Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The May 4 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #12:  The only parts of this issue that I enjoyed were the ones where we didn't have to deal with Peter.  Slott does a solid job of introducing Regent into Prime Earth continuity, showing us that his vendetta against superhumans comes from an attack that left his wife and child dead.  (You'd think he'd be looking just to lock up superhumans, but instead he thinks that the world would be a better place if he alone had their powers.  It's the megalomania that helps you recognize a super-villain!)  But, the rest of the issue shows a return of an almost Austen level of misogyny, with Peter and Tony Stark all but measuring their penises after Peter is outraged that Tony hired Mary Jane as his personal assistant.  Peter even goes so far as to offer a job to Pepper Potts, since, after all, all women are the same.  Moreover, it's not like Tony was acting from a business perspective, since I'm pretty sure other people were more qualified to serve as his personal assistant that a former actress/nightclub owner.  To make matters worse, it's hard to recognize the relationships that Slott portrays here.  He has Tony Stark essentially forget that Mary Jane and Peter lived with him (though he could be fronting), and Peter's panic over seeing Mary Jane with Tony seems to ignore the fact that he's seen her date other people, including that firefighter (who she could potentially still be dating, since, despite Peter's childish conclusions, she's not actually dating Stark).  Slott further reduces Peter to his high-school self, as he panics speaking in public after his "confrontation" with Tony.  I think it might be time for Slott to take a break for a few issues so that he can decide who he wants Peter to be.  That said, maybe he really has decided that he's a misogynistic, superior asshole.  If so, it's time for him to go.

Spider-Man 2099 #10:  Venom 2099!  Miguel returns to the future in this issue, after stumbling upon the Fist's attempt to use Gloriana as an anchor for its time-travel technology.  (They were going to send back Kweeg, but Aisa took the opportunity to send back Miguel when he fell on the platform.)  He's greeted by an Alchemax HQ that looks like an overgrown fortress, but it's Kron's presence that implies that this iteration might be closer to his reality than other ones.  (Someone in this issue hypothesizes that it's Kweeg's presence in the present that causes the distorted future, an assertion possibly confirmed by Kweeg changing his name to Venture after hearing Spidey use it.)  Regardless of the outcome, it's just exciting to have finally returned to 2099, at least for a little while.  Plus, the next issue teases the return of the Green Goblin, setting up the possibility that Miguel will be fighting with both his brothers.

Uncanny X-Men #6-#7:  I haven't been reading "Uncanny X-Men," so these issues felt a little like getting thrown into the deep end.  First, we've got the mysteries of the two Warrens:  the one in his Angel form that appears to be the amnesiac from "Wolverine and the X-Men" (despite Psylocke declaring that he's not Warren) and the one in his Archangel form that appeared half-dead before Magneto several months ago.  (I stopped reading "Wolverine and the X-Men" before its last iteration got started, so I'm not actually sure what happened to that version of Angel, like whether or not he ever recovered his memories.)  Moreover, I also have the mystery of Magneto.  Last time I saw him, I think in the "AXIS" tie-in issues of his own series, he was using mutant-growth hormones to amplify his fading powers.  If I'm connecting the dots correctly here, he's now using Xorn to heal him.  (I'm just assuming here that Xorn as a separate character from Magneto happened in the years when I wasn't reading comics.)  Finally, we've got the fact that the amnesiac form of Angel is colluding with Genocide, Apocalypse's son, for reasons that are unclear.  We also don't know how this development ties into the events of "Extraordinary X-Men."  In other words, Bunn has a tall order to fill next issue.  That said, I'm tempted to get the first five issues of this series, because I did enjoy these two issues.  (I'm also tempted to read Remender's "Dark Angel" saga, but I've go to draw the line somewhere at this point.)

Also Read:  Detective Comics #52, Midnighter #12; New Avengers #11; Poe Dameron #2; Spider-Gwen #8;