Annihilation: Conquest #2 ~ Okay, if you've read this issue, you know someone dies (or pretty much seems to), and I am not happy about that, and really hope this someone is somehow okay by the end of this. That's all I'll say about that; for the rest, this is another exciting issue in a stylish, clever space blockbuster. Quasar doesn't kick heads this issue, but her plotline advances with hints at how the High Evolutionary will figure into all this. Star-Lord turns up and is just as cool as he was in the Prologue, and with his rag-tag band of heroes provides a lot of humour without undercutting the drama of the book. And Ronan's group gets a lot more screen time, again with hints at how he and they may figure into future developments - though in all cases, it's natural to expect some pretty major twists still to come.
Justice Society of America #11 ~ I have to be honest, I felt a bit less satisfied by this issue than I'm used to from JSA. But I think that's very much to do with the kind of story being told at the moment: it's not stand-alone, or episodic instalments building to a larger whole, right now JSA is very much doing one big story spread over a number of issues. This is a 'middle of the story' issue, and so it suffers from the Two Towers syndrome - it doesn't really begin anything dramatically, or bring anything to a climactic finale. Rather, the various story elements in play are advanced and complicated, and a couple of new subplots are introduced - I'm in no doubt that the story as a whole will be stronger for it, but if you ask me what I think of #11 by itself, it wasn't as exciting as JSA typically is for me.
That said, there are a lot of fine character moments in this issue which do a lot to make it if not exciting, then at least very pleasing to read. Kingdom Come Superman's reaction to suddenly being brought into this Earth, and this Earth's reaction to him, are explored very artfully - anyone claiming this is a pointless crossover merely 'cashing in' on the big name of KC is standing on shaky ground, with the strength and insight of the writing on show here. Starman is as always entertaining, loopy while staying just relevant and, beneath his nuttiness, smart enough that he's not tiresome - it's an impressive balancing act that he comes across as a real hero, rather then just the comic relief, and at the same time he can do hilarious stuff like say they need a map of the multiverse, and then turn straight into the 'camera' and call out to the reader "Anyone have one?!" And while it's mostly setup for future issues, the introduction of a new hero, Judomaster, is accomplished quite seamlessly, giving her a fun fight scene, a cool and interesting power, and a plausible weakness, all without seeming too much like an exposition dump.
Ms. Marvel #22 ~ Okay, I just want to say this up front, because it so rarely happens: I totally called it. Everything we learn about how Cru came to be in this issue, I'd guessed by issue #6. I don't mean to gloat, it's just that my theories are usually way off-base, so it's nice to be right for once. Like JSA this is a middle-of-the-arc issue, and like JSA it's not quite as exciting as usual due to not being a new beginning or a big finale, but like JSA it moves the story forward in an interesting way, so overall it's not a disappointment. The thematic relationship between Carol and Cru, and how it plays into Carol's recent choices, is explored further, and cleverly polarised by extreme circumstances, facing Carol to face up to what she is and what she could be - if she's not careful - in a way that had been largely theoretical up until now (well, it was practical for Puppet Master, but I still can't bring myself to shed a tear for him, so this is more meaningful). The supporting cast are more or less kept in storytelling limbo for the time being, though Sleepwalker gets a cool and logical new development, Anya's attitude towards Carol and her father is demonstrated more clearly, and Machine Man is as always good fun - they're not doing much plot-wise until (presumably) they're ready to come storming in to help save the day in the finale to come, but they're not wasting time meanwhile.
Atomic Robo #3 ~ Following straight on from the teaser at the end of the previous issue, this one is devoted mainly to - yup - a five-thousand-year-old steam-powered pyramid supertank with a solar-powered deathray. Clevinger's writing is punchy and full of laughs, and as with #2 the inclusion of Robo's team of Action Scientists to the missions makes the whole issue a non-stop pop culture mad science laugh-off fest, ably supported by Scott Wegener's fun-but-not-childish art, and colourist Ronda Pattison again showing admirable mastery of colour palettes in differentiating locations by 'feel'. In addition to the usual 22 pages of pyramid-busting fun, and a couple of pin-up pages of Robo by various artists, there's a four-page short comic by Clevinger with Joshue Ross on art, showing another of Robo's historical adventures.
Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 ~ I really wish Marvel hadn't put 'Secret Invasion' on the cover of this issue - the Skrully moment was a surprise as it was, so I can only imagine how cool it would have been to completely not know it was coming. Anyway, what we have here are five short stories, focusing on Gauntlet, Armory, MVP, Hardball, and the Liberteens, who are Pennsylvania's division of the 50 State Initiative. 'Second Best' is mostly plot-based, showing the origin (kind of) or Gauntlet's gauntlet (Southpaw's too), and incidentally Armory's tactigon, and not revealing a whole lot new about Gauntlet, though he does get a fun combat sequence that shows him in action alongside fellow soldiers, rather than recruits - it's a subtle difference, but it's nice to see. 'Reason for Being' shows Armory's origin, and reveals more about her as a person, as well as having a neat twist in its tail - I'm still hoping they bring her back. 'Be All That You Can Be' shows Hardball's origin, and is a mix of interesting character writing and average art - as in his fill-in issue a couple of months ago, Steve Uy still produces sub-par work a lot of the time, compared to regular artist Caselli, or the other guest artists on this Annual. 'Born to Serve' ties mainly into last issue's revelation about MVP and the Spider Slayers, and while it doesn't bring in anything really new, it does fill in some of the details around that plotline. And 'State of Readiness' is mostly just a bit of good old-fashioned fun with a new superteam going about their business - Dan Slott takes the opportunity to bring in Whiz Kid, who he created back in She-Hulk. I'm not sure how well this anthology approach will work to readers unfamiliar with Avengers: The Initiative, who're probably picking it up just for the Skrull stuff, but this is a home run for regular readers.
Justice League of America #15 ~ The Injustice League story that began in the JLA Wedding Special draws to a close, and y'know what it was? It was fun. Not simplistic or childish - it paid affectionate homage to the old Superfriends cartoons without suffering their lack of intelligence (sorry, but it's true). This was a smart story, with plenty of worthwhile character moments, and a lot of subtle setup for future stories, but the core of it was the Justice League and the Legion of Doom having a big all-in brawl, and it was fun. Sometimes it was laugh-out-loud funny, but other times the laughter was just joyful, not mirthful, because it's a great, exciting example of superheroes beating up supervillains just like they do in, well, the comic books. McDuffie again proves that he knows how to handle a large cast - make that a very large cast, with all the heroes and villains charging about this issue - without making it feel crowded, or leaving characters feeling generic.
The Order #5 ~ Although it's getting more into the swing of the larger storyline, this issue's focus is on Kate Kildare, the Order's media and publicity guru - and honestly, I'm not sure I really liked that. I like that the media and public relations is a part of this book - that's part of what makes it unique - but I do feel that Kate is the least central of the cast members to date. As much as publicity is important to how the Order operates - as a team and as a book - I've enjoyed seeing it, and Kate along with it, through the eyes of the heroes who aren't entirely conversant with the ins and outs of public relations, and who have to put up with being affected and 'managed' by it to some degree. And while Kate may develop into a character as important to me as a reader as the rest of them, I don't feel her role puts her there by default, so this early in the game, as much as she makes interesting choices she's not there yet, and I'd much rather have seen another character get the air time she enjoys this issue.
Unfortunately that focus on a character I'm not that into coincided with an issue that (like JSA, and Ms. Marvel - it's the theme of the week) was the middle of an arc, without a real high point to call its own - there's a fight between several of the Order and the newly-introduced Black Dahlias, but their involvement is very much setup for future appearances, and the only development that seems to have any importance yet is an end-of-issue teaser. And just to twist the knife, Barry Kiston only does the layouts for this issue, with Khari Evans doing the actual pencilling - those layouts help, but there's still a strong dose of those damned petulant pouts that Evans seems incapable of drawing a closed mouth without, and with all the main characters being only five issues old, it was a bit jarring to see them in a new art style so soon - I didn't feel like they'd 'done their time' enough yet to be entities in themselves, regardless of who draws them. It wasn't a bad issue, but I think I'll be much happier when Kitson, as well as Morales and White (inker and colourist respectively) are back - I think they're a team that suits this book to a T.
World War Hulk: Aftersmash ~ The interesting thing about World War Hulk is that it didn't have an epilogue - not really, not the way Civil War did, where it clearly laid out the ongoing ramifications of the big beat-up that'd just taken place. Since WWH's prologue was a separate issue, I was looking to this one-shot to fill the epilogue role, and it did and it didn't. What I was most interested in was the Illuminati - Hulk outed them to the world, and I'm curious about how that'll play out. Everyone now knows that Iron Man, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Strange - not the whole Illuminati, but enough of them - took it upon themselves to 'fix' the Hulk problem in secret, and it can't be long before they ask what else they've been taking it upon themselves to fix. This issue doesn't address that, which was a bit of a disappointment - it may not have been that important in the context of WWH, but I felt that was the most important part of WWH for the Marvel world. That said, this issue does address several key points from WWH that were left hanging - what Miek's revelation means to the other Warbound, Tom Foster (the late Goliath's nephew), Misty Knight (whose WWH arc in Heroes for Hire was, besides Incredible Hulk, probably the most important of the tie-ins), and putting New York back together. As an epilogue, it does a good job of reflecting on WWH, and showing how the world is moving on in most areas, but there is that niggling disappointment that it doesn't clearly lay out how WWH changed Marvel Earth the way the Civil War epilogue did.
As a bonus, though, there's a really funny three-page Mini Marvels comic in the back of it, plus some uncoloured but lettered preview pages of Incredible Herc, and the Warbound and Damage Control miniseries. If you liked World War Hulk this is an interesting coda to it, but if you didn't like the miniseries, this won't change your mind about it.
