Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar #1 - I get the distinct feeling that Phyla wasn't real close to her family. She didn't know her dad, her mother appears to be a domineering [expletive deleted], and she apparently ridiculed her brother for his attempts to carry Mar-vell's legacy at some point. Good thing she has her girlfriend.This issue, Quasar and Moondragon take a breather from looking for the savior Phyla was told about by visiting another temple for the Priests of Pama. Moondragon's been having telepathy related headaches, and Phyla's worried about her. It winds up being more of a useful stop for Phyla, as she a) is able to get a better sense of where to look for the "savior", and b) finds out two potentially troubling things about the quantum bands. I'm actually surprised that the second of those 'troubling things' was revealed this issue. It's the sort of thing I'd expect to get teased out until #3, when the hero finds out about it at the worst possible moment. Should be interesting to see how Gage uses it from here out.
What's most interesting to me about the story is the insecurity that Phyla carries. Nothing she did was ever good enough for her mother, who appeared to be grooming her to be Captain Marvel, and so Phyla worries about failing her father's legacy ('cause she still don't know he's living again), and about her ability to use the bands properly leading to her failing the Quasar legacy, and about her letting down Moondragon, and so on. The trick is, she isn't doing as badly as she perceives; she's actually doing well for the circumstances, and it'll be interesting to see if she starts to recognize that, or if she has to constantly fight her own doubts. I really enjoyed this, so 5 out of 5.
Ultimate Spider-Man #111 - Mark Bagley's final issue. I may just have to declare tomorrow a day of mourning. In what is a microcosm of Bagley's time on Ultimate Spider-Man, he gets to draw nothing but scenes of Peter and Aunt May discussing Peter being Spider-Man, while Immonen gets to do the battle with Ultimate Spot (buh-buh-bummmmm!). But, as usual, Bagley does a good job of conveying the emotions of the people involved, whether it's humor, or grief, or shock, or concern, or whatever. I guess if nothing else, Ultimate Spider-Man has given Mark Bagley plenty of practice on facial expressions.Now about Immonen, my only issue was that the panels on page 16 seemed out of order. The fighting seemed disjointed at that stage, things not proceeding logically from one panel to the next. Hmm, maybe Ultimate Spot can warp time as well as space? Or maybe Immonen was taking a snapshot approach, to give us a feel for the battle, not necessarily mapping the whole thing out. I'd prefer the mapping out approach if given the option, but it wasn't bad, and his Jonah is amusingly angry looking, in a much more cartoony way than Bagley's (based off two panels with JJJ in them, at the bottom of page 12).
Beyond that, the issue is Peter explaining how he got his powers, who else knows, how Aunt May can't tell other people, the whole Osborn connection, etc. It's very much like the talk between Pete and Aunt May in JMS' Amazing Spider-Man. May has to adjust to suddenly understanding all that weird crap that goes on around her. The only other thing that might be of note is Peter noting the really sudden appearence of all these super-types, that weren't there a year or two previously. What's up with that? I'd imagine we're going to have to read that "Ultimate Secret" thing I've heard about to find out, so I'll pass.
Besides, Nick Fury was obviously behind the whole thing. He always is, and he's currently hoarding the Gwen Clone and Peter/Scorpion Clone. It's an interesting point to raise, but not enough to bring the grade for the issue above 3.2 out of 5. Sorry, Mr. Bagley, it wasn't your fault.
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