This issue segues smoothly out of world-building and back into SMASH. I have exactly enough context to appreciate the smashing now; the world-class art certainly helps.

I can't help but grumble about the sad, hollow world of Earth-122, though. It seems tailor-made to allow for all-out Hulk mayhem while minimizing repercussions on Earth-616.

This issue has great character beats and interactions. The script is well-paced and well-structured. The jokes and power lines in the dialogue are good, but the connective tissue is a bit clumsy. (Were I to be an editor, my first law of comics dialogue would be, "People. Talk. In. Contractions!")

The art's just terrific. It's not just Bagley drawing ASM, it's Bagley drawing ASM *really well*. Kudos to the inkers and colorist, too; great finishing is an important part of the presentation.

Queen Goblin has about 1 more issue in her, I think/hope. Therapist gimmick, standard Goblin sadism, Shur-Fine Penance Stare, yadda yadda. I'm surprised they haven't already confirmed her obvious identity.

(I'm really glad that the Goblin Gaze only staggered Black Cat instead of breaking her.) more

I appreciate the craftsmanship of this issue. It could be immensely confusing, but it isn't, thanks to an intricately fine-tuned script. It looks gorgeous and nasty in exactly the right way.

What it doesn't do is sink a hook in me, though. Meridius ain't much of a villain so far. Yeah, he's got timey-wimey powers and he *thinks* he's way out ahead. He's just seething with barely-repressed anger and self-doubt, though. It's not a matter of *if* he winds up shooting himself in the foot, more just *when*. more

It's strong at the beginning and strong at the end, but in between is a lot of rough road. I've spoken before about this title's "epicness gap" -- it's rarely as epic as its creators want it to be. Here it gets more problematic: It *needs* to be more epic to sell plot developments like this.

Specifically: After Bill's incredible rally at the beginning, I found it disappointing that the armies of Asgard and Midgard had nothing to do. Having them standing on the outside of the action (literally) cheapened what was going on inside for me.

I'm also coming around to the opinion that this arc's lightning characters are getting shortchanged visually. more

Pointless mission of the day: Save cruise ship from MODOK. Spotlight character: Synch. Add 1ea personal and team plot development points, season with light comedy.

Have I mentioned that I dislike how formulaic this series is? The writing's always competent, never surprising. At least the art's pretty.

In the latest Voices anthology, the single-page strips run a narrow gamut from acceptable to forgettable. The longer strips, though, are uniformly good. A wide array of strong art styles are represented, and most have fully-formed stories, good character work, and a fair amount of humor. The Shuri and Moon Girl strips are my personal faves.

It's a universe-spanning pastiche of snappy little scenes, all serving to set the mood or foreshadow future developments. And the glue that holds it all together -- weakly -- is Reed acting weird and his family fretting about that.

Despite repeated assurances that the stakes couldn't be higher, it all feels a little pro-forma. This is set up as a suicide mission for multiple members of the team; I don't buy it for a moment.

On the visual front, this is a challenging comic. The art is fantastic as art -- insanely detailed, with gorgeous character designs and spectacular settings. But as a storytelling tool, it's problematic. It's a jarring shift from what's come before. The aggressively inventive blocking can be hard to follow. And I don't think the colorist has really hit on the best way to shade these lines. more

I don't give a fig about the politics. I have no problem with Lin Lie becoming the next Iron Fist. It's a good idea.

But this is not a good comic.

The art is borderline incompetent, which is disastrous in a martial arts book. Somehow, Lin Lie has brought the pacing and storytelling problems of his solo series along with him. Explaining his status quo twice in one issue is inexcusable, even if he is talking to 2 different people.

It's all the more disappointing because Alyssa Wong handled the character really well in his last outing, Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox #1. more

The pretentious vocabulary is still like nails on a chalkboard to me, and I think the pace is messed up (too slow). But I do think the core plot is fundamentally sound. The art's pretty fun.

This series' protagonist is hardly related to the Otto in the main Devil's Reign series, and in general, this is about 20% more megalomaniacal than I like my Ock.

Character, plot, plot, character, plot, plot, CHARACTER/PLOT BOMBSHELL. And it reads smooth and looks gorgeous all the way through. It's a chain of tight, cool scenes one right after the other.

Big props to colorist Marcio Menyz, too; his ability to tone lines as well as voids is a major asset to the art.

Every storyteller has at least one of these "stories are living things" stories in them, and here's one of Jed MacKay's.

Is it revolutionary? No. Is it incredibly deep? No.

But it's a damn fun read. It's well-illustrated. And best of all, to me, it serves to do some significant character work on Hunter's Moon.

Take it all together, and you've got something that's not quite great, but not far from greatness.

(And that one line, you know the one, is worth some points all by itself.)
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This start really impresses me, though I didn't like the previous minserieses much. The dialog is still rather dull, but the art is gorgeous and the script structure is nigh-impeccable.

Plus it helps that this issue features Abomination as a proper anti-hero rather than Maestro as an out-and-out villain protagonist.

An issue of wall-to-wall character growth moments is challenging -- both to create and to read. This one avoids wearing out its welcome by never putting a foot wrong; every change is laudable. If you're a stan of a particular character, the odds are great that how they're treated here will make you cheer.

That being said, the creative work keeps this issue from making the leap from good to great, no matter how much the reader loves the characters. The language is earnest, but never truly profound, and maybe even a bit repetitive. The art works, but it never quite delivers a wow. (It's also slightly disappointing that 2 major character design overhauls happen without any visual wows.)

If it's not great, it's definitely good. And what's more important is that it's deeply satisfying for long-time readers. more

The plot developments just get dumber and dumber, but dang if they don't explode across the panels in cinematic popcorn-chompin' glory. Li'l Thanos sounds incredibly creepy, too.

Once again this title manages to meet my incredibly low expectations. (And once again, the Deathlok is my least favorite part of the story.)

It's intended to be a rollicking good time, and that works -- for me. But the character-based fun is subjective, and I think more objectively, there are some significant structural problems. The pace is slow and the plot developments could be a hell of a lot clearer. On the art front, the polish is exquisite, but there are some real fumbles in anatomy and design consistency.

I call it a good comic, but just barely good enough to forgive the flaws. Cutting the length and complexity would probably do wonders for it.
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It's a story that can hold your interest -- just -- if you're already a Kate Bishop fan. And the art has an eccentric appeal (my taste for it returns this issue). But it's just not well-crafted enough to attract new fans to the protagonist or the author.

File this one under "for Kate Bishop completionists."

This biographical update on Hobie Brown is sure to be highly satisfying to fans of the character.

For those unfamiliar with or unenthusiastic about Hobie, though, this will likely seem indulgent and pointless. The storytelling is adequate throughout, but it seems like the creators never even considered the idea of accommodating non-fans. Or of making a stronger link to the event than, "This is why this set of characters might show up."

(And fans of OG slingers Dusk and Ricochet are likely to be pissed off at their cameo-level parts in the issue.)

I believe comics should always be trying to win new fans, not just service existing ones. more

The little Veranke mini-arc comes to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. This takes some of this title's strongest points -- snappy banter, insanely great art, fast-paced running battles, hilarious child endangerment -- and adds on an antagonist with deep historical ties to Jess. Which is great.

But it's also why I'm a little worried about the final scene reveal: I'm not super-pumped for the next set of antagonists.
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Though I have a ton of questions about the future of the plot and whether or not this characterization of Sabretooth fits, I loved actually reading the comic.

The art's solid and just gory enough, the structure and pace are smooth, and Creed's dialogue sparkles with little bits of wisdom and wit.

This story might go steaming full-speed off the rails in the future, but for now, it's an awfully fun ride. more

In the broad strokes, it's a thoroughly safe story without any particularly surprising plot twists.

I'll be damned if it isn't executed with meticulous skill in the details, though. The pace is good, the dialogue's solid, and the art is shockingly, consistently great for a collaboration.

And Reed's story ties it all together on an uplifting, heartwarming note.

I really enjoyed this issue despite seeing some definite points for improvement. The art is great for the talky scenes but not so much for the fighting, for example. And the dialogue is serviceable at best.

I loved the full revelation of Beyond's nastiness. And I appreciate the way the script used a combination of step-by-step dot connecting and more subtle "nod and a wink" connections to get all the plot development done.

Comedy Nitpick: Really, Marvel? You're gonna do characters named "Goblin Queen" AND "Queen Goblin"? more

So this whole miniseries is gonna be Elektra vs. Kraven, with the running battle used as a vehicle for introspective character examination. That's cool. It's supplied with solid combat pacing and some nice dynamic art.

I don't think the character insights are profound or revelatory enough to make this great. They supply sufficient meaning to make it good, though.

I think this series is ideal for the classic younger comics demographic: not "all-ages" tots and tweens, but teenage readers. The strong, simple language; the broad strokes plotting, the scruffy, dynamic art -- all are great for youthful eyes. And all are on pretty strong display here in this issue.

It's a nicely-done chapter that doesn't do much to restore my flagging interest.

There's no flaw I could point to in the storytelling; the art and the words are quite well done. The plot is complicated and wide-reaching, but not confusing or any more mysterious than it should be.

If I have one strategic complaint, it's that the heroes tend to be passive. They're swept along by that big complicated plot, and on the rare occasion when they do take action, it tends to be by executing the most predictable superhero tropes.

Which is not *bad* and can produce a good story in talented creative hands -- which this series is in. But can a story with such flat characters ever break through into greatness? more

I get that the theme they're building is that the X-Statix have become dated and lame -- why else would you throw in an ironically unironic "you millenials and your [x]" joke? -- but it's just not coming across as sharp and smart as the creators hope. The whole thing is at risk of disappearing into its own navel, or other less savory orifices.

At least it comes with a splendid serving of Allred art!
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There's nothing particularly surprising in this slightly-tweaked tale of earning Pantherhood through ritual combat. The script's solidly structured and it makes plenty of room for dynamic combat art. The way the characters clash and connect is predictable, but those relationships serve well to drive the plot.

This is a solid (not spectacular) comic for readers just getting started with the medium.
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The art and the plotting live up to standards of an event comic, and Dan Slott does have his long-term ducks in a row. But the dialogue is extremely cliched and the characterization is pond-shallow.

It's the start of a cromulent Big Dumb Event™ and though it's certainly good-not-great, it failed to hook me. My future reaction will be based on how far this spreads beyond Fantastic Four, i.e., if this derails She-Hulk's new solo, I'll get disappointed. more

This series' Message (and it definitely has a capital-M Message) turns out to be nothing more than what's been hinted at all through:

Yay nature! Yay balance! Yay mindful stewardship!

And characterwise, Ka-Zar becomes an immortal super-evolver, now biologically as well as ideologically empowered to defend the Savage Land.

Great.

I don't object to this Message; in theory, I'm a big supporter of it. But I can't really enjoy it when it's articulated via prose that sounds like it was written by a weepy 16-year-old who just watched a deforestation documentary.

It also doesn't help that the previous 4 issues were just an amorphous dream journal foreshadowing this ham-handed finale. more

The script's too dense, the cast is too big, and the art's too rough. That said, there's a pretty solid story in here, and the scrupulous attention to the continuity of a bygone era has its charm.

But the visuals are particularly hard to get past. This surely would not be my exhibit A for arguing that Walter Simonson is great.

The mysteries get deeper, the dialogue gets more obtuse, and the art's power to redeem the frustrating script is weakening.

I think making this a miniseries rather than an OGN was a huge mistake.