We're still in the first month of Avengers vs. X-Men so all judgments remain reserved, and I'm still pretty excited to see what develops. In fact the slew of AvX titles makes the Pick of the Week a tough choice, what with the first issue of Vs. and Remender's space team face the Phoenix head-on, until I decided to just take them out of the equation and go a different PotW route entirely:
Read on for the full list. And happy new comics day.
DARK HORSE
Angel & Faith #9: Daddy Issues, Part 4. And whatever drama I expected from Faith's father's appearance at the beginning of this arc was overshadowed by the comic itself, with last issue being dark, surprising, layered and a bit nauseating, in the sense of having impact and being well-written. Turns out Daddy Faith wanted to use his daughter dearest as a thug to kill some gangster he owned money to. In her rejection of him and sense of betrayal, she slipped without noticing it, dismembering some of the aforementioned gangsters, seeing her dark side full-on, and running to the now sane Drusilla and her pet demon that can suck out your pain and bad memories. Will Angel get to her in time? Probably, but the way Gage is writing this comic, I'm prepared to be surprised.
MARVEL
Astonishing X-Men #49: I wasn't sure what to make of Marjorie Liu's return to the X-world with this arc at the beginning; she picked an interesting, odd team, and took 'em on a quiet mission to NYC. Quiet in the sense of not feeling like it fits in with the current X-stories, as well as being ignored by most of the comic reading population while AvX goes on. However I was looking forward to the Northstar focus, despite not loving his boyfriend who has now gone missing, and something very dark and violent is happening in the sewers of Manhattan which has to do with Northstar's past. I should've guessed earlier, but that obviously means the Marauders are back and in town. Maybe it's not horribly original, but Maruaders plus NYC tunnels equals mayhem, danger, death, and some of the scariest X-Men comics ever written. Hopefully the action heats up this week.
AvX Vs.: I'm pretty sure they could have come up with a better title for this one, but there you go. This is the showcase of all the individual fights we don't get to focus on in the main AvX book. It remains to be seen if it will be well-done, or conclusive in any way, or super relevant to the main plot, but doubtless it will be fun. This week we see Magneto vs. Iron Man (which promises not to be as obvious as expected) and the Thing vs. Namor.
Daredevil #10: The continuation(climax?/conclusion?/nextchapter?) of the awkwardly titled Omega Effect crossover with Punisher and Avenging Spider-Man. I did pick up the first two chapters in the other books, and while not fantastic it was pretty fun, continuing the story set down in DD about the unstable molecule data drive that has info on all the megacrime organizations and in DD's possession. The team of heroes (and Punisher) work pretty well together and set-up a solid final showdown, but at the end of the last issue Punisher's ally (female, angry, husband and family was killed on wedding day) betrays DD and quite literally throws them to the dogs. How will our hero make it out of this? Will he survive? Sure, but either way I trust Mark Waid to turn it into a good story.
New Avengers #25: Some secret history of the Phoenix revealed, as it relates to K'un L'un, the sacred secret mystical musty city of Iron Fist and the dragon Shao Len. Or something. While I'm pretty interested to see how they make Danny Rand more essential and linked to the plot I am honestly getting very Bendis-weary. The nice thing is that in AvX #2 Hope bailed from Utopia, moving at a good clip, so Herself could end up in this issue on the other side of the world. And maybe we'll get some shots of Danny sans his strange mask, cause let's be honest, he's a cutie.
Secret Avengers #26: The away team faces down the Phoenix Force in space before it gets to Earth. Thor and Valkyrie drink (and possibly fool around) before, while Hank McCoy and Brian Braddock fret, and the Protector prepares to betray the team as per the Supreme Intelligence's orders. But mostly they're going to get their asses kicked. Except some temporary ressurection of Captain Marvel, and some large developments for the extended Mar-vell family, including both Noh-Varr and Carol Danvers.
Uncanny X-Men #11: Kieron Gillen steps into the AvX fray in what seems to be almost a throwaway Vs issue focusing on Colossus/Juggernaut vs. Red Hulk/Rulk. But I can trust Gillen enough to expect more than just a one on one fight here. Perhaps we'll finally get a Scott Summers who sounds a bit more rational and organized in his strategies than the one we've been seeing in the main title. And maybe something to make the Lights team look less like bumbling kids, though admittedly that's what they mostly are. And maybe a glimpse of Storm beating down on her hubbie, which I would find gratifying.
X-Men Legacy #265: The final chapter of the Michael/Weapon Omega arc. And it's about time, since this is a flagship X-title yet it's not entered into the huge event yet. Though I'll admit the writing has been great, and Omega, a character I've hated since that weird and terrible Bendis New Avengers post/House of M arc is at least more interesting, while Mimic has become downright sympathetic and endearing. Hopefully Rogue will save the day, and maybe gain some new powers to help her out when she has her inevitable Ms. Marvel rematch.
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