Johnny and Ben watch the "Doom triumphant" AU spin toward its end, but their presence pushes AU Reed and some surprising allies into action. Forget all the "I can't wait for the FF to come back" stuff; this RIGHT HERE is everything you want from the Fantastic Four. Highest stakes, tremendous heart, and imaginative ideas, all conveyed with the strongest possible storytelling skills in words and art. The nonstop drumbeat of questions answered and new questions raised makes this issue both a delight in tself and a powerful advertisement for future issues. more

Black Bolt overcomes the Jailer thanks to his loved ones and friends. The issue is deadly serious about that potentially-corny theme, and thank goodness it is. The art is beautiful, the friendships are touching. The logic is questionable at a few points, but there's never been a better demonstration of the fact that a truly great story can leap such gaps effortlessly. While this closes the series in a perfectly satisfying way, it's been such a glorious journey that ending it feels unavoidably sad. more

Rogue and Gambit face the full complexities of the scheme against them: power draining, power swapping, and memory exchange thrown into the bargain, too. It's wonderfully inventive stuff, and the script delivers just as much careful attention to the heroes' feelings, too. The art hits high standards again, with a slight confusion in the action scenes being the one place this issue falls short of perfection. more

Molly's pal Abigail makes a Sinister Offer and Julie Power and Dr. Doom come-a-calling at the Hostel. The action scenes are nearly all-time great, and Molly's plot genuinely is ATG - especially Julie's ironic contribution to it. One visual nitpick: Why is Julie's rainbow trail so muted? The colors are otherwise terrific, as is the art.

The Red Goblin stages an operatic introduction to Spider-Man. It's menacing as all get-out and gorgeously illustrated. I think the pace is squished by the looming #800; fitting the reveal and the triumph of the Red Goblin into the same issue shortchanges them both a little. Beyond that, they're wonderfully done, though, and the sheer dramatic weight of a status quo change this big is worth a little bonus rating. more

Old Woman Laura lives in a very shiny happily-ever-after future, but of course, she has One Last Mission to complete. Gabby does a star turn as Future-Wolverine and the script delivers plenty of fanservice-y surprises. The art has a mostly-successful, streamlined Frank Quitely feel. The futuristic design work - costumes and settings and gear - feels like the weak link in the presentation; while some of the facts of the OWL future will stick with me, none of the visuals will. This story's full of promise for the final installments, though, and this initial issue is more than satisfying. more

There's a lot of "win fights to reclaim your soul" going around. Eventually, the machinations of middle-management demon D'Kay suck Danny and Fat Cobra into the mess along with Orson. By the end of the issue, everybody's got somebody they have to fight for. This is something of a best-case scenario for an event tie-in: A compelling story, some quality continuity ties that demonstrate love for the protagonist, and a logical use of the event as a launching pad. More of that smooth, expressively stylized art sure helps, too.
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Surprising action, scary nightmares, and the return of a (semi-) familiar face expose the big secret Venom has been keeping from Eddie. It works remarkably well considering how much time and space Mike Costa has had to surrender to crossover BS in recent months. Mark Bagley contributing a top-tier art job for this issue certainly helps. When he's fully engaged with the material, he has a near-magical ability to put any story firmly in the Heroic Age of the 2000s. He's definitely engaged here; so am I. I'm 10x more interested in Venom's expectant condition than I was in Venom Inc. and Poison-X.
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The New New Mutants fail to gel as a team as their second mission takes them into the Arctic. The creative team is doing a better job of pulling together than the mutants - the character-to-character friction is intentional and conveyed well. The less complicated setting also favors the art style, and this a stronger issue all around when compared to the first one. A wonderful twist ending hooks my interest hard, and now I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment.
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T'Challa flips the script on Doom and visits him in Latveria. The resulting story expands on the Panther's off-page encounter with the Fantastic Four and further stirs the pot of internal turmoil lurking in Wakanda. Another heaping helping of cool ideas, but the tension between words and art breaks down with the shift to a new artist. While the visuals in this issue are perfectly serviceable, they surrender all storytelling duties to the script. Verbosity holds this installment back. more

This breather episode delivers many variations on the theme of "what does it mean to be an Avenger?" At its finest, that means Jarvis hauling Bruce Banner out of the depths of depression with Milton quotes and heartfelt admiration. At its weakest, the "breather" part gives Voyager an excuse to recap her now-clear origins in excruciating detail. This issue teeters on the knife-edge of over-indulgence; the next one NEEDS to deliver significant forward plot motion. Still-solid visuals are a strong point in favor of the book's overall quality, though. more

Jim Starlin's take on "Thanos forced to work with Future Super-Thanos" is a lot subtler and more ambiguous than Donny Cates's. This story tangles Thanos, Eros, and Kang together in a time-travel mess that has wheels within wheels within wheels. It's cerebral and satisfying and it has solid art. It's rewarding if you buy into it, but it hides its merits pretty deep - it's a cold story.

Miles grabs some backup to prep for the big showdown with the new Sinister Six. There's a touch of decent banter going on, but the pace remains terribly decompressed. When the last act switches into double-page spreads for the start of the big fight scene, it feels like the goal is to burn up pages rather than showcase exciting action. Even if it's a small helping, the plot progression is very appreciated. more

Punisher wipes out the Petrov regime in a potentially-cool display of natural killing prowess vs. high-tech armor. I can almost accept this absurd action-fest as an "ignore the stupid and enjoy the carnage" Commando-type confection. But the script pushes Frank too far into schlocky invulnerability and the art cuts too many corners. The character renderings are nice, but Chernaya has become "the land of no backgrounds" - placing the action in a total vacuum makes it that much more unbelievable. I did like the brief recognition of the fact that this arc has shoved Frank onto the world stage as an international terrorist of the worst sort; I hope that rep comes back to bite him. more

The Poisons unleash their assault on Earth. Tons of new designs, a Sinister Plan, a key role for Cletus Kasady, gorgeous art - and it's all virtually impossible to care about, thanks to cover-to-cover cardboard characterization. A huge cast of heroes show up at their flattest and most action-figure-y; individual takes range from the heinous (Hercules getting drunk? Oh, f!@#% you, Venomized!) to the forgettable (Kitty Pryde, Spidey, Cletus, everybody else). I'm rating this above average because the art is stellar, particularly in the front half, but it's a punishingly dull read. more

The X-Men fall into Proteus's reality-optional garden and he has a snotty philosophical conversation with X. The stars here are, of course, ACO's eye-poppingly intense layouts. There's plenty of imagination and polish invested in the art, but these images are built on flimsy bones. Characterization, plot developments, philosophical depth - they're all pretty lacking. This seems chronic across ACO's career. Does he have a fetish for shallow scripts? Or do they naturally gravitate toward his very flashy, very "capable of concealing weakness" style? more

Scythian stomps on Paris and all this title's on-call mutants unite to dispatch him in an exceptionally vague way. This issue starts off by explicitly stating its villain is a mindless force-of-nature, singularly unaware of how dull that makes him.

What a surprise, the Gold team's master strategy is, once again, "everybody punch/blast as hard as you can! We'll either win or get knocked out by a cliffhanger ending!"

The finale glories in assembling a dozen X-Men like that's some kind of special achievement instead of one line of script direction. The creators are batting frantically at the toilet paper roll of plot, flushing down another clutch of potentially-cool ideas without half the attention they deserve. The huge art team produces some pretty panels (especially when Storm gets Asgarded up), but the overall effect is thoroughly generic. The visuals abjectly fail to convey the details of Scythian's defeat; that's the sign of unfocused art struggling with a shallow script. more

A rather promising new world domination group is wasted in this incredibly simplistic "Avengers save the world" one-shot. The target audience is surely young; that does not excuse the 40-year throwback to "let us narrate all our heroics" dialogue. Very fine art does elevate the proceedings. This isn't something an adult fan would feel satisfied paying for. If you happen to have a young kiddo who loves the MCU movies and wants to dip her feet in comics for the first time, though, load this on MU and hand your tablet over. more

Did you notice that every hero Mr. Bendis writes has fought the Armadillo in the past couple of years? Here's where his girlfriend hires Jessica to find out why. By itself, it's a decent one-shot. The ending's a little rushed. Why? Because this book makes space for extra helpings of quintessential Jessica Jones casework: a big client interview and then enthralling clue-gathering with a lot of different heroes. This is absolutely a victory lap for Mr. Bendis and Mr. Gaydos and Jessica and they absolutely deserve it and it's absolutely a blast to read. more

Daredevil's plan to take down Fisk goes awry, Blindspot triumphs over Muse in a Bad Way, and a one-two smasher of a twist ending drops a whole new maze of problems onto the title going forward. The plot is magnificent, as are the visual layouts. The finishes remain sketchy, but there's a confident poetry in the lively linework. The B story celebrates Foggy Nelson. Fair enough, but it doesn't say much/enough about WHY Foggy's worth celebrating. The two monster twists are an excellent way to celebrate hitting #600, though at least one of them arrives with instant questions about how it could possibly make any sense. more

OML teams up with Sarah Dewey but has to fight Bullseye before anything can be revealed about the contents of Kingpin's mysterious MacGuffin drive. It's a very simple story, but perfect pacing and excellent chemistry make it something notable. It helps a lot that Logan's interactions with both Sarah and Bullseye have strong, well-executed comedic overtones. The action scenes present Bullseye's craziness with inventive novelty, and the art keeps up with the off-the-wall combat moves. more

The Grandmaster wins his game with a few surprise twists, and we've still got a lot of story to get through. This issue continues the trend of showcasing the new Immortal Hulk, but it's frankly to the story's benefit. Smart, cruel, selfish Hulk is awesome! The art continues to roll the story along solidly, though the proportions (particularly on female heroes) are wobbling a little toward the cartoonish. more

The Panther settles his statecraft scores and puts Klaw down. A gentle interrogation of Asira unmasks Wakanda's true adversary on the supernatural front. I'm both impressed and infuriated by the perfect execution of the last-page surprise villain reveal. It makes a great dramatic capstone to the plot, but its impact also hinges on how well you know Storm's backstory. The visuals for this big fight issue are strong, but they don't capture quite as much motion as they could/should. Visually and textually this lands soundly in "good" territory, but for me, it definitely falls short of "great." more

Lockjaw and D-Man's Savage Land trip delivers some exquisitely-drawn animals and a fair helping of humor. The characterization is a little off. Ka-Zar takes a weird turn in the final scene. Prior to that, Dennis tries to paste an "I'm depressed" monologue over a fight scene that doesn't suit it. Those sour notes make this a slight step down from the awesome debut, but it's still an excellent comic. more

Norman Osborn drives the plot forward, and his actions dig up rich veins of dramatic irony. This alternate past is in deep trouble, and it's all the fault of our time-traveling heroes. The progression of the story is plenty of fun and it's still charming, but the big dramatic developments for Teresa didn't quite work for me. I've never had that Fall-In-Love Moment with her as a character; I wonder if any reader has. more

After "Deadpool fights heroes," the logical next arc is "Deadpool fights villains," and this issue sets that up. It's very black humor and it gets a little decompressed at the end, but it does introduce a promising road ahead of Wade (probably a very bumpy one). Wade's characterization is deliciously demented and the art does a good job of telling the story while also making the world around the protagonist look a little extra grotesque. more

Viv concludes her doppelganger story and the roster finally changes as Cyclops says a touching goodbye. Those pieces are outstanding. This issue is a farewell to the original creative team, too, and it reflects some of their weaknesses as well as their strengths. In several panels, the Champions become an amorphous blob of gangly teen limbs. At the worst point, the blob even speaks with one eerie, communal voice. It's a visual demonstration of these creators' failure to forge the Champions into a real ensemble. Also, Mark Waid can't resist one last chance to cast aspersions on Kamala by writing her an over-fragile "boo hoo hoo" response when Cyclops takes off. Sigh. more

After brutal preparations, Marc faces off with the Sun King. The superb art succeeds in selling this as the desperate, scary struggle it should be. Going strictly by the script, there's an unsatisfying "clap your hands to make him stop believing" Tinkerbell magic to the way Marc wins. This comic is a testament to the positive difference an engaged artist can make.

Lunella finally agrees that her team needs a fourth to take on Omnipotentis. Her pick is obvious. On the other hand, Galactus's role in her plotting is a little too far from obvious. That mystery balances out the wonderful twist ending, holding the issue down in "good but not great" territory. Intro scene villain Cellar Dweller is very random and, frankly, too promising for a three-page left-field cameo. I hope we see him again! more

Hawkeye's first vengeance kill at last reveals his intentions. His quest and his motivations are workable but not novel; as a revelation after three issues of build-up, they're slightly disappointing. Also slightly disappointing is the art's ability to move the story through fight scenes. The characters' actions get lost in a storm of debris and detail. This story is a bit above average, but there's also clear room for improvement. more