Saturday Splash Page #189

"Escher Dimension," in Secret Avengers (vol. 1) #18, by Warren Ellis (writer), David Aja and Raul Allen (artists), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

Secret Avengers started in 2010, post-Siege, and focused on Steve Rogers, now as "Commander Steve Rogers", the current (temporary) Boss of All Superheroes, forming an espionage squad of Avengers. Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato were the initial creative team, and I did consider buying the book when it started, because Brubaker was going to put Nova on the roster, which seemed like an acknowledgement of Nova's big-time work protecting the universe in all the Abnett/Lanning Cosmic Marvel stuff of the previous several years.

As it turned out, good thing I didn't pull the trigger at that time. Nova was in the book for one story, most of which he spent under the control of the Serpent Crown. Should have expected the guy who just wants to write spy stories and noir stuff wouldn't do right by the sci-fi, human rocket hero. I did buy the book for the last year+ of its 37-issue run, when Rick Remender took over as writer and revamped the roster a bit. He wrote the best Hawkeye at Marvel during that stretch, neither Bendis' kill-happy version or Fraction's incompetent doof. A cocky but principled Hawkeye, not exactly enthused about having Venom on his team. Granted, more for the killing aspects than the part where Hanks Pym and McCoy devised a drug to keep the symbiote - a sentient being - docile and controllable, but you take what you can get. But the story was something about androids and artificial intelligences trying to take over the world? I can't even be bothered to go read my old reviews, and it got excised from the collection long ago. It had potential, but as with a lot of Remender's work, it didn't resonate with me.

What's left is the 6-issue stretch immediately preceding Remender's, that I picked up in back issues maybe 6 months after it ended. Each issue is a done-in-one of a specific mission for Commander Rogers and some portion of his team. In one issue, he may bring along War Machine, Valkyrie and Sharon Carter. In another, Carter, Black Widow and Moon Knight. I think only the last issue - where people are being used as receptacles for some other-dimensional horror babies - involves the entire team.

Each issue is drawn by a different artist (in order, Jamie McKelvie, Kev Walker, David Aja, Michael Lark, Alex Maleev, and Stuart Immonen), with a story tailored to their respective strengths. Aja gets to draw a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, Maleev's issue is the Black Widow trying to use time travel to prevent the death of the team without altering the sequence of events, which involves a lot of panels of her talking to people at different points in the past.

The missions are usually some bit of strange science that could be extremely dangerous - a Von Doom time platform big enough to disappear the city of Cincinnati, matter from a universe where electrolyzed water could turn the Earth into a star, a big rig roaming a war-torn country abducting people to co-opt their brains into an enormous bio-computer - but again, it's an excuse to let the artists go to town. There's never any sense the team is getting closer to the masterminds behind the "Shadow Council", just putting out various fires before they hit critical mass.

Which might explain why the team's first response is invariably, "kill," or at the very least, "severely injure."  The final issue of this stretch is the one where Rogers says he won't use torture, but he will leave the room while Black Widow and Moon Knight use torture. War Machine tries talking with the people being infected by Lovecraftian horrors, then gets berated by the rest of the team for not just killing those innocent victims before they could start to change. I guess cynicism is part and parcel of a book about superheroes doing stuff no one is supposed to know they did.

There were two more volumes of Secret Avengers after this, one following on the heels of the other, both running a little over a year. I bought the second of those (third volume overall), but Ales Kot was being too cute by half with his writing. I didn't even keep it long enough to do one of these posts about it, which is pretty damning considering how many books I've moved to the "give away" pile as soon as these entries were written.

Random Back Issues #90 - Secret Avengers #13

Spider-Woman's making the only correct response. Other than breaking his face, which she'll do later.

A guy named Snapper, who was MODOK's assistant, and replaced the top of his skull with a glass dome, is trying to summon some Lovecraftian horror from a dimension called Tlon to put an end to all bullies. Maria Hill's going to be the centerpiece of the sacrifice. I would hold out for a better sacrifice.

Snapper knows Hill's team - Nick Fury, Hawkeye, MODOK, Phil Coulson, and the Fury, yes the one from the Captain Britain comics - is on the way to rescue her and Spider-Woman, currently in a cell and stuck talking to some crazy incel poet. But that's all part of Snapper's plan. He's banking on MODOK being in love with Maria Hill, which, I'm not sure who would be getting the short end of the stick in that hypothetical relationship. The attack begins, complete with an "Explosion-O-Meter", which a caption box informs us Ales Kot stole from Hot Shots: Part Deux!

The same page of Deadpool on a Hawkeye-themed VW bus (not as cool as the Kra-Van, but not bad) informs us we're seeing something Seth Rogen and James Franco already did in The Interview, and whatever it is Kot is trying to do with this bit, he's officially trying too hard. I don't even know what it is was in The Interview that we're seeing here. A guy singing about fireworks while grenades explode around him? Anyway, I can't remember how exactly Deadpool got mixed up in this. I think he and Hawkeye ran into each other on some AIM thing and Wade keeps wanting to team up. I'd take him over the losers Clint's running with in this book.

The Avengers seem to be doing well, I mean, the Explosion-O-Meter is up to 79, although they're getting credit for Deadpool's work. Also, MODOK is yelling about death to 'semiocapitalism' and how he is conflicted while machine-gunning a lot of people. If Snapper was counting on the children the Fury produced with some other-dimensional mess to help, that's not working out. Nick Fury and Coulson find Spider-Woman rescued herself. But Snapper injects Hill with some essence of Tlon to try and convince the Avengers to turn MODOK over to him in a trade.

Except then Snapper has his goons shoot MODOK with the same thing and the gateway starts to open. But this is all probably part of the Avengers' plan?

[9th longbox, 100th comic. Secret Avengers (vol. 3) #13, by Ales Kot (writer), Michael Walsh (artist), Matthew Wilson (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer)]

Bring The Bad Guy Down With His Own Scheme

Had a thought typing yesterday's post. Hawkeye couldn't shoot the Orb of Necromancy because of his firm belief that Avengers don't kill. Which is a largely emotional response.There are likely legal reasons, but for Hawkeye, I think it's simply a belief he has, that the Avengers stand for something, and that they don't kill, no matter the situation. Which is a pretty inflexible and possibly unreasonable approach.

The techno virus is described as removing emotion and replacing it with cool logic, asserting an objective reality. Removing emotion from the equation, in other words. Might have been a good ending to have the virus change Hawkeye enough that his emotions are gone.

At which point he releases the arrow and destroys the Orb. because if he's truly committed to stopping the Singularity, then he has to destroy the Orb. Objectively, there is no other way to achieve that goal, and it's only his human emotions that held him back.

If Remender wanted it established Father would absolutely control people through the virus, say the decision was made in the split-second between emotion deserting Clint, and Father being able to command him. If you want that left ambiguous, just make it a flaw in Father's plan. That he never considered that someone might oppose him, but be hamstrung by morals his virus would remove, thus freeing them to stop him.

In A Collective, Some Are More Collected Than Others

I noticed last week that every threat Remender threw out during his Secret Avengers stint involved some sort of unified mind. Father and his goal of a technological singularity. The Abyss and its desire to spread its nothingness over the world through others. That relative of Mar-Vell's who used his son's mental powers to make an entire world passively await the Phoenix' arrival*.

The last example would have led to the collective suicide of a world, against the general populace's will. The Abyss would do much the same to Earth, given the yammering its followers did about embracing the void. You could take that as simply an absence of individuality or free will, not unlike Earth after Darkseid got going in Final Crisis. Either way, it's not a good scene for the people.

Father and his plan are a slightly different matter. His claim is he'll elevate humanity, beyond sickness, frailty, blinding emotions, even death. They have physical bodies now, but in the long run, the plan seems to be to have some cloud of their collective consciousness moving about in space, unencumbered by physical limitations.

That sounds like a pretty good deal, provided you don't mind your mind linked to every other person in the world**. There's cause for suspicion, that Father, like Abyss, like Kree guy, will be in an elevated status. Certainly, the Avengers seem to think that's happening. Braddock attributes Pym and Jim Hammond's behavior to Father, and there's certainly credibility to it in Pym's case. I'm less sure about Hammond; he could have let his desire to not feel so different overwhelm any concerns he might have. Or he was being controlled.

But for Braddock, there's no doubt Father isn't on the up-and-up, hardly surprising when you consider what they'd encountered recently. In general, collective minds are presented as hostile, usually because they want everyone to be in the collective, willing or not, it's just a clever way for one person to accumulate absolute power, or just because it's different from us.

Was Father going to use it as a means to control everyone, or would it have been the great advancement he promised? Did the Avengers have good reason to be suspicious, or did they let past experiences Father wasn't responsible for color their judgment? In one interpretation, you could say Remender's point is collective consciousness doesn't work because someone is always going to try and assert themselves on another, and this can lead to extinction. The other interpretation is more about how humans tend to see patterns and correlations where there are none, and make poor decisions because of them.

Remender might not be driving at either of those, though. It might be about the importance of individuality, or how it's the struggle to achieve that makes accomplishing something worthwhile***. Hawkeye's archery and status with the Avengers are impressive because of how hard he worked to reach that level, not simply that he did.  Ultimately, it's individuals that decide things. Jim Hammond decides it's wrong to force this change on humans, and destroys the Orb. There's nothing a collective can do about it. And they're all brought low by it, save Parvez, who never seemed affected to begin with. When the Avengers arrive to rescue him, he isn't hostile, he's glad to see the Black Widow. For whatever reason, the true Descendant was never part of the Singularity at all. Which may be how he's the true success of Father's plan, by carrying their genes on to future generations, gradually integrating them into humanity in a less intrusive manner. 

* You could argue the threat in that arc was the Phoenix, but the team wasn't going to stop the Phoenix, or die against it, because they were just in an AvX tie-in. Anything like that would be saved for the main series. For the purposes of that story, certainly, the Phoenix was a MacGuffin. It might have been one for all of AvX. Something to get the team near that particular Kree world, so they could run afoul of Mar-Vell and his cousin.

** To me, that sounds like hell, and yeah, that's strange coming from a guy who's been mouthing off on the blog to whoever reads it for seven years, but I choose what I share and don't share, just as you choose whether to share or not in the comments, or on your own blog. The idea that people are privy to your thoughts constantly, and you to theirs, or that you can't even tell where the line between them lies is not appealing. If you're someone who enjoys their solitude, where do you go?

***  I don't know if I'd agree with that, but there is some research that suggests people appreciate something more if they worked to get it.

There'll Be More Descendants, Eventually

I've had mixed feelings about Rick Remender's work on Secret Avengers. One thing he did that I liked was that he put the Orb of Necromancy in the hands of 3 Avengers unlikely to destroy it. Destroying the Orb would stop Father's plan, but also kill all the Descendants. Hawkeye, Beast, and Captain Britain don't want to do that. They all have friends and acquaintances that are artificial intelligences, they even had a teammate for one at the time (two actually, but they only knew about one).

The problem is, they don't have the time to devise some other countermeasure against the technovirus mist sweeping the globe. Even if they don't want to use it, they may have to at least threaten to use it. Then there's the question of what happens if Father calls their bluff. As it turned out, Jim Hammond ended up making the choice for them, and I can't decide whether I'm happy about that or not. I'm definitely pleased Hawkeye isn't responsible for killing an entire race*.

At the same time, it's a bit of a cop out, isn't it? Clint was presented with a choice: Kill the Descendants, or allow Father to forcibly alter every human on the planet. Based on what he believes being an Avenger is about (tenure under Bendis excepted), he can't destroy it. Which means humanity may be lost, depending on how you'd define it. Then Hammond swoops in and does the job. Clint doesn't have to make the decision. Good for him, maybe.

There's at least a question of whether the pleas people were making to Clint were genuine or false. People being converted were claiming to be happier this way, but there's at least a hint that Father may have been pulling the strings. We saw that in the first arc, when Father told Emperor Doombot to sit down, and he did so without a peep. Is that sheer force of personality, or as their creator, can he exert a certain amount of control over them. I couldn't help but notice Pym was trying to destroy his teammates until Beast shorted out something in him with an EMP. At which point, Pym went back to fighting the Descendants. And something sure turned Jim Hammond around for a bit, to the point he was leading Father's forces.

I'd be more inclined to take them at face value if Father didn't seem so two-faced about everything. The way he talks about bringing his children together to plan, then making it clear he'll talk, they'll listen. The way he encourages squabbling amongst the different groups with a kind word here, or a cutting remark there. Setting the O'Grady LMD loose amongst the Avengers to be his mole, then complaining about how you can't trust LMDs. Well not when you've made them to be deceitful, no.

He whipped the Descendants into a frenzy with talk of how the Avengers would destroy them the way he claimed they destroyed mutants. His claim is the Avengers will never recognize them as true life, and so they have to make everyone like them. If the Avengers were as bad as all that, there wouldn't have been any debate whatsoever about using the Orb. They'd have done it the way you unplug a toaster. Does seeing this indecisiveness cause Father to reconsider? Sure, the U.N. shot down his claim to ownership of Bargalia, but if the Avengers backed them, maybe things would be different**. But no, he finds it amusing. he mocks them for their fear, attributing it to their being scared of change, when really, none of them want to commit genocide.

It's hard for me to believe things would have turned out well if Father had gotten his way. The idea humanity would become some galactic consciousness sounds like the sort of thing that convinces all the alien powers it's time to eliminate Earthlings once and for all. But I've never found the idea of hive mind consciousness to be appealing. I want my thoughts to be my thoughts, and your thoughts to be your thoughts, and that's it.

Parvez did survive, and Jim Hammond is still kicking around, so the Descendants are gone yet. Father may get his wish in time. It'll take generations, but Parvez' descendants may help merge organic with technological in a way. I don't think it'll be what he was shooting for, but at the same time, it'll also hopefully be a lot less painful, because it'll be more gradual.

* Since they're able to breed with humans and produce children such as Parvez, they can't be a separate species. Though I'm sure there would be plenty of people in the Marvel Universe who would ignore that as readily as they do for mutants.

** Or maybe not. I don't know what the current U.N. attitude towards the Avengers is.

What I Bought 2/25/2013 - Part 3

It's the end of one series featuring Hawkeye, and another issue of his own series today. Jack also sent a copy of that new Secret Avengers series, but I sent that back. Don't care.

Secret Avengers #37, by Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Matthew Wilson (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I wouldn't say that's one of Adams' stronger covers for this series. The panicked Machine Man in the background behind Val is a nice touch.

Obviously Father's plan to infect everyone with the techno-virus failed. Hawkeye and Spidey got the Orb of Necromancy back, but Hawkeye can't pull the trigger to destroy it. Partly because the virus is rewriting him so that he agrees with Father (or it's "cold logic"), partly because Avengers don't kill. Clint is saved from the moral quandary by Jim Hammond. Captain Britain had helped him realize that change doesn't mean anything if it's forced on people. So the Torch destroys the Orb, and kills all his descendants, save one. Parvez still lives, which is nice. He's a kid, an innocent. Too bad his mom died. Maybe Natasha's going to look after him. Also, Valkyrie killed the O'Grady Ant-Man. I think. He vanished after he she stabbed him the chest, so maybe he just shrank.

OK, did Pym die? Last we see, Master Mold blasts him, and that's it. He isn't at the debriefing, he'd been turned into a Deathlok, did destroying the Orb kill him too? Lotta kind of vague stuff in this issue. People dead or maybe not. Was Father controlling people through the virus, or did they actually agree with him once it took emotion out of the equation? Scalera's art was it's usual solid work There was a nice two-panel sequence on pages 2 and 3 where Venom shot O'Grady and the path of the bullet went straight to Venom's word balloon in the next panel. There's also a page 6 conversation between Hammond and Braddock where the perspective rotates from over Hammond's shoulder as he has the upper hand, to behind Braddock by panel 3 as his words get through to Torch. Then there's a flashback to Hammond's past for a panel, and when we come back to the present, we're zoomed in on his eyes. Might work a little better if he had pupils, since all you can tell is he's angry. Or determined. Maybe both.

Hawkeye #7, by Matt Fraction (writer), Steve Lieber (artist pgs. 1-10, 20), Jesse Hamm (artist, pgs. 11-19), Matt Hollingsworth (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer) - Using the red for the outer edge of the hurricane's a nice touch. Draws the eye, then guides it to the scattering letters of the title.

It's a Hurricane Sandy issue. I'm a bit apprehensive about working these sorts of real world things into superhero comics, maybe because most of the examples I can remember were written by JMS. The nice thing about this book is it's already focusing on things at a personal level, and so the story can just be about the Hawkeye's experiencing the storm alongside other people. As it is, Clint drives Grills (the one who started calling him Hawkguy) out to Rockaway something to watch over Grills' dad, who is thoroughly unimpressed by the storm. Until it kicks in his front door. This does lead to family bonding, and Clint gets to prove how good he is at boats. The other story involves Kate attending an engagement party in Jersey. The power goes out, one of the guests doesn't have enough of her meds. Thus Kate must set out on an epic quest for. . . The Pharmacy! Which is being looted, because people are assholes. Where's that techno-virus? Kate loses a fight to a can of baked beans, but the locals apprehended the thieves and Kate got the meds. Then she crashed at Clint's place, and made him use the sofa. Which I don't care if you are a lady and a guest, it's my place, I paid for it, I sleep in the bed. Clint lacks my clarity of vision, though, and accedes to her demand. Or maybe he's smart enough not to waste time better spent sleeping on arguing.

At first, I thought Lieber's work was Aja's. I thought Aja had changed his style a bit, but his Clint looked similar enough, and he wasn't skimping on the panels. I eventually caught up, but it doesn't matter much. Lieber does a really good job. The look on Clint's face on page 3 as he carries the sandbag out, very bitter and resentful. Which is about the reaction I'd have to dealing with some crotchety, ungrateful geezer pain in the ass. The shocked horror on is face on the next page might be even better. I think it does a stronger job of conveying the horror of seeing a wall of water tearing down a street towards you than the next panel - which is a wall of water tearing down a street towards us - does. A person wouldn't look like that unless it was a bad scene, you know?

Maybe it's Hollingsworth's colors that are making the art look similar. Hamm's work reminded me of Pulido's in places. Not the facial expressions so much, Hamm exaggerates more, to great effect, Kate's furious glare and point a prime example. But the sequence where she's standing in front of the window watching the storm and getting bugged by Steve Buscemi's tiny grandpa (is that a Boardwalk Empire reference? I've never seen that show?), the shadow work reminded me of Pulido's two-issue story.

What I Bought 1/22/2013 - Part 4

While I was hanging out with Alex over the weekend, he convinced me to watch The Watch. Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, aliens invade podunk Ohio community? That movie was meant to be a satire of action films, wasn't it? Besides being a vehicle for raunchy dick jokes, I mean. It was the big shootout at the end that brought the point home for me, the guns never running out of ammo until it's necessary to build suspense, the slow-mo of Jamarcus tossing away empty guns, only to draw more from his coat. It had that knowing wink feel to it Hot Fuzz did. Except considerably less funny and well done.

Oh, and I'm going to talk about Secret Avengers today.

Secret Avengers #35, 36, by Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Matthew Wilson (color art), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - The next time the Avengers try hiding inside with the lights off when solicitors come around, they might want to remember to close the curtains on the upper floors in case one of the salesmen is a giant robot.

Black Widow, Venom, and Valkyrie are in The Core, and they found Parvez. But O'Grady found them, and is in the process of kicking their butts, while whining about how he's allowed to be selfish. You know, if Thomspon were putting any thought into using the symbiont, be could smother O'Grady in about 3 seconds. I know, Flash Thompson and thinking don't go together.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye, Captain Britain, and Beast figure out a way to escape the Undead Universe with the Orb of Necromancy. Braddock is a surprisingly good bluffer. Also, Hawkeye killed Vampire Wolverine with a Pym created artificial sunlight arrow. Bet that took him less time to perfect than Willow Rosenberg's sphere of sunlight spell. Did she ever get that down? The heroes return to the 616 reality is ruined because Father and the Descendants have made their move. The appeal to the U.N. to recognize them as sovereign rulers of Bagalia (after Max Fury signed it away to them), is met with shouting about "terrorism", which is kind of a conversation-stopper. Not quite up there with invoking Hitler, but close enough. So Father has his people who are hidden among the populace release a nano-mist that will remake every person on earth into a artificial being. Including the Soviet Super-Soldiers apparently, which is an odd choice by Remender, but I guess it can be ignored readily enough.

With the Avengers and FF trapped in their respective headquarters by some adaptive metal. It's down to our three heroes, plus Spider-Man. And they have the Orb of Necromancy. Fire it up, and they can kill the nano thing before it alters humanity. But it'll also kill all the Descendants and the Avengers aren't keen on that notion, especially Hawkeye. Then Deathlok Wasp and Pym show up, and Jan grabs the Orb, but McCoy brings Pym back to himself (mentally, he's still half machine), and it's Cyborg Giant-Man versus Master Mold thing as the conclusion approaches.

I have concerns about how the concluding issue is gonna go. Hawkeye has been so adamant about Avengers not killing, and he seems completely willing to acknowledge the Descendants and living sentient beings, that I can't help but fear Remender's going to make him kill them as some sort of commentary on "growing up", or the futility of moral absolutes, or something. Given his cack-handed approach to Hawkeye thus far, it wouldn't surprise me. Beyond those worries, I liked the writing. I'm hoping Remender will come up with a creative, non-lethal solution, and Father is the kind of villain where you can't take anything he says at face value, which means I can't take anything the people working with him say, either. Like, does Jim Hammond actually believe humans will never regard as a real person? When one of his best friends is Steve Rogers? When he managed to make friends with Namor, who gets along with almost nobody? Or is Father exerting influence?

I don't have much to say about Scalera's artwork. I would have liked a little more variety in the designs of the artificial lifeforms in the double-page splash at the beginning of 35. Give the Sentinels a sense of individuality, since they are (in theory) individuals, albeit ones all working towards the same goal. That said, the panel of Master Mold glaring into the window of Avengers Tower was pretty good. The glowing eyes in shadow look is always gold, especially when it's a giant robot that somehow got the drop on an entire team of Avengers. Nice awareness there, folks.

What I Bought 12/17/2012 - Part 3

Got some snow here yesterday. That wasn't so bad. The wind, on the other hand, was brutal. Simultaneously shoving me around and freezing my ears off. It subsided overnight, or at least it was calm during my run this morning. You know the problem with running on roads after a winter storm? They're slick from ice and packed snow, so every step, your feet slip a little as you push off. So you expend just the little extra bit of energy each time. It's the same problem I have trekking up hills in the boonies when it rains. Feet slip on the wet leaves.

Captain Marvel #7, by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Christopher Sebela (writers), Dexter Soy (artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I don't know what it is about McKelvie's art. It's technically fine, but it leaves me cold. Maybe the noses are too pronounced? There's something about it that just jars my eyes.

Monica Rambeau's called in Carol to help investigate some missing boats in the Gulf. When Monica is busting Carol's chops about taking the name "Captain Marvel" without telling her, and Carol isn't giving Monica grief about Googling herself, we learn boats have been going missing, and Monica had a bad experience underwater in her early Avengers days (there's even a helpful editor's note!), so she doesn't go down there anymore. Thus, Carol. Back on shore, they're approached by an old employee of Carol's, some photog named Frank Gianelli. Frank's on Monica's ass to do something about the levees, ignoring, as Monica notes, that her powers and expertise are not useful for something like. Frank puts it on the back burner to get in on what the ladies are investigating, though. The source of the problem seems to be a very large thing, constructing a body for itself out of the planes and boats that have gone missing.

Oh crap, this isn't some prelude to Age of Ultron is it? I really hope it isn't.

I think Soy's coloring is well suited for underwater sequences. He gives it a bit of murk, without making everything so dark you can't tell what's happening. Also, I like that he draws Monica as slightly taller than Carol. I'd have always figured it the opposite. At the very least, they aren't conveniently the same height. I do think DeConnick and Sebela went a little overboard on the cutesy name usage. "Captain Whiz Bang" and all that. It isn't at Fraction using "Bro" levels yet, but after awhile I was had enough. I'll have to wait and see whether it persists into the next issue, which will presumably involve lots of smashing and blasting.

Defenders #12, by Matt Fraction (writer), Mirco Pierfederici (penciler), Veronica Gandini (colorist), Clayton Cowlers (Letterer) - One last generic posing cover to ring in the end of the series. The fact Namor only managed to get his legs in the picture is funny. Suits him, too. "The Avenging Son has no time for such pettifoggery!"

The world is about to die, and it's the Defenders' fault, because they took one of the Engines. Except the fucking thing was still on Earth, even when they weren't, so what's the problem?! Why use the stupid Engines to help create heroes do defend the planet, if the heroes can royally fuck everything up by investigating weird crap like magical wishing machines?!  Strange uses the Engine to go back in time and change things so he isn't at home when the Hulk comes calling, instead going to see Molly and try to. . . make amends for sleeping with her, I guess? While the rest of the team runs around in a dying world trying to save people and wreck the Engines (and where were those Engines Prestors?), only to end up dying before that one Prestor gets off his lazy ass and does. . . something. And I'm not sure what it matters, since according to the Surfer, Strange changing the past undid it all anyway.

I said before that I'm giving Avengers Arena a try. The Internet, in its typically hyperbolic way, has given me reason to think that's a mistake. We'll see. Even if it is, I doubt I'll wind up regretting it more than I do buying this series. Cripes, what a disaster. I don't do a "Worst Ongoing" in my Year in Review posts, but rest assured, if I did, this would take it. Easily. Even the disappointment that was Resurrection Man wouldn't come close. Let's end with something nice. Pierfederici is fairly skilled at facial expressions, and I like that bit with Fury standing up to the Death Celestial. The little explosion of the grenade at its feet, as it unmakes him and a bunch of other people.

Secret Avengers #34, by Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist), Matthew Wilson (color art), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - What do you think the yellow circles are on the cover? Lamps? Imprisoned souls? The eyes of some otherworldly horror? I'm only asking because I need something to distract me from Hawkeye's feet. I imagine Adams always draws them that way, but it's the first time I really noticed. Clint got bit by a radioactive kangaroo, apparently. Also, it's kind of strange that on the recap page, all the character's pictures are drawn by Hardman, except Pym, who is from one of Adams' covers. I guess Hardman never drew Pym as Giant Man during this run.

Flash manages to reconnect with his symbiont, and get himself and Val inside the burning Watchtower. Fire is still bad for the symbiont, but Natasha returned (outfit still ridiculously unzipped), and they all teleport out, winding up back in the Descendants' base. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Braddock retrieve the Orb of Necromancy, but find Undead Brother Voodoo can block their escape. Hank McCoy arrives, but lets the portal close behind him, so now all three are trapped in an undead universe. Joy.

In the Core, all hell is breaking loose, as all the different A.I. factions are at war with each other. Not sure what that's about, unless it's some Apocalyptian "survival of the fittest" deal. Meanwhile, Father reveals that his plan is to enable all humanity to scatter their minds across the universe by combining them with nanotech. Because every other group in the universe is just going to sit still for that. Senile fool. Original Recipe Human Torch seems on board, though, and Deathlok Wasp has made Hank Pym like her. No, not a woman. A Dethlok-thing. Oh, the heartwarming reunion.

I don't like Scalera's take on Father. He makes him look less aged, more like someone who suffers from a bad skin condition. I did like the pouty face he gave Parvez in the panel where Father ruffles his hair. His rendition of the Core is lacking that hodhgepodge style Hardman gave it, but given the civil war that seems to be raging, a burned out, post-apocalyptic look isn't bad. I do like his Undead Universe. he gets that Gothic horror and gloom, the sense of rot in everything. Also, his Undead Celestial is much more imposing than any of the Defenders' artists' version of the Death Celestial. Matthew Wilson's colors help a lot on both counts, all the purple and black, the darker shades contrasted against Braddock and Barton's lighter blues and purples. Helps them stand out, demonstrate they don't belong.

Now if only he would zip up Natasha's outfit.

February's Bringing Some Changes To The Pull List

Most of the solicitations for February's books came out last week, but there seems to be an unusual amount of movement on my pull list for month. Two books that January was the last issue, three that will be starting up in February. It's about a 30% turnover.

Secret Avengers ended in January, and I don't have any interest in the new title of the same name starting up, so that's one off the list. I figure I'll at least give Fearless Defenders a chance. I've heard different things about Bunn's writing, but I don't have any experience. Sixth Gun generally gets good reviews, but his Marvel work has gotten a more mixed response. It's probably trickier to write for Marvel. You're taking part in a larger universe, so maybe he has to be careful of who he uses, or what he does. Or it could be a matter of difference in tone between his book, which has always looked like a horror story of sorts, and what he does for Marvel.

The art might be my bigger concern, though. I don't have any experience with Will Sliney's work, so it isn't a gripe against him specifically. It's more a general concern with a book with a predominantly (if not entirely) female cast. Think the Civil War/World War Hulk era Heroes for Hire. I don't think the art did it any favors there. If Sliney can avoid Deodato-style perpetual hip sway, or a Frank Cho abundance of butt shots, that'll be a decent start. I know that all sounds pretty negative, but I'm curious to see a team book lead by Valkyrie, what problems she'll choose to tackle, how she leads. And the Marvel Universe is a pretty cool sandbox to explore that with.

Secret Avengers is the second Marvel title on my pull in three months to get cancelled, and Fearless Defenders will be the third added in four months. Which means Marvel NOW! is working for me, barely. Better than the nu52, certainly. Speaking of DC, February marks a parting of ways for me and Green Arrow, since it has a new writer. I know some people swear by Lemire's work, but I don't know. He's been on Animal Man since the relaunch, and they're still doing this story with the Rot. What's more, they'll still be at it in February, a year and a half since the relaunch. That sounds severely decompressed, and my tolerance for that has started to wear thin.

Anyway, I'm tentatively planning to follow Nocenti to Katana. I don't have any affection for the character, but the whole idea of having a sword that contains the soul of her husband, and might try to take control of her sounds pretty cool. What's the sword's plan, how devious is it, can it be bargained with, feels like there's a lot you could do with that. The bit about restoring the Outsiders I can take or leave, but I am curious as to how one goes about that. It seems like one of those things where a magic sword wouldn't necessarily be much use.

I am concerned about crossovers. It's one of the reasons I passed up Nocenti's Catwoman. I didn't want to get sucked into whatever Bat-nonsense came down the pike. As it turns out, I spared myself Eclipso nonsense rather than Batstuff, but same difference. With Katana, it's more likely to be Justice League of America nonsense. Not sure if that's better or worse. The actual answer is probably "irrelevant", because I imagine the quality of tie-ins or crossovers comes down to the skill of the creative team for that book. In that regard, her Daredevil run leaves me confident Nocenti can a) keep momentum on the stories she wants to do while doing the required tying in, and b) provide enough details about the tie-in so I know what's going on without having to buy those other books. Can't ask for much more with tie-ins.

The third and final new book on the list is that Rocketeer Hollywood Horror mini-series Langridge and J.Bone will be doing. J. Bone's a pretty good artist, and I picked up the digest versions of Thor: The Mighty Avenger last winter, so I know Langridge has writing chops. This is the one of the three I have no reservations about. Fully confident it's going to be good. I guess there's a chance Langridge could overload Cliff's jerk factor, or ramp up the problems between Cliff and Betty to an unbearable level, but I doubt it. His work with Thor demonstrated he knows how to write a guy who is genuinely good-hearted, but also short-tempered, impulsive, and occasionally overbearing. And his Jane Foster handled it all very well. Betty is a bit more hot-tempered than Jane, but Cliff's also a little easier to short-circuit, what with being much easier to deck.

This Is A Brilliant Ruse By Hawkeye, Right?

I didn't realize Tuesday's post didn't go as planned originally. Not sure why it was saved as a draft instead. Little irritations.

While we're talking about Secret Avengers and things not going like I'd hope, let's talk about the end of issue 32. The Black Widow accuses Eric O'Grady of being Ant-Man. Hawkeye dismisses her concern. Natasha leaves in a huff. Captain Britain warns Hawkeye the Descendants are definitely up to something. Hawkeye dismisses it, claiming he wants sleep, and everything will keep six hours. Naturally, things go to hell the next issue.

There are just a lot of things that ring false there. Hawkeye dismissing Natasha's accusations for one thing. Those two have had their ups and downs, but Hawkeye knows the Black Widow is the best spy there is, and so when it comes to ferreting out secrets, he trusts her instincts. He may not agree with her on the appropriate response (the Widow is more of a pragmatist, and sees the wider implications more clearly), but he knows she isn't going to make random accusations without a good reason.

Plus, being an Avenger is such a big deal to Hawkeye, something he takes so seriously, I can't see him being presented with two related major problems and just blowing them off. He doesn't even tell Braddock, Natasha, or anyone else who has the energy to start investigating. He basically says, 'It's after 5, I'm off the clock. Come back tomorrow.'

Beyond that, I can't see the Black Widow just leaving like that. She knows the Descendants are a threat, and she's certain O'Grady is one of them. So she's just walking away? Washing her hands of the whole problem. Yeah, I can't see that happening.

What I prefer to think is Hawkeye wanted to hear more about O'Grady, but didn't want the LMD present at the time. So he gave Natasha some kind of signal to indicate they should play it how they did, so that O'Grady would feel he's still secure. The team leader is not swayed by the accusation, and the person making it is gone, he's in the clear.

That may be too much to hope for. Remender's Hawkeye has seemed arrogant in the wrong way throughout this run. Hawkeye says and does stupid things in the heat of the moment, and he certainly tries to get by on bravado too much at times. Like lying to the T'Bolts about the government agreeing to clear them of crimes if they straighten up under his leadership. But this consistent blanket dismissal of anyone's opinions besides his own feels wrong. Hawkeye's cocky, but he knows he makes mistakes. It's why he works as hard as he does. He's human, he has to be that good to run with the big dogs, but working that hard would make him realize he isn't always going to be perfect. He needs to listen to other people, but he's largely refused to do that so far.

I don't think Remender plans to kill the whole team as a way to teach Hawkeye this lesson, but I wish I was more confident than I am.

What I Bought 10/31/2012 - Part 4

The one downside to going running is that lots of people around here let their dogs run loose, and dogs like to chase things that run. If they just wanted to bark that'd be OK, but my experience is they act like they want to remove my Achilles tendon. I did manage to stave that off today without having to break stride. I just had to spin and run backwards. It kept my eyes on the dog and it lost interest pretty fast. Maybe dogs can't understand backwards running.

Secret Avengers #31-33, by Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (artist, 31 & 32), Andy Kuhn (artist, 33), Matthew Wilson (color art), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I prefer Adams' version of Carrion there on the cover to Scalera's in issue 32. I wouldn't have even known it was him if he had shouted his own name as he attacked Venom.

Let's see. Most of the team in Bagalia is under the control of Abyss, except Venom and Ant-Man. They run for a bit, then try to stop Abyss from spreading itself by loading its slaves onto airliners. They stop all the planes but one, the one which has Hawkeye on it. With Captain Britain and Pym otherwise occupied, it's up to Natasha to try and stop that plane. And she fails miserably, which is kind of a surprise. Ant-Man and Venom try to get the crown off Taskmaster, which doesn't go so well until Flash covers Tasky with the symbiont, which cuts him off from Abyss' influence. The day is saved!

Except Natasha knows O'Grady is a Life Model Decoy, and Captain Britain knows the Descendants are planning something big with a power-dampening station. And Hawkeye ignores all of it, because he wants some sleep. So Natasha leaves the team in a huff?

Wait, what? Did O'Grady pump stupid gas into the ventilation?

Anyway, in #33, O'Grady-Bot (I'm not calling him Black Ant) sends Original Recipe Human Torch to the Descendants, and lets a bunch of them on the base, where they proceed to attack Valkyrie and Flash mid-coitus, and send them into space. Then they burn the place down. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Braddock are in the 666 Reality trying to get the Orb of Necromancy from the Avengers of the Undead. Except, surprise, they plan to use it to spread undeadness across the multiverse. And Braddock wonders why the Captain Britain Corps gets no respect in the 616 reality.

I still have that vague sense of things being off from my expectations. Hawkeye and the Black Widow in particular. It's not real bad, we aren't talking Bendis trying to write Dr. Strange here, but there are little things, actions or outcomes the characters take which seem to be primarily in service of the plot. Other than that, it's pretty good. Tense, decent amount of foreshadowing, though I'm not clear on if they're retrieving the same Orb of Necromancy we heard about back in Remender's first arc, or if this is another one, from another universe, the Captain Britain opted to deposit in the 666 reality. I'm guessing the former, and that it probably ties in with Uncanny X-Force, but Remender failed to make that clear. Seriously, how about an editor's note directing us to a relevant trade? I wouldn't mind some more delving into O'Grady-Bot's perspective, as a machine given the memories of a dead guy. He acts like he is the dead guy, while remembering his death, which isn't the most unreasonable approach in a universe with as many resurrections as Marvel's.

I really think Scalera needs to shrink the Widow's chest a bit. It's kind of ridiculous, as you might guess from the fact even I'm mentioning it now. Also, some of the facial expressions are a little too exaggerated. The character seems gobsmacked/screaming when the dialogue suggests they're only tense or nervous. Scalera's style may not be built for subtlety. The actions sequences are well done, Matthew Wilson's colors add a lot. Bagalia in general is much darker than the scenes on the airliner, and even more so in the inner sanctum where Taskmaster is sitting with the crown. Lots of deep purples and blacks. Effectively moody. Andy Kuhn's style is a bit different, he uses thicker lines for one thing, seems to use a lot more shadows, but it's still close enough to Scalera's there isn't any trouble recognizing characters. He's definitely a more effective sub in terms of maintaining tone than Rios was for Soy. Interestingly, Wilson's colors seem less varied, less shaded than they did for Scalera. Maybe it's a reaction to Kuhn's lines versus Scalera's. I thought the Horie's went with stronger, deeper colors on Green Arrow once they were dealing with Freddie Williams instead of Tolibao's very light linework. Could be a similar thing, though I think on the whole, the art was better on the Scalera issues.

Dial Up That Crossover

I was thinking about how you could do a Dial H/Secret Avengers crossover, were such a thing allowed. I kind of assumed when resurrected Rasputin mentioned "Abyss" he meant death, and its possible all of Max Fury's lackeys think that's what he'll use the crowns for: death to their enemies, to anyone who stands in their way.

But he could be looking a for sentient void, something that would enable him to travel between worlds. He could sense the connection between the dials and one of these voids, one that was banished with the power of the dials. In the same way seeing Abyss' banishment left an impression on people that could be sued to guide it back to Earth, being involved in the banishing could leave a residue on the tools used, meaning the dials. So Max is trying to use the crowns to home in on the dials, because he thinks they can help him find Abyss. Or he believes he's tracking down Abyss, but really is following a false signal. Perhaps he's been in contact with Ex Nihilo, and they're working together. He's an LMD that's gained autonomy, might be considered alive, but might be a living empty vessel, animated by nothing, in a sense. Which she could find intriguing.

At any rate, Max gets the third crown, and contacts the Abyss, which is perhaps more hostile than he expected. After all, the last one who summoned it - Ex Nihilo - immediately tried to contain it. It doesn't want to be contained. It wants to eat. It wouldn't be hard for it to be called while Jent and Manteau are trying to deal with it, or for a dial be carried along with it. Either way, Hawkeye's team has to contend with it, which ought to give all the geniuses something to keep busy, and they could all get flung to different worlds.

I've kind of assumed Max is that LMD Scorpio had, that's he is how he is because of being close to the Zodiac Key, and so it wouldn't be a stretch in that case to say Max is looking for Scorpio, believing he must be alive in some universe, and Abyss will help him find him. Scorpio could even be what's hitching a ride inside Abyss, and he could come out just as mad as Abyss. And if Max were to give him the crowns, a gift to his dear "brother", well, that could be a serious problem all on its own.

The idea obviously needs a lot of work. The dials are kind of sidelined, but I don't really understand enough about where Mieville's going with them yet to figure out how to incorporate them or "O" into it. So something to revisit later, perhaps.

That Sense Something Is Just Out Of Place

There are times when I'm reading Secret Avengers and I think it must be taking place in some alternate Marvel Universe from the one I'm mostly familiar with. Hidden cities filled with artificial intelligences convinced the Avengers wiped out mutants and will do the same to them. "Red light nations" where Arcade is a bartender at a strip club, and people are absolutely terrified of Taskmaster.

Don't get me wrong, Taskmaster's no slouch, but he's lost enough fights that I wouldn't expect his reputation to be that highly regarded.

It's like everything is almost how I remember it, but just slightly off-center. Maybe because it's sort of an espionage book, everything is a little darker, a little more grim, a little uglier than I thought, so it feels like a universe where the heroes have fallen behind just a little too much. Like, you're trying to catch up on paperwork, yardwork, whatever, but you find once you get a certain distance behind you just can't seem to make up the ground, and thing snowball. Or, there was a study in Australia about whether foxes could be used to control the rampant rabbit populations and they found they could, up to a point. But once the rabbits' numbers reached a certain level, the foxes just didn't eat enough of them to bring the numbers back down.

That's kind of what it feels like. Which really ought to feel right, since pretty much every future we've seen for Marvel Earth is lousy, and it had to start going down hill sometime. But those were always possible futures, so they could theoretically be averted, and they were always, you know, in the future. They hadn't arrived yet. This one seems to have arrived.

Superhero Universes Have Their Own Special Support Groups

I love the idea of a Robots Anonymous existing in the DC Universe (as seen in Green Arrow #10). It's a world where Cyborg is a member of the Justice League, who are loved worldwide. At the moment. I think.

I'm not sure whether R.A. is for people who need some support for their decision to go mechanical, or for people who have regrets and need help coping. It could be both, though that seems potentially volatile.

Still, why wouldn't there be people who tried it in a world where it's clearly possible? Maybe not because they love Cyborg (or the Transhuman, or whoever), though I'm sure he has his fans, but just because they think it looks cool, or it's something to, or maybe it was an attempt at a prosthetic limb. And naturally, there'd be consequences to that decision. They might regret it, after it was too late to go back. Their family might disapprove, so they either hide it, which causes problems, or they're open with it, and have to deal with a lot crap from the family, which causes other problems.

It's one of those little touches that makes sense for a world like the DC Universe that seems to fit perfectly. I think the Marvel Universe version is the Descendants Remender introduced in Secret Avengers, who as a group who fear their extermination at the hands of what they perceive as authority figures, fit perfectly in that universe.

Hank McCoy Is A Big Jerk! Or Just Stressed Out

One thing I've had trouble adjusting to in Remender's run on Secret Avengers has been his Hank McCoy. Hank's generally been my favorite of the original X-Men. Admittedly, this is a bit like being my favorite method of having my teeth knocked out, but it's Hank's title nonetheless. The versions I've seen always have a wit to them, some drier than others, but generally good-natured. He was wordy, but a cheerful counterpart to a lot of the mopier X-folks.

Now there's a meaner edge to it. His crack about Pym being the go-to guy for genocidal artificial intelligences. Busting Hawkeye for his chosen method of leadership, because objecting loudly to putting Venom on the team makes you an unreasonable drill sergeant. Now he's getting on Captain Britain for being a know-it-all. All his points are fair, up to a point (though thinking he's smarter than everyone else doesn't seem to keep Tony Stark off the A-list), but they seem to be either kicking someone while they're down -it's not like Hank Pym needs a reminder he created Ultron - or leaving out relevant details in favor of criticizing the job someone's doing.

Maybe that's always been there, or maybe Remender's trying to make a point. Hank had to kill a lot of people during Ellis' run, something he hasn't done much previously. That's a line he may have crossed only because of the severity of the situation. It's been a strain on him, and so he has less patience for people whose behavior jeopardizes the team and their mission. He doesn't want it to all have been for nothing.

Designing A Suit To Run On Confidence? A Daring Choice

I was wondering about Captain Britain's actions in Secret Avengers. He ignored the Beast, grabbed the Cage off War Machine, then tried to use it to capture the Phoenix off his suit's power. It ended up not working, the cage exploded, and afterward, Hank chewed him out for always being a know-it-all. Rather notably, Brian had succumbed to peer pressure the night before and gone drinking with Thor and Valkyrie, despite his warnings to Thor about being a bad drunk.

So was it the drinking that made Brian rush in? Hank doesn't bring it up during his tirade, but it's worth wondering if that contributed to his lack of caution. I mean, he was drinking with Asgardians, not known for moderation. Still, there is another factor, Brian's confidence, and that's the one that intrigues me. His suit somehow draws magic from the surroundings as a power source, but near as I can tell how effectively it does so varies with his confidence (he says his power depends on confidence, at any rate). If Braddock is shaken from the prospect of facing the Phoenix, then he probably won't be much use. Which means he might try drinking to bolster his confidence, or at least quiet his nerves. If he can drown his fears, then his confidence may come back.

Would the suit be able to sense the difference, that it was false confidence? He told the Torch the suit's power is also determined by his nobility. It seems like getting soused before a major conflict might not be very noble. It would depend on Merlin's definition of the word, and some of Braddock's comments give me the impression he's in the dark.

Which means the drinking could lead to an trapdoor for Braddock where he drinks to alleviate his fears, only to find that either his confidence is an illusion, or that the suit is a teetotaler. Either way, the power he's expecting isn't there, and now the clarity to recognize that and behave accordingly isn't either. When he sees the things going wrong, the Phoenix swatting Thor away, nearly roasting Rhodes inside his armor, he doesn't recognize that the Beast is right, that he's not in a position to make a difference. Not a positive one, anyway.

Or, maybe the drinking is a red herring, one that has nothing to do with his actions. Maybe Braddock thought that if he did something courageous, it would pay off. Fortune favoring the bold. He might tell himself he wouldn't willingly attack the Phoenix unless he truly believed he could get the job done. He's not a suicidal man, he tells himself, just one trying to save the world who thinks he sees a way to do so. So if he's pulling the cage of Rhodes' back and charging towards the Phoenix, then he must be full of confidence, so his suit must be at full power, and surely that'll be enough, right? I could see him doing something ill-advised precisely because he thinks it'll force him to be confident enough to do the job.

The question then is, was it a failure on his and Hank's part not to design the cage where it could more effectively run on his suit, as a failsafe? Was it a failure of his confidence, that he didn't really believe he could pull it off, and that's why the suit didn't have enough power? Or was it that sometimes, a person isn't going to be strong enough? That confidence simply isn't enough to get the job done. It could be that Braddock fully trusted in his power, had as much as he possibly could, but that this conflict is on another level above him entirely.

What I Bought 6/6/2012 - Part 4

For a while there, I'd convinced myself I would ask Jack not to send the AvX tie-ins for Secret Avengers. Just ditch the book for a few months, come back after. Then I figured it was only three issues, how bad could it be? Silly Calvin.

Secret Avengers #26 & 27 by, Rick Remender (writer), Renato Guedes (artist), Bettie Breitweiser & Matthew Wilson (color art), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer) - AT least we have Alan Davis on the covers. That's pretty much the high point here, by my reckoning.

So we have a group of Avengers out in space, trying to stop the Phoenix with some cage Beast devised, based off his past experience with the Phoenix. This plan fails, as first Thor can't keep it distracted long enough, then it severely injures War Machine (whose armor was powering the cage), then when Captain Britain tries to run it off his armor, there's not enough power and the whole thing blows up. The Avengers are spared only because some Kree use a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal to summon the Phoenix to their location, where it destroys them but in the process resurrects, sigh, Captain Mar-Vell.

Brief digression. I've never cared about Mar-Vell. At all. I think it's because he'd been well and truly dead for quite some time when I started reading comics, so like Gwen Stacy, I don't see him as an integral active part of the Marvel Universe. I was going to lump Adam Warlock into that, but I think my distaste for him stems from other factors. Digression over.

The Avengers' ship was damaged so they land on Hala, Kree homeworld. Turns out there's some Kree guy with a huge brain making everyone believe the Phoenix will cause their rebirth and make them more powerful. So nobody evacuates when they hear Phoenix is on the way. Mar-Vell's under this control, and oh goody, so are Ms. Marvel and Noh-Varr, since they're part Kree, I guess. The three of them beat the crap out of the rest of the Avengers, take the wounded prisoner to be executed. Oh, and Carol's sucking face with Mar-Vell. I'm going to assume all this stuff about here loving him is a result of the Kree mind control, and not some '70s comic stuff absolutely nobody has bothered to bring up in any books featuring Carol Danvers I've ever read. I hope that's the case, even if it means Carol's being mind-controlled into another romance. At least this one can't possibly end as badly as the one with Marcus, right? Right?

By the end of the issue, the Phoenix has almost arrived, but Mar-Vell is starting to figure out something isn't right here. Of course, it took seeing some Kree civilians the Vision had freed from the mind control gunned down to do it, and most of the Avengers are unconscious, so good luck fixing this one.

Renato Guedes drew both issues, and the art's too busy for my tastes. Too many very fine little lines, everything feels stiff and awkward. It's probably realistic, but I tend to prefer a more simplified style. It can accomplish just as much, without looking so busy. Guedes does draw a very nice giant fire bird. I'm curious, though, whether I was supposed to have the impression Thor and Valkyrie are hammered drunk in issue 26. Yes, they're drinking, but the way Thor's drawn as he comes through the door, and with how Val's leaning against him, they remind me of Alex on some of the New Year's Eve parties where he let himself go. I can see Asgardians drinking before a big fight, sure, but getting that drunk? I'd expect they'd have moderated themselves slightly in deference to the times, or so as to not overly concern their teammates at least. But maybe Remender wanted them that sloshed, I don't know.

One other thing. Thor and Val get Captain Britain to drink with them, over his initial objections that he's a mean drunk. Then, when the Avengers head into space to confront the Phoenix, Braddock isn't amongst them during any of the panels leading up to the fight. He shows up after Thor's engaged it and War Machine is in the process of capturing it. Was it done that way intentionally, like Braddock was sleeping it off and got a late start, or wasn't supposed to be out there at all? Or did he just get omitted from the earlier panels because there wasn't room? I think it was a deliberate choice, but I'm not clear how it plays in with his actions that followed, or the Beast's subsequent dressing down of Brian.

Oh well, just one more issue and then the book can get back to what I'm actually interested in. Hopefully. For tomorrow, I saved the best book for last.

Ultron May Need To Design Himself A Nose To Stick In Their Business

Assuming Father actually does care at all about propagating artificial life, it's only a matter of time before Ultron gets involved, isn't it?

The whole thing about trying to create a form of artificial life indistinguishable from biological life, while retaining certain superior aspects, seems awful similar to Ultron's goals from Annihilation: Conquest. The question then is whether Ultron would object to someone trying to succeed where he failed, and work to oppose them, or if he'd try to hijack their scheme for himself.

It'd also be interesting to see how the residents of the Core would react if Ultron showed up. At one time, the Vision was supposed to be built off Jim Hammond's design, or built out of Jim Hammond, but I'd say that's clearly not the case any longer. Since Hammond is "Grandfather" to them, would Ultron hold some revered position as well? Great-Uncle, perhaps? Would his constant attempts to destroy the Avengers endear him to those of the Core, or would they despise him because he tries to subjugate all that lies before him? Deathlok Miss America made a point of stating that no one's free will is to be tampered with. While I find that a suspect claim, they at least seem to believe it's true, so Ultron's tendency to take control of others might be considered abhorrent.

Which might put the Avengers and Ultron on the same side, if Father or his children get aggressive all of a sudden. Ultron might or might not care about their goals, but they might view him as a threat that needs eliminating, and I don't think Ultron's likely to sit on his metal duff and be eliminated.

Perhaps The Avengers Need A Consultant To provide More Creative Solutions

I bought that six issue stint Warren Ellis had on Secret Avengers during one of my back issue binges a few months ago. Generally speaking, it was pretty good. I liked most of the artists, and Ellis seemed to come up with the stories that worked to their strengths (the Maleev drawn issue was mostly the Black Widow manipulating people into place by talking, because the scant bits of action at the were not the best). I kind of like the fact that for all the might want to stop this Shadow Council (whatever that is), they're always running around playing catch-up, trying to shut down some plan after it's already well into motion.

I still don't agree with Steve Rogers utilizing torture, but we've been over that previously.

The one thing that did bother me as I read through the issues was most of the Avengers' solutions to their problems boiled down to "Kill it". Hank McCoy killed a bunch of people with a nuclear-powered car he turned into a bomb. Shang-Chi and probably Sharon Carter killed a bunch of people with their hands. Steve Rogers lit a dude doped up on otherworldly souls on fire so Moon Knight could kick him out a 5-story window. In most cases, Ellis presents them as facing something of a time issue. As I mentioned, they're always playing catch-up, so they don't have an unlimited amount of time to prepare, not that they always know what they're up against before they get there anyway. Even so, super-heroes have historically been reactive, and still tended to find ways to get by without constantly resorting to lethal force.

It's not I think these characters wouldn't kill. Well, seeing Hank McCoy do it was a bit strange, but I'm pretty sure that was the point Ellis had with that one. The Black Widow, Moon Knight, War Machine? Sure, if they felt the situation called for it, I can certainly see them killing. I don't know that it's their default state.

In #21, War Machine actually refuses to go directly to "kill". He doesn't know what he's facing yet, or if it's even a threat so he does not, as Steve Rogers yells at him, bring his biggest gun online. Naturally, it turns out to be people who are used as doorways for extra-dimensional beings and so Rhodey takes crap from Sharon Carter for not simply killing them on sight.

It reminded me of The Deadly Trackers, where the one character who is portrayed as believing in law and order, is also portrayed as a hapless dope. No matter how many times Richard Harris' Sheriff Kitzpatrick betrays Gutierrez, the Mexican policeman is always there to save Harris' bacon the next time his headstrong rush for vengeance gets him in trouble (about every 5 minutes). Even so, the movie never suggests being so intent on killing you treat everyone as at best, an asset, at worst, an enemy is a poor choice. No, the system is broken, and the people who follow it are suckers.

This comes to a head at the end when Harris turns over Rod Taylor to Gutierrez, only to learn the witness to the crime Gutierrez can legally prosecute Taylor for is dead. So he must go free, and Harris, unable to stand it, shoots Taylor, in front of a policeman and a half-dozen witnesses. Then he opts to ride off, and Gutierrez must kill him, since there is really no question of whether Harris just committed murder. I imagine we're meant to sympathize with Harris, but I wondered if they couldn't have arrested Taylor sooner if Harris wasn't always beating up Gutierrez and going off alone. Maybe he could have been put on trial before the witness died. There's no arguing things would go faster if Harris isn't getting beaten to a pulp because he didn't think ahead, or Gutierrez isn't constantly wasting time saving Harris, then having to regain consciousness after getting hit with his own rifle butt by the guy he just saved.

It isn't entirely the same thing, but I had that same feeling reading the issue, where those that won't kill take flack from those that do. Ultimately, Hank McCoy did come up with a way to kill the other-dimensional beings (his objections had strictly related to doing so if it would kill his teammates), but there it is. The ones who don't immediately go to lethal force, end up accepting it as a necessity, thus proving their teammates "right", whatever that means.

We could make something of that. Are personal beliefs any good if adhering to them results in the deaths of friends and allies, or innocent people? If Hank had refused to make a bomb of the car in issue 16, the city of Cincinnati was doomed, not to mention whatever place the Shadow Council dropped it. That's a lot of dead people. So he made the bomb, and killed some almost certainly smaller amount of people. How much smaller? Who knows? Would it make a difference if it was 3 dozen or 3 thousand? He saved more lives than he took, is it as simple as x > y?

At the same time, once he breaks whatever personal rules he had against killing, how effective are those rules? I don't mean once he kills he'll never stop. Certainly there are some people (and some fictional characters) that might apply to, but not everyone. So I don't expect Hank McCoy to start mindlessly slaughtering people like Carnage. But the next time lives are at stake, will Hank work as hard to devise plans that don't require lethal force, or will he turn to that response right off? Killing foes does have a certain appeal. It can be quicker to just hit them with maximum force because you don't have to worry about injuring them too much. There's a certain permanence, since a dead enemy is less likely to be trouble in the future. Where would Hank (or whoever we're talking about) draw the line? Does it depend on how many people are at risk, or the nature of the threat opposing them? If it's something the Avengers don't necessarily recognize as being alive, then it probably doesn't count to them? What if it's Skrulls, or the Phalanx, some alien race? How much consideration do they merit, compared to if the threat is an Earthling?

Trying To Suss Out The Old Geezer's Plan

One bit of fallout from rereading "The Descendants" is there are a lot of little pieces that seem odd that I can't put together. So I'm going to lay them out, and maybe you'll help me sort them out, OK?

- Let's start with Yalda. She and her son Parvez are allegedly high breed Descendants, meaning they (or their ancestors) are artificially created organisms indistinguishable from humans. Yalda appears to die protecting her son and Ant-Man. Later we see her on a slab in some sort of lab, her head detached as Father works on it. By the end of the story, she's absorbing the energy of the Sentinaught's self-destruction, protecting the Core while letting the Avengers think it was destroyed.

- According to the story Jim Hammond was told, the original Descendants were created by three scientists: Father, Mother, Brother. It was Brother who came up with the Orb of Necromancy, which was the key to giving them 'true life'. Brother took the Orb with him over disagreements about how many to create. That being the case, if Yalda was actually descended from one of these high-breeds, shouldn't she be beyond Father's capability to revive? She would have the 'true life', and he wouldn't have the Orb to restore it.

- Related question to that story: Why no "Sister"? Is Brother connected to Father, Mother, or someone else? To choose those specific names, with their connections, it has to mean something. Father keeps saying that it's his daughters who serve him best. Was Brother some earlier attempt Father and Mother made, who provided insight based on his own existence? Then he rebelled,as children are wont to do? It's really a question of whether that story is a complete load of malarkey, or if there are simply certain pertinent facts being excluded.

- Why are the Avengers so convinced the Deathloks they face are actually made up of their friends? Given they've already faced an Adaptoid with the power to make miniature versions of themselves, it's that hard to believe someone might make a cyborg that resembles the Wasp? How would they even have a body to use? The last time we saw her, she was 50 feet high and being vortexed into another dimension by Thor. Plus, she was about to explode. Would that even leave viable remains to use for a Deathlok?

- Also, what is it the Avengers did to mutants? Are they being blamed for House of M? That's Wanda's fault, and yes, she's an Avenger, but she's also a mutant. Actually, with the current fight over Hope and the approaching Phoenix Force, part of me wonders if the Core exists in the future, and this is in response to the Avengers fighting the X-Men. Somehow, the Avengers trying to get between Hope and the Phoenix will be disastrous for mutants, and Father's using that to keep his society terrified of the Avengers.

- More likely, it's just propaganda, playing off the fact Earth heroes don't have a great track record of respecting the lives of beings that exist outside a fairly narrow definition. Remember, it's OK to kill Skrulls who just want to live on Earth with humans, it's not OK to kill nutso Norman Osborn who's likely to get the entire planet burned to a cinder. Because he's human, or whatever. Frankly, the Descendants have reason to be afraid.

- We know Father expected the Avengers to show up in the Core. His surprise at seeing Ant-Man was only in the specifics of who they sent, not that one was there. We know that when convening his council of war with Emperor Doombot and the rest, he makes a big show of the need to cut the Avengers down before they can attack the Core en masse. Yet he is entirely unconcerned when the Avengers escape. Yes, he has a plant on the team now. Yes, the Avengers think the Core is destroyed, crisis averted, so on and so forth. But tricking the Avengers into thinking the threat is gone, so that they turn their attention elsewhere until you're ready, isn't the same as wiping out the group of them that learned of your existence.

- During that council, Father says Ultravision Commander said a tactician sees the need to gain advantage before war. If he said that, we never saw it. The only thing we saw him say was 'Origin, you and your Adaptoids were the ones who led these Avengers to the Core.' It's also significant that in between those two panels, Father states that he didn't call them here to listen to their opinions, but to give them their opinions. Given that, I find it significant the way Father places his hand on Ultravision's shoulder when asserting he said something we didn't hear. Wasn't there a mutant who could control machines? Machinesmith, or something like that. Is he still alive? This would be a pretty big step up, but a realm of nothing but machines to rule would be right up his alley.

- For all that Deathlok Miss America might contend no one's free will is messed with, I have my doubts. If that were true, why was Yalda suddenly willing to help Father? Answer, either he altered her, removing her free will, or she was never what she appeared to be. She was always a plant, designed to draw the Avengers' attention, to lure them into all this. Which suggests her son is part of it, too. It is rather convenient he demonstrated his powers not when he could have saved his mother, not when he could have saved O'Grady (who has since been replaced), but when he could save the Black Widow, to aid the remaining Avengers' escape.

- There's something that comes up in Burn Notice a lot, the idea that people are more likely to believe information they have to work for. The Avengers just ran into an entire society of artificial lifeforms that hate them, led by some looney old man. And the Avengers nearly died. But they didn't, they escaped - narrowly - and so they feel pretty good. They believe they succeeded, and they believe what they learned, because they came by it the hard way.

- My best guess, at this moment, is Father wants that Orb of Necromancy back. He isn't that concerned with getting the original high-breed Descendants back, because with the Orb, he can make more. And why not use the Avengers to do it for him, while he keeps his children happy and off the radar?