Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 04/30/08

Here's the rest of this week's reviews for everyone. Thor: Ages of Thunder was an amazing one-shot and worth checking out even if you dislike the current Thor run by JMS for whatever reason. The Spanish issue of Blue Beetle was...interesting. You can follow it without understanding and there's a translation at the back, but I think the gimmick hindered the issue more than it helped. IT was still enjoyable, but not as much as usual because of it, at least for me.

I'm still banging my head against a wall trying to think of something fitting for a new name for these follow up reviews on Thursdays, so you'll have to stick with the Quick Shot title for the time being. I kind of want it to be comic booky sounding, but I'm probably trying too hard and should just go with something simple.

So what did everyone think of the new Anti-Venom revealed over at Newsarama for the upcoming Brand New Day storyline? We call that jumping the shark in the television world. I imagine it'll be Mr Negative gaining the symbiote or a symbiote of his own, but it just sounds and looks ridiculous to me.

Alright, enough of the nonsense, on with the reviews!

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #12
Written by Dan Slott & Chris Gage
Art by Steve Uy

Another solid outing from the Initiative crew. I wasn't a fan of Uy back when he did some fill-ins earlier in the run and I'm not a fan now. Other than that, I have no complaints about this issue.

If you're out of the loop, we just finished the KIA storyline where the MVP clone nearly killed everyone, the old New Warriors reformed and all the secrets of Camp Hammond were brought to Tony Stark's attention. This issue sees the aftermath of all that.

Hank Pym turned up alive early on here. I'm not sure if he's a new Skrull and this is where he replaced Pym for Secret Invasion or if multiple Skrulls have filled in for him when he "died" on that plane earlier and during the KIA arc or if it's the same Skrull and it actually survived. Suffice to say, he's alive here.

The previews made it look like everyone was prepping to go to a funeral, but it turned out to be a simple briefing. Rhodey wasn't willing to talk about his cyborg like appearance, so that's still up in the air. We also get to see a hearing with Iron Man present to find out what happened, but Gyrich is Gyrich throughout and nothing really comes of it.

As seen in the previews, Taskmaster and Ant-Man have some inappropriate, although a bit funny, comments for Dragon Lord's family when informing him of his death. I'm not sure I'd send either of those guys along to anything as sensitive as that and I doubt any family would want to see some guy in a skeleton-like mask at their doorstep to tell them their father died, but that's just me. Turns out Trauma survived his ordeal as well and Cloud 9, Komodo and Hardball's reactions were a lot of fun.

Finally, the issue ends with the graduation and if Slott and Gage simply write these characters off to pasture, I'll probably drop this book. I don't think they'll do that though, but as good as this is, I'm not interested in reading about a bunch of new throw away characters, provided that's what happens.

It's kind of sad to see how Cloud 9 has progressed from the free spirited girl that just wanted to fly on her clouds back at the beginning of the series compared to the jaded and cynical soldier she is now, but also a testament to the character progression Slott has set up over the course of the past year. I hope to see some more development with her and maybe some positive super heroics to bring back some of that lost childhood for her.

Verdict - Must Read


BLUE BEETLE #26
Written by Jai Nitz
Art by Mike Norton and Trevor Scott

This was the first issue in the Rogers-less era of Blue Beetle and, while I don't speak Spanish, it was very much the same Blue Beetle book I've always loved.

By this, I mean it's a light hearted affair that's packed full of fun moments with Jaime and his friends and family, which is my favourite part of the series.

Things like Jaime's grandmother knowing his identity after his mother told him and the comical aftermath of Jaime's "You told grandma!" scene where they both smack him are all things I've grown to expect from this book. Another great moment involving his grandmother is when she has him fly her off to see the sunset by her request.

However, the Spanish aspect of this issue did pull me out of it at times. Having the Parasite speaking Spanish for no reason or Jaime doing it when he's off by himself as the Blue Beetle, which he's never done before, made it feel like, at times, it was having them speak Spanish for the sake of speaking Spanish. As others pointed out, there was a translation in the back of the book, but flipping back and forth got a little old after the first couple pages (I did do it for the whole thing though), but it still made it a chore to "read" this issue at times.

Verdict - Check It


LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #41
Written by Jim Shooter
Art by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan

This was another slow, but enjoyable issue of LoSH. I don't know the intricacies of these characters just yet, but I am getting a real feel for them at this point and I see that as a testament to how well Shooter is doing here.

However, it seems like this story is almost derivative of what Johns just did in Action. I assume both planned months in advance, so both probably came up with it on their own, but with one after the other, it's hard not to draw parallels.

For instance, the Legion are running into all kinds of problems with the governments to the point they are seeing heavy restrictions. This issue sees the introduction of rejected try outs being recruited by the government to supercede the Legion and the Legion having members arrested and facing the possibility of all of them being outlawed.

Again, not identical, but it reminds me of Earth-Man taking over with the rejects, the old Legion getting branded as outlaws and hunted down and so on. For what it's worth, I find the Shooter version a much more satisfying read between the two and I really enjoyed this issue.

Verdict - Check It


THOR: AGES OF THUNDER #1
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Patrick Zircher

Alright, this issue was a little different than I expected based on the solicit, but in a good way.

Basically, it's set a long time before Thor ever appeared in the Marvel Universe or Odin tried to humble him by forcing him to live with humanity. In fact, the Thor presented here is arrogant, cocky and far harsher than the Thor we've come to know.

Some examples of this are the ways in which he dispatches the Frost Giants, brutally murdering them with precision hammer strikes and decapitations or is refusal to share his stockpile of apples from the world tree. It all culminates in the final parts of the issue when he refuses to celebrate with the other gods and it appears to be setting things up to explain Odin's reasons for forcing him to live with humanity.

For those wondering what, exactly, this issue is about, it deals primarily with the Enchantress, her role in retreiving the apples from the world tree and how the Frost Giants, for one reason or another, have tried to win her as a bride several times. We learn about the war with the Frost Giants, see a battle that destroys a wall, and even one disguised as an eagle that uses Loki in an attempt to kidnap her. Eventually, the Loki spirits Enchantress away and delivers her to the Giants, which causes a loss of the precious fruit of the gods and the strength and wisdom it conveys. Loki attempts to free her later, but it takes Thor to save them both.

Enchantress comes off as a much more sympathetic character than the one we've seen throughout the years and the way the other gods treated her and used her in bets was especially cruel, despite her devoted nature to her job as the only one that could take from the world tree.

My one complaint is with the narrative. It's very similar to what JMS did in recent Thor issues and the flashbacks with Odin, but those were only a spatter of pages and it worked well there. This is an entire issue of it and it is used far more liberally than in said Thor issues to the point I felt like just skipping the wall of text on some pages. It was well written, but I just found it was over used. This is only a small complaint against an otherwise perfect issue.

Before I finish this review, I have to comment on the art, which I rarely do, as Zircher did an incredible job here. I'd rank this up with Coipel in terms of detail and this book looks simply amazing. I hope he's on board for the two or three other one shots scheduled from Fraction.

Verdict - Must Read

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 04/23/08

Considering how few books came out this week, I probably should have had this with yesterday's reviews, but I've just been so run ragged lately, it's been difficult just making time to write the reviews. I'll try to make a more concerted effort, as the two reviews from yesterday was a pretty weak showing anyway you cut it, so I apologize for that.

I've had some comments concerning the whole "Quick Shot" name of the Thursday reviews and the non-quick aspect of said reviews. I've even joked about their length at times, but I've never bothered to change the name. I actually put out a call for names at one point way back when I started these when they were actually 200-300 word reviews. Now, it's more a mixed format of some short and some long, depending on how I feel about a book. I'm in no way attached to the name of these Thursday reviews, so, by all means, if you have any suggestions, feel free to throw them out there in the comments. I could even set up a poll or something if there's a few decent suggestions to choose from. I'd probably finally get around to making a banner for this article as well, since the major reason I never did was I didn't particularly like the name and was waiting to see if I'd change it.

Oh ya, I mentioned about setting up an archive a few weeks back that would have the individual reviews of all the books I've reviewed under easy listings by title. Just wanted to give a little update on how that's going. I've managed to get from the first set of reviews I did back at the end of July all the way up to November done. I had a different format for the earlier parts of the site, so I've added verdicts to each of the post and put them in the image/title/writer/artist format that starts all the reviews currently. I figure it should go much quicker from now on as I'm just catching up to where I switched to the more uniform format. I hope to have it done in early May, so look forward to that.

Heh, apparently, not even my intro can be "quick". Seeing as I've gabbed long enough, hit the jump for the rest of this week's reviews.

Quick edit: forgot to paste in the Ultimate Spider-Man review.

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #1
Story by Paul Dini
Story consulting by Keith Giffen
Script by Paul Dini
Art by Scott Kolins

I don't know if I should just be happy that this is finally over or if I should be livid over the fact it was a complete disaster and "ended", if you can call that an ending, with absolutely no resolution and a bunch of vague, I assume, Final Crisis dangling plotlines. Combined with all the tie-ins, which all proved completely pointless, I'm really soured on the whole weekly thing and am seriously considering not picking up Trinity, despite my love of Bagley's work.

This issue, picking up after the underwhelming and out of nowhere Orion "killing" Darkseid story from last week comes this epilogue of sorts that, while actually not a terrible issue, still has so many inconsistencies and plot holes that I can't even bring myself to like an otherwise decent issue, by Countdown standards.

Simply put, Kyle, Donna, Jimmy, Forager and Ray form a new team that will perform "border patrol" for the Multiverse in answer to Donna's groan inducing question of "who monitors the Monitors?". Yes, they managed to do a rip on Watchmen, which is an insult just by it now being referenced in a Countdown issue. On top of this, this new team consists of a useless human, a wannabe Wonder Woman, a guy who shrinks, a bug and a replacement Green Lantern (don't kill me Kyle fans) and they throw down an ultimatum to the all powerful Monitors, who just recently went toe-to-toe with Monarch's Multiversal army without even using a fraction of their powers, that they either toe the line and do what they say or they'll make them do it. How are these losers going to enforce anything on the Monitors and why didn't they just laugh their asses out of the building?

Only other noteworthy mess up was Black Adam being back to full power with no mention of how exactly that happened. Last I recall, he gave Mary all of his power, which reverted him to human form, and sailed off into the sunset. Then, Mary goes nuts, loses powers, regains them and turns evil again. Now she's picking a fight with him in the desert, where he laughs off her pathetic attempt at harming him and gives her a verbal beat down before leaving. I don't even care how he got the powers back, as it just means one good thing actually came out of this mess, but it doesn't make sense either.

Verdict - Complete Failure


MS. MARVEL #26
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Adriana Melo

Brian Reed needs a writing partner or tougher editorial handholding, as he's a great writer, but clearly lacks direction for his talents.

Take this issue, he does a great job with the sorting out of the "who's a Skrull" mess, gives us a nice bit of backstory for Agent Sum and has a funny, but skirting the line of in good taste, moment with Machine Man.

However, the plot falls apart as it just turns into random fighting, another Skrull shows up, gets killed easily and the Skrull Ms. Marvel just blurts out all their plans like a blubbering mess of a plot device. It could all be a fakeout, but past experience tells me it'll be otherwise.

Verdict - Check It



ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #121
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

It's issues like this that make me love Ultimate Spider-Man and wish Bendis could just write this three times a month instead of a couple other books he does. It very much reminded me of the old school Spider-Man stories that were 70% Peter Parker, his friends, trials and tribulations in high school and 30% Spider-Man messing everything up for him.

This issue fits that description to a tee and is a fun done-in-one story that wraps up the dangling Kitty / Peter school baby project. I could go into detail about what happened, but all you need to know is it's Peter, so the baby got destroyed in his battle with Omega Red.

All that is barely worth mentioning in comparison to the numerous joy inducing moments littered throughout the book. Where to begin? One, off the top of my head, is the return of Flash Thompson to the book, who hasn't been featured for a while, and his "I'M NOT SPIDER-MAN" routine. In fact, the entire guidance couciller scene was great, especially the end with Kitty Pryde's reaction to being singled out to explain mutants. Another great moment was at the end when Jameson wants Spider-Man to pay for the damages of the Omega Red fight. Immonen does an amazing job on the facial expression here and Jameson's reaction is pure gold as Spidey points his hand in the "your about to get webbed in the face" pose, as the scene fades to black.

I can't imagine anyone not liking this issue. It wasn't perfect or the greatest USM issue ever, but it's a damn good comic and a lot of fun to read and that's all you can ask from a book.

Verdict - Must Read


X-FORCE #3
Written by Chris Yost & Craig Kyle
Art by Clayton Crain

X-Force is really growing on me. I think it mostly has to do with the fact it's become the refugee for a) random New X-Men plot threads and b) a "bastion" for every B-list non-mutant villain to ever grace the pages of the X-Men. Considering I grew up reading 80's and 90's X-Men titles, people like Bastion, Cameron Hodge, William Stryker, Bolivier Trask and so on are all right up my alley in terms of hitting my fanboy buttons.

What? All those guys are dead? Well, seems Bastion is putting to use the techno organic virus and a bunch of dead bodies to get the old mutant hating gang back together. Oh ya, that Creed grave was for Sabertooth's father and former Bastion choice for president, Mr Graydon Creed, another mutant hater. So no retcon of Loeb's Wolverine arc yet.

Considering this was titled X-Force, the actual X-Force team barely played a part here aside from the prerequisite fight scene. It was mostly the badguys building their B-list version of the Sinestro Corps in preparation of what could be a really fun, if heavily nostolgia based, romp.

Verdict - Must Read (Check It if you have no idea who half the people I listed are)



YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS: THE VISION #4
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Mark Brooks

I honestly forgot all about the Vision / Iron Lad / Cassie love triangle post Vision acquiring Iron Lad's thought patterns. It's just been so freaking long since the Young Avengers have been anything but background or cannonfodder for events.

Also, I've never really ever bought into the whole human loving a machine deal in science fiction / comics. Love is very much a biological reaction with little rational process and I just don't see a human falling in love with a machine that has no pheromones or what have you. I guess bias should also apply to aliens, but chicks with three boobs are hot (yes, that's a joke from Total Recall).

Another problem I have with this issue deals with the convenient loss of powers for each Cassie and Vision from one "special" gun from the AIM guys. If you can ignore such contrived plot devices and don't have any qualms about suspension of disblief concerning manbot love, I think this issue actually does a decent job with how little it had to work with.

I liked Cassie's attempt at defending the pro-Reg heroes' stance to Vision, but, considering she's in the Initiative and what's gone on in that title, I find it hard to believe she can still side with them after all the MVP madness and other shady things going on at Camp Hammond. It was just nice to see the whole team divided on registration addressed here. All-in-all, it was a decent one-shot that most YA fans will enjoy.

Verdict - Check It

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 04/16/08

To make up for the handful of reviews from yesterday, I've put together a rather un-Quick Shot-like set of reviews for today containing the rest of the books from this week's pulllist. If you didn't pick up X-Men: Divided We Stand, I suggest heading back to the shop and grabbing it if they still have it. It was easily one of the best books I've read in a long while and I've wrote a rather extensive revew of it. I'll let you guys work your way through these reviews, so hit the jump and feel free to let me know what you think or what you bought this week!

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #6
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Carlos Rodriguez and Bit

While I'm digging the cast of characters Dixon has assembled, I'm a bit disturbed by the choice in storyline. These are street level characters in a black ops-like team. They aren't the JLA and this very cosmic-like turn in the story has me a bit leary of continuing with the book. These guys shouldn't be stealing rockets and flying to secret space stations that are building giant rockets and so on. Also, Batman is almost non-existent in the book and I assume his name is on the title to sell more copies.

The entirety of this issue is devoted to Metamorpho informing the team he's alive and at a secret space base and the rest of the team mounting a grand theft rocket mission so they can make their way into space. This involves invading China and getting captured, ending the issue with Batgirl the only one still free.

Verdict - Check It


CAPTAIN AMERICA #37
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting & Jackson Guice

I felt a little cheated with how Brubaker handled the Steve Rogers reveal from last issue. I expected it to be followed up on early and a little more thorugh than what we got here. In fact, he ended this issue with pretty much the same cliffhanger as last time, with Sharon confronting the Steve Rogers clone as it wakes up.

Did I say clone? Well, it's not confirmed, but Sharon says it's not Steve, yet he says he's Steve Rogers. It doesn't look like our Cap, at least not the way Epting has typically drawn Steve.

The rest of the issue revolved around Bucky getting more approval from the super-hero community, mainly Hawkeye and Falcon, one after the other, as they visit his apartment to have words with him. We also see the Red Skull setting up his own candidate for the presidency by manufacturing his "solutions" to all the chaos the Skull initiated, winning him a great deal of public approval.

Personally, I'm getting a little impatient with this storyline. I understand why it's being done and I know this will read so much better in a trade, but aside from one or two issues, ever since Bucky took over as Cap, it feels like we're watching paint dry.

Verdict - Check It


CAPTAIN MARVEL #5
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Lee Weeks

Well, this didn't explain anything. We still don't know why Captain Marvel attacked the Thunderbolts base in Secret Invasion #1 and his allegiances are even more muddled.

Basically, Captain Marvel is, indeed, a Skrull sleeper agent. However, during his reprogramming, where they applied the real Cap's memories and brain patterns to him, along with a trigger word, the process goes haywire and the trigger effect, which was that painting he's obsessed with, doesn't stick.

This leads to Captain Marvel believing he is the real Captain Marvel and killing all his Skrull allies and fleeing the complex. I didn't understand exactly how he came to be in the Negative Zone, back during Civil War, though.

Even though Cap knows he's a Skrull now, he still feels like Captain Marvel and is dedicating himself to hunting down the Skrull's in the Marvel Church and killing them, all while staying hidden from SHIELD. I can only speculate that he's under the impression a Skrull is in the Thunderbolts and that's why he attacked them. Nothing here really syncs up with what happened.

While this was a better issue than the last one, the series, on the whole, feels completely unnecessary and only the first issue really made me wish Captain Marvel was back.

Verdict - Check It


CATWOMAN #78
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez

Pfeifer seems to have just given up on the Salvation Run tie-in, as this issue features a great deal of time spent on Slam Bradly, Selina's daughter's grandfather (that's a mouth full), and his quest to find out what happened to his grandchild and her mother, Selina. It was good just to get back to Catwoman related stuff for a change.

The rest of the issue dealt with getting Catwoman back to Luthor's camp to tie into the end of this week's Salvation Run and gives us a rather simple fight scene. The cover should give you a guess as to who she fights.

Considering this series is going to end in four or five months, I'm a bit disappointed it's going to wallow in these tie-ins instead of giving us a satisfying conclusion to the series, but, hey, it was fun while it lasted.

Verdict - Check It


INCREDIBLE HERCULES #116
Written by Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak
Art by Rafa Sandoval

I fail to see the reason for the Eternals appearing here other than to have a forced fight between them. Ikaris was able to tell who was or wasn't an Eternal in the Gaiman penned mini, yet can't tell whether Hercules is the Eternal Gilgamesh or the halfgod we know him to be.

Ignoring the obligatory fight scene, there was some funny dialogue here, specifically with Herc's desire for "eye beams" if he had been an Eternal. I loved the opening map of the groups journey, too. It listed Athena's home and where the fought SHIELD and then a line towards San Fran where the Eternals live. However, the line had dots every couple centimeters with pit stops labelled simply as "Beer" stops. Herc and Cho also had a nice bonding scene and Cho has been slightly less annoying as of late, so that's a plus.

The biggest surprise of this issue was Athena's reason for calling a meeting of the various pantheon's of the Marvel Universe, mainly telling them that they are the protectors of Earth and humanity and that they have been invaded by Skrulls, as she holds a severed Skrull head that she pulled out of her bag. Definitely got the message across for me in a powerful bit of imagery. I have my doubts about the whole "God Squad", but can't help but be curious about it.

Verdict - Check It


X-FACTOR #30
Written by Peter David
Art by Valentine De Landro

I'm not much of a fan of Arcade, so this arc has left me a little underwhelmed, simply due to my bias against him. I read this book for the characters, though, and PAD didn't disappoint on that front. There were several great scenes in this issue, such as Jamie's "brilliant" deduction on the mastermind behind their current troubles or Monet's "shocking" hairdo after a run in with one of Arcade's traps. She was so out of it, she started calling people random names, like Cyclops or what have you.

As this is an Arcade story, we get Murderland-lite with this booby trapped Mutant Town attack. The Purifier that recruited Rictor hired Arcade for payback, as the Purifiers were his life and saved him from his drug addiciton and gave him purpose. Now they have cast him out for recruiting a traitor like Rictor and that leads us to Arcade. After a series of attacks, the team finally catches up to Arcade, but a moment too late as he made his escape. Monet took off after him, but the rest were left to deal with the ex-Purifier, who has all of Mutant Town rigged to explode if he dies and he just committed suicide by poison, ending the issue ominously with the empty glass hitting the floor.

The character moments helped sell this issue to me. If it was any other book, I'd have been fairly disappointed with the storyline, but this managed to have enough good stuff and wasn't dragged on too long, either. Still not up to pre-Messiah Complex standards, but it's a good X-Factor, nonetheless.

Verdict - Check It


X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND BOOK 1 #1
Written by Mike Carey, Matt Fraction, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost & Skottie Young
Art by Brandon Peterson, Jamie McKelvie, Sana Takeda & Skottie Young

It might be my love of New X-Men talking, but I thought this issue was the best bang for your buck this week. It had something for everyone and, with the exception of the Cannonball story, were all great stories.

As I said, this is a NXM fan's wet dream, as it features not one, but three NXM centric stories from the former creative team, one by Yost and Kyle, one by Yost alone and the other by artist Skottie Young, a long time collaborator on NXM.

The first by Y&K featured one of the "background" characters from their run, Nehzno. He wasn't featured very often, but he's easily recognizable, as he's the black boy with the vibranium tattoos all over his body. This story was easily my favourite of the bunch and is just a quiet story that added a great deal of depth to a relatively unknown supporting character. If you've been upset with Hudlin's Black Panther treatment, you'll enjoy this story's use of him, as it makes me wish Yost and Kyle would do a Panther mini or ongoing based on their understanding of Wakanda, Black Panther and Storm.

In the end, this is a tale of isolation and xenophobia. While Nehzno is used to mutant prejudice and hatred, the Wakanda people have no problem with them and openly accept them in their culture. However, Nehzno's father is a Russian and Nehzno's tattoos make him stick out like a sore thumb, leading to him to the inner monologue about how he hated the noise and distractions of the New X-Men and only wished to go home and, now that he's home, he's completely unwanted and he longs to be back with the people he tried so hard to distance himself from. It's an excellent story and I would have paid cover price for this one alone, as you can tell by how much time I spent describing it.

The remaining NXM related stories follow how Hellion and Anole handled the disbanding of the X-Men. Anoles is a great little story where we see how the X-Men lifestyle, where they faced mortal dangers, death and military-like lifestyles every single day has made it almost impossible for him to return to his loving family and accepting small town. The X-Men's "school" barely taught him anything and he was way behind his classmates when he returned to a normal school. He also punches Northstar in the face.

Hellion, on the otherhand, woke up from his near death experience in Messiah Complex to find everything taken from him. No more X-Men, his friends are all scattered to the wind, his teachers have put him up in a hotel and left him to fend for himself. He's angry and upset and seeks out Magneto in an attempt to try and make the X-Men love him by joining their greatest enemy and lashing out at them. I was a little upset with how easily he found Magneto, but his rejection of Hellion and pointing out the things I stated above capped off a nice short story that gave us a little heads up on what he's been up to lately.

Finally, there were two other stories in this issue, one showing Cannonball brooding and angry over the disbanding of the X-Men, leading to a barroom brawl in his hometown and him flying off angry, and the other featuring one of the creepiest depictions of Nightcrawler I've ever read. He's disguised as a priest and tracking down Scalphunter, of the Marauders, who is working in a diner in the middle of nowhere. I assume he's after others as well, but he stalks Scalphunter for a week or so, constantly spouting religious beliefs and views, before attacking him in his trailer. What follows is Nightcrawler putting a beatdown on Scalphunter and then verbally berating him and telling him he forgives him, as he's just a clone of a clone of clone and has no soul and isn't worth killing. It was an interesting take and I'd like to see this aspect of Nightcrawler explored more. Scalphunter is seen at the end of the issue embracing religion with a crucifix necklace and some script written on his trailer.

All in all, this was a great book and if this Divided We Stand series can keep this up, it'll be on my pulllist as long as Marvel publishes it. Seriously, buy this book if you have any interest in X-Men.

Verdict - Must Read

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 04/09/08

Oh, before we get started, you should check out this Dr Doom post from mike sterling's progressive ruin. After the recent Mighty Avengers' issue where he calls Ms. Marvel a whore, Mike did up an image intensive post full of random Doom monologues and put downs. After you read them all in a row, you'll see how far off Bendis is, in terms of dialogue, with regards to Doom. And hey, it's a bunch of Doom put downs and speeches. What's not to love?

For this edition of the Quick Shot Reviews, I think I managed to stay fairly close to the "quick" part of the title. The Titans #1 review is a bit long, but only because it was a #1 and I had some more I wanted to say about it.

Also, I'm thinking about going back through the archives and breaking up older review posts into individual reviews for each book and creating a proper index for each series. I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing this or if it's even worth my time to do, but I think it would at least provide an easier way to find, say, all Captain America reviews or all my reviews from DC, etc. I have some other personal projects I'm working on at the moment, so this is just something I'm throwing around at this time. Might get around to it by the end of the month or so.

Anyways, I've taken enough of your time with my yammering. Hit the jump for the reviews.

BOOSTER GOLD #8
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

If you've been reading Booster all along, this is more of the same. With how fast Johns and Katz introduced and then killled off the resistance in this altered timeline and the general lack of emotion or slightest hint that it bothered Booster or Ted leaves me feeling like the last few issues were filler. Add in the fact it ends with Blue and Gold looking to track down the remnants of the old JLI and it makes me wonder why that wasn't the first step they took and issue or two ago. We're basically back to where we started when they first arrived in the future, no better or worse for the wear.

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this issue or the previous ones, but it just doesn't feel like any of this matters and you could skip the previous couple of issues and you wouldn't have missed a beat. Still a good book, but a far cry from the comedy goldmine the earlier issues were. I blame the severe lack of Skeets.

Verdict - Check It


COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #3
Story by Paul Dini
Story consulting by Keith Giffen
Script by Sean McKeever
Art by Ron Lim and Mark McKenna

Let's do a quick recap. Superman gives Darkseid a bloody lip after one punch. I know he's Superman, but it's freaking Darkseid they have jobbing to him here. In fact, it doesn't turn to Darkseid's favour until he activates the chip he put in Jimmy Olsen and uses his powers to turn Jimmy into a walking piece of kryptonite.

Meanwhile, Mary Marvel is evil and uses Kyle Rayner as a human club and bashes Donna Troy repeatedly until the two of them are out cold. WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP.

Finally, the Atom is inside Jimmy's head, breaks Darkseid's control chip and Jimmy then grows into a giant lizard-man thing and we end with him about to fight Darkseid. God, I hope the big conclusion to Countdown isn't an "epic" battle between Jimmy Olsen and Darkseid. I don't think I could handle it.

Verdict - Avoid It


GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #7
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Cliff Chiang

By all accounts I should bash this book as much as I bash Countdown, as of late. It is very much a B-movie-esque title with some ridiculous occursances and explanations, such as an evil cloud killing Connor or aliens in a flying saucer attacking our heroes.

Well, the aliens turn out to be humans in rubber mask disguises. Seems Ollie didn't bother frisking or checking them out and called Hal Jordan in in what was, I'll admit, a pretty funny scene if you ignore the fact these people know are responsible or were at least involved in trying to kill Ollie's son and have rendered him brain dead.

The whole inappropriate response in light of his son's situation? Ya, Winick throws cation to the wind and has the Arrow clan tie the two men up and imply they are going to take photos and videos of them being forced to have sex with sheep, giant fat men and a 90 year old woman in a bunny suit. Go back and read that again. Who the hell approved this?

Considering the situation with Connor being kidnapped and critically injured, you'd think there'd be some sense of urgency or at least some emotion from these people. They're all laughing it up and by the looks of things, they don't seem to be in any hurry to find him, if they even recall that's what the point of this whole thing is. Under different pretenses, this could probably be a decent, light hearted romp, and the opening with Hal was perfect, when taken out of context, but right now, this boggles the mind.

Verdict - Check It


GREEN LANTERN CORPS #23
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins

I've been reading Green Lantern for a while now, dating back to off and on stints around when Hal went crazy. Oh wait, I mean was possessed by a giant fear bug. What I'm trying to say is, I don't recall ever seeing the rings pull someone, whether they want to or not, back to Oa. Am I just forgetting this ability or is this new? Seems odd it would endanger innocents or prevent the robot GL from reforming his body, which seems like it would be a useful thing to have. However, it was funny seeing Guy getting dragged off by the ring while he was sleeping.

It's definitely good to be back to Tomasi's story. Mongul is busy cultivating those weird "dreamworld" inducing plants of his and has also been busy hunting down and recruiting, or killing, Sinestro Corps members, depending on whether they accept or decline his "offer".

The Guardians have noticed the disappearance of these rings and send the GL's they dragged back to Oa (why not just message them through the ring?) to investigate. This happens to be in the off limits to Green Lanterns Vega system and, as expected, leads to some complications. Ion, fresh off some sun bathing, gets taken out by one of the dream plants of Mongul along with Arisia and taken captive. Kind of sad seeing Ion taken out so quick. Seems to be suffering Sentry-itis where he's too powerful for a story so he gets taken out conveniently at the start.

Still, solid returning issue, but a little light weight, with it mostly being set up for upcoming issues. Definitely worth a read, though.

Verdict - Check It


TITANS #1
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Ian Churchill

I picked this up after a couple people asked me about it and, while I didn't hate it, the book didn't do much for me either. I was never a fan of the original Titans. Sure, I like Wally and Dick, but as a team, they don't do it for me and they always seemed to be fighting either Deathstroke or Trigon. Guess what this issue is about?

Ya, Trigon is back and trying to kill Titans. He was the one behind the Power Boy killing and putting the beat down on a bunch of other random Titans, like Cyborg or Hawk and Dove, back in the Titans East special.

This issue, he goes out of his way to attack the rest of the former Titans, including the current Teen Titans and the original team members, Starfire, Nightwing, etc. Don't ask why he tries to kill them when he didn't bother to kill anyone but Power Boy in the first attack on the East squad.

That's the issue. He attacks each member one by one and then, after they all survive, they meet up and the issue ends. Sure, we had a ridiculous monologue on how liberating being naked is from Starfire and some cheesecake from the Flash for the ladies out there, but not much else happened. I was confused with a few things though.

1) Dick is fighting what appear to be human or humanoid beings and he just tosses a sword through one of their heads. It was a bit too casual for me considering it's by Nightwing, but I don't know if it's a big deal or not.

2) Dick finishes talking to Batman and heads to meet up with his former teammates. He was just blown up and fought some demons. He gets to the rest of the team and he still has a bunch of glass shards in his back. Uh, no first aid kit in the Batmobile or what?

3) Donna and Kyle are in space. They get attacked by demon thing. I guess Countdown is over? On top of that, Donna's the only one that went back to join the Titans. After all this time together, Kyle didn't bother to come help or at least find out why they nearly died?

Despite some minor flaws or nitpicking, it's an average read. I don't have much affinity for any of the characters in a team setting and don't intend on sticking around for the remainder of this Trigon story, but that's more a personal preference and not a direct indicator of the quality of the book.

Verdict - Check It

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 04/02/08

And, now, it's time for the rest of the weekly reviews in the Quick (and not-so quick) Shot Reviews. I also picked up a couple books that I must have missed in the previews, namely the conclusion to the Legion story in Action Comics and Cable #2 to see how Bishop survived Messiah Complex. I won't spend too much time chatting, so hit the jump for the rest of this week's reviews.

ACTION COMICS #863
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank

This marks the final chapter for the Legion storyline and the last time I'll be picking this title up for a while. It has nothing to do with this issue, in particular, but I hopped on for Frank's art and this hyped Legion storyline and wasn't planning to stick along forever from the get go.

This issue, as I said, is the final chapter to this storyline and features the entire Legion versus Earth-Man. It started out with him trying to kill the powerless Superman, but Brainiac manages to free Sun Boy in time and our sun returns to it's yellow status. I won't bother trying to figure out how the sunlight reached Earth instantly to give Superman his powers back before he smeared on the pavement, as this is comic book science, but this was about as predictable a turn out as could be imagined.

From there, all the Legion members take turns trying to stop Earth-Man, who has all of their powers and then some at his disposal. It was a basic, "hey, we have powers, look at us!", scene where they end up all failing to stop him. This leads to Superman punching him once to knock him out and ending the threat. Way to kill any credibility Earth-Man or the Legion has by making them all look like fools, Kal. Felt like a rushed ending to a very Silver Age-esque story.

Verdict - Check It


CABLE #2
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Ariel Olivetti

I didn't like issue one and I knew I wouldn't like this one, either, but I had to know how Bishop survived Messiah Complex and how he managed to find Cable in the myriad possibilities of the future. I'll say it now. I wish had I never bought this book and it doesn't deserve to even be on the shelf.

Bishop cauterized the missing arm wound on Sunfire's flaming body. This was the only rather intelligent solution in this and makes a bit of sense. From here, he picks up a gun, lines up with Cable to shoot him and the events from Messiah Complex play out. It was pretty funny seeing the artist draw Xavier and Cyclops off to the side as Cable is teleporting and the next panel with Xavier with a bullet in his head. Bad aim or Xavier just jumped in the way? I'll go with bad art.

After Cyclops shoots Bishop with his optic blast, Bishop dusts himself off and starts walking from Muir Island all the way back to America to break into Forge's lab. Let's not forget he just did this a few issues ago in MC and Forge is up and about like nothing happened and didn't bother setting up any security to prevent the exact same thing from happening. But, hey, Bishop shoots him in the back again and pillages his lab for a new arm. Yes, Forge has a wall of random cybernetic arms, conveniently labelled and ready for someone to equip to their recently removed arm. They're all right arms as well.

Bishop takes the Nuclear-Powered Battle-Ready Arm (batteries not included) and, with his complete lack of scientific knowledge, jury rigs a time travel device to his Nuclear-Powered Battle-Ready Arm. A time machine. The time travelling only works from the place you travel from, so he went back to Muir Island and kept leaping ahead in time, I assume daily, although it lists a few random years, until he finds a can of condensed baby milk in the rubble. This tells him Cable is in this time and he just starts tracking him through a convenient set of clues. When he finally catches up to Cable, he finds out he left the diner from last issue the day before. Bishop just jumps back in time a day and waits for him. That's how he got the jump on Cable. A billion different time travel jumps from his Nuclear-Powered Battle-Ready Arm.

Oh, and the new arm isn't the only thing Bishop has. His mutant power to absorb energy? Well, he can now use that to lift 18 wheeler trucks into the air and drop them on top of Cable. Cable's solution to get out of the way was to try and time jump, himself, but his is conveniently broken.

Terrible story, terrible art, horrendous dialogue and the most retarded explanations ever imaginable and time travel logic that makes my head spin make this one of the worst books I've ever read. Why didn't Bishop just go back in time and kill the freaking baby's mother when no one was around? He knew where it took place. He could warp in, kill the mother and warp out, no fuss, no muss. Since when can you time travel at will like this? Why doesn't he just go into the future and double check and see if the girl kills everyone and is the anti-Christ he thinks it is? Why the million jumps to find Cable and these retarded plot twists? I give up. I could keep this up all day.

Verdict - Avoid It


LOGAN #2
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Eduardo Risso

I like this mini-series from BKV and Risso, but it feels like these should just be random Wolverine: Origins stories instead of off on its own. I know I wouldn't want to be associated with W:O, but this book is exactly what Origins should be like. It would also give them time to flesh this story out a bit more.

Logan hooked up with yet another Japanese woman in the first issue and they have some light pillow talk the next morning before Lt. Warren, no relation, returns to kill Logan and his new woman for being traitors and spies. He "kills" Logan first and has a short fight with Atsuko before he stabs her in the chest, killing her.

These leads to a new fight with Logan, as he recovers from the bullet in the head, where we find out Lt. Warren is a mutant as well with similar powers to Logan. Instead of regeneration, I think Warren is either immortal or simply can feel no pain, as he doesn't recover from any of his wounds to my knowledge (it shows the sword wound in his chest unhealed). The fight is cut short as Hiroshima gets nuked into oblivion. Logan is the only one shown coming from the ashes, a pile of regenerating flesh.

I assume Warren is the fiery skeleton entity at the beginning of this chapter in present day, as well as from last issue, and it will be the result of something from this explosion.

As I said, it's a good story, but not for the pedigree of the book (Risso and BKV). Atsuko has appeared in maybe 4 or 5 pages total with Logan and a few more during her fight scene, leaving me with no attachment for her and not caring in the slightest that she was killed off. Similarly, Warren has almost no motivation for what he did and the conflict seems a bit forced. Finally, Risso felt the need to stamp his big signature logo on the bottom of just about every page, which was fairly distracting for some reason and completely unnecessary on his part. Seems like it was done just so he could resell the images on their own at a later date.

Still, it's an enjoyable enough read and I don't think you'd be remiss to go out and pick this up if you have a little extra cash. It won't be the most memoriable story and I doubt anyone will be talking about this in the future, but it's still a good book worth taking a look at it.

Verdict - Check It


NIGHTWING #143
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Don Kramer and Christian Alamy

I've given Nightwing a lot of praise with Tomasi's current run on the title and this issue continues the trend. It's not as good as the last two issues, but it's still leaps and bounds above anything from this title in the past couple years. This is an action packed issue that deals with the "zombie"-like resurrections that have been running in the background of the title since Tomasi came on board.

However, the action of this issue is the biggest detriment. Not on the art side, as Kramer does a great job, but just in the fact this grave robbing storyline has been rather boring and the worst part of the run. On top of that, we don't even finish that storyline, as the villain, who I still don't know if I'm supposed to recognize him (Nightwing didn't even know him), is as forgettable as the actual plot.

The thing that bolsters this issue is the very thing that has really wow'd me with this title of late - the characters. Nightwing and Robin have some great dialogue and they both have that big brother / little brother type feel to them. Some of opening jokes fall a little short, but, all in all, we read these books for the characters and Tomasi does a great job with both of them.

Verdict - Check It


YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #3
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Alina Urusov

Considering absolutely nothing happens in this issue, I actually liked it, for the most part. Speed, who desparately needs a new name, and Wiccan set out to find Scarlet Witch, their mother, because they've been having weird dreams about her. They check out Genosha and Wundagore Mountain and, finally, Scarlet Witch and Vision's old home in New Jersey.

There, they run into Master Pandemonium, who, after a brief confrontation, basically explains their origin, which we and they already knew, and then gives them some pep talk about enjoying their lives in the now, as the future is never certain.

To be honest, it was good seeing these characters, but I don't know how essential this issue is. There is no new material and only a brief search for Wanda. I did like the story, but I can't think of any truely high points in it that would be worth mentioning. The art was serviceable, but I'm not sure when Hulkling took the steroids and is now as big as a room.

Verdict - Check It

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 03/26/08

Did anyone else get a chance to see the Secret Invasion 10 page prologue that came out this week? I didn't do a formal review of it, but I did read it and I have some quick thoughts on it.

1) Yu is not an event book artist and, as much as I enjoy his dark, sketchy and kinetic style, I think Marvel dropped the ball when they picked him for this one and he's a terrible fit for this style of book.

2) They killed Dum-Dum Dugan and replaced him with a Skrull. What the hell, Bendis? Kill Maria Hill or some other no name if you want to try and make your event feel important. He's been awesome over in Iron Man, where it's clearly not the same one seen in this prologue, and for some shock value they kill him off. I'm not even some huge Dugan or old SHIELD comics fan and I still think it's stupid.

The closer we get to Secret Invasion, the less I seem to like it. Anyways, enough ranting on that. I'll drop it for now and let you guys check out this week's Quick Shot Reviews.

BLUE BEETLE #25
Written by John Rogers
Art and Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Goddamn, Blue Beetle. I pity the writers that have to take over for Rogers after this. It's going to be impossible to follow up on this storyarc, let alone his 25 issue run.

With last issue's "Khaji Da" shouting cliffhanger, I was expecting a little more from what came of that. It basically just reactivated the scarab, which was faking its inert state, and summoned it to Jaime. It was still a great sequence and it was cool seeing the scarab actually having some inner monologue text boxes during this sequence where it explains that it is the first scarab to have taken a name and it is Khaji Da, but I was hoping for some Dan Garrett-esque transformation of some kind. But, hey, if I find 20 bucks on the ground, I won't complain that it wasn't $25. Turns out the scarab was hacking all the Reach files while they were busy examining it and the Reach's plans are pretty much screwed at this point and all Earth knows about it.

Back on Earth, the calvary has arrived as the, as Jaime's sister calls him, Crazy One makes his return to the book. Who's the Crazy One? Guy Gardner, Honour Guard Green Lantern of course. This just signals the first of almost the entire old JLI team showing up to help save the day, as they take it to the Earth-based Reach attacking Jaime's family and friends.

On top of that, there are a whole mess of random strings from earlier issues all being tied together in this final issue to make this issue perfect. It doesn't require you to have read them to understand the story, but they are great little touches for long time readers and just add to an otherwise perfect issue. Things like Dan Garrett's granddaughter enlisting Oracle and Batman's help or the use of the satellite the Teen Titans and Jaime stopped Lobo from destroying six or seven issues back or the afforementioned Guy showing up again (he's been in a few issues of the title already). Even Batman's off panel involvement that has been seen throughout the series is in play here as it's hinted he influenced the random showing up of nearly all the JLI members and his satellite being used by Jaime to transmit from the ship and finally with the Wayne Enterprise insurance claim rebuilding of their home.

When it comes time to rank the events for 2008, Secret Invasion and Final Crisis and anything else are going to have a tough time beating this three issue Blue Beetle / Reach arc. My only complaint is Rogers is leaving the book indefinitely with this issue.

Verdict - Must Read


COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #5
Story by Paul Dini
Story consulting by Keith Giffen
Script by Adam Beechen
Art by Scott Kolins

Let's see, we have the same horrible Buddy Blank narrative with no actual dialogue again this week, there's a dog with a carving knife that looks like Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo's retarded little cousin or nephew, Una gets eaten by rats and Buddy takes Kamandi back to the bunker and activates this world's Brother Eye. On top of that, the preview for next week's cover shows Mary Marvel's costume switching back to black, meaning we get more of evil Mary, one of the worst storylines from the past year of this drek brought back to piss everyone off. Saying this issue was bad would be an understatement.

Verdict - Avoid It


LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #40
Written by Jim Shooter
Art and Cover by Francis Manapul and John Livesay

Change is as good as a rest, they say, and I am definitely feeling that with the recent dropping of other titles and picking up of Legion of Super-Heroes. I've never read or been a fan of them before and these are all, with few exceptions, pretty much new characters to me and the slower pace Shooter is using for these early issues on his current run are a great deal of fun to read and are easing me into the franchise quite nicely.

This issue, in particular, is very Whedon-esque in terms of storytelling and the dialogue and character interactions. While very character oriented this month, Shooter manages to progress the main plot along quite a bit at the same time, so this doesn't end up feeling like filler or "decompression" either.

My favourite scene was probably when Saturn Girl returns with her team and everyone gets in a big debate over the use of her powers to control Timber Wolf's mind. It was interesting seeing everyone's stance on it and Lightning Lad really stepped up as leader this scene, whereas he's been pretty ineffectual in every way to date. Another funny scene was when Karate Kid says something to the effect of that he can control every aspect of his body perfectly, prompting a little sexual innuendo from Triplicate Girl.

I'm not sure if this is a Must Read or just me being a kid with a new toy, but I really liked this issue. I'll leave it as a Check It for now, as older fans might hate this new take or this might just be the whole newness of jumping on this title for me.

Verdict - Check It


MIGHTY AVENGERS #11
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley

Apparently, Dr Doom somehow used magic to influence his time travel to arrive back in our time about a half hour before Iron Man and Sentry do and the bulk of this issue takes place, technically, before the events of the previous issue.

Doom, pissed off over the whole time travel debacle, unleashes a legion of undead minions with a spell that Morgan taught him and takes down the Avengers in a matter of minutes. This leads to a pretty funny scene with the Avengers all bound and hanging in another Doom base where Spider-Woman comments on how she's glad she woke up with clothes on this time, harkening all the way back to the first New Avengers arc where they ended up naked in the Savage Land. Upon relating this to the team, Wasp can't help but shout out with a big smirk on her face, "You saw Luke Cage naked?".

During this, Doom is busy preparing something or other on his computers, which later turned out to be that giant blast that Iron Man got caught in at the end of last issue. Speaking of which, that blast didn't do anything to him and he survived without so much as a scatch as far as I could tell. Ms. Marvel interrupts him at one point and Doom gives her a verbal beat down that has her thought bubbling about how that actual hurt her feelings. Wonder Man tried to cheer her up by letting her know she's not that fat. One of the funnier moments this week.

The issue ends with Spider-Woman freeing the entire team through voodoo spider power of unexplained nature of which I'm guessing Bendis is trying to make us all think she's a Skrull and even has Black Widow call her on at the end of the book. This leads to the return of Sentry and Iron Man, where upon Sentry promptly rips Doom's face off. Okay, his armour, but it was still one of the more badass moments and Sentry almost seemed like he was useful for a change. The look in Doom's eyes was priceless. Doom is then taken into custody.

All in all, this is an enjoyable read, but the thought bubbles mar just about every page. Doom has one page where literally half the page is one big continuous thought bubble. And while there were some funny and cool moments, the actual plot was pretty sub par and the arc, taken as a whole, was all over the place and there was never any clear threat or focus to the story.

Verdict - Check It



ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #120
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

I honestly thought this was going to turn into a generic super hero brawl after Magneto showed up and the X-Men were featured on this cover. Thankfully, this is Ultimate Spider-Man and it's actually a good comic, unlike some other Spider-Man book that will remain unnamed.

That doesn't mean there wasn't any action in this issue. There was the requisite Spider-Man and Iceman getting owned by Magneto before he chatted up Liz Allen, but, other than that, there wasn't really any brawl, even after the X-Men showed up.

Magneto holds the identity of Liz's father over her head in an attempt to get her to return with him to the Savage Land and the X-Men do the whole school recruiting deal while trying to convince her Mag's is a villain.

In the end, she takes off, not wanting to go with either of them and eventually makes her way to Mary Jane's place. This is where everything comes to ahead and the issue really shines as Spider-Man shows up shortly after and, along with Mary Jane, reveals to Liz that he's Peter Parker in a great scene. The ol' secret identity thing can pretty much be retired at this point, as I think there's only like two guys in Siberia that don't know who he is at this point. Like most great USM issues, the dialogue really held this one together and the ending was another great moment in the series.

Oh, and one last thing, the epilogue for this issue shows a flashback to Liz's dad talking to Magneto about getting a human girl pregnant and how he'd like to have her taken care of and basically everything that prompted Magneto to do what he did this issue. Who was the mystery mutant? The freaking Blob. If I'm Liz, I'm thankful I wasn't told this information. If I'm Liz's mother - what the hell did you have to drink that night you hooked up with the Blob?

Verdict - Must Read

Click Here to Read More!

Weekly Crisis Quick Shot Comic Book Reviews for 03/19/08

Yosh, as a part of the Quick Shot Reviews, here's the rest of this week's reviews. Apparently, I should have read the Diamond listings a little closer. Otherwise, I would have seen Kick-Ass #2 wasn't due out this week and Marvel's website was horribly out of date or the book was delayed. So, no review on that title for anyone wondering. Not much else to comment on, so I'll let you hit the jump and read all the reviews yourself.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #5
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Julian Lopez and Bit

Batman and the Outsiders is your standard middle of the pack book. It's neither great nor horrible. Just your standard super hero fare. Because of this, it's also hard to recommend it to anyone, as for every person that will like it there are just as many that won't. This issue doesn't do much to change that opinion and sticks to the modis operandi of the first four issues with a lot of Outsider infiltration turned action scenes and Batman being Batman. There's no real character development for any of the varied cast, but it doesn't stop the book from being a fun read for me. If you enjoy any of the characters, you'll probably enjoy this book.

This issue sees Batman escape being sniped with the aid of the Dibney's. Yes, the Ghost Detectives take control of the two sharpshooters to save the unaware Batman. Meanwhile, the Outsiders fight a generic nobody villain that the Suicide Squad must have missed in their little purge for Salvation Run. They don't do so well and Geo-Force was called in to save their behind. I'm still a bit in the dark as to what this storyline is even about, what with the OMACs coming out of the woodworks, random rocket launches and the multitude of fights. The book isn't really built on plot, so I'm just enjoying it for the sort of summer action flick feel to the book.

Verdict - Check It


CAPTAIN MARVEL #4
Written by Brian Reed
Art by Lee Weeks

Ugh. I was genuinely pumped for this issue after the great pay off with the Skrulls and the cliffhanger from last issue. This issue throws it all away with what felt like a forced reading of War & Peace with the amount of text boxes and pointless exposition.

On top of that, they had the Skrull activate Marvel's "sleeper programming" and he beats the Skrull down and leaves to join the Captain Marvel Church. There was some other random garbage about how he vowed to protect this world and now he's going to do it whether we want it or not. It was all very pedestrian and I really just want my time and money back on this one.

Verdict - Avoid It


CATWOMAN #77
Written by Will Pfeifer
Art by David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez

I give Catwoman a lot of praise and has deserved it ever since Brubaker and Cooke relaunched the title, but there's very little Pfeifer can do with this editorial mandated Salvation Run tie-in arc. I'm honestly impressed with how he's managed to skirt the issue here and try and go off on his own and ignore the entire thing while still technically being there.

I refer, of course, to this little mishap with the alien computers that resulted in a fun romp through Selina's "ideal" Earth where she can take down the entire Justice League by herself and just ignore all the problems and tragedies that have built up in her life over the past couple years. It's still the product of a tie-in to a terrible story and this arc could very well be considered pure filler that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's still enjoyable enough and this little sidetrip shouldn't be looked at as a total loss. I can see a newcomer being disappointed with the book based on the last couple issues, but I hope they stick around until we get back to Earth or go back and pick up some earlier trades to see what the book is really like.

Verdict - Check It


COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #6
Story by Paul Dini
Story consulting by Keith Giffen
Ccript by Gray and Palmiotti
Art by Jesus Saiz and Jimmy Palmiotti

Just keep telling yourself, "Only 5 more issues to go.". It's the only way the pain is going to lessen. This week's issue saw the return of that cover I was talking about in last week's Cover to Cover, which was probably miss-solicited by DC, to no one's surprise. Oddly enough, the final cover looks worse than the preview one for some reason. Oh, the issue? We get random Earth's Buddy Blank narrating the entire issue, yes all of it, with notebook pad boxes explaining how the Great Disaster is basically the turning of every being in the Multiverse into a bunch of furries.

Yes, the bane of the internet. Look "furries" up on Google. Don't blame me for the madness. I'm sure the readership for this title will jump through the roof with this revelation based on some fetishes.

Oh ya, Hal Jordan gets to help facilitate another Multiverse-level genocide (see Zero Hour for the first one) as he spreads his furry STD to everyone in the universe. Why he had to leave Earth and go infect everyone instead of using his ring to call for help or listening to the smart people telling him not to leave the planet can probably be attributed to Parallax or some other retcon, possibly involving bad writing.

Verdit - Avoid It


THOR #7
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Marko Djurdjevic

Thor is the book with absolutely no story, but somehow still manages to be one of the best books on the shelves. It also gets the award this month for having the two hardest to spell creator names in the business, so kudos for making my life hell when I try to use their names. Speaking of which, Djurdjevic's pencils were excellent and I like them more than the digital / painted look most of his covers have.

This issue has Thor being put to bed in the Odinsleep Thorsleep and confirms he still has the Odinforce Thorforce. Somehow, this process separates Thor f