NOW this story is getting interesting! At the end of issue 5, Iron Man attacked the Phoenix Force with a new weapon that was supposed to disperse it's energies. Instead it only fractured the Phoenix into 5 pieces that then inhabited 5 nearby X-Men; Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Namor, and Magik. The "Phoenix 5" then pick up the unconscious Hope Summers and head back to Earth (they were on the moon).
Issue 6 starts out with the world being transformed by the now almost-omnipotent X-Men. They are making Africa fertile, creating massive fields of produce in Siberia, creating a huge source of clean drinking water, and establishing virtually unlimited, free energy for the people of Earth to use. They present themselves to the UN and say that all they want in return is an end to war and violence against man or mutant. Everything seems pretty peachy, but the US President meets with the Avengers and voices concern that the X-Men have no accountability. The Avengers meet in secret to try to plan a counter attack should things go bad, but have come up with nothing. There's a weird section in the secret city of K'un Lun, where Iron Fist is from. Some weird monks look at ancient drawings showing an Iron Fist facing off against the Phoenix...apparently the kung fu guy is somehow going to be the answer. And then we see the Scarlet Witch having sweaty nightmares about the return of the Dark Phoenix.
The President orders the Avengers on a strike mission to retrieve Hope Summers from Utopia in the hopes of finding a way to control the situation. You can imagine how badly that ends. Scott and Emma alone disperse the Avengers and even Thor can't match their power. Then Scarlet Witch shows up and leaves with Hope and the battered Avengers. Cyclops tries to grab her arm but pulls back, his hand burning where he touched her.
Afterwards Scott and Emma contemplate what to do next and he is furious that even at their strongest, even after they have given the world everything it needs, that the "humans" still sent the Avengers to attack them. Scott's solution? See below.
This issue was SO good and really got me excited about the series again. It helps that John Romita Jr. has been replaced by Thor artist, Olivier Coipel, who is one of my favorite Marvel artists. Things are escalating and I think it's going to be one heckuva wild ride!
This series is basically a "Spidey Team-Up" book. Every issue features Spidey interacting with a different Marvel hero created by a different creative team. So far there's only been one "meh" issue so far and the rest have been really fun and have featured fantastic art. So far.
"This issue finds our titular hero teaming up with major Marvel heroes, Dr. Strange and Silver Sable and was totally exciting!", he said with his voice dripping with sarcasm. Not only were the team-up characters boring but the story was uninspired and the art was mediocre. Spidey gets pulled into some plan by two bozos on the cover above into helping some European princess escape from Dr. Doom. Doom shows up, they fight, the good guys find her boyfriend and get her married before Doom can stop them, and then he leaves.
Ugh. This was the most generic, lame, watered-down story I have read since that awful Mighty Thor Annual two weeks ago! C'mon Marvel, how about some quality control?!? And this has been such a good series too! That's the bad thing with having a comics pull list at your comic store. You're expected to buy every issue, even when there's a crappy one. Next month features a more interesting pairing of Spidey and the revamped Ms. Marvel and features fantastic Marvel artists, Terry Dodson! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!
Do NOT buy this issue. It was awful.
Here we have my only DC purchase of the week. I have really been digging the new mythology-heavy Wonder Woman story, but the past few issues have really gone off-track.
This issue continues the story of Diana in Hell facing an imminent marriage to her uncle, Hades (eww). I read this just a few days ago and can barely remember what happened...not a good sign. Long story short she tries to run away, some of her godly allies show up to try to help her, Hades gets mad. He says she lied when she said she loved him. She replies that she didn't lie because she loves EVERYONE and that HE will never love until he first learns to love himself. Then they trick him into looking into a mirror and then WW shoots him in the heart with one of Eros's guns (think Cupid's arrows).
This is a big departure from the main story and it feels like the writer is making it up as he goes along. What is the big picture? What's the point again? Just 2-3 issue ago this was a compelling story. I'm hoping it picks back up soon because i lose patience with bad stories quick.
I'm going to be generous and give his 3 stars because the overhaul on WW has been so dramatic and welcome. Also, the art has been consistently entertaining. I like the costumes and the reimagined look of the gods. And Hermes has bird legs, which is fun.
The story of star-crossed lovers and new parents, Marko and Alana continue!
This issue actually begins with a bounty hunter called "The Will" taking time away from hunting the main characters to relax at the Las Vegas of space stations, The Sextillion. Keep in mind this is a "mature" title. The Will walks around seeing all manner of sex acts being performed by bizarre aliens without seeing anything he wants to participate in. The proprietor of Sextillion notices his apathy and takes him to a special wing staffed with slave girls. His slave girl is a six-year-old girl. Thankfully The Will is a heartless killer, not a sick pervert and he kills the pimp right there as the little girl hugs him in thanks. This story is interjected throughout the issue, but that's The Will's part all told together.
Wow...weird opening huh? Not sure how The Will is going to fit into the grander scheme of this story, but he's a pretty cool, Han Solo-type guy. I'm hoping he'll end up helping the main characters. Speaking of...
Alana, baby Hazel, and Izabel the teenage ghost are dragging the unconscious Marko across the planet trying to save his life after he was wounded by a bounty hunter. Alana is still furious because in his fever dream mutterings Marko mentioned a wife named Gwendolyn. He wakes up and has a lot to answer for. He explains that Gwen was his fiance back on their home world but when he left to join the war he changed a LOT and she stayed the same and they grew apart. Then he met Alana and the rest is history. The next morning they are preparing to leave the planet (i'm not sure how since they have no ship) when an attack ship from Alana's army appears right in front of them. Alana says there are 6 soldiers inside and that maybe they can talk their way out of this when Marko says "No." Though he took an oath of pacifism and swore to never draw his sword again he draws it now and says, "We fight".
It has been implied through this new series that Marko is one bad mutha with a sword, but we have yet to see it do to his oath of non-violence. That being said, the moment where he breaks his oath would have had a lot more weight if it happend 50 issues into the series instead of 4. I love this story and can't wait to see what he can do, but I have to question the timing of this.
Other than that it's a great issue. Wonderful artwork. Compelling characters. REMEMBER THIS IS NOT FOR KIDS! You don't want your thirteen year old getting his hands on this. If you're old enough to handle it though, it's a great read. It would have gotten pick of the week if AvX hadn't been just as good and more all-ages friendly.
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