New Comics!: The Sidekick Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

In putting together this review, I realized that my love for the below series is an obvious testament to my sidekick fetish.  All three characters are essentially the grittier version of their more famous counter-part.  This reality obviously lends itself to darker stories, allowing Captain America and Spider-Man to keep the high road as the Scarlet Spider, Venom, and the Winter Solider get the dirty work.  Maybe not surprisingly, in all three cases, I am enjoying their series far more than I'm enjoying their counter-parts', which is saying a lot, since I love "Amazing Spider-Man" and "Captain America."

Scarlet Spider #5:  This issue is a decent stand-alone story, featuring the Scarlet Spider and Officer Layton trying to find a nuclear bomb set by the Watchdogs to detonate in Houston.  Now, it's pretty clear that the bomb isn't going to destroy Houston (though I think some people would argue that Yost is sufficiently blood-thirsty to make it a possibility), so the real focus of the story is Layton pushing Kaine to be the hero that he isn't quite sure that he can be.  Kaine keeps trying to gather up the other members of his supporting cast (Annabelle, Aracelly, and Donald) and leave town before the bomb explodes, and Layton keeps reminding him of his duty to the people of Houston to find (and disarm) the bomb.  It's not the best issue of this young series, particularly since we don't have Stegman's amazing pencils to polish over some of the awkward plot moments.  But, it's a totally fine one.  I particularly enjoyed Kaine and Layton's banter, with Layton keeping Kaine on the high road for most of the issue, but Kaine welcoming Layton to the low road when it comes time to open fire from the Watchdogs.  It's that sort of "we're the good guys, but, you know, occasionally you have to shoot at the bad guys" vibe that really helps keep this series distinct from "Amazing Spider-Man."  However, two things completely overshadowed the issue for me, and they both happened in the same panel.  First, when the %&*# did Daisy Johnson become the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?  Second, when the %&*# did Nick Fury become African-American?  Are we really turning him into Samuel L. Jackson?  I will be really, really pissed if we're turning him into Samuel L. Jackson.  On a more positive note, I liked that Yost resurrected the Watchdogs.  They were always a more or less vaguely white-supremacist group during the Gruenwald era of "Captain America," and I think updating them as a group attacking "abortion clinics, homosexuals, [and] pornographers" is a realistic evolution.  They always served a useful niche in the Marvel Universe, giving Cap a more street-level enemy to fight, since they weren't seeking some form of world domination like A.I.M. or HYDRA.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  I am thrilled to see some of the elements of Gruenwald's run on "Captain America" appear almost everywhere lately.  But, seriously, WTF with Daisy and Nick?  I'm hoping it's just an error on Yost's part, though I fear it's not.

Venom #16:  With the sucktastic "Circle of Four" behind us, Remender returns to form in this issue, giving us another story where Flash is forced to make heroic compromises that generally let the bad guys win.  He spends the issue trying to keep alive the Human Fly, who he's escorting to the Raft, by fending off Hobgoblin, who's trying to collect on a debt that the Fly owes the Kingpin (by killing him).  But, in the end, he lets the Human Fly escape to save a guard.  Although he doesn't really have a choice (of course he's going to save the guard), his decision is made easier in part because he believes that the Fly is going to go save his son from the Kingpin.  But, of course, the Fly doesn't have a son, as we learn in the end.  It's exactly that sort of twist that gives this series its edge.  It's starting to remind me of the dark periods of Peter's career in the early 200s of "Amazing Spider-Man," where he's seemingly constantly sacrificing his personal life due to his superhero career (from the death of Gwen Stacy to his departure from graduate school).  "Venom" lately has that same vibe, highlighting the sacrifices that Flash is forced to make over and over again with little to show for it.  I mean, he at least started the issue with the Human Fly under lock and key; he doesn't even get to finish the issue that way.  Turning to the Hobgoblin, I didn't realize that we were dealing with Phil Urich when I saw the cover, assuming instead that it was Jack O'Lantern.  Phil was a welcome addition to "Venom," since his special brand of crazy works well with Flash's unpredictable moments of violence.  I mean, let's face it, Spidey might have to control himself not to go totally bad-ass on Phil when he's haranguing him, but Flash doesn't exactly have the same restriction.  At any moment, I was just waiting for Flash to rip off his head, and it's that sort of tension that really drives "Venom."  Plus, as the cover itself beautifully illustrates, the addition of Phil creates a three-step dance that keeps the issue moving at a brisk pace, since you're never really sure who's going to be fighting who in the next panel.  It's these sort of unexpected developments and unsatisfying endings that make this title one of the best ones that Marvel is publishing.

Venom #17:  We all knew Flash's "truce" with Crime-Master wasn't going to last, and we see it fall spectacularly apart this issue.  Since the start of this series, I've wondered how Flash was going to resolve this particular problem and, as we see here, Remender makes sure that it's not as easy as Flash hoped that it would be.  As I mentioned in my review of last issue, one of the things that makes "Venom" great is the fact that Flash is often forced into difficult decisions that really don't wind up having happy endings.  He doesn't get the clear choices that heroes like Spider-Man seem to get.  Here, he decides to take out Crime-Master and Jack O'Lantern, since they know his secret identity.  Let's be honest:  it's not exactly a bad decision.  Flash wrestles with it, because super-heroes don't exactly assassinate people.  However, soldiers often do, and Remender does a great job playing up those competing moral codes, similar to the work Yost is doing with Kaine in "Scarlet Spider."  Office Layton may want to keep Kaine on the high road, but he's also a police officer who knows that deadly force is occasionally necessary (like when extremist groups are shotting at you).  Along those lines, it's hard to blame Flash for his decision here.  I mean, on one hand, I almost wish that he had taken up Hobgoblin's offer last issue to help take down Crime-Master, the Human Fly, and Jack O'Lantern.  As Hobgoblin implied, it's not like the world would be a worse place without them, and it would certainly help Flash.  But, it's this sort of slippery slope that Flash knows doesn't lead to great places.  In the end, though, he feels that he doesn't have a choice, and tries to take out Crime-Master.  Similar to the work Brubaker has done in "Captain America," showing him slowly buckling under the pressure of being the country's top cop, Remender has done a great job here of showing how isolated Flash feels and how that isolation drove his decision, leaving him unable to call in the Avengers for assistance.  In fact, Flash feels that the only way that he can stay an Avenger is to take out Crime-Master and Jack O'Lantern without them knowing.  In other words, he can't ask for help with his problem from his friends, because he only gets to keep his friends if he solves the problem.  It's this conundrum that really shows the tragedy that Flash's life has become, and you can feel the noose tightening around him each issue.  Moreover, in his flight, Flash leaves someone (Eddie Brock) behind, a decision that's going to cost him pretty dearly, I'm sure, in future episodes.  It reminds me of the "American Dad!" hurricane episode, where Francine tells Stan that he's bad in a crisis, and every seemingly good idea that he has makes everything worse.  Flash lives that reality, and I'm guessing the Savage Six isn't going to make it easier on him.

Venom #18:  OMG, yay!  I know, given the way things have been going for Flash, that revealing his identity to Betty isn't necessarily going to work out well.  In fact, given the way things have been going, it'll probably work out the opposite of well.  But, I'm going to enjoy this period of hoping that it actually means that Flash is going to get the support that he needs and stop being so isolated from the people who can help him.  It also really kicks this story up a notch, making me wonder where it's all leading.  I mean, I just don't see how this series can end without Crime-Master and Jack O'Lantern dead.  Plus, even if Flash does wind up killing them, I doubt that Crime-Master hasn't planned for Flash to kill him, leading me to believe that he'll have passed on the information about Flash's secret identity to someone.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  For now, I'm just going to hope for the best, before Remender dashes those hopes!

Winter Soldier #5:  As usual with Brubaker, I now have to go re-read the first four issues of this arc to fully appreciate how brilliant it was.  For example, I hadn't noticed that we hadn't identified the whereabouts of the third sleeper agent or that Colonel Rostov had managed to escape Bucky and S.H.I.E.L.D.  But, even looking just at this issue, I can't say enough times how impressed with this arc I am.  Brubaker brings it all together here, giving us the Doom/Von Bardas smack down that we all hoped would happen and the Bucky/Dmitri grudge match that we all knew was inevitable.  I liked how Brubaker lingers on the aftermath of the Bucky/Dmitri fight, reminding us the long road, emotionally, that Bucky has ahead of him as he tries to right the wrongs from his past.  But, he also gives Bucky a win, if you will, allowing him to take down Colonel Rostov, bringing him at least some sense of closure.  Of course, lest things get too heavy, Brubaker also treats us to the amazing verbal sparring of Doom and Fury, when it seems entirely possible that Fury will endanger the entire mission just to land a punch on Doom.  Brubaker so totally nails the characterizations of both characters -- the arrogance and egotism that they both embody -- that it makes me hope that he one day writes a mini-series that winds up forcing the two of them to work together.  All in all, this first arc of this new series gives us everything I hoped we would see, from great fight scenes to intriguing plot twists to nuanced character development.  Bucky might be a street-level hero, but Brubaker manages to make him trying to prevent a crazy cyborg from launching nuclear missiles like something totally within his wheelhouse.  Needless to say, I can't wait to see where we go from here.