As impressed as I was by Ada's growth and characterization in this issue, I was equally impressed with Alex's. Alex, we learned last issue, was left by his fianc some time ago. We don't know why and we'll probably never find out. Unfortunately, given Alex's behavior in the past eight issues, his abandonment comes as no real surprise. Having said that, Alex is finally starting to come into his own a bit in this issue. Once again, this is because of a believable and touching growth arc that Luna and Vaughn have been cultivating since the start. Not only is Alex changing, but sentient androids are among the ones driving him towards that change. Consider this exchange: “She's doing exactly what's best for her, and that's exactly why you unlocked her, isn't it?” “It is. You're right. It is.”

All-New X-Men is an okay book, but at $3.99 (like most Marvel books now) it is becoming as tougher pill to swallow each month. At some point these time-displaced mutants will either have to go home or start making a better case for why we need All-New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Amazing X-Men, X-Men, Magneto, AXIS, Uncanny Avengers, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine & the X-Men"that's a lot of mutant affiliated books! Not that that's an inherently a bad thing, but right now I don't think the stories being told justify the price tag or the volume of books being published about characters who carry the X gene.

Do yourself a favor and read this series. We need more books on the stands that are as nuanced and well-written as this one. If you're behind like I was, “pay your dues” and buy the trade when it releases on October 29th.

At the end of the day, Casanova is still everything you remember about this series"it's what all comics should aspire to be: fun, exciting, mysterious, smart, captivating, and visually arresting. What more could you want for $3.99?

Carnero does an admirable job of showing off the action in this issue, as predictably, the bounty hunters do not arrive to rescue Corsair and Scott but instead to, you know, collect the bounty that is on Corsair's head. There are sword fights, double crosses, and of course, some sweet optic blasts aplenty. Unfortunately, this issue was lacking some of thosequieter moments that I had come to expect from Rucka's brief run, and that is a shame. This young Cyclops has a chance to actually change the future, and it may all depend on what happens between him and his father. Could Xavier live because of this father-son bonding? Could Jean somehow still be alive? Would the Schism event have ever occurred? The possibilities are endless and I hope that Layman (and Bendis as well) continue to mine these divergent timeline alterationsto their full potential.

Dept. H is a good comic that I will continue to read for now–but I want a larger mystery to do so. The world will, I'm sure, continue to open up through flashbacks and present-day dialogue, but as a “hook” to reel in readers for the long haul, I felt this intro issue stumbled a bit. Give this series a shot if you're a fan of Kindt's past work and his art, but don't be disappointed if this isn't anotherMind MGMT styled opus–at least not right away.

I don't mind mystery, at all, but my concern with this opening issue of Ei8ht is that it's a miniseries and this first issue offers nothing but questions. The Meld seems like a great concept of a placeout of time basically, but the only thing we really know about it is that dinosaurs exist here, some type of tribal community is the basis of society, and Joshua is stuck here for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this issue would've worked better as a double-sized introduction to the world, but as it stands we've got two periods of time, quick scenes taking place both before and after Joshua's jump in time, and a few interesting characters with little to no backstory yet.

What can be said about Alex Maleev's artwork that hasn't been written before? His expressiveline work and use of shadow make the sleepy town in Brazil look bothdepressing and ominous; a perfect balance for Hellboy's first mission outside of the B.P.R.D.'s walls. I have been aching for more Maleev in my life since the end of his run on Moon Knight, and this newest miniseries does notdisappoint in the slightest.

I've lovedLetter 44 from the start. Check out the first volume and get caughtup as soon as you can. Issue 16 simply confirms what I've known since issue 1—Soule has a great ear for dialogue, the aliens may not be the greatest threat in this book, and backstabbing never gets old.

The end of this issue does offer up one unwanted surprise""The March to AXIS" is actually a crossover before AXIS even begins, meaning that this issue's plot will be continued in Uncanny Avengers #24. While I am currently reading both books, I wish that Magneto's story would continue to be self contained for now, because underpowered or not, I have loved seeing this new side of Magneto. Weakened. Alone. Angry. On a mission with nothing to lose. Is that a bit cliche? Absolutely. Has this still been a great run thus far? You better believe it.

This issue has not one, but two graphic scenes of animal brutality as well. After last issue's killing of a baby, and now the animal stuff, it just seems too easy for me. Blood and guts do not necessarily equal excitement, and in my opinion it's just too gratuitous here. Not only that, but right when we almost start to care for Ruben, he abandons a moment that might have made him a characterto root for and instead he becomes another louse in a long line of no-good Wraths. This might be interesting as a study of your own family tree, but as a comic book it just doesn't do much for this reviewer.

In short, I love this book: the detailed and gorgeous world that Takeda is clearly having a ball drawing each month, the strong and frightening females who all seem to be harboring bloody pasts that no one seems to want to talk about, and the monster, of course. That many-eyed monster who has taken up residence in Maika and won't be letting go anytime soon. Then again, with enemies like the Cumaean, and the newest character introducedon the last page of this issue (Who is the Dusk Court? What is a Night Cutter? So cool!), I bet Maika and her monster will be thick as thieves before long. As a reader, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Burnham is also doing great work in this series. I've always appreciated his line work and he's really seems to be having a blast with thesesci-fi environments. The violence and gore is also fairly gruesome, but Burnham is embracing this creator-owned freedom and the results are stomach turning and impressive. Like a car wreck, you won't be able to look away from all of the mayhem.

This issue's cliffhanger makes me want to read Issue 3, but I really want to know more about these characters and their motivations instead of relying solely on captions and historical records printed elsewhere.Rebelsis another great concept put forth by Wood, but next month I'm looking forward to moving past the “elevator pitch” and into a story that I can relate to and perhaps learn from as well. As a miniseries, this might be a fine positionto be in, but if Rebels is to truly be an ongoing series, then we need more characters to root for—not simply one man who serves as a curatorof historical knowledge and little else.

Moreci writes at the end of this issue that the next volume of Roche Limit (Clandestiny) will feature a new artist and it will be set 75 years after the events of this issue. I think this is a cool idea for organizing the trilogy, but it also means that these characters are all but dead to us now, as we fast forward in the next arc. I love the setting and lore that Moreci has taken care to explore, I just wish I felt the same connection to the characters and dialogue.

While Bendis is having his own fun while writing the Guardians of the Galaxyteam book, Young seems to enjoy just having this one small (pun intended) corner of the universe to play in. The story itself is fun, frantic, and engaging, like the art, if not a bit predictable at times. Rocket has been framed in this first arc, so we know that either A) Rocket hasan evil doppelgnger, or B) someone is pretending to be like Rocket and dresses up like him, just to mess with him. I won't give away what the reality is here, but suffice to say that these tropes can get repetitive when seen so often in our funny books. Which is a shame, because I want to love this book wholeheartedly, and right now I like it but that's all.

I must admit, when I learned that Greenwood would be replacing Matthew Southworth on this latest arc of the story, I was apprehensive. While I think Greenwood is doing great work on The Fuse currently, I just wasn't sure how he'd fare on a book that already had an established tone and look. Thankfully, my apprehension was unfounded. The book's interiors look incredibly different from the first two arcs to now, but the transition has been smoother than I thought possible. Greenwood seems to have a knack for uncomfortable, close-up conversations and tense encounters, so between StumptownandThe Fuse, he has really found a comfortable niche for himself. This issue, in particular, shows off some of Greenwood's skills at revealing distrust and skepticism with just the twitch of any eye or the subtle movement of a perp's hand.

This book is now over, but I am delighted that it even made it to issue 17. At the end of the day, this was one of the funniest books on the stands month in and month out. Using some of the same styles and visual gags asHawkeye, this comic tried to make readers care about some D-list villains in ways that would never have been attempted even five or ten years ago by the Big 2. That alone, in my opinion, is a win. Readers can also take consolation in the fact that Spencer and Lieber will be creating another book together for Image Comics in the near future, so this collaboration is over but their partnership will continue. I'm hopeful that this new comic (though not much has been revealed about it yet) will continue for longer than 17 issues and that it will find the audience whichSuperior Foes struggled to find. Any comic which puts out panels like the one below deserves to be made. Spencer and Lieber. Those guys, right?

I'm giving this issue a perfect score because as I looked at the “cons” list, I couldn't think of one. As soon as I started reading this comic and I realized how much I had missed the Spencer/Lieber collaboration, I was grinning from ear to ear. While the set-up isn't the most original thing in the world, the execution and humor of the idea is well worth the price of admission. This comic deserves to live well past 17 issues, so please buy a copy anddo your part to support “funny-books” that are actually funny.

This opening salvo also introduces some new characters, though if the past is any indication, they probably won't be long for Strode's world. Jordan has made no secret that this is the last ride for Luther, but whether or not we'll see more stories in this universe remains to be seen.

The Manhattan Projects is usually one of my top 10 books each month, and while I am certainly no prude, I think I'm struggling with having no one to root for anymore in this series. Barbarian Einstein is awesome, as is the infinite Oppenheimer situation, but at some point the whole series started to feel like the atomic bomb itself: explosive, horrifying, and ultimately hard to watch. Perhaps this arc will read better in trade or maybe it's just time for me to admit that while I loved this series, it's starting to spin its wheels. I hope I'm wrong, but the cycle of “invent cool stuff, government finds out, kill government agents, run into aliens, invent more cool stuff, repeat” has grown a little stale for me.

As the father of a young boy, the struggle is real when it comes to the near-constant worry and concern about your little one. Brisson and Gorham have done an excellent job of capturing that feeling on the printed page, but that knot in your stomach may not be enough for you to love this book.The Violent feels like a deranged trip into Vancouver's underbelly, but I am not sure it has the legs to be an ongoing. I am going to finish this opening arc because I really do want to know Mason's fate, and Gorham's pencils are giving off a great Sean Phillips vibe in the best possible way, but buyer beware:The Violent is Murphy's Law incarnate, complete with guns, drugs, and abandoned babies. I like the grim style of the book, but I'll want something in future installments for me to look forward to besides another improvisedmurder or another lowlife “getting what's coming to him.”

I enjoy this comic, I really do, but I also want to care more about it and the characters living within its pages. Unless the whole point is to feel somewhat jaded or disillusioned when you're done reading it, because if that's the case, this issue was unfortunately successful.

In issue twelve of this series we may see aliens exiting the trees in order to claim the Earth as their own. In my opinion, it is just as likely that we will never see the aliens at all. If anyone could write a story about aliensand never reveal them, it'd be Warren Ellis. Make no mistake, however—the aliensare very much at the forefront of this story as well as the characters which inhabit it. The professor, in the previous issue, said it best: “(the trees) exert a pressure…the trees affect everything. The way we behave. The way money moves around. The things we believe.”

Imagine Game of Thrones (the show, as I haven't read the novels) but with a tighter cast, more magic, an infinite budget, and a writer who is producing quality work every month. That's Umbral and that's only one of the reasons you should be reading it.

I want to write more about this issue, but I feel like this critique is becoming about what isn't in this issue instead of what is found within it. This issue is one huge fight, including the SHIELD helicarrier I mentioned previously, and then Scott decides he's going to try to recruit Matthew. That's about it. I hope next month Bendis can make readers care again about Xavier and his will"either through more holograms, flashbacks, or even more information about the secret marriage that was briefly mentioned. Currently, I feel like She-Hulk looked in last month's issue: bored, tired, and ready to leave this storyline behind me.

My only tiny gripes with the issue are focused on the one small fight scene in the book. At one point Velvet is on the ground, caught dead to rights, but she somehow gets up off of the floor and reverses the situation by the next panel. However, Velvet does get hurt in this issue, so it evens out and it's good to know that not everything always goes Velvet's way. Speaking of luck and circumstances, how were those call codes not changed when Velvet is on the phone? It seems like that would be the first thing a spy agency would change when an agent goes rogue, but again, its a small quibble in an otherwise great book.

If you have been enjoying this book as much as I have, then you will find more to love in this month's issue. If this book hasn't been your cup of tea since the beginning, then this one probably won't change your mind. Zero is being called back to the "game," but I'm sure he's not going willingly. In this sense, this latest issue reminded me a bit of the Bourne movies, except Edward Zero remembers everything he has done and everything that has been done to him, so in that way he's probably even more dangerous.