Ms. Marvel #18

One-sentence summary: Machine Man's back -- awesome.

I've generally been positive about the new Ms. Marvel series; it's not always great, but it's usually decent, with some intriguing subplots and usually at least one really good hero or villain in each story arc. However, this issue was, far and away, the best to me. Based off the summary above, you've probably figured out why.

See, I was a huge Nextwave fan. When I saw it end, I was very much down. The fact that Machine Man's back, with all his flesh-hating goodness, is absolutely fantastic to me. His character remains just as snarky as before, and you may think he's over-the-top, but of course he is, he isn't bound by fleshy limits of tact. Awesome. I'm not going to lie; every issue he's in, he's probably going to steal the show. He's the comic book equivalent of a ham -- there's just so much ridiculous character to him you're forced to pay attention. Again, I'm pretty happy about his inclusion, and that the other hero introduced is laughably bad is pretty good too.

I don't think Puppet Master has ever been as danged creepy as he is here. Eww.

This, for me, was great fun. If you weren't a fan of the Machine Man from Nextwave, well, I imagine this story arc (at least) will be pretty irritating. Ms. Marvel continues to be a better-than-average read, picking up considerably with the introduction of the renovated Machine Man.