One Minute to Impact: New Avengers #14

PREVIOUSLY ON NEW AVENGERS

Having taken over every copy of Dum Dum Dugan’s LMD body, Agent Garrett confronts and traps Songbird (Da Costa’s triple agent), after revealing the Da Costa himself is going to apparently die. She manages to get a signal out to Roberto, who sends Max Brashear, Power Man and Cannonball to get her. Meanwhile Toni Ho connects with Pod and Pod’s operator, Aiko Jokkinen – which gets interrupted by the New Revengers attack led by Maker, a.k.a. Ultimate Reed Richards (he comes in slices!).

NEW AVENGERS #14

Well, it finally happened. New Avengers shed whatever connection it had to Civil War II and became a tie-in in name only, or a "red skies crossover," as it’s called in the comic industry. The term comes from the days of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths which was advertised as having an effect on every title published by DC at the time. Really what it meant was that for many of those issues, their only connection to the main event were red skies on the horizon.

What this means is Ewing can for the most part ignore Civil War II and focus on giving his title as explosive a finale as possible. The downside is that, this being the halfway point that’s primarily focused on Maker’s assault on A.I.M.’s Savage Lands base, this isn’t an issue that provides much to talk about.

The other, smaller portion of the issue is devoted to the Songbird rescue mission. As Max Brashear, Power Man and Cannonball reach her, we learn that she did reveal the location of the A.I.M. base (being connected to a polygraph and threatened to be shot in the head for lying does that to people); but if I’m being honest, with the mastermind record Roberto has by now, I don’t think she knew the actual location. So I don’t think that missile Agent Garrett fires from the helicarrier will actually end up anywhere near the base.

I don’t particularly expect (though I could be wrong) that Ulysses’s vision of Roberto’s funeral that we learned of last issue to actually mean that he’ll die by the series’ end. Considering our underdeveloped Inhuman clairvoyant friend only saw his funeral, not his death, I fully expect everyone to hold a fake ceremony and thus cheat "fate."

Thankfully, the chemistry between Vic and Max is fantastic enough that the portion doesn’t feel like a waste of time. The Stealth Zero sequence is terrific and I loved how Paco Medina presented Vic gaining power from the helicarrier’s history.

But let’s get back to the main portion of the issue. We finally get snippets of backstory on each member of the New Revengers, that give us some understanding on them while still leaving their individual histories shrouded in mystery. That’s probably for the best; they pretty much serve as a means for Maker to make his move. The only one of them that really matters is Angela del Toro, the former White Tiger resurrected by the evil ninjas of the Hand, who confronts the current bearer of this title, Ava Ayala. After their last confrontation Angela has the power of tiger gods from two universes, while Ava only has her martial arts skills. This means that she can be killed with one hit. However...

That’s my girl.

Elsewhere, Maker reveals the reason for his assault on A.I.M., and why it’s currently for the most part bloodless. Basically, every law of physics is different from what he is used to in his dead universe. Just a bit, but eventually this adds up to a difference he can’t overcome. So he needs to build a machine to solve his problem, and for that he needs scientific minds of this world. Thus, the takeover of A.I.M. that he prepared for so long, after months of successful surveillance with...

Oh, I love Roberto so much. He’s like an actually fun and super-powered Tony Stark.

This means A.I.M. could prepare for the attack – including a hidden toy Toni built for this occasion.

Her grandpa, Ho Yinsen, would be proud.

Meanwhile Roberto is trapped in mission control by Maker’s AI, O.M.N.I.T.R.O.N.I.C.U.S., which has turned the entire room into a trap filled with weaponry that it then starts firing. Let me repeat that. It trapped a graduate of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters – which has a Danger Room as its training course – in a room filled with weaponry that it then starts firing. There’s many ways to call a situation like this. The New Mutants call it…

Unfortunately, Roberto’s showing off gets interrupted by his M-Pox symptoms and he gets shot at with a stun ray. Another one and he’ll be toast.

And that’s when his former New Mutants teammate Warlock shows up.

Like I said, there isn’t a lot to discuss this issue – but it’s still a well-crafted part of what promises to be the book’s grand finale. There are many great character moments, the exposition is handled deftly, and I’ve even grown to like Paco Medina’s art. We’ll continue the explosive final arc next month, along with the Ultimates.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.

Rising Tension: New Avengers #13

This issue is slightly more connected to the main Civil War II miniseries than the previous one, with a certain event being the impetus for its plot and another one explaining the absence of one of the book's characters. The former is luckily summarized on the opening pages, but the latter will take some more explaining, which I'll get to in the article proper. What this means is yet again, you don't really need to read Civil War II to understand what is happening in this comic. Thankfully.

PREVIOUSLY ON NEW AVENGERS

SHIELD Director Maria Hill grills Agent John Garrett over his inability to find Avengers Idea Mechanics's (A.I.M.'s) secondary base, which leads them to using a computer virus to take over Alpha Flight satellites... and Dum Dum Dugan's LMD body, along with its hundreds of spares connected to it wirelessly. Meanwhile Roberto Da Costa contacts Wiccan's team of New Avengers to ask them for a favor. At this moment it is revealed that Maker, a.k.a. Ultimate Reed Richards (he comes in slices) has been watching everyone in AIM via self-replicating nanocams.

NEW AVENGERS #13

Let's first talk the connection to Civil War II #3. In this comic, after Ulysses the Clairvoyant Inhuman predicted the next global threat will come from Bruce Banner turning into a Hulk, the Avengers confronted him and discovered that he has been subjecting himself to gamma radiation to stop himself from hulking out. During the confrontation he started getting really angry, which generally preceded him hulking out and then he was shot dead by Clint. With a super special arrow capable of killing the Hulk that Banner once gave him just in case. Which he beforehand presumably pulled out of his ass. Long story short, Clint is now arrested and on trial for murder of Bruce Banner.

Oh, and apparently Bendis doesn't know/care about the current Hulk situation, because he has Banner say that the reason he hasn't hulked out for over a year is thanks to his experiments... except it's thanks to Amadeus Cho curing him. Marvel's favorite writer, folks.

The connection this issue makes to this event comes from Roberto and Sam talking about it, with Bobby blaming himself for not standing by Clint after he did that for him during their assault on a SHIELD helicarrier. Sam points out that they couldn't get past SHIELD watchdogs tailing Clint and besides, the man made his choice. Their discussion is interrupted by a call from Songbird.

That's when the other connection to Civil War II comes in: Ulysses gained the ability to show other people what he sees and feels. Karnak, the non-powered member of the Inhuman royal family and star of an ongoing and irregular Warren Ellis comic, was shown as one of them. Karnak has a knack for details, primarily used for spotting flaws in all things - and a working relationship with Coulson. He saw something and shared it with SHIELD, which in the end got to Agent Garrett. That detail is a vision of Roberto Da Costa's funeral with Songbird--officially a SHIELD Agent and unofficially Roberto's triple agent--giving a tearful eulogy.

He confronts her about it and swarms her with all of the Dum Dum Dugan LMD copies he got a hold of. After putting up a good fight, Melissa gets defeated, only able to contact Roberto long enough to let him know that she's been captured. She also tries to tell him about that vision, but gets knocked out and imprisoned. Her powers get deactivated and she herself is connected to a lie detector. And if she doesn't tell Garrett the current location of Roberto Da Costa, he's going to shoot her in the head.

Luckily, Bobby is on the case! He sends two people best skilled for a stealth mission: Victor "Power Man" Alvarez and Max Brashear, both on board of A.I.M.'s new vehicle, Stealth Zero. Which looks, um...

Wait till you see the engine of that thing.

Man, A.I.M. is becoming a real Mickey Mouse operation.

Meanwhile, we have a beautiful scene between Toni Ho and Pod. Since she came to A.I.M., Toni has been trying to free Aikku Jokinen, Pod's user, from that hunk of metal. And in this issue, she finally discovers that Aikku could have left any time she wanted, but this would mean the reset of Pod, and consequently the death of Pod's consciousness. Aikku was trapped; she was protecting her new friend, who won't survive without her.

And that's when Maker and his New Revengers attack. Maker has been keeping tabs on A.I.M., and now they're vulnerable enough for attack. His first move is to take down Pod with Skar, a planetary orbit defense system from a universe where Mars is the dominant planet.

This the comic's final story arc before its relaunch as U.S. Avengers in October (as we recently found out thanks to a leak), and the issue makes it sound like quite an explosive finale. A.I.M. is fighting on two fronts--SHIELD and Maker's New Revengers--and Clint is out of the picture and the tension is rising. We'll find out more in two weeks in New Avengers #14.

Before that, I'll see you next week for Ultimates #9.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.

New Avengers #12 Review

Some of you might be looking at the big Civil War II logo on the cover of this week’s New Avengers and think to themselves: “You know, I’m sure loving the heck out of this comic, but I don’t want to waste time with some crossover tie-in drivel that forces characters into some editorially-driven bullcrap conflict. Gosh, if only there was a way to know if the comic ignores this garbage in favor of being fun.” Well, we at Critical Writ are here to help you with that and tell you if you can read your favorite comic without worrying if some other, worse comic is tainting it.

It isn’t – the story starts with the big fight against an otherworldly entity invading Earth that took place at the beginning of Civil War II #1. After that, everything else takes place immediately following it, before all the fridging, and even before the reveal of Ulysses the Clairvoyant Inhuman. So despite the crossover logo ruining the pretty covers by Julian Totino Tedesco, you can safely read all the New Avengers comics bearing it.

PREVIOUSLY ON NEW AVENGERS

After most of the team kicked themselves out of it to go and attack a SHIELD helicarrier holding Rick Jones prisoner, Wiccan, Hulkling, Squirrel Girl and former SHIELD operative Hawkeye formed their own New Avengers. Songbird revealed herself to be a secondary SHIELD plant, while actually working for Sunspot as a triple agent. Sunspot, Power Man, White Tiger, Pod, Max Brashear, Toni Ho and the rest of AIM fled a SHIELD assault on their island to their secondary base in Savage Lands, greeted by Cannonball and Zebra Kids. Meanwhile, away from all this mess, Ultimate Universe Reed Richards, a.k.a. Maker, leader of WHISPER, has formed his own team to counter Sunspot’s squad – the New Revengers.

NEW AVENGERS #12

Maria Hill is having a bad day. Not only is she on trial with the Security Council for the Pleasant Hill mess, no one is able to locate where Roberta Da Costa with the rest of AIM went. Hill is convinced the Supreme Leader position and the power that comes with it went to his head and corrupted him, turning him into a supervillain. Add the “fate of the world” thing that every active superhero is currently engaged in, and her mood becomes understandable. She’s taking it out on Agent John Garrett (whom fans of the Agents of SHIELD TV show might recognize as season 1 main villain) and orders him to think of something that will lead them to AIM’s current location.

Meanwhile Wiccan’s New Avengers (or All-New New Avengers, as the narration boxes tell us – gotta love Ewing’s lampooning of Marvel’s recent naming trend) are busy fighting the Celestial Destructor alongside almost every active superhero. The highlights of the battle include Hulkling summoning his King of Space sword with the words “By the power of EXCELSIOR!”, and Tippy-Toe shouting “Avengers Assemble!” (in squirrel language, of course). Also Wiccan, who’s part of the magic squad tasked with banishing the invader shares a nice moment with his mom, Scarlet Witch (continuing the trend of Ewing writing a better Wanda in a few panels than many do in their whole runs).

After they drive the bad guy back, Wiccan gets a call from Roberto Da Costa. After the rest of the team rejoins him and Clint goes to stand some distance away with fingers in his ears…

…Wiccan tries to tell Da Costa they are done with him. Unfortunately for him, Doreen and Teddy are too curious what Sunspot wants, so the team (sans Hawkeye) ends up agreeing to join him on some “light treason”. Wiccan worries SHIELD might be listening in or watching, but Roberto is positive they are safe.

Well, they are safe from SHIELD, anyway. After their Tokyo tussle with WHISPER in issue 7, they brought back a swarm of nanocams, which have replicated over time and covered every team member. So all this time, Maker has been watching them everywhere they went.

He’s waiting for the right moment, when the heroes start fighting each other and AIM is busy with SHIELD. Then he’s going to strike with his New Revengers.

Meanwhile Dum Dum Dugan is called to the SHIELD helicarrier by John Garrett, who’d like some help in tracking down AIM. That’s a lie and a trap, however – Garrett has decided that whatever he does, Hill will be blamed for it, so he might as well go all-out evil. He’s got a computer virus from one of SHIELD’s divisions that he uses to take control over Alpha Flight’s satellites to find AIM, and uses the schematics for Dugan’s robot body to hack him. And, additionally, all his spare LMD copies. The war between AIM and SHIELD begins.

You may have noticed the change in the art. For the Civil War II tie-ins the comic will be drawn by Paco Medina instead of Gerardo Sandoval. And while he’s not perfect (his facial expressions are weird and he’s unable to decide how long Doreen’s tail is), it’s still an improvement over the regular art.

I’ll see you in two weeks to see how Ewing deals with Civil War in Ultimates #8, and the New Avengers will be back with two issues in July.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.

New Avengers #11

PREVIOUSLY ON NEW AVENGERS

Hey, we already did that bit in a separate post! Check that out, or you might be a tad confused reading this review.

NEW AVENGERS #11

You know what, I’m going to throw this one out now. This issue was a ton of fun, and I want to get the one problem I had with it out of the way so I can focus on the joy I had reading it.

I think Gerardo Sandoval is a terrible artist and I hope he gets kicked off this comic as soon as possible. I know he’s not the absolute worst artist in the industry, but since issue one he’s been the biggest problem this book had. It says a lot that I wish Greg Land was drawing it. Yes, his art is at least as bad, but you can tell characters are human, instead of those misshapen square creatures Sandoval makes.

Now that we’ve gotten this out of the way...

The issue takes place sometime after the last Avengers: Standoff tie-in. Sunspot’s team has been publicly condemned by Stark’s Avengers team, SHIELD, the media, and Captain America Steve Rogers himself (rather harshly, too). The only members seen in a positive light are the ones Da Costa teleported prior to his attack on a SHIELD helicarrier: Billy, Teddy and Doreen. The first two (officially engaged!) are still living with Billy’s parents and taking a small break by visiting Billy’s soul mom, Scarlet Witch. This is how the issue begins, and it’s fairly inconsequential to its main plot. More might come of it in the future, but it mainly serves to reaffirm that yes, despite Billy’s doubts, he’s pretty much stuck with the name Wiccan for the time being. It also allows Al Ewing to write Wanda better in a few pages than many recent writers have done for many issues (*cough*Rick Remender*cough*).

Squirrel Girl meanwhile is doing great and itching for more adventures. The three seem to have become good buddies, and spend a lot of their time together. They decide to get back into the New Avengers business, remembering the words Sunspot told Billy and Teddy on their very first day: "This is not an academy. This is not a training ground or a proving ground or a waiting room. And – love your work, guys – but this is not the ‘Young Avengers’. Because I don’t need the ‘Avengers of the Future’. I don’t need people who want to wait for permission. The future is now. The future is us. We’re the New Avengers." And since Ewing’s favorite punching bag, the Plunderer, is back in town, the trio suits up and gets back to Avengering.

Meanwhile Hawkeye (Clint, not Kate) is in a terrible mood. Due to his involvement in Sunspot’s assault on the helicarrier, he has officially been fired from SHIELD, with Maria Hill telling him the only reason he’s not in prison is because he’s too pathetic. His mood is not improved by a visit from SHIELD’s other, real plant, Songbird. He begins chewing her out, but that’s put on hold when – you guessed it – the Plunderer and his henchman Terry start plundering in their vicinity.

Both teams end up fighting the same bad guy. Later on, Billy suggest Clint join him, Teddy and Doreen on their All-New Avengers team (or, as Clint puts it, "Wiccan’s Kooky Quartet"), which Hawkeye is happy to accept. Melissa meanwhile is given a cold treatment (even from Squirrel Girl – damn). Despite her betrayal you can’t help but feel sorry for her.

Especially since, as the last page reveals, she wasn’t just a double agent for SHIELD. She is a triple agent for Sunspot, and everything that’s happened regarding her betrayal has been his plan all along.

The issue, despite been mostly focused on showing the aftermath of the last three explosive issues and setting up things for the future, is a ton of fun. I was a bit worried it might be hard for people who decided to skip the Avengers: Standoff tie-in issues, but Ewing nicely introduces the new status quo for the team.

Next week, the Ultimates return with an issue focused on Thanos. And then, the Al Ewing Praise Hour returns next month with the beginning of Civil War II tie-ins for both comics. Well, if anyone can make them work, it’s Ewing.

Dominik Zine is a nerdy lad from northeastern Poland and is generally found in a comfy chair with a book in hand.