Unlike the last issue, this one isn't particularly shaped by the events of Civil War II—but even Al Ewing doesn't seem to be able to escape the ongoing derailment of one of the characters he's writing.
I'm talking, of course, about Captain Marvel, for whom the horrible personality forced upon her by Bendis's story finally starts to take hold even in better writers' hands. Try as Ewing might, he can't escape the simple fact that he's been painted into a corner by many other people, be they writers of tie-in issues, writers for this very blog, or just casual fans of Marvel comics: Carol Danvers is wrong. There isn't a case like in the first Civil War, where you could argue that Tony Stark was right (and he was right on the principle of his position) and it was Millar's writing that turned a logical position into a full-blown fascist dictator. Here, Carol is wrong—and the writer knows it. And all his work of the past two issues, where he tried to show how she might end up at the position the event forces her into, simply isn't enough to justify anything.
Thanks to that, cracks are beginning to show in the team. As the Ultimates prepare for the next mission, Adam expresses concern over the recent Clint/Banner debacle (the former shooting the latter in the head) and that this isn't what he signed up for. And Carol pretty much lashes out at him, telling him to keep his concerns in the future to himself, with little justification other than being tired of being second-guessed. I really can't wait for this dumb event to end.
There's also the ongoing hipocrisy in claiming that Stark wouldn't build himself something that might predict the future. Because he already did—in the one of the older comics he actually designed a machine that did the very thing Ulysses seems to be doing, and wasn't exactly torn about using it. But that's a problem for another time.
The Ultimates are following another one of Ulysses's vision—this time around, it's the Infinaut, a being from another universe that manifests every few decades. Blue Marvel has stopped him from entering the 616 universe himself. But now, having had enough to prepare thanks to Ulysses's vision and the help of the rest of the team (joined by the current Giant-Man, Raz Malhotra), they're able to provide him safe passage.
All this is reported to Voigt by one of his Troubleshooters, Colonel Jessup, formerly of Psi-Force— living psi-energy. He also informs his supervisor of the spat between Carol and Adam, which might mean that Voigt's fears of the team dissolving may come true.
Meanwhile in the Triskellion, Conner Sims, the Anti-Man, is in a terrible shape, plagued by visions of Eternity's jailer. In his broken state he's easy pickings for Thanos, who is able (thanks to telepathic abilities he apparently has?) to contact Sims from his cell and manipulate him.
There are good bits here and there, but overall this is the weakest issue of the series, thanks to the shadow cast by the ongoing event. On the art side, the series' regular artist Kenneth Rocafort is joined by Djibril Morissette for this issue—a new artist who will be drawing the upcoming Image horror series Glitterbomb. He's a fresh talent, though sadly the two styles clash with each other. Overall, it's not the best issue of the series.
Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.
