Avengers Academy #7: A Good Troi Episode for Hank Pym that’s good because it’s smart enough to have him acknowledge what a douche he is. This is probably one of a half-dozen attempts at a redemption storyline for Pym since he…y’know, but this one at least nods at the rest of them, throws a few good ideas out with the clichés (“It was effective, but I’ll never be able to do it again.”), and does clever work with the inexorable resurrection of Janet “The Wasp” Pym. It still has far to go to prove itself a worthy successor to The Initiative though.
Daredevil, aka Black Panther: Man Without Fear #513: The introduction of Black Panther filling Daredevil’s shoes. It does an adequate job of explaining why a man with a wife and a nation would go stag in Hell’s Kitchen, but it’s still painfully obvious that they wanted Black Panther here and he’s going to be here so you you better just get used to it. The story itself is workhorse comic; superpowered crime lord, T'Challa adapts to his new surroundings, the tragic victims of indifferent crime. I’m going to keep buying it because I want to get to know Black Panther better, but I recommend you read it first.
X-Factor #212: The story of X-Factor in Vegas with Norse gods continues, and it's still pretending it's a comic book universes' pulp/noir/detective story, but don't tell Peter David it isn't because he's writing a story that perfectly balances action with character and fun with drama (it's still an X-title). While the cast is large (some might say ‘bloated’), David does a good job giving the each of the cast, from Layla to Morph plus an obscure character connected to Wolfsbane—who isn’t even on the team anymore—a place in the story. The only thing better would be a “Shatterstar/Thor” limited series.
