ROUND 11: Comics For May 25, 2011

Hey DCVM's, Luke/Koltreg/Daggerz is back from the Hundo Club of War Rocket Ajax (think first class but the pilots eat all the food).
My boss for this blog, Niles, is slightly behind because he is busy with other things but do not fret. He will get here eventually and make everything fine. If you need an immediate Niles fix (and who doesn't... (wait... what?)) he posted his weekly Socialfist article and it is a doozy on continuity and how all of you are sort of dickbutts.
In the meantime I've been busy reading. I got a 2 month subscription to Marvel Digital for $1 (find out how here) so I read Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, Incredible Hercules, Ares, Books of Doom and She Hulk, all which I would recommend but which I won't write up because I already write enough comic stuff and this is a big back issue backlog week.
Also some punks stole my chair where I normally write so they shall feel the wrath of doom.

Blast From The Past (Weekly) Review:

Batman Gates of Gotham #1
Gotham has a bunch of bridges called the Gates of Gotham that the head families of the city built including the Waynes, Cobblepots and a few others. The comic rotates between the history of these bridges and the fact that someone is blowing them up. It is a good set up but I will be keeping this on the rack for now.
Score: +0

Zatanna #13
Zatanna is facing off with a guy who is like Dr Destiny (the Justice League guy who stole Dream's ruby thing in Sandman). He uses it to control people making him another magic villain but establishing a villain team for Zatanna requires one. There is also some Spectre torture fun (and I'd honestly not mind a Spectre series). I will keep reading this off the racks for now.
Score: +1

Alpha Flight #0.1
GREKPAK! FREDVANLENTE! A one two punch of my favorite writing team in comics taking control of Canada's best (if only) superhero team and fighting against The Purple Woman. The issue is a good introduction to the upcoming Fear Itself tie-in and there are some pretty wonderful fighting scenes and all of the art is beautiful. Give this a try, it got me excited for some Fear Itself. (Also the book predicted the political future of Canada and that is scary.)
Added To Pull
Score: +1



Avengers #13
Avenger's first Fear Itself tie-in begins with an interview that keeps on changing in meaning and that is pretty amazing. I am actually glad that I didn't get this book last week because they I'd have an even harder time figuring out what book I liked the best. The book does a good job dealing with interpersonal relationships and that when done well is one of the best things in comics.
Blast From The Past Favorite Comic!
Score +2



Iron Man #504
I like Iron Man as a character and I love the films and every issue I've read has been really good. In this issue Tony is dealing with hiring a new assistant (a Proxy Pepper Potts) and then he gets called to Paris. It turns out the Grey Gargoyle has an evil god hammer. And his power of petrification is on full blast. Tony gets knocked out and wakes up to find the grey Gargoyle has left Paris in the dust. Literally giant dust piles of dead people. That scares me on so many levels. Seriously glad I didn't pick this up last week because there were so many good comics and I had a hard enough choice as it is. I am adding this to the list though.
Blast From The Past Best Comic!
Score +2



Silver Surfer #4
The High Evolutionary stole the Power Cosmic from Norrin Rad, aka the Silver Surfer. The Silver Surfer got kidnapped and then the woman who Norrin falls in love with gets the Power Cosmic from the High Evolutionary. Norrin goes after her, gets the Power Cosmic back stopping them from transforming the moon. Then they have space sex.
Score +1
Royal Roy #1
Royal Roy, former Boy-Prince of Cashelot finds his borders under attack from the neighboring country of Latervia and the forces of Doom! Roy must face the deaths of his family and the sudden thrusting of responsibility onto the former boy adventurer. Roy considers a variety of options including suicide, which is surprisingly dark for this all ages series but man, the series ends with Roy being pulled screaming by Doombots, arms bleeding and with an eye missing. I don't know, for an all ages book this is all horribly dark.
Score -1

Off The Racks:
This week was not as strong as last week where I had to struggle to pick my favorites.

The Amazing Spider-Man #662
If you recall I found last week's Spider-man sort of lacking and I found the chemistry off a bit. Then we got Spider-man wrestling with a dinosaur and a really solid backup story with Magnetic Man getting a job from Peter Parker and everything was fine again. The Avengers Academy are under the thrall of Psycho Man and his iPad of doom and Spider-man reminds them they get to make the choice of who they are. This helps them snap back. The first back feature is a continued build up to Spider-Island which should be interesting and the second backup like I mentioned is about Magnetic Man getting a job from Peter Parker as an alternative to doing crime which is what Spidey is about. Helping people, not just fighting them.
Score: +1

Astonishing Spider-man and Wolverine #6
Oh man, the series finally ends. If you haven't been reading Spider-man and Wolverine have been waking up in different time zones and have been fighting each other. It turns out a gangster named Czar who is working for Mojo (as well as stealing goods for himself) has been sending the two heroes (who hate each other) for a new tv show. Last issue they found what was happening and laid the smack down. Then Wolverine became the Phoenix and the Internet never saw because this is out of continuity. Spider-man and Wolverine show up in the Old West with a newfound respect but no way to get back. Then the TVA (time police) send them back and everything seems to be lost from Spider-man's fiance's memories to the blood bond they pair made All in all this was a pretty great series and I really want to reread it.
Score: +1

Dungeons & Dragons #7
The Dungeons & Dragons comic has been a pretty solid series sol far with a good mixed of well defined characters and realistic adventures that you could actually run in 4th edition. I had a friend who actually found his DM (dungeon master) was actually running the adventures straight from the comic. The group last time got surrounded by elves in a castle and then in this issue they got surrounded by undead Drow and wound up in the Feywild. The issue perhaps runs too close in continuation and might benefit from a catch-up page but it was really good otherwise.
Score: +1

Deadpool #37
Deadpool is on a mission to kill himself, possibly to try and bone Death (but after Thanos has been all up in there I can't suggest it (side not, why is Death always a grey/white skinned chick wearing all black with a great figure - when I write death it'll be a large hippo with a mustache who speaks with a patois accent, just to mix stuff up). Deadpool decides that they only way to die is to fight the Hulk and so he sets off after Bruce Banner in Gamma World (established by Amadeus Cho) who doesn't want to kill Deadpool. This is after Deadpool fills the Hulk's mouth with explosives. Deadpool finally hits the trigger though when he sets off another nuke and next issue we might see the death of Deadpool? That said I am expecting to see Thanos, the guy who made Deadpool immortal-er showing up soon and that will be good comics. The writing was a bit dry for me on this one but it can't all be amazing.
Score +1

FF #4
When you have the Wizard saying "Let's cut all babies in half," you have good comics. When the rest of the issue is great, you have the pick of the week. The council to kill Reed Richards convenes and discovers that the evil Reeds (evil where they only care for science and not life) plan to build a massively destructive machine and that - is wonderful. Spider-man, Sue and Alex Power of the Power Pack fly to old Atlantis and face off against Mole Man and his evil Reed.
Best and Favorite Comic Of The Week (And I am cheating giving this a shared score)
Score +3

Spider-Girl #7
Spider-girl finds herself fighting Raven (who have a team of American Ninjas with no vocal cords) with your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The two find out that Raven plans to brainwash Spider-girl into becoming an agent for them. Then they fight a giant robot and it gets reprogrammed to thinking that it is a living game of Angry Birds. Comics Everyone!
Score +1

Venom #3
Last time on Venom, Betty can't stand Flash Thompson, the legless veteran/wielder of the Venom symbiote for the old Red White and Blue. Things turned sour when Kraven the Hunter poisoned and left Flash knocked out long enough to begin losing contorl. Flash finally completes his mission of capturing some illegal vibranium (the metal that destroys metals) only for the rules to change - his enemies have his lady love Betty. As he makes a deal with the devil, not Mephisto but the criminals he has been fighting, Venom runs into your friendly neighborhood Spider-man who is looking to stop the symbiote once and for all. Oh, and the government with a watch on Venom with a kill switch is getting a tad trigger happy.
Score +1

Xombi #2 and #3
Good job internet, you guilted me like some kind of super pope von groundersguilt. The Internet has been bemoaning the sales of this series and I will grant them clemency because I did enjoy Xombi #1, my store just stopped ordering it. Luckily I go to another store (better service, better subscription deal, etc) so I was able to get it.
Here is the thing. I get why people like Xombi and why they want it defended. It is a series that is different than the other series that are out there. This is a series where magic and religion are on equal footing and there are a lot of interesting ideas. On the other hand though, the comic is heady and I have an issue with that and I can understand why it can be scary to new readers. The comic takes place in a world where people aren't familiar with everything and everything is not as clear as it could be. Yes, there is the mystery of murkiness that is great. There are comics that I love that about like Hellboy/BPRD where things are unresolved or never explained. Here though it just never hits for me. It is a good series and yes it's death is something you can complain about in the market but it isn't one of the great books out there, at least not yet. I will mourn a little that it is already on the chopping block, that DC is publishing it instead of Vertigo and so on but it won't keep me up at night.
Score +1 and +1

Okay, I barely read DC books so this is pretty unfair number wise and I apologize for that. If you do read this, what DC books should I be reading?

Scores:
DC - 3
Marvel - 14
IDW - 1
Noncom - -1

Stuff I Forgot To Buy (OH NO!):
Incredible Hulks #629
Onslaught Unleashed #4

ROUND NINE: Comics For May 18, 2011

Oh man, another Wednesday another day of new comics. This is a good week for comics as well. A lot of fun stuff to read. A lot of powerful comics and not a negative or zero rank in site. Read on of comic fanatic. (Also, there are no off the shelf reviews this week, expect those next week!) Also I add in another feature because I just do - Dollar Deal$!

Blast From The Past (Weekly) Review:

Arkham City #1
I appreciate the desire to create multiple forms of advertising for a game and I respect that DC is creating a pretty quality book to lead up into Arkham City. I never played Arkham Asylum as a devout non-current-gen-console-haver but I like the idea and it apparently was a great game.
I do have a problem though when multiple forms of advertising end up spoiling each other.
Arkham City starts off reviewing the end of the Joker in the game and his waiting for death. Meanwhile the mayor is struggling to regain control while a mysterious doctor orders him.
A pair of twins who go by the name T and T are also taking Venom, the monster-making super drug. Batman tries to find out who is behind this, who gave them the drug and who is organizing the plan.
We know who did it though. The first teaser videos revealed it months ago. Wikipedia had the information. I'll politely leave out the name but it bothers me that the mystery is spoiled to those readers who are excited about the game.
The art itself is pretty great and the writing works but having the big mystery spoiler sits wrong with me.
Score: +1

Dollar Deal$:
A lot of comic companies are reprinting famous issues every week to get people hooked on older issues. This week we feature:


Orc Stain #1
I am a big fan of Orc Stain despite the slow release schedule. Image sent out a bunch of $1 reprints of Orc Stain #1 and it is glorious to read. It is like an immature barbarian fantasy comic colored with rainbow sherbert with a healthy dose of Superjail thrown in there. Do yourself a favor, check out #1, if you like it
Score: +1




Off The Racks:

Thunderbolts #157
Thunderbolts is a pretty great series and it involves fighting monsters so it should have been a great week for me. The Thunderbolts (the government supported team of supervillains doing good for shorter prison times) have been fighting an evil wizard with the help of Satana, Daughter of Satan (or whomever it was retconned to). Things go ary though when a demon spider awakens the fears in everyone and we see the characters and what they truly fear. When it comes to supervillains and it is done in a serious light this is an amazingly humanizing thing to have happen. My only problem is the resolution where the Juggernaut fears too much that Luke Cage, Power Man and leader of the team, wants to give him the boot. This apparently causes Cage to actually let him go. I do want to give the last issue a reread because right now this seems like it may be something they did to turn Juggernaut into a villain for Fear Itself (where we've already seen him get a hammer).We also see the start of the new lineup which has replaced Juggernaut with Mr. Hyde, the psychotic muscular villain with a death switch in his head and no care for his teammates. Group Dynamics!
Score: +1




Superman/Batman #84
Superman is magic and has a sword and Batman has a dragon. The conclusion to the Sorcerer Kings arc is pretty enjoyable. My complaint though is that it doesn't reach some of the fun magical stuff the other chapters got to and I fear that Klarion the Witch Boy getting a time shifting device from the future wont be used after this arc (it won't as far as I know). Overall though this was a great arc for me to start Superman/Batman with. When this comes out in a trade I suggest picking it up.
Score: +1




Li'l Depressed Boy #4
Oh man, I feel incredibly sad after reading this issue. It really hit me hard. I mean wow, this was like someone setting Mjolnir on your chest and leaving you trapped on the Rainbow Bridge. (I really want to see Thor again.)
Best Comic Of The Week
Score: +2






Hulk #33
I picked up Hulk a few months ago and man, it is great. They've been working on creating the Red Hulk's squad of enemies including Zero/One, a woman who is now a living computer program, and Black Fog, Zero/One's former childhood boogeyman (since he was a serial killer) who has been turned into an immortal killing machine. Oh, and if Red Hulk falls asleep nanobots will kill him. FIGHT!
Score: +1




Heroes For HIre #7
Remember when I commented I found Spider-man really annoying in the last issue of Heroes For Hire? The writing for this chapter is much better. I like Spider-man again. Also Spider-man fights Batroc, dinosaurs and soldiers with "damnunition" - demonic bullets. Thank you Heroes For Hire, thank you!
Score: +1






Herc #3
Herc is a comic about a god who lost his powers, works as a bartender and has a magic armory. Herc 3 is a comic where supervillains break out of The Raft (supervillain prison) and quote The Beastie Boys. Herc continues to be my favorite series right now. Seriously pick it up and start reading.
Favorite Comic Of The Week
Score: +2





Avengers Academy #14
This week's comic list seems to be themed around taking blows. The Avengers Academy still giddy after taking on Korvac, semi omnipotent god type guy, face off against the Sinister Six. They get swiftly beaten. It hurts for everyone, not just the reader. You know how you always think - if I had super powers I'd be able to beat these bad guys? This is what would happen in real life. It is sad, harrowing and a great issue. (if not for my love of Herc, this would get a +2)
Score: +1




Uncanny X-force #10
Remember how I was disappointed with the last issue? Bam, onto bigger and better things! Archangel, the evil side of Angel, is taking over again and the Shadow King sent pictures of the X-force not only existing but also killing soldiers. Archangel finds out, kills one person and then Wolverine is forced to stop him. The X-force realize the only way to save Archangel is to find someone who knows Apocalypse and the only true survivor... is Dark Beast. Bum bum bum! Even though the series continues to Apocalypse central, I like this idea of there being an inescapable end, that no matter what they do there will be an Apocalypse. Quality storytelling though I did miss the regular artist.
Score: +1




Amazing Spider-Man #661
Dan Slott took a break this week and unfortunately it shows. I do like a lot of Gage's other work and I like the premise and the inclusion of the Avengers Academy but something felt lacking. Spider-Man decides to take a break to return to teaching and ends up filling in at the Avengers Academy where his origin is succinctly
ripped apart by the students. I particularly loved how much thought they put into how Spider-man could have continued doing more good as a wrestler. The team heads out on patrol only to be accosted by Psycho Man and forced under his thrall. My one complaint is that this seems like a much more immature Avenger's Academy. They don't work as well as a team, they don't show respect and they don't get along. I do look forward to the next arc though and the back up comic is pretty great as well.
Score: +1




Ultimate Spider-Man #158
The clock winds down for Peter Parker as he copes with a gun shot wound. Meanwhile the remaining Sinister 5 show up at Peter Parker's house to find Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) and Bobby Frost (Ice Man). It is an action heavy issue and is overall pretty good. I just wish we weren't publicly counting down to Spider-man's death so the lead up would be more of a surprise.
Score: +1





Scores!
Marvel +9 (Favorite Comic Of The Week - Herc #3)
DC +2
Image +3 (Best Comic Of The Week - Li'l Depressed Boy #4)

Marvel continues to lead for me but I bought more Marvel than DC series so it is to be expected. Maybe Niles and I need to add up an average out scores.
Also, I am kind of hoping to see Li'l Depressed Herc now. Internet, get to it!
And maybe I need to make a competitive site for www.comiclist.com. Seriously that site is just ugh in soooo many ways.

ROUND EIGHT: Comics for May 11, 2011

Welcome one and all to my weekly review of the comics I bought! Every week I buy comics and then talk about them. Unfortunately, most of my friends are not readers of comics so there's only so much they can stand before they stop inviting me to parties. And now this blog is where I dump everything they can't understand.

Enough introduction... Here's what I bought this week:

FF #3
Batman, Incorporated #6
The Unwritten #25
Punisher Max #13
Daredevil: Reborn #4 of 4
Batgirl #21
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #618
Chew #27
Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #4 of 6
Mega Man #1

Let's get judgemental!


Almost everything I bought this week was exceptional. Almost. So let's we get the worst of the week's book out of the way up front, shall we? Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #618 was a mess. Since David Liss took over writing the book and Black Panther took over Daredevil's role it's been wildly inconsistent, ranging from seven-face-kicks-in-one-issue awesomeness to not-quite-fan-fic terrible. This issue managed to be all of that without any actual face kicks. It wraps up the first arc in a flurry of unnecessary exposition of the sort where characters are explaining what they're doing as they do it. It's tough to read. But, and this is a "but" so big Too $hort wrote songs about it, the last page. Oh, the last page. Even after the trainwreck that this arc has been in parts, especially the end, the last page is perfect and makes me earnestly excited to read what comes next. The other big ol' but in this series is Francesco Francavilla. He's simply amazing and I will continue to buy this book for as long as he draws it. He's also the only reason this book didn't score a -1.
SCORE: 0


The other worst book of the week is Daredevil: Reborn #4 of 4. The best thing about this issue is that it's the last of the series. It's just not good. I'm not sure what happened. Andy Diggle is a good writer but from his first issue of Daredevil to this one, his run with the character just got worse with each new book. If you haven't already, don't buy this comic. The art is really good, but unlike Francavilla's Black Panther, Davide Gianfelice is not enough to save it. Did I say the art is really good? Because it's really good. His style reminds me a lot of Pasqual Ferry with sharper lines. But here's the thing: Matt Murdock does not look good rocking the beard-and-no-mustache look. Ugh.
SCORE: -1

SPOILER ALERT: Everything else I'm going to review was awesome. If you haven't bought these books already then you totally should.

FF #3 is great in the way that Jonathan Hickman's entire run on Fantastic Four/FF has been great. There's very little action, but it doesn't need fighting because Doctor Doom is inviting the smartest super villains in the Marvel Universe to the Baxter Building to figure out how to kill Reed Richards four times. That is objectively awesome. There is nothing you can say about that to make it any less than it is. And what it is is awesome. I mean, Doctor Doom literally sent out invitations.
SCORE: +1





In The Unwritten #25, Tom Taylor explodes out of the abstract concept of a novel into the real world via a glass of water. Other things happen as well, but I encourage you to read the previous sentence again. This book is fantastic and I would buy it every month just on the promise of getting another Mr. Bun/Pauly Bruckner issue once every year. But again, I encourage you to read the first sentence of this review.
SCORE: +1






Oops! I'm not all the way caught up with this series, so I can't review it yet. Sorry everyone. It's written by Chris Roberson, though, so I feel confident that it has earned its +1 score.
SCORE: +1









Chew #27 is a pretty ingenious idea come to fruition. The last issue to come out was #18 (it was awesome, btw) and instead of releasing issue #19 the series jumps ahead by a full year of publication to #27. Is the issue good? Well, yeah. It's Chew after all, but it still leaves all the questions from #18 unanswered while simultaneously posing a year's worth of new questions. As an exercise in making me want to keep reading, does it work? Yeah. It does. But the real question is does it make for good comics? Yeah. It does that, too.
SCORE: +1




This comic is the opening "cinematic" that you get when you wait to press start in the game. If you've ever played the games you already know everything that happens in this comic. There is literally nothing added to the story. There's no new twist on the formula. And that's exactly what it needed to be.
SCORE: +1







Look at this cover. Oh my god, it's beautiful. You can't see it on this image, but the cover for Batgirl #21 credits the art to Pere Perez. The wonderful surprise awaiting me when I opened the book was page after page of art by Dustin Nguyen. It's enough to make a fella swoon... Seriously, there hasn't been a less-than-great issue of Batgirl since Stephanie Brown took the mantle from Cassandra Cain and this one is no different. Batgirl faces the Reapers' next contestant, the Grey Ghost knows not what he does, Proxy makes a life changing decision, and Niles enjoys reading all of it.
SCORE: +1




Batman, Incorporated #6 is one of the best comic books I've ever read. It's perfect. It's just absolutely perfect on every level and from every angle. From Bruce Wayne's take on Voltaire's theology, to Batman: Message Board Troll, to "Welcome to Gotham.", to the very last page, this comic book is perfect. It's the fulfilled promise of the maximized potential of what a comic called "Batman, Incorporated" can be. If you haven't bought it already, go buy it now. If you already bought it, give your copy to someone who didn't and go buy it again. Look for this one at the Eisners next year for best single issue.
SCORE: +2




"Juxtaposition" is not a word I like to use very often. It's one of those words that, once you say it, it immediately makes people not want to be friends with you. Unfortunately, that's the name of the game in Punisher Max #13. This is My Favorite Comic Book of the Week because the juxtaposition works so marvelously well that I don't even care that I've now used the word "juxtaposition" twice. Three times. The issue picks up right where the last one left off, with Frank in prison and thinking back on the day he returned to the states after fighting in the Vietnam War. The Young Frank/Old Frank thing works so well because we realize that they're the exact same. Frank walking into his house for the first time is the same as Frank walking into the solitary confinement cell. This is my favorite issue of the book since the phenomenal Kingpin arc.
SCORE: +2

That's what I read this week, so what's say we see who lives and who dies...

Marvel: +2
DC: +3
Image: +1
Vertigo: +2
Archie: +1

Oh, man. DC and the rest of the publishers were at the park, just cold chillin' having a picnic when a mob war broke out and all of them except for DC were caught in the crossfire causing DC to swear revenge and begin a mission to eradicate crime by savagely murdering every criminal. I guess any week that two great Bat-books come out is a week where DC is going to win. It certainly didn't help Marvel that two really bad Daredevil-related books came out this week. Anyways, thanks for reading! See you next week!

ROUND SEVEN: Comics For May 11th, 2011

Greetings all you readers of comics. Luke/Koltreg/The Cowboy Frankenstein Officer of Blackwolf Industries - Pittsburgh is back with a vengeance like the Dark Knight. There is a triple review block this week readers with FCBD comics, a Blast From The Past (Week) review and then the new stuff.
Also sorry for the lateness, I had finals and then Blogger was down for about 2 days.


FCBD Comics:

Kung Fu Panda FCBD (reverse feature of the Richie Rich comic)
I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda a lot more than I expected both in movie and comic form. The main focus is Po, the panda, as he searches for a flower to help the tiger, whatever her name is. Every other character minus the pangolin is fairly uncharacterized which is somewhat of a letdown. The art sometimes sticks with weird points as far as faces go like if you were going through a video and stopping at random frames. Other than that, I was satisfied.
Score: +1




Richie Rich FCBD
The venerable Chris Sims ranted about this special since he hates Richie Rich for understandable reasons. Richie Rich is a spoiled kid with no concept of money. He doesn't treat going to Hawaii for fun like it is big and he barely recognizes the value of being able to go to Mars twice.
What really bothered me though is a side thing. Richie Rich and his friends are 7 to 10 years old according to wikipedia and yet Richie's friend who is a girl has recognizable cleavage. Like the equivalent of a girl 6-10 years old. In a kids book. That is supposed to be setting good role models. I don't know if I am the only guy who noticed but that bothered me more than anything and this is a comic where they stop a villain who is superheating himself by covering him in tires as he floats above a volcano.
Score: -1




Thor and Captain America FCBD
The best comic for Free Comic Book Day I got was definitely Thor and Captain America. It dealt with family issues on some levels. It also dealt with Loki, Merlin, King Arthur, the holy grail, a hydra and a Nazi treasure trove. And it was done by the team behind Thor The Mighty Avenger (which they should do as a solely online series supported by readers). It wins the best FCBD award.
Score: +2




Amazing Spider-man FCBD
Spider-man had a solid premise. It had Spidey fighting Spider-Woman, it had Mandrill the living simian Axe Bodywash commercial, Spider-man learning kung fu from Shang-Chi and I am excited for the upcoming Spider Island arc now. Mission accomplished Spider-man.
Score: +1






Avatar The Last Airbender FCBD
Apparently Dark Horse is releasing a book that collects the Avatar comics that were in Nickelodeon Magazine and if they are all this calibre I know what I am getting my Avatar fan friends - the trades.
The back up feature was Star Wars but honestly I don't care about Star Wars extended continuity universe stuff.
Score: +1





Blast From The Past (Week) Review:
Sometimes I forget to read comics and because I like posting so I don't need to reread comics, I ended up missing out on reviewing this comic.


Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters and Mutants #3
Last week Herc was my pick of the week here so when I say that this is the worst comic of the week, I am really pained to say that. I picked up Wolverine/Hercules off the rack because I figured I'd check out another writer's take on the character. I really wish I didn't because I got let down by the issues so far. The simple idea is an evil talking head is making an army of dead heroes and monsters to take over the world. Wolverine and Herc try to stop it only for Wolverine to be turned into stone by Medusa. This week Herc takes Wolverine to a zombie bar run by Pluto (Hades) to try and fix it. No word why Wolverine wouldn't heal (I mean I get that petrification is more than a disease but still...). Herc convinces Pluto to un-petrify Wolverine so he can keep killing people because Wolverine is the beast at what he does and what he does isn't very nice. There is no argument. Seriously and honestly Herc could have convinced Pluto to revive Hitler with that logic. It makes no sense. The other thing is that apparently Herc apparently has issues carrying around a stone Wolverine. Herc mind you is the guy who held up the burden of Atlas. The god of strength. And this is Herc who is still super powered. Bad show, bad comic.
Score: -1



New Comics:
Off The Racks

Flashpoint #1 -
I will be honest - I have been highly and vocally skeptical of Flashpoint so far. It is a summer event that as far as I know, will not change everything forever. It takes place in an alternate universe, it focuses on characters I don't necessarily care about. Yet, I actually liked it as an establishing comic more than Fear Itself 1 though Fear Itself is a better comic overall. We get to see the alternate heroes as a secret narrator discusses the Flash's journey into the world, we meet alternate Batman and we see the Justice League equivalent. I don't care about half the people in the alternate League but Batman is Batman and alternate Batman is great. Give it a shot, I'll probably keep reading it off the racks and wait for a trade since I'm not fully sold yet.
Score: +1




Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #1
Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt is not an adaptation of the novel or Michael Cera movie which is good since I didn't want to start off with Michael Cera masturbating. Youth In Revolt is about the formation of a new and controversial heroes initiative by Steve Rogers, Captain America at law. - History Break
Civil War was all about Steve Rogers not wanting registration. Irony! - Break Over
So Prodigy I believe it is as a former Initiative opponent is now setting up a team of heroes to quell the mobs including Thor Girl and a few others I don't know. Fear escalates, people use guns and the chapter ends with the heroes getting overrun, especially Thor Girl because she has a hammer and hammers are evil. It is a much better miniseries start as opposed to last week's Spider-man debacle. Here you can feel the powerlessness. While I won't add it to my list I am really interested to see where this goes.
Score: +1




Journey Into Mystery #623
Oh man, I am a big Loki fan. I have two Loki 7-11 cups and I am proud of them. The fact that we have a good Loki-centric series though is even better. Journey Into Mystery follows Loki attempting to save Thor which scheming since scheming is what Loki does best. The story tells the backstory of Thor's goats, has Loki go on a small adventure and it is all beautifully illustrated. I am adding this to my pull list since I also really liked #622.
Score: +2



Pull List

Hellboy: Being Human
I really enjoy the recent Hellboy story Buster Oakley Gets His Wish since it was a one-shot so I took a chance with Being Human. The story isn't as fun as Buster Oakley which had aliens and cults and a minotaur but Being Human is more resonant. Hellboy and Roger the Homunculus hunt down a force that is reanimating and moving some corpses. Roger is still early in his career and is question what he is supposed to do in his life. Find out what he decides and give the comic a shot.
Score: +1




Superman #711
Oh man Jimmy Olsen's wristwatch makes a reappearance. Superman gets the key to a city and he fights a villain with his mind. This is what Superman is all about. He thinks about the problem before charging in. In the story Livewire is holding the city ransom and she's overpowered. Superman solves the problem, runs into his hero Iron Munroe and everything ends nicely with Superman talking about the American dream. I honestly teared up a bit. Best Comic Of The Week
Score: +2




New Avengers #12
I am not a big fan of hospital scenes in comics so starting it off with one did not really help. Mockingbird is in the hospital and we're still flashing back to the original top secret Avengers of World War 2. The past Avengers are fighting the Red Skull and honestly the fight is really good but I am not caring about Mockingbird enough so her being hurt doesn't pull me in. Just get back to fun stuff comics. Or do an entire issue of Sabertooth chasing Kraven's father for shooting him.
Score: 0




The Amazing Spider-man #660
Oh man, the new FF square off against the Sinister Six except they are really robots and everyone is transforming. Sue gains the Torch's powers, Ben gains the Invisible Woman's and Spider-man gains the best costume of all. Meanwhile the real Sinister Six leave something in the Baxter Building, a villain is infecting people with an insect giving them spider powers and the Ghost Rider feature wraps up. Oh, and Carly totally doesn't get a Goblin tattoo. This was a deal for $3.99. A lot of story and a lot of fun. Favorite Of The Week
Score: +2




FF #3
Dr. Doom is hosting a Reed Richards Killing Party. Less laser tag, more death rays. The alternate Reeds were released by Valeria a while ago and now plot to destroy the world, take over it or to get home without caring for the cost. It's going to take supervillains to stop them and man, if Spider-man and Superman weren't so good, this would be a pick of the week. This was less heady that the others, it had more comedy and I like all of that.
Score +1




Batman Inc #6
Holy Dead Chris Sims Batman! Okay, sorry for that. Using Holy Blank is sort of offensive to comics fans since that really isn't really a Batman thing anymore. This issue focuses on a mysterious mob boss talking to Joe Average and the Average Joes which is a great band name. They left Pennsylvania to set up in Gotham and the narrating boss explains Batman showing up around the world. We hear how Batman is using confusion to hide his company and yet he acts in the open to fight the oncoming threat of Leviathan. I am excited even more now for what Morrison is building up to and this is the most enjoyable Batman Inc yet. Just like FF, less heady stuff and more Batmen beating up bad guys.
Score: +1




The Incredible Hulks #628
I am a Greg Pak fan. He is one of the two fathers of Herc after all. In the newest issue, the Hulk and Red She-Hulk end up fighting with Tyrannus against holy church magic spacemen for Pandoras box. There is smashing, magic and just a lot of fun.
Score: +1





DC: + 3
Marvel: +9
Dark Horse: +2
APE: 0

So once more Marvel is the clear leader for me but DC and Marvel did a pretty good job and I figure that in the coming weeks I'll be reading a lot of side series off the racks.