Comic Book Moments of the Week for 12/19/12

 

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Moments of the Week, everyone! An extra wallet shattering sized helping of books this week before Christmas, as Avengers shows the recruitment process, Uncanny X-Force ends, All-New X-Men has a battle of old vs young, Saga shows how families in space communicate, and Wonder Woman runs into Orion. A lot more after the jump,  so let's take a look and see which books were naughty and which were nice!

All-New X-Men #4

Cyclops meets his younger self, and everything goes upside down because of Jean. Always Jean. Illyana gets Magneto and Cyclops out of trouble but the original five are upset with what they saw. While everyone is getting upset about their future selves and present Cyclops is upset that Beast would do this, we see the two new mutants Cyclops rescued get some screen time:

Both of these characters have been nice to read so far, there is not real push to make them stand out and be cool that is often the case with new characters. So they're on the nice list.

Avengers #2

This issue is mostly a flashback to how the big team got formed, and just the simple (Wolverine, Spider-Man) working with Sam and Bobby thinking it through, it's a quick fun way to get the team formed. Again the book channels that Giant Sized X-Men vibe.

Avengers Arena #2

So there's your sacrificial character for the second issue. Deathlocket, aka Rebecca, is the daughter of Harlan Ryker, one of the original Deathlock creators. A Deathlok from the future attemtped to kill Ryker but killed his family instead, but he was able to save his daughter's brain and create a new body for her. She was basically just put together before Arcade teleported her to the arena. Here she is meeting with the Braddock Academy, who were willing to kill her a few minutes earlier:

So Rebecca is on the nice list, Arcade is definitely on the naughty list.



Bravest Warriors #3

Clown Town is under attack by horror genres, like Cabin in the Woods only funnier. But even Sharks in Space have manners!

If you dig up everyone, eventually you'll get to the haunted school graveyard corpse!



Cable & X-Force #2

Cable's headaches are the result of his brain swelling, which also seemed to be triggering his telepathy to foresee some huge cataclysm on the horizon, so he wants to save the world before it's too late. I would have expected the talent of Forge and Dr. Nemesis to have a tool more fancy as opposed to a hacksaw. Meanwhile Hope and Domino are looking to stop a black techno organic blob from eating most of a beach:

Like Eddie Murphy, party all the time!

So two people are pulling some strings behind the scenes, one of whom seems to have very recognizable spikes and a cape, who might also be a clone of Cable....

Daredevil #21

Coyote wasn't the Spot in a new name, but something that experimenting on the Spot created. Matt is able to save the people who were slaves but Spot took Coyote into the void for some retribution. So Matt isn't crazy but he still burned his bridges with Foggy, and Kirsten looks to a webslinger for some help (possible spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #700, so skip if you don't want to be partially spoiled!)

Happy #3

An issue that gives how Nick came to be such a sorry deadbeat, all the murders over the years made him distant and resulted in having an affair with his partner, and when he wouldn't take bribes from Mr. Blue they gave his wife the evidence. Nick also doesn't know he has a daughter, he thought his wife wasn't pregnant before she left, or that the stress of the affair made her miscarry. And while we see this Blue's hitmen are still after him:

Pacemaker exploding, that's an interesting way to cover up what just happened. No one believes it but it's on the fly wit. The issue also ends with a big twist about the whole push of the story that looks interesting if handled correctly, check it out.

Hawkeye #6

All Clint wants to do is get his Home Theater system hooked up and watch Cop Dogs, because dogs are the best, right? Well the Tracksuit Vampires have to show up again, Hawkguy vs Bros:

 Too many bros, bro. They take Clint to the head bro, who puts Kanye West to shame:

So not only do we find out who the lady from issue #3 was, Clint has an ultimatum, but refuses after Kate makes him realize he needs to stop running away from things. This probably won't end well for the tenants at Clint Plaza.

Indestructible Hulk #2

 

All Banner wanted to do was show off and have Tony realize he's just as smart, but Stark couldn't just leave other people's toys alone. He kinda had this coming. Really nice transformation page by Yu.

Li'l Gotham #3

The digital only series by Dustin Nguyen, Li'l Gotham shows Mr. Freeze seemingly abducting orphans but there's more to it than that.

The art is great, the story is heartwarming, and it's only a buck, this should definitely be at the top of any bat-fans reading list. Gotham doesn't have to always be scary.

Saga #8

Alana and Marko's first meeting, when she was a guard and he was a prisoner. He was trying to learn the language but it seems he learned to love, awww. Cut to the present, where Marko and his mother are looking to find Izabel, the ghost babysitter for Hazel:

Speaking of Gwendolyn, I'm sure it's a coincidence.....

Uh oh, spaghetti-o's. I just really like the idea of calling a assassin squad a talent agency, it classes it up. The book hasn't lost a beat since it came back from a break.

Uncanny X-Force #35

Remender's final issue and an end to the series, but it's able to have more genuine heart amidst all the violence than most book could even hope to accomplish. I really like this balance of crazy to sane Wade, it should be the norm. Oh and Fantomex is back. Wait, what?

Fantomsexy should be her codename, right? There is another, more aggressive Fantomex who has reverse colors, but he quickly disappeared. So the series ends, and still remains one of the best X-books since Morrison's run. Take a bow, Remender/Opena/Noto et al.

Wolverine & the X-Men #22

The teachers are brainwashed and part of Frankenstein's travelling circus, and allowing violence to fall upon their students. Will they snap out in time?

I like these kinds of technicalities, bravo, Logan.



Wonder Woman #15

That's a really violent bonk, or maybe Zola was acting to sell it to Diana.

While Hera tries out room service, Lennox and Diana went to find Milan, who was being visited by Orion. Paths cross, tempers arise.

Orion and Diana don't really fight because Milan freaks out, hopefully next issue they have a real fight.

X-O Manowar #8

Just like Skyfall, Aric takes on James Bond's headquarters. Ninjak just wants revenge because how can he make money when the Vine destroys earth?

Quick and simple, no long speeches. Then Aric and Ninjak take care of the rest of the sleepers:

 

Definitely get a Gladiator vibe from that top panel. The invasion fleet is still on it's way, but MI-6 is now wise to what just happened. This all seems to be setting up for the first Valiant crossover since the relaunch.

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