DeShawn Comic Reviews

It's your generic fight scene, with the inclusion of Thor, despite being in space. It's difficult bringing myself to say anything bad about Jim Cheung's work. He's amazing on a regular basis, but this cover comes off as very bland and doesn't really offer anything special.

Jim Cheung and Justin Ponsor give us a great looking cover, balancing the light and dark aspects of the Phoenix Five, perfectly emulating how the reader may perceive them this issue. This cover makes the reader question whether the Phoenix Five are the saviours of civilization, or the one destined to destroy it. It's overall just an amazing cover.

To say the least, it is widely misleading. For one, it suggests a very action packed issue, which isn't the case. It also suggests that this issue will deal with the whole Wolverine sharing membership of two teams situation. It unfortunately doesn't, and readers will have to wait, and probably turn to another series, to get the whole story regarding that. It is however a very nice looking cover, but if covers told the truth, we'd have the Avengers sitting down with Luke and Jessica arguing in the background. In fact, if covers told the truth all the time, a lot of New Avengers covers would look like that.

A very powerful cover featuring Danny Rand, the Iron Fist, seemingly wielding the Phoenix Force. It's unfortunate that Danny doesn't appear in this issue and is only briefly mentioned, but it's still an impressive cover nonetheless and isn't totally unrelated to the content of this issue.

Misleading Avengers covers shouldn't really shock anyone at this point, as neither Danny Rand nor Hope Summers are even so much as mentioned this issue, but it does get a tad annoying to say the least. Deodato seems to go a little overboard on the cross-hatching, but still manages to provide a fierce cover. The sparks around Danny's fist is a nice touch, and hopefully this cover has some relevance to the story at some point.

Definitely giving it points for being a fairly accurate Avengers cover for once. It's pretty generic as a whole though, but at least he manages to make Fongji look epic as ever.

This issue serves as a prologue to Marvel's upcoming Age of Apocalypse series. Although very well written, many creative decisions made in this issue are questionable and sure to upset some readers, especially those who hold Marvel's Age of Apocalypse storyline and their characters in high regard. If you expected the upcoming Age of Apocalypse title to be reminiscent of that which debuted in the 90's, you may be left disappointed and even frustrated over the drastically different direction established in this prologue. Outside of running the risk in alienating the more "traditional" fans, this issue offers great character depth and exciting storytelling, the type you would usually expect from Rick Remender.

Although not a very accurate portrayal of the events within the issue, Leinil Yu provides an awesomely depicted confrontation between the Captain Britain Corps and X-Force while Fantomex is shown bound in chains. Fantomex's portrayal is a bit reminiscent to another certain French inspired X-Man who was incarcerated a while back. A few arms are drawn a little skinny but aside from that, the cover is very well done.

Much like the story, the cover is obviously very fantasy influenced. It basically provides a good action shot of Nightcrawler and Wolverine lunging towards their enemy. It matches the overall tone of the book much like the interior art had. It's a decent cover but not particularly astonishing.

Leinil Yu and Jason Keith provide us with an epic shot of Fantomex and Psylocke riding a dragon. The cover could've benefit from a more impressive background but the main focus is detailed beautifully. Fantomex's hands seem a bit awkward as well. He partially looks like he's trying to cop a feel on Psylocke. Overall though, impressive cover.

Phil Noto provides us with a visually astonishing cover of a giant Iceman looking over X-Force battling his minions. Dubbed "The Unkillable Kill", AoA Iceman is one of the most powerful mutants to cross over from the Age of Apocalypse timeline, anm this cover does a good job in showing how the odds are stacked heavily against X-Force.

Although not much at first glance, it serves as a complex allegory for dependance. Much like his alcoholism, the Venom symbiote serves as a crutch for Flash Thompson, effectively replacing it altogether. Flash begins to be dependant on the symbiote, firstly because it allows him the use of his legs and secondly because it allows him to protect the ones he loves. However, what is also explored throughout the series is the symbiote's deviant nature, one that is all too similar to the nature of alcohol. While the theme of dependance isn't thoroughly explored in this issue, the cover serves as a stark reminder of an issue that is sure to be relevant in the future. Dare I say, it may be this generation's equivalent of Bob Layton's iconic "Demon in a Bottle" Iron Man #128 cover.

Tony Moore and Dean White's cover features Jack-o-Lantern and Agent Venom battling it out with a colourful Las Vegas backdrop. It doesn't fully capture the intensity of this issue, with many panels within outshining the cover, but it is pretty to look at regardless.

Here we see part four of Caselli and Martin's Circle of Four poster. Like the previous covers, the poster doesn't work as well separated as it does together (almost like the team themselves) and it seems like Red Hulk is returning the favour to Venom for photobombing his last cover by sticking his hand into his.

Not much to say, it's a great group shot and a good metaphorical representation of what went down this issue. Blackheart could've been depicted in his demon form, which I think would have made the cover more interesting, especially if he were engaged in battle with Venom Hulk Rider. That would've likely would've spoiled the event when solicitations were released, and we wouldn't want that.

A very well-done, espionage inspired cover featuring Venom stealthily perched atop a pipe, armed with a sniper rifle. I like the addition of what I assume to be a night vision feature to the eyes.

A good looking action shot featuring Agent Venom taking on The Fly and The Hobgoblin at once. It does kind of spoil the surprise that the Hobgoblin cameos in the book, but at least we get a sweet looking cover out of it.

This cover by Lee Bermejo basically tells the life story of Bucky Barnes. It's visually appealing and very action oriented but Bucky comes off as more of a hulking beast rather than a stealthy super-spy. Gabriele Dell'Otto's variant cover is nothing short of amazing, portraying Bucky as every bit of the super-spy that he is.

Bucky and Natasha embrace the cover with every ounce of their awesomeness as Lee Bermejo delivers on a completely different level. It embodies every bit of noir and espionage present in this issue to a tee. Covers can't get much sexier than this.

Lee Bermejo delivers a great looking cover of a triumphant Doom standing over Bucky. The cover doesn't really have an espionage vibe, but definitely looks good.

Cool guys don't look at explosions. We get a great action shot of Bucky running towards us from a massive explosion. It perfectly captures a very action movie style, even having Bucky give us a thumbs up from flicking the pin off his grenade. Great stuff, I'm really enjoying Lee Bermejo's cover work on this series so far.

Steve Epting, the man who helped Brubaker reintroduce Bucky to the Marvel Universe, crafts a cover that is both alluring and exciting. It captures the espionage aspect of this book perfectly while also managing to portray a sultry Black Widow with a stoic Bucky Barnes. It has a very old-school resonance to it as well, with Black Widow sporting a somewhat retro hairstyle oozing a Charlie's Angels kind of vibe.