New Comics: 12/24/08

DC
Batman #683 Regular Alex Ross Cover $2.54
Reign In Hell #6 $2.98

Marvel
Daredevil Vol 2 #114 Regular Marko Djurdjevic Cover $2.54
Immortal Iron Fist #21 $2.54
New Avengers #48 (Dark Reign Tie-In) $2.54
Nova Vol 4 #20 Regular Mike Deodato Jr Cover $2.54
Runaways Vol 3 #5 $2.54
Skaar Son Of Hulk #6 Regular Ron Garney Cover $2.54
Thor Vol 3 #12 $2.54
Wolverine First Class #10 $2.54

Spider-Man Noir #1 wasn't in the shop yesterday that I noticed, probably grab it next week then.

Pull Review: 12/17/08

This was a hell of a week to get back into this habit due to sheer bulk.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20 - Shockingly high quality book of the week right here, not because it was excellent but because it was acceptable.  This is only shocking of course if you realize it was written by Jeph Loeb, the master of payoff after payoff after payoff.  Well, the dialogue isn't quite up to par here, but the majority of the story is a semi-flashback dream in a very cute cartoon style.  The upshot of most of it being a dream is that nothing of note happens, so there's nothing to pay off really.  It's a reasonably enjoyable, fun little story that serves essentially no purpose other than Joss letting Jeph write an issue.  On the other hand, that means it's utterly disposable and skippable.  Not Recommended for non-completionists.  (If I'm honest, the biggest reason I bothered to buy it is that my mother reads the Buffyverse comics too)

Angel: After the Fall #15 - Not quite as disposable as the Buffy issue.  Not at all honestly, as most of the plot threads from the very beginning of the run get tied up.  I'm still not a fan of the art, as there were a number of spots where I had to make educated guesses as to the identity of the characters rather than actually being able to tell.  As a fan of the series, I was astonished by my reaction to the ending, though considering this is a Joss Whedon work I won't suggest that it surprised me.  Recommended for any of you who were keeping up.  Don't jump ship is what I'm saying I suppose.

Uncanny X-Men #505 - This seems an unpopular opinion for whatever reason, but I rather like the Dodsons' art.  It seems to draw some unfair comparisons to Frank Cho's bootylicious funtime art, which could explain it, but honestly the things that infuriate me about Cho don't typically apply here.  I don't think anybody wishes the other regular penciller for the series was on though, so there's that.  As much as I like Ed Brubaker, this issue just cements in my mind that he was not a good fit here, and I'm honestly glad to see him go.  It'll give him more time for things he's better with, and there's no lack of those works.  I can't say I'm that interested in Piotr's story here as it seems a bit unlikely as an outlet for his grief, but the rest is pretty spot on.  Emma's story here definitely helps out with the Dark Reign one shot from last week, as her inclusion with the Illuminaughty (it's a Fraction book, I'll coopt his word) feels better after this issue.  Recommended.

X-Men Legacy #219 - I dropped the book during Original Sin as I prefered a gap in collection to picking up bits of Daniel Way's Wolverine Origins, but fortunately it doesn't seem to matter yet.  Unfortunately, this issue wasn't particularly good.  A reunion with Juggernaut after the accident was inevitable at some point, but for a series that essentially set out to be making Charles into less of an asshole, this is making him into a bit of an asshole.  It also retconned Juggernaut back to his earlier status quo, which may or may not be a good thing.  I honestly never read any of the reformed Cain books, but don't expect any more of them anytime soon.  Briones' art was servicable but uninspiring.  Not Recommended.

X-Factor #38 - I dropped this book for a while too, thanks to Larry Stroman 's approximation of "art," and I'm sad to say he was back for four pages (including a two page spread) in this issue.  Worse still, the rest of the issue is by Nelson (one name only) and he's not exactly my new favorite, but he's definitely far, far better.  Of course, someone should probably tell him how many fingers Longshot has if both the penciller and character are going to stick around long term (hint: it's not five per hand), and while we're at it the cover had Madrox with an unmarred face.  In terms of the plot, frankly it could probably have been done with another five pages or so in the last issue, and as such winds up feeling a bit superfluous.  Early indications are that the next issue is one of Peter David's best works ever, so I'm not about to jump ship, but this issue itself is Not Recommended.

Robin #181 - Anarky has got to be one of the wordiest damn villains in history, and it's not amusing enough to make up for it.  I don't really buy that Steph was told by Batman to become Zoom either, so that story continuing onward does nothing for me.  Freddie Williams's pencils are serviceable enough.  The series ends next issue, but this didn't really feel like it advanced a whole hell of a lot of the arc's plot threads.  With only one issue left I'm not jumping ship now, but it's Not Recommended to jump in now.

Batman and the Outsiders #14 - Ugh.  The art is pretty striking in the first few pages as it's all done very well in a widescreen style with some stark shadows and the integration of the credits into the pages like on ASS, but really the shadows were just hiding the overly hatched mess that all the later faces would turn out to be.  Moreover, the major story itself is utterly idiotic and hinges on you having read the terrible Batgirl miniseries penned by the man that made Cass radioactive in the first place.  Dick is an utter idiot here, Cass snipes a bit too much, and frankly the only redeeming factor is Riddler being his own egotistical ass self.  Not Recommended.

Supergirl #36 - Kara flies off in half cocked rage once again, but unlike the beginning of the series she has a damn good reason.    The last issue of Supergirl in New Krypton was a bit irrelevant to the overall narrative, acting more like a tie-in than chapter of the story, but don't be fooled this time.  We pick up right where the last issue left off with Metallo and Reactron's rampage, and things reach their expected end, rather than a 'comic book' conclusion.  We get some more time with Nightwing and Flamebird, and separately some time with Superwoman, but not enough to confirm who anyone is.  I think we can safely rule Alura, the enormous bitch, out of the running as Superwoman, but stranger things have happened.  Jamal Igle's pencils are good as usual, though his  rendering of Kara's costume doesn't quite mesh with the last issue.  All in all, an enjoyable reading experience.  Recommended.

Mighty Avengers #20 - The book was split  among three pencillers and inkers, but only two significant sections, which didn't really serve the issue particularly well.  The flashback being in a different style from what came later I'll accept, but the rest of the story is a mixture for no good reason.  After the flashback, nobody is wearing a costume, and there are more than a couple of blonde women, which makes it very difficult to tell the characters apart, and neither of the present day artists were helping that any.  Bendis definitely went out on a very strong issue himself though, as everyone is well handled in an extremely troubling situation.  It's not hard to understand Hank's reaction throughout the book, given the world he returned to and what he missed.  This is a changing of the guard of sorts, more setting you up for Bendis' new book than the continuing adventures of the current one, but you can hardly blame him for that.  All in all, Highly Recommended.

Invincible Iron Man #8 - The first arc of this book largely made me hate Marvel for being close enough to canning The Order that Fraction felt he should do so himself on his own terms, as it was an extension of that arc without any of the new characters, but since last issue it's taken a turn for the better.  A ludicrously stupid and common myth about the brain aside, this book delivers some good writing and promises a hell of an upcoming story.  Too bad Salvadore Larroca is such an irritating artist to match up with it.  Individual panels are pretty decent, but hair styles and facial features change too much from panel to panel, including Pepper's hair getting pulled back and then let down with her glasses disappearing and reappearing on the same page while lying down.  At least the characters don't all look blatantly like real actors this time.  Either way, it's not bad art per se, just somewhat distracting from an otherwise excellent book.  Highly Recommended.

Amazing Spider-Man #581 - I never read Death of a Goblin, so I'm not personally bothered by the Brand New Day retcon of it, and in this issue we finally get an answer as to how it happened.  The answer, as it happens, is stunningly plausible for a Dan Slott book, and it deals with the consequences rather realistically.  Peter was out of costume the whole time too, as a nice change of pace.  I'm still in a bit of shock about this since I reacted (not on this blog) with such bile to OMN/BND, but this book is Recommended.

Thor God-Size - The issue opens with a condensed retelling of Walter Simonson's Thor #362 (reprinted in back), and then continues into a modern day extension of it.  The writing is pretty much what we've come to expect from Fraction's modern myth style of Thor writing, which is to say pretty good.  The art is fantastic throughout, mostly in a painted style but with a section by the Allreds that is not unwelcome.  It doesn't really fit in with the current JMS run in any particular way, but since when was mythology required to fit together in tight continuity.  Highly Recommended.

Dark Reign: New Nation - Did you read Secret Invasion #8 through to the back cover?  Congratulations, you've read most of the first three stories here!  There are a couple more pages each, though odds are they'll all be in the respective #1s for their ongoings anyway.  Even worse, Marvel deigned to charge $4 for this book.  This is actually more offensive than the 16pp story/16pp script abominations Ellis was shitting out and they were charging $4 for, since it's basically an advertisement for their new books on top of at least nine pages of it being in a book that nobody who cared enough to pick this up didn't already read.  Stay The Fuck Away, And Screw You Marvel.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #1 - I forgot almost everything about how Emperor Vulcan ended, but this reminded me pretty darn quickly without beating me over the head with a thinly veiled recap dialogue.  I'm not entirely sure why Earth based heroes that aren't already there are going to be involved with the overall War of Kings story, but the issues Vulcan is causing the rest of the universe are pretty well defined.  I look forward to Gabe getting his comeuppance, which is probably the most anyone can ask for from the beginning of a story.  Mildly Recommended.

New Comics: 12/17/08

Dark Horse

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol 2 #20 (Season 8) Jo Chen Cover $2.54

DC

• Batman And The Outsiders Vol 2 #14 $2.54
  
• Robin Vol 4 #181 $2.54
  
• Supergirl Vol 5 #36 Regular Joshua Middleton Cover (New Krypton Part 8) $2.54

IDW Publishing

• Angel After The Fall #15 Regular Cover $3.39

Marvel

• Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 #581 Regular Barry Kitson Cover $2.54
  
• Dark Reign New Nation (Secret Invasion Dark Reign Tie-In) $3.39
  
• Invincible Iron Man #8 Regular Salvador Larroca Cover (Secret Invasion Dark Reign Tie-In) $2.54
  
• Mighty Avengers #20 (Secret Invasion Tie-In) $2.54
  
• Samurai Legend #4 $5.09
  
• Spider-Man Noir #1 $3.39
  
• Thor God-Sized #1 $3.39
  
• Uncanny X-Men #505 Regular Terry Dodson Cover (X-Men Manifest Destiny Tie-In) $2.54
  
• X-Factor Vol 3 #38 $2.54
  
• X-Men Kingbreaker #1 (War Of Kings Tie-In) $3.39
  
• X-Men Legacy #219 $2.54
  

Maybe this will get me to actually get back to reviewing the shit once it's in my hands.  I've fallen behind on Samurai, and I'm unfortunately pretty sure Loeb is writing this issue of Buffy, but there's still a bunch of good stuff I'm looking forward to in here.  I wasn't a huge fan of Emperor Vulcan, but I like X-Force and plan to read War of Kings due to the DnA showrunning, so this is probably still a decent grab, but we'll see.  Mighty is probably coming off the list after this since it seems to be a romp through alternate universes penned by Dan Slott that I honestly couldn't care less about, but we'll see how that goes.  Probably for the best if it does since Dark Avengers is going to be more vital/better anyway, and both New and Dark are going to $4/issue.

Pull Review 3/12/2008

Astounding Wolfman #5 - This was a much more mixed bag than I expected. The series has been running at a breakneck pace since the beginning. Kirkman explains in the letters of this issue that it was designed as such to soften the blow of the bi-monthly shipping schedule, though I feel it has the opposite effect. It certainly makes it feel like things are happening every issue, and therefore a year's worth of issues will have accomplished more than, say, Ultimate Spider-Man where you need the next issue as soon as possible to recompress the story into a useful chunk. However, it also means you're flipping through the pages absurdly fast and the end creeps up on you, leaving you with another two months until you can see what happens next. This issue takes that and makes things worse by devoting a number of pages to exposition. Don't get me wrong, I was wondering about the mystery cleared up within as well, but it cut down on the amount of plot movement, or even character building that we had available, and there simply isn't enough. Jason Howard's art, however, is still fantastic, so it's a joy to look over the panels even when nothing is happening, to say nothing of when there's actual action. Apparently 1-4 are going to be the first trade, so if you're not on board yet look that over, and see if you can handle that much story over an eight month span. If you can, this is Recommended. If not, wait for the trade.

Mighty Avengers #10 - This was a very fun book this month, if a bit fillery. Tony and Victor got sucked back in time last issue, and as a result so did the comic itself. The coloring, the tiny blurbs advertising old comics, the "CONTINUED AFTER NEXT PAGE" blurbs before ads, even the style of the narrator, they're all perfect little throw-backs to sell the overall effect. The banter between Tony and Victor is similarly perfect, and Bagley's art is quite nice. It's definitely worth a look. Recommended.

Green Arrow and Black Canary #6 - Let's start with the good: Cliff Chiang is a fantastic artist, and there are very few books I would not like to see him work on. Sadly, he's leaving this one after this issue, and didn't do the last one, but the five he gave us were gorgeous. Also, Winick really seems to get these characters. He's not so hot with most of the rest of the DCU he's played with on occasion, but GA and company he's got down pretty well. Now for the bad: the plot. We start mid-investigation with no real indication of how we got there, even after the fact. Worse, from the introduction, the plot takes a turn for the incomprehensibly stupid. Seriously, I don't know what the fuck anyone involved with this book was thinking. If you love Ollie and company this is Mildly Recommended, but if you're not already highly invested, stay the hell away.

Annihilation: Conquest #5 - The series is wrapping up and we're finally getting some answers, not only about how this all came about (and this would feel less weird if Cho didn't spend months crafting each ass drawn in Mighty Avengers during his run), but about what the hell he's doing. It definitely makes a certain amount of sense too, everything is properly connected in good ways. Also, things finally go well for Star-Lord and his buddies just long enough for them to get a whole lot worse, which is par for the course really. Wraith isn't given an opportunity to speak, and Phyla has very little, so the anchors that were dragging down the event are lightened significantly, though they'll obviously be around for the finale. I'm definitely more interested in that than I was in this beforehand, but overall the series is not living up to its predecessor. Grab the trade if you liked the first event, otherwise don't even bother.

Booster Gold #7 - I find it so hard to believe that the man who is writing this wrote Infinite Crisis. This is good in pretty much all the ways that was terrible. Michael and Ted back together is a glorious thing, even though we all know it will never last. Their banter is fantastic, and the plot is full of callbacks to old events that mire the story in the need to understand them, but rather just bring a smile to the face of anyone who knows what's being mentioned. I can say this firmly because I didn't know what the hell they were talking about for most of it, and was not mired in that lack of knowledge. Finally too we're getting some answers about who's behind all of the events of the book thus far. Jurgens' art reminds me of some terrible comics, but not because it's bad but rather because so many of his old ones were. It's pretty passable, if nothing particularly special. Highly recommended.

Fantastic Four #555 - I really wanted to like this book. I liked Ultimates 1, and I like the idea of the Fantastic Four more than some of the execution thereof, but this just isn't working out that well. It's basically all focused on the main of the three stories introduced last issue, which is good because I didn't find myself caring about the other two. The one that does show up again is somehow less interesting now, to the point that I really would rather Johnny not show up again, possibly ever. Also, don't judge this book by its cover, as it's misleading in ways I can barely describe. Sixties level misleading. Hitch's art is mostly pretty good sure, though I'd swear I saw some of Land's favorite faces in there at times. That is most definitely not a compliment. Well, the ending of this issue promises some actual action in our future, which may be exactly what Millar needs to make the book interesting. God knows something has to. Not Recommended.

Serenity: Better Days #1 - Speaking of books I really wanted to like... I'm an unabashed Firefly fan, and I quite liked the movie despite some of the... issues that many people had. Well this is set between the TV series and that movie, undoing all of the changes to move forward. Nevermind that the entire gap was bridged by the last miniseries so this is doing screwy things with continuity, if the story is good you can forgive it. Well sort of, it's much harder to forgive this sort of thing outside of big two comics than it is in them, as Marvel and DC love to play fast and loose with continuity in ways no television show ever really does. This gives us the full cast anyway. Well sort of, several of the characters barely show up, and characterization seems to be set back a bit on a couple that do. The start of the issue is a bit more hard sci-fi than I'm really comfortable with, considering how hard they tried to be a space western in the series. The end though, is quite interesting, if only because it's something that absolutely has never happened to the crew before. Conrad's pencils are good enough to let you pick out the characters by appearance properly. No real complaints about it, unlike the other of Joss' properties come to comics which are sort of okay at best or messy and terrible likenesses at worst. I'm in it for the duration, but mostly because I'm horribly hooked on the series, not so much on this issue's merits. Recommended for Browncoats, neophytes buy the TV series instead.

Nova #11 - Richard's on the Technarchy homeworld and.... things don't go so well. At least not for the character, they go great for the reader. This continues to be very well written and well illustrated, significantly better than Abnett and Lanning's other book. We get the return of an old character that I totally called months ago, though people called me crazy for even thinking of it. Of course I was wrong then, but the reasoning was sound enough that him arriving here still makes sense. Given the revelations of the book, of course, I'm wondering where they plan on taking this, especially with getting Richard less infected. It's damn good though, so it's worth the ride to find out. Highly Recommended.

X-Factor #29 - Remind me to grab the trades for the first few arcs of this book; I've made a huge mistake. The book is very good, dealing well with the human concerns spinning out of Messiah CompleX, and the character breakdowns that were inevitable. I've been reading only since the aforementioned crossover, but I already love the team that's made up entirely of people I never paid the slightest bit of attention to. That's all on the writing, which is a good thing in my book. The art works well too, showcasing the dreary city with the right level of realism. Looks like this is the beginning of the next arc rather than more denouement, though it's going to begin in earnest next month. I already know I'll be there for it. Recommended.

Last Defenders #1 - Didn't intend to grab this, but then I saw Giffen's name on the cover and caved. Sure he's not doing the script, but the man responsible for a large portion of the best Deadpool stories is, and with Giffen doing his thing on breakdowns and co-plotting. This simply could not be a bad thing, and it wasn't. My home state got itself a super-team, and it's quite a doozy. This isn't quite as over-the-top wacky as the last Defenders mini, though it definitely has its moments of hilarity. Art's good and cartoony to compliment the lack of seriousness, which is appreciated. Herein lies the single best or worst (depending on your point of view) team battle cry ever put to paper as well. Recommended for those of you who like the funny in your funnybooks.

Pull Review 3/05/2008

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 - Goddard begins a new mini-arc in the overarching Twilight story here, and he's reveling in the unlimited SFX budget of comics. I'm a little ashamed to admit I didn't recognize his name immediately as one of the series writers/producers, though I guessed that was the case given his handle on the characters, particularly their voice. Our new antagonists exhibit some interesting new abilities seen only once before, which should remind series fans of something. Sadly, this does run directly into another bit of last page blast-from-the-past revealing (you will have guessed it before you get there), but it promises to be interesting. The art... is the better of the two currently running Whedon TV continuations. It's generally easy to tell who is who, but it's far from fantastic. See Angel for what it could be, if you need reassurance that it could be worse. Also, if you've missed the world crapping on Buffy in hilarious ways, you're definitely in luck here. Of course, given the nature of this volume, you shouldn't even consider starting here, so all I can really say is Par for the course. Don't flee, but don't run out to grab this if you haven't been bothering.

Cable #1 - Seriously? Cable? I spent money on Cable. If you suggested that even a year ago I probably would have shot you, but here I am. And you know what, I'm happy with my purchase. Unless you're not reading X-books at all you probably know this is spun out of the end of Messiah CompleX, with Cable on the run with the first mutant born since M-Day in the future. There, you now know it either way. Anyway, we start already in the future, setting up the world a bit, and even giving basically the same brief recap I just did. We're moving pretty slow throughout, which could get annoying in the long run, but it mostly serves to establish Cable once again as a solo character (very little of Messiah CompleX was told from his perspective, so unless you read Cable & Deadpool he was either absent or a minor team player for ages), and lead up to the abrupt cliffhanger. This is one of Swierczynski's first comics, so it's possible the slow pace is a transitional issue more than a decompression one. Time will tell here, though he pulls off the workings of Nate's mind pretty well. I didn't have the ending spoiled for me via solicits, so I won't spoil it for any of you, but it certainly worked for me. What didn't work was the art. Most of it was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it's all overlaid onto filtered photographs, which just feels lazy, and in some cases very jarring. Still, even just on the premise it's interesting enough to warrant a bit of a look, and with the ending I'll have to label it as Recommended. Seriously though, at least filter the photos better to make it less obvious.

Detective Comics #842 - Peter Milligan fills in for Paul Dini with another of this book's customary (of late) done-in-ones, spinning out of the event that brought him to the Bat-books most recently, Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul. Thankfully, this is written vastly better than his contribution to that abortive crossover. The vast majority of the writing here is Bruce's internal monologue, which is in character enough with recent representations, and Robin speaks little enough to avoid another horrible character assassination, in case nobody explained yet that he doesn't act the way he did during RORAG. There is, however, a bit of an irksome continuity gaffe, and I mean within the continuity of the issue here, not the DC universe at large. It's ultimately a forgettable story, but enjoyable for its duration. Dustin Ngyuen, however, can keep drawing Batman books as long as he'd like as far as I'm concerned, I love his vision of pretty much everything involved. Recommended.

Logan #1 - I admit it, I'm a Wolverine fan. Not enough to suffer through most of his solo run mind you. Certainly not enough to buy every book that plasters his face on the front to garner unwarranted sales either. This is different though, because it's Brian K. Vaughn writing. Brian K. Vaughn can essentially do no wrong in my book, and this is no exception. The story takes place in both the present and World War 2 eras, though we are only given a tease of the present day conflict. The past though, gives us a look at one of the many stories that make Logan the loner he is, all without the annoying over-the-top badassery so many writers fall back on with him. It's hard to deal with living forever, doubly so when you have to live with yourself for the amount of crap that's come your way, and the last page of the book promises a shitstorm of epic proportion. It's definitely nice to see Logan being the best at what he does without having to verbally remind everyone of it every thirty seconds to boot. Risso's art is fantastic, and I'm actually torn as to whether I should have grabbed the uncolored version to showcase it better, or stuck with what I got as it is well colored. You really can't go wrong either way though. Highly Recommended.

Uncanny X-Men #496 - Speaking of writers who can do no wrong, here's a book by Ed Brubaker. Sure his first arc was a bit of a mess, the second was kind of enjoyable if not the greatest. Then he got sidetracked by someone else's event, and was more than competent with it, but really it was Carey's show and he just kept the train rolling with quality. Now we're finally into a new arc and it's, frankly, fantastic. The book has split focus once again between Cyke and Emma going to their new base of operations to deal with the summer of love that exists for some reason, and Logan, Piotr, and Kurt in Siberia. All five of these characters are pitch perfect with their dialogue, and the stories are both very interesting. Of course, it would help if Giant-Size Astonishing had shipped, as this spoils the end (though everyone knew about that already) and further references a status quo that we haven't been introduced to yet. Hopefully that's out before 497 since it's going to be more important next issue, but I'm not about to let shipping issues get in the way of enjoying a fantastically written book. Also, Mike Choi's art continues to be utterly fantastic all around. Can't think of a single negative about the book that isn't based on someone else's book being absurdly late. Highly Recommended.

X-Force #2 - Speaking of books I'm shocked to be reading... this one is also pretty good, and utterly unlike its predecessor. Wolverine is not a leader, and nobody knows that more than him, including the fans that balked at the concept of Wolverine being a leader. I'm coming into the series relatively unfamiliar with X-23 outside of the high level concept. Well from here she feels a lot like Wolverine meets Cass Cain, which is a good thing. Also, Kyle and Yost were not kidding when they said despite the powerset similarities of these characters their personalities are very different. With more time to speak here, we're getting to see that more obviously, and it's appreciated. Also, to say the ending was unexpected would be the understatement of the year. I can't say I'm not extremely intrigued with where this is going, but if they get into a cycle of trying to one-up the shock factor issue by issue, it could get tiresome. Definitely not tired of it yet, and in fact can't wait for the next issue. The art is, well, most of it fits in with the Uncharted "Next Gen" mode. For the unfamiliar, it makes everything dark and brown. Of course, that was a joke about a number of early PS3 games, while this is intentional, and about the best possible aesthetic choice they could have made. The art is very dark and sometimes muddy, but attractive nevertheless, and the last thing this group needs is bright and crisp. God help me, I'm quite pleased with an X-Force book outside of the pre-X-Statix run. Recommended.

Pull Review 2/27/2008

Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood #5 - Rucka is a king of details, and this last issue is no exception. Once again the text of the Book of Crime wraps itself intricately with the story, exactly as you'd expect of a good prophesy. A large amount of the book was spent on the fight between Renee and Flay, but honestly I think the book suffered for it. If this were an arc of an ongoing I'd certainly have the opposite opinion, but there's basically no denouement at all, leaving us rather cold. At the beginning of the battle we're told it can end one of two ways, and without spoiling anything all I can say is it did, but that just brings up more questions than answers. On some level I suppose that's appropriate, given the internal name for the series, but without a continuation coming up in the near future I'm not sure what to think. The whole arc is Recommended, but not as highly as I'd have thought.

Batman # 674 - As always, Morrison's ideas make perfect sense after he's finally decided to explain them, and as usual they're more straightforward than we were assuming. Morrison has a bit of a (not altogether undeserved) reputation for insane ideas, and that has a tendency to trick people into over thinking things. As usual, the writing is also brilliant, but it's hard to imagine the guy who gave this interview writing anything but a spot-on depiction of Batman. Like most of the DC books I read the art wasn't praiseworthy, but it was very far from bad. I guess you'd call it effective enough, if not the sort of thing you'd write home about, which I can't complain about. This issue, as Morrison's whole run, comes Highly Recommended.

Blue Beetle #24 - The end of year two is here, and it's explosive. We get a pair of fights on different fronts, as Jaime proves himself more than worthy of the legacy of the Blue Beetle in more ways than one. All of Rogers' plots through the series thus far start wrapping up together as the major showdown against the Reach continues, and as always with the excellently human dialogue we've come to expect. The art, however, is as stylish and effective as always, fitting the series perfectly rather than not getting in the way. Just like last month, as soon as I finished I had to ask if it was next month yet, as we go out on a cliffhanger again, and it's a doozy. Can't Recommend Strongly Enough.

Captain America #35 - I always have problems talking about this book without basically falling into a play-by-play, as the same exact praise for any issue of this book can be used for any other. Well, most of the time that is, you can't talk about Epting/Perkins' pencils this month since Butch Guice was handling all the pencils (not for the first time either) for this issue, though Mike Perkins did some of the inking and Frank D'Armata did his standard stellar coloring job, so the art is very much in the vein of what we're used to. Which is to say it's very good and perfectly suited for a superhero espionage book. The pieces of Red Skull's plan start to fall into place as James is slowly learning to fill the massive shoes he was given. The wait for the next issue will be a long one indeed. Highly Recommended

Daredevil #105 - This is probably a sin, but I have to admit I didn't read any of Gotham Central, at least none of it that wasn't part of the Murderer?/Fugitive crossover that began my descent into reading as much of this stuff as I do. I bring this up because I know this book is 2/3rds of the creative team from it, and it's so good that I now regret the mistake. The Mr. Fear arc comes to a close and leaves us with yet another steaming pile left in Matt's lap. The writing is significantly slower paced here than on Cap, but it's a much different kind of story anyway. The art is, as always, dark and forboding, which is exactly what you want in a book like this, and it doesn't fail to work at any point, and the dialogue is up to par for Bru. This probably isn't his best book, but it's not even his worst, which is still pretty good. Recommended

Teen Titans #56 - Back on DC? Like clockwork I've run out of good things to say about the art here. I'm being unfair I know, but this just isn't that interesting overall, and in several places it's strange and not at all good. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane was a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine as well, and parts of this remind me of why I liked it so much, but Terror Titans? Please tell me editorial mandated a second group of young versions of super-villains to attack the Titans again, and this isn't just McKeever showing that he should stick almost exclusively to teenage relationships. Sadly, it's not even all great on that front either, as most of the team are acting like assholes for no discernible reason. That's not true actually, the reason is to alienate Eddie further, but they typically aren't all that bad all the time. Not Recommended but god damn I'm going to keep reading for the nuggets of old fashioned McKeever goodness.

Thor #6 - This has never been a fast moving book. This issue is no exception. We start off with a number of stories from the townspeople interacting with Asgardians, which leads of course to some humor though it's all very typical fish out of water stuff. Can't say I didn't laugh at some of it though. From there we move on to a choice Thor has to make. He certainly didn't intend to bring Loki back, but now that he has he considers just releasing everyone at once. After all, the main reason to do it on the small scale is already messed up. Really, that's about it for the whole book, but it's still compelling nevertheless. Coipel's pencils certainly don't hurt any. Mildly Recommended, though if you're not on board yet you may as well wait for the trade and flip through a bit. This is very much not for everyone.

Young Avengers Presents #2 - We were all waiting for it since Mar-Vell returned, and here we have it. The bulk of this issue is about Teddy and his father, which I'm sure you can imagine would be quite a bombshell for both of them. Reed isn't the guy I'd consider the go-to for emotional moments, but he pulled it off here and the Marvel Marvel pantheon is his baby so it makes plenty of sense. Unlike the first issue we even get a minor bit of the unregistered members of the team doing what they do, which is nice though not as nice as getting a new volume of the ongoing for them. At least this confirms they aren't all in hiding 100% of the time anyway. Recommended to fans of the team.

X-Men Legacy #208 - This is spinning straight out of the most obvious mystery left at the end of Messiah CompleX, what happened to Charles Xavier? Well, the answers are within, as is the explanation to how he'll eventually (and nobody doubted this for a second) return to the world at large. Along the way it seems we'll be running through his past to reassemble his mind. I can't say I was overly enthusiastic coming into this; to be honest I planned on dropping it entirely. That said, Carey's team since his run started was full of characters I never really cared about at all, and I found it more interesting than this book has been in ages, so I took the leap at the last minute and am glad I did. This should be an interesting ride if nothing else. The art is good if disjointed. Part of that is for obvious reasons, but there are a full four pencillers which gets a little distracting in places that shouldn't be so obviously different thematically. Still, it's worth a pickup if you're following the X-Teams at all, as we'll definitely be seeing more of the plot threads from Messiah CompleX and before running through this book. Recommended.

Criminal #1 - I didn't read the last volume (or any straight up crime stories in any format truth be told), but after some rave reviews I decided what the hell? It's not like I don't read all the books Brubaker writes or cowrites at Marvel proper, why not jump onto his baby? Well, it was a good decision. Reading the backmatter makes it obvious that this isn't a new character for his universe, but it reads just fine not knowing that. The book feels a lot like his Daredevil without costumes or the bullshit science that allows random radioactive waste to do what it did to Murdock, or any of the other characters that require suspension of disbelief up the wazoo. This is a very human tale, just with the same feel, which is a good thing. The art is dark and opressive, to go with the mood, and the characters are all wonderfully flawed and real. This is apparently back story, but even still it's got me hooked. Time to grab the trades from Amazon and stick around for the ride from volume two. Highly Recommended.