The 2 fighters per issue series continues featuring Daredevil vs Psylocke and Thor vs Phoenix-powered Emma Frost.
The Daredevil/Psylocke fight was good,but basic ninja vs ninja type stuff. There was some good philosophical dialogue between the two at the end and the fight ended in a draw.
Thor vs Emma was AWESOME! The sole reason is artist/writer Kaare Andrews. Andrews has an exaggerated style that you either love or hate. I happen to love it. Emma fights in her diamond form and taunts Thor about his pretty hair and implies that he's a cross-dresser. Thor answers by giving her an enchanted hammer uppercut starting at her crotch and shattering her upwards. The diamond pieces are seen entering the atmosphere, pausing, then zooming straight back down towards the God of Thunder. Thor finds himself in the middle of a fiery diamond rainstorm that tears him to bits. Emma reforms herself from the shards and proceeds to pummel Thor senseless. Winner: Emma Frost.
This book is just fun reading and the art was really cool in this issue. I wish Marvel would give the reigns of a flagship character's monthly book to him.
Avenging Spider-Man #9
This issue was meant to be a springboard for the revamped Captain Marvel character who gets her own book next month. The problem with it is that it sucked. Bad.
Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) is a pilot (even though she can fly? Why?) and offers to give Peter a lift to see his Aunt who just moved to Boston. On the way they meet a high-flying Robin Hood wannabe and the armored bounty hunter assigned to bring her in. Everyone fights. Captain Marvel beats on the armored guy. Spidey quips. You know what? I just can't make myself care about this story. I started liking Carol when she was a member of the New Avengers a few years back, but I just couldn't care less about her here. The plot was lame. The dialog weak. The ONLY good thing about this issue was the art by Terry Dodson, who is fantastic. Not $4/issue fantastic though. Not for me.
This is 2 crappy issue of this series in a row and the next issue continues this lame story. I don't have money to throw away so I'm going to cancel this from my pull list next week. If decent-looking issues come along after this story arch, I'll pick it back up.
Hey! It's the opposite of suckiness!
The dual Spidey story continues with Peter and Miles teaming up against Mysterio. He uses his illusion powers to conjure an army of Spider-Villains for the guys to face, but Miles makes it to Mysterio and shuts his avatar body down (see last issue's review for details). As the Ultimates arrive to assess the situation, they find Peter missing. Nick Fury tells Miles that Peter has gone to see this world for himself and to make sure he's not crazy. We then see Peter quizzing a convenient store clerk about the very public death of the Ultimate U's Peter Parker. On the last page we see Aunt May and Gwen leaving her house in Queens and stopping when they see a Spider-Man standing on their lawn. They both start shouting threats at him (they are publicly known as that world's Spider-man's family after all) when Spidey pulls off his mask and the ladies are shocked to see an older version of Peter's face with tears streaming down his face.
This story is wicked fun. Pichelli's art is top-notch. That sappy ending even worked on me! I love this series more than I thought I could. Keep it coming, Bendis. You're doing what you do best!
Gladiator, the Emperor of the Shi'ar Empire has brought a force to Earth to end the Phoenix threat and to retrieve is son from Wolverine's school.
The Shi'ar fight bravely and Gladiator is about as powerful as any Marvel hero, but he can't stand up to the Phoenix. They beat him soundly by the end of it. The cool thing is that althroughout the book, the focus isn't on Gladiator or even Wolverine, but on his son's bodyguard who came to live at the Jean Grey School with him, Warbird. In this issue we learn Warbird's entire history and it's REALLY well done. She is a surprisingly interesting character and this one issue has cemented her as a favorite in this series. She's strong and ruthless, but deep down has the heart of an artist and a romantic. This sounds cheesy, but it was a really good read. Though Kid Gladiator ordered her to help him save his father, she followed higher orders and knocked him out to keep him safe. In the end they are seen back at the Jean Grey school holding a battered, possibly dying Gladiator and looking for help.
I haven't had this much fun reading X-Men since Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. Nick Bradshaw took over art from Christ Bachallo this week and did a great job. The art is always good and the story always entertaining. Great series.
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