MARVEL NOW THEN, NOW THEN
All-New X-Men - While a neat brief interlude concept with the originals drifting in, another Bendis book but now fucking with all of the X-Men has been as legit bad as I feared. Keeping Young Jean Grey and Young Cyclops et al around for romantic pair ups is just not what I want from X-books when they'd just found their feet again post-Schism. Battle of the Atom has been 9 issues of stupid random future X-Men fanon fighting. Also Bendis assassination of Kitty as still some clueless hothead when WatXM had her as a damn good adult headmistress is disappointing. Her getting "attached" to the original five makes no sense at all.
Are we reading the same book? Bendis has got the X-Men soap opera feel down pat. Love me some O5 dudes running around, and so far BotA has been great fun. Genuinely hilarious cliffhangers with EVEN MORE X-MEN, but they're keeping it fairly tight still. Best X-Event for a good long time.
Avengers - isn't an Avengers book. Its some high-sci-fi stuff happening that Hickman wants to write but with occasional appearances from Cap, Iron Man and Thor.
I maybe agree that it's not super-Avengers-y but it is bloody good space opera with some fantastic ideas and long term plotting going on. It feels different.
X-Men - also lacking severe purpose, and sharing the same space as UXF as Team X-Women, but this time without Puck. An endearing Logan and Jubilee issue made me glad someone else can write Wolverine not as the most retarded character living, but then it got BotA event'd. Needs to prove itself bigtime.
It's barely had time to stretch its legs, but I've been enjoying it so far. The first arc was pretty good, the Logan and Jubilee issue was wonderful and I like having a space for the X-Women to really interact and spark off each other. I like the tensions they're introducing with Storm as the leader.
Captain America - Great first arc, if it ended a little with typical Remender schlock tactics. Not sure how its going to hold up outside of Dimension Z. At many times it doesnt feel like Remender writing which is a good thing.
I thought dimension Z was great but not feeling this Nuke story at all. But I really have a thing against both flags on faces, and characters wearing combat trousers with no shirt. It's a bad look.
FF - sorry dudes, Allred has never been my jam. This book has never worked well in my eyes due to the occasionally great comic moments juxtaposed over a grieving father out for revenge for his disintegrated dead daughter. Book only ever lived and died as Hickman spillover in the past anyway.
I wish this was just about the school. I don't need villains and shit in this book at all.
Fantastic Four - Went nowhere, now the team switches up.
How Bagley ruined this book is beyond me. Dude went from being a solid artist to pumping out this shite? Boo.
New Avengers - aka, Reed Richards and Black Panther continue Hickman's F4 run. Good stuff, but needs to go somewhere soon, although its been event'd.
I don't think it's been event'd, rather its a key part of the event and has been designed as such. You think the whole reality incursion thing has nothing to do with the universal shenanigans elsewhere?
Thor: God of Thunder: Jason Aaron, I would make love-words with thee.
I loved the first arc, but I couldn't even get through the last issue. So many dumb words, so many dumb tropes, so much dumb font. Ugh. Luckily it's only 5 issues long. And this is after the perfection that was that Midgard issue.
Hawkeye: Feels like its really squandered its momentum a bit too much. Retelling the same events 4-times was way too many.
But... that art!! So damn good looking. I can forgive a lot when a book looks like this.
(((
