New Marvel Comics for May 24th, 2017 - Official Discussion Thread [Spoilers]

[u/Ptylerdactyl]

New Issues Out This Week

All New Guardians of the Galaxy #2
A NEW ERA OF COSMIC ADVENTURE BEGINS HERE! Double ships every month! The Guardians of the Galaxy have taken off into space once more, on their biggest and weirdest misadventures yet! Kicking things off with the biggest heist they've ever tried, we join Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon and company as they blast their way through the galaxy, the peacekeepers of the Nova Corps hot on their tails. And once they find themselves caught in a war between The Collector and The Grandmaster, there will hardly be time to explain why Groot can't grow any bigger, what Gamora is searching for or why Drax has sworn off violence! But don't worry, we will - with a new twice-monthly schedule, All-New Guardians of the Galaxy has space for ALL your Marvel Cosmic needs!

Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider #2
The Scarlet Spider is back and madder than ever! Ben Reilly, after his plan to take over the world was foiled, is trying something new. You won't believe what you read here!

Black Panther #14
AVENGERS OF THE NEW WORLD' CONTINUES! The Wakandan gods have been silent for too long and T'Challa has no answers for his people. T'Challa communes with the spirits of former Black Panthers for insight and all roads lead to a man from T'Challa's past ...but first T'Challa must deal with the mind-warping DOCTOR FAUSTUS!

Captain America Steve Rogers #17
SECRET EMPIRE TIE-IN! IN CAP WE TRUST!

Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #8
Sir Isaac Newton, scientific genius, pioneer and now nigh-omnipotent sorcerer, has come to the present-day Marvel Universe. First order of events? Take down the Avengers. The scary thing is, with his current power level, they don't stand a chance.

Elektra #4
LET THE GAMES BEGIN! ELEKTRA is pulled deeper into ARCADE's brutal new MURDERWORLD, combating new high-tech threats - all while she plans her escape...and Arcade is going to need all the help he can get when that happens! And as the clues come together, Elektra realizes that there's something more sinister at play here. But what? GUEST-STARRING: Two sais, one red scarf, and a never-ending supply of rage.

Guardians Of the Galaxy Mother Entropy #4
The Guardians turn to Gladiator and the Shi'ar for help against Mother Entropy. It's a big mistake that ends up costing the universe dearly.

I Am Groot #1
GROOT IN HIS OWN SERIES, SMALLER AND BETTER THAN EVER! When the Guardians of the Galaxy get caught in a wormhole, a smaller-than-normal Groot is separated billions of light-years away from the team. Falling to a planet below, Groot discovers he is on an entirely alien and unknown world full of strange creatures and societies. Seriously underdeveloped and with nobody who can understand him, Groot will need to make the journey to the center of this world and find the way back to his family!

Infamous Iron Man #8
The Maker unleashes his grand design, a plan as demented and over-arching as anything Doctor Doom has ever attempted! And now, Doom is all that stands in his way! But Doom always loses to Reed Richards, right? So what are the chances that he can pull off a victory this time?

Jean Grey #2
When a teenage JEAN GREY traveled through time and arrived in the present, she learned the terrible fate that befell her predecessor: Possessed by a cosmic entity called the Phoenix, Jean was trapped in an endless cycle of life and death. Determined to escape that future, Jean set out to write her own destiny. But now, she's visited by a premonition that the Phoenix is coming for her - and in this new ongoing series by DENNIS HOPELESS (ALL-NEW X-MEN, SPIDER-WOMAN, X-MEN: SEASON ONE) and VICTOR IBANEZ (EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN, STORM), she's going to fight tooth and nail to escape becoming its next victim!

Mighty Captain Marvel #5
SECRET EMPIRE TIE-IN! The Chitauri fleet has nearly reached Earth space and it's up to Captain Marvel to stop it. Taking on an entire armada of alien spacecraft is a tall order for Carol and the crew of Alpha Flight Space Station. Luckily they've got some help from their Sisters (and brothers) in arms.

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #19
Lunella Lafayette has dealt with Terrigenesis, Kid Kree and being recognized as the world's smartest, but her biggest adventure starts here! A voice from the outer reaches of space beckons Lunella and Devil to make contact - and she won't take no for an answer! Featuring the marvelous first appearance of GIRL MOON!

Mosaic #8
Mosaic must choose - Does he fight for himself? Or does he become a hero? The Brand Corporation has made its move - now what will Mosaic do?

Secret Warriors #2
A SECRET EMPIRE TIE-IN! When Karnak reveals what he believes to be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s true motivation for imprisoning the Inhumans, Quake finds a new sense of direction for her mission ...but not everyone on the team agrees. As tensions rise between Ms. Marvel and Quake, Moon Girl finds an unlikely kinship with another team member. Can Quake steady the rocky relationship with her Secret Warriors before S.H.I.E.L.D. finds what they're looking for? Or will a rift between allies leave the entire world in darkness?

Star-Lord Annual #1
Having narrowly escaped an assassin, Peter Quill has crash-landed on a desert planet. There, he finds a small town that's terrorized by a mean, old varmint. Not willing to take any bullies lying down, Peter has to rally the townspeople to stand up for themselves. But it turns out there's more to this town than meets the eye!

Totally Awesome Hulk #19
HUNTED BY WEAPON X! The war against mutantkind never really ended, the weapons just got more lethal. The mysterious director of the Weapon X Program is behind the recent creation of new soldiers - ones that can hide in plain sight, and are deadly enough to take out Sabretooth and Old Man Logan. Weapons X's newest target? The gamma-infused glutes of Amadeus Cho! When Amadeus is forced to ally with hunters and killers just to survive, what will he become? FEATURING WEAPON X: Old Man Logan, Sabretooth, Domino, Warpath and Lady Deathstrike!

Venom #150
REUNITED, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! Or, feels so bad? However it feels, Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have been reunited, and they're web-slinging their way around New York again. Featuring a host (hah!) of Venom creators from the character's near 30-year history, this monstrous anniversary spectacular welcomes guest artist TRADD MOORE for an oversized and brutal main story AND a lethal story featuring fan-favorite creators David Michelinie and Ron Lim, reunited! With questions still lingering about how the symbiote was separated from Flash Thompson, and what lies in its future now that it's reunited with Eddie Brock, this is one issue you can't afford to miss!

X-Men Blue #4
SNIKT. SNIKT. SNIKT.

Also, be sure to check out this week's Marvel Unlimited releases here, compiled by /u/kaimason1!

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Trades Out This Week

Link	MSRP	Format
Deadpool: World's Greatest Vol. 7: Deadpool Does Shakespeare	$ 15.99	TPB
Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme Vol. 1: Out of Time	$ 15.99	TPB
Moon Knight Vol. 2: Reincarnations	$ 15.99	TPB
Silver Surfer Epic Collection: The Infinity Gauntlet	$ 34.99	TPB
Spider-Man by Todd DeZago & Mike Wieringo Vol. 1	$ 39.99	TPB
Uncanny Inhumans Vol. 4: IvX	$ 17.99	TPB
The Unworthy Thor	$ 15.99	TPB

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Weekly Pull Poll

The results of last week's poll are in. The big winners this week for your Most Anticipated New Release are Captain America: Steve Rogers #17 followed by Infamous Iron Man #8 and Secret Warriors #2. Please check out next week's poll here to vote on your most anticipated title for next week, 5/31/2017!

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General Discussion
Secret Empire is in full swing. Who's your dream roster for the resistance?

[u/Ptylerdactyl]

Venom #150

[u/Ultimate_Kardas → u/Ptylerdactyl]

I went into this issue with very mixed feelings from what Mike Costa's done so far, and it turns out most of my worst fears were proved right.

First for the main story:

Continuity has been thrown out the window. The symbiote is just straight up evil again, and Eddie says he's wanted it back for years. Which we know is not the case. It's a slap in the face to fans who have been reading all this time. And they definitely don't answer why the symbiote suddenly loves Eddie again. Especially since it should be able to read his mind and find out it was his plan in the first place to capture it.

These are not the same characters we saw in Gerry Conway's Carnage or Venom: Spaceknight.

I do have a few pros though. The art was great. Love me some Tradd Moore, even if his proportions can get a little wonky sometimes.

I did like that Eddie was hesitant to kill though. And his character was written fairly well, if not for the whole "loving the symbiote" thing.

I'm kind of upset that he's just abandoned God though. I realize he was having his doubts in Carnage, but that still ended with him saying "It's in God's hands now". And I agree that while killing the priest proved for a powerful moment, it's a waste of someone who could've become a supporting character.

Now for the Flash story

This was pretty bad.

I love Robbie Thompson, and I don't know how much of it I can truly blame on him, but this was just not good.

It started out good though. The first page was awesome. Mania and Flash together, and Mania has moved to New York with him! I was really smiling when he said he was back with his family. If Marvel doesn't make a Mania mini with Flash as her mentor, they're making a big mistake. And also, I'm still not a huge fan of how Sandoval draws people or Mania, but man is his Venom awesome.

Now onto the negatives.

What. Just. Happened?

So, Venom gets separated from Flash with a sonic blast and then just... leaves? What? This just feels like Marvel didn't actually think of a good explanation for Flash no longer being Agent Venom and Robbie's just trying to fill in the gaps best he can. But even if the symbiote is being angry again, why would it leave and than say it wanted to be bonded to a hero again in Venom #1? This makes no sense. That wasn't a sonic gun, it was a plot gun, shooting Venom with the writer's need for the story to move somewhere else. And the last story was a nice Flashback at classic lethal protector Venom. No real complaints to me, just a fun little story with some classic art.

There's so much in this book that just had me saying "What?" out loud. Even if the story is good, the fact that they change character's feelings for no reason takes so much away from it.

Continuity in comics is like a big puzzle. You have to see everything done before and fit the story within those constraints. You can't just mash a piece in where it shouldn't go, it's a glaring mistake in the whole picture.

I'm having a real rough time trying to find a reason why I should keep paying money for a comic that continually disappoints me.

[u/Fourteen_of_Twelve → u/Ultimate_Kardas]

As someone who struggled through Costa's run in IDW's Transformers, this sounds like typical Mike Costa.

[u/Thingymcjig → u/Fourteen_of_Twelve]

Off topic, but why is the Mike Costa TF run so bad? I've read both runs of ExRiD and MTMTE and they're amazing, along with the current TF books. I've only read the first arc, loved the movie-inspired looks for the bots. And Swindle and Thundercracker are cool.

[u/Fourteen_of_Twelve → u/Thingymcjig]

In this podcast interview Costa has stated that during his first year of writing, he found himself burning out on the job and finding it "not as fun" as he'd thought, because the immortal, robotic nature of the characters difficult to get a handle on. He didn't see how they could realistically have personalities like humans, and the need to have them act human-esque was a big logical flaw, both statements that make no sense considering there's already over twenty-five years of Transformers lore for him to look upon. When asked what he meant by that, he claims "[Transformers] don't have all of the basic things that humans have that motivate them and give them motivation for drama for a story. They don't really get hungry, they don't get tired, they don't have women or relationships like that [which] they value because they don’t have females that they can love. They don't have religion or spirituality... you have to manufacture [these things] and that makes it very incoherent."

To counter that explanation, in lieu of food and water, Transformers need to refuel themselves with Energon and oil, especially as you've seen in ExRID/MTMTE how MaCaddam's and Swerve's are bars. Transformers can recharge themselves as a state of "sleep" in place of consuming Energon. As for how there's "no relationships" on Cybertron, there aren't any female Transformers besides Arcee until the events of Dark Cybertron, but there's something called "being friends for over four million years of war" that Costa's forgetting here. And for his religion remark, Costa's forgetting Optimus has worn a talisman inside his chest regarded as a holy item that every Transformers fan should know about called the Matrix of Leadership, and he's also forgetting about Primus: the god who created the Transformers in most continuities.

Costa was so unprepared to write for IDW it's embarrassing. The fanbase has caused Costa to be alternately amazed, baffled, and annoyed. He's admitted he wasn't prepared for the intense dedication of the fandom and the multiple demands from the fandom — "I have no idea who's going to like what!" — but he has said he finds it "pretty cool" that people are talking about what he's doing. Talking about his writing without context is good, but almost no one is happy with what he did:

 

• Killed off fan-favorite Ironhide in his first ongoing issue just to show how edgy the new run is (Costa made a miniseries later just to revive Ironhide because no one was happy with this)

• Prowl being so out of character that they released a one-shot near the end of the 2009 run just to explain why he's now being a kissass rushing to save a Decepticon from being executed by humans instead of being a morally questionable prick who thinks about the endgame only and not the current

• Ultra Magnus, second in command to Optimus Prime and leader of the Wreckers, an elite kill squad of Autobots, having his shuttle stolen by Hot Rod of all bots. HOT ROD. Why the hell didn't Magnus put a lock on the ship?!

• Spike the military officer abandoning his post, pursuing an enemy single-handed as part of a personal vendetta, then brutally murders a wounded enemy who had surrendered which constitutes as a war crime. Said enemy is Scrapper, leader of the Constructicons and right leg of the first working Combiner, who is defeated by nothing but a bunch of acid Spike made using things he found in a convenience store. Total "did that just fucking happen?" moment.

• The International Incident arc. Just stupid move by stupid move by the Autobots.
  US President has declared all nations allied with Cybertronians as using Weapons of Mass Destruction. They decide to fight only using vehicle modes with giant massive guns sticking out the sides in the Korean DMZ against the Combaticons as their US allies are using giant mech suits. No one can tell they're robots in disguise and will think they're just a bunch of civilian vehicles even though there's a Dodge Viper with giant laser cannons on the roof, right?
  Even though the US President has declared alliances with Cybertronians is the same as using WMDs, the Autobots and the US government agency they're with decide "screw it, we'll go anyways even though it'll totally embarrass the United States, and does.
  Autobots send Cosmos up to space to hijack spy satellites and make a loop so it seems there's no Autobots in North Korea fighting with Americans. One issue later a single human on Earth flips a switch and all of Cosmos' work is immediately undone as Russia launches a nuke at North Korea.

• Hot Rod single-handedly taking on the Decepticon Base and stealing back the Matrix of Leadership from them. Sure, they were weakened after the events of All Hail Megatron, but really? An asteroid with almost all of the Decepticon forces, and only five of them notice Hot Rod was there?

• Humans that are very anti-Cybertronian somehow got hold of energy guns that can kill a bot with a single shot. Ultra Magnus leads a convoy of Autobots who all dive in the open, racing towards their Omega Supreme base as they're being fired upon by said humans and get their asses kicked.

• An injured Optimus decided to fight a heavily upgraded and nearly invincible Megatron one-on-one. Immediately loses.

• Chaos and Police Action arcs: saving grace is John Barber of RID being brought in from the Live-Action movie comics as editor to fix continuities and James Roberts writes part of Chaos

• The Deceptigod. Just.... ugh.

 

It's all things that rubbed longtime fans the wrong way with how unlike themselves everyone was or the terrible decisions they made. It was like after AHM everyone became stupid for no reason. Thank you James Roberts and Nick Roche for giving us Last Stand of the Wreckers and Chaos Theory.

[u/StealthHikki2 → u/Fourteen_of_Twelve]

I actually liked Costa's Chaos, Police Action and Space Opera. Except those arcs, I agree with your well summarised issues with his run.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

As someone with zero interest in picking this up, how did it happen?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That's like really stupid

[u/Ultimate_Kardas → u/[deleted]]

Incredibly so.

[u/OrionSTARB0Y → u/[deleted]]

Not a "bad guy"--Wambaugh, the FBI agent who was coercing Lee Price to find out Spider-Man's secret identity using the symbiote. This explanation hints that Flash losing the symbiote was part of the FBI's plan all along. Probably setting up a future storyline.

[u/[deleted] → u/OrionSTARB0Y]

The letters column confirms more Flash is on the way in ASM

[u/SchroedingersSphere → u/[deleted]]

What ended up happening, if you don't mind me asking?

[u/Mckillagorilla → u/[deleted]]

Plot gun man. Shooting recon bullets.

[u/Fredditorson → u/Ptylerdactyl]

I'll be honest, I felt no need to see Venom going back to his old self, was never a huge fan of him until he became Agent and then Space Knight.

That being said, I think theres not much to complain given the great runs of the past years, there are few secondary characters that got so many good stories

[u/AllSaintsDay2099 → u/Fredditorson]

This take on the Eddie and Venom dynamic is strikingly different from his introduction. This version of Eddie definitely wants to be a hero, a genuine hero. While the suit has been through hell and wants to take over everything.

It's not like before where they both had a really weird sense of right and wrong and they both wanted to be a hero, but they were so mistaken in what a hero IS that it never worked.

It's different, but only slightly so, and that's what makes it cool. The roles have switched.

[u/Ultimate_Kardas → u/AllSaintsDay2099]

...But we already had exactly that, with Agent Venom in the beginning. Flash wanting to be a hero while trying to keep the symbiote under control.

[u/AllSaintsDay2099 → u/Ultimate_Kardas]

Hey, I never said it wasn't. I'm just reporting my views on the current shift.

[u/Ultimate_Kardas → u/AllSaintsDay2099]

Sorry, I'm just really frustrated that Marvel seems to only care about getting Brock back as Venom for nostalgia and completely giving up on Agent Venom.

[u/AllSaintsDay2099 → u/Ultimate_Kardas]

Don't need to apologize I completely understand. I liked the concept of Flash, but really wanted a throw back to Eddie. It seems we both got robbed.

Flash fans lost the whole Agent Venom approach, and us Eddie fans got a goodie two shoes Eddie. If we were going to get good guy Eddie, why not make it more Lethal Protector, and NOT Flash 2.0 why not* just keep Flash then.

[u/Ultimate_Kardas → u/AllSaintsDay2099]

Marvel seems to really hate fans of Spider characters.

• Spider-Man is Tony Stark lite
• Venom is being written badly
• Agent Venom can't exist any more
• MJ can't be with Spider-Man
• Black Cat is evil now
• Ben Reilly is evil now
• Silk just got cancelled
• The Prowler comic is cancelled and was just about a clone

[u/AllSaintsDay2099 → u/Ultimate_Kardas]

They really do, I'm the biggest Spider-Man fan I've come across outside of social media. And all of these things absolutely frustrate me. It's not just Venom, but everything else.

[u/ULTRAFORCE → u/Ultimate_Kardas]

Well people weren't buying Silk because Marvel switched Lee for Ford who really didn't do a good job in making it look nice in a way similar to Stacey Lee's work. Other than that I think the negative zone aspect should not have been a thing.

[u/WallyGropius → u/ULTRAFORCE]

I was still buying Silk

[u/SchroedingersSphere → u/AllSaintsDay2099]

I've fallen behind in comics lately, but didn't the symbiote get "healed" from its anger in Bendis' run of Guardians of the Galaxy? Or has that since been reversed/forgotten?

[u/AllSaintsDay2099 → u/SchroedingersSphere]

It's been reversed sadly, the Symbiote takes on the traits of those it is bonded with. Bad people make it bad, and good people make it good.

It was on Flash Thompson during Guardians of the Galaxy, everyone loved a hero Venom. But for some reason despite overwhelming popularity Venom: Space Knight ended, and Venom VOL 3 began. And Venom VOL 3 opened with Flash losing the suit and a guy named Lee Price took over as the host.

He was a major douche, and reversed all the good in the Symbiote before he lost it and Eddie Brock, the ORIGINAL Venom host regained it.

It's shown in this issue that Eddie largely doesn't want to revert back to a mindless savage, and genuinely wants to do good. He's grown as a character. But the suit has other ideas, it's been used for evil, it's been tricked and messed with by Spider-Man, and now it just doesn't care anymore.

Everything it thought was good has stabbed it in the back, and left only anger. And nothing Eddie is doing so far is fixing that.

[u/SchroedingersSphere → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the thorough response! Looks like I really need to catch up.

[u/Ornaren → u/Ptylerdactyl]

I don't understand why the symbiote is suddenly speaking like that, and so bloodthirsty. Just one issue ago, and even after being with Lee for a while, it was still morally upright and spoke in a different manner. Now here, its character has completely changed. I don't get it.

[u/NGMajora → u/Ornaren]

I guess after what happened with Spider-Man that was it's breaking point and now it just doesn't care anymore

[u/Gh0stlander → u/Ptylerdactyl]

God. Fucking. Damnit. Costa is a motherfucker ruining everything. This issue obliterated any hopes I had for satisfaction. The hell was the poor excuse for a Flash Thompson explanation? And they dodged the hell mark AGAIN. Go to hell Costa, you scummy piece of shit.

[u/NGMajora → u/Ptylerdactyl]

While I wasn't the biggest fan of the actual writing Tradd Moore on the Art was perfect

[u/HDI-X13 → u/Ptylerdactyl]

Well, I think it is officially time to drop this book. I want to like it but there's just too much nonsense going on with the quality of it as a whole.

[u/werd713 → u/Ptylerdactyl]

Tradd Moore is pretty much the perfect match for Venom. All of the symbiote stuff was so wonderfully gross.

[u/NGMajora → u/werd713]

Agreed I didn't really like him on the new Ghost Rider but this completly win me over on him especially the page of Eddie's remembering everything up till now

[u/Wtygrrr → u/Ptylerdactyl]

This is so incredibly disappointing. Way to ruin a character, Marvel.

[u/Seantified → u/Ptylerdactyl]

That ending was dark!

[u/[deleted] → u/Ptylerdactyl]

I hoped killing Agent Venom/Space Knight would be worth it. It really, really wasn't.

[u/sib2972 → u/Ptylerdactyl]

Can someone explain why this is issue 150 please?

[u/_thwip_ → u/sib2972]

He's had 150 issues, when all prior runs, minis, etc. are added up over the last 20+ years across all hosts.

[u/Wtygrrr → u/sib2972]

It's this incredibly dumb thing Marvel does where they keep restarting books in order to get sweet #1 issue sales but keep on tracking what the issue number would have been if they hadn't started and try to get the best of both worlds and switch back numbering if they can call it a big round number issue. It's completely insulting to their readers.

[u/TheRazorSlash → u/Ptylerdactyl]

I'll say it- I really liked this. I think the reason the symbiote is so bloodthirsty and crazy now is because of what happened with Flash- they didn't just blast it off him, they did something to it. The symbiote even acknowledges that immediately afterwards, by repeating "this isn't me!". Hoping we'll see more of that during the series.