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Welcome back and get ready for part 2 of my pull list from last week. It was a 7 issue Wednesday which for me is a good sized week so I had to split it up. I’ve got 4 more to go so let’s get to it!
First up this time is…Dark X-Men #3 of 5.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Leonard Kirk (cover by Simone Bianchi)
Alright so honestly, I’ve been less than impressed by the return of Nate Grey. I understand bringing him back but why in this book? Also this team of Dark Beast, Mystique, Mimic, and Omega is really not a very cohesive team to read about. I don’t mean that they don’t work well because they’re written that way, they just stink as a team in this book. Singularly speaking, I like Mystique and Dark Beast, they are OK but the other two just really suck. So anyways, Nate Grey is back and he pretty much tears apart Venom, and then when confronted by Sentry, he uses his smarts to get him to run away. After the rest of Norman’s Dark Avengers don’t seem to be able to get the job done, Omega and Mimic try their best. Nate actually freezes time to try and show Mimic that he doesn’t mean any harm and how Norman is using them. Ares however sees through this and attacks Nate. It seems that Ares is about to kill him but when the fight is over Nate’s body just disintegrates and nothing but a pile of steaming bones are left. Afterward, we see Mystique confront Osborn and tell him that she knows it’s really Nate inside him. How Mystique would be able to figure that out, I’d love to know but be that as it may, it’s going to make for a good next issue for sure.  3/5
Next up is…Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #3 of 4.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer (s): Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Kevin Walker (cover by Brian Haberlin)
First off, I’d like to say that Abnett & Lannings track record for me is impeccable. I think they do the “cosmic book” like nobody else.  All that said, this book has been less than what I’m used to reading from them. The last issue especially, but this issue did rebound a little bit. The crew consisting of the Imperial Guard and the Starjammers has found themselves marooned inside The Fault while trying to collect data. The ship is being repaired by part of the team while the other is searching for clues as to what happened to who preceded them in this realm. Suddenly, the search team is running back to the ship with some creepy organisms right on their heels; the little beasts start to attack the entire ship as the team gets aboard. They finally break free and head back to their point of entry but just as everything seems to be going OK, they are slammed into by a massive energy source that turns out to be Quasar. He’s beaten and bloody but has enough strength to tell them to run faster because “they’re right behind me!” We also see Gladiator fantasize about killing Karnak during a meeting with him and the Rigellian council members. He’s having serious problems with being a man of words instead of actions. Good rebound with this issue, hopefully it will continue.  3.5/5
Thirdly I present…Strange #3 of 4.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Emma Rios
What a breath of fresh air this series has been so far. Mark Waid is doing great at keeping the pace moving without always having some demon jump out and spit fire or something crazy. This issue shows us Stephen and his new protege, Casey,  being approached by some demon beast he calls “Larry.” The demon explains to them that at this crazy pageant (that disgustingly enough resembles a mortal pageant) another demon named Virilian is acting like a coach and has all the mothers eating out of his hand. Larry further explains that he must be up to something pretty big and he needs to be put down. After a little coaxing, Casey begrudgingly agrees to be turned into a little girl to investigate. Meanwhile Stephen and Larry take a trip to hell to see where Virilian stores all the souls he captures. Well, basically, Stephen and Larry come back and Casey has to offer up her soul to get Virilian to let go of the girls in the pageant. Virilian agrees to fight Larry in order to have all the souls, Casey’s, the girls, and their mothers. The two clash, and when all is said and done, Larry tears off Virilian’s head and then takes a bite. The entire universe is going crazy though with all this magic being abused so it starts to go nuts and that’s where the story ends; until next time.  4/5
Lastly we have…Black Widow: Deadly Origin #3 of 4.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Tom Raney (cover by Adi Granov)
I didn’t have high expectations with this title but I have been pleasantly surprised by this limited series. Paul Cornell has done a fine job of telling a Nick Fury style espionage tale in this book. When last we saw Natasha, she figured out that the “Icepick Protocol” was a government plan in which they injected her with nanites so she would spread them to all of her friends and lovers. These nanites would force the people to become enraged and be under the control of whoever created them. Needless to say, Clint Barton is with Mocking Bird and she is trying to kill him in a fit of rage. Natasha stops her and tells Clint the whole terrible story of how this happened. We then see a flashback of Natasha and Daredevil sharing a moment only to be interrupted by her long time friend Ivan. Flip back to current time and she’s with Daredevil again to tell him about what’s going on. Natasha and Bucky then set out to find Hercules and see how he is doing. They find him at a bar being attacked by a mob of girls. We then flashback to a time they spent together with the Champions in L.A. along with Warren Worthington, Ghost Rider, and others. She also has a meeting with Nick Fury and he points her in the right direction to find the people responsible. She heads to a H.A.M.M.E.R. launch facility and commandeers a spaceship and goes to a floating space station called The Dreadnought. Once there she sees an Imperial Dynamo walking around but soon discovers that when he takes off his helmet, that it’s her friend Ivan underneath! She did find him dead in issue #1 I think, but he was missing his head (just an FYI).  3.5/5
That’s it for now but I’ll be back in a flash with my pile from this past Wednesday sometime over the weekend. I just realized all these issues were number 3’s, weird huh. Well anyways Make Mine Marvel!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net