Comic book day!

I managed to get my comics and read them in between all the packing for the trip to Las Vegas tomorrow! Go me! Anyway, here are my thoughts, I'd love to hear yours.

Iron Man #7 - *sigh* This issue was entertaining, but not for the reasons it should have been. Is it really too much to ask for this comic to actually be good, not just bad-good? Space gladiator Tony fighting aliens in hand-to-hand combat is not really what I signed up for. Also there was too much exposition with 451 and of course Land is still doing the art, which is never a good thing. Although, I do find the fact that Tony was deemed innocent of "hubris in the first degree" highly entertaining because if there was ever a crime Tony was guilty of, that is it.

A + X #5 - I picked this up for the Loki story by Gillen, but also because Iron Fist was on the cover and who can resist that? Anyway, the Iron Fist - Doop story made no sense to me, but I enjoyed the Loki one. Imagine if Doom had created a clone of Loki? That would be fun times for the Marvel U.

Red She-Hulk #63 - This is the best comic that I don't think anyone is actually reading. The characters are fun and there is a lovely wry humor to it all. Machine Man has fast become a character that I love and I am starting to seriously ship him with Betty. There is just something really perfect about his wry, robotic calm and her fiery Hulkness. They make a really excellent team. A few thoughts on this particular issue: I loved the talk show recapping all the known Hulks. I'm also glad that Bruce has been brought up now. So what are the chances that he figures out what's going on? I mean Maria was acting shady as hell trying to keep him from figuring out that Betty was SHIELD's current target. Then there are all the villain's I'm more used to seeing in the F4 coming out of the woodwork this week, including the Mole Man and the Mad Thinker. It should make for an interesting next issue.

All New X-Men #8 - This was a fabulous issue. We got a much closer look at Warren and how he is adjusting--or not--to this new time period. We also got a hilarious scene of Kitty and Bobby mocking Cap and Beast. So the Avengers now know what is going on, and young!Scott maturely confronted Cap and told him that he knows they've been disagreeing a lot (referring to old!Scott) but he is trying to change things. He got a "nicely done" from Wolverine out of it! The end of the book was scary though, with Warren having a well deserved freak out about who he eventually becomes and Jean just mind controlling him into happiness. It was horrifying to me at least, and probably to most of the characters who were staring at her jaws dropped on the last page. BTW, the time travel makes this comic confusing to discuss, duplicate characters and a mess of tenses make my tired head hurt.

Avengers #7 - This was mostly a set up issue and interesting enough for what it was. After having read Hickman's F4 run I know to expect a fair number of set up issues that seem out of place or confusing or even boring over the course of the first year or so of the title. After that he will start connecting so many dots my mind will be blown. I can be patient. :)

Age of Ultron #1 - This is the start of the Age of Ultron event and a very promising event it is. I like that we started in the middle of the action instead of having a lengthy build up, I'm sure we will pick up more details as we go. This issue focused mostly on Hawkeye and Spider-Man and I kinda love the way Hawkeye is clearly being a strong moral center in this issue, refusing to let the dystopic world stop him from being the hero that he is. He will save his friends even if the others deem it too dangerous. Speaking of the others, there is quite an eclectic group all living together that includes such unlikely allies as Tony and Emma Frost. I suppose dystopias create new status quos. The way the issue ended, with Tony expressing his faith in Cap, Hawkeye not so much agreeing, and Cap looking thoroughly broken down, definitely makes me want the next issue. For all you Hawkeye fans out there, this event is looking promising for his character.

So what do you all think? What else are you reading?