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Batman/Superman #18 - Thank God this craptacular time travel story arc is over. I would suggest shooting Jeph Loeb in the kneecaps, but there's the next issue in this review to be considered. Carlos Pacheco, however, may be immediately shot. Then sodomized.

Batman/Superman #19 - Back to the new Supergirl. Kal-El's cousin is doing her best to make her own name. With the boy scout in blue and ol' Angsty McAngsterson watching her every move, it's not that easy. Then there's an unknown player, watching her just as closely, if not more so. Jeph Loeb is already making up for the pitiful excuse for a story in the last arc, with this issue ending in the dark return of an old nemesis. Ian Churchill makes a much better artist than Pacheco, and I'm hoping he stays on longer than the one arc the other artists have gotten.

Fables #36 - We finally get our first look at the Homelands. The story centers on Boy Blue and his quest to find Red Riding Hood. This being the first issue of what looks like it could be a complete departure from normal Fables writing, I don't feel comfortable judging the story just yet. The art is the same as it always has been.



The New Avengers #5 - Pardon me whilst I wip the sweat from my brow. I was very worried that Brian Michael Bendis was going to royally ******** up the personality of Wolverine, like he's done in Secret War. As it is, the ******** up is very small, and seems to be mending itself. He did, however, make Wolverine pull an incredibly stupid move that the Canucklehead never would have done, just to get where he needed to go. The last few panels are head scratchers, for sure. Again, art's the same as previous issues.

Cable & Deadpool #14 - With much more introspection on DP's part than usual, this is not the best issue or arc for new readers to start out on. For the veterans, though, the rare look into Wade Wilson's thinking process is a treat, as is witnessing just how adamant Cable is to preserve his paradise.

Captain America #5 - A flashback issue, mostly, this is basically here to throw mud on the Silver Age and make the old days as dark as the present ones. It's very well done, but I don't see why they can't just leave the classics be. But like I said, the writing is excellent, as is the art. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

The Invincible Ironman #3 - Man wearing top of the line cybernetics vs. man BECOME top of the line cybernetics. Much chaos ensues. The look into the current antagonist's past provides excellent padding for the story. Also, even though he's been on this since the relaunch, Adi Granou deserves high praise for his art in every issue. I'm glad to see Marvel has gotten so much great talent.

Ultimate Spiderman #75 & 76 - The transformation of Harry Osborn into the Hobgoblin reaches its climax with the actual physical change. Many blows are thrown throughout NYC, and the cliffhanger at the end of #76 makes me want #77 right. Bloody. Now. Even if Bagley's cartoony art style doesn't really mesh well with the story.

The End: X-Men, Book Two #2 - Chris Claremont's slaughter-fest continues. Apparently, he wants to see how many characters he can kill before people start firebombing Marvel HQ. Also, as interesting as it is to see future versions of characters, there needs to be explanations for how they've changed (i.e. Beast's return to humanoid form). I'm basically still picking this up for the novelty.

Toxin #1 - The character spawned in last year's Venom/Carnage mini-series gets his own six-issue run, borrowing most of its story from events in New Avengers. Dialogue between the main character and his symbiote is a nice touch, but I'll have to see what Milligan does with the actual plot to give it any definite thumbs up or down. I do know, however, that Darick Robertson's pencil should never again be allowed to draw Spiderman. Worst. Incarnation. Ever.

District X #12 - The latest issue of the X-Man Bishop's solo title is straight-up retarded. A problem that's been plaguing the protagonists for six issues is solved in less than half of an issue? Bullshit. The rest of the issue is straight out of a soap opera, with an ending that requires much more explanation than David Hine seems to be capable of writing.

Excalibur #12 - Someone please break Chris Claremont's fingers, so he can't write anymore. The fact that you're one of the "old guys" does not give you carte blanche to write whatever nonsensical bullshit you want. The only good part of this entire arc has centered around Professor X and Magneto's attempts to help the Master of Magnetism's daughter, the Scarlet Witch. This issue features a whopping one entire page on it. At least Cliff Richards is a better artist than the regular one.

Phoenix: Endsong #4 - With a concrete conclusion to Jean Grey's death (set outside of the regular X-titles, thank God) on the way, I'm quite happy. Hopefully we won't have to deal with another craptacular resurrection for another year or so. The artisitic team of Greg Land and Matt Ryan make this mini-series as breathtaking while looking at it as while actually reading it. GG, Marvel. GG, indeed.

Ultimate X-Men #58 - This is possibly the worst issue of Ultimate X-Men I have read to date. A shoddy, one-issue story featuring Professor X trapped in a bank during a hold-up, complete with lame reasoning as to why he can't just make the mutant criminal s**t his pants and be on his way, combined with the art of Steve Dillon left my lip curled throughout the entire read. Dillon drew Preacher. He drew Preacher very well. X-Men, however, is something he does not need to be drawing. I'll scan his Nightcrawler and put it next to Jesse Custer to show you why.

Uncanny X-Men #458 - No, really. Break Claremont's fingers. Alan Davis's, too. This title doesn't even have the saving grace of decent art.

Wolverine #27 - Mark Millar continues his triumphant run on Wolverine in prime form. He knows just how to write Logan, and John Romita, Jr. knows just how to draw him. This arc and the previous one (featuring the same literary/artistic team) are turning out to be some of the best in Wolverine's history.

X-Men #169 - I'm sad. I was expecting much brawling and what-not. Not that what we got is bad, by any means. I just wanted some good old depraved violence. Instead, it's more introspection, and repairing of what Chuck Austen did to the characters. Plus, we get to see Wolverine and Rogue make out. Ooh, scandalous! Larroca's art is steadily gaining my approval since its release from Austen's overbearingly crappy writing. Kudos.




This is long enough that I won't do any TPB reviews. I didn't actually buy any, but I was considering reviewing my Transmetropolitan collection. Instead, I'll just tell you to buy it, and leave it at that.

In regards to Phoenix: Endsong, I thought the inker was WAY too soft on Land's art. It gave everything this weird spotty, out of focus feel. Sort of like back on Star Trek in the olden old days when they'd wipe the camera lens with vaseline to give the nearly naked girl aliens this 'soft light' look.

Ultimates 2 #6

ULTIMATE... WHAT? THE ROCK SAYS ULTIMATE PATSY!

But really... would you rather have a billion and one Flash books?

We don't need Keystone to turn into another Metropolis or Gotham.

Think of it this way, maybe Linda and Wally are doing things that can't be shown in comic books. wink

Ouch... friction burn.

Let's see here...

X-23 #6 - We finally learn her name, her first name any way, Laura. As predicted, she killed the entire weapon x staff and destroyed their HQ, including beating the head honcho to a pulp with her hands rather than her claws because it's more personal that way. To close it off we learn that dickhead slapped some of his perfume on Sarah, the stuff that sets X-23 into a berserker rage, meaning she killed Sarah too. Totally predictable and something of a letdown. This seemed more like Craig Kyle's way of glorifying his "baby" at the expense of everything else, including plot and story. For all of the hype, this mini really didn't give us anything new. A part of me also believes he wanted to beat Claremont to the punch of giving her a name, which is why he waited until the last moment to spill it. Either it was an afterthought, or he wanted to spike the ending. If it is the latter, then he needs to work on his delivery. I was not impressed.

Batgirl # 64 - Nice little fight sequence between Cassie and Rose Wilson. It was obvious that, while she is Deathstroke's baby girl, she is not in his league. She took advantage of a few rookie mistakes by Rose to not only win the fight, but to force ole Slade to play dad. I was half looking forward to a rematch between Slade and Cassie, but Cassie set it up merely to escape. The internal monologue strikes me as interesting, it's as though the writer is trying to capture Cassie's struggles with language. Lot's of pauses, ums, and uhh's. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. The story also drew an interesting picture of Slade and Rose in comparison to Cassie and Bruce.

Ultimates2 #6 - The Defenders go Ultimate! Well, sorta. It's more like the Tick goes Ultimate. That's what we have with this team. No money, no powers and frankly, no brains. We see them trying to set up crimes to prevent to gain television exposure, talk of hiring a publicist, and a lot of good intentions. The only reason Pym hooked up with this squad is due to his failures as of late. He's feeling the pinch and wants to get back in with them, even going so far as to offer his work for free. He knows this is not much of a team, but he's hopeful in being able to turn them around. Scratch that, he's hopeful in being able to shack with Valkyrie, which he finally did. As expected, plenty of humor to go around with the Defenders getting the crap kicked out of them by common street thugs, Pym showing his a** on nationwide tv and a cute reference to Wanda making a pass at one of Pym's androids. Towards the end, we get a tantalyizing glimpse of the culprit behind the whole mess. No faces yet, but he is a former member of them and, like Thor, is disgusted by the increasingly political nature of the Ultimates. I am not a particularly big fan of Mark Millar's work, and unlike what seems to be the vast majority of members of the CDF, I really don't care for his MK Wolverine run. I honestly feel that his run on Ultimates 2 is far more entertaining.