Kwannon joins the X-Men in Alaska after taking a vacation in Japan with her lover in her Blood Hunt one-shot. She’s on the team for five issues before getting benched and told to… take a vacation…? O_o ookay, sure. Whatever. So Kwannon is working side gigs for cash now? It also seems like she’s going down the already traveled road Betsy took, being addicted to violence. Oof, I was really hoping for a new direction for this new Psylocke but here we are, rehashing old tropes. I found Kwannons ninja technique to be way too sloppy and flashy for a trained professional. I get this is a comic book, but why does she not have a unique style? This book feels generic with too much clutter on the page, the action is overwhelming in a bad way. I’m also not interested in yet another child rescue mission, why are all of Kwannons stories revolving around kids. It’s a no for me. Remenders Uncanny X-Force did it better. more

Honestly, the most impressive thing about this is how well Aaron manages to make Krypton relevant and to frame it and Superman into the story, honestly, I think it builds on the original formula while it answers a very contemporary plea. We can talk for days about all the times that supes was modernized. Like birthright and how it adds to the symbolism and the mythos and tackles the questions of Clark's identity, but it's always about this iconography, it's always about Clark/superman and to just make him better, to put the retro model in better more complex clothes.This comic modernizes the whole origin, the whole world, not only superman's worlds, the whole point of it and it feels actually inspired by the real world, not by Superman itself, again a testament to this is how little in the story super is. The way Superman is put in the story seems so very natural, even if it was not superman would have been good, but it fits him. So yeah the framing, and how the idea is built is awesome. it's not all great, some of the micro storytelling could use some work, and some of the dialogue, but the vision is very very strong, not because it's different, but because it's built well.

I also really like the rebellious aspect, like this supes is not clean, he is dirty with the people, he is actually touchable and comes from society which experienced exactly what this world is going to, so he is way rougher with a flaming heart. So it gets the essence, like Morisson's new 52, but again it's something newer, something more relevant with slightly more focus on how Krypton and its destruction shaped him, which again makes supes way more human-like because already experienced totally the trauma.

Overall I like all the changes and even if this is the least ''shiny'' of the absolutes I feel the most hyped about it right now. more

mrgabehernandez should not be employed.

Pretty good. It was an interesting turn for the issue to stray away from the main plot for something more personal and intimate but it was definitely a nice one. It shows a bigger scope perhaps, but that remains to be seen. It ties well to some of the core issues of Wolverine and even the ideas set at the beginning of the issue when obviously this side plot was not introduced about cycles and being in a somewhat new place but still falling in those same old cycles and being slaves to nature on a verge of a twilight.

The story progresses quite well with Ahmed really helping those transitions with Logan's narration. The narration is good on another level too, as usual for Ahmed I guess at this point it's not so instinctual or off the dome, but it's constantly reminiscing and thinking so it paints the story how Logan interprets it, which is cool enough, plus it's tonally consistent and fits a more matured logan.And it's not heavy, not on words, nor themes or presentation. I feel like the atmosphere plays a fairly huge role too with the sun setting out and seeing a kid Wendigo losing himself in the lonely snowly forest. This could go in a lot of directions like how logan trying to be more human could backfire and be a reason for him to revert back to being a beast like with the Wendigo, but we'll see.

Combined with the art, the narration shows control over the pacing and pages and it's good. So yeah this is one good issue with enough progression, enough heart, enough introspection, enough surprises and a good atmosphere, for now a step up over Percy. more

It's not as good as Absolute Batman but that doesn't mean it's not great. Rafa Sandoval rocked this issue. The art here is phenomenal. Everything pops, colors are vibrant, Krypton feels alive despite it's decent into death. The story here is nothing wholly new. But it shakes things up enough that we see a Kal-El fighting for the people of Earth, at least those that are downtrodden, lower caste, workers of the population because that's what his family on Krypton were. It delivers a strong message that isn't new either but with time could be fleshed out to be something impactful. more

This was totally insane. The callbacks to the og ultimate are brilliantly used, they bring a lot of tension. Definitely made me scared if things are going to be repeated. You know for a comic that was fairly tame with not much blood and gore and even action, this issue hits like a hammer. It uses its gore, its brutality to show you the stakes are different, and that this is an intense world, that the characters were not prepared for. Hulk plus Iron Fist seems like a dumb idea, but it's so great, so menacing and I think his first words of dialogue sum up his whole character perfecting. Again it's the character we know, the themes of it, but evolved, making out of him something truly terrifying in a more modern aspect of the old order being tame, but secretly insanely powerful because of tradition and discipline. more

I think that Hitchman's coldness, and scarceness as a writer as well as the feeling of apathy and desolation he brings serves the story really well here. It's a very Hickman-like comic, without the overly intellectual part, much more is given to the art and to the action here than a lot of times, which I think is also a reason for the strong vibe. This comics in it's emptiness made me think and also made me sad, but it made me think not about the concepts, but about the characters, about Wolverine and Colossus and Deadpool. Again this is pretty much a pointless journey for Logan, he sees no redemption not for himself, not for the others, he sees a lot of those characters as no threat, but it's almost like this does not matter to him, like the reason is different and it's not even only about rage, this I feel like is where the feeling of apathy comes from. I feel this is accentuated in how fast he dealt with all his enemies and the unexpected order he did it. Like he started from worst to best, so the challenge morally was becoming bigger.

this comic kinda lost its point already and this is a good thing, so I am really excited about where it's going now and i think that making you ask questions and just waiting to get the answer is the fundamental Hickman experience. This is definitely a very strong vibe. more

This is most definitely on the anticlimactic side, not even like the ending to Immortal Iron Fist for example was anticlimactic, where the anticlimactic was the contrast to a run with was full of big moments. This just feels like a Saturday afternoon type of issue, not even in this charming type of way in the way that it does not manage to tie the web of themes of run. but it does deliver you the essence with it being so disjointed, reflecting the different story of it, constating where all the characters from it are clearly. it just kinda gives you the worst version of it all. but as far as the main story goes It's just another issue with a little more appreciation towards Peter.

But I get it, this run as a whole was kinda Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck type of pulpy, it was not concise at all, disjointed, chaotic for a big chunk of it, overly long,, had a lot of inconsequential side sto,ries, and for the most part sort of directionless without much moving done, like kinda being in a limbo of sorts(at least for the most part). Still, there is a lot I enjoy and as a whole, I don't really mind it and honestly, I kinda enjoy those elements of it. There were also some high moments. But i mean the whole run is tainted like i truly believe that the backlash played a huge role in the whole way we all experienced it, it probably played a part of how it was being written too. I do get some of it, but largely i don't think it was all that justified and honestly i think the run got worse because of it, because it never really managed to truly take the best of the situations it created, because those situations were so very much hated( looking at you relationship with black cat). So a lot of my complains of being safe and being a limbo is kinda related to this i think. But i again we could never know for sure. Just a lot of the answers this run gave me personally, did not saddisfy me and came too abruptly.

Back to this issue, for starters, i like how it starts with the duality between Peter and Spider-man and just uses the idea of how useless spiderman could be as an antithesis with Tombstone saying that Spider-man won, just that his winning does not matter when it comes to the world. Then we get the moment between Spidey and May in which May says to him, that Spidey hurts Peter's life, which moves this antithesis even further. So all those ideas are pretty old,they are not presented in any creative way, they could be applied to this run, but honestly not much more than they could be applied to any other Spider-Man run IMO, but the framing is good. It's a little bit on the nose tho, honestly, the whole issue is, there is really not much beyond the surface of the dialogue. Sadly this idea does not go to any interesting places and kinda ends up rushed on a very predictable place. I don't think Pete should have told May about being Spider-Man, because this would have been even worse, especially since May here was inserted here so abruptly and her dialogue was very wooden. This is why i say this issue lacks charm because the relationship between pete and may feels very stilted, especially because of JR jr is so easy to compare to JMS's run.

The other stories while varied in tone were really not necessary again, they just clear the air really. There is not much for me to appreciate with them for sure, because they serve a pretty straight forward purpose without doing anything much outside of delivering just this in a form of story.

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This issue bothers me.

I don't hate this run. I don't fundamentally dislike the plot points, either. I just wanted something more from this conclusion. The scene where Tombstone talks to Peter is great by itself. How quickly the entire plotline wrapped up is so odd to me. We just got two issues of a giant fight. Where is the editor?? I read Wells' letter in the back, and he claims that Nick Lowe was there for him constantly, and I just don't see it on the page. Editing mistakes are rampant in Lowe's tenure, and that's one thing. Fix it in the trade (As someone with the trades, they don't). I can abide by bad lettering and color mismatches. I can't abide by the fundamentals, as I see them, being thrown out or disregarded. Pacing is important, especially in this medium. You have to do a juggling act of making each issue satisfying on its own and as part of a larger arc. Lowe sometimes fails to do either. It's baffling. The plot line for an arc should justify its length. If you have to stretch it out with filler content, like a giant fight, maybe lower the issue count. If you are scrambling to exposit-vomit at the end of a book, maybe give it an extra issue. This arc and the final arc of Spencer's run are like complete opposites, it's insane. This arc is barely able to fill its pages, apparently, while hurrying through what plot it has, while that last Spencer arc spent every. single. page. trying to explain the cacophonous nightmare of retcons upon retcons. Where is the editor?? The same guy was ultimately in charge of producing both of these things and the only similarity is the rough, amateur pacing and structure. Nick Lowe is a senior editor. He should do better. I don't see this sort of roughness from editors until they're unceremoniously ripped from their books like Jordan White on X-Men, but Nick Lowe has sewn himself into the Spider-Man tapestry at this point, so what's the fucking deal?

I have other issues.

The Aunt May segment is almost good. The characterizations are there. Wells is competent. But for the love of god, would it have killed them to just have Peter tell her his identity? Every single moment felt as though it was leading there, only to have them pull back in the end. I just want to see real growth from these characters. Technically, Aunt May was worried and upset at Peter at the start of the run and now she's accepted him. Cool. That's technical growth. I'm real happy Pete gets to live in his lies more comfortably now. Whatever.

The Rek-Rap segment. I have nothing to say aside from this: Where is Gog? I don't recall Peter ever setting him free or giving him away. Gog is Peter's actual pet still? We haven't seen him since Spencer's run though. Where has he been all this time? Did Nick Lowe forget about Gog? That's much more interesting than keeping Rek-Rap in play.

The MJ segment was good. Again, Wells is a good writer. He's good with characters. As someone who is an adult, who has had relationships sour and change and morph, I found a lot of MJ and Peter's friendshipping here relatable. People grow and change, and it's really odd to say that here but it does work. Maybe now that MJ has explicitly told Peter thank you, those weirdos online will stop calling for people's heads. I doubt it though.

The Chasm story is meaningless to me. I don't really care that Ben was changed, or that he's a villain now. Maybe he'll show up and do something interesting next time.

The tease for Joe Kelly's run was mostly good. As noted in KittyNone's review, the coloring could use a lot of work. However, from the writing side of things, I actually really enjoyed Peter's monologue and how it showcased Peter's capability, something writers will often ignore or forget about. I like when Pete is treated like the science geek he is. I really didn't like his story in issue 50, but if Kelly is giving us something more like this with 8 Deaths, I'm glad for it. more

Certainly the best thing about Wells's finale is the same thing as what was best about his run: the small character moments, like Tombstone's chat with Peter outside the courthouse that emphasizes the weaknesses of being a good man in a bad world. But the worst thing is what was worst about his run: the general lack of direction. The scenes with May are touching and well-wrought and could be a great capstone to a run that focused heavily on Aunt May — except that this isn't that run, it's been over a year since she's shown up in the pages of this book at all and she was hardly a regular before that.

Ultimately, Wells & JRJR simply tried to do more than they could handle with this series, and Nick Lowe failed to exercise the editorial wisdom to force them to kill a few darlings and focus their attention on the best stuff — with the result being a tangle of characters, plots and subplots that appear and disappear at random, rarely getting any meaningful resolution. As everyone else has already mentioned, most of the plots end in no identifiable change to the characters or their place in the world, with the only real movement forward in this issue is for Aunt May, a character who's barely been in the book. [EDIT: Also I misunderstood the ending and it doesn't even really move May forward, so I'm not sure why we're doing this story for a finale at all now.]

I won't damn this run outright. I think hate-reading comics is a waste of your one wild and precious life, and that reading a favorite character out of addiction alone is no better, so if I thought this run was irredeemable I'd have walked away long ago. I read it to the end because it kept drawing me back in every time I gave up on it, it was full of promise in its best moments: the Judgment Day and Blood Hunt issues or the best parts of the Tombstone plot, for instance. I absolutely believe there was a great run in there somewhere, if only they could have focused on it.

(As regards the prelude to 8 Deaths, obviously I can't judge a run on a three-page teaser but my first impression is that I'm going to have the opposite problem with the art that I had with this run: while JRJR's unreliable pencils were beautifully propped up by Menyz's gorgeous color work, it looks like next Mark Buckingham's wonderful draftsmanship will be muddied by murky-yet-overlit coloring that looks like it rose from the grave of the early oughts.) more

While my excitement for this arc is definitely the highest it's been in this run so far, it's still full of weirdness. The way Straczynski writes cap, especially speaking here is so absent of any tack. I get making cap more vulnerable and relatable, that he has some issues on his own, especially some of those in some ways were fundamental to the character(not all). But the way they are expressed is such a detriment here, it makes an otherwise very well balanced comics feel heavy and unnatural in its structure. Steve is word-vomiting his problems and where they stem from and he goes deep, without being asked,to a person who probably do not even care that much. it feels like he is overly anxious but the moment is not presented as this, there are no indications that he needs to talk to somebody so much to forget he talks to a real person and so vent machine. The comics treats it like it's totally normal conversation when it's completely one-sided. There were moments like this in Stracynski's ASM, but the difference is that they were letting Peter be anxious and the story was letting it's self admitting it, so they came off as comedic. But it's not just that, it's the way cap talks most of the time here. I know some people love how Cap is characterized here, but it's not my thing, even simply because Cap in my opinion would never let himself take more space than the other person, how he overly justifies every thought of his and every move, making it really more about himself. Still, I am open to my understanding of character being updated, if is done in a good manner.

But if we remove those moments from the equation: This focus on the superhero team-up is nice on what it really means to superheroes, how they come to team up is fun, albeit not really insightful or meaningful and comes of more like interesting facts than actually something that affects their relationship much. I can see every one of the characters here benefiting from this situation, sure some of the stuff (with Cap) may not have been established in the best way, but i see the potential here. The issue is really just that a prelude to the coming adventure, it's not a lot of moving done here but it's alright, but it's alright. Thor and Spidey were also pretty good and written way more subdly, both kinda recall the tones and the way they were presented during the time JMS was writing them and it's well mixed. more

Schultz could write a good Elektra, but her style of writing requires a very good story built around Elektra for this to have any weight and sadly I do not think last few issues especially had that. Wonders are possible with a more complete idea of a story and better planning.

This finale puts to go for a poetic and artistic one rather than one of bombastic action sequence. This decision proves to be the right one.

Ram V and Dan Watters manage to close out every relevant plot thread(although one does get left hanging its handled well enough) and end on a note that provides a final word to the thesis presented at the outside. That alone is worthy of praise.

Further praise should go to the fact that, this story provides what feels like real character development for Bruce, an acceptance of something that has been a part of him from the beginning, and a willingness to utilize it to his advantage if he has to. His relationship and his love for the character and soul of Gotham defines why he does what he does. And it garners both respect and fear in equal measure.

His protégés appear in sight 8nly but their presence is felt. Mr Freeze gets a very interesting development that hints towards a shift toward the good. All of it is steung together artfully well. In this sprawling narrative that has lasted the better part of two years, we've seen batman pushed to his very limits of his psyche and come back stronger. Its been a pleasure reading.

Also, this needs no declaration but the art by Guillem March is beautiful and he continues to stake his claim as one of the best to ever draw the Bat.

9.5 for this issue and the entire gotham nocturne. This is a modern classic Batman story. This can be someone's first Batman story or someone's last, and that makes it a winner. more

(Score for the whole run, this issue, in particular, and finale, would rate like a 5)

For this type of story, this run felt rushed. It started very well, very slow and methodical, used Beast World to up the stakes greatly and unexpectedly and it felt driven, the decisions Taylor was making felt meticulous, and now we are here. The finale felt even smaller than this run was and this run felt really small in tons of way, when all lead me to believe it was supposed to be the opposite. The finale was built for a long time, but a lot that led to it now feels inconsequential and because this run never really changed its tone, it does not feel like progress, the characters do not really carry their wounds.

This run just never really evolved, it's like Taylor struggled to show its range with the title, as he did with Beast World but not here, and struggled to just break the cage of his own making. That's why it was just 2 men show most of the time and never extended to the others.

So this is the essence of my complaints, as a constant vibe of warm safe space it does it very well,but does not do much more for me personally. Still, the maturity of this issue, of the whole run, of the message is to be applauded, it's one of few times the Titans were working to be an adult family and acted as one even tho a little bit too stoic from time to time, and that what I will remember this for, mainly.
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if this run does not explore some of the most insanely creative comics logics and concepts with a good-natured smile on its face, it builds upon preexisting relationships and redefines them, while having tons of fun with it. It's so endearingly dumb and smart at the same and I am completely in love with it. Best comics out rn.

Really cool. This long action scene reminds me of something from Mission Impossible with being so incredibly long and tense throughout. It just holds your breath and does not let you take it and I like this, every moment looks like it could be a deal breaker. it's simple, but it breaks the monotony and it holds weight because this arc from its beginning was way more grounded and raw and here it goes hard in this rawness and accentuates it. I like this approach to this whole arc a lot. more

This issue was intense af.

Turns out my prediction was the same one the characters made... and the wrong one. This is one of the strengths wells has that gets overlooked I feel. Our expectations are "Lonnie would never hurt Janice directly, hed just kill someone close" and at the beginning of this run he wouldn't have. Thats something Tombstone practically laid out himself over the course of the run, between gang war and even the planned wedding. He has for the entire run put Janice's wants over his own. Except for two times, the end of gang war and now. This calls all the way back to tombstones flashbacks early in the run, where he was powerless to protect himself. Now with that power in his sight and in his grasp, he isn't willing to let ANYONE get in the way of it. He's become just like Fisk. Its a character shift; and a subversion but one thats been baked into the writing of the character from the beginning.

Hes still the kid being taken on as a child, but now he sees Janice and spider man as the ones doing the harassing, and so the lion comes out.

Also the train thing was a pretty clever and cool ambush both visually and concept wise. It made it seem authentic, something extreme Lonnie would do knowing what he's up against. So it being a ruse is harder to expect.

Wells is going out with maybe his strongest arc. I wish it'd been this consistently great the whole time; but if he sticks the landing ill still give him props for this. more

I guess this was what kids felt when reading FF in the 60s.

This is practically the platonic ideal of a Fantastic Four story, just perfect

Phenomenal. Fantastic even.

You can go so far with a premise so shallow as Sin stealing an ancient artifact. So not a terribly deep comic for sure, I do not think it does anything that good too, it's pretty much a straight-up celebration of the eras of the Avengers, especially pre-Dissambled and especially the West Coast/Stern era, but again not that deep, it's more like...pleasant. Like every time Wonder Man makes an appearance is an event for me and that's because he like some of the other characters here really is in somewhat of limbo of being an A-tier Avenger, but nobody doing anything with him. So even if again that's surface level and unexplored, that's something i can appreciate.

I see that is trying to carry that warm and light, cozy feeling of Stern's work with that subplot and dialog especially, but maybe it's the art, maybe it's just the modern ambiance, but it does not authentic to me,the relationship do not feel that genuine. That's the whole thing as I appreciate it, i feel it's mandated, it does not feel that inspired. All the characters feel safe, even if they've been away for so long, even if they have changed a lot and are in a very different space. That's my guess as to why it does not feel real, it does not carry the substance of those old issues, because it does not treat the characters as real. Especially when Orlando tries so hard to make us feel at ease with the cozy team, to make them feel like everything is overly cool, by playing hard and constantly showing good well they know each other and especially with the contrast between the 2 teams, which did not hit for me at all because again stylistically both plots were equally bland and sin did not feel like a threat to me. It feels like overcompensation and again takes from the genuine interactions. He read some of the back issue or the editor at least, it's obvious by the references, but did not carry any of the meat and the heart behind them.

In a way, I feel this is my main issue here, a lot of it feels just empty. Like even on the dialogue level, the fight feels soulless with a lot of cliches being thrown around and just words that could fit any character again the dialogue has a hard time translating to something deeper about the emotional states, so it feels weightless in the bad. The whole story is like that and it's weird how simple it is and how little moves, like the pacing feels unbalanced on the macro level.

This comic has potential, but the approach is bad IMO. What I mean is the theme about people wanting to separate instead of assemble would have been awesome, especially since dissembled f it all up, if was explored in any way more than just the surface, maybe will be more explored in the future. more

This series has been incredible so far. Deniz Camp is easily the most underrated writer in comics right now and I think he's on a superstar trajectory. He's basically an alchemist when it comes to weaving modern politics, world history and superheroics into one title.

I'd highly, highly recommend checking out 20th Century Men if you're enjoying his takes on the Ultimates. Camp flexes a lot of the same muscles in that book and it's a wild ride. more

This issue got me saying ''Hickman did it again''. I'm aware he is not the writer here and I am not trying to belittle Camp's accomplishments, but because this is so good, just now I am starting to realize how greatly planned this whole universe is and I am more and more convinced that Ultimate Invasion did exactly what it had to do and Hickman just placed the pieces in their place. This issue and the last one make you understand why those pieces are in those places. it's impressive how much such a static issue, a pretty much low-stakes issue could be so captivating and socially/politically relevant. I like the whole premise of just building one step at a time, one place at a time, without distraction to that big thing, that we all expect, and just this honesty about the whole thing I enjoy a lot, the clear purpose of everything that happens.

The issue is just focused on exploring that one place and the way we explore it is through a story. What I mean is that is constructed in such a way to wake an interest and constantly builds and transforms what we know about it. That makes the journey a lot more intriguing than it should be and the moment we understood what exactly happened is way more satisfying this way because the intrigue was already woken.

Overall I think, this series continues to have great worldbuilding and delivers a lot of promise for the future, and keeps a lot of its ammo for it. I am still cautious about interpreting everything because I feel the way things progress, a lot of doors are closed for now at least to me to get something more concrete than theories. I think avengers fans are eating good. more

Jed MacKay's script is well paces, with pieces of plot foreshadowing and balanced character development. He expertly weaves together multiple storylines, paying off simmering tensions and setting the stage for a new direction as individual team members struggle with the losses they incurred during the events of Blood Hunt. Each Avenger is forced to confront their own limitations and how they view their role as a superhero and you can’t help but feel there will be tough decisions made that will have significant repercussions for the Marvel Universe.

The various argument laid out by our heroes was very reminiscent to the build up towards Marvel’s iconic ‘Civil War’ storyline, where heroes where forced to choose between two very different perspectives. Sam’s reaction is likely to be one of the most consequential as his visit to Storm is what causes her to become the newest Avenger. It was a great way to tie in what happened to mutants during and after the fall of Krakoa and made a strong case as to why Storm joining the team makes perfect sense.

Schiti's artwork is simply stunning, bringing the Avengers to life with dynamic energy and emotional depth. His action sequences, while tame compared to what Earth’s Mightiest Heroes went through during Blood Hunt, are frenetic and beautifully choreographed, while his character designs are expressive and nuanced. As usual for any book he’s on, Schiti provides a sense of cinematic scale that few comic book artists can capture. The visuals are further elevated by Federico Blee's vibrant colors, which add an extra layer of depth and atmosphere to the panels.

Avengers #17 includes top-notch storytelling from MacKay and new series artist Schiti makes an instant statement with knockout visuals. The issue is the start of a status quo-changing period that marks a pivotal moment in the series’ run, as the Avengers deal with the fallout from Blood Hunt and are clearly emerging transformed as individuals, and a team, forever. more

To be honest, I am not a fan of this run and to be even more honest, I'm not a big daredevil guy, which it's really a pity. By far the most important man in comics, that came out of my country(which influenced his art) did his best work on Daredevil. But as far as my credentials go I've read everything from 2016 and sparsely some of the stuff before that like some of Waid's tenure, Guardian Devil, Man Without Fear, and some other issues from here and there. So why am I saying this? Well, it's superheroes, things are interconnected and sometimes that interconnectivity is exactly what makes the comics and with Daredevil I'm not deep into that. Or maybe I'm not the target audience, because even if I see that this comic is not that well regarded I honestly think it's the messiest comic coming out of the big 2 rn(I don't read everything), and that's bar none. I wanna stress that, not the worst, but just the messiest because there are still things I think are done in a very superb way. And since this is somewhat of a closer I will talk about the whole run to this point, as well as this particular issue.

It's really easy to get lost in Matt's thoughts here and that's a huge compliment to the way Ahmed writes his monologue. I know matt has a flair for dramatism, for internal struggles and this comic keeps that tradition. Matt's monologue is a story in itself with his own valleys and peaks and rhythm, it's like music. Add the complementary art of Kuder to it and the comics turn into poetry. And I know not everybody likes Kuder here, but i think he is saving the book in a big time, exactly because his art adds to the monologue and strengthens it's punch, delivering in isolation some amazing, really powerful panels. And it does that with intricate shadows and positioning and at times some stuff in the background, even movement just a lot of it feels really deliberate. It's not as hitting all the time, but it uses that well when once in pretty much every issue, it turns it to eleven with the details, the scale, and the creativity, so much so that the writing could not match those moments. That's a pity because the writing does the opposite to the art, of what the art does to the writing. It weakens it, where my problems start really.

As I said I think Ahmed is very good at this one singular thing here and this comic is so far of one singular thing. Btw I am not saying Ahmed is one trick pony or something. I think his Black Bolt is a modern classic and shows that he can handle a story that progresses with unfamiliar territory to its said hero, as well as writing poignant narration, but just this comic i feel like it's battling itself. Like constantly it goes against it's biggest strengths or just everything it does. I guess you could make the argument that is similar to Matt's battle with himself. For 12 issues we had so many plots and so little meaningful progression. From issue one i was most excited about Matt being a priest. The first issue had this really great atmosphere about the church, of warm and the kids, they had potential, as well as Matt in this role and don't get me wrong the first issue had some worrying things, but it had a promise. and 11 issues later, we hardly made any progress with that plot. I don't even mean progress in the classical sense, we hardly got any exploration of it. Honestly, I do not feel any way towards the church by this point, it does not seem like a priority, the characters there do not feel like characters and that's because we don't spend any time there and what's why when that kid learned that matt is daredevil seemed shallow to me. Again it's a pity because Zdarsky left space for new stories, for different stories with the character and that chance by this issue was completely wasted because everything is back as it was. I'm not that mad(not pun intended) that everything is back, I am mad because of the way it was done, which was cheap. Even when moments were built up, it felt short, it did not feel satisfactory at all for me. The build-up felt more necessary than organic and that's because it starts out of nowhere and kinda ends there. Even if the monologue is good, it does not carry any weight for the future, it encapsulates a moment beautifully, no doubt about it, but that moment is not carried in time at all, it feels forgotten after one issue. That's just Matt's emotional state, constantly changing without building it up for a longer period of time.

There is more to it, but I want to talk about this issue. This was an improvement, it addressed my issues with the run and how it constantly jumps from one place to the other, and this way it does one step forward and 2 backward. But even then how we got this, how matt suddenly felt it, it's strange since we are constantly with his thoughts and it was not addressed by him before that. Like he has time to describe what Elektra's smell does to him, but not to say how tired by multitasking is. Greed as the Final Sin is pretty good Fisk is a great fit and i liked that it was kinda like Mister Frieze's boss fight, matt was trying all the methods he used, which were very dumb, very action movie, no brain moves, which was also a complain of mine and it was not working because he had to change himself to fix that, to accept it. It made Greed seem like a bigger problem to Matt and by the end of the issue that was pretty much proven and let's say jealousy and explanation for it, in a way, encapsulates this whole run, The issue does some lifting of the problems before, but again it felt like using an eraser, it does not really erase them that well, after it was done. It gives more meaning to Matt's whole journey of choosing life again and how by living you always are hurting someone and when you think about his interaction with Foggy, things connect really well. I think that is the longest streak of stacking stuff to make something better this series had. Still, I do not think the scene with his dad was needed, it felt like too much and it was not well integrated, even if on the art front was very impressive and again filled with inspiration. That's what I am saying because the writing does not match those impressive art moments, they seem more like a flex than actual important moments. Also, the issue ends with an interesting premise, one that seems logical, but still, I am not sure how it will turn out. Overall a slightly rushed issue, it did not feel as big as it should have been, it is also maybe kinda rushed, but it is better than most of Ahmed's tenure. more

While not as "important" as the last issue, this one was more entertaining. I didn't feel like I was falling asleep getting through the paragraphs per text box as the last one and seeing the X-Men deal with Weapon Alpha when he had no idea what he was getting into was fun.
Letting the X-Men get even a few moments of relaxation really helps the pace of the run and I'm glad we've already had a few even if they are almost immediately interrupted.
The biggest jump within these last two issues is how much more development we get in the X-Men themselves. We see Scott in doubt about himself, his relationship and struggling with a feeling he has about Corsair while Jean is coming to terms with her powers and holding a secret from Scott. Seeing Kurt try to break through Scott's barriers to help him understand that it's okay to be vulnerable and just take time to relax is paramount in the lives they lead is a fantastic moment for the both of them. more

I think the relationship between Emma and Tony represents this run perfectly for me. From something so unpromising, so unambitious, so unserious at first grew something unexpectedly memorable, special, big, and even smart. Misdirection is something, that this run used many times, both in the story and outside and it did it so well. It made a story that was tense, surprising, always fun, and unexpected. It did not reinvent the wheel, while still putting him in a position that was not associated with him. everything this run did, it made the case for it and it made it good. It deserves its own existence. I will remember it very fondly.

As for this issue: a lot of those final issues feel rushed, but this one did not feel like that at least for the most part. It kept with Tony's light monologue, sometimes sarcastic monologue for setting the mood and building the story as it happened in just one day fitting the spontaneous, low-key nature of it. A lot of the highlights of this run are in what's behind the ''cool'', behind its playful nature, and what those moments mean on a deeper level. Here we did not get much of that to me. But it's fine, it's the last issue, there is no time for more obscuring and in general, it seems simpler. there were still these great moments of poignancy, like the idea of how writing can clear your mind, which puts a whole other meaning to the whole run, and how this can be seen as a palette cleanser after Cantwell(i liked Cantwell a lot) and explains even some stuff about the characterization etc.

About Emma, I really think I'm sad about it than Tony is. His reaction fits the issue, it fits, the more hopeful, freedom-filled tone of the issue, but this deserved way bigger impact. Don't get me wrong, Tony's pain is obvious, it's obvious how much he cared about this whole thing. There were some piercing quotes and sequences of panels, but I needed more of an emotional payoff, and what we got, came off as more necessary, than needed. At least they left on very good terms. It makes everything that happened here in a way more special, like time capsule.

Still, I think this issue did a good job of icing a very nice and good cake, so obviously it's job was not very hard, and that's why it just tied some final stuff. It was not an intense issue. I think Tony is in a good mental place, in a mature one, if not anything the end of him and Emma certifies that. Seeing Tony and Rhody play ball, seemed like everything needed was done, and now it was finally time for the next run. more

(Strange Tales 178-181 and Warlock 9-11)

The strongest 10 that could ever exist.

This was perfectly pleasant, but thus far doesn't feel like something I'm going to remember in five years. McKay does an OK job of balancing action and setup, which is a nice change of pace after Duggan, but the infodumping gets distracting at points — yes, "Quentin fried his brain on drugs" is a cute excuse for the characters to restate why they're doing things, but not in round robin style for two pages.

As I feared going into a backlash era, this feels less like a new direction than simply slouching back into the pre-Krakoa status quo. The dialogue and advertising desperately want you to remember your favorites like New X-Men or the 90's, but the basic setup is unmistakably just the second pressing of the Fraction/Gillen/Bendis years. Those years were often good (I reread the Bendis run a year or two ago and was pleasantly surprised to find it was better than I'd remembered), but I don't know if I was dying to do them again so soon.

Stegman is also hit-and-miss: his style is often great and he draws Beast with wonderful personality that gives his dialogue with the woman representing the local humans a charm that makes it the best part of the issue, but Juggernaut's costume is terrible, IDK what's up with Beast's Liefeldian black eye makeup, and as has been mentioned many times Scott looks like a 14-year-old.

Still, this is just a first issue; it's easy to see where McKay and Stegman could win me over as we go along, and ignoring the weight of being the opening shot of a relaunch, it's an enjoyable enough read. It's not actually a bad start for a series, just an unpromising beginning for a new era. more

Kamala got straight to the point with her emphatic *SIGH*. That's all I feel about this issue. It wasn't funny when it was trying to be, it never felt serious when it was trying to be. I really wish this wasn't how every arc felt with Wells. Solid start, terrible to boring middle, tacked on ending. Goblin originally felt like he could be an actual threat. That went right out the window. As soon as he's taken slightly off guard by Peter not being possessed, Peter is able to absolutely run through him when Goblin was previously obliterating Peter 2 issues ago. He's suddenly weak because he has to be. It's so anti-climactic. And now we are right back where we were like 20 something issues ago. Wells wrote a good story. Now he's trying to go back to it in a really dissatisfying way. I really don't know what else to say. At least we know the run is almost over. I wanted more from this arc. more