The story isn't particularly memorable, but there's a certain boldness to be appreciated in how it escalates despite how contrived the payoff ultimately is.

Its a solid story held back by Paulo Siqueira's art.

It's one of the best looking issues of Soule's Astonishing X-Men run yet.

Soule's dialogue between team members gets better with each issue, though this issue is a bit light on substance.

Soule's Astonishing X-Men has been a fun ride, and the finale isn't bad, but it doesn't quite live up to the title's name either.

It's a book fans are going to want to like, but the artwork will serve as a barrier to entry.

"Avengers: No Surrender" continues to be a throwback to the epic, cosmic, do-or-die superhero fare that so many Avengers fans fell in love with in past eras.

The origin of the mysterious Voyager, the formation of the Lethal Legion, and the resurrection of the Black Order are all finally explained. Mark Waid, Jim Zub, and Al Ewing manage to make it compelling.

This issue is primarily told from the point of view of Red Wolf, who gets a rare moment in the spotlight in the midst of the Avengers mega event.

The visuals don't quite do the concept justice, but it's a fun, almost self-contained adventure that also manages to push forward some of the central mysteries of the larger "No Surrender" story.

Both parts of the story are well executed, and the former dovetails nicely into the latter as "No Surrender" continues to escalate in exciting ways.

Another stellar chapter in the "Avengers: No Surrender" saga as the Hulk continues to threaten every Avenger left standing.

This may not be a traditional Avengers lineup at work, but its classic Avengers storytelling in top form.

Its all executed well enough, and in the grand scheme of things, this breather of an issue is necessary to reset the board for the final act of "No Surrender", but it's also not the most memorable chapter of the saga.

All of that is drawn by multiple art teams delivering on the promise of these ideas with different levels of success.

It isn't bad, but it feels like it doesn't quite meet its full potential.

t's a bit sentimental, but after the journey, it feels earned.

With another creative team change coming next issue, Cable remains a book searching for an identity.

Cable being Cable, those specters are especially literal and deadly, but its good to see "the man called Cable" fulfilling his potential again.

There's still a ways to go, but so far this is the best Cable story since the era this issue is set in.

Cable continues to weave a terrifying web through Cable's history, this time through a locked room scenario in which everyone happens to be an incredibly powerful mutant.

This is simply the definitive Cable story.

"Out of Time" seems like exactly the kind of story that Captain America was created to tell, and the first issue is executed flawlessly.

Chris Samnee sure knows how to draw a Captain America action sequence. He gets to draw a few in this issue, the middle chapter of the three-issue "Out of Time" arc, and they are as dynamic and graceful as fans have come to expect.

Captain America #700 delivers an appropriate ending to what feels like a quintessential Captain America story.

There's a fun twist ending, and some of the individual artwork is stunning, but otherwise, it feels like there's not much to hold onto.

Any attempt at subtlety that Mark Waid may have been making in his latest Captain America story goes out the window in #703 as the conflict becomes defined as the technocratic, universalist, elite blue-skinned Kree against the retrograde fascism and hate of the Red Skull, with regular people caught in the middle, their only hope resting with America's youth -- literally, youngest descendant of Captain America.

Several moments feel entirely tone deaf, but the material is at least elevated by Leonardo Romero's wonderful artwork.

With Garney back, Daredevil is once again a must-read Marvel title.

It all comes together beautifully in a brutally understated moment of surprise from Muse and a final page that promises a big finale.

It's all a bit too much zigging and zagging for a single issue to handle, even an oversized milestone issue.

It's a solid start, setting up a story with a lot of potential for superhero action and fun.

This is a fantastic one-shot that everyone should read.

The colors are a bit muddy in a way that mutes some of the visual energy, but Doctor Strange is still among Marvel's best-looking comics.

Donny Cates continues to do a great job of redefining Stephen Strange's personality. Other writers have pegged arrogance as Strange's tragic flaw, but Cates goes deeper, showing Strange's pride, temper, and wariness.

The ongoing petty rivalry between Strange and Loki is enough to make this issue worth checking out, but the way Nico Henrichon depicts Las Vegas as a stygian abyss makes it a must-read comic.

Doctor Strange: Damnation may turn into a worthwhile story, but the first issue feels more like homework than entertainment.

With all of the overblown setup and tying into Secret Empire out of the way, Doctor Strange: Damnation #2 is able to play to writer Nick Spencer's strength: his ability to write fun banter for a motley crew of B-list characters.

Compared to the far more consistent Doctor Strange ongoing series, Doctor Strange: Damnation feels all over the place.

It's disappointing that this series was cut so short, but at least it's going out in style.

If you're in it for the craft, then the work that was done on "Secrets and Lives" may be worth the inflated cost that comes from being bundled with "Hunter's Pryde." Maybe.

If this is your thing, you probably already know that it is. If it's not, then there's little reason to change that unless you're a very curious Westworld fan.

By the time readers are done with Multiple Man #1, they may not be entirely sure what just happened or where they're headed, but they'll almost certainly have enjoyed the ride and be looking forward to more.

There's a lot of potential in the groundwork laid here for what could be a fun and engrossing mutant monster hunt.

The second issue of New Mutants: Dead Souls maintains a lot of the potential from the first issue without really building upon it.

All in all, it's the best issue of New Mutant: Dead Souls so far.

Rosenberg has really honed in on these characters' voices and Gorham shows a some versatility in his artwork. This series just keeps getting better.

New Mutants: Dead Souls is the sleeper hit of the X-Men line.

Proxima Centauri's visuals are some of the best in comics and they depict a fascinating world, though the wandering narrative may be an acquired taste.

Proxima Centauri is a masterful work of comic book craft.

It may not have come out of the gate at full-speed, but Quicksilver: No Surrender seems likely to pick up momentum as it goes.

The mystery Kurtis Wiebe has woven around this mysterious and "helpful" mage has its hooks in deep, especially after this issue's stunning final page.

Not a bad issue, but not the series' best either.

Rat Queens #10 wraps up the current story arc, which feels like it maybe bit off a little more than it could chew.

The result is mostly a lot of fun. Kurtis Wiebe is able to maintain these characters' voices across genre and William Kirkby's use of jagged lines and fluorescent color gradients sells the setting, though there are a least a few panels where it gets a bit simple, to the point that it seems unintentionally comical.

The art is on-model, the story is solidly told, the character voices are accurate, and Oni Press provides another strong issue to hold fans over during the wait between seasons.

This issue tries, but fails to recreate the humor of its source material, playing instead like a watered down gag strip.

It isn't going to replace the Rick and Morty-sized hole inside of a fan, but it may help ease the longing just a bit.

The issue looks decent enough, and there are one or two moments that earn the issue's premise, but this one is purely or the Rick and Morty completionist.

Young fans may find it an entertaining diversion, but it's unlikely to be considered memorable.

SHIELD #5 is an exciting penultimate chapter of this long-lost series.

The bigger picture is that Hickman and Weaver have crafted a brilliant Marvel epic that begs to be re-read as much for its depth as to simply steal another glance at Weaver's artwork.

Saga returns and, as usual, doesn't miss a beat.

It isn't particularly eventful, but it is flawless in its execution.

As usual, Fiona Staples' art is gorgeous, and this issue quietly sets up what will likely be a much more dramatic next issue.

It is impressive how much tension Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples are able to build even during an issue that is, for the most part, about a relaxing day at play.

It's still Saga. It's still very, very good.

The "Gwenom" arc has brought Spider-Gwen to new levels of emotional intensity, and everything comes to a head in this issue.

Jason Latour spends a lot of time on conversations between the two, which should be riveting, but it doesn't feel like much of anything new was learned about either character.

Spider-Gwen #31 takes the themes and subtext of the series so far and makes much of it text.

It's a wonderful summation of the entire Spider-Gwen saga so far.

There's solid stuff here, its just unfortunate that the execution can't match it.

The issue brings a well-earned sense of closure to the saga of the Spider-Woman that fans who have been following the series won't want to miss.

This feels like a skippable episode of an otherwise enjoyable story.

The return of the Sinister Six story continues in the pages of Spider-Man and its... fine.

The penultimate issue of Brian Michael Bendis' Spider-Man run is, unfortunately, little more than an average throwdown between superheroes and supervillains.

The penultimate issue of Star Trek: Boldly Go sets the series up to end on its highest note.

The finest comic in IDW's Star Trek fleet comes to close with an excellent, if not quite perfect, landing.

IDW'S first Star Trek: Discovery miniseries continues to trudge along, but at this point is hard not to wonder why.

It's definitely a plot over character kind of story, but if you're seeking additional context for the events that kickstarted Star Trek: Discovery's first season, then this will not disappoint.

This is exactly what a Star Trek: Discovery tie-in comic should be, providing insight into the show's characters by telling a story that doesn't fit into the narrative of the television series itself.

Angel Hernandez strikes the perfect balance in the art to keeps the characters recognizable but also stylized in an interesting way and the final page twist is predictable but still exciting.

Succession is the perfect companion piece to Star Trek: Discovery and a must-read for anyone missing the show.

This is everything a Star Trek fan could want from a comic book series and a mirror universe story unlike any in Star Trek's history.

Writers Scott & David Tipton will also be familiar to Star Trek comics fans and they begin this story on a slow burn, but it seems like a tale destined to go in some interesting directions as we see mirror Barclay redefine the character's relationships with his colleagues.

So far, "Through the Mirror" is an absolute blast for Star Trek fans.

Through the Mirror struggles a bit in its third issue. The action finally begins in the first story, but Josh Hood's artwork doesn't match the level of polish of the two artists who preceded him.

Through the Mirror spins its wheels a bit this week and feels mostly like a setup for what's to come in next week's finale.

It's an incredibly fun read that does a great job setting up the next chapter of The Next Generation's mirror universe saga.

The first issue may not quite stick the landing, but Stellar is beautiful and promises a world of possibility to come.

Stellar is epic sci-fi superhero action with gorgeous artwork and haunting themes and if any small part of that peaked your interest, or even if it didn't, you should give it read.

If you're a fan of Wood's past Viking-era dramas like Northlanders and Black Road, or even his Revolutionary War series Rebels, Sword Daughter is the spiritual successor you've been waiting for.

Sword Daughter shaping up to be a journey worth going on, bumps in the road and all.

Up until now, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has always felt like it was at its best during its more intimate stories. The fourth chapter of "Invasion of the Triceratons" shows that Tom Waltz and company can be just as adept at telling a story about urban warfare.

After a powerful and focused penultimate issue, the final issue of "Invasion of the Triceratons" struggles a bit to stick the ending.

A solid, if not momentous, issue.

It's a decent installment, but we're still waiting to get to the meat of this arc.

There's action and humor and pretty much everything fans have come to expect from another solid issue of TMNT.

Mondo's descent into punk rock raging against the machine is a bit on the nose, but Ryan Ferrier provides a solid foil in how he writes Michelangelo and Pablo Tunica's loose linework and Patricia Delpeche's saturated colors are the perfect aesthetic for Mondo's worldview.

Altogether, TMNT Universe #20 is a great package for Turtles fans.

The story will be of interest to anyone following the Turtles saga, but watching these aliens try to hammer out the logistics of cohabitation isn't the most exciting Turtles adventure ever.

Paul Allor wraps up the Triceraton and Ultrom story on Burnow Island (for now) with a surprisingly dark episode of political intrigue.

It's a fun concept, but the tale ends so abruptly that it feels a bit more like a pitch than a complete story. All around, an okay issue, but not a standout.

The individual elements can be enjoyed, but they don't quite form a cohesive whole.

The "Poison X" crossover between X-Men Blue and Venom continues in Venom #162, and the story may be suffering from symbiote overload.

Perhaps when the larger Poisons storyline that Cullen Bunn is telling is complete this chapter will feel more worthwhile, but for now, it just feels like a derailment of what he had going on in X-Men Blue.

Venom is beginning to feel like a skipping record. Each issue plays out pretty similarly to the last.

The first issue of Venomized makes it clear that Cullen Bunn has thought long and hard about how the mechanics and ecology of symbiotes and Poisons work. Unfortunately, those details aren't particularly interesting to have explained.

Venomized feels like a comic book with the volume turned up a bit too loud.

Venomized remains hard to recommend, but at least it's pretty and the plot seems to be going somewhere in this issue.

If Venomized ever had a narrative thread, it has certainly lost it by now.

The idea of pairing up the X-Men and Venom is still fun since its so unusual, the story Bunn is telling is still resting on solid legs especially given the interesting final page turn, but this issue stumbles a bit in its execution.

X-Men Blue #22 continues the "Poison X" crossover with Venom, and the story feels like its dragging.

Cullen Bunn writes Magneto exceptionally well, so this issue plays to all of X-Men Blue's strengths.

Bunn seems to be going somewhere, but the road to get there is a bit bumpy.

It's not awful, but it feels like it should be much, much better.

X-Men Blue feels like it had a lot of its life sapped out of it due to its main character being elsewhere during what feels like the culmination of over 20 issues of stories.

Marcus To does a solid job with the art, but there's still the lingering feeling like X-Men Blue became a different book at some point.

X-Men Blue is a comic where important things happen, but the comic itself fails to make those things feel important.

The serviceable but not particularly memorable artwork does little to elevate the material.

X-Men Blue #30 is a textbook example of a serviceable superhero comic book. There's some melodrama, some fighting, some teases of things to come, but none of it is particularly memorable.

It finally feels like X-Men Blue is back on track and headed towards an exciting climax.

The character work and plot set up is of a high enough caliber to carry the issue few, but the rough around the edges artwork keeps the issue from truly soaring.

X-Men Gold #22 doesn't stray far from typical X-Men superhero fare, but it executes that material very well.

It may be comfort food for X-Men fans, but it's good comfort food.

X-Men Gold #24 is a low point for the series.

X-Men Gold #25 loses all sense of narrative causality.

The road to the wedding of Kitty Pryde and Colossus begins here, with a flashback drawn by David Marquez. It's beautiful, but given the problematic elements of the early days of Kitty and Peter's relationships, one wonders if reminding fans of those early days is a wise choice.

Still, despite some small art hiccups, the strengths of this issue far outweigh the flaws, delivering one of the best installment of X-Men Gold in weeks.

While X-Men Gold has been inconsistent as of late, issue #29 gets back to what made the series' early issues so much fun: high action-adventure and enjoyable dynamics between the characters.

It's a beautiful, complicated issue that's sure to bring out some complicated feelings from fans, and it's all the better for it.

It's a solid start to what seems like it may be the story Marc Guggenheim has been building towards through his entire run.

X-Men Gold seems to be hitting its denouement as it wraps up every long-running plot that Marc Guggenheim planted in his run.

X-Men Red teases the return of a villain who is perfectly suited to the story the series is looking to tell. In their first issue, Taylor, Asrar, and company present a story that has plenty of visceral energy and that seems interested in carving a new path for these characters rather than recapturing past glory. That combination of big ideas and big action makes X-Men Red one of the boldest new X-Men comic in years.

X-Men Red is still going strong.

X-Men Red is the X-Men book to watch.

While some of the books in the X-Men line seem devoted to recapturing past glory, X-Men Red continues to be the one interested pushing the X-Men into the future just as much as Jean Grey is trying to build a future for mutantkind.

X-Men Red #5 continues to do what this series has done so well already, only even more-so.

Even without all of that long-term X-Men history in your head, X-Men Red is an exciting, relevant, high-concept, and epic superhero adventure.

By the end, the emotional punch of X-Men Red Annual #1 more than makes up for the moments when it doesn't quite come together.

The stories go from bad, to not bad, to good, making the issue easily recommendable if you're really invested in these characters, but easily skipped if you're not.