Comics of February 11, 2015

This is an interesting week in comics. Thor 5 brought many plot reveals, Simon Spurrier’s X-Force ended with issue 15, Amazing Spider-Man 14 concluded Spider-Verse and the story-arc for the Darkness’s death in Witchblade began. Darth Vader’s solo series began today, but I didn’t pick that one up.

Also, my favourite X-Men character, X-23, appears in 3 comics this week (and that will likely happen again next week). It delights me, but at the same time I hope that doesn’t become a regular thing – overexposure is part of what made Wolverine go downhill after a while, thanks to all the inconsistent characterization. I’m glad she’s becoming a bigger part of the Marvel Universe, but I’d much prefer if she’s limited to 2 or 3 titles instead of being a member of 4 teams at once while also having 2 solo books and frequent other appearances.

I thought I’d also mention the announcement that Marvel and Sony have come to a Cinematic Universe agreement. Basically, they’ll share creative control and profits in order to include Spider-Man in the Cinematic Universe. My thoughts are that … I don’t have many thoughts at the moment. I hope the next Spider-Man movie isn’t a complete reboot because we’ve had enough of those, and we don’t need yet another repeated origin story. I like that they’ll be sharing universes and I hope that this will help Peter Parker have more consistently good movies from now on, but I’m not happy about a bunch of Marvel movies being delayed. At least Captain Marvel’s debut is only pushed back a few months instead of a year like Inhumans and Black Panther, but it still sucks.

Anyway, the comics I picked up this week include Thor 5, Wolverines 6, Cyclops 10, Captain Marvel 12, Amazing Spider-Man 14, X-Force 15, Guardians of the Galaxy 24, X-Men 24, All New X-Men 36, Justice League United 9 and Witchblade 180. Here are my first impressions, and links to full reviews will be added when posted. And since I probably won’t get to it because there are so many better choices for full reviews, Thor 5 is my favourite comic of the week.

Guardians of the Galaxy 24 review

Amazing Spider-Man 14 review

Witchblade 180 review

All New X-Men 36 review

Thor 5 is fantastic. In addition to a good fight to kick off the issue, this one brings a number of major reveals. Odin’s antics are much darker than we first thought, and what I’m referring to should not be spoiled. Odinson has some great character development, some of which involves Lady Sif. Best of all, Jorge Molina’s art is simply amazing. There’s so much to like about this issue and whether you like Thor or you’re curious about a Female Thor, this is a great starting point if you haven’t checked this series out yet.

Wolverines 6 is fun. The fight in Sinister’s lab is appropriately chaotic and a bit weird, yet there’s still room for bits of story development and character moments. We learn a bit more about Fantomelle’s powers and what makes her such a good thief, while the Wolverines find an … interesting way around control words. The first few weeks of Wolverines could have been better, but if it keeps improving, this could become an amazing series.

Cyclops 10 is good. After breaking free of the pirates, Cyclops and his father manage to escape the Shi’ar battlefield. This is pretty much a straight action issue, leaving little room for character work or story development, but what is there works pretty well. So far this whole series is about teenaged Cyclops travelling around space with his father, and if that interests you, this is worth recommending.

Captain Marvel 12 is fun. This actually leads towards Captain Marvel’s involvement in the Black Vortex crossover, along with quite a few space travelling problems, amusing dialogue between Carol and her ship’s computer and a bit of a different cliffhanger. This isn’t as good as most of the series, but it’s still a lot of fun and definitely worth checking out if you read any Marvel comics.

X-Force 15 is great. After spending much of this series in the background, Hope takes center stage and leads the team’s effort against Fantomex. The ending feels so justified, and I mean both Fantomex’s defeat and the final page. I hope that we’ll see more of this X-Force team, even if there hasn’t been an announced follow-up yet. Overall, this is probably the best X-Force run period, and it’s a shame that it didn’t find the audience it deserved.

X-Men 24 is good. The story behind the mysterious storm is explored a bit more, and there’s some good action. By the looks of it, each issue will delve into different characters’ head – this issue is Psylocke’s turn. I wouldn’t call this arc anything special yet, but there are several good character moments found within and the action is pretty good. If you’re interested in supporting an all-female X-Men team, or you like G. Willow Wilson’s writing, this is worth checking out.

Justice League United 9 is fun. There’s not much to say, apart from the fact that several large superhero teams are fighting against the incredibly powerful enemy, Infinitus, and those who would shape him into a Universal threat. There’s really not much else to say, apart from the fact that you’ll be confused if you haven’t read previous issues. At a couple points I was considering dropping this, but with the announcement that Jeff Lemire is finishing his run in a few months, I might as well stick with it until he leaves. This is an easy recommendation for those who have read Justice League United up to this point, but it’s hard to recommend for anyone else.