Wolverine #1, Ms. Marvel #1, Punisher #1, Loki: Agent of Asgard #1

There WILL be SPOILERS.

Wolverine #1

This is seriously Wolverine's like 7th or 8th series that he's apart of in Marvel Now. It's ridiculous. And honestly Deanpool doesn't know how this would stick out amongst all the other ones. But he wanted to get the first issue to get a sample of what this new series will be like. 

In the opening prologue it is revealed that Wolverine has lost his healing factor. Fans of Wolverine know that this is the defining mutant power that has made Wolverine unique and last so long in comics. If you can't kill the guy and he's been around for a long time, lots of stories you can do with that. This is a big change for Wolverine and seems to take on the theme of this particular series. How will Logan evolve and adapt to his new situation. Well for one thing, we see him with some new armor that looks pretty awesome. And it could also apparently withstand a "nuclear blast." Great, replace healing factor with indestructible armor. It's not Wolverine's style, but like we said, it's not the same Wolverine we're dealing with. No healing factor means having to take some precautions. Along with this, we see through a flashback that Storm convinces him to try find a new way to survive now that he can no longer rely on his healing factor. He goes to Black Widow for some shooting lessons, but it seems like he needs more confidence and motivation to use a gun rather than lessons on how to accurately shoot to kill.

Big changes for Logan: Indestructible armor (don't worry he's fine in that picture on the left) 

and becoming more of gunman.

We also learn from this issue that Wolverine is now apart of some corporation based team, which sounds oddly familiar... like the All-New X-Factor series. Different team though, different characters. But overall, we see Wolverine embracing this new style. He doesn't sacrifice any bit of his character after losing his healing factor, he's still got the same swagger and gung-ho style. Armor helps him when gets in a bit of trouble as we see in a couple pages.

Not your typical
Wolverine scene.

But the thing with #1 issues that we want answered right away is... what's the purpose of the the protagonist? What's the direction of the series? Questions that aren't outright answered from this issue. Is Wolverine just a hero for hire now? When his new boss figures a possible client to be a spy, Wolverine deals with him himself by killing him using his new gun skills. Wolverine isn't one to avoid killing, but something about this one just doesn't feel right. The story isn't the best, but the art is really well done. Lots of energy and great visuals, and probably the highlight of the issue. Not exactly the advertised "all new starting point" that Marvel advertised either, but the Marvel universe and its readers will have to get used to the major changes that Wolverine is going through. Hard to really get pulled into this series based on the first issue, but the next issue is supposed to feature the Superior Spider-Man. Spider-Man and Wolverine have always been an interesting pair to read when teamed up, wonder if the new gun-slinging Wolverine and the "Otto Octavius who is perfectly fine with killing others" Spider-Man will get along. And if the amazing artwork continues, the second issue (and the rest of the series) may get a chance to redeem itself if Deanpool picks it up. But the first one falls to a 7/10 indestructible pieces of armor.

Ms. Marvel #1

Ms. Marvel is an interesting character in the Marvel universe. Ever since Carol, the first Ms. Marvel, became the new Captain Marvel, Deanpool had wondered how and when Ms. Marvel would come back into the Marvel comics. It would also be interesting to see a hero-sidekick combo that featured two heroines. 

And this issue makes the Ms. Marvel character even more interesting, if that's possible. It's way different than Deanpool expected. It follows a Muslim teenager, Kamala, in her everyday life for most of the issue. We see her struggling to find her cultural identity as she finds herself at odds with the strict rules that her parents place on her. It tackles the life of being a female under a Muslim household, but to Deanpool, any young teenager can relate. Can't be out late or go to parties. Can't drink underage with all the cool kids. Okay, she can't eat certain meats, not everyone can relate to that one. She's in love with the Avengers, which is probably the one that all Marvel readers can relate to the most. But overall it is very relatable to a younger audience. However, by portraying Kamala as someone who is uncomfortable with her religious background and wanting to be more like the Americans around her, Kamala doesn't seem so different despite her Muslim faith. She wants to eat bacon and considers her holidays weird.

A glimpse into the everyday life of Kamala.

There's also a lot of stereotypes of how people can be insensitive, or just plain ignorant, toward the Muslim religion and traditions. It's quite humorous and done in a clever enough way that you can't help but feel as offended as Kamala and her friends. Not humorous towards Kamala in any way. Humorous in the sense that it is addressed so accurately and brings attention to a problem that many of us have encountered before, either as a third party looking in (like as we are as readers) or perhaps directed toward ourselves. It's a sad truth that helps readers believe Kamala is an even more genuine character. Again, it creates another very relatable scenario: the girl who appears to be nice but has bad intentions. Kamala is at a stage where she's insecure and unsure of how she feels about her religion, so this teasing and badgering eventually gets to Kamala.

There was a moment that Deanpool enjoyed when it appears that the Avengers are fighting a giant monster that has imprisoned unicorns. The setting and artwork make it look like a child's imagination, something like Toy Story when Andy imagines a giant story for his toys. Turns out Kamala does Avengers fan fiction and was simply narrating another story for her internet blog. How cool! Deanpools is all about that blogging life. 

In the running for best image
in a comic this year.

Anyways, after all this, it is almost expected that Kamala rebels against her parents wishes and sneaks out to attend a party. After realizing that they still don't fully accept her and she'll always be looked down on as a "brown person," she leaves the party. A green mist begins taking over the city, knocking out everyone including Kamala. It was quite funny to see her think that it was simply her body reacting to the sip of alcohol that she had (and also spit out) and believing she was drunk.
While unconscious, she has a weird dream where Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Iron Man present themselves to her as fate. As odd as this sequence was, it's drawn with a lot of humor. In this dream, she talks about becoming Ms. Marvel and how she'd fight evil. The thing to remember for this peculiar sequence is that they are her mind's version of fate. Of all the things to "dream" about during this whole "metamorphosis" process, she imagined being approached by thee iconic Avengers. 

To keep things short, she comes out of this looking like the blonde Ms. Marvel in the old "politically incorrect costume with the giant wedge heels." Obviously the biggest question here is: How did she really get the Ms. Marvel costume? We don't exactly see her demonstrate any superpowers, but with her brown hair becoming blonde, it's safe to assume that it might actually be real. Well, assuming the Marvel universe is still suffering from the fallout of Infinity and the giant Terrigen bomb that's leading to a bunch of "Inhumanity" issues and tie-ins... One very likely theory is that the mysterious green mist is actually Terrigen mist. And as with all the other new Inhumans before her, they enter a cocoon and undergo a transformation. Explains everything for the most part, except most become Inhumans that change their physical appearance to look more alien, not blonde bombshells with the exact same suit as the old Ms. Marvel. But it could easily be explained that she took on the form of who she aspired to be, who her soul wanted to be. And it sums up everything about Kamala's uniqueness. She wants to be free to do what she wants like how her American peers are. And she has an obsession with the Avengers. Well look at her now, blonde, white, super-powered Avenger.

And with any teenage superhero, this series will depict how she'll have to learn how to deal with these powers and new responsibilities. Thus, this series will likely be a good read for younger audiences, especially young girls. The Muslim material is present but doesn't take away from the story, it's Kamala's character that will stand out to any and all readers. The artwork had its moments, but other times it seemed to be lacking in detail. With most of the issue portraying Kamala's everyday life, it was a very warm palette and laid back issue. Plus, the entertaining art depicting her imagination about her fan fiction or the three iconic Avengers that came to her in her "dream." This issue was definitely a pleasant surprise and hopes others do give it a chance. Unfortunately, Deanpool has voted against picking up future issues, but perhaps a tpb. Just not his cup of tea. 8.5/10 Avengers fan fiction.

Punisher #1

Frank Castle aka Punisher is an interesting character. You can always expect a lot of violence if Punisher is going to be in the issue. The movie that came out however many years ago was overly violent. His appearance in the Spider-Man animated show was PG for the young viewers. His comics is somewhere in the middle but more towards the movie side. Deanpool loves Red Hood, arguably DC's closest thing to Punisher's violent, hero/anti-hero role. But doesn't feel the same towards Punisher. 

This issue, and likely this series, doesn't try to stray from his violent nature at all. Not a bad thing, we don't want to see some kind of drastic change in this case. Castle takes out some mexican guy on a boat who resembles Danny Trejo, shoots his hand, and feeds him to the crocodiles. Welcome to your own Marvel Now series Punisher (he was/is a member of the Thunderbolts). He takes a ring from the guy's shot off fingers.

The title of this story arc is "Memento Mori." We learn from a police officer at a diner that the ring that Frank took from the mexican's finger is considered a memento mori: a reminder that death is inevitable. That's about a 100% foreshadowing that the Punisher will be flirting with death a lot this first story arc, likely the theme for this whole series. More dangerous missions that are seemingly impossible. What would make this interesting is if Frank develops some sort of relationship or love interest that would make his life worth living instead of doing the whole lone wolf thing. But that might be a drastic change in his character, so we'll settle for him killing everything in his path. Also, Punisher has now relocated to LA, so the Mexican cartel connection thing isn't too random.

We see Frank meet with a military contact where he restocks on some guns and other supplies. His contact also reveals that the cartel that the Punisher is attempting to take down is called Dos Sols. We also start seeing this recurring analogy to swimming/drowning. He used it in the beginning when taking out the Trejo looking dude, and it's coming up again when he's talking about his survival. He later takes out a building tied to the cartel, sending a message to them. Typical Punisher fashion. Slowly, but effectively take out a group from the bottom up.

Back at the diner again, Frank has a nice playful conversation with one of the diner chefs. Interesting to see Frank Castle have some friends. It's also revealed that the Punisher is already well-known in the city. With a feared reputation too. It's a bit weird that no one has connected Frank Castle with Punisher yet.  

In the beginning of the issue, we see a military team successfully pull off a rescue mission. While this seems meaningless in the beginning, at the end we learn that their next mission is to take out the Punisher. It's also revealed that this team is called the Howling Commandoes. 

Deanpool wonders if all this will tie-in to the same Howling Commandoes that ran with Nick Fury. If so, this series just got a lot more interesting. The artwork matches the series well. Portrays the darker settings to match the dark side of the Punisher, but the occasional sunny setting are appropriate for Frank Castle's character. There appears to be more of an effort to make Punisher look more realistic look, but at times he appears to be overly bulky and buff. Deanpool hasn't decided yet whether or not to continue with this series, but it has definitely captured his interest. The creative team seem to have a real handle on how to tell the skull-wearing vigilante stories. 8/10 Howling commandoes.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #1

This is probably the biggest surprise out of all the new #1's this week. Loki being a protagonist doesn't sound all that good of a series. But looks can be as deceiving as Loki. Also, let it be known that Deanpool couldn't help but read this whole issue as if Tom Hiddleston were narrating.

The opening image is of Loki stabbing his brother Thor, yet he opens by saying "Trust me..." This is also the title of the issue. If you know Loki, or at least have seen the Avengers movie, you know that one should never trust the God of Mischief.

The introduction in the beginning does a good job in bringing readers up to speed. It gives the timeline of Loki's history. It mentions how Loki will never escape the role of villain unless he somehow reinvents himself. He is doomed to never be anything but Loki, the bad son, the villain, the God of Evil. Until he died that is, his greatest scheme ever. Placing himself back into his younger body. He looks to right his past wrongs and reinvent himself as a new man. Or God. Or whatever.

In the beginning of the issue, we start by seeing way too much of Loki in a shower scene. But after he receives his new assignment from the All-Mother, he begins to narrate and really emphasize on his magical powers. It really seems to serve as a way to remind readers that this series will have a large focus on magic. He even defines it as "taking a thought and making it real." From the start, he appears to be a protagonist that is more than capable of holding his own series as it ventures into the magical, mystical side of Marvel. Loki also describes the magic boots and magic coat that he wears. Of course, in Loki fashion (pun intended), they seized rather than given to him.

Let's get into the bulk of the story and his first mission though. It still isn't clear what his first mission is but we see that involves the Avengers at Avengers Tower. We see him spying on each of them: Thor indulging himself with drinks, Hawkeye and Black Widow relaxing (which is Clint playing videogames and Natasha reading), Bruce Bannuer aka Hulk working, and Captain America and Iron Man sparring against each other. Nice peek into the Avengers' life behind the scenes. Hawkeye always being the funniest. He's playing a game where the army is chasing him and he's running away Grand Theft Auto style. Thor realizes that Loki is spying on him and sends him falling out of the tower.

This looks familiar.

While most of us readers would just tell him to resort to magic, Loki actually addresses that using magic can't always be an escape rope. If not use carefully, many bad things can happen. He makes his point by saying that falling and letting Hawkeye's arrow capture him is a lot less riskier than attempting to use magic mid-fall. Another Hawkeye moment comes in when he addresses Loki's new look as "One Direction-y." Good one Clint. Second One Direction reference in two weeks (Happened in Night of the Living Deadpool #2). This is also points out that even the Avengers don't recognize this new, younger looking Loki. Everyone is learning about this new Loki, makes Deanpool and the rest of the readers feel better that they know as much the Avengers know. The story then slightly shifts to Loki retelling his history with his brother Thor and the rest of the Avengers. There's even a nice homage to the very first Avengers cover. Point of this story mainly was to tell that he and Thor have been through a lot in his evolution from mischievous brother to one of Marvel's biggest supervillains, but this new Loki has put it behind him. Doesn't mean Thor and the Avengers have yet.

Six against one isn't in Loki's favor. So he does what he does best. Not magic. But uses his witty, deceiving tongue to get him out of a situation. He pits Thor against Tony Stark by saying that Tony still has some of the DNA that was used to clone Thor (yay! a Civil War reference!). Using his magic, he got disguised Bruce Banner as Loki causing Hawkeye to shoot Bruce. You can bet that Bruce got mad, turned into Hulk (despite everyone's best efforts saying "don't get mad"), and went ape sh*t. Now it's just everyone turning on each other with probably only Captain America and Black Widow trying to contain the situation. Meanwhile Loki escapes and heads to the Avengers main database.

What Iron Man said.

Similar angle as the
homage to the
first Avengers issue above.

Here, he deletes all the files on the Avengers had on the old Loki. Symbolic of this relaunch-ish version of Loki. Forget everything that he's done in the past to fully accept what he'll be doing in this series. Eventually the Avengers stop fighting each other and confront Loki once more. Thor attempts to attack him but looks surprisingly weak as he's unable to pick up his hammer Mjolnir. This brings us back to the opening image of Loki stabbing Thor through the back. It is also revealed that this was his main mission from the All-Mother the whole time. Why? Apparently Thor was unknowingly poisoned/corrupted by Malekith (the bad dark elf from that Thor: Dark World movie), which occurred in the Thor: God of Thunder comic. Nice! Crossovers are always fun. The sword that Loki stabs Thor with is Gram, the sword of Truth. It was once held by Asgard's first hero, full of magic, dragon's blood, blah blah. Basically it could either kill Thor or help him see how corrupted he's become. Thankfully, the latter happened. Loki successfully extracts the poison, but it also leaves him open to a lethal hit from the Hulk.

Now the first image makes sense.

A nice moment is shared between the two brothers. Thor knows Loki will manage to escape but still offers to put in a good word about Loki's true intentions. He also appears to accept this new Loki. A funny line comes from Thor when he points out how Loki is still in trouble for hacking the Avengers' database, but instead of calling it hacked he says "slashed." Oh Thor.

Return of the old Loki.

The issue closes with Loki delivering Malekith's poison to the All-Mother. We learn that every successful mission he does for All-Mother will lead to a deletion of a memory, or crime purged, in the Asgard archives of the old, villainous Loki. After he leaves, we see All-Mother open the container with the poison and it is revealed that the old, ugly, villainous looking Loki (who looks more like the Loki from the very first Avengers issue) is inside. All-Mother really wishes to control this version of Loki? Makes her look like she has some other type of agenda.

For the art, playful is a word that comes to mind. This renewed version of Loki is portrayed well by Garbett and Woodard as a livelier Loki full of youth. It's a pleasant surprise after being a bit skeptical about the cover art.

Overall, this was a much better opening issue than Deanpool expected. Part of the reason might be because it featured the Avengers, but the mischievous Loki still stands as an intersting enough character to carry his own series. It'll be interesting to see if it will continue to tie-in with Thor: God of Thunder or at least feature other well-known characters. Seeing Thor or other Asgardians more would suffice too. This series can be compared to the new solo Black Widow series where its main theme is redemption. Whereas Natasha Romanoff continues to do mission after mission without knowing how many would be enough to erase all of her sins, Loki is essentially doing the same thing but actually has a set number to aim for. We don't know how many that is, but Deanpool can bet it'll be enough to last a comic series. It's a good idea for Loki's character. There's still a feeling of deception about it, too. A good point was made that he may not exactly be on a quest for forgiveness, but more for the past to simply be forgotten. His popularity has definitely risen with movies like Thor and Avengers, and also being portrayed well by Tom Hiddleston. But this way we don't have to outright accept him as a full-on hero. This mission to renew himself is still a selfish motivation, and who's to say that all the missions will be "good." They're at the All-Mother's discretion and supposed to be for the good of Asgard. Wouldn't it be great for Loki to develop his own moral compass to the point where he'd sacrifice his mission for erasing the past for a greater good? Then we can maybe accept Loki has a hero, but for now it'd be nice to see him flirt with the anti-hero role.

On a side, but related, note: Deanpool wonders if Marvel will try to make a similar character change in their movie universe. It's apparent that Loki will come up again in the movies after already being in three, which is more than most of the members of the Avengers. They flirted with the idea in Dark World as he helped Thor in the movie. Though it's unclear if he had other intentions, who knows when we'll find out what happened to Odin. But that's a different story for another time. Oh yeah the rating for this one. 9/10 Thor clones because Civil War was great.

Don't forget to also check out the other issues picked up with the ones above in the Weekly Pick-Ups post. That Forever Evil #5 received the Pick of the Week honors, so check it out!

Okay, Wolverine is going through some changes but not this extreme.