Comics: 1-09-08

THE MIGHTY AVENGERS #7
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inkers: Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studio's Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Artmonkeys' Dave Lanphear
Production: Rich Ginter
Assistant Editor: Molly Lazer
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley

Mighty Avengers starts their second arc with issue #7, only four months behind due to Frank Cho's deadline problems. If there's an artist you need to crank out issues to get your title back on track, you either have to get Mark Bagley or John Romita Jr. Mark Bagley is a marathon man, capable of putting out multiple titles on a monthly basis. He works well with Bendis and this is a natural fit. This issue picks up on the cliffhanger from New Avengers #32, which came out six months ago. Six months ago. We've actually seen how this issue's cliffhanger is resolved in the last five issues of New Avengers, which kinda ended on the cliffhanger of telling us what this arc is going to be about (Dr. Doom dropping a symbiote bomb on New York because the Mighty Avengers piss him off). Okay, so, that's New Avengers continuing into Mighty Avengers while Mighty Avengers was dealing with New Avengers' previous storyline, so New Avengers went on ahead and finished up the storyline that is starting right now in Mighty Avengers, and therefore reveals what the storyline starting this month in Mighty Avengers is all about. What. The? Was this how Bendis intended for this to all work out? What is New going to do for the next who-knows-how-long while Mighty plays catch up? Bendis experimented with non-linear storytelling in his "Revolution" storyline last year in New Avengers, so maybe he did plan for this to unfold all mixed-up like.

Weird pacing aside, this issue is the first talker of the series. As a storyline, 2008's "Secret Invasion" is actually intriguing and I'm genuinely excited about it. The are-they-aren't-they paranoia is unlike anything I've read in the Marvel Universe and the stakes are very real. Spider-Woman joining the team is a nice ploy to draw out Skrulls and the team's reaction is well-played (even if Jan hushes all the serious chatter to trot out new costumes for Wonder Man).

My biggest complaint for this issue is the thought bubbles. At first it seemed like Tony Stark's internal computer was replacing the bubbles, making a nice change for the new storyline we're starting. But no. They're back. And as useless as ever. At first the thought bubbles had a retro charm and at times they actually do what they're supposed to. Ares' thoughts towards conquering Spider-Woman and Tony Stark's repeated "one of you" towards the end of the issue both give insight into the characters and ratchet up the drama. The rest of them are horribly dull and clumsy. Wonder Man thinking "and the worst" and then saying "and the worst" adds nothing at all. At all. Except for the number of seconds awkwardly messing up the rapid-fire pace of Bendis' patented realistic dialogue. We don't need to read Ms. Marvel thinking about how Tony is undermining her leadership when we have Mark Bagley selling it like the pro he is on every page.

Mighty Avengers starts 2008 where New Avengers was in 2007, but strong characters and the tension filled mystery make this a solid book. If only Bendis would turn off the thought bubble blower.

MY SCORE: 8.4/10


X-FACTOR v.3 #27
"Messiah Complex 11 of 13"
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Scot Eaton
Inkers: John Dell, Andrew Hennessy, Dave Meikis
Colorist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Cory Petit
Assistant Editor: Will Panzo
Editor: Nick Lowe
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley

"Messiah Complex" is halfway through its last cycle of the four main x-books, with only two more chapters to go. So far, so good, and only minor nitpicks can be made about this installment. For one thing, this issue is reading a lot like X-Factor's contribution to a previous crossover that is so casually referenced here. Just like in 1992's "X-Cutioner's Song," the members of X-Factor are pushed to the margins of the issue while the main storyline plows through. Not that they aren't present. Siryn prays over Madrox's comatose body, Layla makes a very definitive action at the issue's start, and both Strong Guy and Wolfsbane get little bitty lines thrown their way. Still, that involvement doesn't really make this a true issue of X-Factor and one has to wonder how happy Peter David is with this. I'm personally not bothered by it. Wolfsbane, Madrox and Layla have all been getting the same amount of page time in the rest of the crossover's issues so if they don't show up so much in their own title, then I guess that's how the story should be told. Plus, David gets to follow up on that vision Wolfsbane had a while ago about Layla and Madrox being married when Layla says her name is Layla Madrox, that is if that was how that was meant to be read.

The mutant concentration camp aspect of the series finally pays off, with Layla blowing up her dupe companion, thus sending his knowledge back to Madrox prime in the present. With his knowledge of the future, Madrox is able to finger Bishop as the traitor and finally get everyone off of Cable's back a little. I'm rather pleased with this since, at first, it seemed like a waste of time to send Multiple Man's dupes into the future "just cause." I rolled my eyes upon seeing yet another concentration camp-y reality but the disturbing images Chris Bachalo gave us in his issues of X-Men have made it worth it. Also, the reveal that we are in Bishop's timeline (or rather a variation, right?) justifies the setting; we're not seeing another bleak future, just revisiting an old one.

And there's my main problem with this issue and, it looks like, the crossover as a whole. Both Bishop and Cable have knowledge of this mutant messiah that is currently the most popular infant on Earth. Bishop hates the messiah because she kills a million humans, but apparently she ends up doing something awesome because Cable thinks she saves everyone. Okay, that's cool. We're using the fact that both Cable and Bishop come from different points in the future. But oh, wait, um, if they both knew that a mutant messiah was going to be born, why didn't they bring that up until now? I went back and looked at the Endangered Species one-shot from last year that kicked off this current direction. In it, Bishop states that he didn't tell anyone about M-Day because he genuinely didn't know. Most of the records were lost, there were a lot of rumors, but nothing concrete. Fair enough. But here we are in X-Factor #27 with a kid Bishop pretty much telling us everything that is going on right now. I mean, I guess it could be argued that Bishop has known this ever since M-Day and was lying in Endangered Species, but the x-books haven't been known for their foresight in years or...ever. The same can be said for Cable, I guess, who would either know less because more records were lost by the time he rolled around thousands of years after Bishop, or more since he has telepathy, a gajillion all-knowing computers, and has time traveled all over the dang place. But maybe he's been playing it close to the vest as well. I guess I need to wait and see if either of these are resolved before really holding it against the storyline.

Where is Rictor?

And where's the dupe they sent to the other new future?

And how lame is Predator X, really? Is his biggest involvement running through upstate New York, eating Peepers, and then snacking on the ex-cast of New X-Men? Geez.

Overall, the art is solid (even if the coloring still makes people look like rubber) and "Messiah Complex" is shaping up to be the best and most fulfilling crossover the Marvel Universe has produced since "The Age of Apocalypse" in 1995. We're this close to the end, I hope it doesn't fall apart.

MY SCORE: 8.6/10