2018.048 The Crew 1-7

The Crew 1-7
Written by: Christopher Priest
Illustrated by: Joe Bennett, Crimelab! Studios
Marvel Comics

2018.045 Astonishing X-Men Vol 1: Life Of X

Astonishing X-Men Vol 1: Life Of X
Written by: Charles Soule
Illustrated by: Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Guillermo Ortego, Walden Wong, Mike Deodato Jr, Ed McGuinness, Carlos Pacheo, Rafael Fonteriz, Ramon Rosanas, Mike Del Mundo
Marvel Comics

2018.044 Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide

Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide
Written by: Mark Waid
Illustrated by: Jesus Saiz, Javier Pina, Paco Diaz, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba
Marvel Comics

2018.025 America Vol 1: The Life And Times Of America Chavez

This fits into the mold of the Marvel books I love the best.  Female driven.  Lighter in tone.  Funny.  Not too continuity laden.  Everything I love about recent Marvel books like Kate Bishop, Mockingbird, Patsy Walker, Spider-Woman, etc etc.  

However, I found this book to be insufferable.  I found that the more I read, the more annoyed I got.  I don't know what it was.  The story just annoyed the fuck out of me.  I thought maybe it was the first story.  This book contains a 4 part and a 2 part.  The second story guest stars Kate Bishop.  That story, I thought, was even worse.  I haven't read anything that I've disliked this much in a really long time.  I really wish I could figure out why I hated it.  This books seems right up my alley.  Joe Quinones' art was beautiful, though Ramon Villalobos' wasn't exactly my taste.  It's too bad.  I thought this was going to be another book for me to love.

America Vol 1: The Life And Times Of America Chavez

Written by: Gabby Rivera

Illustrated by: Joe Quinones, Ming Doyle, Stacey Lee, Joe Rivera, Paolo Rivera, Ramon Villalobos, Waldo Wong

Marvel Comics

2018.023 X-Men Gold Vol 3: Mojo Worldwide

I guess that technically, this is actually both X-Men Gold AND X-Men Blue vol 3.  It's the first official crossover between the two books.  I thought it might be too soon for that to happen, but after reading it, I was wrong.  I didn't feel shoehorned in.  It felt right.  And that's the way to do a crossover.

I love that the book starts out with the X-Men teams doing what the X-Men teams love best.  Playing baseball.  And like any X-Men baseball game, it never ends well.  This time it ends with an attack on NYC by Mojo.  He's back, he's looking to make a lot of trouble for the X-Men.  And why?  For big ratings, of course.  It's scary how the concept of Mojo and our current administration have more than enough in common to be comfortable.  

What I love about this particular story is it gets to be nostalgic without actually being nostalgic.  Mojo puts the various teams of X-Men through a series of their "greatest hits."  And it's fun.  Plus, we get the return of long time X-Men ally and member, Longshot.  You can't ask for much more.  Honestly.

X-Men Gold Vol 3: Mojo Worldwide

Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Cullen Bunn

Illustrated by: Mike Mayhew, Marc Laming, Diego Bernard, Jorge Molina

Marvel Comics

2018.022 The Immortal Iron Fists

What I look for when I pick a Marvel book these days is (a) characters I adore and (b) something a little lighter and happier.  This book fits both of these items.  I love Iron Fist.  I really don't know when that happened?  Maybe with the Ed Brubaker run?  Maybe when he was in the Avengers?  I really can't remember.  But I've really grown to love the character and have been eating up everything that's come out in the last few years.  

This book was a mini-series that followed up Kaare Andrews run on the book.  This is more the story of Pei, the newest and youngest Iron Fist.  Danny Rand brings her to Earth to both train her and raise her.  He enrolls her in public school to teach her what normal life is like.  It's a real joy to watch Pei not fit in, then totally fit in.  It's great to watch her try to act like a normal kid when she is anything but.  It's great to watch Danny fuck up parenting.  There is nothing to hate about this book other than the fact that it's over.  But that, too, is probably for the best.  There's nothing worse than keeping a book going until it's devoid of something special.  This book ends leaving you wanting more.  I can't recommend this enough.

The Immortal Iron Fists

Written by: Kaare Andrews

Illustrated by: Afu Chan

Marvel Comics

2018.006 Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol 2: Masks

This book proves you can have a book that's smart, funny, serious and well executed without invalidating any of those things.  I loved this.  Kate Bishop is quickly becoming my favorite Marvel hero.  Kelly Thompson is doing magic with her.  Kate looks and sounds and acts just like the Kate from the previous Hawkeye series she shared with Clint Barton.  She didn't get reinvented when she got her own series.  Just given a new setting.  I don't know why more creators can't do this.

We get to deal with a lot of Kate's past in this book.  Her relationship with her father and mother take the spotlight for a good deal of the book.  I want more of this.  MORE!!

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol 2: Masks

Written by: Kelly Thompson

Illustrated by: Leonardo Romero, Michael Walsh

Marvel Comics

2018.004 Champions Vol 2: The Freelancer Lifestyle

I enjoy this book very much.  Very very much.  It's kind of like Marvel's Teen Titans, a book that's always been very close to my heart.  Mark Waid seems to get these characters, even though he's (probably) older than I am.  LOL.  What I don't like about this book is what my biggest gripe about Marvel books has been for a good long time.  Any and all momentum a creative team has gets crushed by whatever the giant Marvel event is at the time.  This book is going along nicely and then Secret Empire hits.  Rather that completely stop what's happening, Mark Waid manages to incorporate being part of a crossover with the regular book, so the interruption isn't too jarring.  But it still is.  And I don't know some of these new Marvel characters the crossover is featuring.  And I kind of don't care.  

Hopefully there isn't a giant event during the run of the next six issues or so.

Champions Vol 2: The Freelancer Lifestyle

Written by: Mark Waid

Illustrated by: Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba

Marvel Comics

181 X-Men Blue Vol 2: Toil And Trouble

Still my favorite of the Blue & Gold X-Men books.  Cullen Bunn seems like he's having a ton of fun with this.  I wasn't happy with the direction he was taking the Beast, but it appears to be resolved and hopefully he can get him back on track.

X-Men Blue Vol 2: Toil And Trouble

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Cory Smith, Joey Vazquez, Thony Silas, Terry Pallot, Giovanni Valletta, Scott Hanna, Douglas Franchin

Marvel Comics

173 Jessica Jones Vol 2: The Secrets Of Maria Hill

Can Bendis please bring Gaydos and Jessica Jones over to DC when he officially starts over there?  I'm going to miss this series and these creators.

Jessica Jones Vol 2: The Secrets Of Maria Hill

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Michael Gaydos

Marvel Comics

170 Avengers: Unleashed Vol 2: Secret Empire

Another instance of Marvel putting a hold on the regular series of a title while their big event of the month runs.  We're stuck with filler until TPTB let the creative team get back to telling stories.  Meh.

Avengers: Unleashed Vol 2: Secret Empire

Writer: Mark Waid, Jeremy Whitley

Artist: Phil Noto, Mike del Mundo

Marvel Comics

169 X-Men Gold Vol 2: Evil Empires

The first volume fell flat for me.  This volume shows some improvement.  Enough that I'll stick around for a little while longer.

X-Men Gold Vol 2: Evil Empires

Writer: Marc Guggenheim

Artist: Ken Lashley, Lan Medina, Jay Leisten, Luke Ross

Marvel Comics

157 Iron Fist Vol 1: The Trial Of The Seven Masters

Here we go again.  Another volume one.  Jesus, Marvel, stop it already.  How many Iron Fist Volume 1s do you need to publish?

Anyway, Iron Fist is back with a new creative team, a new vision, a new series.  I highly enjoyed this look into the life of Danny Rand.  It's the first time since Ed Brubaker brought the character to A List status that I've felt he's getting an A List creative team.  This story could very easily have been the natural continuation of what Brubaker was doing.  It's a shame it took us this long to right the sail of Iron Fist.  

The story itself is quite simple.  Danny's chi is fading.  He's looking to prove he's still worthy of being Iron Fist.  He ends up on a mysterious island with ties to K'un-Lun and battles the Seven Masters of the Island in a plot that's not exactly what he thinks it is (because what comic story ever is?)  Danny is kick ass and so is this tale.  I'm now anxiously awaiting volume 2.  

Iron Fist Vol 1: The Trial Of The Seven Masters

Writer: Ed Brisson

Artist: Mike Perkins

Marvel Comics

150 Power Man And Iron Fist Vol 3: Street Magic

The good: Power Man and Iron Fist back together again, in the buddy book I was hoping for.  David Walker has spent a lot of time in this book building up a big supporting cast.

The bad: Power Man and Iron Fist feel more like the supporting cast and the supporting cast is the lead.  There's just too much going on here that Luke and Danny feel like they get fit in where there's room.

I've complained before about the current way Marvel likes to do series.  Hire a creative team, give them a year to a year and a half to tell a story, cancel the book.  Many Marvel books seem to produce about three trades before cancellation and reboot.  I wish they'd just publish books like the good old days.  Start a book, when that team leaves, bring on another to pick up the story where it left off.  Just as you get yourself invested in a series, it's over, it starts fresh with a new objective, a new cast, a new purpose.  There are some of us who do enjoy a little continuity here.

Overall, this series was a great deal of fun.  Even though this was my least favorite volume, I still highly recommend it.  This is the Luke and Danny I could read until the end of time.

Power Man And Iron Fist Vol 3: Street Magic

Writer: David Walker

Artist: Sanford Greene, Elmo Bondoc

Marvel Comics

148 Moon Knight Vol 3: Birth And Death

I'll be honest.  I loved Jeff Lemire's first volume of Moon Knight.  The second volume kind of lost me.  He was getting too heady for his own good.  But for some reason, it all paid off for me in volume three.  This is good shit.  I feel bad for doubting Jeff Lemire.  He does NOT fail.  Ever.

Moon Knight is one of the most complex and complicated heroes around.  He's insane.  Or is he.  How much of what you're reading is actually happening in the real world and how much is happening in his head?  It's next to impossible to say, but Jeff gets it.  He fucking gets it and it is such a great thing when you realize it.

This is much different from Cullen Bunn's run, which I adored.  I was hoping for more of that from Jeff, but what Jeff gives is on such a different level, I cannot complain.

I highly recommend Jeff's run.  Three volumes, all one story.  While I kind of hate this concept that Marvel is gung ho for, something like this makes it work and work well.

Moon Knight Vol 3: Birth And Death

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Greg Smallwood

Marvel Comics

131 & 132 X-Men Blue Vol 1: Strangest / X-Men Gold Vol 1: Back To Basics

This is the first time I'm throwing two books into the same entry.  It seemed fitting to me, though.  X-Men Blue & X-Men Gold are the new X-books, setting the stage for the post Inhumans Vs X-Men event.  These books give me a very mixed outlook for the future of the X-Universe.

Let's start with Gold.  Kitty Pryde has taken leadership of the team.  She's assembled a small, but mighty, team of heavy hitters.  Colossus, Nightcrawler, Story, Old Man Logan and Rachel Summers, though now she's known as Prestige.  This book is one I was looking forward to more than the other.  It's the real, current X-team.  This should be good.  Marc Guggenheim is writing it.  I love his work.  This book felt like one giant fill in issue.  Nothing felt like it should.  Like he wanted to tell a story, but didn't want to disturb anything else that might be going on in the Marvel U.  It's weird.  It's a fine story, but it felt unnecessary.  I hope this changes with the second volume, or I'm done with it.

Conversely, X-Men Blue was the book I wasn't really hanging much hope on.  It's the time displaced original X-Men.  They were fine during Bendis' run, but can't they go home again.  But Cullen Bunn shows how you start a new series.  He's got a mission for the team.  He's got subplots he's slowly laying down.  He's setting his pieces all in place for when he needs them.  He's not discarding any history.  This is going to be my X-Men book, I have a feeling.  Excellent job, Mr. Bunn!!!

X-Men Blue Vol 1: Strangest

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Jorge Molina, Matteo Buffagni, Ray-Anthony Height, Julian Lopez, Jose Marzan Jr, Walden Wong, Cory Smith, Ramon Bachs, Marc Deering, Tarry Pallot

Marvel Comics

X-Men Gold Vol 1: Back To Basics

Writer: Marc Guggenheim

Artist: Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten, Craig Yeung, R.B. Silva, Adriano Di Benedetto, 

120 She-Hulk Vol 1: Deconstructed

I get what they're trying to do here.  She-Hulk was in a coma after the last big Marvel event (was it Civil War II?) and now she's awake and starting all over.  She's given up her practice and is working for someone instead.  She's broken.  She's not the strong, fun loving Jennifer Walters we used to know.  She's unsure of everything and that's not a good thing.  She tries to prevent herself from becoming She-Hulk because she realizes she has no control over herself when she transforms.  She's basically classic Hulk.  I don't like it.  It's like looking at an old friend who is just a shadow of their former self.  Self-doubting, broken, shattered.  I really want to see her break out of this sooner rather than later.

I find it funny that this volume is She-Hulk Vol 1 instead of Hulk Vol 1 because this is a collection of a series called Hulk.  They ditched the "She" in the title.  Another mistake, I feel, but one they seem to agree with me on based on re-titling the book.

I'm not sure if I'm really interested in reading any more of this version of She-Hulk.  It's kind of depressing and not in an interesting way, either.

She-Hulk Vol 1: Deconstructed

Writer: Mariko Tamaki

Artist: Nico Leon, Dalibor Talajic

Marvel Comics

116 Uncanny X-Men: Superior Vol 4: IVX

Alright, I'm going to say it.  The last six months or so of the X-Men books have been completely squandered.  Due to the IvX thing no one asked for nor wanted, the regular X-Books were kind of put on a creative hiatus while still being published.  Like the other X-Books I've read, this volume is nothing but stand alone stories that don't interfere with the IvX series.  These stories aren't bad.  I think Cullen Bunn had a great run with the X-Men, but it feels like a waste of time to me.  I'd rather the creative teams be left to do what they do best instead of putting out these inconsequential stories.  But that's just me.

I'm just glad after this, the whole IVX crap will be done.

Uncanny X-Men: Superior Vol 4: IVX

Writer: Cullen Bunn, Anthony Piper

Artist: Edgar Salazar, Ed Tadeo, Ken Lashley, Anthony Piper

Marvel Comics

115 Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol 3: Careless Whisker(s)

I've been a huge fan of this book.  It's light, it's airy, it's funny, it's cute, it's entertaining as shit.  And this ends the run of this book.  Normally, I'd be really upset that a series like this is ending, but I feel like it's run it's proper course.  It's ending on a high note.

This volume picks up where the last one left off with Patsy having to defeat the Black Cat.  After that, there's plenty of room left to tie up any loose ends to make this run complete.  What I love is this book took on a completely different style, yet never cut it's roots and ties to Patsy's last appearances in the She-Hulk book.  This was a natural evolution to the character, but making it even lighter than her previous appearances.

I'll miss this book, but I also can't wait to see where life brings Patsy Walker next.

Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol 3: Careless Whisker(s)

Writer: Kate Leth

Artist: Brittney L Williams

Marvel Comics

113 Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4: IvX

The latest era of X-Men is coming to an end.  I'm not disappointed.  The whole Terrigan Mists era of X-Men feels like it was more a placeholder than anything else.  Like, "we just came off of the Bendis run but we don't know what to do with the X-Men.  Let's push our Inhumans hard, poison the air and let the X-Men figure things out while we try to find a direction for the book."  That's what the last year or two have felt like to me.  But it's ending.

This book has a lot going for it.  Lemire!  It's an Inhumans vs. X-Men tie in, but it has almost nothing to do with that series, which is fine by me.  What we have here are four stand alone character driven stories, focusing on a different X-Man.  Forge, Storm, Old Man Logan and Magik.  Jeff Lemire makes it work in the context of the big, awful crossover.  There's really nothing he can't do.

Also included in this book is X-Men Prime, the latest version of "let's start things all over again."  Kitty Pryde is back and she's in charge of the team.  I hope this leads to a strong direction for the X-Men.  It's something they've been lacking for a while now.

Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4: IvX

Writer: Jeff Lemire, Mark Guggenheim, Greg Pak, Cullen Bunn

Artist: Eric Koda, Victor Ibanez, Andrea Sorrentino, Tom Palmer, Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk, Guillermo Ortego

Marvel Comics