Deadpool Team-Up #899 - Deadpool and Hercules try to find their way out of a deathtrap created by the combined expertise of Arcade and Nightmare, which forces them to face their, um fears, I guess. Deadpool triumphs by being Deadpool, by which I mean, crazy, and Hercules succeeds by punching things. Then they celebrate their victory in an appropriate manner.It was about what I'd expect from a team-up book where the story concludes in a single issue. Van Lente does a pretty good job explaining some aspects of our heroes, and why these particular villains are teamed up. it's a little info dumpy, but it might not seem so if I were less familiar with the characters. Dalibor Talajic's on the pencils, and it is good. Deadpool's foe is suitably freaky looking, the action flows well from one panel to the next, and he keeps track of the details, such as the thread from Deadpool's pants they used as their bread crumbs. It's not gonna be my favorite Arcade appearance, but it's thoroughly OK.
GrimJack: Manx Cat #4 - GrimJack's astral form has traveled back in time and finds St. John of Knives, fighting demons. He hops into his body, and we see that St. John is a Priest Fra Benjamin Marsh during the day, along with his sidekick partner Fra Hugh Pentacost. They meet with a wizard who warns them of the coming of Mannachs, an agent of the Chaotic Gods who'll be trying to enter the universe through Cynosure. Our heroes have to stop this, but are going to need help from the Lord Protector, who just so happens to want to capture (or kill) their costumed alter-egos. So, set-up, but pretty soon John of Knives is face to face with Mannachs. Uh-oh.Throughout the issue I'm unclear on how much control Gaunt can exert over John. At times he seems to be running the show, like when he lets Pentacost lead the way home because he doesn't know it, but at other times he seems to be in the background, observing Marsh's actions and thoughts. He says marsh is sort of aware of his presence, but why does Marsh not tell anyone then? Not the Lord Protector, but why not Maethe (the Wizard), or Pentacost? They fight demons, so surely possession wouldn't be that absurd to them? Tim Truman's art is nice as usual. I like the designs for the Battle Cherubs (yes, Battle Cherubs), and for John of Knives. Kind of Ragman with Swords.
Immortal Weapons #4 - It's Tiger's Beautiful Daughter's turn in the spotlight. In her village, the women are pampered, and the men go to fight, but she'd much rather fight. She loves her father's stories of his battles, and longs to be taking part in them, as opposed to waiting on the menfolk, and dealing with their advances. Well, she gets her chance when the truth about their home comes out, and she sets things right, swiftly. Meanwhile, in the backup story, Danny and Jada have found Jarel, but it might be too late to save him.I'm kind of disappointed that the men in Tiger's Beautiful Daughter's home are totally worthless. They don't even really try to pick up the slack for the ladies, only to find themselves not up to the task. Maybe they had good intentions, but they could have exerted a little more effort. Khari Evans' is the penciler for the main story, and the style is sort of sparse, thin lines, not too many, and it works, the backgrounds aren't lushly rendered, but the primary characters in the panels are well done, and there are some fantastic facial expressions (her pouting expression when he father keeps delaying telling her about his most recent battles). Hatuey Diaz draws the back-up, and I prefer the art to Travel Foreman's, but Diaz's Danny seems kind of ugly, honestly, short and scruffy, which bothers me for some reason.
X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 - Man, I hate that cover. There's no life to it. Namora looks more like she's draped around Colossus in a friendly manner, rather than applying a choke hold. There's no sense that it's a fight, that she's exerting any pressure at all. Adi Granov is not one of my favorite artists. Must be popular with some people, though.Fight scene in the Atlas organization's headquarters! Wolverine gets buried under a statue (though shouldn't headbutting him have hurt Gorilla Man more than Logan? Only one of them's got a metal-coated skull)! Namora gets frozen in ice! Xavier is in a hospital bed for some reason! Then people start passing out and that weird flashback/thing from the end of #1 intrudes on the story, and we learn why details didn't match-up, and what's happening. Then Namor shows up, and of all people, acts as the voice of reason. I know, crazy times we live in. Explanations are finally provided, the X-Men lot Bob use Cerebra, they find Venus, and rescue her. For now.
Was Parker referencing one of his X-Men First Class stories? Gorilla Man talked about the X-Men showing up a long time ago in the jungle, looking for Xavier, and that sounds familiar. Either way, the story's purpose seems to be bringing the Atlas Foundation more directly into conflict with the Olympus Group, or whatever it's called, which I think Hercules is going to be fighting, and Agents of Atlas is a back-up strip in that book now, so getting them on similar tracks probably isn't a bad idea, but, sigh, I don't know. I can't decide whether I wanted more fighting between the teams (really have some brawling), or less (the Agents ask directly, then team up with some X-Men to rescue Venus). A good compromise leaves everyone unhappy.
Tomorrow, cosmic books! Will I cry out in anguish about last month's Guardians of the Galaxy?!
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