Age of Ultron #8: As if things couldn’t get any crazier, we learn the full ramifications of Wolverine’s murder of Hank Pym in the past. In this new timeline Sue Storm and Logan are trapped in, the loss of Hank Pym caused a massive loss in the scientific knowledge of the Marvel Universe and allowed the magical villain Morgana La Fey to become the most powerful villain in the world and won a battle that caused Asgard to abandon Earth and Tony Stark to be ripped in half and force himself to build himself a permanent Iron Man armor. Ben Grimm feels like he has to talk to this Sue and the other Defenders help him try to break her out but everything falls apart when Le Fey attacks. Our Sue and Logan are separated but both manage to get off the Stark helicarrier before it crashes into New York. With two issues left, I have no idea where we are going but I can’t wait to see what happens.
XO Manowar #13: Alric was separated from the mystical Shansara armor last issue but gets it back at the critical moment this issue in a bad ass moment when he realizes that his hand that was regrown by the armor is a part of the armor and uses it to call the armor back to him. A fantastic battle ensues and much like Spartacus before him, vows to free all the slaves in his path and then take the fight to the people who oppressed them.
Nova #4: The movie influence is in full effect in this issue of Nova as Sam Alexander fights the Chitauri, whose look is directly from The Avengers movie. Sam runs into a former teammate of his father, the space tiger Titus, who reveals that Sam’s father may have abandoned the Nova Corps to attend the birth of Sam, even though that left the rest of the team at the mercy of Chitauri. Titus joined the Chitauri and helped them build an Ultimate Nullifer, a galactic doomsday weapon. Sam manages to steal it but Titus follows him to Earth. Hopefully Sam gets backup from Rocket and Gamorra next issue or else Earth could be in some deep trouble.
The Avengers: The Enemy Within #1: Apparently this is a mini event that has been building up in the last few issues of Captain Marvel, as Carol Danvers finds out she has some sort of brain lesion that could kill her if she overuses her powers. Since I don’t read Captain Marvel, I could care less about anything that was going on in this issue. There were a couple of cool fights, including one where Carol and Thor fight dinosaurs but this is going to continue in both Avengers Assemble and Captain Marvel, so I think I’m going to have to pass on both of those until this event over.
Iron Man #10: Some serious ret-conning that I’m not quite sure I’m on board for in this issue as we learn that the robotic librarian/mass murderer 451 not only knew Howard Stark, but was directly involved in helping he and his wife give birth to Tony. That’s kind of insane, especially if you are trying to pull in any fans of the movies but this issue kind of balances it out by having Howard pull an Ocean’s Eleven style casino heist against the Gray aliens who were holding 451 hostage. I would read the crap out of a series that was that every issue.
Thunderbolts #9: The most bad ass characters in the Marvel universe continue to be bad ass as they try and track down whoever is selling gamma powered weapons to terrorists. The team gets a new lead when they are attacked by Crimson Dynamo armors that are gamma powered and that leads them to be believe that Arthur Venko, nephew of the original Crimson Dynamo, may be involved. Unknown to the team, it looks like Elektra’s brother, Orestez, is involved as well.
