue because he doesn't want to appear racist, this is one spectacularly tone deaf comic that fails to provide a compelling argument for its existence. The dialogue is often excruciating, like when Hawkeye stupidly boasts to Red Wolf that the limp yo mama joke he just lobbed at one of their captors will give them a tactical advantage (incredibly,
). Or when Hydro Man angrily demands Hawkeye call him Hydro Man while Hawkeye throws the shade of a 1960s Spider-Man comic with zingers like slip-n-slide and wet willy. Mess. Total mess. Nuke from orbit. Dropped.