There is no shortage of hands being thrown during the “King in Black” event and Black Panther just revealed the biggest hand of all: The Hand of Bast. T’Challa’s 16 point performance in Geoffrey Thorne and German Peralta’s King in Black: Black Panther is so impactful that we are forced to adjust how we view our weekly superlatives. Is it fair that a character like Wolverine earns the “Hero of the Week” title just because he showed up in more issues? Should a dominant performance such as Black Panther’s carry more weight despite him appearing in fewer issues that week? To compromise for now, we are introducing a new title, the “Performance of the Week,” meant to showcase the character who made the most out of their Appearances during the week. And speaking of Appearances, we add two new Eternals to the list, Sersi and Kingo Sunen, as they are resurrected in the latest Eternals and Appear for the first time in the Fantasy Comic League review system.
Book the Week – Fantastic Four #29 (Review score: 61 points; 15 Characters). Are Soul Bonds stronger than symbiotic bonds? That’s a question the Invisible Woman must confront in the top book of the week. Sue witnesses just how deep her brother’s connection is to Sky, Johnny’s Spyrican sweetie, who gets consumed by Knull’s symbiote after Johnny meets the same fate blocks away. The Human Torch and Sky are not the only ones to fall to Knull. An assortment of Marvel characters appear and get overwhelmed by Knull’s symbiotes and a last page reveal shows that the Thing has met the same fate and leads Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman into a trap.
Hero of the Week – Wolverine (Review score: 17 Points; 5.67 Pts/App). With Wolverine’s big week, he takes the overall top spot from Spider-Man by one point in the overall standings. Wolverine has appeared in four of the first six weeks of the month and nearly averaged three appearances each of those weeks (2.75 Books per Weekly Appearance). His 11 Appearances so far is two more than Spider-Man’s nine and his saturation is what propels him to his first Hero of the Week. Wolverine appears in Fantastic Four, Wolverine: Black, White and Blood and X-Force.
Antagonist of the Week – Taskmaster (Review score: 28 Points; 9.33 Pts/App). Taskmaster has been one of Marvel’s go-to lackeys in recent years and he finally gets his due at the top spot. In three appearances, he notches 20 power usages, not surprising for a character whose whole gimmick is mimicking other character’s abilities. His big week puts him one point away from overtaking Knull at the top of the Antagonist’s overall power rankings.
Performance of the Week – Black Panther (Review score: 16 Points; 16 Pts/App). As mentioned earlier, Black Panther’s performance was so noteworthy it warrants the creation of a new category. Historically, T’Challa has been a bit of an underwhelming character when it comes to scoring points. He typically Appears just to Lead Teams or offer some Intellect and Tech insight. But in this issue, he gets some more hands-on action. He saves Wakanda by releasing the Hand of Bast, a giant energy panther creature controlled by Okoye, and getting “a hand” from his longtime nemesis, Klaw. And by that, I mean he uses Klaw’s ‘handy’ sonic disrupter tech to repel the invading symbiote forces.
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Key: TU – Team-Up; LT – Lead Team; SC – Save Civilian; CD – Character Development; DA – Defeat Antagonist.
| Amazing Spider-Man #59 (26) |
| Spider-Man (PP) – Agility, Durability, Ensnare, Melee, Webs, DA (Inner demons) Antagonist(s) Green Goblin Hammerhead Kindred Kingpin – Business, Deception, TU (Mr. Negative), LT Madame Masque Mr. Negative – Absorb, Intellect, Morph, TU (Kingpin), SC, CD (Reveals more about his origin) Owl Silvermane Tombstone |
| Daredevil #27 (29) |
| Daredevil – Agility, Creature, Durability, Melee, Rage, Weapon, Will Power, SC, DA (Symbiote) Elektra – Agility, Blade, Deception, Durability, Melee, Sense, Tech, Weapon, SC Antagonist(s) Kingpin – LT Knull Typhoid Mary – Blade, Durability, Weapon, Will Power, DA (Symbiote) |
| Eternals #2 (22) |
| Druig Ikaris – Durability, Energy, Energy Offensive, Flight, Melee, Sense, DA (Monster) Kingo Sunen Phastos – Telepathy Sersi – Heal, LT Sprite – Deception Antagonist(s) Thanos – Durability, Heal, Melee, Strength |
| Excalibur #18 (21) |
| Captain Avalon Emma Frost – Telepathy Gambit Gloriana Jubilee Prestige – Telepathy Psylocke – Blade Rictor – Geokinesis, CD (Receives everything in Apocalypse’s will) Rogue – Absorb, Flight, Melee, Telepathy Saturnyne Antagonist(s) Monarch Morgan Le Fay |
| Fantastic Four #29 (61) |
| Black Cat – TU (Fantastic Four) Brainstorm – Gun, Tech Captain America – TU (Fantastic Four) Captain Marvel – TU (Fantastic Four) Cyclops – Energy, TU (Fantastic Four) Dragon Man – Flames Offensive, Flight, Tech Human Torch – Flames Offensive, Flight, Morph, TU (X-Men), CD (Bonds with a symbiote) Invisible Woman – Flight, Invisibility, Telekinesis, Telekinesis Defensive, Telekinesis Offensive, Weapon, TU (X-Men) Magneto – Flight, TU (Fantastic Four) Mr. Fantastic – Computer, Grow, Intellect, Melee, Stretch, Tech, Vehicle, TU (X-Men) Ms. Marvel – Melee, Size, TU (Fantastic Four) Powerhouse Sky – Creature, Flight, Sense, Sonics Offensive, CD (Bonds with a symbiote) Thing – Deception, Melee, TU (X-Men), CD (Bonds with a symbiote) Wolverine – Claws, TU (Fantastic Four) |
| King in Black: Black Panther #1 (30) |
| Black Panther – Claws, Computer, Crawl, Durability, Energy, Intellect, Melee, Sonics, Strength, Suit, Tech, Vehicle, LT, CD (Reveals the Hand of Bast), DA (Symbiote horde) Okoye – Tech, Vehicle Shuri – Artifact, Blade, Claws, Computer, Creature, Flight, Intellect, Magic, Tech, CD (Bonds with a symbiote) |
| King in Black: Thunderbolts #2 (42) |
| Antagonist(s) Batroc the Leaper – Agility, Energy, Melee, Weapon, TU (Green Goblin), DA (Night Scrubber) Bushman Foolkiller Green Goblin – Intellect, TU (Thunderbolts) Kingpin – LT Man-Bull Mr. Fear – Blade, Gun, Toxin, Vehicle, LT, DA (Night Scrubber) Mr. Hyde Star – Energy, Energy Offensive, Flight, Sense, Strength, TU (Green Goblin), LT, DA (Night Scrubber) Taskmaster – Blade, Energy, Melee, Shield, Shield Offensive, Weapon, TU (Green Goblin), LT, DA (Night Scrubber) |
| Morbius: Bond of Blood #1 (19) |
| Morbius – Absorb, Claws, Durability, Flight, Influence, Melee, Strength, SC, DA (Mr. Hyde) Antagonist(s) Mr. Hyde – Deception, Durability, Intellect, Melee, Morph, Strength, Toxin, Weapon |
| Power Pack #3 (42) |
| Alex Power – Deception, Flight, Telekinesis, Telekinesis Defensive, Telekinesis Offensive Energizer – Absorb, Deception, Energy, Energy Offensive, DA (Taskmaster) Lightspeed – Deception, Flight, Intellect, Melee, Speed, Speed Defensive, Strength, LT, SC, DA (Taskmaster) Mass Master – Deception, Flight, Morph, Shrink Nomad Antagonist(s) Taskmaster – Explosive, Gun, Melee, Precision, Sense, Weapon Wizard – Absorb, Deception, Ensnare, Tech, TU (Power Pack) |
| S.W.O.R.D. #3 (17) |
| Abigail Brand Banshee Cable (Young) – Creature, Ensnare, DA (Magneto) Frenzy Lila Cheney Magneto Manifold – Business, Invisibility, Stealth, Teleport Random Antagonist(s) Fabien Cortez Paibok |
| Taskmaster #3 (19) |
| Black Widow Nick Fury, Jr. – Intellect, TU (Taskmaster) White Fox – Claws, Claws Offensive, Melee Antagonist(s) Taskmaster – Blade, Deception, Intellect, Melee, Sense, Size, Tech, Weapon, TU (Nick Fury, Jr.), DA (Black Widow) |
| Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #3 (35) |
| Magik – Teleport Rider – Durability, Energy Offensive, Morph, Weapon, Whip, TU (Wolverine), DA (Juggernaut) Wolverine – Claws, Claws Defensive, Claws Offensive, Durability, Ensnare, Heal, Intellect, Sense, TU (Scarlet Samurai), DA (Silver Samurai) Antagonist(s) Juggernaut – Durability, Melee, Strength, Weapon Scarlet Samurai – Blade, Melee, Weapon, TU (Wolverine) Silver Samurai – Blade, Weapon, LT |
| X-Force #17 (18) |
| Domino Kid Omega – Business, Ensnare, Flight, Guns, Intellect, Sense, Telekinesis Defensive, Telepathy, TU (Stepford Cuckoos), CD (Overcomes his childhood trauma) Stepford Cuckoos – Telepathy, TU (Kid Omega) Wolverine – Claws, Durability |
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