Guardians of the Galaxy #20 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'm just so sad.

I'm sad because damn if Bendis didn't find the perfect way to kill off Richard and have it mean something.  He did it because he loved Gamora and he wanted Peter and Drax to go home and try to make her happy.  He didn't mean to send back Thanos.  But, as Peter said, he didn't know as much about the mysteries of life, death, and Universes as they all thought that they did, and it happened by accident.  Does it make total sense?  Not really.  Richard says that he couldn't return because he was the door for Drax and Peter to return.  But, he also noted that he was using the Cosmic Cube and the full power of the Nova Force, so that restriction seems fairly arbitrary, engineered to result in the ending that we get.  We also learn that Richard made Peter promise not to tell Gamora lest she suffered, seemingly not really thinking through that request, since it stands to reason that she'd eventually wonder why Drax, Peter, and Thanos survived the Cancerverse but Richard didn't.  Then again, he also had Thanos breathing down his neck, so it made sense that he was maybe a little rushed.

But, Bendis finally finds the emotion that this series has been lacking almost from the start.  Maybe it's because Richard's a more emotional guy than Peter, so something about adding him to the mix allowed Bendis to say things that he hasn't been able to say.  But, Bendis really manages to convey how much Gamora and Peter feel Richard's absence here.  Peter tells us that he agreed to keep Richard's actions secret from Gamora because he loved Richard.  Gamora cries quietly in a room by herself.  Bendis finally made me feel like they're the characters that I loved in the various "Annihilation" series.  It made me miss Richard, almost like a person that I actually knew.

In other words, for all the faults of this arc, Bendis sold me on it in the end.  Yes, the resolution doesn't make much sense when you really think about it.  Yes, it probably should've been an Annual to have space for the whole story.  But, I felt what Bendis wanted me to feel, a profound sadness that a great character like Richard Rider is gone, the same sadness that the Guardians feel.  Bendis certainly leaves open the door that he could be found one day, but, for now, I'm just going to nurse the sad the way that we're supposed to nurse it.  RIP, Richard.  We miss you.

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sin Annual #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

After the horribleness of "Original Sin," I was on the fence about getting this issue.  In the end, I got it mostly to see if it could somehow redeem the series.  It was probably an unrealistic expectation, but Latour at least puts in a good effort.

We get the story of Woodrow McCord, the Man on the Wall who passed the title to Nick Fury.  Latour wisely goes for a pulp-fiction approach to the story, given that he's writing about alien invasions taking place in the 1930s.  It's still a little hard to believe that no one noticed the Men on the Wall saving Calcutta from an alien invasion in 1913, but Latour successfully encourages you not to think too critically about it.  It would've also been nice to learn why it was OK for us to have multiple Men on the Wall in 1913, but McCord and Fury were forced to do the job on their own.  But, Latour doesn't really have time to try to explain a concept that the main series failed to flesh out fully.  His real goal is giving us some more information about McCord.  He does just that and closes the book on the whole sorry episode that was "Original Sin."

In the end, this issue doesn't really accomplish much, since McCord is dead and Fury is gone.  It definitely wasn't worth $4.99.  But, I give Latour credit for trying.  If anything, my main problem with the issue was Cisic's difficulty in distinguishing between Fury and Stark, but, after all the water under the bridge on this event, it's a minor complaint.

** (two of five stars)

Guardians of the Galaxy #19 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Bendis is really dragging out this story.  I mean, it's not like it doesn't deserve it.  I've waited for this story for years.  But, it would be easier knowing how long we should expect it to last, particularly since "Original Sin" wrapped up a few weeks ago.  Plus, it feels like Bendis is engaging in obvious stalling tactics to keep it going.  The Revengers appearing?  It could've been cool, but they don't even speak.  They just serve as a way for the heroes to lose control of the Cosmic Cube, all while they smile menacingly.  Also, could Dead Captain America really cut off Nova's arm while he's blasting?  I know that he's not Cannonball or anything, but it seems odd that it would be so easy.  The only possible reason I could see is that Peter could still be controlling events sub-consciously through the Cosmic Cube, since he had earlier mentioned that he wondered what would happen if one of them lost an arm in a universe where they couldn't die.  Also, I would like to point out the fact that Peter, when he sacrificed himself at the end of "Thanos Imperative" #6, had dark hair and a normal build; he wasn't the blond Flash Thompson clone that he appears to be here.  I'm trying to accept the Bendis/McGuinness version of Peter -- in all his blond pin-up glory -- as the definitive one, but it's moments like this one that make it really difficult.  In other words, this issue made me cranky.

** (two of five stars)

Original Sin #5.5/Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I have to say that I'm disappointed with this issue.  I finished it feeling like it had the potential to be amazing but unfortunately fell far short.

First, it's a shame that we lose Bianchi halfway through this issue, particularly the fact that we lose her exactly on the page where Odin identifies Angela as his long-lost daughter, Aldrif.  It would've been nice if she could've at least hung in there for one more page to take us through the reveal.  I'm not only intrigued by what she would've produced in terms of conveying everyone's reactions, but the switch itself was jarring.  Honestly, it ruined the moment.  Given that this entire mini-series was around said moment, I have to really question how the editors' decision to switch artists on exactly this page.

Second, we don't really learn anything new, despite this issue concluding this mini-series-within-a-mini-series that promised so many revelations.  Odin recognizes Angela, but we don't really get any information about her past.  Most importantly, we never learn how she survived the Queen's attack in Asgard.  We see an angel carrying her to the reactor of the angels' ship as they depart Asgard -- to throw her body in there, as the Queen instructed her to do -- and then Angela miraculously revives.  How, you ask?  No idea.  Moreover, we learn nothing of her life in Heven after someone obviously took her there.  Did the angel carrying her to the reactor return to Heven with her and raise her as her own daughter?  If so, did no one ever question why she was born without wings?  Moreover, wouldn't someone have noticed that the angel hadn't been pregnant?  I'm not exactly sure how a realm populated only by female angels handles reproduction, but someone probably has to be pregnant at some point.  In other words, it seems like a hard place just to appear with a baby that doesn't look like everyone else.  But, Ewing never even remotely tries to answer even one of these many pressing questions.

My only guess why we're left with so many questions is that Marvel clearly wants us to pick up Angela's new series.  But, in going for the money grab, it seems to have forgotten that I'm only going to pick up that series if I'm intrigued by the story that it'll likely tell.  Since I don't even have the basic information that I need to be intrigued, I'm going to pass.  It's a shame, because it seemed to be the only cool thing to come from "Original Sin."  Instead, it somehow dips below the Hulk and Iron Man mini-series that also ran through this title, since that one at least gave us some sort of resolution (as absurd as it was).  Sad, but true.

** (two of five stars)

Uncanny X-Men #25 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

For me, the weirdest part of this issue is the idea that anyone could even remotely believe that Charles Xavier wasn't capable of doing what he reveals that he did here, namely erase a powerful mutant's knowledge of his own powers.

I mean, seriously.  Do I even have to list the number of times that Xavier used his powers unethically, leading to ruin for the team?  He deleted Magneto's consciousness, resulting in the birth of Onslaught.  He erased Scott's memory of the death of the second team of X-Men, resulting in the enmity of Vulcan.  Plus, those moments are just the ones that I can recall off the top of my head since they were the denouements of two major events.  Who could even begin to remember all the other times that Xavier crossed the line with disastrous results?  If Marvel got an intern to catalogue all the times that Xavier crossed said line, I think that she'd find a plethora of examples of Xavier tampering not just with someone in the short term (like rendering an opponent unconscious in battle) but altering his life or personality in the long term.  Is Scott really that outraged that Xavier did so once again?

Moreover, if he is outraged, shouldn't he be outraged that Xavier could somehow justify deleting the memory of the most powerful mutant to ever live, but couldn't help Rogue or Scott control their powers?  Isn't that more outrageous?  We've seen Xavier cross the line so often that the line itself is just a distant dot on the horizon at this point.  But, Xavier maintained his integrity when it came not to helping his own students?  I'd be more outraged about that if I were a guy who only ever saw the color red.

In other words, the revelation that the X-Men have to face a scary new mutant is fine and everything, but I just don't buy Scott's reaction.  Sure, Bendis uses Bobby to (probably accurately) suggest that Scott is overplaying his outrage to justify killing him, but it doesn't make the story any more interesting.  Xavier once again unethically controlled someone.  Next!

Moreover, Bendis shows a little too heavy hand in structuring the story.  Charles refuses to reveal the rest of his Last Will and Testament until the X-Men check on Malloy.  Really?  It's seems just an obvious attempt to delay the inevitable, making me wonder why we're subjected to the Malloy story in the first place.  Why not just get to the good part?  I'm assuming Bendis has a reason, but it seems a lot more likely that the remaining revelations will have a more direct impact on the X-Men's lives than their upcoming battle with Malloy.

The only really good part of this issue was Logan's comment about how well behaved he was being; I admit that I LOLed at that.  Otherwise, meh.

** (two of five stars)

Original Sin #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Jesus, can Marvel not fuck up an event?

I was mostly happy with this event until issue #7.  Until that point, Aaron was doing a great job of solving one mystery only to reveal another one.  It seemed like we were building to some amazing revelation that would shake the foundations of the Marvel Universe.  Over the course of the series, the story had slowly started to focus increasingly on Nick Fury, but this focus seemed reasonable given the likelihood that Master o' Secrets Fury would be instrumental in bringing about said revelation.

However, last issue, it suddenly became clear that this series was really all about Nick.   It was a weird realization, since Marvel had already pushed aside Nick and brought his son to the fore in order to bring the comics more in line with the movies.  Maybe they wanted to give Nick a proper good-bye?  It seemed plausible, but it didn't leave me feeling happy.  If I had known that this mini-series would just boil down to a love letter to a character that I didn't really like in the first place, I would've passed.

Moreover, the tie-in issues were still focusing on the secrets related to the Marvel Universe's other characters, making it all the odder that the main series increasingly became focused on Nick.  For example, Thor is still in Heven in the "Thor & Loki:  The Tenth Realm" mini-series running concurrent with the regular series, though we see him in this issue struggling to pick up Mjolnir.  Give that this development will directly lead to the introduction of the new Thor, it seems reasonable to think that we would've actually spent time on exploring it in the main series (particularly given all the time dedicated to Midas and the Orb).

In the end, though we're left with the anti-climatic revelation that Nick did kill the Watcher, though we're not told why he did so.  Did he do it because he realized that he could use the secrets contained on his eye for good?  No one actually says that.  After all, we still don't know what secrets Nick wanted on the eye, so it's hard to speculate what good that he could've done with them.  Aaron hints that Nick had to kill Uatu because he knew something about Nick, but it couldn't have just been the Unseen, since Nick himself revealed that information to the handful of possible replacements that he picked.  As such, despite eight issues dedicated to the subject, we really have no idea why Uatu had to die.

Instead, we're left with an insane Orb running around the place with Uatu's eye embedded in his chest and a seemingly alive Nick Fury staying on the Moon with Uatu's other eye embedded in his empty eye-socket.  The main problem that I have with this ending is that these developments seem unlikely to have any impact on anything.  Is the Marvel Universe going to devolve into following the escapades of a crazed and deformed Orb?  We don't even have a logical series to pick up his "adventures."

In the end, this event fells like it would've been better done as "Acts of Vengeance," allowing each series to handle the topic on its own rather than forcing an eight-issue mini-series on top of it.  We probably could've just had a one-shot that ended with the Orb detonating the eye bomb and be done with the framing story.  Instead, we spent eight issues telling a story that really only affects a C-List and D-List character.  I can't exactly call that time and money well spent.

* (one of five stars)

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Can I just say how nice it is to have the band back together?  Peter and Rich, joking about splitting rent on an apartment in downtown Cancerverse?  Drax being all crazy in his pursuit of killing Thanos?  [Sigh.]  I miss the old days.

Bendis doesn't actually reveal Nova's fate in this issue.  Instead, we see the moments leading to said fateful moment.  Peter begins to wonder if he's going to do more harm than good if he uses the Cube to kill Thanos, given the fact that Thanos himself never seemed to wield it correctly.  It leads Peter to hesitate in killing Thanos, and Thanos pounces on his uncertainty.

Bendis does a great job of showing us Peter's conflicting emotions as Thanos tells him that he might've been willing to die at some point, but he now wants to live.  Thanos offers to save him and his friends if he'll give him the Cube and, despite his assertions to the contrary, you can tell Peter considers it.  Although Peter doesn't buy it in the end, he's still unable to do the deed and the Cube beginning to assert its power over him as Rich tries to get him to drop it.

At first, I thought that we were going to discover that Peter accidentally sent himself, Drax, and Thanos home after Rich tells him to take Drax and flee.  It would've been an unconscious sin, the Cube plucking the wish from his mind.  But, it seems like it's going to be worse than that, that Peter willingly throws in his lot with Thanos.  We shall see.

My only real complaint about this issue is that it probably should've been a double-sized one.  The story ends at a key moment, but not one that lends itself to a cliff-hanger.  The momentum is just getting started, and it would've probably been better to keep it going until the final reveal.  But, I guess we're going to have to wait until next month instead.  

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sin #5.4/Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

My, but this issue is fun!  Aaron and Ewing just deliver a great treat here.  Loki uses Heven's fleet to break open the barrier surrounding Asgard so he can beseech Odin to return to fight the angels.  (He maybe forgot to mention to the Queen that the Asgardians don't live on Asgard anymore.)  Mjolnir finally arrives in Heven, freeing Thor and setting up a pretty epic battle.  Angela begins to wonder (thanks to some totally innocent questioning by Loki) why she agreed to trade in the ability to explore the cosmos to become the Mistress of the Hunt, functionally trapped on Heven.  Along the way, Loki hilariously talks about murdering babies.  No, really, it's hilarious.  Anyway, just read the issue.

***** (five of five stars)

Amazing Spider-Man #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

As much as I've been enjoying the relaunched "Amazing Spider-Man," I have to say that I'm not a fan of this issue.  Slott reverts to some bad habits here, juggling so many scenes that he's forced to take narrative short-cuts that make little sense.

The exchange between Cindy and Peter at the start of the issue is perhaps the worst offender, since the two of them unexpectedly zag against the way that they were zigging last issue.  Cindy was ready to kill Peter when she discovered that he had released her from the bunker despite Morlun still living, but she simply shrugs off the threat in this issue, declaring that the damage has already been done.  Peter is apparently less outraged about the bunker than he was, since he suggests that Cindy returns to it while he tries to get more information about Morlun.  Moreover, he also decides that he's not entirely sure that he believes the story that the same spider bit the both of them, despite Slott giving us no real reason for him to doubt it.

Beyond just the narrative short-cuts, I also don't buy where Slott's taking us with the Black Cat.  She claims here that her beef with Spidey is that he "outted" her, but I'm pretty sure that her identity was never really all that secret.  Slott keeps trying to get us to believe that it was, but I really just don't buy it.  If it was, it certainly wasn't secret like Martin Li or Phil Urich's identities as Mr. Negative and Hobgoblin, respectively, were despite her drawing exactly that comparison here.

Finally, Jésus effing Christmas, I'm over Peter getting kidnapped due to his connection to Spidey.  Does Slott really have no other tricks up his sleeve?  I mean, sure, from an equity stand-point, it's better than Anna Maria, Aunt May, or Mary Jane getting constantly Women in Refrigerator-ed, but it's still as annoying.  I could flip through my most recent reviews to point out all the times that it's happened over the last two or three years, but anyone who's been reading this series during that time already knows that.  I couldn't help but roll my eyes at Peter's proclamation that no one should attack him after he held a press conference announcing that he wasn't Spidey's friend anymore.

Ugh.  How disappointing?  I'm sure Slott will recover, and I'm still excited about "Spider-Verse."  But, this issue was a step far off beat.

** (two of five stars)

Original Sins #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The revelation that Nick Fury has been re-animating a LMD of Dum Dum Dugan since 1966 is crazy, though I actually mean that in a good way.

The whole point of this series should've been revealing the secrets that weren't sufficiently Earth-shattering to merit inclusion in the main title.  Dum Dum is pretty C-List, so it makes sense that his story would be told here.  Moreover, Ewing tells a damn good story full of excellent characterization.  Dum Dum realizes that Nick only kept him alive so that he'd have someone to know all the tough-guy decisions that he's made over the years.  The fact that Fury programmed Dum Dum to be unable to kill him really underlines the point that Nick constrained Dum Dum's existence to the parameters that he saw fit.  In other words, Dum Dum wasn't meant to be his own man; he was meant to be the man that Fury needed him to be.  If he trusted him as he'd trust a regular human, he wouldn't have installed back-up programming.  Moreover, it's clear that Nick allowed Dum Dum to "live" because he knew that he could kill him if having a guy who knew his secrets became inconvenient; after all, Dum Dum wasn't real, in Nick's book.  It's a disturbing look into Nick's mind, and it supports the idea from the main series that he's too far gone to be saved at this point.  Again, a solid story that reveals secrets and supports the event's narrative is what we should've -- but didn't -- see in this book.

The back-up story?  About the Young Avengers?  Let's just say that I'm going to run the other way if I see anything with Ryan North's name on anything again.

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sin #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've liked this series for the most part, a significant feat given how over events I am.  But, Aaron loses me here as we descend into nonsensical blather.  It's like "Gravity" with too much talking.

Nick Fury has always been the guy that knew all the secrets worth knowing.  In fact, the sub-text of this entire event has been taking that proposition to the extreme.  But, when we reach that extreme in this issue, we're crossed the line into ridiculous.  How does Fury know the words that somehow render Thor unworthy of holding Mjolnir?  With the hullabaloo over the upcoming debut of a female Thor, I had assumed that Thor did something to render him unworthy.  Instead, Fury just whispers a few words and strips godhood from a god.  Did I mention that he also knows the override code for Tony Stark's armor and that Logan murdered his "children?"  Fury implies that he knows these secrets because he managed to open the eyes, but I thought that he was still struggling to do that the last time that we saw them.

The problem with these revelations is that it's still unclear why we care.  Fury uses this knowledge to take down the Avengers (I guess Logan just went into a guilt coma), but we still don't know what he wants or why he doesn't want the Avengers involved.  If Fury was the one to steal the Watcher's eyes in the first place, why did he do it?  Did it have something to do with being the Man on the Wall?  These two plots are feeling increasingly isolated from one another, but I have to assume that Aaron will bridge the gap at some point.  But, even if he doesn't, we definitely need to know what secret Fury is willing to risk everything to know.  Doesn't he know enough?  If he knows enough to strip Stark of control of his armor or Thor of his godhood, what secrets could the Watcher's compound hold that he doesn't already know?  Also, why can't the Avengers help him?

Why do I feel like I'm not going to be happy with the answers if we get them?

* (one of five stars)

Original Sin #5.3/Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Despite my natural inclination to want to rush to the end of the story, I'll admit that Aaron and Ewing are doing a great job of letting this story unfurl at its own pace.  Angela and Thor are still clueless about their relationship, but we do get a better sense of how we got where we are.

Loki and the Queen of Heven have a cup of tea (literally), and the Queen reveals that Odin's betrayal came for failing to pay the angels for their service, namely protecting young Earth from his own subjects seeking the fun of plundering it.  However, Odin had a pretty good reason for betraying them, since he discovered that the angels took money from Jotunheim to develop a strategy to defeat Asgard (and concluded that it should unify all the other realms against Asgard).  Aaron and Ewing have done an impressive job of developing the ethos of Heven in a short time, and I'll admit that this revelation feels pretty consistent with the portrayal of Heven and its mercenary Queen so far.  The problem is that it doesn't exactly make the angels into sympathetic characters.  Their commitment to such extreme capitalistic ideals seems excessive, and it's hard to argue with Odin's decision to lock away the angels somewhere where they'd be less able to sow discord.

The surprise ending of this issue - Loki becoming the "Mistress" of Strategies - is clever, though it's pretty clear that Loki is playing both sides.  It's still unclear how they're going to get the Queen of the Angels to reveal Angela's heritage, and, even when she does, how Angela is going to react.  It seems unlikely that she's going to collapse into Freya's arms crying about finally finding her family.  But, Aaron and Ewing are letting us know that they're getting there, and I'll try to be patient.

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sin #3.4/Hulk vs. Iron Man #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Despite everything that we've been led to believe over the last three issues, we learn here that Tony didn't create the Hulk.  Sure, he tampered with Bruce's bomb, but he actually discovered that the extra shielding that Bruce had installed to make sure that the bomb didn't kill too many people would've done the exact opposite, since it would've built up too much pressure.  In fact, Tony saved Bruce's life, because the blast with the shields would've killed everyone in the observation bunker.

Technically, Gillen has been pretty careful to make sure that we only ever confirmed that Stark tampered with the bomb throughout this mini-series.  However, it's hard not to feel like he pulled a fast one on us with this revelation, reversing everything that we already seem to know to be true.  On several occasions, Tony has accepted blame for creating the Hulk.  Given the amount of techno mumbo-jumbo that we've seen throughout this series, we've been mostly forced to accept his word for it.  So, it seems weird to learn that he didn't actually mean it.  He learns the truth at the end of last issue, and Gillen seems to want us to believe that the guilt that he feels then comes from the fact that his alcoholism meant that he passed out before he could warn Bruce about the "morphogenic" potential of the bomb.  He instead sends Bruce an e-mail to that effect before he passes out, an e-mail that Bruce didn't read given his fury at Tony.  However, we were clearly led to believe that this guilt came from confirmation that he had, in fact, created the Hulk.  As such, again, it feels cheap when it's implied that the guilt came from Tony's passive, and not active, responsibility in the Hulk's creation.

To make matters worse, I'm extrapolating a bit there.  Tony never exactly says that he still blames himself for not being sober enough to warn Bruce.  I'm just trying to make his guilt at the end of last issue make sense, mostly because I like Gillen and hate to think that he just simply went all soap-opera cliffhanger on us, where everyone comes back Monday to discover that the gunman had no bullets in the gun and the threat is resolved in 30 seconds.  Moreover, it's hard to feel like this passive guilt would've been as extreme as the guilt that we see on Tony's face at the end of last issue when he realized "the truth."  In other words, Gillen and Waid may have overplayed the certainty that we've seen over the last three issues regarding Tony's role in creating the Hulk, because the revelation at the last minute that he didn't create him feels like a ret-con (even after only three issues).

Finally, we also somehow are left with the loose end of the effect that Arno warned the Hulk that the use of Extremis to upgrade him would have.  In other words, despite the talent of both writers involved in this project, it winds up just a mess.

** (two of five stars)

Uncanny X-Men #24 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Damn, Bendis knows how to throw a curveball!

First, I have to say, "Original Sin" is really knocking it outta the park lately.  Between the revelations in "Amazing Spider-Man" #4 and this issue, the authors aren't giving us minor secrets that will shortly be forgotten.  They're really weaving them not only into the ongoing stories that they're telling but into the characters' histories.  It's pretty rare to see an event have such long-term implications (particularly before it's even concluded), and I salute Marvel for coordinating it so well.  (Hell, Bendis even managed to use part of "Secret Invasion" in creating the mysterious Matthew.)

The revelation that Charles married Mystique was amazing for two reasons.  First, it confirms that the Xavier from the future Brotherhood is really Charles and Mystique's son.  Bendis implies that he might also be this mutant that Charles describes as "so powerful that their very existence threatened our way of life and any chance we would have for a peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans."  However, we're going to have to wait until next issue to be sure.  Second, we were all expecting that the surprise in the will would be that Scott would inherit the School.  It was clear that Bendis was going this way early in this issue; I was thrilled when Ororo and Scott came to that conclusion once they heard that Scott was required to be present at the reading of the will.  It really set up the surprise, that Charles was married to Mystique and she presumably now owns the School.

But, this issue was about more than just Charles' will or the School's future.  I loved that the School crowd got the jump on Scott.  He is always portrayed as the consummately brilliant tactician, and Bendis makes it clear that he was stunned when the X-Men just waltz into the New Xavier School.  It's an important reminder that the X-Men aren't just pacifist teachers, but honest-to-goodness superheroes who can do just fine without Scott.  It seems shocking that no one has made that point earlier, but it definitely needed to be made, particularly as it's clear that Storm will be taking up the School's reins when Logan "dies."  Moreover, Bendis does a great job of conveying the emotions driving the events of this issue.  From Bobby realizing that Charles is really dead to the anger that Hank, Logan, and Ororo exude in their interactions with Scott, this issue would've been nowhere near as powerful had Bendis hadn't taken the time to remind us of the state of play between these people that've known one another for a very long time.

Finally, it's worth noting that we end this issue with the two teams together.  Such an event usually results in a slugfest, but here they are standing together for the first time in a long time:  Scott, Bobby, Hank, Ororo, Kurt, Logan, Dazzler, Kitty, Rachel, Emma, Magik, and, well, Firestar.  It's pretty much all the surviving X-Men from the 1960s and 1970s in one room.  It's a big deal, and Bendis knows that it is, making it clear how much the revelations next issue are going to affect the future of the franchise.

Now, I just have to wait until next issue!

***** (five of five stars)

Original Sin #3.3/Hulk vs. Iron Man #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This series so far seems to just be repeating the same story again and again, as Tony tries (but fails) to prove that he wasn't responsible for the accident that created the Hulk.  We get another fairly unbelievable bit of technology meant to reconstruct the events of that night to break through Tony's alcoholic haze, and, this time, it not only proves Tony's guilt over creating the Hulk but also for some other crime that he committed against Bruce.  The only new twist this issue is that Arno implies that Bruce's use of the Extremis virus to merge his consciousness with the Hulk's body has some sort of side effect, but Hulk immobilizes him before he can reveal what it is.  I think that next issue is the last one, so all will, presumably, be revealed.  But, if Tony is as guilty as it appears, you do have to wonder how it could all possibly be resolved...at least without the Hulk smashing him to bits.

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sins #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

All right, this issue isn't as terrible as previous ones, mainly because the Dr. Doom story is clever, if predictable.  But, man, the Young Avengers story just continues to suck.  As expected, the Hood betrayed the guys by making sure that the memories taken from the drug addicts were uploaded to the Internet and encrypted, guaranteeing that the Hood can not only help his mom but gain enough information on governments and individuals to ensure that no one messes with him.  It was pretty clear that the Hood was going that way, since, after all, why would he have wanted all the memories otherwise?  But, if he had the technical capability to supply the rigged equipment to Prodigy, you really have to ask why he couldn't have built Cerebro, Jr. himself.  Did he really need Prodigy?  It seems unlikely, if he knew enough about the machine that Prodigy was going to build to provide equipment to manipulate it.  At any rate, I guess I'm moderately intrigued by how the Young Avengers are going to solve a problem that they can't, in the Hood's words, simply punch to resolve.  (That's the nicest thing that I've had to say about this series since the start.)

*** (three of five stars)

Original Sin #5.2/Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Aaron and Ewing waste no time setting up the meeting between Angela and Thor.  I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by this development, since I figured that we'd have to wait several issues before the pair actually met.

Of course, the meeting isn't exactly a friendly one.  Not surprisingly, the angels of Heven view Thor as the Son of Evil, and, upon realizing that the door home has been opened, Angela returns to Heven to confront him.  I'm intrigued how Thor is ever possibly going to convince Angela, known as the Wingless One in Heven, to return to Asgard, given the hatred that the angels have for it.  Are we simply going to explain that Odin is gone, so it's all good?  I guess it depends why the angels were fighting Asgard in the first place.  We learn here that they believe that Odin betrayed them, and it seems to be Loki's task to wheedle the details from the queen.  Ewing does a great job capturing both Thor's naivety and then dangerous impatience as well as Loki's scheming but practical nature.  How those dispositions will combine into a happy ending remains to be seen.

As intriguing as the plot is, the art is even more of a selling point.  Bianchi and Dall'alpi's Heven is a sight of beauty not often seen in comics.  You understand why Thor views Heven as a paradise full of fair maidens, and his battle with them in the skies over Heven is equally awesome.  The art really infuses the issue with the appropriate grandeur that a fight between gods needs, and it earns the issue a fourth star in my book.

**** (four of five stars)

Amazing Spider-Man #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Holy crap, that issue was intense!  I mean, first I thought we were just going to get your standard "I'm free after a long captivity" story, but, damn, those last few panels really upped the ante!

All right, first, I should say that I know next to nothing about Ezekiel and Morlun.  According to a search of my blog, the only times that I've encountered Ezekiel is the "Grim Hunt" arc ("Amazing Spider-Man" #634-#637), where he was actually the Chameleon in disguise, and the "No One Dies" story ("Amazing Spider-Man" #655) where he appeared as one of the dead characters from Peter's past.  Given that Peter went along with his plans when he thought that it was really him during "Grim Hunt," it seems that they left on mostly good terms.  However, the revelation that Ezekiel knew that he was Spider-Man from the minute that the radioactive spider bit Peter enrages him.  I have to admit that I don't really understand his anger.  I originally thought that he was angry because Ezekiel planned to keep him locked in a bunker just like Cindy Moon, the other student that the radioactive spider bit on that day.  But, Peter apparently already knew about the plans for the bunker.  If he was that mad, why did he view Ezekiel as an ally during "Grim Hunt?"  I can't remember if they were reluctant allies during that story, but it seems like I should get the other back issues, since it's clear that Ezekiel and obviously Morlun are going to play major roles in the upcoming "Spiderverse" event.

In fact, everything in this story clearly has something to do with "Spiderverse."  I have to give Slott credit; he really uses a tie-in issue better than possibly anyone ever to introduce a story that will have clear ramifications in the character's life after the event ends.  Peter learns as a result of the Watcher's eye-plosion that Ezekiel was keeping Cindy hostage in a bunker, and Cindy tells Peter that it was because her release would attract Morlun.  I'm a little confused by this part, because it seems like Morlun would've known about her from the start, as he presumably did Peter.  Cindy's parents only approach Ezekiel after her powers manifest, meaning that she was on her own (outside of Ezekiel's supervision) for a while.  If the threat of Morlun was so present, why did he wait for so many years to go after Peter?  Why wasn't Ezekiel scrambling to put Peter in a bunker at the same time as Cindy?

Moreover, Ezekiel puts Cindy in the bunker because he feared something and he had to wait until he knew for sure whether it would come to pass.  He comes to this conclusion based on tests that he ran on Cindy, but it's unclear what those tests said.  What sort of test would prove that she was the "Spider-Bride," the reason it seems that Ezekiel put her in the bunker in the first place?  Also, I'm having a little trouble believing that Ezekiel was so persuasive about the danger that Morlun represented that Cindy would agree to spend a decade or so in a bunker.  She really decided to do that based on some dire warnings of a crazy old coot?

In terms of Cindy's release setting off the sequence of events that result in "Spiderverse," it's unclear why it happened.  The shadowy figure that seems to be Morlun calls her the "Spider-Bride."  It's clear that she's connected to be Peter, not only because his Spider-Sense leads him to her (as opposed to warning him of danger), but also because he's hormonally compelled to kiss her at the end.  Something about their connection kicks off Morlun's "great hunt," but it's unclear why them connecting would be the spark.  Interestingly, Cindy seems to know.  She warns Peter about Morlun gorging himself on their brothers and sisters, and she can feel the danger of Morlun approaching before Peter can.  Maybe it answers the question why she trusted Ezekiel, because she's somehow more in tune with the Spider spirits or whatever we call them.

In other words, we have a lot of questions.  However, I have total faith in Slott answering them, since he is right up there with Peter David in terms of not leaving any loose ends.  In the meantime, we now have another Spider-Person in the form of Silk.  We learn in this issue that her powers are different than Peter's.  Her Spider-Speed is faster, her Spider-Sense is sharper, and she can spin organic (and barbed) webs.  In fact, only Peter's Spider-Strength is stronger.  Slott does a great job establishing her as an honest-to-goodness powerhouse, and I'm intrigued to see where he goes with her.  After all, it's not a foregone conclusion that she's going to be a hero.  Peter had a very compelling personal reason to become a hero.  It's unclear how Cindy will react to the world after spending a decade or so in isolation.

This issue also has other developments, but Slott thankfully doesn't do what he did in "Superior Spider-Man" and focus too much time on them to the detriment of the main story.  The Black Cat kidnaps Sajani to combat the technology that Parker Industries is assembling to defeat Electro, and Peter is relieved when the Avengers call him to fight the Mindless Ones, since it means that Doc Ock didn't get him expelled.  The Avengers sequence is classic Peter, as he tries to tell everyone that he's returned while they're battling for their lives.  I have to say that I really wish that Slott would just wrap up the Black Cat plot, but at least we're not spending too much time on it.

My only minor complaint with this issue is that Ramos really tarts up Cindy when we first meet her.  He did a great job with the Avengers battle scene, but I'm not really sure, if I was living in a bunker for a decade or so, that I'd be dressed in a tight-fitting tank top and pair of Daisy Dukes.  If he puts Peter in them next issue, I'll call it even.

***** (five of five stars)

Uncanny X-Men #23 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Bendis makes it pretty clear here that we've put the S.H.I.E.L.D. arc behind us (at least for the time being) and entered the next phase of this title.  Accordingly, he starts several new stories in this issue, and it takes a bit of effort to keep all of them straight.

First, we do attend to some old business.  The Stepford Cuckoos apparently told Scott what happened to Eva in Tabula Rasa, because they were scared for her (a disturbing prospect in and of itself).  But, Scott handles his attempt to get Eva to talk about it badly, and it drives her from him.  It's a funny scene, despite the fact that Bendis hints that something really, really bad happened to Eva (and that she is aging as a result of her powers).  Moreover, Dazzler's attempt to find Mystique is frustrated by the obvious trouble of finding Mystique when she doesn't want to be found, pushing her to a Britney-esque nervous breakdown.  Finally, and most obviously, Hijack rejoins the team after Scott actually apologizes.

The new business is more intersting, though.  First, we're introduced to a guy named Matthew.  A Skrull killed his wife and child (presumably during the "Secret Invasion" storyline), and it appears that his mutant powers activated, allowing him to kill the Skrull.  He's become a recluse in the year since then, but we don't really learn anything more about him (except that he has no control of his powers, evident when he accidentally kills his sister-in-law).  Bendis clearly has a plan for him, though we don't have enough information about him even to guess at this time.  Next, we get the titular development, She-Hulk receiving the last will and testament of Professor Xavier.  Unsurprisingly, Scott is included in the will, and Jennifer asks the X-Men where he is.  We also have no idea where Bendis is going with this story, though I could certainly see the possibility of Charles leaving the School to Scott.  If so, it would suggest two possible developments:  it'll either bring about the possible re-unification of the two sides, ending the schism (particularly given the upcoming death of Wolverine), or drive them further from one another if Scott evicts the Jean Grey School from the premises.  We shall see.

In order to move through these stories, Bendis doesn't do anything remarkable narratively in this issue; it's pretty clear that the goal is just to get us going into the next phase.  But, he accomplished exactly that, and I'm excited to see where we're going.

*** (three of five stars) 

Original Sin #3.2/Hulk vs. Iron Man #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue features a lot of techno mumbo-jumbo, but, in the end, it essentially contains two major developments:  first, Tony realizes that he did, in fact, create the Hulk by sabotaging the gamma bomb, and, second, Bruce uses Extremis to upgrade himself into a more self-controlled Hulk.

The first development is pretty well explained, even if it isn't all that believable how Tony gets there.  Tony buys the motel where he and Bruce had their fateful argument and uses droids to catalogue the room, creating a sequence of events to jar his memory.  I think that it's pretty unlikely that triangulating the location of a Scotch bottle thrown ten years earlier could accomplish such a feat; this sort of hand-waving is why I generally don't read "Iron Man" comics in the first place.  But, whatever, I get the fact that it's part and parcel of an Iron Man story.

The Hulk development is odder.  Bruce uses his access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files to confirm that Thunderbolt Ross hired Tony to make the gamma bomb more lethal, and this revelation drives him to upgrade himself.  First, I'm not really sure why it's all the worse that Ross hired Tony to make the bomb more lethal.  The main problem is that Tony sabotaged the bomb, not that he was working on the bomb at Ross' behest in the first place.  Second, you have to ask why Bruce was waiting to upgrade himself.  Wouldn't he already have wanted a more controllable Hulk, even if he wasn't inspired to create one to kick Tony Stark's ass?  Why did he wait?  Also, I'm not sure why he didn't want Arno to know what he was doing.  Wouldn't Arno be OK with Bruce making the Hulk more controllable?

I have a sinking suspicion that we're not going to get answers to the Hulk questions, particularly once this mini-series within a mini-series dissolves into a Hulk/Iron Man slugfest.  It's a shame, too, because this sort of illogical jumping from one event to another one -- despite little actual connection between the two events -- is exactly the sort of lazy storytelling that can drag down a story.

** (two of five stars)