Uncanny X-Men #19 is the perfect epilogue to Avengers vs. X-Men #12, which also came out this week. Without this issue, Cyclops's character journey wouldn't truly feel complete, and for the first time in years, it feels like the Marvel Universe has been changed by the annual big event.
Kieron Gillen manages to express being an evil god really well in his writing of the issue. It scares me a little. His brief synopsis of Scott's life is also excellently executed ("I'm fighting a man with claws."). And the ending was the best part of it all. Scott Summers killed Professor X. And countless others. He's a war criminal. But he'd do it all over again. As far as he's concerned, he won.
Eaglesham nails it for art too. I love the way he depicts Beast best, but everything in the issue is spot on perfect, from the wide scale destruction to the memories of tender moments. All around, just a great issue, and probably the most essential AVX tie-in out there.
Other highlights from this week -
Action Comics #13 by Grant Morrison and Travel Foreman - I love Krypto. That's all that needs to be said. Favourite issue of the series so far.
Amazing Spider-Man #695 by Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli - Oh man. If Uncanny hadn't been so good, this might have been the best comic this week. Norman Osborn's secret files. Peter being revealed as Spider-Man's scientific assistant, making it even easier for people to figure out his secret ID. Madam Web's vision of the future. And a great cliffhanger ending. Only 5 issues left to the end of the series.
Avengers vs. X-Men #12 by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert - This was the best possible ending I could have imagined. Can't wait to see what comes next. Hopefully it lasts longer than when Dark Reign came out of Secret Invasion.
AVX: Vs. #6 by lots of people - Hope vs. Scarlet Witch was great, mostly for the way it ended. The rest of the shorts were pretty enjoyable too. My favourites were the scientist war by the Immonens, Toad vs Jarvis, Spider-Woman vs X-Women, and Squirrel Girl vs Pixie.
Daredevil: End of Days #1 by Bendis, Mack, Sienkiewicz, and Janson - The first issue was good, and I'm really curious to see what they do with seven more, but I think this might be a series that will be better if read all at once. But I love Daredevil enough that I might not be able to wait.
Defenders #11 by Fraction and Pierfederici - I was disappointed not to see McKelvie's name in the credits, but Pierfederici really blew me away. The story's coming to a close nicely. The origin of John Aman was cool. Namor was badass. And Silver Surfer kissed Red She-Hulk.
Green Lantern #13 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke - I'm more interested in Simon Baz's personal story than the Rise of the Third Army main arc. Baz vs the Justice League next issue should be pretty cool.
Minimum Carnage: Alpha by Bunn, Yost, and Medina - I'm not much of a Carnage fan, but I like what Bunn's doing with Venom and the new Scarlet Spider. This story looks interesting so far, more to see the tension between Venom and Scarlet Spider than to see Carnage on another rampage, although the addition of the Microverse could make that interesting too.
Stormwatch #13 by Peter Milligan and Will Conrad - Midnighter takes Apollo out for the night. His idea of a date? Figuring out why one neighborhood breeds more serial killers and horrific crimes than any other in the area. The answer? The rise of the Demon. Awesome. Looking forward to this story.
World's Finest #5 by Levitz, Perez, Ordway, and Craig - I love that Power Girl's new costume is more conservative, and yet it keeps getting destroyed and leaving her half naked. I love even more that they acknowledged that in the book. This is just a great series.
News and stuff -
More teasers from Marvel. "Savage" by Frank Cho could be a lot of things. I'm betting on Wolverine, but also hoping I'm wrong. "Amateurs" by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie is going to be amazing no matter what it is, but it looks like it'll be a Young Avengers relaunch with Kid Loki and Miss America, and probably more. The last one, "Superior" by Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, and Giuseppe Camuncoli is obviously the new Spider-Man series. But why "Superior?"
New Previews catalogs came out this week too. Thoughts:
- The Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre statue from DC Direct is one of the most gorgeous things in there.
- The individual New 52 Superman action figure will have a unique head sculpt to separate it from the one in the full team set.
- More baby variants! Can't wait to see the Thunderbolts and Avengers Arena ones!
- And lastly, and the only negative thing this week, one of the Amazing Spider-Man #700 variant covers (the Quesada one) is a rarity of 1 in 700. That is ridiculous, and I don't think it will actually help orders at all. Stores would have to order $5600 worth of the regular cover just to get one of these. I'm an avid collector - single issues, variant covers, signed copies, CGC graded copies, hardcover collections, toys, statues, etc. But I won't even consider buying a single variant that rare. The 1:200 is already pre-ordering for $325 on eBay. I don't expect to see this one available for less than $1000 a copy. As I said before, ridiculous.
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