New Avengers #14 & Journey Into Mystery #625

Hey all, two more Marvel comics to breeze through today, both of them Fear Itself tie-in books. Before I get to those two comics though, since I actually managed to logically plan out my massive 20 book week, I can tell you exactly which books I'll be reviewing every day until this coming Wednesday! How awesome is that! So unless I get buried under a mountain or something similar, here's the schedule for the rest of the week... Today I'll be reviewing New Avengers #14 & Journey Into Mystery #625, while Sunday brings Ghost Rider #1 & Black Panther #521. Monday I'll be reviewing Teen Titans #97 & Superman #713, which brings us to Tuesday where I'll be scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel and braving Birds of Prey #14 & FF #6. So there you have it, X-Maniacs, a nice, orderly, set in stone look at the rest of the week! With that out of the way, let's take a look at New Avengers and Journey Into Mystery.

New Avengers #14(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue starts with Mockingbird talking... And talking... And talking... Yes my friends, Brian Bendis IS indeed writing this issue! Why do you ask? Blah blah, Mockingbird was given the Infinity Formula, blah blah, it saved her life, blah, blah, blah. From there, Spider-Man announces he was quitting the New Avengers(and who could blame him!! They suck!!!) because Victoria Hand was their liaison, and he hates Norman Osborn and she used to work for Osborn or something. Whatever. Eventually Mockingbird walks in the room and everybody is surprised to see her alive, which gives Wolvie the chance to pull Spidey aside to try to talk him into staying, or leaving, who really knows? Then Sin's Nazis attack New York, and the New Avengers rush into battle. Mockingbird is pleased with her newfound enhanced abilities, and tells us. Again, and again, and again... My god, does Bendis think blithering idiots are reading this?!? Anyway, Mockingbird's happiness with her new abilities turns to sadness when Avengers Tower falls to the forces of Sin. And then Mockingbird talks some more, and this issue ends.

Thoughts: You know, Bendis really impresses me sometimes. I mean just the other day, I gave a comic he wrote a perfect score because I enjoyed it so much. Today? Nope, we won't be getting anywhere CLOSE to a perfect score! First of all, for all I complain about the awful Justice League line-up, THIS New Avengers line-up is pretty damn bad in it's own right! First of all, we have Spider-Man, Thing and Wolverine, who all have responsibilities to other teams/series first. Then there's Ms. Marvel, who I've always hated, Luke Cage, who I hate when he's written by Bendis, Iron Fist, who's there because... Well, I don't know why he gets to be an Avenger, but I guess if Luke can LEAD an Avengers team, why can't Iron Fist be a member, and Mockingbird, who I actually REALLY like, but was written WAY out of character in this issue. I mean she even said it herself, she's a secret agent! She prefers staying in the background! In this issue, she wouldn't shut up!!! What the hell Mockingbird was this?! Bizarro Mockingbird?!? My god, I have to read another comic book quickly to rinse the stain of this comic from my brain! NOW I remember why I never picked this series up!

Score: 1 1/2 out of 10.Hey look, Mockingbird is talking and talking and talking and talking and......


Journey Into Mystery #625(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: Man are these Journey Into Mystery comics hard to review. I'm just going to go with the broad strokes, because a whole mess of stuff happened here. In Hell, Hela and Mephisto are at each other's throats thanks to Loki's chicanery. Mephisto believes Hela was going to throw in with the Serpent, and Hela felt Mephisto was about to unjustly declare war on her. One of Hela's lieutenants tells Hela that Mephisto had the souls of the Disir within his realm, which further inflames the situation. As for who told Hela's lieutenant this news? Loki of course! With the two hell-lords distracted, Loki and Tyr manage to sneak into the Tongue's quarters(the Tongue was sent to Hela by the Serpent to see if she'd ally herself with him), and force him to hand over the documents he had from the Serpent before Tyr kills him. Now holding official evidence of the Serpent's plans, Loki rushes over to Hela and Mephisto and reveals that the Serpent was planning on causing a revolt in Hela's Hel. Hela realizes that she couldn't defeat Mephisto AND quell a revolt at the same time, and Mephisto has no interest in conquering a Hel that was in full revolt. The two hell-lords decide to put aside their differences for the time being and decide to listen to Loki's advice and deal with the Serpent, since he caused so much friction between Hela and Mephisto. To that end, Mephisto sends half of the Disir to Hel to make sure none of Hela's souls attempted a revolt and gives Loki the other half to deal with the Serpent. Hela in turn gives Loki her two top lieutenants, Tyr and Leah, before heading back to Hel to make sure no uprising occurs. Now having gathered more forces against the Serpent, Loki sets his sights on the next part of his plan to defeat the Serpent, a trip to Limbo.

Thoughts: I'll admit, there are times when I'm reading this comic and have NO idea as to what's going on... But then I'll turn the page and love what I was reading... It's weird. This comic was like that. I'd read a page and be completely lost, and then turn the page and find myself enjoying the story. Go figure. As usual, I'm loving young Loki, and enjoying the hell out of the artwork and dialogue. Sure, the story goes over my head at times, but hey, as long as I enjoy the dialogue and art, that's something, right?

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Poor Loki seems to be having some problems here...