Bendis takes on Thanos
582367
Brian Michael Bendis's journey into the Marvel Universe is now complete, as he has penned a story centered on Thanos and involving numerous deep space characters.

Mark Bagley does a nice job with the oversize pages -- it's colorful, lush and full of several action sequences. The story is less dialogue driven then a typical Bendis tale, but it still has Bendis characters talking like you'd expect them.

The Guardians of the Galaxy show up, the Badoon and the Elders of the Universe make an appearance, and there is an assembled horde of superheroes (think Infinity Gauntlet, minus the Silver Surfer -- which, come to think of it, I can't remember Bendis doing anything with Norin Radd yet). Cool moments include Thor & Gamora flirting, Drax and Hulk making peace and hints of the Black Widow's interrogation techniques. It reeks of 80's and 90's Jim Starlin, but better.
2166677
Marvel has done it yet again with Guardians of the Galaxy. It is suspenseful and has a lot of action yet still pulls at emotions!
3160830
Just as All-New X-Men is the sister title to Uncanny X-Men, New Avengers is the sister title to Jonathan Hickman's Avengers series. However, New Avengers is the much better title, in my opinion. It features The Illuminati (Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Namor, Beast, Black Panther and Dr. Strange) as they deal with threats that the world can never know about. This time around, they are faced with an incursion from a parallel Earth. It begins when Black Panther defends his country from The Black Swan, a mysterious woman from an alternate Earth. During her imprisonment, she informs the group that these incursions will become more frequent, and that there's nothing they can do to stop the death of their home-world. It soon becomes a race against time to prove her wrong. It's really great to see The Illuminati in their own series. I was really fascinated by the group since their formation back during Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers run. Hickman is really great at ratcheting up the tension here, and providing a credible threat that the team may not be able to stop. It's interesting to see how far they will go to stop the world from being destroyed. Events in this series are also playing out in Hickman's Avengers title. However, you don't need to read that series to enjoy this one. Actually, this is the better of the two books. Plus, Steve Epting's pencils are top-notch!
610971
What's not to love here?!?  I was super excited about the book and the author didn't disapoint.  Now anxiously awaiting news about Thanos!!
4413218
I quite liked this. Not sure why a lot of others hated it. Tony Stark is supposed to be dead and Victor Von Doom decides to fill in for him as Iron Man. I loved the opening scene of the book where it flashes back to the Cabal and Doom gets completely annoyed with the Hood. Anyway Victor is pretty much winging it as Iron Man and makes plenty of mistakes. After all, he's never tried to do the right thing before. The Thing is now an agent of SHIELD and determined to take Doom down. I really liked his scene at the Latverian embassy. Dr. Amara returns from the last Iron Man book to be Doom's sounding board even though he completely effs up her life. The big reveal in the book was interesting. I'm curious to see how she returned.

Alex Maleev's art has gotten even better in this book. It's a little simpler and more well-defined. His previous work could sometimes look murky. Bendis is at his best when he writes flawed characters and Doom is certainly that.
126308
"Avengers vs X-Men" was a major event with slews of crossover issues for both titles and thier spin-offs. But one of the best of the bunch is this collection for "Avengers Academy." It begins with the Avengers and Wolverine deciding to put the children of Wolverine's school with the Academy for their safety. This of course leads to some conflict with several of the mutants not happy about being locked up and the mutant members of the Academy wanting to join them. There's fun stuff such as when Hazmat is told she should agree being Japanese and she replies "My great-grandfaher was in an internment camp with a single room of three families. These kids have seperate quarters and their own Internet access." Not helping is an amnesiac Sebastian Shaw, seen as a help by the X-Kids, going on a rampage with the Avengers thinking he's out to kill the kids for revenge. There's good stuff here like X-23 trying to find her place with her former friends and more of the conflict of others but light-hearted moments such as when mutant Loa uses her powers to allow Mettle to "surf" again, a great touch. Also funny is Hercules, who starts off in the nude for Olympics (Tigra: "How in three thousand years have you not figured out people wear clothes?") and going over the top a lot in fights and talk. The finale makes sense and shows how, like any war, it's the children who suffer over the adults doing what they want.

The latter two issues have the now Phoenix-empowered Emma Frost coming to the Academy to destroy Juston's pet Sentinel. It's a moving bit of Juston not wanting to lose his friend, despite its anti-mutant programming and Frost coldly dealing with everyone. It also has X-23 making her final choice and a surprising aid from someone you'd think would never help a Sentinel. It also leads to a big finale that sets up the final story-arc of the book. As always, Gage nails the characters perfectly, thier desires and wants and fears and is aided by fine art by Tom Grummett that enhances the action scenes. So if you're a fan of the book already, this is a key section to get but even newbies should admire how this uses the epic crossover well to show how the effects go beyond just the big two teams.
413162
Easily one of my personal favorite story arcs to come out of recent Marvel, Bendis did a great job setting up this team of former super villains posing as their popular hero counterparts (Venom as Spider-Man, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel among others). With the always reliable Norman Osborn at the head of the group (and coming off of his terrific story arc of leading the Thunderbolts post-Civil War), Bendis slowly builds the foundation of the new team before throwing them into their first major struggle against Morgana Le Fey. Dark Avengers was the end-all, be-all title for the Dark Reign crossover and this showed how much promise the idea of Osborn being in charge of SHIELD could have (or as he renames it HAMMER). The volume also introduces great side-character Victoria Hand and is at its best when Hand and Osborn are barely in control of the conflicting personalities they've put together on a team. Sadly, Dark Reign as an event got a bit rushed and clunky by the end with all of the various tie-ins chipping away at Osborn's strong characterization here. It kind of feels like other writers forced Bendis to devolve Osborn into a psycho too quickly and as such the Dark Avengers were sacrificed as a intriguing team and idea in favor of the weaker Seige event. Still despite those later faults, this volume is still terrific and worth reading/owning.
4115235
This book is basically made up of two halves.

The first half of the book follows Silver Surfer as he encounters Thanos for the first time, and the Surfer's mission to stop Thanos' own quest of wiping out half the universe's population (Yep - it's actually less stupid than it sounds though).  It's not terrible, but it's nothing amazing either.  It feels very cheesy at times.  It's a three star story.

The second half of the book, Thanos Quest, is the reason to buy the book.  Thanos goes across the universe, acquiring the 6 infinity gems.  This was a very fun read, and although I knew nothing about Thanos prior to reading this book, this book has caused him to become my 2nd favorite Marvel Villain.  He is very devious in how he deals with each of the 6 characters who possess the infinity gems, and is a lot like Lucifer from the Sandman universe, if you've ever read that series.  A five star story.

OK Silver Surfer story, combined with the excellent Thanos Quest story, averages to 4 stars.
525010
It's Thor vs. The Silver Surfer, Odin vs. Galactus in this engaging tale from Matt Fraction and Olivier Coipel. The story finds both sides fighting over the world seed (see Fraction's Thor: World Eaters). But the story goes beyond physical possession. Each side sees a reason as to why they should have it and the other should not. At the same time, an underlying story of what it means to be amongst a God gives the readers an interesting twist in the story of Galactus and the surfer. Coipel's imagery is stunning. The image of Galactus standing at the base of fallen Asgard is one of my favorites.
2484144
Love all the Marvel movies!  This one is really great with lots of action. Chris is great as Thor and Tim as Loki is the perfect villain!
3868355
Adrian King has produced an epic adventure that will captivate you and keep you hooked from beginning to end. Join Thanos & Roman, the titans of the universe, as they come to Earth in search of the infinity stone that has been hidden from them. You will find yourself laughing from the humor at some moments and at other moments you will be in a state of suspense with epic battles.

This comic is sure to give you everything that you are looking for in a comic from believable depictions of conflict between the titans and people on Earth. This is sure to become a favorite because it is a fun, action packed, fast paced read that will leave you wanting to come back for more.

The rich and colorful graphics will draw you into the story. This is definitely a comic that you cannot go wrong with as it is sure to please.
1961751
Earlier this month (November 2017), DC Comics and Brian Michael Bendis announced via Twitter that Mr. Bendis had signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with the publisher. Mr. Bendis will almost certainly finish arcs with Jessica Jones, Iron Man and the Defenders. As I read only trades, I haven't read his work on Defenders yet, but the other current books are good. Mr. Bendis peak work with Marvel happened over a decade ago with Daredevil and the Avengers (the short runs on Moon Knight and Jessica drew were also stellar). Of course, his work on Ultimate Spiderman sets the standard. He penned every issue of that series from it's 2000 debut until it was absorbed into Marvel Prime (we miss you 616). He has continued to write the monthly adventures of Miles Morales since his debut in 2011. Because of his fantastic work with Miles, I will be very sad to see Mr. Bendis leave Marvel, despite my excitement about his taking on a whole new universe full of characters (I'm curious to see who his DC pets are).

This is a wonderful trade. It collects issues 15 to 21 - a great deal. Miles Morales is at the center of it all, but the book contains well rounded and flushed out characters like his parents, Gamke, Goldballs, and even Hammerhead make this a delight. The dialogue is vintage Bendis - quick, funny, relatable, and meaningful. It is particularly nice to see Miles at 17 (characters tend to age super slow or not at all - we met Miles in 2011 when he was 13...so he's 17 now instead of 19, which is fine) and how he is wrestling with different issues than the 15 or 13 year old version. Bendis astutely incorporates self-videos and text messaging into the comics.

Different artists worked on different issues, so it has an inconsistent feel. The work of Szymon Kudranski on issue #15 is excellent.
4354057
Heinberg and Cheung create another great Young Avengers story.  The story focuses on the children of the Scarlet Witch and current Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed on the search for their mother the Scarlet Witch.  This course of action brings them in direct conflict with the X-Men and Avengers, and eventually Dr. Doom.

The art is spectacular, almost worth buying the whole TPB just for that!
1242648
When the powers of a God meets the swiftness of a mortal, you can get this tale. This is truly a great showing of the various team-ups between The Mighty Thor and the Amazing Spider-man.

Three are set in the past featuring writers from J.M. Demattis and Tom Defalco and artist of Herb Trimpe and Ron Frenz  respectively. Two are set in the modern days, as one of them is from the previous Marvel Adventures Spider-man series. Still, it is an enjoyable buy for fans of both heroes as it features them battling the likes of the Enchantress, Asgardian Trolls, and even the Valkryie of the Defenders fame.

If you enjoy some good team-ups tales like I do and/or like both of these heroes like I do, then you may enjoy this digest.
1241760
Very good reading! Hulk takes his revenge on the 4 who wronged him...sadly many other heros get caught in his wake. The battles are very entertaining, especially when Hulk makes his own arena in New York. I highly recommend this title.
2060540
I have to say, when I initially heard that Brian Michael Bendis was writing the X-Men I was excited, especially when I found out he was bringing back one of my all time favorite characters: Jean Grey. Then I heard he was bringing back the original X-Men, and setting them in the future. My excitement decreased, after learning about the time travel story line. But, after reading the first issue I must say Bendis has been the most solid writer on the X-Men books since Claremont, and Lobdell mixing emotional undertones with action. I am only sorry that his run ended so shortly. Bendis is known for having lengthy runs on his comics. That's why this issue does feel a little rushed to me, because I believe his run would have lasted longer if not for the internal workings at Marvel trying to downgrade any book that is not a Disney property. But I digress, earlier I mentioned Jean Grey as one of my favorite characters, and Bendis revealed something about the previous iteration of Jean that I never paid attention to, her character was one dimensional, as was Cyclops. Bendis was able to bring Jean (His favorite character) to her teen bitchie glory making her a multilayered, extremely powerful individual. It's the way she should have always been portrayed. Issue 600 ends with sub sub plot that you have to go back and read through to pick up all the subtle nuances, regarding one of the original members of the X-Men. All and all I will really miss Brian's writing of these characters, with extraordinary powers, showing their weakness through their humanity. :)
3614739
Another great addition to the Superior Spider-man collection. Dr. Octavious gets in over his head when, in the promise of greater power he dons the symbiot as spider-man once again.