The cause-and-effect mechanics of the plot go slightly wonky at the climax, but the art is even stronger than the last issue.

And there's Alicia's voice, which is insanely lovable even by this title's high lovability standards. This is a great finish to a great story.

Appreciate that the way Alicia interacts with Sue's powers is a subtle nod toward her step-father, the Puppet Master.
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This latest plot twist owes a lot to Doctor Who. Like, enough to criticize it for the similarity, if you want to.

Me? I like Doctor Who and I like this comic.

The art is gorgeous and magical, the pace is good, and the dialogue is full of wit and snark. Stephen and Clea come across as smart, insightful people, even as the plot catches them flat-footed.

(Speaking of homages, based on what I know of Jed MacKay's tastes, I bet it's no accident that the Stranges sound a lot like Nick and Nora Charles here.)

I remain fully engaged and eager to find out what happens next.
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Ben's not wrong when he derides Ogdu as basic; that guy and his scheme aren't going to show up on anybody's list of "top 10 cosmic threats." The heroes subject him to an off-the-shelf defeat.

Fortunately, the WAY the story's told does a lot to overcome any shortcomings in the plot and antagonist. The art is still scrupulously, gloriously grotesque, and the dialogue really rises to a series-wide high point here at the end.

All in all, this title is thoroughly enjoyable--all the more so because it really sticks the landing here.
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It feels like we're cooking with gas here. The art is generally strong, though ironically, Venom's look might be my least favorite part of the visuals (Not bad by any means, just strangely, vaguely "off"). The author's struck a good balance between mysterious foreshadowing and immediate action--and there's a nice dose of solid humor to bind it all together and make the reading experience fun.
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The anthology strips tacked on the end are the usual anniversary fare: heartfelt but pretty forgettable. The art is pretty strong all the way through, though, and the Simone/Acuña strip is excellent.

The first two strips are more important, being essentially full issues of the Truth and Liberty series. The first is an excellent epilogue for Symbol of Truth, filling in a key piece of background with gorgeous art and excellent sentiment (the plot is a bit iffy, though). The second is a full-on issue of Sentinel of Liberty, eulogizing Roger Aubrey and sending off most of the series' supporting cast. It also sets the stage for the big finale, which hopefully wraps up the Outer Circle arc in a satisfying (or at least conclusive) way.
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I suppose this is all important background info about Righteous and Stasis, and it's written and drawn in a suitably entertaining fashion. I dunno, it didn't wow me. The artist seems stretched a little thin, and I'm not sure this really needed to be a big bonus-sized issue.

I pretty much fell in love with Mother Righteous at first sight, but it seems like every further revelation about her is designed to dampen my enthusiasm. Particularly the news that she's a clone of Rebecca Essex rather than a gender-swapped Nathaniel. (Perhaps I'd be more enthusiastic about the idea if this was my first exposure to it rather than the clumsy scene in X-Men #23.)
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The surprise last-minute antagonist came so far out of left field that it threw me utterly out of the story. At first I thought I was missing some piece of established Daredevil lore, but nope, this is apparently the first/last/only appearance of that baddy. In retrospect, this whole arc is riddled with supporting characters with unclear motivations (looking at you again, Goldie), and this final one takes the cake.

Which is a shame, because the storytelling work is sterling. Good writing and great art make this a very good comic in my eyes, despite the plot developments making little sense.
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There's a solid premise in there, and the authors wring about three good scenes out of it. But that doesn't fill the entire page count, and the clumsy way they set up the playing field at the start gets everything off on the wrong foot. The art's pretty outstanding throughout, though.

The teaser strip for the upcoming volume is rough for me. I love Al Ewing, but this fills me with the opposite of confidence.
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Panel by panel and line by line, there's still some stiffness in both the art and the words. It's pretty good work on the strategic scale, though: The script is complex and tense and the layouts are powerful.

Plotwise, some things I thought would be important fade out, and some of the things this finale focuses on come out of left field. But it all fits together logically in hindsight.

This isn't a part of Laura's history that I had any interest in revisiting. The creators tell a solid story and hold my interest to the end, though.
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This is an archetypal example of this title's winning-ish strategy. One Big Dumb Fight™, one Relationship Moment™, some variable-quality foreshadowing, and a bunch of clumsy traffic control trying to make this look like the center of a cohesive story running through all the X-titles.

(Yeah, I'm a little salty about those two Manifold-focused pages that are essentially saying, "No, really, you SHOULD be reading that Rogue & Gambit miniseries!")
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At the front and back we have one-note strips that rise into memorability thanks to utter creator commitment and an unusual level of cuteness for Venom.

In between, there's a rock-solid Venom Noir origin. I often criticize anthology strips for presenting less than a full story. This is the refreshing alternative: Not just a complete story including protagonist, antagonist, conflict, and resolution, but also an epilogue that's a pretty solid story in itself. Wrap it up with some very strong words and art and it's essentially a tempting summary of two whole issues of Venom Noir.
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It's not bad, but that in no way makes it good or memorable.

The art takes a slight up-tick; in my opinion, the quality of the writing heads the other way.

I don't think anybody, even the author, enjoyed this simplistic resolution half as much as the artist did. They fill every panel with insanely over-the-top action, striving to imbue the story with an epic-ness that it doesn't really deserve.

The first and last strips are simple, journeyman stories that confirm the continued existence of Dream-Spider and Araña. They offer some comfort to existing fans of those characters, but I doubt they'll win more.

(Aside caveat: The Araña strip is also pitching pretty hard for an ongoing Web Warriors series starring her. I'm not sure it really got me on board.)

The middle strip is an interesting pitch for "Jameson as Spider-Man." I love the premise, and I think the storytelling is full of passion and commitment. It's awfully rushed and messy, though, and the plot suffers for it. The motivations of both Jameson and Roxxon rely on the reader's prior knowledge of John Jameson, and that's an oversight that could have been corrected with just a few lines of dialogue.
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Well, I love this. The slow burn pays off with a thoroughly engaging step forward in Jen's love triangle…before superhero business spoils everything. How perfectly appropriate for a She-Hulk comic.

There are plenty of superheroes who get to be romantic, here and there, but few superhero storytellers go all-in on making their stories romances. Rainbow Rowell makes it look deceptively easy, conveying important emotional developments with just the right level of subtlety.

Andrés Genolet makes a powerful partner on the art side of things. He has a reliable talent for conveying important character information through expressions and posture. Plus--and this is a big reason I'd put him forward as a champion of minimalist art--he always delivers exactly enough background detail to ground the characters and make them feel like they're inhabiting real spaces.
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As a story standing on its own, this issue falls short of greatness. It's slow and it's stuffed with self-important biblical language. It's illustrated well, but the big art team falls prey to the usual problems of collaboration--the visual style isn't quite consistent.

As groundwork/mythology for the upcoming war, though, this is fascinating and important reading. It's high time we all got a refresher course on Genesis's Amenth/Annihilation business. And there's some genuine pathos in Apocalypse's plight (It's a shame he's far from my favorite character).

So if the story itself could be better, the context and the world-building put it right next door to great.
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The plot dominoes fall into place to wrap up the story in an impressively logical way. The art does a decent job of conveying emotion as well as action. There are some hauntingly sharp lines in the prose.

Two things stand out as particularly impressive: the way the time travel shenanigans and the mythological content fit together so neatly, and the heartwarming farewell to Odin. The story pivots neatly to meditate on the importance of family and give real depth to both father and son.

The sudden author shift leaves us inevitably pondering might-have-beens. The general shape of this finale was probably set down by Donny Cates. I bet if he had stayed on, Thanos's role would have been more impressive. On the other hand, I don't think Cates could have woven Norse mythology into the timey-wimey parts of the story as well as Grønbekk has.
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At first, I wasn't interested in these goofy Atelier assassins, but they're growing on me as I see them in action. It's a pity their mortality rate is so high.

This is another light and enjoyable chapter of smart plot development, enhanced with some potent character torment. It satisfied me, but I get a sense that this isn't quite the ideal final draft. The jokes could be tighter, the pace could be sharper, and the art could be more detailed. Still, seeing room for improvement doesn't mean the finished product is bad by any means.

The initial premise provides a good excuse for yet another art shift, but I'm still mildly disappointed that we haven't gotten back to Martín Cóccolo.
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The "variant Silk adventures" premise is the weakest part of the whole package here, but the creators are fully aware of that and do a great job shifting attention to the real-world story.

This has simple but impressive art, and it's shockingly engaging considering how little the titular protagonist is doing. Her brother was apparently due for a little spotlight time.

In the front half, the words and art do an excellent job of building up tension for this dive into Hell. Talia even lampshades how nicely the characters' motivations line up.

The resolution is logical and believable, but not as viscerally satisfying as the set-up. It's particularly frustrating that Dr. Diyu's fate is left ambiguous after the last few issues did such a good job of rounding out her character.
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The final issues made me appreciate the author's skills and interests more, and the guest art in this finale is a powerful breath of fresh air. I like this issue and would argue that it's objectively good.

I wouldn't go so far as to argue that it's conclusive (or even eventful), though. It recaps Sam and Joaquin's current struggles without resolving them. That'll certainly frustrate some readers.
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It's a pretty well-crafted story. The art is strong and bright and fun, and the comedy is sharp. The basic premise of Otto upgrading his tentacles and having some villainous fun with them is sound.

But in the same way that Otto's actions drive the plot, his characterization sets the tone. And
that tone is distressingly simplistic.

Forgive me for always approaching this title on the same line of attack, but…

Less than a month ago, this title killed Kamala Khan. And this is what it was for? To pit Spidey against a cardboard-flat Doc Ock in a story that's best suited for a Saturday morning cartoon?
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The present-day story is running a little slow here, but we get plenty of excitement on the 19th-century side of things--and the links between the two are only getting more interesting. The visuals are pretty great, but the dialogue runs a little hot and cold.

I'm counting this (like so many Marvel miniseries ) as a story that I think should be an OGN--taking weeks or months between issues doesn't help my reading experience, and this one, in particular, would be more satisfying if I could go immediately to the next chapter.
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This is a rational conclusion to the event, but damn is it not an exciting one. Iron Man announces exactly how the heroes will win, and they do so after an interminable stretch of blow-by-blow combat. Uninspired storytelling (in both words and art) keeps the tension down and contributes to my boredom.

Well, the silver lining here is that Al Harper and his supporting cast are left in a prime position if some writer comes up with a good story for them in the future.

It's a pity this wasn't a particularly good story itself.

To say the same thing with extra salt: Thank God, Al Harper will be standing ready when a writer needs an African-American character with retro cred and cosmic powers but is worried Blue Marvel isn't obscure enough.
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It's not that this is written or drawn badly per se. But it is an awfully modest, simple nugget of content. And the storytelling isn't powerful enough to fluff it up into a satisfying issue-sized serving.

The characters speak and act in ways that make a sort of basic sense, but the script doesn't convince me that they're motivated by anything beyond the author's will. The art is similarly effective but unengaging. It clearly communicates motion and feeling, but there are many moments of anatomical weirdness that break me out of the story.

Though there's a little meta commentary about racism within the issue, leaving Black Panther off the cover feels genuinely racist.

The one-shot story is solid, conveyed with skilled words and art and casually deploying some awesome ideas. The dialogue's been subtly tweaked to better reflect the trends of the appropriate era. And the deconstruction of Tony Stark's mistakes in that era is devastatingly sharp.

I do love a good letters page, and this issue's is so damn good that it nudges my rating over the line into "great" territory. The story was nearly there, but the lettercol was the icing on the cake.
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The mysteries start collapsing, and the true plot that's revealed is gratifyingly logical. It's still a potent character study of Patsy Walker, even as she gets put through the wringer.

I know the art is idiosyncratic, and some readers just aren't going to like it no matter what. There's a LOT to like, though! The expressive exaggerations, the persistent damage tarnishing Patsy… The art's even inventive in little moments--look at how Sleepwalker teleports into Hedy's living room. It's not just a generic glowy portal; the whole room WARPS around him as he arrives.
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