Kudos to the artistic team of Alan Davis (Excalibur),Mark Farmer (JLA) and Wil Quintana (Exiles) for bringing a gritty stylistic approach swabbed with a rich color palate that clearly defines the mood of the series. There were elements reminiscent of John Romita, Jr. (one of my childhood favorites) that told the story far better than the writing. Ah, the writing. With so much going on, the explosiveness was less TNT and more WTF. Not to say that the vision conceived by Al Ewing(Loki: Agent of Asgard) is a poor one, but a lot of it just seemed like a conversation between Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Theres a lot of splainin to do. And the way the path is laid out, M. NightShyamalan would read it and say huh? Nevertheless, theres a snowballs chance the payoff will be worth it a few issues down the line. If you can make it that far.

The kitschy take on a difficult character works well, thanks to wordzman Heath Corson finding the inner Felix Unger and Oscar Madison in Jimmy Olsen and Bizarro, respectively. Bake for about 20 pages and voila! Take Planes, Trains & Automobiles, add the essence of Bill Watterson, mix with a pinch of Neil Simon and stir in a touch of Bloom County Uh, WHAT?!?!

Sam (Legendary Star-Lord) Humphries' narrative had definite layers, many of which were dependent upon the core values of some tried and true names.

Mark Millar(Secret Service, Old Man Logan) basically showed up drunk for the SATs on this one. It was like he took stuff from everything that worked before, threw it at the wall, then watched as a comic book morphed into a Golgothan. This shit-demon of a story was supposed to be conceptually edgy by taking issues that are in the modern realm of its not a big deal and thrusting them back-in-time to the Age of Intolerance. Somebody tell Marty McFly he aint getting anywhere near 88mph in this heap. Wilfredo Torres(Quantum and Woody) brought a few delightful touches with his artwork, however, but thats still being generous. The only saving grace was that his drawings fit the time period, though it wouldnt surprise me if his style was lifted from the 3-panel Sunday funnies of a 1940s Dick Tracy serial. Heavy on the Richard, if you get my meaning. Hopefully Frank Sinatra was right and the best is yet to come, but I wouldnt hold my breath.

The concept and visual quality are there, but the execution of it all falls a little short. There is potential in the series, mind you, in the way that general plot points would be better explained if SyFy picked it up for a movie-of-the-week.

Whether youre a Trekkie, or just a fan of monkeys like me; this premier edition is right up youre sci-fi jungle. It has all the earmarks of both classic series, with a few Apester eggs tossed in for the dedicated follower. The only thing to make it better would be an accompanying audio track featuring a remix of the Falco/Simpsons mashup: Rock Me Dr. Zaius. Cue the break-dancing chimps, with Uhura spinning on the ones and twos.

Now on the counter side of the coin, artist Ben Templesmith" Here's his caveat: 30 Days of Night was awesome. That being said, I would have enjoyed GBM#1 far more had the color palate been more film noir and less like if Bill Plympton tried drawing Calvin and Hobbes on LSD. The subtext of the writing was overshadowed by the images coming across a little too cartoonish just when the stakes were reaching their peak. Premature animation, if you will. In any case, there are enough easter eggs and deeper connections to the greater universe for me to come back for at least one more entry. GBM #1 serves its purpose in establishing the series, yet it won't raise the dead.

Setting the foundation for the Trinity of Sin, this one-shot from DC crams so much information into such a small space that I read the book twice in one sitting. In Dog we trust.

Frankly, for a first issue for the weather goddess and former Queen of Wakanda, I expected better. As one of the most powerful mutants to ever exist, this premiere episode fell a little short of what could be. Whilst simultaneous juggling the duties of headmistress at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, our eponymous superhero also has to deal with the complexities of being a teenage girl whom society has rejected" AGAIN. If that sounds like Groundhog Day, dress Bill Murray up in blue fur and give Andie MacDowell a Mohawk, because I'm pretty certain Storm and Jubilee had the same conversation in the early '90"s.

Aside from the potential face crushing Mountain-to-Viper innuendo (GoT reference, bitches!), the graphical display of hand-to-hand combat did satisfy in the end" Until that Nazi from Apokolips showed up" Yeah" That happened. Wait for the next one. You won't be missing much.