Captain America: Sam Wilson #10-11: Americops! U.S.Agent! The '90s are back, and they couldn't be better! Spencer does a great job tying the philosophical debate at the heart of "Civil War II" into the ongoing story of this series. A mysterious billionaire has created a private law-enforcement army called Americops and used political connections to make sure that law enforcement is forced to cooperate with them. Unfortunately, they have a nasty habit of going after minorities. Against this backdrop, Tony convinces Sam that Ulysses' unconscious biases may be influencing his predictions, meaning that following these predictions is no better than the profiling that the Americops are doing. As if that's not complicated enough, Rage is leading a group of angry neighbors against a squad of Americops, and Sam feels it necessary to intervene. Did I mention that he also had to deliver Rhodey's eulogy? I really think no one in the Marvel Universe has worse days than Sam Wilson, but I'm also not entirely sure anyone could handle them as well as Sam Wilson.
Uncanny Avengers #10: While the rest of the authors in the Marvel Universe are seemingly preoccupied with telling their own part of the "Civil War II" story, Duggan is returning to the Avengers' roots with this story. The idea of a victorious Ultron taking over Hank's body to get his final revenge on the Avengers is so good that I'm surprised that we're just seeing it now, almost 50 years after he appeared on the scene. Duggan has Cap bring in Jan to determine whether Hanktron is Hank or Ultron, something she does in part after Hanktron misses a "Ghostbusters" reference. (Deadpool correctly views that as an unforgivable sin.) But, it gets weird at the end. Although Cap seems to believe Jan that Hanktron is really Ultron, he refuses to let Deadpool kill him because Avengers don't kill. I lived through "Operation: Galactic Storm," so I get the importance of this conversation. But, if Cap really believes Jan, then Ultron is a robot, then he can be destroyed. Haven't we done so countless times without Cap raising an eyebrow? I wonder if Duggan is implying that Cap is holding out hope that they can resurrect Hank? I guess we'll see. At any rate, it's a top-notch story. Duggan infuses it with real emotion, from Janet feeling shaken by her interview, if you will, of Hanktron to Johnny Storm asking Cable if he knows if Reed and Sue ever return to Earth. (He doesn't.) I've often found internal epics (epics that stay within a series) to be better than cross-over ones, such as Busiek's "Kang War." Based on this start, I'm hoping we're going to see something similar here.
Also Read: Detective Comics #935; Justice League #52; Mighty Thor #8; Ms. Marvel #8
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