Amazing Spider-Man #653:
Summary: Under siege from Alistair Smythe, John Jameson manages to avoid being blown up in his spacecraft thanks to a surprise(and secret)assist from Dr. Octopus. With John safe, Spider-Man falls from the craft, where he is attacked by a free-falling Scorpion. The New Avengers arrive on the scene and get rid of Scorpion, while mopping up some of the forces Smythe had sent to terrorize J. Jonah Jameson. Spidey, Mockingbird and Thing rush out to protect Jameson's wife(as well as Aunt May), while a few other New Avengers save Robbie Robertson. While battling Smythe's forces, Spidey realizes that the villains were using a spider-sense, so he heads to his storage facility(as Peter Parker)to find a device that would block the villain's spider-senses. As he emerges from storage, his fellow scientist confronts him, wanting to ask Peter a few questions about his relationship with Spidey.
Thoughts: Before I say anything else, allow me to state this... My GOD is that New Avengers line-up atrocious!!! What the HELL was Bendis thinking when he put that team together! Sorry, but the Heroes for Hire do NOT make a good team of Avengers! I mean that team is NEARLY as bad as James Robinson's JLA line-up, and he has a talking gorilla on his team!!! Awful... However, this issue WASN'T awful. It was good. Not great or anything, but it was good, clean, Spidey-rific fun. You had Spidey battling Scorpion, Spidey fighting some Spider-Slayers, and Peter Parker being confronted about his relationship to Spider-Man. What more could you ask for? Sure, the Dr. Octopus scene was kind of weird, but that seems to be setting up for future storylines, so I'll overlook it for now. I will say that being forced to see Squirrel Girl did deduct 1/2 from the final score... Sorry, but I HATE that thing!
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Worst Avengers Team EVER!!!!!Invincible Iron Man #500.1:
Summary: This is an easy one to summarize! Basically Tony Stark heads to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and tells his life story... Kind of. He does make sure not to reveal his secret identity or anything like that(you still see what Tony is talking about during the flashback sequences). He tries to get Pepper Potts to go out with him(which is when he learns that he had slept with Pepper a while back)and after a rebuke, Tony goes out with a woman from the AA meeting. And that's pretty much that.
Thoughts: I thought this was a really good way of doing a Tony Stark origin story. It wasn't one of those tried and true comic book gimmicks where the hero sits down and tells his story to a fellow hero, somebody reads it off of a computer or something along those lines, it was Tony cryptically telling his own story to a roomful of strangers. Besides enjoying the way this comic was laid out, I liked the way Matt Fraction showed that while Tony has been sober for a while now, he does still have to battle the demon in the bottle. The thought that Tony regularly attends AA meetings really helped to humanize Tony a bit more for me, so kudos for that.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
You see that? Being a billionaire super-hero isn't all flowers and sunshine!Deadpool/Cable #26:
Summary: With Cable dead, Deadpool decides to head to the country Cable ran, Rumekistan(you all remember Rumekistan from Cable/Deadpool, right?), to throw a party for his fallen friend. Unfortunately for DP, when he goes to talk to the president of the country, the president explains that he had NO idea who this Cable character was, and then has DP tossed in jail fearing he was an insurgent. DP naturally escapes, gets drunk and then gets captured by the president's forces. The president demands to know why DP was in Rumekistan, and after hearing DP's story, the president explains that he was in the wrong country, as Rumekistan had suffered a civil war and split up. DP decides to help the president with his terrorist problems(since that's what Cable would have done), and DP swiftly defeats the terrorist forces. Before leaving, DP makes sure the people of New Rumekistan thought Cable had saved them, and the people throw a party in Cable's honor.
Thoughts: Hey, for a comic I expected nothing from, and wasn't even going to pick up, this was seriously great! You had plenty of humorous moments(which every Deadpool comic needs), a good, believable and funny story(only DP would wander into the WRONG Rumekistan!), and did a great job showing that DP does indeed have a sensitive side. The flashback sequences fit into the story perfectly and didn't seem out of place, and the final scene was very well done. I really have no complaints here at all. For a little throwaway story, Duane Swierczynski did a wonderful job.
Score: 9 out of 10.
I love how sneaky Pool looks standing behind Cap here.
