Bunn, Silva, di Benedetto, and Beredo deliver a perfectly serviceable Jean Grey story, but it falls into the same character misconceptions regarding the Phoenix Force as many before it.

While Incidentals adds to the worldbuilding of the Catalyst Prime universe, the art sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate the characters at this extremely early point in the series.

Overall, my verdict for this is the same as my verdict for Noble #1 " get in on the ground floor! Catalyst Prime looks like it will be exactly the kind of superhero line that the genre needs desperately right now. I personally can't wait to see where this goes, and what other kinds of choices Priest, Illidge and the rest of the Catalyst Prime writers will make in the coming months.

Howard and Walker craft a fine beginning to a story I'm looking forward to seeing unfold, creating characters with a true core of heroism. The art is overall less to my personal taste than other titles, but Height, Underwood, and Gandini do some great work particularly in the character designs for Kayla and Cosmosis.

Despite me jumping into what seems to be the middle of a story, Justice League #5 gives enough context for me to enjoy it, and an old-school superhero vibe that's well-paced and well-constructed. Nothing new or innovative, but hey, not everything has to be!

VerdictSteve Orlando and Brian Ching make a great team to tell a story about family, fear, and stepping out of your comfort zone -- appropriately, it's synchronous with this week's Supergirl TV show episode, at least thematically.

VerdictYou have no idea how excited I was for this book, and so far, it's held up to my hopes! Orlando sets up what has the potential to be a fascinating story, and while I could argue that involving Hell as a location might speak to cliches about LGBT people and Christianity, it hasn't actually been done before, so I'll just leave that at that.

VerdictMidnighter & Apollo #2 brings a fantastic pulpy melodrama that somehow feels utterly real. Blanco and Fajardo Jr. bring series-standard excellence to the art, and make the eldritch abomination in Hell look particularly chilling, while Orlando works his magic with the story.

VerdictOrlando, Fajardo jr., and and Blanco continue to put their best feet forward in the best issue of the miniseries so far. Particularly of note is the villain and his sadistic board game, and the cliches so aptly used -- here, they feel necessary, not tiring.

Steve Orlando once again brings incredible subtle insight to his characterization of Apollo. Blanco and Fajardo jr. do similarly subtle but equally effective work on the visuals, especially in terms of color.

Midnighter and Apollo #5 takes a feeling I've been feeling for the past two weeks and puts it into words in a way I never could. Between that, and luscious, red and gold-toned art, this might be my favorite issue so far.

Please. If you're gay, and you can handle gore, you NEED to read this comic. It's the beautiful, cerebral, violent story that you might not realize you need.