The end of an era has arrived, as the last issue of the final ’68 miniseries was released. Things wrapped up well, and the story has finished (for now) in a way that is rather satisfying. There will be one more “last hurrah” for ’68 this year when the 10th anniversary one-shot is released. So there is one more chance to dive in headfirst to the Vietnam conflict that gets derailed by the zombie apocalypse. I have enjoyed this story since I picked up the first miniseries in trade, and from there have gotten every issue that has come out since. I think that the zombie craze has been really well handled in comics, but that a book like ’68 often gets overshadowed by that other monolithic THING that is called The Walking Dead. I hope that people are reading and enjoying this book, because it is a great story, and a really well crafted period piece, and it’s a gory bloody mess of a zombie story, shown in bright and vibrant color! I have really enjoyed this book, and im sad to see it ending, but it definitely ended on a high note!

This book kind of seems like a modern twist on Stand by Me with a gangster twist. I love the artwork, and I think the story has a lot of promise, but I think I would have liked there to be a bit more background on our cast of characters in this issue. Maybe our "mysterious gang" could have benefitted from each getting a more focused introduction, PLUS our little rascals could have benefitted from a bit more thorough description of their personalities and roles within the group dynamic. I love the CB radio scene, with the "over, over over" dialogue and the creep who jumps on looking to party with all the pills and cash he has, which isn't much. This issue ends on a nice, if not a bit predictable cliffhanger, and sets up the rest of the story well.

Valiant has a lineup that is pretty solid, with all the characters that have seen second (or third, or fourth) life on the comic book shelves, and Archer and Armstrong is another brought back from the brink for an all-new adventure. My history with Valiant is thin at best, and rocky at it’s worst- but I have enjoyed books like Quantum and Woody and Divinity, and the event books like Book of Death and The Valiant. I haven’t read much Archer & Armstrong, beyond the Delinquents miniseries they were in, but I enjoyed their involvement in that story and some of the other books they’ve popped up in (Like Archer showing up in the pages of Faith- another new book from Valiant worth checking out). This issue has an extremely low accessibility hurdle, which is awesome to see in a new number one issue, plus it takes our characters on an adventure exploring their past (but not necessarily retreading something in their recent history, which would make the last collected edition required homework to fully understand the story…) plus it gives us quite a lot of humor AND some good action as well. This book was one I was expecting to be the silliest book for the week, and while it was really quite goofy, and never took itself too seriously, it still told a meaningful story that was actually engaging to read. The artwork is solid, and the writing is really good for a book that feels like it could ALMOST pass for an all ages book (if you don’t count all the drinking, and Archer assaulting that one granny goblin). I think this book is really fun to read, and if you disagree with me, in Archer’s own words, well I would have to say you’re a real “son of a lady dog!”.

I missed out on the Secret Wars tie-in series A-Force, and I think I really need to go back and read that when I get a chance, because I feel like the emotional tether of that series is something that really would raise my opinion of this book. I really liked the artwork, and I enjoyed how the characters interacted, but I just wasn’t really enthralled by the book’s story. I hope that things go up from here, and we see a lot more from the rest of the team A-Force, because this book has a lot of promise, but didn’t really deliver on those promises in the first issue.

This book has been really solid so far- incorporating Taskmaster early on, and now we see Doctor Strange joining in on the fun! But these guest stars don’t really do much to detract from the main story, which is one where Laura Kinney (aka the new Wolverine) is trying to save her clones because something inside them is causing them to die. I love Bengal’s covers, and this story really has started to push the emotional side of things with this issue, and I really like it. We get to see more of Wolverine’s past, and that she isn’t as “squeaky-clean” as Doctor Strange seems to think she is. I also really liked the humor in this issue, because while Doctor Strange is funny and a bit offbeat, he wasn’t too punchline jokey. He just played on the fact that a sorcerer living in New York who is also (or was) a medical doctor can really have some odd connections to the city at large. I think that more people should be reading this book and enjoying what Tom Taylor is doing under the banner of Wolverine while Logan is out of commission, which I hope lasts a while, and that the new teaser for a returning character to the Marvel Universe is Professor X instead.

This issue is the finale to the “Four Sisters” arc, and it is FILLED with coco-banana-bonkers stuff. Not to mention it starts off with another SICK looking Bengal cover. I love Bengal’s artwork, and would love to get an entire month of Bengal covers at Marvel- can we make that happen??? The book has lots of acrobatic, butt-kicking action and **SPOILERS** a nice “Gotcha” in the form of a switcheroo moment that I didn’t expect. I liked the addition of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the story, because it helped to wrap things up nice and neatly, with them taking down Alchemax, and the people responsible for the X-23 clones. There were a few surprisingly emotional moments between the clones in this issue, and I loved how Gabby seemed to grow quite a lot in a short amount of time (that amount being the length of this issue) and I loved the use of claws- both in hands and feet (YES FEET CLAWS ARE A THING!!!) and I think that Gabby deserves her own book- she kicks SO MUCH BUTT, but she is cute and sweet and totally disarming. The scene at the the end when **SPOILERS** Gabby confronts Chandler, the man who was responsible for the nanites in the clones that were killing them, and she goes all Berzerker and drives her Wolverine bone claw (in her hand, not her foot) into the floor, inches from Chandler’s skull, and says “this is how close you came… BYEEE” just shows that she is a kid, and is so different from Laura and Logan. As Laura put it she is “the worst there is at what they wanted you to do” which is a nice bit of punning by Laura in a moment when these two just get to savor their victory, which was nice. The final page reveal shows someone that I was utterly unaware of, and thinking they had to be someone of import, but that slipped under my radar, I looked them up- and was rewarded by finding out they are someone who has a history with Laura, and will be someone who fits into this story, and should pose some serious threat going forward. This has been a GREAT

This is a story that is defined by one word- unexpected. i did not expect a flashback sequence with Logan to open the story, or a heartfelt and actually FUN team-up with Squirrel Girl, or for Gabby and Laura to come to any sort of an agreement on their living arrangement. I loved this issue so much, but THAT was to be expected. This is such a good story, and i love seeing x-23 getting a chance to shine in the void left by Logan. The humor in this issue is palpable, from Logan’s talk of Galactus stepping on picket fences and sandwiches (then Laura’s attempted reprisal of the joke at the end of the story, to no avail) to Squirrel Girl showing up with a real, live wolverine in order to give x-23 the “animal perspective” on the situation at hand. Then SG and x-23 team-up to rescue a squirrel dad and return him to his family, which leads to some hilarious banter between the two awesome ladies. then we return the papa squirrel to his fam, and the issue ends with Squirrel Girl giving Laura a bit of the advice she was too proud to take herself (in the form of a hijacked squirrel-speech monologue) and the end of the issue gives us a nice moment between the two Wolverine clones, and a hopeful look ahead, so that these two can become embroiled in whatever crapstorm comes their way in Civil War II. This book is fantastic, and yet another reason to trust that Tom Taylor can write just about whatever he wants, and do it VERY well.

This issue feels pretty dark for the series, not that I mind. It needed a bit of this disconnected and thriller kind of vibes to push the envelope, and do so in a meaningful way. Seeing Scott summers like this really let's you feel empathy for a character, at least in my case, that since AvX I had no soft spot for. Plus Toad plays such a great and creepy, crazy tortured bad guy.

This was a book that I was definitely going to check out, but I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to be as excited by it as I was. I love Paulina Ganucheau’s artwork, her work on Zodiac Starforce was quite impeccable, but Andrew Wheeler is an altogether unknown entity as a writer. He worked on the Marvel 75th anniversary special (which I did not read) so I didn’t really know what he is capable of, before I read this issue. but I love this story. I don’t know how I really feel about the main character, but she doesn’t seem to be the focus of the story so far- we get a lot more on the secondary characters, and the world that they inhabit, rather than focus too much on the damsel NOT in distress, who can save her own dang self if she so chooses. Which is an idea that I love, she’s no princess trapped in a castle, waiting on a fat, mustachioed plumber in overalls to pounce on turtles and mushrooms and save her. This is a book I think that would, as long as the content doesn’t skew any more adult going forward, be good reading for young female readers, because it is so very different than the typical story where Superman saves a woman from the bad guy and flies her around while she swoons over him (okay, so that’s a really dated reference to the character- but you get what I’m saying). This story seems to have a lot of weight behind it, and the world it is set in feels REALLY huge. I am wondering where things go from here, and I am very hopeful they will go in a positive direction. If you want something to appeal to a different sensibility of comic reader, or what to get someone who is a less traditional comic book reader (i.e.- young, female readers) then this is the book for you!

I was glad to see that even though Prince Pete is kind of an airhead, that he still has SOME redeeming qualities. I also like that the focus of this issues story focuses on the monster lady who was contracted by Badlug to create a monster gauntlet to kill Pete so he can marry the princess. I have thoroughly enjoyed Paulina Ganucheau's art, and I love how much it feels so much brighter than the tone of the story itself. This book has a brightness to it that helps to heighten the depth of the darkness when it comes to it. Not everything has to be all bleak and dark the whole time...

Archie stumbled a bit in this issue for me, focusing on the characterization of the bad guy, Reggie Mantle, rather than really trying to build more on the love quadrangle between Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica. I like that we see more of Betty and Jughead working together in this issue, and that is what most likely saved this book for me. I think I am still expecting this book to read more like an issue of Jughead (see yet another book that Chip Zdarsky has ruined for me because of his stupid, perfect humor). I hope that things bounce back for issue six, because I have really enjoyed this series, and I hope that more and more people will be checking out this pretty interesting book.

I loved this issues story and the reliance on Archie's clumsy and scatterbrained nature. The scene with him hanging from a second story high tree limb was great comedy, the Reggie stuff is equal parts douchey and jerky, and I loved seeing Pop really step up to help Archie, even though he swore the soda jerks oath of confidentiality. The backup story by Abe Vigoda's brother was actually worth reading, except Archie is a real hothead and Jughead was really creepy when he licked pop's face.

I have liked Nancy Collins’ writing before, but Dynamite’s editing leaves a lot to be desired, so It was that editorial flubbing that caused me to drop off her Vampirella book, even though I was ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with Jenny Frisson’s covers. This book has equally impressive covers, especially the Francavilla one AND the Hack one. The art of this book is really solid, and for a first issue, the story doesn’t labor too long under the infodump/backstory problems that a lot of first issues have. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, because I hadn’t been as impressed by a lot of the Army of Darkness books (save for the Vampirella crossover mini) as of late. But being that this book was WRITTEN by the same author of the Vampirella book I had read, I thought this book would have a nice tone similar to her Vamp book, but still focusing on everyone’s favorite S-Mart employee, Ash from Housewares. Things will definitely ramp up in the second issue, because this issue just sets the stage for a world overrun by Deadites, and Ash as some sort of hermit living in his own fortress of an S-Mart. This book will probably be a bit of required reading for Evil Dead fans, and could really appeal to comic readers who want more zombie books to read and don’t want to try and wade through 152 issues of The Walking Dead.

I wasn’t sure what this book was actually going to be about, but since it has turned into a Mod Squad meets some really trippy modern-wave British storytelling about artwork that comes to life and it’s drawn by Mike Allred, I figured it would be a book worth sticking with. And I was right. This has been a solid first arc, with some really gorgeous visuals (like the room full of people turned into artwork) and with some really big things on the horizon for future stories- like Reggie’s dad being some big bad in the living artwork underworld, and having a slenderman-meets-Nosferatu assistant. I loved how the villain showed off her work of changing the Mona Lisa into some cubist/vaguely abstract work of art, and the people who saw her did the typical art critic thing of looking at it as something to talk about rather than being upset by it. The colors in this book are impeccable, with is nothing short of expected from a series that focuses so intently on the art world, and the story is fairly well crafted, but this issue wraps up the first arc in a bit of a “too easy” manner for my taste, and we get a softer ending than I would have hoped. We do have a big reveal at the end, which sets up big things for the second arc- PLUS there are still plenty of unanswered questions, so that is something to keep people drawn into this title.

This issue worked really well as a follow-up to the first arc, being a brief 2-part back story showing Denny Doll's fall from Art Ops leader to artist/villain. I wonder if the living artwork that behaved like king Kong toward his shop girl is actually an existing piece of art? I was glad to see this story slow thing down and get really focused on Regina and Denny and how their relationship ends, setting things in motion for the story's first arc. The art on this book is really solid, I like that the story is building on itself in meaningful ways here, and I LOVE Allred’s cover art. So this book is pretty well up there, in my opinion. I just always want more action and dynamic storytelling from this book, because it is such a creative and wide-open sandbox to play in, you can really get in and mess things up, and then just live with the consequences, because nobody else in the Vertigo Universe has to deal with the fact that the Statue of Liberty is deformed or disfigured or has disappeared entirely. So go big! Make crazy stuff happen, just because you can!

This book is really weird. Its like Pleasantville meets The Truman Show meets some weird Twilight Zone episode, set in the Marvel Universe. I love the artwork on this book, and the story really does keep you guessing until the end. I liked how it ties back into whatever issue that was where we see S.H.I.E.L.D. being called on the carpet for their device that allows them to manipulate all of time and space (which comes into play in this issue, along with some other stuff that I am sure will get touched on in basically ALL of the other tie-in issues for Standoff). I liked the way this entire issue read, but the big splashy reveal at the end took me right out of it, and dropped this book out of contention for “Pick of the Week” for me. So here comes the **SPOILERS** because **SPOILERS** at the end of the issue who we think is Bucky ends up being Baron Zemo, and the Tony Stark looking dude is actually Fixer, someone I don’t actually know at all. So while it seemed like SHIELD and Maria Hill went about neutralizing the fringe good guys who she thought were bad, it seems like she’s picking up ACTUAL bad guys and transforming them into Pleasantville versions of “normal” people. My problem is that when Fixer and Zemo are revealed, they are BOTH in full supervillain garb. Isn’t this an idea that should have been shot down immediately? “Hey, why don’t we transform murderous villains into normies and leave them with their masks, armor and weapons? Who cares, because they wont EVER get turned back into baddies, so their fully loaded and holstered weapons will be useless. No need to waste time and money stripping them of their costumes and weapons and fitting them with bright orange prison jumpsuits AND ABSOLUTELY NO weapons… that would be so silly…” TAKE THEIR FREAKING GUNS AWAY! Are you kidding me??? Maria Hill is pretty off the mark on some things, but this one doesn’t seem like anything she should be overlooking. I understand that Zemo needs his mas

This book follows the Aw Yeah! Guys’ tried-and-true short story comic method, and does so with great success. I love the way the stories thread together by the end, and seeing lots of silly, fun all-ages goodness in this book was a welcome sight. I loved the “for the grown ups” moment when we got a reference to the taco bell dog “heere lizard lizard lizard” plus the goofy, over-the-top inclusion of the bad guy having a “lizard ray” complete with multiple setting selections like “reverse” and “blizzard”. It was great to have Mark Waid’s Aw Yeah character- marquaid- the evil lobster monster, make an appearance. Plus we even get a bit of smart-stuff when they drop the phrase “Caudal autonomy” on us- look it up, and learn something! The art on this book, by all the different creators for the short stories is great, but they all have a feeling of being similar enough to not feel like mashing together a handful of separate short stories. I love this book, and will be enjoying this series with my son, alongside their other all-ages books like Tiny Titans, Aw Yeah! Comics, Patrick the Wolf boy and more! This book is a great, fun title by some really cool guys not afraid to make books that aren’t just kiddie books, but are something literally anyone can enjoy. Check this book out- and if you are anywhere near the Chicago suburb of Skokie, IL- do yourself a favor and check out Beautiful Downtown Skokie and the Aw Yeah! Comics store. It is a great, fun, bright place to go for grown-up comic collectors, and young readers alike!

This book being a bit out of line with the current continuity of Batgirl/Batman & Robin Eternal threw me a bit at first, but once I got over that, and embraced the wacky story with some of the Bat Family’s top ladies, I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Though I didn’t like that there is still that lame-duck attempt to make Frankie want to call herself Oracle, which throws me off every time it happens. I like the artwork a lot, and seeing Bluebird and Spoiler was a nice touch to the story, because outside of Batman & Robin Eternal, I actually ENJOY these characters stories. I think that Batgirl really needs to get down to the business of facing whatever or whoever this shadowy badguy is, that is messing things up for her, because without the major villain, things just feel a bit slower than necessary in this book for me. I have said before I was extremely partial to the Gail Simone run on Batgirl, but the longer this Batgirl of Burnside goes, and the fact that they haven’t messed anything up TOO Badly, I think it is really starting to grow on me.

This book is good. Not great, but good. I haven’t been floored by any of the stories as of late, but this issue just was okay. I liked seeing Luke Fox as Batwing, which was probably what saved this book from a worse score, but beyond that I just was underwhelmed with the story. I was hoping that we would get more back and forth with the “Big Bad” of this arc, not the immediate ending to that whole mystery, which was a lot less mysterious than I could have imagined, as it turned out. I don’t know if I just have run out of interest for this book, or if the whole “tranny trick” gotcha moment from before just soured me on twist reveals of bad guy identities, or if this was just a really lame twist ending. But at this point I don’t really care. It wasn’t a great issue, and this book definitely isn’t great.

This book is problematic, and it is mostly just the story that seems to be where things fall apart. This whole “reveal” seemed to be pretty self-explanatory last issue, except for how on earth an old records room had gigantic pneumatic tubes that could accommodate a full-grown human man, or how someone could interface with Babs’ brain and implant themselves as a childhood friend of Barbaras, even though he is AT LEAST half a dozen or more years older than her AND there is no facebook/twitter/instagram trail to link these two together. In the digital age, just SAYING someone is your friend seems a bit suspect, but then if your real friends are so inclined, they could just GOOGLE him, or hit up your facebook friends list, and see that you’ve only been friends for two weeks. BOOM! Bad guy exposed. The art on this book doesn’t suffer for the too many cooks problem, because the different locations in the book lends itself to the different art styles. But things just don’t make much sense even with that. This book hasn’t been good enough for Barbara Gordon, in my opinion, and things just dont really take the time or effort or energy to make the moments that are supposed to effect you emotionally ACTUALLY effect you emotionally. This book looks nice, and I think that if the rumor that Stewart, Fletcher and Tarr are moving over to Image to do their creator owned book, and they leave Batgirl behind, I will be happy. But it all depends on who the Rebirth creative time is on Batgirl, but if it is someone new and different, I will definitely give it a shot. I think at this point in their run, if Batgirl of Burnside is something you are thinking of checking out, I would say to give it a “HARD PASS”.

The crossover of the century (LAST century) comes to a close in this installment, where our heroes are handily defeated by the villainous Doctor Hugo Strange, and the Men from UNCLE and left without any international criminals to apprehend. hahaha right. this is a ’66 Batman and classic UNCLE story, so this chapter wraps it all up in a nice neat little package! the double-crossers get RE-double-crossed, and that giant squid makes one last, marvelous appearance in the story. things are back to square one with this chapter (without a single shocking gasp being uttered at those words, I’m sure) but the book was actually quite a lot of fun, and it was interesting seeing some of the newly created ’66 Batman characters interacting with Batman and the Men from UNCLE. This was a nice little bit of fluff for a Batman story, but i thoroughly enjoyed it, and i am sure that once it’s fully released in print (and then collected) that the collected edition will go over quite well, as it is an old-school pair of properties that are teamed-up in an unlikely story that will probably be best digested in the more “traditional” format.

This book feels like a bit of a watered down version of both Batman and those pizza loving Green Teens, but this book does a good job of giving readers who are less familiar with the current Batman continuity something to latch onto- that is Bruce Wayne as Batman. This issue gives us a good long look at Shredder and Splinter, who are a couple of super bad dudes. Splinter is much more of the tough, grizzled character that I remember from the original films, and Shredder is as gigantic and buff as he has ever looked. I like what got revealed in this issue, and the humor of the Turtles being in the Batcave. This book is very well written (Tynon has written some of the only passable issues of Batman & Robin Eternal) and I like the artwork, because it makes the Turtles a bit darker and Batman a little less dark than what I was expecting them to be coming into this book. This wasn’t a great issue, but it was a solid second issue, and it moved the story ahead with an interesting twist, and sets up the next issue pretty well.

Where this book loses me, is the same place every single iteration of Batman loses me- the same tired and rehashed Crime Alley origin story. I would have really liked an artful and humorous cutaway at the moment that Batman leads Raphael down Crime Alley to tell him the same story we have heard/seen a thousand times over, seeing the same pearls on cobblestone. It just immediately made me groan out loud. Beyond that, I don’t have a lot of negative things to say about this book, but that one cheap and lazy waste of pages in this issue just took me all the way out of the book. I was still able to enjoy Mikey’s skateboarding mishap, and Casey coming ALMOST to the rescue. The first few pages felt very forced, and the end of the book brings them around in a bit of a predictable fashion. The next issue looks to be the best thus far in the series- with **SPOILERS** Batman and the turtles squaring off against mutated Arkham inmates. I like the art and covers for this series, and other than this issues one big groanworthy moment, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read, but for a book that is trying to hook readers who are only tangentially interested in Batman OR the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we don’t really need an origin for either of them to be laid out in front of us in full, because if you are a human being with eyes and ears and the capability for basic cognition, then you already know Batman and the Turtles’ origins.

The more I read this series, the more I wish Kevin Eastman was drawing the book. His covers are great, and I think his tone would give a great old school feel to this book. The biggest complaint I have off the bat is that Commissioner Gordon is really whiny, and I don't understand why... I remembered on Legends of Tomorrow they called R'as Am Ghul "rozz" instead of "rayshall". They got it right here, which was a nice touch. I'll loved seeing more of Casey and the introduction of Damian. The story got a bit convoluted from there, though I did like the tease of the Intimidator Suit, whatever that is... Next issue is the finale, and I am sure it will be as rushed as possible to wrap this whole thing up nice and neat, but I would have liked more time dealing with Damian, with the Arkham mutation process, and with the relationship between Shredder and R'as.

While this whole series really didn't sit well with me- I could spend all day talking about this could have been an eight issue miniseries, not a six month expedition; but this finale, while a bit too on-the-nose and prosaic, actually closed out this steaming pile of a story in a way I didn't hate. Things all shook out in typical "return to status quo" fashion, and we even got some redemption for a few characters, some actual humor in a Batman story AND the return of Bruce Wayne as Batman 100% official, legit and in the flesh. The art on this book was good but a few panels took me out of it- one of Cassandra' s face looked like she momentarily had a severe case of the mumps, and Mother keeps getting younger, tighter and more toned each time we see this old lady. **SPOILERS** The return of David Cain was such a lame turn for the third act, and the Cassandra name change was unnecessary. Harper's monologue to Cassandra seemed a bit heavy handed to me, but overall it wasn't a terrible ending. It too way too darn long, but now that its over, im not too despondent towards the whole thing. But really- bring on Rebirth!!!!

This issue really surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the end of this story. I was relaly only reading this book for the art. I love the scratchy, painted aesthetic of the book- it reminds me a lot of the Arkham Asylum graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. But this final chapter actually caught me off guard. **SPOILERS** but the reveal of the bad guy being Bane was a nice touch- even though I didn’t really care much for WHO it was, I was glad to see it was someone who would put the boots to bats and the joker in their last moments. Though, the part that didn’t really sit well with me was the fact that the cure for the poison that Batman and Joker had was each other’s blood. Very much a Harry Potter-esque ending “neither shall live with the other survives), and played a little too neatly into the idea that Batman and Joker are eternal opposites. But beyond a bit of a predictable fix for the poison, because this book has to return our characters back to their status quo, it was actually quite a fun read, and a really gorgeous book to look at.

I binged the first handful of issues of this book, because I love Josh Williamson’s work so I thought I would give this book a shot. I hadn’t been too big into the fantasy side of comics, so I wasn’t sure I was even going to like this book at all. But after thirteen issues, I can safely say that I look forward to this book coming out every month. The artwork is really solid, and this issue is no exception. The fight scene in this issue was so visually engaging, that I found myself taking SO LONG to read this book, because I was just pouring over each page and finding little things each time that drew my eye. I think that there is still a lot that this book has yet to reveal about what is REALLY going on, and from my point of view, there is no plan to quickly spill all the beans. I liked the fun moment with Mikey’s baby momma and his ACTUAL momma having a pseudo-bonding moment; which was pretty abruptly ended (which is a common occurrence in this book- things jump around a lot, which is to be expected with 3 current storylines, plus lots of flashbacks from two different worlds). This book has a lot to offer readers who aren’t just looking for a standard “high fantasy” book, because there is a lot more to this book than just orcs and some evil wizard-y overlord. The first two collected trades are out and have the first ten issues in them, so you could get caught up on this book pretty quickly and easily. So definitely check this book out. The first volume is the standard $10 Image volume, so it is not a big investment to give this book a shot.

This series has been really good, but this issue just didn’t really hit enough major points for me to really be a GREAT issue. It was good, all the characters were really solid, and nobody really acted TOO FAR outside their personalities at this point, I just wanted more from the fight between Brennan and Mikey, because it felt a bit too long for what it was in this issue, and it just allowed them to be stopped long enough for Sameal to track them down. I liked that Brennan stood up for himelf and really laid out all his feelings bluntly to Mikey, but the fight felt unnecessarily balanced, even with Mikey injured, because he is a giant grizzly bear of a man, and Brennan is a skinny teenager. The threads of this story seem to be pulling together slowly, where Mikey’s mom and his baby momma seem to be making headway towards rejoining the brothers, and Aaron, mikey’s dad and the government agent who isn’t an agent seems to just be trying to do everything he can to put himself in a bad position with Aaron and Mikey and basically EVERYONE. I love this book’s story, and I really enjoy the artwork for how different it is. I would have liked a bit more of a flashback/aside of the other realm for this issue, but the focus of this story (for the moment) is on our world, and of Mikey’s preggo babymomma AND ACTUAL MOM tracking him down, while he faces **SPOILERS** a whole flipping SWAT team at the end of this issue. It leaves some major action for the next issue, and I cant wait to see what happens. I just wish I had gotten a bit MORE action from this issue than the agent dude doublecrossing Mikey and Brennan’s dad and the drawn-out fight between Mikey and Brennan that felt a bit TOO fairly balanced for my taste. Things should rebound next issue, and I hope we get to see more of the other realm as well, because that balance is really a big part of what drew me into this series in the first place.

While the art on this book has been solid, the story just wasn’t there, and the “payoff” for this arc in this issue wasn’t much better. The kaiju-made-of-sound rock-off was a neat concept, and the addition of the musical staff as a panel layout for some of that fight is something that I wish had been done MUCH more often throughout this story. The end of the issue teases “big things” to be revealed for Black Canary (the person, not the band) and who knows what the future really holds (if anything at all) for the Black Canary band. I was hopeful for this series, but I wasn’t sure how good it was going to be in the long run. I think this just goes to show that a good book can have bad stories, and I hope the next story this book tells is a better one.

Another disappointing issue, from a book that just seems to have lost it’s way. The art was decent in this issue, being so different from what I expected, but that is about all the interest I can muster for this book. I loved the inclusion Mari McCabe (aka Vixen) into the main DC universe, but her talents are utterly wasted in this book. Silence is the name of the game in this issue, because Black Canary is wearing an inhibitor collar and forced to fight alongside Mari, who without her talisman doesn’t actually have any abilities- remember? And Black Canary (the band) is included in this story, but for what reason, I cant really understand. Black Canary the person and Black Canary the band have a really predictable and silly “ships passing in the night” kind of moment at the end of this issue, and the whole buildup of what happened to Black Canary (the person)’s mother was a secretive thing that really felt underwhelming in this issue, to the point that I just cant keep mustering interest in this book anymore. I tried, I really did. But I cant give this book the effort to pretend that it’s good or interesting or unique that it requires to be any of those things.

The new creative team on this issue was a welcome change, and I will be keeping my eyes peeled for where Stewart, Fletcher and Tarr end up with Image in the near future (their creator-owned announcement seemingly right around the corner) but Matthew Rosenberg’s writing in this issue is pretty solid, and it was nice to see a bit of connective tissue to the Mafioso-types of Gotham in this issue as well. One thing stuck out to me, and it was just a small, rather unnecessary change with Moritat’s art and the cut-scene opening of the book with Dinah saying “Alright, Everybody! Let’s Go!” with her hair swirling in a very Medusa-Queen-of-the-Inhumans way I found quite alluring, but the part that bothered me was that she had he fist raised up in a defensive pose as though she were ready to start kickboxing Bane or taking Killer Croc down with some severe bodyblows; instead we get the next panel where, you guessed it, Black Canary the band is performing, and the whole build-up is spared for a couple pages, where Dinah ends up still doing exactly what the opening panel suggested, but that mysteriously made her microphone disappear. Maybe she kept it in all that crazy hair??? Because she surely didn’t keep it in her pants- for she hardly wore any. Not that I’m complaining rock chick stage attire isn’t known for it’s bounty of pockets and general coverage of the star’s natural… assets (sorry I’m not sorry for the bun-based-pun). Beyond that one moment that could have been taken at face value at the start, or just shown without the speech bubble, or that Dinah kept her microphone on the stand until after she said that, would have worked better for me, but in that moment, I just had to pause, go back and look it over again, because it just seemed out of place the way it was executed. Beyond that, this was the most solid, and self-contained issue we have gotten in a while, and it will probably be our last. But if things get shuffled around with Rebirth,

This book has been all over the place, and this issue was basically just a holding pattern for what was teased at the end of last issue ALSO being teased again at the end of this issue. there was some good fighting, but not much in the way of “good dialogue” plus an editorial oversight caused a color swap for Batgirl and Black Canary’s hair, so that it looks like DD is holding Batgirl’s phone when Frankie calls and is asking HERSELF about her own aunt Rena. i know i harp on these things a lot, but it just really bothers me, because i am certain that editors are being paid a WHOLE LOT OF MONEY to editorialize and to catch these sorts of things that we all pay money for, and the fact that we are giving these companies money for books that pay editors to edit them when they don’t actually DO THAT just is infuriating. add to that all of the mess involving the higher ups and their disregard for the editors that actually have established history with a company, or to commit to long-term coverups and making business moves to continue employing an alleged sexual harasser. aside from all that other malarky i just don’t like when editors don’t do their jobs, and they obviously won’t really do their job is they are too busy harassing female coworkers. so maybe we need a rebirth across the board in editorial, ALONGSIDE a rebirth of creative teams and books? because these things are just silly, stupid and EASILY FIXED. so maybe, fix them before they go to print? since it’s your job??? or not, and just keep doing whatever else you do to collect your paycheck and continue to harass or cover up harassment of others, because there is no way that will ever come back to bite you...

This is the only book this week to feature deadpool on the podcast- Uncanny Avengers was out, and Deadpool got a really fun cover there- but I wasn’t as thrilled with the story. This issue though, and this whole book has been really fun to read. Though I keep hearing from other Weirdworld books that it’s a place that cant be accessed willingly, but can only be found basically “on accident” so it makes not much sense that the Uncanny Avengers have found themselves hunting the Black Knight on Weirdworld. But maybe having Doctor Voodoo on the team means that they can travel to places that mere mortals are inaccessible to. This book looks great, and showcases a rather obscure Marvel character, which I enjoy a lot. Those have been some of the most fun books from Marvel as of late (Karnak, Squirrel Girl, Silk and Red Wolf- all of which have been really good, but that I just don’t have enough time to talk about all those books…) I like the way this book is written, and I thought that the flaming Ebony Blade was a really cool looking touch for this issue. Not to mention the end of the issue with the next big threat to present itself, which is one I will definitely be back to see how that mess plays out. This book has done a lot in three issues, and beyond just the odd properties of Weirdworld, and the inconclusive way that it restricts visitors (or doesn’t) was just a small hiccup in an otherwise really interesting book.

here we are at the end. I am really sad to see this series ending, because in five issues, I have really come to appreciate and enjoy Dane Whittman and the character of the Black Knight. One thing that stuck out to me was the inclusion of Hydra and their weapon called The Satan Claw- is that a real thing? Does that exist in Marvel continuity prior to this? If it does, I want more of Baron Von Strucker and the Satan Claw for sure! I am not a big fan of snakes and serpents (read as: I am terrified of snakes) but the way they are incorporated into the pages of this book as background art and setpieces was a beautiful and subtle nod to the serpent-y-ness of Hydra. It seemed like an inevitability, PLUS it is the whole cover of this issue, but seeing Steve Rodgers possessed by the evil bloodlust of the Ebony Blade was a welcome bit of “I told you so” that Dane gets to rub in his face, because he still is much more effective at keeping his murder-y stabby nature in check. I loved the flashback/forward page with the really age-specific artwork showing the different ages in which Voodoo is experiencing the Black Knight and it’s connection to the Ebony Blade. I also really loved the panel showing crazy-face Steve Rodgers gripping the Ebony Blade so tight and standing over the prone and unconscious bodies of the Uncanny Avengers. Another great page was the Black Knight on horseback, looking regal and composed, really putting Rodgers’ crazypants throwdown into perspective for him AND really starting off the final showdown between Black Knight and Caden Tar (who is currently wielding the Satan Claw… seriously- I love the look and name of that Hellboy jumbo fist weapon SO MUCH!!!). There are still some good lighthearted moments, like when we find out Deadpool watches Downton Abbey, and is kind of defensive about it. As someone who watches (oops- I mean watched Downton Abbey… it is over. Forever. Like this book. **SOBS**) Downton Abbey, I loved getting a nice shout out

This book also finished it’s first arc, and is absolutely gorgeous. There is one particular double page spread in the fight sequence in this issue that blew my freaking mind. I thingk Greg Rucka has build a really expansive world in this book, and that things are only going to get worse and worse for our cast of characters before things get better. Plus the visuals just are so jaw-dropping- Nicola Scott’s work is fantastic, and that is what makes this book absolutely stand out to me. It isn’t full color, its more greyscale/sepia toned, but with spot coloring when necessary, so the book doesn’t rely too heavily on inking or coloring to “save” the art. It stands on it’s own for what Nicola lays down, and it is gorgeous. I am really worried where this story of witches and magic (I spell it without the K) is going, because it hasn’t been very good so far, and we haven’t really found out who or what is behind all this bad stuff. But this book has been fantastic, and even though we are five issues in, that old Image publishing schedule standard should have the first collected edition out in April, and the sixth issue hitting that same month- or most likely, the same week! I would recommend checking this book out, because the creators on this book are making some fantastic reading here, and I don’t think anyone would want to miss out.

This book surprised me. I figured it would be worth reading, most new number ones are, but with Civil War in theaters soon I figure that marvel would put maximum effort into this issue. I don't know much about black panther outside his association with marvel teams and event, so this book was tailor made for readers like me to start at the ground level for black panther, and to go from there. This issue is fantastic- the writing is tight and concise but also flowery and poetic. The art was nearly flawless, one panel with one weird looking face/mouth was the only negative I could find. The lovers scene revealing that they stole prototype armor was gorgeously rendered and the colors were so stark but subtle, I just couldn't get over it. I love, and I don't know why I didn't ASSUME this, but I love that black panther's mask is more techy and sweet looking than iron man's. I always assumed it was like spider -man's costume, but it makes perfect sense for it to be some crazy advance super high-tech stuff. This book is awesome, and really has me intrigued for what is to come.

This is a dark, DARK story. not one for the faint of heart, or those more equipped to deal with fun, happy superhero stories. but it isn’t the bleakest thing out there, so maybe it will appeal to superhero fans as well… i don’t really know much of the viking stories that Brian Wood and Gary Brown have told in the past, but i know this one. i read the interview in previews a few weeks back, and saw the first few pages of finished art, and it looked crazy. and it IS crazy. the story seems to unfold rather quickly, probably a bit TOO quickly for my tastes for this first issue (unless, maybe it were a double-sized first installment) because the way there is a prologue, an initial setup, the “middle” of the story and then the turn, ending and tease of things to come- it all just felt like toppling dominoes, when it probably should have been a bit slower and less rushed. maybe that is just how this chapter feels, but for a book called “Black Road” and the idea behind the Black Road and Magnus’ only reason to BE on the Black Road all brought up, carried out and then ended in one chapter, it seems odd to continue on this “quest”. maybe more is to be revealed or maybe i missed something. otherwise- this is a gorgeous book, tightly written, with very diverse characters, and some beautifully drawn fighting. i like this book a whole lot, and will definitely be checking out the next leg of the journey on the Black Road.

This book doesn’t feel like an issue one, but more like a zero issue. The artwork is stellar, but the story really felt like a missing component that Natasha should have tried to steal back from S.H.I.E.L.D. so it can find it’s way into this issue. I just felt like this issue FLEW by, and that I didn’t get anywhere near as much story as I would have wanted from a new number one Black Widow story. I am sure that there is a lot more story coming from this series, I just wasn’t impressed by what I got in this first issue. I think that Chris Samnee’s art is stellar, but that is definitely nowhere near enough to save this book from suffering as a number one issue. we don’t get much of any real dialogue, which for me, is where the pacing of this book feels like it is moving at 100mph the whole time, because this book feels like it ends before it’s even really gotten started. I think the next issues will be better, because they can slow their pace down and really dive into the character, and give her an opportunity to talk, for a story to build and for things to happen in a calm, orderly fashion (except with lots of punches, kicks and probably some stabby/shooty stuff too). But this first issue just fell flat for me.

The visuals in this story are great and TOTALLY 90s, so it fits the source material. The story is pretty thin, and there is no backstory or recap page, so since I don't know the Bloodlines story intimately, I can't say if this is a faithful recreation or just a spiritual successor like 10 Cloverfield Lane. I liked this book enough to do some more digging between now and issue two, and I WILL be back for issue two, but I will need more from the next issue if I'm sticking it them. I do empathize with Eddie, the physically challenged and also mutated main character. But what made me saddest is when I knew he would de-hulk-ify and need his crutches back, except he smashed them. I felt real bad then... But I expected it.

I love the Bobs burgers comic, and this issue is no exception. I love the short story that parodies Gilligan’s Island, and how ridiculous the conceit is that nobody tried to patch the wrecked boat, but could come up with a billion different ways to power a HAM radio from items scavenged on a deserted island. This story relies more on the characters and their abilities, because the radio (created by The Professor Jimmy Jr) is powered by dance. That’s right- suck it Gilligan and company- you never tried to power your radio with hip-shakin’ toe-tappin’ sweet dance moves! The second story, which is part two of the X-Files parody story, focuses on Louise and Rudy trying to hunt down the person or thing who abducts egg salad sandwiches and leaves them with a bite taken out of them and a strange mark left on them on top of the playground slide. The tone really felt like it was taking it’s X-Files source material seriously, and I really like that. Plus it’s actually just a story being written by Tina and read by Gene and Louise, so there is a lot of fun moments where the story breaks to go back to the Belcher kids and their reactions to what’s happening in the story. It was a lot of fun, and ended abruptly, so it fit the framework of an “erotic friend fiction” story written by a young person without a firm grasp of narrative. The final story is the rhymey-rhymes that could someday be songs, which is where the deep, DEEP well of Gene’s musical comedy is plumbed for some serious gold. And in this instance, it’s liquid gold- CHEESE! It’s the story of Midas, but set in the Bob’s Burger-verse, and where Gene can turn anything to cheese with a touch. The story is ridiculous, but the art and rhyme scheme is really, really fun and it ends up being my favorite short story of the issue. This book is out in trade for the original miniseries, and I think the first ongoing trade is out as well, so I definitely recommend checking this book out. Also the TV show,

This series is all about fun, and this issue is no exception. I love these three stories and their art is different each time, but still feels so at home in the Bob’s Burgers Universe. I am excited to see where Jack and the Gene stalk goes, and to read more of Tina's erotic friend fiction. The different shorts in this issue were all really solid and this issue actually serves as a solid jumping-on point for the book, since everything starts over with part one, or just a one-off story in this issue, so if you are on the fence about this book, or just finding out, you can get in with a low accessibility hurdle on this issue, then do the responsible thing and go back and binge on everything Bob’s Burgers you possibly can!

This book is a nice unique update to the "traditional" kung fu movie style, adding in some SciFi and quite a bit of modern comedic humor to the mix. The art is solid, and the likeness of Bruce Lee is quite good. I liked the idea of a cryogenically frozen kung fu master, unfrozen after 30 years, in 2012 (this may seem like an arbitrary choice, but for someone who thorough enjoys Bruce Lee and who's son was born in 2012, AND ALSO happens to be named Bruce, you dig for a few insights) which is why I already knew 2012 was the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, AND that 2012 was the first time it had been that of the water dragon since the year of Bruce Lee's birth. Not surprising that this book would touch on these things, as its written by his daughter. This book had plenty of kung fu fighting, and these cats are IN FACT fast as lightning. I wouldn't say this book is ever really even a little bit frightening. Okay, that's enough of that. This was a really unique story, more so than I thought I was getting from a Bruce Lee comic. Only one minor editorial problem, but it was early on, and this is a BIG book with no ads, so you get your $4 worth. Fun, high flying action, for all the Bruce Lee fans out there!

Coming into this book with the writing changing hands away from Kelly Sue DeConnick was a big hurdle to overcome, but I think that the story changes enough to set itself apart from what has come before, and even goes quite a long way to bring some newly revamped characters from the Marvel Universe into the fore. I think that this book should appeal to a wide range of readers, and could (hopefully) be yet another notch in Marvel’s belt in the realm of books geared towards younger and female readers. This issue gives Captain Marvel a nice reboot from what came before- changing scenery, and giving Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) a new set of problems, team members and a big final page reveal that should mean a lot of questions will be answered in the course of this story. I have always liked the look of Captain Marvel- the red, gold and blue suit, and the short haircut really make for an imposing and almost severe look for someone to fly around and put the boots to the baddies. I liked the inclusion of Carol into the “training” of Alpha Flight soldiers, and working with Abigail Brand, who I remember being apart of the SWORD strikeforce that teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy a while ago in a book that i mostly enjoyed for the artwork. SO I didn’t have a huge amount of background information on Abigail, but I like that she is a bit more gruff and no-nonsense in this issue, to the more carefree (and very Katee Sackoff-esque Starbuck analogue) Captain Marvel. War Machine, aka- Colonel Rhodes, gives some good grounding to Carol Danvers and her connections to Earth, and helps to drive home the fact that she is leaving Earth for a long tour of duty in space, but because she can fly, she could return to Earth to visit easily. I liked that there was some camaraderie (or flirtation) between Rhodey and Carol, and that I hoped to see War Machine get a bigger role in this book in the future (especially with the big reveal at the end). I like that the charact

This book was totally an outer space horror movie come to life. I loved how dark the artwork was in a lot of the scenes, but still how bright and vibrant the characters were. I love Captain Marvel in this book, and I am really glad I got into reading this book- unfortunately for me, there was just too much of a back catalogue for Kelly Sue Deconnick’s Captain Marvel for me to really get into it, but if it is as fun and humorous a book as this is, I will have to start chugging through those books. I think that this book makes a really great entry point for the Captain Marvel story, without a ton of backstory required- PLUS it makes for a nice entry point for the Alpha Flight team as well, being that they are the support team for Captain Marvel on her two year mission in space. I enjoy the humorous tone of this book, and it has a lot of great massive scale sci-fi action, so this book should really appeal to a wide audience.

This book is about some of the women in the Marvel universe who kick butt and hold nothing back, and it is created by a team of awesome women of the Marvel roster who kick butt and hold nothing back. So it is no shock that I love this book, I love the art, and I really hope more people are jumping onto this book, because it stands to be enjoyed by more people. Plus Alpha Flight is in it- ALPHA FLIGHT. So you get the modern Captain Marvel, PLUS lots of great nostalgia for old-school Marvel stuff all in one. That, added to the fact that this book has quite a bit of suspense, mystery and misdirection, it is actually really fun to read, and kept me engaged throughout. I like when a book takes it’s time to unwrap a mystery fully, and I’m worried that this book is building up to pull the covers off a bit too soon, but we don’t get too much spoiled for us in this issue, so I am holding out hope. The artwork on this book is awesome. Alpha Flight look really cool and modern, and the space station stuff is really, really cool. There is a lot of great work on the colors of this book- the bright colors really pop, the subdued hologram and flashback colors are really nice, and the depth and pervasiveness of the blacks when they are used to full effect is really spooky and oppressive. I have said before- I had heard good things about Kelly Sue Deconnick’s Captain Marvel, but never really got around to reading it, which I am sure is safe to say, I am the worse for it, but this book is really solid and stands on it’s own very well, and is absolutely worth the read.

This is a funny and action packed issue, and it has a pretty solid cliffhanger ending. I love the art- the colorist on this book is really earning their paycheck on this book. Carol has a fluid/flowy way to her in a lot of this book, except for the panel where she looks like a Red Lantern, such anger. I really enjoy this book, and I hope more people are checking out this book!

This book is some dark, dark stuff. And definitely not for children. This issue features a collage page of naked people, like a TON of nude bodies. Like a lot. Its really a gorgeously drawn book, and besides the creepy nude scene, the rest of the book is really, really good. I like how there are two vastly different storylines going on here, but they both seem to have more than just a little bit in common. The end of the issue with Chloe and the thing that was in her house was SUPER dark, and a wicked twist I did NOT see coming. The Clean Room scene was SUPER gory and gross, and I wasn’t expecting it to go so bad so quickly. I liked the character that was possessing the man in the Clean Room, and how sadistic and gross he was, and how almost childlike and playful the thing with Chloe was (in it’s own messed up and demented way). I think this book is going to just continue to get darker, scarier and more and more gory and gross as time goes on, and I cant wait. I really love this book, and hope to see even more answers for what these things are, what they want, and why Chloe and Astrid Mueller have such a strong connection to them.

I love Gail Simone, and I love this book. It is weird and gross and off-putting, and that’s to say the least. I loved this books weird demon-lady on regular-lady nude hot tub moment, which was totally weird and off-putting while being just a little bit sexy… but still creepy. That is the best way to describe this book, I think- a little bit sexy or titillating, while making your stomach turn, further confusing you as to what you are actually feeling one moment to the next. Things aren’t getting much better for Chloe Pierce, and it seems like Astrid Mueller is in some deep doo-doo as well. So this is not a happy-go-lucky and funloving story. It involves lots of death and blood and nudity and demonic things. I loved the horribly manipulative and disgusting way Astrid dealt with the Rook (see high-ranking cult member) who was possessed by the weird blank eyed, face-twisting demon thing, by bringing up the most terrible and chilling moment from his past, where he inadvertently let his brother die diving headfirst into a pool because he, as a hormonal teenager was distracted by a hot babe in a bikini. Again- sexy, and disturbing. I love this book, but I do NOT love what it does to make my stomach do cartwheels each issue.

This book closes out it’s first arc on a pretty high note, but I could have done for a bit more closure from this issue. I loved the fight sequence, and seeing Chloe really come into her own when she struggles to find her mental footing through the first five issues. That, coupled with some gorgeous and grotesque artwork, and some big reveals, PLUS some teases of reveals yet to come (maybe???) make this a great pivot point for the story, and opens the world of Clean Room up in a really big, and really frightening way. I loved that we got some answers as to what happened to Chloe’s husband, and we even got Astrid Mueller to give a bit of straightforward exposition of what happened to her in the beginning of the series. We still don’t have any real clue as to what these things are, except MAJOR bad news, but Clean Room doesn’t languish over it’s mysteries, though many of the characters seem to languish in their own personal hell. I have said before just how much I LOVE the covers of this series, and how I LOVE the cover artist Jenny Frison, because her work is just so nuanced and detailed, while having a very easy way about it so that you can glance at it and appreciate it, but could spend quite a long time pouring over it and seeing lots of small things, tiny details, that passed you by on first glance. The same could be said for the interior artwork- it is the kind of thing that almost always bears a second reading, even if that may be difficult, considering some of this book’s material. But this series is just great, it started well, it has built up quite a bit of momentum thus far and is really doing quite a good job at giving little to nothing away- is this thing being shopped around for movies or TV, because it feels a lot like the way we are teased with the reveal of Outcast, and how there hasn’t been a straight answer about what the infected/afflicted/possessed actually are, or where they come from. This is a really good book, and this is a

This issue starts off big, with a flashback to Astrid as a girl, putting the fear of God (or worse) into a creepy guy who picked up Astrid while hitchhiking. she was making her way to a girl who had been abducted by the things that astrid sees in the Clean Room, and they did awful things to her. i learned about the word “portmanteau” which is a combination of two words. i know the idea of combining two words into a singular one, but i never really knew it had a name. also there is a name put to what these THINGS do to people, it is called “exoduction” which is combining exorcism and abduction? potentially. then, at the middle of the issue, we have reaffirmed, and SHOWN to us in gross, grizzly detail, the fact that Astrid’s father was one of these THINGS, monsters, aliens, prisoners… There is more talk of these creature’s “crash site” and that the Clean Room is based off technology stolen from it. then there is also quite a few gross and graphic moments (nobody thought this would be a cakewalk, did they???) and the issue ends without much in the way of resolution, but with plenty more characterization of Astrid Mueller (including the fact that she’s so rich and self-involved she puts her own initials on her belt buckle) and some time with Chloe and a Detective, who is also suspicious of Astrid Mueller’s connection to all these dead and dying people. This issue is great, the art is fantastic, and just when you think it can’t get any darker or more gross, the Surgeon (one of the creatures) presents Astrid with a man’s genitals in a handbag, for her to carry around or “mount on her trophy wall”. This book goes some dark, DARK places, and i really, truly LOVE IT. i cannot wait for more, and i can’t wait to finally see what the heck these things are and what on Earth they are doing here...

This book looks great, but I just felt that this story dragged on a bit too slowly for me. It felt like one good frank conversation between Papa Midnight and Constantine would have been able to clear a lot of this unpleasantness up, and not have to cause as many different problems as it did. The art is great, the writing, beyond just getting a bit bogged down with dialogue, and I am really looking forward to seeing how this story goes on from here, and what Constantine does with his relationship with Oliver- because to call this issue a “rough patch” for the two lovebirds would be a GROSS understatement. This series has been really solid, so a few slower or less groundbreaking issues is to be expected, I just was hoping that this book would be one that hit that high bar and just kept right on keeping on being fantastic. This book is a nice way to keep Constantine in a place of prominence in the DC Universe, and unless there will be a new Justice League Dark book (which is very unlikely) I will continue to read this book and enjoy it, I just hope for a rebound with the next issue and to step up the momentum a bit.

This book has a bit of something for everyone- faeries, some analogue to Trump- in hell (which seems to hit a bit too close to home since he is going to be less than an hour drive from where I am currently- which forcibly puts me MUCH too close to that evil incarnate than I would ever have wanted. But that is neither here nor there) but all of this, I am sure, seems rather mundane for John Constantine. The moment that stuck out to me was when Constantine rescued Oliver and he very quickly, without much break in the dialogue went from nude and constricted by a weird chicken-snake-demon-thing to fully clothed was a bit odd to the pacing of the story. It was pretty hard to watch, but a really effective part of the story- when there is the hugely emotional throwdown between Oliver and John after he meets Oliver’s daughters and they confront John about dating Oliver. It was a really grounded and human moment for Oliver to make a stand and call John on his BS. It really made things grounded for me, and it drove home what a good thing Oliver is for John. The final scene felt like the most clichéd moment in the book for a while, but I sets up a gorgeously drawn final page reveal that spells a LOT of bad stuff happening- basically for everyone.

I was less compelled by the story of this issue than I was by the art, and the big reveal at the end. This part of the story was a bit slow, but it serves as an introduction to Deadman, so I am sure new readers got a lot more out of this issue than I did. There was one panel in the bar scene that looked completely off- when deadman as a lady is talking to John and deadman speaks, but who responds isn't john but the bartender, who never spoke up to that point and never spoke again. So either this quiet observant bartender interjected on Constantine's behalf ONLY ONE TIME, or once again editorial missed something and I'm left here to complain about it...

Brubaker and Phillips start their longstanding criminal noir relationship out on a high note in Criminal, enough so that they have made, what, FOUR more noir series together? with Kill or be Killed making their newest outing coming soon? this first issue is great art, and tight writing, with some really beautiful, vintage comic book art used as a means to transition scenes in the story. things start off really dark, and just keep that darkness about them throughout. this is not a story for kids, even though it is about a kid and his dad on a road trip. but not ANY road trip, they’re hunting down a criminal who would implicate the young man’s father in crimes he and his boss have committed. we learn a lot about him and his father, and see them doing all sorts of criminal activity. we see that the boy watches and learns a lot from his father, but that he is still not ready to dive headlong into the criminal world his father inhabits. it seems like things are very lonely for his father, and that he does all sorts of terrible, unspeakable things to achieve his endgame. but what does that leave him? probably just another road trip to do more of the same, or defending himself against someone else who wants to put his body in a trunk and dump it in a lake... the kung-fu werewolf comic is really funny and weird, it definitely feels accurate for how the kid describes it “a kids comic pretending to be for grown ups”. this book is decidedly adult- only for grown-ups not kids, at all. it is dark, and creepy, and violent and showcases the underbelly of society in a really engaging and unique way. the end of the issue is really a heart wrenching turn, and one i didn’t expect. i love this story, and even though I’ve never read a criminal book before (i started reading brubaker and phillips’ work with Fatale) and can’t wait to read more of this and to continue on with Kill or be Killed. these two have a great chemistry, and it is obvious. this is a great book, and

This book was one (of many) that I wasn’t fully committed to picking up when I walked into the shop on Wednesday. I have my set pull list, and a few other issues that I am usually on the fence about, but this was one that I just wasn’t 100% sold on. I have seen the ads in the back of other Image books, but I just didn’t really feel DRAWN to the book. That is, until I saw it on the shelf. I flipped through it, and decided then and there that I needed to read it; so I did. I know that the tagline from those ads is “It’s not about a lesbian werewolf going to war. Except it kind of is.” So with that pretty silly conceit up top, it was hard for me to think that the book was going to be something I would be excited to read. But the artwork is really stellar. The story jumps around a lot, so the look of the book changes tones from each one of these times. The book is well written, and the (I guess you could call it a twist) twist ending/cliffhanger leaves a lot of the infodump scenes for the next issue, or two. The book focuses a lot less on the whole lesbian werewolf thing, which as I said, is a pretty silly basis for a book, and seems to focus more on the “going to war” side. Which isn’t really a war, it is more of an internal struggle, categorized as a “war”. Which I liked to see; I think the main character Lou is fairly charismatic, and her affinity for music makes for some visual storytelling elements that feel very unique to the story. The werewolf flashbacks are really beautifully executed, giving the scenes a bit of a magic quality to them, I assume because they are being remembered through the lens of Lou’s memory. The idea that Lou is a lesbian doesn’t really play into the actual execution of the story much, except in the longwinded monologue that Lou’s girlfriend gives about hyenas and how the females can give themselves false male genitals. Which was weird, and otherwise untouched upon in the story; So, im not entire sure why

This book is a bit of a middling at best title for me, I was hoping for more from a book about British Lesbian Werewolves, but it just feels a bit lackluster to me. The artwork is great, but the story jumps around too much for me to really get a read on Louise Canton, the main character. I love the look of the book, and this issue does quite a bit to further our story, but we get some really awkward storytelling, and some unnecessary masturbatory-centric scenes that just took me right out of reading this book. I was hoping that this issue would fix a few of the problems that I had with the first issue, but it only seemed to make things worse. Instead of getting a more focused story, since we got the basis for our character roll call, we got a pretty jumbled mess including some sort of military squad with a guy who looks like Fabio who publicly whacks it into his helmet on a pretty constant basis; we also meet a guy who tries to hit on Louise, who talks very openly about his and her own abilities, then uses his touch to make a drunken racist buffoon projectile vomit profusely to the point of bursting a blood vessel in his eye. I feel like this book had a lot of promise, but that after two issues, nothing much to appeal to me was actually delivered. I guess it really just confuses me because we don’t get any baseline readings for the timeline, and we have a lot of things get jumbled up and become rather indecipherable, much like the way Lou was hearing her girlfriend only about 30% of what she said actually registered as words- which is a pretty accurate percentage for this book, because about 30% of this book really was exactly what I wanted from it. Otherwise it was a bit of all over the place. I think that if I cared more about this book the “big reveal” at the end would have held a bit more weight for me- but **SPOILERS** the only thing I can imagine is that the blonde dude who whacks it constantly knocked up Lou and now they’re having some weird were-anim

I haven’t been as excited by this standalone Justice Leaguer’s book as I had hoped, but this issue really got me back interested, seeing Cyborg and Shazam working side-by-side. I think this book has a great handle on art, I just wish there was more to this book story-wise. I think that Victor has a lot of great, meaty emotional storylines to delve into, and it seems like this issue is starting to push the character back in the right direction. I hadn’t seen much of the humor in this book being appreciated by the characters in it’s pages, so the jokey nature of some of the scenes was something that felt like a moment we had been waiting for, for EIGHT ISSUES now. This issue opens with a page that thoroughly engrossed me, both because it showed Cyborg being silly and joking at a time where it FELT right, PLUS we get some sort of analogue to the Marvel “Brute Force” in this APTLY named Beast Force. Shazam and Cyborg are quipping up a storm, and this doesn’t sit well with the Zookeeper- not any sort of City Zoo Employee, that’s the baddies NAME… yikes! Again, the artwork is on point, and I really like the look of Cyborg and Shazam as they lay a savage (heh) beatdown on Bru… I mean Beast Force. The humor in this book, as I said, is laid out right on front street. And it is helped by the fact that Cyborg is cracking jokes to what is in essence a tween/teenager (is Billy Batson even in 8th Grade???) whose level of humor is AT BEST categorized as “sophomoric”. When Cyborg said “Ive heard this city was a zoo, but this is ridiculous!” and Shazam responds “This city’s a zoo? That’s HILARIOUS!” you know that the jokes aren’t necessarily the best, but that the lighthearted camaraderie between these two dudes is pretty obvious. The book takes a bit of a Tarantino-esque approach to timelines, because afer that we jump back SIXTY days into the past, for some good old fashioned father-son time, and Cyborg’s dad is making a pretty substantial

This issue caught my eye, mostly from the cover- showing Shazam standing over a rather fully incapacitated Cyborg. This intrigued me, but also confused me. Initially I was enjoying this book less than I'd expected, but once I finished, everything was revealed, and I ALSO hope Victor knows what he is doing. The next issue seems like it could be massively bad, pretty much for EVERYONE. I had a few moments that stuck out to me visually, which took away from how gorgeous most of this art was- wonder woman's face during cyborg's reveal of his organic form looked really derp-y and weird, and one panel of Shazam looked like he was built like Steven Segal, but now, instead of the muscly Adonis he usually resembles. Beyond those few moments, this was a really, really solid story, and it sets up the next issue very well. This has been a really intriguing book, and I am excited to see where it goes from here.

The third issue was a bit slower and less effective than I would have liked for this book. But the ending leads to some interesting interactions/revelations to come in the next issue, so I think that made me be less harsh on this story than I could have been. I like Blindspot and Daredevil in this book, and I enjoy that they are SLOWLY becoming equals. I still don’t like tenfingers as a villain, and I hope that we get more from the Hand sooner than later. I love this book’s artwork, and I think Charles Soule could write these type of characters and make them human and relatable in his sleep. But this issue just didn’t jump out at me, so it was far from my top pick of the week.

This book is right about where I expected it to be, because I just do not like the villain Tenfingers. I wish I did like him, because then this story would actually probably be my favorite issue whenever it comes out, now it just feels a bit middle of the road, even though I LOVE Charles Soule’s writing, and I think that the artwork on this book is flipping gorgeous. I just don’t like the villain, and I think that the connective tissue with Blindspot just makes me care LESS about him as well. I wish that it was more Daredevil and Blindspot in a book fighting flavor of the month villains, instead of this guy who just looks weird, and feels a bit TOO out of place for what I expect from a Daredevil story- which is to say that I wanted this book to read like a transcript from a season of the Netflix Daredevil series. But this book isn’t that, and I get it. I loved the way this book uses halftone in its coloring (which is the dot-printing method most commonly used in OLD Comic books, not new ones) because it affects a very retro and very classic vibe in this book that is welcome. That and the dynamic visuals of the acrobatic and very physical Daredevil really make this book great to look at, just no more Tenfingers. I don’t want him, and I am willing to stick it out on this book until he is gone- and I hope he is gone soon, because I want to be done with him. The scene where **SPOILERS** Daredevil tries to disarm a bomb, but cant because it has a colored wire rig AND an LCD timer that the blind Matt Murdock cannot see was a brilliant turn for the story, and one that shows that Daredevil isn’t a hero without faults. Captain America – Steve Rodgers gets a spot on the cover, but doesn’t really factor in too much to the action of the story, but is just there to try and help Matt Murdock resolve his issue with the fact that nobody knows that Daredevil is Matt Murdock anymore, and that Daredevil wants to unburden himself to his old friend.

This issue feels to me like the first issue this series SHOULD have had, bringing readers in with a familiar villain, but with a new twist on their story. I love this books art, and I love the cover art even more. This is a well written story, and the fighting is visually stunning and extremely dynamic. I feel like this is starting to gel more with the Daredevil Netflix series, and that's a good thing. I liked that Blindspot had a brief appearance in the issue, and namedropping the Night Nurse was a nice moment as well. I really hope this is a big jumping on point for readers, because I am finally ready to commit one hundred percent to Daredevil's cause now. I love the half tone colors in this book, and I cannot wait to see what happens with the cliffhanger from this issue!

This series is exactly what I want from a Daredevil series, and with Daredevil having just dropped it’s second season on Netflix, I am not surprised that Marvel isn’t hammering this pair down our throats in every way possible (kind of like the Avengers Unity Squad aka Uncanny Avengers being in every book ever for like three straight months...). I love this book, but the only thing that stuck out to me, was how jacked, ripped, cut, shredded and whatever other super muscly synonyms you can wrangle up that Daredevil and Blindspot are. I understand that it’s a creative choice for the style of the book for them to be 90’s Liefeld-ian muscle monsters who bleed Creatine and cry that chalk/powder you use at the gym for better grip (can you tell im a fatty-fat weird beard who considers an iced tea with his large combo meal a “diet”?) but other than that this story is fantastic, and it even feels like it could dovetail effortlessly into the main Daredevil book –OR- hear me out here, THIS COULD HAVE JUST BEEN THE MAIN BOOK THE WHOLE TIME!!!!! I don’t need to complain about Tenfingers here, but I just really don’t like that guy- and I love how the Punisher is handled in this story, and would love to have seen these two (three if you count Blindspot) go at it just in time to slap a Netflix’s Daredevil Season 2 banner right across your covers like DC is doing with BVS on every… single… freaking… book. Ack!

With Deadpool hitting theaters next week, it should come as no surprise that I would be talking about the Merc With a Mouth here. I have been a fan of Deadpool for a while, but only really an avid Deadpool reader (by this I mean picking up the book monthly, not just trades) since the All-New Marvel Now reboot with Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan. I love the tie-ins that have come from Deadpool since then- Deadpool vs Marvel Universe, vs Carnage, vs Deadpool, Deadpool Killogy, Night of the Living Deadpool, Spider-Man/Deadpool and now Mercs for Money. This book spins out of the main story arc where Deadpool forms his own super-team of mercenaries, who try to be the Heroes for Hire, but are slapped with a lawsuit and forced to change their name- thus, Mercs for Money is born! This book focuses strictly on their exploits as a team, featuring the cast of strictly D-Listers Stingray, Terror, Foolkiller, Slapstick, Solo and Massacre (basically Deadpool, but strictly in Spanish). I really love Cullen Bunn’s voice as a writer, and the artwork of Salva Espin is really solid. The cover by Declan and Jordie throws me a bit with this book, because the interior art is vastly different from the cover art- not that it’s saying much with the John Tyler Christopher action figure variant that I got- this book features NOT A SINGLE action figure. Which is a bit of a travesty in and of itself. Beyond it’s marked lack of articulated plastic and poseable miniatures, this book has a lot of action, a ton of humor, and a future predicting robot dude, who is the Marvel Universe’s equivalent of the Back to the Future Sports Almanac. Anyone who loves Deadpool will love this book, so if you love deadpool, go out and buy yourself ten copies of this book, because im sure Deadpool would be glad to know you pitched in and did your part!

Another fun Deadpool book, and it has really great art and a decent story. I just am not completely sold on the whole future predicting damaged junk robot who is now miraculously the most sought after thing in the Marvel universe. But once you get past that conceit, this book actually is just fine to read. There was minimal Massacre dialogue, so I didn’t have to translate too much (would a translation editorial bubble be TOO much to ask???) but this book is well written, it looks gorgeous and I really LOVE Declan and Jordie’s covers for this series SO MUCH, so while I don’t have a lot of specifics for why I love this book, I do, and I am really excited for more. I will say, that I love the DOUBLE reveal at the end of this issue, with two characters I didn’t expect to see appearing in this series, but that I enjoy them both so much, I am glad they are here. One ill spoil (only a little, because he is on the cover of issue three) the other I will not mention save to say that Cullen Bunn has written them before, and it is nice to see them back. The one I am spoiling, in which case **SPOILERS** unless you’ve seen solicits or cover art- Taskmaster. I really hope he sticks around for a few issues, though I had a feeling he is going to move to the back burner in favor of the second as-of-yet-unspoiled secret character revealed at the end of this issue. I still don’t like Foolkiller, but the rest of the team is alright.

(In old timey voice over voice):The lackadaisical editor strikes again!!! this book starts out with high aspirations when **SPOILERS** Taskmaster and Evil Deadpool face off in a fight that is equal parts witty repartee and serious booty kicking fighting styles. but then, out of nowhere strikes the lackadaisical editor!!! when he should reduce Taskmaster’s banter to a single bubble, or break the text up into two parts, he does the unthinkable and does BOTH!! the line is finished in the first panel, but then, is IMMEDIATELY repeated the same way in the second panel; no context to infer he was repeating himself, the bold and italicized text is even identical, so no emphasis had been changed. This happens four pages in. So it takes a lot for me to get past it. Once this issue was over, i can say that i objectively enjoyed it. the hillbilly kingpin or whatever was a neat addition (I’m assuming he doesn’t actually exist prior to this in Marvel continuity) and the whole "highway heist of a future predicting robot” angle for the story going forward is pretty awesome. i think that could mean some cool, funny stuff going forward for this book, but if there are more editorial gaffes like this, then i am going to have some HARSH words for Deadpool while i continue to read this book.

Deadpool and Madcap go head to head in this issue, and we get some answers as to what has been going on, plus we see more of just exactly what Madcap knows and has been holding over Deadpool’s head. I was really drawn in by the turn that Madcap was actually trying (in his own screwy way) to draw Deadpool’s attention and get back to “the good old days” as it were, when Madcap lived in Deadpool’s head and the two shared a cranial living space. I love the art on this book, and I think that the way Gerry Duggan writes deadpool is really solid, but I just wanted MORE from this issue. I hope that things get more action-y in future issues, and that the Mercs for Money story helps to build up things rather than just splitting the fun, thrills and excitement between two books like Batman & Robin Eternal splits their action in fours so that an issue can come out each and every week. I think this story has been solid, but that it will be hard for new readers to really get in on the ground floor of anything Deadpool right now

This issue is another of the sidestory issues that are building the huge world of Deadpool- last it was the poorly translated Spanish issue involving Massacre, now its Deadpool 2099. Being that my first time reading comics ran concurrently with the 2099 stories at Marvel, I always like to see that time be referenced (or in this case, lampooned) by the main Marvel Universe. I like that we see the female Deadpool 2099 doing lots of cray-cray stuff, and that Wade Wilson is still in the picture. I loved the big twist reveal to ‘Poolie 2099’s identity- which I did NOT see coming. The artwork on this issue is really solid, and I cant wait to see more of this crazypants new Deadpool Corps to really start to unleash the insanity. This has been a really fun and interesting series and I still don’t feel like the book suffers without Brian Posehn’s humor, and I am really excited to see what kind of crazypants stuff is in store for the next issue, which is the 25th anniversary special for Deadpool, which I am sure will be all sorts of coco-banana-bonkers.

This book has SEVEN DIFFERENT STORIES, so the creative team list reads like an issue of Batman & Robin Eternal, and the title page takes longer to read through than you could take to get through an issue of Eternal before finding something to either roll your eyes at, or just give an exasperated sigh. But this book doesn’t have many moments to shrug off, and im thankful for that. The twenty-fifth anniversary of Deadpool is a pretty big deal, and it shows in this massive $10 tome. I love the stories, and I am excited to see where things go from here. I am also glad to see quite a few of the members of the Mercs for Money get a moment to shine in a solo story, because characters like Stingray, Terror, Slapstick and Solo all get some really good characterization in this book. Foolkiller didn’t really do it for me, because his story just seems like an unnecessary add-on to his story PLUS who signs up for college using their superhero name- ESPECIALLY when that name is “Foolkiller”??? Who would accept that college application? Oh- he had a 3.0 GPA in high school, and has lots of real world experience that would bring some prestige to this community college off the freeway- OH NO FOOLKILLER DENY DENY DENY we don’t have insurance for a guy like that! Colleges are packed with fools. Our enrollment numbers will go down. Okay, so maybe im making a mountain out of a Foolkiller, but I just don’t care for him in this story. Terror was a much more empathetic character in this story, and Stingray gets a bit of backstory that I appreciate, because otherwise he feels like a bit of a pompus jerk. Solo has some good redeeming qualities, and he gets the credit for starting the Mercs for Money, which is nice. Massacre is yet another character who I have a hard time with their story- mostly because I speak absolutely ZERO Spanish. So I don’t understand what he is saying, and my google translate app doesn’t really hit homeruns with the grammatical structure of Spanish. So

This book starts the new arc that we have been building towards for a long time: Deadpool has found out more about his past, and that his family was killed, possibly by Butler (the guy who wiped ‘Pools mind and was harvesting his organs to keep his sister alive- it was a while ago, before Secret Wars, so maybe you forgot) and that Sabretooth was around when it happened. What we the reader know, and what Deadpool doesn’t know is that HE HIMSELF killed his family, and that Sabretooth was just there to watch and make sure it happened. This arc is the Deadpool vs Sabretooth story, and who knows what kind of crazy stuff we will be getting here. We still get plenty of Mercs for Money in this issue, PLUS the cover art by the Allreds is phenominal. This leads right into the next issue, but I am hoping that things get resolved here and things go all sorts of coco-banana-bonkers soon, because we got the tease of a Deadpool daughter in the Deadpool 2099 issue a few months ago, and I want more of that. This book is good though, and I am really on edge to see what happens when Deadpool finds out what happened to his family at his own hand. I loved that the narrative of the story was that Wade, Sabretooth and Wolverine had a long discussion on what would kill and KEEP wolverine dead, and that by decapitating him and keeping his head dissolving in acid would make and keep him dead. So Deadpool decides to test this theory on Sabretooth instead, and uses piano wire across a road where Sabretooth is riding on a motorcycle to decapitate him (also- to keep his head in a pet carrier) and keep his severed head. This scene plays out just as well as you expect it would for Deadpool, because it doesn’t actually decapitate Sabretooth, it just makes him look like and I quote “a pez dispenser” which is a gross, graphic visual. Plus the bottom panel of the page is a splashy (ugh, I hate myself for making a blood joke here) gory shot of maimed Sabretooth. The issue ends with Deadpool d

A slower issue, dragging out the inevitable matchup throwdown between Sabertooth and Deadpool, the art is solid, the covers are fantastic, but again- the editorial feels like they're asleep at the wheel, because I see every way they describe who Wade killed while sabertooth watched: his family (vague), his parents, A parent (specifically his Father). Who was it? Why does everyone seem to have no idea who he killed, but they all seem to know he should know HE did it, not Sabertooth. This book has done a lot in a short period of time, and I know that this issue is just setting up bigger things to come.

So, my wanting clarity about Deadoool's dead parents goes unfulfilled in this issue, now we kind of get the reveal that Sabertooth killed his dad, but POSSIBLY not his mom? So there's a reveal yet to come? Possibly, or it is just another instance of editorial letting things go even though its their job to maintain clarity and understanding in the stories they are overseeing. This issue has great art, and supreme humor, but I don't know what's coming next, and don't know if things will shake out they way they're supposed to. But its deadpool, so I'm sure it will be plenty funny and outrageous.

This book has been interesting to read, but this ending just fell a bit flat for me. I like the art, and I enjoyed the story, but there just really should have been a more final ending to the story rather than ending on a bit of a wrong note. I was hoping that this series would finish strong and really make this book feel more like required reading. Now it definitely does not fit that category. Maybe if there is a “Death Head 2: Dyin to Get Ahead” and it drives home the story of what happened at the end of this book that is left more open ended, I would enjoy it more, or if it ended with a literal “see what happens in Death Head 2: Death Feet!!! Because I just felt like this miniseries should have finished out with a nail in the coffin (pun intended) moment for this universe of bird mask wearing doctors who use coffins as portals. Also what was the deal with that mask maker dude? Why didn’t we get more of him, or more of the history of the plague doctors? I just feel like an oversized last issue that ties all our threads together and really draws this story to a close would have been much better than a sequence where the doctors march our family of characters through a portal, back to the place where this all started, to blow things up, get a convenient reveal about one of the plague doctors and the ghost girl who hasn’t been around enough to really make her coming back feel like a natural occurrence, and it all just falls together and then ends abruptly, and I wish we got more. I would have liked a cliffhanger ending of the family driving away, and a weird, plague doctor in a leather trenchcoat watching them drive away, then he hops on a motorcycle and follows them- or that the family all dies, except the daughter, and she takes a discarded bird mask and goes on a viscious murderous rampage. Something more substantial would have been welcome, but we didn’t get that.

I love Deathstroke, and I loved Tony S. Daniel’s run on this book (though, I don’t know HOW much impact he had on the last arc, because he shared all his writing credits with James Bonny- so maybe he was just the co-plotter, or it was his original story idea that Bonny ran with) regardless of that, this is the first issue fully without Daniel’s writing or art, and I think it doesn’t dip in quality whatsoever. We get some good action, some cool splashy pages, and a big tease for what is to come next issue- which is the kind of slobberknocker fight that Deathstroke is literally MADE for. This was a solid issue, nothing revolutionary in the book, but good and engaging and it sets up a nice and I am sure action-packed next issue.

This was a really fun punchfight story, and it ends with a reveal of a newly created character (or at least, im about 99% sure it’s a new character) in LAWMAN! He looks kinda like skeletor or taskmaster, but he dresses in his best Jonah Hex cosplay. We don’t know what his power set is, or what he really wants, but he looks cool, and seems to have quite a lot of influence, so that means this should be a fun character to watch in this book. Couple that with the great visuals of Tyler Kirkham, and subtle humor and well-choreographed fighting of James Bonny, and you get a pretty solid book. I wish we could have actually gotten Lex Luthor in this issue, or maybe a bit less obvious “twist” ending for Deathstroke to defeat the Bizarros, but beyond that this book is solid, and this issue delivers. I also would have liked a bit more intel on who this Mercy woman is that works for Lexcorp, and how she is quite so cool under pressure being threatened by Deathstroke, and trying to not get killed by Bizarros, she seems like she is someone I should know. Is she? Do we know who she is in the DCU or is she just a tough-as-nails lady who works for Lex Luthor, and is totally cool with working on top of a bunch of crazed mutated clones of Superman? I don’t know, and I don’t think we will get any of those answers in this book, because Slade is moving on to try and find his daughter, and his eventual confrontation with LAWMAN (I think I have to always say his name as an exclamation, because it just feels right that way, you know???) his confrontation with LAWMAN will take him away from Lexcorp and towards some new obstacles like **SPOILERS** Red Hood?!?! Apparently Red Hood took time out from the big mess that is Batman & Robin Eternal to take on a job as a hitman coming after Deathstroke, which is odd, but it makes me happy to know that we wont get our head-to-head with Deathstroke and LAWMAN right away- we are going to have to wait, and get some time with Deathstroke and R

This series has worked pretty well lately, and for me that was because of the creative team on the book having a seemingly consistent and dependable output. Now, with Rebirth fast approaching, all DC's creative teams are in flux, and it feels like its just chaos over there. This issue has a new artist. I'm not familiar with them, but I liked the art on this book. I was glad we got the explanation that Red Hood wasn't taking an assassination job for Deathstroke, just to beat him up. The tease of an "old friend" coming back for the next issue should be interesting, but if its yet again another new artist, I don't know how much I will like it. After some combing of the internet, I found out that it looks like Kirkham and Bonny are back for the rest of this story (though, don’t believe everything you read on the internet) and that from the Rebirth announcement today I haven’t seen James Bonny land anywhere with DC in their Rebirth lineup- granted it was a big panel, and he could have slipped through the cracks, but I would have thought I could remember him, since I remembered to look for Tony Daniel and Tyler Kirkham, specifically. But having the main guys back on this book should iron out the wrinkles and give us the big finish that this series truly deserves.

we get a pretty quick, and rather unceremonious reveal for who Lawman is under the mask- which never really sits well with me. i would rather there have been 3 guys in the flashback sequence besides Deathstroke, and we don’t find out who Lawman actually is until later in the issue. but besides that PERSONAL choice difference, i liked this issue. i liked Snakebite’s play-by-play announcer way he narrated the fight between Lawman and Deathstroke. Lawman! i still just love saying that name. the last half of this issue felt a bit awkward, with a few different plot twists feeling a little out of sorts for this book- **SPOILERS** Rose Wilson shows her strength and throws off Lawman’s mind control stuff, but Red Hood (who came to Deathstroke’s aid) wanders off into nowhere at the behest of Batman- which was odd in and of itself. BUT then Deathstroke and Rose end up disappearing in the middle of a battle, and instead of just firing wildly at the place that those two USED to be, they all just sort of pack it up and let them go- setting up the final page reveal that is on the cover of this book. That is a choice that has always sat oddly with me- letting the final moments of a book become what you slap on the front cover (or even moments that have nothing to do with the interior pages) really sort of robs the story of gravitas and weight, and takes away from that final big moment in the story. but beyond that, i liked what i saw here, and i am glad to see that Deathstroke is getting finished, AND we are getting a new annual to round out the book as well. this series has been really solid and fun to read, and i am very hopeful for what we have to look forward to in Rebirth from Deathstroke.

This book was one that I came into with the highest hopes. I loved the new Red Sonja number one, and it even held it’s own against Gail Simone’s Sonja run. So, this along with Vampirella are two books that I was really looking forward to. This book, at least this first issue anyway, really just didn’t do it for me. We got the requisite half-nude Deja Thoris in a gravity and logic-defying bronze bikini that even Slave Leia would go “ooh girl, you need to put some clothes on!” but beyond that bit of titillation, we aren’t offered much in this first issue. Deja’s father, the king of Helium disappears (and we have no clue why or how- which would have been nice) and then some shadow-dwelling beaurocrat from the king’s small council (Game of Thrones, anyone???) decides to enact edicts from the deposed leader, placing himself in charge, later charging Deja with treason for killing her father. This whole book feels like it was just trying to be Game of Thrones, and NOT John Carter. I hated John Carter. Okay, to be fair, I didn’t hate John Carter. I watched it really late one night when my newborn son wouldn’t sleep, and the movie basically put me in a mindless trance for OVER TWO HOURS! That movie was two hours and twelve minutes long and NOTHING remarkable happened. I just remember waiting for something to happen, and nothing happened, and more nothing happened, and Deja Thoris was nowhere near as naked as I remembered her being on the comic book covers, so I was confused. I thought John Carter wore a loincloth and was eyecandy for the ladies, while Deja was eyecandy for the men. But the movie was eyecandy for no one, and that was 132 minutes of my life I will never get back. This issue was a lot less time of my life spent, but I still feel quite a bit like it was time absolutely wasted.

Yawn. This book didn’t do much this issue, and the idea that the single most recognizable figure on all of Mars goes missing, then changes her name and turns up in some sort of alien militia BUT still isn’t discovered seems a pretty big conceit to get my head around. If Prince William joined the US Navy, does anyone think we wouldn’t notice? or if Vladmir Putin was leading some African militia, would everyone just go with it? I don’t think so. So that already took me out of the book, plus the idea that this is just trying to be Game of Thrones, but it isn’t anywhere CLOSE to game of thrones just keeps taking me further and further away from this book. I was glad to see that Deja doesn’t wear just her golden nipple pasties as a costume in this book, but for being some sort of warrior princess (much like Xena) she seems to rise through the ranks of the military without much fanfare, though she is the only woman, and she looks EXACTLY like the exiled princess wanted for the murder of her father. Also, the old woman who called to Deja on the street, who looked like a young woman with snakes in her hair of something, turns into the old woman who talks to Deja once they are in their little fortune teller parlor, and yet there is nothing anyone can do to obfuscate Deja’s appearance so that she doesn’t just look EXACTLY like a dirtier version of the Queen of Helium?!?! I wish that this was a more effective story, because the character design finally has me interested in this book, because I can read it in public without it looking like some porny Zenescope book, but the actually story just falls apart on contact. This was a bit of a wasted effort for me, and I will most certainly not be reading anymore of this Deja Thoris comic.

I was absolutely floored by Divinity, when I read it in trade not long ago, and had been waiting eagerly for Divinity 2 to come out. Knowing Vladimir Putin was in the book ahead of time was a fun, odd tidbit I was excited to learn more about. The art and writing on this book are IMPECCABLE. Matt Kindt writes fantastic stories, Trevor Hairsine is a great storyteller and his pencils are very light, but still VERY expressive, and the inks and colors just bring this book absolutely to life. I am excited and scared to see what kind of trouble Myska causes in her attempt to return Russia to its former glory...

This is probably the most modern Who story I've read from the pre-revival Doctors. I love how dark and cinematic it looks, and how very over the top the giant cyclopean grunts are. The " scrying glass" as an old-school viewfinder was a nice element as well. This book feels very natural for Baker's Doctor and Sarah Jane, and I completely enjoyed this, the first new adventure of theirs. That last page is a doozy, and I really have no clue what comes next. But in a year without any new Who, I'll take all the quality stories I can get. Like twelve's Eye of Torment collection I'm reading currently. Which is good so far- I am excited for the Madame Vastra, jenny and Strax story at the end of that collection, because they are three of the best (and most ridiculous) characters in the Rogues Gallery of The Doctor’s known associates. But this book has a lot of really great moments, and it seems to be doing a great service to Tom Baker’s doctor, more so than the Ninth Doctor’s miniseries did- though, to be fair, I only read one issue (part way) and was just turned off by the look of the characters and their voices… This book feels right at home with Four and Sarah Jane, and I will make sure to wear my extra long and stripey Four scarf for when I come back to read issue two, and three… and, you guessed it- FOUR!

This is what I expect from a Doctor Who comic, not an overly plastic surgery riddled Rose Tyler and stilted and awkward voiced doctor. This series has the tone of its characters well in hand within moments, and builds on the existing storylines of the ninth (and my personal favorite) incarnation of the doctor. Things got a bit wonky, but its nothing our intrepid time travelers can't handle. The reveal at the end ties right into Nine's on-screen shenanigans, and I couldn't be happier. I loved hearing Rose say "timey wimey" it was just too perfect. I'm genuinely impressed by this Doctor Who story, and in a year without a Doctor (which sounds like a great Who story, if I do say so myself) I'll take all the wibbly wobbly timey wimey I can bear.

You would imagine that a character like Drax, who takes things so literally all of the time wouldn’t have a book with so much talking in it, but for a book set in an outerspace version of classic Roman gladiatorial pits, there is an awful lot of jabbering. This book has a nice look to it, and the inclusion of Fin Fang Foom adds a bit of connective tissue to the Marvel Universe, because I don’t know how many people really know/care about Terrax, I for one didn’t really know anything about him before this book, and what I learned from him in the early issues is that he is a forgetful drunk who loses things far too easily. Couple that with the mystifying fact that the co-writer of this book is a drug-free “Straightedge” type, and it is rather confounding that this and his only other foray into comic book writing started off with binge drinking and bar scenes. I haven’t been impressed with this title like I would have liked- being that Bautista brought some real heavyweight (heh) action to Drax the Destroyer in the MCU, I was hoping that someone like CM Punk, a former professional wrestler and soon-to-be MMA fighter, would bring some dazzling footwork and freight train punches to this character and his story. But really, it hasn’t been the most stellar outing for this series, if the match were called right now- I would declare no one the winner. But the artwork is solid, and it seems like, maybe, just maybe there is some decent groundwork being laid for some future stories involving some buddy-buddy Drax and Terrax goodness. As I said, for a story that seems to be 100% focused on fighting, and it’s titular character isn’t one for flowery speech and wasted words, this issue has SO MUCH DANG talking… it’s like an endless wrestling promo, and I wish it would just be over! I don’t know when it happened in professional wrestling, but there is SO MUCH FLIPPIN talking these days. I love to torture my wife by turning on whatever program comes on, and

There is little that needs to be said about a Mark Millar new number one issue: I'm sure everyone is aware of it, and a LOT of people are reading it as well, so I don't really need to promote this story too heavily. It is such a gorgeous book, and so well written, I am all about this series. I really feel like this is a shared-universe story that Starlight could easily cameo in. Flash Gordon-esque stories like this fit easily together, and since they're both by Mark Millar its an easy connection to make. I didn't expect to see such a han solo esque character in the empress's bodyguard, but he is a total BAMF. I also didn't expect the teenage daughter to be such a, well, teenager.

This series is really a lot of fun. Faith is such an enjoyable character, I love reading her in this book. I am not sure if her Buffy analogy is apt for this situation, because I have no idea e the bad guy in this book is. I love the art, and I also enjoyed the Divinity2 preview in the back- that first miniseries was unlike anything I had expected, but it was great. I have a feeling the brainwashed and matrix-y over the top vibe for this book is just getting started, and next issue will be a coco banana bonkers finale...

Faith wraps up her miniseries in a positive direction, and it even announces the next Faith ongoing series. The art is solid, the bad guy, while a big vague, still suits the story well. I liked to see Archer back in this story, and I loved all the goofy, nerdy cultural references. This book, even with its occasional editorial gaffe, has been a lot of fun to read, and makes me quite excited to read the next chapter in Faiths story. Valiant has found a new kind of superhero to write about and has made this plus-sized character really interesting and engaging. I hope people are reading this book, or can be persuaded to read it in trade, because this is a story absolutely worth reading.

The first of two books written by Joe Kelly this week- Four Eyes Hears of Fire is something that I had no real information on prior to picking it up, and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. Imagine a world, post depression where dragons are fought like dogs or chickens or some seemingly mundane animal in a very cruel and amoral scenario. This book builds on that, along with getting us invested in the characters of this world. I really think this was probably the most surprising book I read this week, mostly because I wasn’t prepared for this book to be anything like what it actually was. I assumed it would be some sort of Noir story, or maybe even a bit of a drama, but for some reason, I never once suspected that this story would be about a young boy who wants to be a dragon fight trainer, and the realization that the dragons are terribly mistreated in their dogfight-style training regimes. This book looks really pretty- the art from Max Fiumara is extremely detailed and nuanced - and really unique, with lots of greyscale and sepia tone throughout to really set this book apart, really trying to make it FEEL old., with just a tiny bit of red in some text to give this book anything beyond an old school feel. For a really out there story that caught me rather completely off-guard, it was a really fun and interesting read, and it has made me want to come back for more in issue two.

This book feels like a bit of a lighter version of the Ghostbusters, and giving the team a new book when we have the lady-filled reboot coming feels a bit like trying to cash in on the people who are so vocal about their dislike of lady Ghostbusters. Where is the all-female Ghostbuster team? Even if it isn’t the movie version of characters, it isn’t like this is such a storied or treasured franchise that a new book couldn’t benefit from branching out and touching on what the cinematic version of the characters are getting into. There was some good humor in this book, and the artwork was solid. The end of the issue and it’s “big reveal” was pretty predictable- the book is called “Ghostbusters International” so when a mysterious hotshot with tons of money to throw around wants to take a meeting with the Ghostbusters, does anyone, ANYONE, not assume that he is looking to diversify his franchising options away from White Castle and bail bonds places into New York’s premier specter-eliminating company? Beyond that, I think this book has some promise, but that it was a less than effective first issue, even with a great big infodump filled title page that was nothing but text.

This book was a super fast read, and that isn't what I expected from a Godzilla book with people who speak in it. Godzilla in Hell was a speedy read, mostly because it was silent, minus the skronks and screeches of the kaiju beasties. This issue could have benefitted from more slowly paced opening scenes, or a bit of a break in the middle to actually show more of the alternate reality's Godzilla problem, but it felt really rushed, and without much of an infodump/back story, the pacing was a big problem. The art is great, Godzilla and Ghidora look awesome and terrifying, and the destroyed parallel reality looks truly decimated and overrun with monsters, I just hope the next issue flows much better.

This book has much better pacing than the first issue, and the art is really solid. I love Churilla's Godzilla (say that 5x fast). This book is shaping up to be a wibbly wobbly multiple earth kaiju party, and that works for me! I didn't like that so much of the dialogue felt unnecessarily interrupted, but I think that still is just a pacing problem for the book, showing up in different ways. I liked the opening of the book a lot, but I think that the story could have benefitted from these first two issues being condensed down to one issue, oversized of course, with the King Ghidora part serving as a prologue.

This book has been a pretty consistent beacon of hope for me through the shakeups over ar DC comics, from the dismantling of the New 52, the rise (and almost immediate fall) of the DCYou. Grayson has been a fun, unique book that really took me by surprise. I actually read the first issue of this series when it came out, picking up the gorgeous Jock variant cover for the issue, but feeling completely and utterly lost in the first moments of the story. I fell behind in DC events, and never even got started reading Forever Evil, so I had no idea about ANYTHING Dick Grayson was going through, so it felt like a bit of a mess reading that first issue without any background. So I dropped it after that first issue, and left it in the past. It would be months before I picked up another issue of Grayson- and it is all thanks to Jim at Weird Science DC, because he messaged me on twitter one day asking if I had read that month’s issue of Grayson. I told him how I hadn’t read it from the first issue, but that I had since read Forever Evil (I waited until the book was finished, and bought the full event run in a collection of single issues from my local shop) so I understood where Grayson’s situation issue one generated. Upon the suggestion of Jim that I get back into reading that book, I picked up a bunch of the back issues on the cheap, and proceeded to binge the book- hard. After binging many issues in such a short time, I caught up to the current issue. I read it, and I have to say that it was a great and interesting story, and that Jim’s recommendation was right on the money. It is thanks to that moment that I have stuck with this book since then (probably issue nine or ten) and have loved this book completely. This issue is yet another example of why I love this book: the humor that is threaded throughout the series gets brought to the forefront, and even is worked into the artwork and panel layouts of the issue. Seeing Dick Grayson sing his Spyral name “Agent T

Grayson is a really fun weird book, and I like it. I think the art is great, the story has been solid, and the humor that this book uses is really something unlike most other books out there. Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. makes for an interesting combatant for Grayson in this issue, and thanks to some technical assistance from Checkmate, we see Grayson and Bronze Tiger laying a beat down on the patchwork man. Then Grifter (yes, you heard that right- Grifter. As in from W.I.L.D.Cats) shows up and does his level best to be a tough brooding masked vigilante. I still remember owning a couple WILDCats comics, and seeing the Grifter action figure at the checkout line at the grocery store and even without knowing much about the character, just seeing him wearing a bandana as a facemask, I KNEW I had to have it. Grifter is such a cool character, and had such promise when he first got incorporated into the main DCU with the New 52, I was so excited for his new book. But HOO BOY was it a big ol stinker. It was not a good showing for Grifter, but at least in the pages of Grayson he gets a bit of redemption. Plus with this being Neal Adams month at DC, we get to see ol Uncle Neal (I call him that because I wish he was MY uncle) recreate his grim reaper cover for Grayson, and it is gorgeous. I love this book, and I am really interested to see where this book goes from here. I love the humor and the dynamic visuals- especially how they render the photographs as so shiny they reflect the faces of the person looking at them, which was a very unique touch, but one that I really liked.

This issue is probably my least favorite issue of the run, and it seems again to be because they threw a new creative team on the book in the middle of an arc, and took a few lazy and predictable turns I could have done without. The art on this book is good, but a few moments looked off, and I didn't like the way there were squiggly lines across the bridges of some character's noses. I liked the Skull Girls and their attitudes in this book, but I was still confused- shouldn’t they be affected by Mother’s spell? I also feel like this book suffers under the oppressive yoke of Eternal, because this weeks Eternal showed Midnighter putting a hurting on a bunch of Orphan clones, and somehow simultaneously he is supposed to be dropping Max Lord, Grifter and Bronze Tiger? It once again feels like the Bat-family group editor is asleep at the wheel, or just doesn't care enough to question these choices. Which is fine, I'll save all my questioning for whether or not to even bother reading any of these more expensive, multi-creative teamed messes that we're getting from Rebirth...

This book has been all over the place since the shakeup on creative teams leading into Rebirth, and i just don’t really know if people know how to fill the shoes left behind in most of these books (or probably all of them). This issue sees a lot of what this story has built up towards start to unravel, or just seeing the spiral tighten (i don’t know the correct metaphor for this coco banana bonkers stuff that is happening right now) but i did like the panel that was a pretty direct homage to the Dark Knight Returns silouhette cover, though this one is punctuated with a bit of BDSM where Dick shouts “i like being tied up!” The Maxwell Lord and Checkmate stuff only seemed to confuse me in this issue, because i felt like everyone was a double-agent or triple-agent and everyone was double-crossing everyone else. like- can you triple-stamp a double-stamp? i thought that Dumb and Dumber made it clear that you can’t triple-stamp a double-stamp; yet here we are, double-crossing the double-crossers, octo-crossing? i don’t know- i just know this story went in a BUNCH of different directions this issue. the way the story ended in this issue- teasing Grayson’s conclusion before Rebirth actually redeemed a lot of the issues i had with this installment. i know it is hard to pick up all the pieces left on the board by the previous creators, because they had so many moving parts out there to wrap up this story with, and it seems like these things are going to end pretty well. i love the visuals of this story, and the book was pretty easy to follow, there is just no way on earth a story like this could have been supported long-term; i was getting lightheaded just thinking about Dr. Netz and Leviathan and all the other previous story lines that were being tied into this book. but the final issue should be something exciting and very highly anticipated leading up to Rebirth, mostly because it will usher in a new era for Dick Grayson and his (potential- do we know for cer

This book was a bit of all over the place, but the emotional moments really hit home for me, because the idea of parents protecting their kids, and family being a big part of the dynamic of the main cast was something that tugged at my heartstrings. But the artwork was a bit haphazard, and the story outside those smaller moments just seemed a bit underwhelming. The fight between Parallax and Hal Jordan seemed to flip-flop back and forth between which one of them was more powerful, which is impossible, if Parallax has injested and controls an entire Corps worth of rings, while Hal’s gauntlet (which looks freakin’ AWESOME, mind you) is substantially less powerful. Otherwise this was a decent story, and having binged on the trades up to now, and caught up in the last few weeks on all things Green Lantern, I can easily say I have enjoyed this book more now that I stepped away from it and decided to let it breathe, and to give myself opportunities to read more different books than Green Lantern. Being that there are only two issues of this left before Rebirth, I will stick with it, and hopefully the new Rebirth team will be good and enough to draw me in so I can continue to read this book once it is new and fresh again, because- as my name suggests, Ive read quite a bit of Green Lantern, and I enjoy the character, but I just want to book to stand on it’s own for a while, not tie-in to EVERYTHING and build an effective and meaningful story by itself before we are forced to throw in lots with every single event story that they can think of. I was so excited when Edge of Oblivion was announced, because it was a concept that I had been championing for what I would say is the better part of 2 years, because I wanted DC’s stories to stand on their own, not constantly be tethered to events, and Edge of Oblivion was giving us the best of both worlds- a Green Lantern line of books without any crossover. So lets hope that is something that stands with this DC Rebirth, beca

This book looks good, but I just felt like this issue needed more on the "going full spectrum" that Hal did last issue and the beginning of this one. I am hopeful for the Green Lantern book to end well, and to give us closure for the whole Rebel Lantern, Hal on the run with the super power glove thing he has, but I just haven’t been as impressed by Green Lantern lately. I'm sure we will find out more about the power glove and Hal’s new full spectrum power (also, the power wipes out any traces of his own personality and memory?) next time and I'm betting it ties into Oblivion and Rebirth real nicely. I really like the secondary characters for this book, though, and I will miss them when they are retconned into Oblivion, not to be confused with Edge of Oblivion, but into ACTUAL oblivion when Rebirth happens. I am ready for this book to get over and Rebirth to reboot the story. I hope that things for GL and all their books level off with Rebirth and really stay as good as I expected them to always be.

Dave Sharpe) DC Comics This book was one that probably surprised me the most this week, because I wasn’t even really expecting to read this book at all. Even though I took my name from a Green Lantern event, I haven’t been a devout Lantern reader as of late, because they just haven’t had that “it factor” to really draw me in and keep me hooked throughout. This event goes back to what Lantern books do best, and WHO does them best- having Ethan Van Sciver back on art was a stroke of genius, because his work on Lantern Books is what made him. Tom Taylor is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorite writers- if he writes a few more solid issues of this and Wolverine, or has a nice miniseries or event book he does that really floors me, he will become the next member of the “Brightest Daycare favorites” club. I don’t know what attracts the Green Lantern Corps to these giant people, but I really liked the huge humanoid characters in this story, and like one of the lanterns said about Ausras (the female giant lady) “shes the most beautiful thirty foot tall anything ive ever seen”. And it is true. Ausras is quite a hottie, even for a giant and extremely powerful alien woman. I think it has to do with the smoky blue eyes that she and Dimsas have. Beyond that, the book is a bit slower paced than I would have liked, but it required a lot of time to really put a ton of different Lanterns on the page. I enjoyed foul mouthed B’Dg and Killowog stepping up to try and convince the Corps to help the survivors that Ausras and Dimsas have collected to escape from this dying universe. This six issue standalone miniseries is what I had been saying that Lantern books should have done for a while now, because this is the first time I have actually wanted to read a GL event in quite some time. Even though it didn’t really have enough action to really keep me enthralled from beginning to end, the story is well written, the book LOOKS gorgeous, and the big twist end

This book has a lot of characters carrying other characters around early on, which I thought would be something to come back around in the issue, but it really didn’t, which felt odd. I thought that Ausras looked really evil, like she was plotting something, or maneuvering the Corps into position for something. I absolutely love this book’s art, and I really don’t want Ethan Van Sciver to leave- I don’t know who is replacing him, but I will bet you anything they will have a hard time to hit the level of quality on this book’s art. Though the story left a lot to be desired. Guy and Killowog are at eachother’s throats, then back to buddy-buddy. Guy felt like he was directed pretty blatantly by Ausras, and it turned out to be a trap. So is Ausras really a good guy after all? Who knows… Is Marniel a parallel universe Black Lantern? It almost felt like they were a hybrid of Black Hand and Larfleeze- summoning avatars of death, not just constructs of dead lanterns. It was really cool looking, to say the least. This issue didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I would have liked, but it looked good doing very little, so I minded less than I probably should have. The talking dragged on, the fighting felt rushed, and the opening flashback sequence felt cut short and without much payoff, when it could have been drawn out a bit more, and brought back around in a more meaningful way this issue- though, most likely, it will come back in issue four, but I am not really waiting with baited breath for that, so we will just have to wait and see.

The book takes a pretty lazy turn here, and with the new art team on board, I at least expected the book to read better than it did. Marniel isn't the bad girl we thought, Ausras and dismas are the Blackest Knights (a pun we at BDC appreciated). It felt really lacking and was over before anything of worth or actual enjoyment and interest happened. This book is suffering, in no small part because of Rebirth, I am sure.

This book is missing something, a story, maybe? The art was decent, but I don't care about the gang, or the threats they're facing. I once again am forced to read MULTIPLE hack and lazy "holey BLANK-a-moley" jokes that fall flat on their face. The story is slow and uneventful, it shows us the Gang is mostly inept idiots chosen for their tenacity and spunk, but also because they are braindead morons, apparently. I really liked the "twist ending" but I think this issue just serves as a final nail in the coffin for Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner for me. I'm done, they aren't very good, this book isn't very good, and the direction they're leading Harley in just feels like a waste.

this book was surprisingly good. Being that I read Telos first, and that featured a lackluster appearance by Parallax, I wasn’t holding my breath too much for this book to be anything stellar. But it was actually really good. I liked that Harley somehow has a ton of money to throw around on WeBay, and that she was OBVIOUSLY competing with Geoff Johns for an auction for a real-life power ring. The art was great, and Harley as a combo red-and-black lantern was equal parts terrifying and HOT. I liked how this book used her “holy power ring-a-rollee” line, but didn’t do the same tired and hack method of just butchering a rhyme to make things fit together. It felt much more natural for Harley in this book, and once again the London Legion of Super Heroes served ZERO point to the story. If they had been left out, and a dollar got lopped off the price of this book, I would have been happy, and probably gave this book a higher score, because they just bore me. And the fact that they use a drunk who crapped his pants as a way to “distract” and “outsmart” the TSA because the drunk cannot travel internationally due to what is very casually referenced as a murder, seems pointless and a waste. But the rest of this book is solidly written, and really well drawn. Harley’s Little Black Book isn’t just another black mark on my pull list, it is actually fun to read.

So it only took me a week to go back on last episodes declaration that I was leaving Harley Quinn behind indefinitely. This issue just intrigued me enough to genuinely make me want to read it, because Zatanna is a currently underutilized character in the DCU. I actually enjoyed this issue, and I didn't feel like the London Legion of Super Heroes were as worthless as they had been. They still served no real purpose whatsoever, but the felt less forced in this issue. I loved Harley's costume changes, and the ending was actually not half bad. Seeing Zatanna make dirty jokes was something I'd never had expected, and the idea that Harley was too depraved and annoying for a demon is just perfect.

The Haunted Mansion comic book is a great entry point for the story of the Haunted Mansion, and that spooky Disney ride- much better to introduce people to the idea than that awful Eddie Murphy movie. That would be just as bad as using Pluto Nash as a primer for sending your kid on Space Mountain. I love Williamson’s writing, so I knew when he was on-board this project, I would at least be checking out the first issue, and after this issue, I already want to read more. He does a really good job to make us care about the characters of this book, with the turn in the first act one that really galvanizes the reader’s attachment to Danny, and sets up his connection to the Haunted Mansion. In this first issue, we don’t really get a lot of the Teen+ rating that this book is hit with, but I would imagine as we go forward, seeing the horror/suspense elements of this story increased we get quite a bit more mature content. This book’s art and colors really are reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion itself (or at least, what I remember of it from when I was a child at Disney- when I wasn’t hiding my eyes from the headless ghost). I wish that this book could actually have been crafted with a younger audience in mind, because Disney properties, and a lot of Big Two books that SHOULD be accessible to a younger audience are matured up and out of their purview. This was a great first issue, and a book that really made me reminisce of my time at Disney and on all of those rides I so loved as a kid. So if it’s aim was to ensnare the more adult Disney visitors- then it succeeded in full.

This book feels like a cross between that new Kevin Costner movie “Criminal” and Sex Criminals. the artwork has a lot of similarities to sex criminals, but the story is much less, let’s say “graphic”. but it is still very funny. i like that it is a 70’s series, which makes the Fleetwood Mac Rumors variant cover i got make a lot more sense than just being a Fleetwood Mac fan and wanting to put it on a comic book cover. i think that this book has a lot of great opportunities going forward- the premise is solid, and actually pretty unique for a comic book: our main character is a rather unhappy woman who has been waiting for her heart transplant so she can “start her life, finally”. but once she has her new heart, her old life starts to cause problems, and she meets a new mysterious guy, who seems to come and go as he pleases AND who may be a bit of a bad influence on her. except he isn’t really a new potential love interest, he is the psychological manifestation of her heart donor- a criminal type who is going to help her rob the company she worked for (before she quit, because his heart makes her all aggressive and hotheaded) because they refused to cover her heart surgery, and were basically just a really crappy place to work.

I liked reading these short stories, but they just didn’t really jump out at me. Seeing Mignola, Oeming and Tim Sale all working on the book was neat, and I liked how different each of the stories looked. But I just couldn’t get myself to really LOVE reading this book. It looked neat, but the story stories felt too, I guess the word is, short. It just felt like the stories rushed a bit too much. Things looked nice, so maybe going back and re-reading it will make them flow a little better if I take my time to really pour over the pages. But just reading casually I felt like I finished the book too soon. I like that these books are made periodically, because it allows new readers to jump into Hellboy and BPRD and Abe Sapien and Lobster Johnson and all the Mignolaverse titles that have a pretty hefty back catalogue of stories to get into.

Howard the Duck is a character that I think nobody expected to become what he has become, both as a property for Marvel AND as himself in a character in his own book. Because not only is Howard the Duck a book that is funny, emotional and action packed- but Howard is a living Nexus of all realities, and basically the biggest prize for any major force of the universe to try and obtain. This issue continues the story of people being REAL thirsty for some of Howard’s magic touch, and nobody really locking that feathered phenom down. I have said, many tines before that I think Chip Zdarsky’s humor is one-of-a-kind, and this book just shows that he literally has the best comedic voice in comics today (possibly of all time). I love Joe Quinones’ art- he really makes these ridiculous cartoony characters all look real and wonderful. This book has been a joy to read, and everything Chip touches turns to gold- much like in this book, when Howard touches the Silver Surfer’s board, he becomes silver himself. Proving that even being written buy Chip, Howard is still not as good as Chip himself.

This issue was really fun to look at, but the story just fell flat. The leader of S.T.R.I.K.E. and his turn for this arc just felt forced, and the brother/sister psychic bond can only really play out with the two of them confronting one another face to face. So that predictability took me out of this story. The artwork is really, really nice- Dum-dum looked SUPER grizzled and terminator-esque in this issue, and I dug that a lot. Plus the addition of some classic Marvel Monsters at the end of the issue was nice (spoilers) seeing Infernal Man-Thing was a nice touch, and one that will get me back to read this story next month. I don’t know how this book will go after this arc, but I am sure that if a character like Sphinx can be such a formidable foe, that literally ANYONE could be amped up enough to take on these commandos- paste pot pete revival, anyone?

This book ends a bit too abruptly, but the same could be said for the whole series, since this is the finale. I was less than enthused that this series was ending by being a Pleasant Hill tie-in, but it actually worked pretty well. The art on this book is awesome, and all the characters are really cool and unique monsters. I really felt a connection to Orrgo this issue, and really empathized with him, and his need for love and affection- shown in his flashback/telepathic fighting sequence. I can safely say I'm not really as excited for Pleasant Hill, seeing it bleed over into books like this- where I would rather Commandos have gotten the opportunity to finish their story on their own. But this issue does well in spite of all that's stacked against it. I really enjoyed this story as a whole, it just feels a bit unfair for when this book (if this book) gets collected, that the final installment of the story will not have anything really to do with what had been going on in the previous chapters, and deals directly with a Marvel crossover event. This book had been such a fun, weird, independent little corner of the Marvel universe, and I really loved the visuals- and I wish that Glyph, the mummy lady who can conjure up crazy mental images in people gets a place somewhere else in the Marvel Universe, because I really enjoyed her.

This book has been something else; it reads like what if you put Superman into Forest Gump. It was a strange tale starting out, but it has really grown into something much more than what I got from that first issue. I wasn’t sure what to make of this issue, because I didn’t really like the political stuff of this story, and im pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to really enjoy it. Also the whole “im in room so-and-so… come up and see me sometime…” was a bit too heavy-handed. I had the goofy idea that Huck actually kept her room key and gave it to the homeless guys outside the building who saw him feeding all the fish and chicken to the dumpster cats, making for some classic sitcom level awkwardness. I hope it doesn’t go any darker than that, because this book doesn’t need any weird, rape-y tropes to build the momentum of the story. The artwork is great in this book, and Mark Millar really knows his stuff. I just wanted something MORE from this book. It wasn’t bad, wasn’t great but I just felt like I should have had more interesting things to see in this issue. But after three issues, a lot of good has been done, and Huck is a very interesting and mysterious story- though it looks like next issue we will be getting some (potentially honest) revelations about Huck and his backstory, which as of now has been pretty murky stuff…

This issue felt a bit predictable, more that I was hoping from this story. I had an idea in my head how this issue was going to handle some parts of last issue, and none of that was touched on, but the reveal at the end of the issue felt a bit too “on the nose” for my taste. I love the artwork, but I just was expecting MORE from this issue’s story. I think that things have built up quite a bit so far, and we got a lot of good background on Huck’s mom in this issue, but beyond that, I wasn’t really happy with the payoff at the end. I hope that this book bounces back in a big way next month, because I really expect more big things from Millar, Albaquerque and company. I hope that this is more just me holding this book and these creators to a higher-than-necessary standard and not that the book is really slipping in quality, because I really enjoy the premise of this book, and have really enjoyed reading this book this far. So hopefully things turn around in the story, and the art continues to impress, or my opinion of this book will continue to slip.

Things seem to have recovered a bit in this issue, but the story has turned in a way that was unexpected. There wasn’t quite such a predictable or lazy turn in this issue, it in fact kind of reminded me a lot of Jessica Jones, in a good way. I love the art on this book, and I really liked how we saw our cast of characters develop in this chapter. There were elements of this story that felt quite familiar to me, while others felt very original to this story- the bad guy seemed to be the typical “evil genius” type, and actually reminds me a bit of how Rasputin is often depicted- maybe he IS Rasputin, and there’s even more coco-banana-bonkers reveals in store for this story… plus the bad guy having robot henchmen, reminded me of Dragon Ball Z Androids, im not entirely sure why, but it did. And for some reason- Huck’s mom reminds me of Maria Killbride from Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s “Injection”. This book moves the story along nicely, we see some real unexpected action, and I am very intrigued to see where things go from here. Is Huck going to really up the ante, as it were, or are we in for a more cerebral and “thriller” type story instead of a Superman v Doomsday punchfight to end all punchfights? Only time will tell. Well, that- and if the Huck adaptation’s script leaks online…

This issue flew by at light speed, and I didn't even know it was the last issue. I loved the artwork. And the story actually fit pretty well in this crazy paced final chapter. I loved how things wrapped up. And seeing the turnaround in the final epilogue scene was a nice touch. I kind of wish that the story took a bit longer to tell, because I would have liked more from this last fight sequence, and the fallout from the evil doctor to be drawn out a bit more as well. It was still a good story. And things will probably read much better in trade, but as a monthly miniseries, it worked pretty darn well.

I don't know much about Hyperion outside the few issues I've read of squadron supreme and his second tier involvement in Hickman's Avengers run, so this book was a shot in the dark for me. Surprisingly, it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be to read a Superman analogue story from marvel, but this issue focuses less on Hyperion, and more on his "finding himself" and this new character, Doll. I like the art a lot and the story was decent, it just needed to grab me more for a first issue. I read through this, waiting for something to happen with Doll’s “is he? Isn’t he?” of whether or not this trucker she met is actually hyperion, or the fact that he got smashed against the hood of a car and the engine block to be enough to convince a woman who works for a carnival of monstrous baddies that IF he survives that, he is the real deal. Maybe I just missed the point of this issue, it just didn’t grab me, and I think that was enough for me to drop off after this first issue.

This series has been good up to this point, and the art is really REALLY great, but the story in this issue just felt a bit slower than it needed to be. I was hoping for something more than just a “gotcha” moment to explain Gert’s situation, but I understand that it needed to happen, and the “why” of it is less important that the fact that it happens. I loved the way the mirror realm looked in this issue, and the way that Skottie substitutes Gerts profanity for cute less-offensive words is a great thread to this story’s humor. I have a lot of hope for this story to bounce back from this issue, and for things to go back to the coco-banana bonkers stuff that I had come to expect Darketh Deaddeath’s dungeon to be EXACTLY how this story goes into crazytown. This issue even had a couple really impressive pinup images in the back, which were by two artists I really like, who have VERY different styles, so it was interesting to see them taking on the same character- Jim Mahfood and Katie Cook each did a really awesome job with their pinups, but they are VERY different. I would like to see more of that in this book- because I am sure this is a character and world that artists are clamoring to get their hands on. This book has been a pretty fun run so far, but I am hopeful that the next issue brings this story back up to the high standard that has been set for it.

This book has been great fun, with lots of misdirection, and plenty of questions left unanswered. This issue ends on a great big ol’ cliffhanger, and I cannot wait to see where things go from here. I am sure that the story is FAR from over, and that there are plenty of characters in this book we have not seen the last of (and probably at least ONE we have…) the art on this book is stellar, and if it wasn’t for all the fake swearing and intense violence, I would love to read this book to my son. But it is totally NOT for kids, just for emotionally stunted man children like myself. It really has been tons of fun to read, and the collected edition of this first arc is coming out shortly, with a blurb on the cover from one Neil Gaiman. So if my recommendation means nothing (which, to be honest, it really doesn’t) then take the word of the mane who created the world of the Dreaming, who breathed life into the Eternals, and who is everything wondrous about skinny, pale, soft-spoken Brits, and check this book out!

This book has been a consistently weird, awkward, sometimes scary and spooky story that really hasn’t gone out of it’s way to reveal much of ANYTHING regarding it’s secrets in six issues. To say that Warren Ellis and company are playing this one “Close to the vest” is a grave understatement. We see a lot of the same stunning visuals in this issue, and we have even begun to see who (or what) is out there in opposition to our team. There is still a very unique spin on this story, because of the fixation on food. It is nothing so overt as something like Chew, where the food is the device that drives the whole thing- but more of a small portion (that keeps getting bigger as we delve into the story) where food is so naturally brought up in conversation, and used as a set piece for the storytelling, which I enjoy. This issue starts off with that beautiful cover, with Vivek Headland (I Have to say the names aloud sometimes to try and commit them to memory, because they often gloss over the character names, which is not the best) standing over an opulent crown roast of lamb (I am assuming animal at this point…) with his carving instruments in hand. It is a beautiful and stoic image, laden with implications. Though, we don’t really see any large amount of “action” in this issue, I do think there is a very high chance for Vivek to inflict quite a lot of damage on someone. The first few pages are mostly silent, as Vivek wakes and readies and dresses himself for his day, where he spends time in a giant 1984-esque room covered in thousands of television screens. He drinks some tea, reads the paper, and remarks how he is “Bored $#1%less” which was a frank statement that I hadn’t expected from such a put together and proper man. We then get a half page blueprint of Vivek’s apartment, which looks pretty standard for a high-rise penthouse layout- it is big, with lots of rooms; an office, three bathrooms, storage space, and antechamber and something called

This issue throws a lot at us in just one go- there is a lot of crazy stuff happening and Viv seems to be taking quite a lot of it in stride- doing his level best to get the “band back together” which is a welcome idea at this point, because there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding Injection and what it does or is actually fully capable of. I like that the team seems so flawed and rather a bit dysfunctional. It gives them a much more human feel as characters than I was expecting from this book, but every time, it is a nice touch to give this book something really unique to latch onto. I love the artwork of this book Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire are amazing together, they just have such a great reppoire together, that I just wish they could work together on ALL THE BOOKS! I really think this is one of the weirdest things Warren Ellis has done, and that isn’t JUST because of how much this whole book focuses on sandwiches. Not that I mind, I usually try and read this book around lunchtime on Wednesday when it comes out, so I can start to really build up my own Dagwood sandwich in my head. This is a weird and unique book, and a great outing from Warren Ellis, and from Declan and Jordie who have really stepped up their game on this book.

This series has been something of a bright spot for me, being a bit of an Anglophile, i enjoy any and everything related to British culture. i just wish there were more Doctor Who references in this story, then i would be truly happy. but it really has a very British look and feel to it, even though the cast of characters are from all over and are located all over as well. but there is just something in the way Warren Ellis does things, that is just decidedly british. This issue’s opening sequence has plenty of action, a gorgeous close-up frame and some good, dry humor from Vivek. the airport pickup scene feels very cinematic, and i liked the flow of conversation in that moment quite a lot. seeing Simeon spout off some decidedly british slang (albeit crassly) was another beautiful Anglophile moment, because anyone who calls a trunk, the “boot” is alright in my book. also, i learned a new slang term “craic” (which is pronounced like crack) for gossip or entertainment. which i like. like a less gross way to say “whats cracking?!?!” i love the way that Vivek’s mind gets a montage in this book, where we see snippets in black and white of the things Vivek is pouring over, trying to make sense of it all. The way this issue ends was a bit surprising, but one i like. i like seeing Robin Morel (the most British of our cast) taking charge, and building his own lightsaber, so to speak. as we learn more about the injection (or possibly- the injections lets more about itself be known) the mystery deepens, and it makes me wonder what on earth the endgame for this book will be. i don’t care to speculate at this point, because honestly- who knows! but i love reading this book, and for Ellis and Shalvey to continue their working relationship with this book is worth it in and of itself.

this book is always fun, and this issue is no exception. The main exception in this issue is what drives it (in my mind, anyway) the farthest from being an “all-ages” book in the first six issues so far. And that is with its gross-out humor that is so prevalent in the TV series- because, while this was a cartoon, and it was marketed towards children, it was more of the teenagers like myself who were the true target demographic of that series, and that seems to be the benchmark for this book as well. It was a bit more “gross” than I thought it would be, but it didn’t push me away from the book, it just reminded me more of what I was used to seeing from the Invader Zim series, and other shows from that era before-the-internet, when TV shows could do basically anything they wanted (like Rocko’s Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, etc etc). I really enjoyed the humor of this book- which I almost always do, and I like that this story features my favorite secondary Zim character more heavily- Gir. I loved Gir’s character in the show, and I loved the look of the character, taking it upon myself to try my level best to draw Gir in his green dog costume drinking his chocolate and bubblegum milkshake like a million different times, because I could do it halfway decently. This book doesn’t deliver anything groundbreaking, but it does well in being an Invader Zim comic book- so that’s something, right?

I love that gross alien symbote pants are the focus of this issue, and that the one teacher in skool, with a K, looks like Donald Sutherland from animal house. The super truncated flashback was awesome, and meeting Groyna and her teaming up with Dib was an interesting turn. This book is always silly and gross, and this issue does not disappoint. The "pants Hunters" line that lead to the splash page of the pants hunters comic by "slacks press" was a genuine laugh out loud moment. The "pants pants revolution" line was pure gold. In case you're like 9, or were legally never allowed to enter a mall, dance dance revolution is a ridiculous dancing game for mallrats to pour TONS of money into, just to dance. I love that this series does whatever it takes to return the world to its status quo by the end of every single issue.

The art on this issue is great- I love the look of things in this story, but the momentum took a bit of a hit in this issue. I love that were getting a big cliffhanger for this issue, but we all know that whatever happened to Bond in this issue, he is James FLIPPING Bond; he can get himself out of anything. he will be fine, so a lot like the Star Wars stories that focus on Vader, Han, Luke and Leia between A New Hope and Empire- we all know that they aren’t going to die anytime soon, so it robs these big moments of their gravitas. Otherwise this is a strange and fun book, and I really like reading a book that is nothing like your “average” comic book story rife with capes and domino masks and punching. Though this book seems to get it’s kicks from fisticuffs, because James apparently is working without his trusty handgun for a lot of this series. I like that it puts 007 in wholly unfamiliar territory, and that using the comic book medium can craft more unique and visually dynamic villains without blowing the wad of a film budget on special effects. This is another great outing from Warren Ellis- Injection and James Bond are great and unique books that are comics that don’t FEEL like comics, but this issue just felt a bit flat to me. I hope that the next issue brings back the coco-banana-bonkers stuff and that we see a whole new side of this story we haven’t seen before. Because if we get more monologue-ing villains, and the hero on the verge of succumbing to exhaustion JUST before we roll credits on the issue, I will be one miffed fella…

This issue reminds me of why Judge Dredd was such a strange movie (or two films, if you want to get technical) and such a unique comic series. I love that this story takes Dredd in a direction that, to my knowledge anyway, is heretofore unexplored. The artwork in this book is great and straightforward Dredd, and the writing is solid dystopian futuristic jargon and slang. I don’t think that the idea of Trogs (see: internet trolls, but for the actual world at large) will last much beyond this arc- but I did enjoy the little dig at modern culture with the idea that people are sheep, and that the trog’s job is to rile people up to the breaking point. The cover shows a pretty heart wrenching sequence that plays out in this issue, where the residents of Mega City Zero kick puppies off a high lookout point. The backwards ways of this version of Mega City has a lot of moments that make the reader shake their head, but I enjoyed the whole kangaroo court moment where the people of Mega City sentence Dredd’s child companions to, and I quote “Death by puppy-kick!”. It is as ridiculous point driving home the backwards nature of these people- which is further driven home by the fact that Dredd’s trog pal is actually some sort of internet troll analogue that is hooked up to some classic Batman-Venom type juice that turns him feral. The end of this issue teases more Trogs on the way, which cant bode well for Dred and his kid friends. This book was really engaging throughout, and was really fun to look at. This book was a bit of a surprise for me when I first read it, but by now, im back on the Dredd-train.

This book is SO MUCH FUN!!! from the ridiculous main story, to the outrageous fantasy sequences, it is just fun and silly and strange and wonderful and perfect- just like this book's scribe, Chip Zdarsky. Erica Henderson's art is awesome, and works phenomenally well in the fantasy sequences. This book has been essential in breathing new life into the Archie line of books. I am so excited to see where this book, and the main Archie title goes from here.

This was a bit of a letdown from last issue, and probably mostly because I felt like I was reading an all-new first issue. It goes out of it’s way to recap things that should have only happened last month, but actually happened like four months ago, and even the awesome visuals of the story cant save it from feeling so out of place for a second issue of a series. I love Warren Ellis’ writing, and I think the artists on this book really do a great job, but this book just didn’t grab me like I was hoping. I enjoyed looking at it, but the story just wasn’t quite there for me. I wish this book would get back onto a consistent release schedule, because when you read as many comics as I do, and you have to take several months off from reading a book, it really creates a big divide in the story that often times, as it is in this situation, is rather difficult to overcome. I will most likely still come back for issue three, but that will be where I will have to reevaluate this book and where it falls on my pull list. I already have a few Warren Ellis books to read, so I don’t necessarily NEED this to offset Injection and James Bond, so if it doesn’t pick up, I may not keep picking it up either…

Klaus is a book that both intrigues and confuses me- it’s a Grant Morrison penned Santa Claus origin story, but somehow it ended up only just getting started before Christmas passed it by. So this issue and the four others to follow will be released in an increasingly more spring (and also summer)-time feeling world. Unless there is some sort of crazy El Nino stuff happening where we end up getting Christmas weather in May, I think this book may have missed it’s prime release schedule by quite a bit. But beyond the issues with the release schedule, I cannot find much to say to the detriment of this book. It is a Santa Claus Story that will see it’s last issue released in (maybe) June, but it still is a very well crafted story, and Dan Mora’s artwork really makes you FEEL like you are in this ancient village in the depths of winter. I wasn’t sure what this issue would be about, because of Klaus being in a bit of a pickle, running from the law and all- but it ended up working pretty well- if not mostly being setup for the idea that Klaus delivers presents to the children of this town through their chimneys, almost entirely by coincidence. Also, the end of the issue teases that number four will finally give us answers as to the relationship between Klaus and Dagmar- Lord Magnus’ wife. We also see there is more to this story than just a baddie, Magnus, and his need to crush the life and livelihood out of his subjects- this issue we get teased with some powers well beyond that of mortal men at play. Add this to the “spirits” that guide Klaus’ hands (literally) while he sleeps, or trips on some strange mythical cauldron of herbs and spices like the Colonel has. This issue shows a good relationship between Klaus and his pet wolf/companion Lilli, and the massive divide between Magnus and his subjects AND teases that there is a history between Klaus and Dagmar. While some of the “traditional” Santa Claus moments feel a bit obvious in this story, it

We are officially past the halfway point in this series, and even though its winter time in Grimsvig, things are heating up! The baron is cooking up a mad scheme (WELL Another one) and the baroness is given some true illumination as to Klaus' past and supposed demise. We see how hard much of life is for the citizens of Grimsvig, and a few miners meet an untimely end. We see Baroness and her son sharing a truly heartwarming bit of imaginative playing, but as any good time to be had in this village, it is short lived. The art on this book is awesome, and I cannot wait to see what this monstrous thing is that pulls the Baron's strings. I have been waiting what seems like forever for Grant Morrison to take over as editor of Heavy Metal magazine, or to stop doing that and come back to comics full-time. I know Wonder Woman: Earth One drops soon, but I was kind of hoping that the “big secretive” writer for Wonder Woman that they were teasing was Morrison instead of Greg Rucka- no offense to Rucka, I just need to be Morrison’ed more than just every few months (or whenever I go back and read Final Crisis).

I love Gail Simone. I say that so often maybe I should change that to be the name of this podcast. But really- I do. I loved this book’s previous installment, Leaving Megalopolis was released as a hardcover collected edition after a successful Kickstarter campaign (one of many kickstarters I have missed out on) but I was able to get my hands on the Dark Horse version. I loved the story, and I liked seeing Gail do what she does best- working in a big sandbox with damaged and human characters, while incorporating crazy capes and cloaks action with real human interactions. This issue, and the short story that is available for free on comixology “Finding Megalopolis” really help to deepen the mythology of Megalopolis, and to really shed some light on the future of this once great city that was plunged into some very Dark Knight Rises-esque territory. Calafiore’s artwork is great, and Gail writes the book very well, but I would have liked a bit more to connect this story to the first volume. It feels a bit more disconnected than I would have thought, not that it’s bad to set itself apart a bit from it’s predecessor. The short story was a a different story, giving a bit of background into our Flash-analogue character, Fleet and his time before the events of Leaving Megalopolis, and then his time after he had embraced his rage and took it out on the people who made his life miserable. I thought that story could have made a good backup for this book (maybe actually combined with the print edition- or at least mentioned in the physical book) because I didn’t actually know about the extra story until Gail tweeted about it, and I got confused because she said “Finding Megalopolis” instead of “Surviving Megalopolis” so I had to do some research. This is a book worth looking into. The collected edition is really great, and this book is a solid start to the Leaving Megalopolis sequel.

This issue continues the story from the last issue, but gives us a BIG twist ending (one that I personally did NOT see coming). I love the way these characters act and interact. And seeing Crimson Shadow and Southern Belle having such a frank conversation about sex, death and torture was a really chilling moment. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this issue, but we get a bit of Excape from New York with this one- plus a pregnant lady trapped behind enemy lines- so its like Saving Private Ryan meets the first arc of New 52 Suicide Squad where there is a pregnant lady who’s baby is immune to the weird techno-organic zombie virus in the superdome in new Orleans. I wonder if this baby will be the cure to the superhero rage disease, and im pretty sure it means something big- but I don’t know what yet. I loved seeing Southern Belle holding a comic and reminiscing about her days as a girl where she would make paper dolls, which turns really graphic and terrible when she wants to tear apart the preggo and Crimson Dynamo and make paper doll dresses from their skin. This book is not for kids, but is a really great read. I love Califiore’s art and Gail knows how to write messed up characters and make them interesting and unique. The twist ending means there will be a lot more questions answered (I hope) and could actually mean the end of the crazy-pants rage-plauge that has Megalopolis in it’s clutches.

I love that this whole miniseries has a grid of interconnected covers, with this cover completing the top row of the posterized image. It reminds me of the Art Adams covers for Original Sin (of which I have all of them) that I would also like to get put up on the wall in a nice, nerdy collage of awesome art. This book, even though it’s about a city filled with superheroes who are turned evil by some monstrous creature that infected them with evil and rage, still somehow manages very well to feel very human. The stuff with the Disobedience Wolves was a nice bit of cinematic “otherworldliness” that I wasn’t expecting from this book, but seeing the good guy turned bad guy Ribbon show up, only to be dealt with in a VERY violent and graphic manner helps to drive home that this book is absolutely not something to be taken lightly. The humor of this book is really driven home with the interaction between the Crimson Dynamo and Mina, where he asks her to be his sidekick, and she literally laughs in his face- to which he counters by offering her steak. I know that I would definitely be someone’s sidekick if he offered me a nice supply of red meat and a safe underground lair to hideout in if the city were over run by super heroes turned evil (though, that almost feels like a first pass pitch to 10 Cloverfield Lane). The art on this book is dark and awesome, realistic, even with the outrageous violence, and really just a lot of fun to read. I am interested to see where the spelunking couple ends up, and to find out more about whatever this is that infected all these heroes. Not to mention the last page of this book- that final reveal, and the turn that this story took here, at the halfway point, was one that I did not see coming, but that really blew my mind. I cannot wait for more, and I am really, REALLY excited for more of the Megalopolis story to unfold. I really hope that this miniseries isn’t the end of Megalopolis, because I think that this is a big, and ver

This issue doesn't really answer many questions, which is fine, because we still have two more issues to wrap up this coco banana bonkers thing. This is a very well written story, and even the awful characters feel human and (at least somewhat) relatable. I love the look of this book, and I was so excited for the teases we are getting for the third act- the bottom of the Megalopolis sinkhole, the city's super prison break out PLUS the stuff with crimson shadow and southern Belle. This book is fantastic and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

This is a book that is rather difficult to review, because it has four very different, very unique and separate parts to it’s story. Which is why, as youll see- in the end, I gave this book an unimpressive, albeit without disdain rating. The Firestorm story was one I was really interested in, because I loved the New 52 Firestorm book, and I was really excited to see where Gerry Conway was going to take this character- y’know, since he co-created it an all. The visuals were really solid, but the story just seemed to be a bit flat. I liked the relationship between Ronnie and his football buddy Eddie, but I really was a bit miffed by how Professor Stein was handled- maybe because I am so smitten with Victor Garber’s take on him in the TV series of the same name that I thought we would be getting a suave, charismatic and butt-kicking silver fox, not a Nutty Professor-meets-Rainman that we had in this story. Metamorpho was a bit of a better story, but with some flaws in the art- the characters changed their looks quite a bit, and im not just talking about Metamorpho. It was all the other characters who often looked very different from panel to panel. Maybe it was a stylistic choice, or maybe the art on this story was just rushed? I don’t know. But I liked the way this story flowed, and I am actually really interested to see where things go from here. I liked the stuff with Java the caveman and his inability to cope with the fact that he was discovered by Mason (aka Metamorpho, and how he is in love with the Boss’s daughter, who also seems smitten with Mason, so he kind of goes off the deep-end and is planning to put an end to Metamorpho once and for all. The story felt pretty grounded for a book about a crazy element man, caveman and with a cameo from a random JLA baddie who was featured in a Green Lantern Animated feature. Sugar and Spike was my most conflicted read of the issue, because I have zero connectivity to the characters prior to this story, and rea

This book is really good looking- the art is really solid, and VERY unique. The story itself has become quite a bit more confusing. It felt to me that this book was saving up every big word it could for this issue, and then threw them all together in the most confounding possible configuration. The visuals of the last page really grossed me out, which is a feat in and of itself, but beyond that I wasn’t extremely impressed with this issue as a whole. Like I said, the art is really good, and the strange spiders that try and hijack Clay’s roommate’s essence to return to the mortal realm were really creepy and interesting to look at. But the fact that they are ancient members of her “otherworldly” lineage, and that they would kill her in order to put themselves into the physical realm seemed a bit out of place, but if it wasn’t- then why didn’t she think that is what was happening, instead of being rescued by a weird guardian angel-meets-jiminy cricket character who is actually a He-Man knockoff action figure? That is where this book lost me- killer grandparents who are in the form of thought-spiders and an action figure who saves the day for a girl who looks like she is made up of energy anyway- without a corporeal form to overtake in this realm anyway. Maybe im just overthinking this story, and it just isn’t for me. But regardless, it wasn’t very good, and the story felt VERY muddled by this issue, even though it’s intention was to clarify much, if not all, of the unanswered questions of the series.

I wasn’t really aware of Mars Attacks books, but I know IDW has put out quite a lot of really good stuff- I was reading Colonized, the aliens vs zombies series when it released in 2013, but beyond that I wasn’t really too big into Mars Attacks comics. I was a fan of the movie growing up, and even went so far as to have some of the Mars Attacks toys… I know, I am probably one of the few people ever to have owned Mars Attacks toys, but I was a very well-cared for only child for much of my life, so I had TONS of random toys- Darkwing Duck, Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa, Biker Mice From Mars, Street Sharks, Ronin Warriors… the list goes on SO LONG. But I liked Mars Attacks, and I saw this was a $1 reprint of the more recent Mars Attacks series, which was originally printed the summer of 2012, so I thought I would jump on it. It is written by John Layman, of Image Comics’ “Chew” notoriety, so I thought, at the very least, it would be a well written story about shrieking, murderous alien things with brains on the outside of their skulls, who make Kang and Kodos from the Simpsons look like Milo and Otis-level cute and cuddly. But this was actually a really fun, interesting book, and had plenty of moments that actually intrigued me. I was glad that the story wasn’t quite as straightforward as “out of nowhere- space men bent on extinguishing all life on earth!” and actually gave the Martians a bit of agency, and showed that they were actually characters with personalities (even if one major personality ends up being a murderous psychopath set on revenge and the extermination of all life on earth). This book was really good, and you can’t beat a good first issue, and some classic nostalgia AND a well-written story for a buck.

I have to admit, I don't really know Micronauts, I never really got into them never got gifted a big box of them from older neighborhood kids or cousins. I did however pickup a handful of Michael Golden's Micronaut books from the 80s. They were long on my list of books to read, but as is usually the case, life got in the way. This story, however, doesn't seem to rely too heavily (or at all) on those previous stories, so I don't really feel like I'm left out starting in on this book. I love the art, even though there are a TON of artists working on this book. They are all working from one persons layouts, so that may account for some of the easy floe between creators. Cullen Bunn writing this book immediately gives it weight, because he is a man who can write a hit comic book in his sleep (for all I know, that's how this book came about). This was a fun read, and it features some really cool and dynamic characters like Baron Karza (who seems like a venom suit version of General Zerg from Toy Story) and Acroyear who is basically like what would happen if a Transformer that became a Formula One racer turned robot mode and never went back. This was a really interesting first issue, and I'm genuinely intrigued to see where this goes from here.

This is a book that really hits home for me. I have a lot of history with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and I didn’t even realize for YEARS after watching the show that it was an adaptation of a Japanese show where the American version just chopped out all the kaiju and giant robot fights and spliced in their own, ridiculous, version of Saved By The Bell- except the Bayside High kids fight super villains instead of boredom and west coast privilege. This is a really nice way to jump into Power Rangers, because it gives a pretty soft reboot to the story- picking up after (assuming) the FIVE PART EVENT in the first season of Power Rangers where Tommy, the Green Ranger, has his evil spell broken and is no longer the pawn of Rita Repulsa and joins forces with the Power Rangers themselves. There is also a backup story by Steve Orlando, who wrote this story surprisingly well and Mairghread Scott, who did a good job writing from the point of view of Goldar, the big knight-wolf-flying monkey creature who is Rita’s right hand man (dog, creature?). I really liked this story, and I am looking forward to the number one issue. I have been a big Power Rangers fan since I was young, collecting figures, having the giant transforming Megazord for myself. Then, this year for Christmas my brother bought my 3 year old a screen replica Mega Morpher with lights and sounds, and the main five rangers interchangeable coins, I even bought him a pair of imaginext figures- the pink and green rangers. So we started to watch the TV show together, and he is as hooked as I was: Its great. And since im on board for the show and comic book, I wont do what my mom did to me when I was a kid- she watched like 2 minutes of the show and was taken aback by its vapid lack of story and flashy, quick cut fight scenes and asked me why I even liked this and I quote “stupid crap”? to which, the very fragile young Ryan reacted with tears and fled. So I will have to make sure not to get disenchanted wi

Talk about another book that is made for less traditional comic readers- this book takes the 90’s staple of the Japanese import Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and updates it into a much more modern story. We get Bulk and Skull as video podcasters, who run the Ranger Station, which is a massive Power Rangers fan video page, and the rest of the kids, who are dealing with the fallout from Tommy, the recently converted Green Ranger, who just so happens to possibly still be held in Rita Repulsa’s thrall. The artwork on this story really drive home the modern sensabilities of this book, while the characters all look and feel an awful lot like their 90’s Saved by the Bell analogues who were spliced in alongside Japanses kaiju fight footage. The backup story by Steve Orlando is fun and silly, and the cartoony artwork helps to reinforce that fact- but Bulk and Skull kidnapping a putty- like such a great bit of storytelling, I cannot WAIT to see where this story goes. Things don’t seem to be going well for Tommy in the main story, and it looks like the next issue things will just get worse- but things are looking up for Kimberly, who is getting her own book soon. Since she was the ranger I had the biggest crush on growing up, you can BET ill be picking that book up. Also, maybe Trini will get a book herself? Except that I have the biggest issue with Trini as a character, because what the heck kind of name is Trini? The rest of the team has such classic 90’s names- Jason, Zack, Billy, Kimberly and Tommy… then there is Trini??? What?!?! It was an odd choice then, and it just feels incomprehensible now. but beyond that, I still love Power Rangers, and made my kid watch the first season of the original Mighty Morphin, before I let him get into Dino Charge, the new series, which is actually a lot better. I think with the newer series, the Japanese side of things realized the amount of money to be made from the dubbed American version of the show, and started to make

This issue builds on Tommy's distance from the other rangers, and even does a really good job showcasing Billy feeling like the "odd man out" on a team of karate and gymnastic champions. I love the art and the modern feel for this story, I just don't understand how Rita is speaking to Tommy or if it is some sort of mental break he is having. The backup story is as ridiculous as it sounds- Bulk and Skull kidnap a putty, create fake ranger suits and are going to beat up their captive baddie in front of Kimberly and Trini to curry favor with them. I love Power Rangers, and they are still a big part of my life as a parent- today my son gifted me (put that in air quotes- “gifted”) a book that he reads each night before bed and the Red Ranger Morpher Coin. A pair of very important gifts, to both of us, but I just cannot escape the Power Rangers, even all this time after they started. I love watching Dino Charge with my son, and he enjoys the original series a lot as well, the theme song probably being his (and, honestly, MY) favorite part.

I love this book. I love the story, I love the art. It is just fantastic. It is the kind of book that makes me rethink my hesitant stance against fantasy comics, because if they were all like this, then that is all I would read. It is a weird, graphic and strange story that really feels like it’s some sort of chapter based anime story mixed with some epic level Lord of the Rings stuff, but told through a unique perspective, and given a whole lot of blood and magic. I think that the detail in this art is where I just fall head over heels for this book- it is so nuanced. Nothing feels blank or sparse or unfinished. I love the depth and detail, and the commitment by these creators to craft the best possible product is absolutely evident here. I think that Maika’s growing (pun intended) relationship with the “thing” that is inside her, awakened by that fragment of ancient evil mask she found is something that I cannot WAIT to be explored further. Plus the reveal of the character at the end makes me SO EXCITED for the next issue already. This is not a fun book, in the traditional sense, and it is CERTAINLY not for kids- but it is a really great and unique read, and totally worth jumping on-board for. So if you are hesitant, or unsure, go check it out!

This series is really tons of fun, and would fit right in on the shelf for any new young comic reader. I know DC has their own line of super hero girls, taking existing characters and cutesy-ing them up for TV shows, comics and chapter books, but there are still more new, unique characters at marvel doing the same thing. I love the visuals of this series, seeing the giant red dinosaur carrying around an elementary school child in its teeth, or Moon Girl making her debut as a super hero out to spring DD from his cage at the natural history museum. The destruction of all the museum's exhibits gave me a bit of a heart attack, because that is EXPENSIVE stuff, but I understand the reasoning. I was also expecting a lot more from the Killer Folk recognizing Moon Girls Mom by her scent. It is probably good nothing came of that, yet, because Moon Girl isn't quite ready to take on all those caveman thugs.

I understand that Moon Girl’s mom was very emotional in the middle of this issue when the Killer Folk attacked Moon Girl at her school, but i found it a bit odd that her mom wanted to just take her home. like, don’t go back to school and pretend to be normal… even though that’s all we’ve harped about for this whole story, come home with me. i did appreciate that Moon Girl stood up and made her intentions to solve the Killer Folk and Devil Dinosaur problem known, and that there are things more important that Inhuman DNA (like being a human girl with thoughts, feelings and ideas all your own). Time to get in a bit of spoiler territory- so **SPOILERS** seeing Moon Girl finally get back the Kree Omni Wave Projector, only to have the Terrigen Mists hit was a prosaic, if not poignant way to end things for this story, seeing her succumb to the thing she thought was avoidable. knowing that some things are, in fact, inescapable was something that i think will make Moon Girl grow up quite a bit. I really have no idea where this story will go from here, mostly because the cover tease for next issue shows Moon Girl still in her inhuman cocoon, and that we don’t know how the mists will have changed her, or what will happen when Moon Girl 2.0 faces down the Killer Folk (because, lets be honest- she isn’t going to let them just run free in New Jersey, even though thats basically where they belong). This was a really fun, and very heartfelt story, and this first arc was very good as a whole. i am intrigued to see where this book goes from here, though to be honest, i half assumed that it would end with this issue- i am glad it doesn’t stop now.

I love moon Knight, I loved Ellis and Shalvey's run with the character. Those are big shoes to fill, and I didn't know if anyone could fill them. But Jeff lemire is not one to shrink from a challenge. This book shows Marc Spector not backing down, and getting into some weird territory. I love the visuals, and the way the book feel like One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, the novel, not the film. This book is an impressive and imposing first chapter in an All-New and all crazy chapter in the moon knight saga.

This is a really different sci-fi book. It has such a strange concept, with there being some Big Brother-type corporation that feeds off peoples’ emotions (specifically the sad ones) and works to get people to kill themselves in order to harness their energy. This issue takes us deep into the undersea base of the weird genitalia-looking aliens who are telepathic/empathic creatures with giant hookfanged tentacles. The artwork in this book is fantastic, and I love that Owen Gieni can write and draw so well- for evidence of his great art, see Manifest Destiny. This miniseries has been off a normal schedule, but that is understandable with a independent book and with creators working on other titles. But that means that there have only been two issues of this that have come out before now, and that it will probably be a while before the next issue comes out as well. So you can get in a few good issues to read, and then put it down and come back when issue four drops and do what I did for this issue and go “OH YEAH! I did read the first two issues of this book… like forever ago…” It is a weird, fun read. And this issue really drives home the emotional weight and the real impact of those feelings that we as people all have.

I really do miss Nate Bellegarde on this book, but I think that Dave Taylor does a great job with this issue. Emi Lenox, who I am assuming did the art for the “webcomic”-looking prologue was a neat change of pace for this story, and one that definitely threw me for a loop jumping back into this book. I am not sure how many people are still keenly aware of this book, because it has been quite a while since issue six of this book came out. Not to bore you with too much backstory, or to try and tell story out of school- but it seemed like Nate Bellegarde was having some personal problems, which were interfering with him being able to complete his work because he was getting in his own way, mentally. It was sad to see him not coming back to this book for the new arc, because he put such a distinct spin on this book, that really helped set it apart. I love the entire idea behind this book- that the four biggest names in modern culture (being as close to the Beatles as they can) aren’t actually musicians at all, but scientists. Which is where the rallying cry and merchandising slogan came from for this series- “Science is the New Rock ‘n Roll”. Which is a great t-shirt slogan, if I do say so myself. I like the feel of this book incorporating book covers, posters and other promotional artwork into the pages to really give a depth and weight to the story that is greatly appreciated. I think that this story has a lot of momentum still left, even with such a lengthy break between arcs, but I like that things picked right back up where they left off in the last issue. The artwork is really stellar, Dave Taylor Jordie Bellaire and Fonografiks really have created such a unique looking book, and Eric Stephenson has written such a strange and unique sci-fi story with plenty of mystery and suspense, that it really is quite enjoyable to read. The first volume of this book is out in trade and available physically for $10 and on comixology.com and Kindle for $8. I love how

This issue had some pacing issues, but the art and story are still all there. I love the Emi Lenox webcomic opening, and the colors on this book really pop, but nothing really important happened here, at least that I could tell. So hopefully this book rebounds next issue, because I want there to be more to this series than what we got in this issue. There are still so many questions left unanswered, and so many people still left unaccounted for, so these issues need to be resolved ALONGSIDE all the talk. Maybe I just held off on this book until too late in the day, and it just got too far down the pile that by the time I got to it I was no longer in the mood for slower talky-talky books. I still love the look of this book, and I am really, really interested in seeing how these people deal with their mutation/transformation AND how they handle Susan who turned into a sentient and possibly psychic/telepathic amorphous blob of tarry black gas cloud or whatever. This book has been immensely fun so far, so trading on all those past successes keeps this book out of the basement for this issue, but I will be expecting MUCH more in issue nine.

This issue is solid and give us a LOT of characterization on our rogues gallery of mutants, as it were. This issue changes up the routine, putting the webcomic prologue as the start to the third act of the issue. I love the visuals of this book, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the end of the issue, which is welcome from the slower and more uneventful pace we had starting off this arc. I'm genuinely intrigued as to what all this means, and where the rest of our missing persons are, or at least what became of them. This book is mysterious and strange, and such a smart and unique read- Nowhere Men, should be absolutely everywhere!

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino are back on a book, so of course, I was all about this title this week. I love Old Man Logan, and this issue really gives a bit of a gritty (er) reboot to his story. I haven’t read the Old Man Logan Secret Wars tie-in mini, but I think I will probably go back and jump on that before the next issue comes out. I love Jeff Lemire’s writing, and Sorrentino’s art is some of my favorite stuff ive ever seen. So seeing them back together again after their fantastic run on Green Arrow makes me very happy inside. I think this is probably the title that a lot more people will be reading, mostly because it has Wolverine back in action, since he has been DOA in the Marvel Universe for quite some time. But this isn’t our standard fare Wolverine story. This book reads like an amalgam of a Tarantino movie and an Eastwood western, with lots of REVENGE drenching every page. I am looking forward to where this book goes from here- and I am sure that if Old Man Logan meets a fella named William, he will be sure to Kill Bill. And I will definitely be back to read this issue next month- paying for my books with a fistful of dollars. Okay- that’s an Eastwood and a Tarantino reference each, so I am done here.

I love Old Man Logan, and I love Lemire and Sorrentino’s collaborative efforts- I fell in love with them working on Green Arrow together, and I am glad to see they are back together on Old Man Logan. It is a gorgeous book, and now we are starting to see all the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff getting to Logan a bit more than it ever has before. Timelines have changed, and who knows what is really going to happen, and what just got wiped out in the aftermath of Secret Wars? I really like Kate being the Hawkeye that Logan ends up teaming up with, and his bit of an “off the deep end” moment, while terrifying, was nice to see that he obviously isn’t holding together as well as he is trying to convince himself he is. The artwork on this book is fantastic, the writing is stellar, and I love that we are still getting our opportunity to have Wolverine in the main continuity of the Marvel Universe, while the ACTUAL Logan who died during Death of Wolverine is still dead, like dead dead. Dead as a door nail dead. And I appreciate that. This book has done a lot in just three issues, but it is pretty necessary to go back and read Secret Wars’s Old Man Logan mini, and I would recommend going back further and reading Old Man Logan, the one from 2010 FIRST, because these books pretty completely spoil that story for you right off the bat. So go back to the beginning, and really drink in the whole story of Old Man Logan, because he is a really intriguing character, and the world he comes from is a really messed up one. This book is great, and Mark Millar created an amazing world for this character to call home, and Lemire and Sorrentino are carrying on that established character in quite high esteem. I love this book, and I cannt wait for more!

This book has been a great way to get your share of Logan Wolverine story in the Main Marvel Universe, while still allowing “regular” wolverine to be dead and x-23, or Laura to take his place and don the mantle of Wolverine. i love the way this book looks and feels, Lemire and Sorrentino really have a natural flow to their work, they just seem to gel together, since their run on Green Arrown, I’ve been hooked. this issue is the second arc of the ongoing Old Man Logan series, and serves as a pretty good jumping on point for the title, though i DO highly recommend reading the original story, and the secret wars miniseries and the first arc as well. so maybe this doesn’t need to be your entry point for Old Man Logan, but if it is any consolation- you’ll enjoy it once you get here. the parallels between the “current” timeline and Logan’s “past” life are pretty heavy-handed here, not that i terribly mind. the last page reveal was a pretty intense one, and one that is teased again on the next issue’s cover. so it won’t be much of a shock to find out- but i want to know who the rest of the crew is… i didn’t recognize them, but they are of a different timeline than the main Marvel Universe, and not Old Man Logan’s people either, so i don’t know what we are getting into here. i love this book, though. and i cannot wait to see where things go from here. and that means bloody, violent, terrible and emotional stuff is ahead. that always what a slower, more character driven Wolverine story means… “next stop, bloodbath gulch”. is that a real place? if not, it should be. Marvel, hit me up, ill let you have Bloodbath Gulch, for cheap!

This issue is as bloody as we've gotten from this series in quite some time, and the progress of the Omega Men themselves is pretty impressive. I like the look of this series a lot, and I enjoyed the narrative of this issue quite a bit. I love the exasperated stretched beyond his limit Kyle Rayner, tapping into the infinitely taxing white lantern powers. It seems like this series has quite a lot at stake for the last two issues, and it makes you wonder what it will mean for Kyle leading into Rebirth, but I have enjoyed this book and will continue to enjoy it ‘til the end!

Tom King did a great job with this book, and Barnaby Bagenda did really solid work with this series’ art. this issue is setting up the big finale for next issue, and it does so pretty well. i would have liked a bit more story, and i would have liked it to feel like it didn’t fly by so quickly to drop us off at the ending, but other than the pace just feeling a bit rapid, this was a really good book. the story moves along, showing each of the Omega Men taking their places in this massive space war, and we even see Kyle Rayner doing a few things that are typically out of character for him. I enjoyed the way this book took us on a journey, one that entirely kept itself separate from the rest of the DC Universe, and just let us explore an otherwise unknown section of life. i like the cast of characters in this book, and i really hope that this isn’t the end for all of them, because i would like to see them pop up from time to time in other Green Lantern or DC intergalactic stories in the future. This book, along with Deathstroke and Secret Six, are probably the only three books of the post-Convergence stories that i have read each month and actually enjoyed reading, no matter what. i would almost count Grayson, but that book felt so separate from the rest of the DC Universe (to the point it picks and chooses what current stories to attach itself to and when- like Eternal). but this series will be something i am sure DC will be sorely missing once Rebirth happens, because it was just so unique and so well done.

This issue picks up right where last issue left off, and things were not going well for Kyle. Thankfully Reverend Anderson shows up, and together they test Kyle's new theory- which ends up paying off. Then the poker scene shows Reverend getting into some dark stuff, mentally, with some harsh words for God. Things aren't looking good in the last two scenes, as forces are moving against Kyle and the Reverend and are trying to accelerate The Merge, whatever that means. The art on this book, every single page, could hang on a wall and be the best looking thing around, I LOVE how this book looks, and I'm excited/nervous to see how this arc ends.

This book has had consistently superb artwork, and the story, in typical Robert Kirkman fashion, will vary wildly from a dialogue heavy (read: slower) issue, to one that flies by and is filled with fast-paced craziness. this issue has a bit of both to close out the third arc and bring us the last installment before the TV series premier in June (which is sad, ill have a nice book missing off my read pile for a couple months). this series has been riddled with questions, and the answers are never close to being revealed- this issue does more of that. we see what Sydney has been up to, gathering the “possessed” together before the Great Merge (whatever that is) to work their way through the problems they are facing. This issue gives the series it’s biggest hurdle to overcome yet- **SPOILERS** Sydney, the lead baddie kidnaps Kyle (The Outcast) and ties him up. i don’t really know what this means, because i don’t exactly know what ANY of this means, but i can assure you that the main bad guy having the good guy in his clutches is NEVER good. hopefully, like a classic Bond villain monologue moment, once Sydney says “no, Mr Barnes, i expect you- to die!” we see Kyle really putting on his 007 pants and kicking some serious booty! this book has been an amazing read, and its crazy to think it’s been 18 issues, a couple years AND an entire production cycle for a TV show to get made to this point. Robert Kirkman is taking over, and i for one am glad to serve my bearded overlord.

I picked up this book from issue one, but didn’t really understand what I was getting myself into when I did. I actually let it slide towards the bottom of my “to read” pile that first week, until I saw a tweet from my Comedic Spirit Animal, Patton Oswalt, extoling the virtues of this book is his own way (see: being blunt and simultaneously vulgar and informative). After that first issue, I was hooked- the story is totally unlike anything else out there, the artwork is gorgeous, and the story allows Cliff Chiang’s imagination to literally run wild. The last issue was where things started to really go off the beaten path for the story, and where the book really opens up it’s cast of characters to include these newspaper girls’ families (it took me the entire first issue to understand what the title “Paper Girls” even meant…) and with this issue we get even more individuals added to the story, and those people only seem to add to the “WTF?!?!” factor of this book. We see an old man woken by a ringing rotary telephone, but the telephone has an eye in the center of the rotor that opens as it rings. Then we see the old man with a long beard wearing a Public Enemy shirt, and the woman who **SPOILERS** had her partner vaporized in last issue appraises him of the situation, in a very oddly formed version of English, which reminded me of the Pog issue of Swamp Thing during Alan Moore’s run. I really liked getting some more characterization out of the teenage boys who are like some sort of mutated rebels that are trying to help our newsies out of this situation (or so it seems) and I loved the small moments in the book where we see the girls interacting with one another, really giving this book a very human feeling. I liked that **spoilers** once the “hunters” tracked down the paper girls and their teenage boy guardians and tasked some weird eyeball sphere tech-monster to retrieve them, we switched off the translation mechanism for the boys, an

There is a lot going on in this issue, there is a lot going on in this whole book for that matter, and it is just getting crazier the further we go down the rabbit hole. This book is written by Brian K. Vaughan, who is someone I wasn’t extremely familiar with when I started back reading comics a few years ago, but since then has become someone that, when they appear on a new book’s creative team, you DO NOT want to miss it. This book is no exception- you do NOT want to miss it. I loved this book, because it was something completely unlike anything I was expecting it to be- this book is nothing like Saga, which is probably where most people got their first taste of Vaughan, like I did myself. I think that the depth of the world building Vaughan does is evident in Paper Girls just like it is in Saga, but there is really something very different about this book than Saga. The time travel and sci-fi elements of this book feel very out of place at first, where Saga is steeped in those sci-fi elements. I love how different the characters are in this book- as a thirtysomething male, it is difficult to put myself into the place of a teenage girl, having never been one myself- but Vaughan’s writing doesn’t feel stereotypical or reductive when it comes to these young ladies. Plus there is such a large cast of characters (growing more and more with each issue) and none of these characters feel wooden or one-dimensional. The artwork on this book is something else all together; the work Cliff Chiang does crafting a world that looks at home set in the 1980’s AND in some strange, futuristic locales is so detailed and thorough, while still feeling so natural and effortless in its craft. Matt Wilson’s colors really drive home those times as being so separate- the 1980s are bright and neon, while the futuristic settings are often darker or colorless and white. The soft pink colors of the interior of the spaceship/pod thing are so very different from the purples and pin

This series really reads completely differently in trade, maybe because after issue one i switched to digital, but it definitely has a better flow to the story collected and in print. the $10 price tag on this book should really draw in any uncertain potential readers, because Image knows how to hook you into trade waiting for a new series. this book is gorgeous- cliff chiang’s art is amazing, and i talked about BKV’s writing in Walking Dead: The Alien- i love Saga and Paper Girls and i loved his Walking Dead story, too! this book has so many moving parts, and so few of them get really revealed in the first trade, it is going to keep you coming back for more in volume 2. and the last page reveal of the book is almost as big of a reveal as the one at the end of the first issue. this is a stellar series, and i doubt i need to push the issue any further, but if you think you may like a book about 80’s newsies girls, and crazy sci-fi action, some time travel and TONS of different subtle cultural references and nods throughout the book, then this is a story you WILL NEED to read.

this book took me by surprise with the first issue, but the second issue wasn’t quite as gripping as I had hoped for. I love the artwork, and I expect big things to come from this book going forward, but this issue felt basically like pure setup for the story to come. I love Kate Leth’s voice in this story, and I appreciate the fact that there are so many ladies working on this comic. I think that this book will get better from here on out (I hope, anyway) so im not going to hold this issue against the series as a whole, and I will be back next month. But before then, I will probably go back and re-read that first issue and enjoy it all over again- because it was just great!

I have really enjoyed this book and the new, hip and young corner of the marve! Universe could be headlined by an old school romance comic character. This issue brings in Howard the duck, brings back Valkyrie AND teases major bad stuff in Patsy's near future. On the plus side, patsy got a cool meta tattoo, and also got to lay a beat down on bad girl (who isn’t really so bad) named Bag Lady, which was a fun and funny touch for this book. Watching Jessica Jones on Netflix, I really see where this character is getting the whole “two sides of the coin” type of persona that she is fighting against, being a child star and wildly famous and popular, to being someone who is human and flawed and wants to do some real GOOD in the world. I have two whole episodes of Jessica Jones left, so don’t spoil it for me, okay?!?!

This book has been a long time coming, with all the social media petitions to bring this book to life- and it feels like I have been waiting an inordinate amount of time for this issue to come out. So with all that expectation heaped on this book, when it came out- it was bound to be a book plenty of people talk about. This book had a lot of promise, and I was hoping that being a limited series it would be jam-packed with action and excitement, but that wasn’t exactly what was delivered. The mercenaries/militiamen who confront and attack Ivy and her African desert guide was a scene that I wasn’t expecting, but I did enjoy reading it. I like the abrupt way that Ivy dealt with the baddies in this scene, using the Living Fossil plant to dispatch them quickly. I would have liked more from that scene, or just a bit longer setup for the discovery of the Living Fossil, because the rest of the book really doesn’t really do much to grab me, story-wise. We have Ivy working at the Gotham Botanical Gardens, even though she is a supervillain and all-around bad lady, where she is abruptly met by Harley Quinn, in her Dr. Harleen Quinzell guise, which would only make sense to the reader if you were up to date on Harley’s solo book where she is still coco-banana bonkers but puts on her Doctor coat like nothing has changed. I wasn’t sure about the inclusion of Harley into this book, because while Ivy has some backstory with the Sirens (Harley and Catwoman) I was really not looking forward to seeing the same story played out in a different way. In this book, Harley tries to work her way back into Ivy’s life, they go for a drink, which oh-so-predictably turns into a bar fight. The bar fight turns into two straight biker dudes making out (because whenever Harley and Ivy are together, there has to be some sort of sexual situation shoehorned in). Ivy gets naked, which is only saved from the reader’s eyes by a strategically placed shadow and flower pot (which felt old an

heh. This book continues to be disappointing, and I am really not that surprised. This book doesn’t seem to have any impetus to GO anywhere with it’s story, and it drops us off at the end in basically the exact same spot we were with the end of issue one, but with a different dead body. Like I said before, I feel like this issue and issue one could have been combined into a single issue, cutting out Harley, and the naked Ivy scenes, and changing this issue’s story so Ivy doesn’t show up to work in a prestigious botanical science lab wearing yoga pants and a crop top, to only be objectified sexually by a coworker as a means to give her an alibi other than beating up random bikers and forcing them into unwanted sexual contact with each other. The artwork is passable, but the story is absolutely a waste. This book isn’t anything worth reading for anyone who isn’t a fervent Ivy-Leaguer, and will be the kind of thing that they rant and rave about, even though the story is a mess, the characters are wooden and without any real “life” to them, and Ivy is a murderer AND sex object all in one bland, boring stroke of the pen. I wish that there was more to this book, because I think that Ivy solving a murder mystery could have been a quite engaging story, but pretending like Pamela Isley isn’t a public figure KNOWN to be Posion Ivy is somethinh that felt out of place for me, and for Harley Quinn to show up and nobody notice that she’s a psychotic criminal as well, then they beat up and sexually assault bikers- then Ivy lets some skeevy botantist (which is the most ridiculous character description ever, basically it feels like Howard from the Big Bang Theory paid for his college selling cheaply made roofies and extacy. This book makes me wish I had roofied myself when I was done, so I could forget that this mess ever happened in the first place. That’s two big letdown issues in a row- so that’s it for me. I wont be reviewing or talking about this book an

This issue wasn't as bad as the last few, story-wise, but the mish mash artwork wasn't great, because it just changes unceremoniously, not like for a real reason. The story, though, moved along well and actually makes Ivy's plant babies make a bit more sense (not a lot, just a little). I still do not agree with the unnecessary inclusion of more Gotham City Sirens, because this was supposed to be a Poison Ivy book, and we get nothing but team-ups. PLUS THEY CANT EVEN NOT MENTION HARLEY QUINN!!!! SERIOUSLY!?!! ACK! cmon rebirth, give Ethan van sciver a (hopefully) better book slap his name on...

Jimmie Robinson was probably one of the first creators I binged on their work in my return to comics a few years back. His book Bomb Queen is a raunchy, irreverent, dark and insane story that drew me in right away. Maybe it was because it was some of the first modern Image Comics stuff I had read, or because of the very blunt sexualized manner of the Bomb Queen, or the way the story turned super heroes on their ear by giving the bad girl the led role, and making her actually charismatic (if not a little off-putting). Power Lines reads like a spiritual history lesson AND a morality tale about race, equality and our society's love of being hateful judgmental and segregationist. This is a gorgeous book, and it sets up the power lines origin so well, and even had a reveal of the second super powered person that really genuinely surprised me. There is still a lot of mystery left in this book, and we truly have no idea what these people are capable of doing with these newfound powers, be it good or bad. This first issue is fantastic, and I hope lots of people are picking up Jimmie Robinson's Power Lines.

Having just read the first volume of Shaft by David Walker with variant covers by Sanford Greene, I got a nice little unnoficial primer for this book. I haven’t read much power man or iron fist comics, but I am working my way slowly through Jessica Jones, so I am getting a nice slice of what Power Man is like in the darker, grittier Marvel Cinematic Universe. I love the art on this book, and love how it really highlights the street-level nature of these guys, AND how the story plays up the “will they, wont they?” of reuniting Power Man and Iron Fist. This book looks great, and was a lot of fun to read. The twist at the end of the issue was a bit predictable, but being that there wasn’t any real backstory for me to read into this, I didn’t really take too much in the story for granted while I was reading it. This book really serves as a nice starting point for someone like myself who doesn’t know much of the Heroes for Hire, except for what we get from their appearances in other books during the Marvel Now. This book also seems to have enough connectivity to past iterations of Power Man and Iron Fist to not bee a full-on reboot, but still maintains some of that history between them. I liked this book a lot, and it really surprised me. It probably shouldn’t have, though- because Marvel has done quite a good job of rebooting, revamping and elevating more minor properties of theirs into newfound high-profile places, and Power Man and Iron Fist is yet another in that very, VERY long line.

As I have said earlier in this podcast (and like a million times before that) I LOVE Gail Simone. I loved her run on Red Sonja- it was really my first consistent foray into the character, so I dove in headfirst and went way back. I now have a bunch of classic Marvel Sonja books, and even a battered copy of her first cover appearance. So being that Gail and her stinky Sonja were my whole reason for getting into the character, when she got off it, I knew it would mean there were big shoes to fill for whoever came next. The hurdle was high, and the obstacles were many- but Marguerite Bennett and Aneke created a book that is almost as different from that stinky Sonja than Gail’s version of the She-Devil was from what my preconceived notions of the character were before her first issue released. The art on this book is great. Im not sure how to pronounce Aneke- but I am sure that we will be learning (his/her) name before long, because this book is phenomenal. I love Marguerite’s writing on this book, it has a similarity in the Sonja character, but she takes it in her own direction. I loved the fantasy sequence page where Sonja actually thinks about herself being queen. It was a great humorous moment that paid off in spades without use of a goofy punchline that would have felt out of place in this story. I liked where the book took our intrepid redheaded and hotheaded mercenary- and I have very high hopes for the future. I definitely miss Gail writing the She-Devil with a sword, and a need to fill her bedroll with a new warm body nightly, but this book definitely has warmed the cold bedroll of my heart, and I am thinking there will be big things on the horizon for this newly revamped looking Red Sonja, and her new creative team. Check this book out, it is definitely worth your time!

I really liked this issue, and I loved how the first issue and Sonja’s boytoy comes back in a pretty meaningful way in this issue, though I probably could have waited a bit longer for that big payoff/reveal. I love the artwork, and Sonja’s voice in this book is really solid. I wasn’t exactly sure about the whole character redesign in this issue, because I felt like her new look got a bit muddled in some scenes. Beyond that it was a really interesting story, with some good flashbacks to Sonja and the Shakespearean farce play was a nice moment, and allowed for some rather dynamic page layouts and some cool action sequences. The “bad guy” of this issue General Taerga felt a bit hollow, but hopefully she comes back with some good characterization in the rest of this arc, and really works had to drive Red Sonja on to some pretty angry, stinky and violent action! While I started out reading Red Sonja because of Gail Simone’s writing and Jenny Frison’s AMAZING covers, I stuck around because the character is really interesting and has a lot of depth beyond just being a bloodspattered barbarian woman in a chainmail bikini. This series seems to be taking Sonja in new directions, and I really like where it is going…

Gail brings back Babs in a fun, weird issue- possibly as a trial run for her to take back over on Batgirl or Birds of Prey? One can only hope. Tom Derenick comes on this issue as a fill-in/support artist, which is too bad, because Dale Eaglesham’s work is so good, it shouldn’t really be buddied up with anyone else’s. There were a few moments where the art didn’t quite hit home for me, like one of the early faces Babs/Batgirl makes where she looks like she got cheek implants AND cat scratches across her whole cheek. But it was just a bit of an “artistic freedom” taken with the panel, and it just didn’t pay off. I loved the humorous onomatopoeia from the dust-up fighting between Catman and Batgirl where we see the “biff zap pow” turned into “punch bite handsome selfie!” which is just how Gail puts her fingerprints on a book like this, and I love it. The scenes with Strix and Porcelain, while being as far from “action-y” as possible, actually served as my favorite part of this issue. It was really a gutshot to see how Strix handled herself after her “makeover” and the emotional weight of that scene really stuck with me. Ralph Dibney and his weird murder-y brainwashed estranged wife was a moment that really felt out of place for me, and I really hope that we get something more from this moment going forward, because if it plays out in a mundane way, I will not be very pleased. Overall, though- this book was fun, and I would love Batgirl to come back to this little slice of suburban anti-hero heaven anytime she wants!

This issue ends with the tagline "next issue: it just gets weird", which is saying something because THIS issue was weird. Batgirl joins in a fight with the Secret Six against Shiva Woosan, apparently of the League of Assassins. Batgirl gives up her awesome yellow boots. Strix beats up a bunch of armed guards, and everyone decide to come to Strix (aka her actual name " Mary ")'s rescue. Also there is some weird love triangle/sperm donor page at the beginning, and quite the shocker of a last scene- PLUS the biggest shock of the last page. So things get weird NOW?? OH, honey, they've BEEN WEIRD.

The opening sequence of this book has such heart, such emotion- something i wasn’t expecting from a book that is usually packed with humor, fighting and a bit of sexy-sexy-ness thrown in for good measure. Strix, though, is someone who has a lot of vulnerabilities to explore (for a former Talon of the Court of Owls) and this issue does just that. I like seeing Mr. Dibney (aka The Elongated Man) in this issue (if ever so briefly) and that we see Scandal Savage and her “lady friends” aka lesbian lovers propositioning Catman for a donation to their “lets make a baby” fund- a PERSONAL donation… then we see Strix getting introduced to her new digs in the League of Assassins, we get some explanation as to WHY Strix was chosen to join the League and we see the Bizarro Secret Six that Strix is to be pitted against. Seeing what Strix is capable of is really frightening. she was always such a calm and childlike sort in the group of murderers and thugs in the Secret Six- to see her so unleashed, is terrifying. i love this book, i loved this issue. the art is fantastic and the story is building up to something HUGE!

I had really liked the creation of Silk (aka Cindy Moon) in the Spider-Verse event, I like seeing Peter have a super-powered counterpart who isn’t always just time traveling Miguel O’Hara or dimensionally displaced Miles Morales (which I think it is official we are getting another Pete & Miles team-up book) plus seeing how a young woman who has been trapped in a bunker for a decade deals with life in New York relatively unsupervised is an interesting and (almost) unique premise- see Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. But beyond that, I think that this book is really a decent outing, and could be a solid vehicle for driving new, younger, and possibly even dare I say it… FEMALE readers into comic book shops to pick up Spider-Man family books! Because if books like Spider-Gwen and this can run for a long time (this book may need a bit of a boost for that to happen) it could mean big things for the future of comics, especially in the eyes of the younger readers who are probably already on the fence about comic book shops in general. I liked this issue, because I thought it had quite a few interesting and unique visuals for the story- the two page spread with the panoramic view of the sewers that Silk and Shrike are traveling in, where Shrike is just plodding through sewer water, but Silk is doing her spider-y duties and climbing on the walls and hanging off things, and sitting on top of the giant concrete slab that Shrike lifts up… it was just a really good, funny moment that I thoroughly enjoyed. Early on in the issue, seeing Silk and Spider-Man staging a fight to build up Silk’s “bad girl cred” was a fun moment, and the flash back/flash forward that illustrated Cindy’s lack of communication skills and her ability to frustrate two separate men in two different decades in EXACTLY the same way (i.e.- the panels were basically identical) was laid out on front street. I like that we see more of her inner monologue in this book, and that we are seeing that she o

This book has absolutely gorgeous artwork- it reminds me so much of a lot of the Jeff Lemire watercolor painted artwork that I enjoy so much- speaking of Lemire’s work, I picked up 3 Story, a hardcover OGN of his from the library this week, and I am excited to read that as well. But enough about things that aren’t this- Snow Blind is a really solid miniseries, that took a lot of twists and turns, but that really ended on a note that was less than stellar for me. Maybe it was just not “FINAL” enough to suit me, but it just felt off, maybe it was also a problem that I had with the pacing, because I had a problem with the pacing. Though, looking back on the issue now, I think it was effective enough, with plenty of action, violence and suspense to go ‘round. I just would have liked a more “explanation heavy” ending, since this is a story that doesn’t really go around answering all the reader’s questions as we go. Beyond that it was a really good story, and I am imagining that it will read much better in trade- because it will sweep the pacing problems under the rug when it’s something that you can enjoy in just one sitting. These creators have made a really compelling story, and I would really like to see them working on more new stuff, sooner rather than later.

This book basically is by default my pick of the week any week (even in a week when a new issue doesn’t come out) because it is just that good. This issue was one of those that really helps to give the reader further insights into the world that Coach Boss lives in, and to really ramp up the stakes of his crumbling empire’s continued success. I liked the infirmed mayor, and his real you-know-what buster of a wife who basically runs the whole show. Plus seeing all the threads of the previous Homecoming arc issues drawn together for this story- the homecoming game, was a really nice touch. I am genuinely worried for what is going to happen in this next issue, because **Spoilers ** Earl’s daughter seems to be headed back to Craw County, and I don’t think she is going to be very happy with the things that have happened here. The artwork on this book is fantastic, and I haven’t seen anything like this before, ever. The book is so well written, the characters are all deeply developed- not a one feels flat or wooden at all. This is a book that is absolutely worth reading, and I would hope anyone and everyone would give this book a chance.

Joe Kelly’s second entry this week is much more of a crowd pleaser than Four Eyes, I mean cmon- its Deadpool and Spider-Man! What’s not to love? It was a weird, wild ride, and it looked REALLY good. I loved the way the first page does such a good job of subverting expectations for what is to come on the next page- it just really started the book out on a high note, and told anyone and everyone who flipped through this book that the story is going to be something totally unexpected. I loved Deadpool’s spinning wheel of morality where it dictates his general tone in any situation. I feel like that is a thing a lot more people need. I also loved the MODOK jokes, and the pop culture references sprinkled throughout. The only things that bothered me about the issue was the lack of explanation as to who was the character that made reference to being an actor “trained at Thebes” im not sure if this was someone we are supposed to know or not, but I do not know them. Also the way Deadpool looked while he was regenerating his hands and legs at the end was just a weird choice- his little nubby hands and having feet grow directly out of his pelvis wasn’t anything that seemed impossible for the character to do, it was just odd enough to really give me a moments pause and go “wait- what the heck is that?!?!” but I moved beyond it quickly enough. Also the end of the issue is one of those moments that you almost kick yourself for being “convenient” but that didn’t really occur to me at all before I read it, which was a nice change of pace- I didn’t see the setup for the rest of the story coming ahead of time, maybe I was just still chuckling to myself too much over the Oprah reference earlier in the issue, but it didn’t really jump right out at me. This was a really fun, weird book, and I think the rest of this arc will be just as ridiculous and fun to read, too!

I am sure I am last in line in a queue of everyone else who is talking about Spider-Man, but I would bet a lot of them are talking about Spider-Man from that Civil War trailer (though, to be fair, I have talked about that already as well) but Spider-Man Deadpool is another good source for things regarding two VERY talked about figures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This book has really solid art, and the Kelly/McGuinness team really know their way around Wade Wilson. I loved that this story found such a solid balance between out and out goofiness and real emotion. Having Spider-Man meet Deadpool’s daughter was a moment that really hit me, and seeing how the uncensored thoughts of a child just spill out, telling Spider-Man how her dad so looks up to him, and seeing how much that embarrasses Deadpool was a really small, but effectively humanizing moment. The characters of Styx (that’s styx with a Y and an X) and Stones are a bit odd, but their powerset really compliments one another well. This issue doesn’t do EVERYTHING I wanted it to, because I still have to use the Google Translate app to only VAGUELY understand what Massacre says (because I don’t speak any Spanish except profanity) and that this issue doesn’t even really set up the big throwdown between Deadpool and Spidey, it just prolongs it. I love the cover for this book, highlighting the Mercs for Money (like Massacre, who ive already mentioned) and I am already beyond ready for the next issue. This book is a lot of fun to read each month, and I cant wait for the next big “Deadpool and…” miniseries to be announced.

This book is equal parts funny, strange, sassy and scary. This story takes a turn I most certainly wasn't expecting, with Deadpool taking Spider-Man on a double date. Of course the date doesn't work out as planned. Deadpools date is female Thor. But the problem is in Peter's date, at first she is a beautiful blonde, but she turns out to be a succubus, which obviously doesn't sit well with anyone. Deadpool then tries to get the succubus and Lady Thor to mud wrestle, and when that fails spectacularly, spiderman and Deadpool have to dance to appease their grumpy sorta dates. This book is funny, and has lots of great small funny moments. The fighting is good, albeit brief, and the end of this issue is a pretty big cliffhanger. I expect some crazy and over the top stuff to come up next.

This new Spider-Woman book was something that I wasn’t really aware of before the first issue. But when issue one came out, I thought that it would be fun to read and Jessica Drew seems like a character that is really interesting and unique. Plus, when you add in the fact that she is also currently pregnant (LIKE SUPER PREGNANT) it makes for a really intense story. This arc has gone a way that I definitely didn’t expect, and this issue serves as a nice final chapter to the first arc, but that things are still really going to be tough fro Jessica and her new baby. I really like the look of this book- some of the fight scenes in this issue could hold their own against any other books out there. I love the giant splash page where Jessica is working her way through a whole battalion of Skrulls, with some really awesome and dynamic character positioning. I love the colors in this issue as well, because the Skrulls are wearing what look like neon Tron-esque bodysuits, Jessica’s weapon has some great chunky onomotopea, and seeing Jessica take a bite out of some Skrulls face- PRICELESS! This story was really fun, and also took a lot of strange turns. It started out with Jessica being pregnant, and trying to step back from being a superhero while she prepares to give birth. Then she takes an offer from Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) to go to an Alpha Flight hospital where she can get some high-quality intergalactic healthcare. Then while there, Jessica is trapped in a maternity ward when Skrulls take the hospital by force, trying to kidnap a young Skrull prince. THE KICKER of this moment, is that this hospital isn’t just in some building on earth, or just on a spaceship somewhere… NO- the hospital is in deep space, and the Skrulls closed all portals to enter the hospital. I loved how Jessica and Dirk (the Skrull prince) got on as fast friends in this issue, and seeing how Dirk had a real personality was a nice choice, because he could have just as easily bee

This issue is the first issue of the Second Arc for this book, following Jessica Drew’s unfortunate run in with Skrulls in an Alpha Flight maternity ward that turned into the most wicked, and totally BAMF-ed out fight sequence I had seen in a comic for a really long time, now we get to see Spider Woman being very un-Spider Woman-ly, and being totally just a mom. Even superheroes don’t have the whole parenting thing down, it turns out. And this is played out in dramatic fashion, and to COMPLETE success. I love the humor of this book, and the visuals are just off the charts. This book has something for literally everyone, but it also just really has a great big ol’ heart, and it’s not afraid to be emotional or sentimental or to just be a story about people, rather than a story about people with super powers fighting super villains, or using electro-kinetic blasts of energy to subdue baddies (which Spider Woman can do, y’all!). I loved how the middle of this story sent Jessica on a night out with her friends, and how the speech bubbles eventually broke down to just emojis of what each person is feeling at that precise moment. I also love that much of the artwork is done with negative space, or just blacked out character profiles, which was s stylistic choice I did NOT expect. I thought that this book started out showing a disheveled and frantic new mom with puke on her everything and hair that looks more like a wild animal’s pelt (if that animal had ran through a maple syrup factory) but showed her cleaning up and dressing for the occasion and wearing some fun, while still subdued mom-adjacent clothing and brightly patterned leggings. This book has been INSANELY fun, utterly charming and totally came out of nowhere to be one of the books that are my most anticipated reads each and every issue. I love this book, and you should, too!

This is a book set in the cinematic Star Trek rebooted universe, and the Klingons are seriously great. So is Doctor McCoy, but that has always been the case. This book was great, the art was very detailed, the story was good and the characters all felt very much like their big screen counterparts. I loved the look of the Klingon ship, and the space battle was really cool looking. I was seriously surprised by the twist ending. I've never seen something like that, on that scale, in the star trek universe at all. I am so ready to read more of this book, and see what sort of awful things the Klingons can get up to, and how many more red shirts get 86ed on the way to a "peaceful federation resolution" which just means Kirk punching stuff a lot, I bet.

This book, while it started out decent with the first issue, just didn’t grab me here. The artwork for this book is really solid- the characters that are portrayed in this book often have the same look and mannerisms as their on-screen counterparts, which I appreciate. I liked the look of the scenes involving the Centennial Competition, much like the Harry Potter triwizard tournament where it pits the skills and abilities against that of another space exploration academy from beyond earth. Or, to really show how lame I am- it reminds me even more of the My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games movie (currently streaming on Netflix- also NOT a sponsor of this broadcast). It had a “laser tag” event that felt similar to the battles fought in Ender’s Game (more the books than the movie), which I enjoyed. And I was glad to see Uhura turn from Chekov to Kirk to aid her in finding out what the Federation is hiding from them. The moment where they bring up Doctor McCoy and looking at “Klingon biological records” and how Uhura was quick to respond with the Klingon affirmative “Hija’!” when asked if they both spoke Klingon. It was just such a fun and funny quick moment that felt much like how these two had behaved in the cinematic universe. Beyond that, I wasn’t really floored with the humor of the book, and there wasn’t much in the way of action to really draw me in, really at all. This was a much less stellar outing than I was expecting, and hopefully with things starting to overlap with the next issue, the quality will improve.

This was actually a pretty well crafted ending to the story, I was worried that the story would end without us getting to hear from Uhura in regard to the message she left about the Wagner system. I liked the creative way the cadets solved the problem of being stuck in a parallel/pocket universe, the visuals of this issue were pretty solid, and there was even a bit of humor that was a nice companion to finish the series out. Star trek has created a fun and unique story in this book, one that was pleasantly surprising, and that is VERY DIFFERENT from Manifest destiny no1.

This issue wasn't the strongest in the series, and the "surprising twist" ending was a bit too predictable for my taste. But what it lacked in originality, it makes up for (at least somewhat) in how much action this issue has. Not to mention the mysterious bad guy, apparently who has a history with Princess Leia. Pile on top the fact that Han and Luke serve solely as comedic relief AND fan service, and this issue is trying hard to do so many things for all kinds of readers. I'm hoping there is a less clichéd turn to Leia and Aphra's arc than "sudden and inevitable betrayal" but I have a feeling that is exactly what we are going to get. This book looked okay, in some spots, minus the fact that Luke looks like a lady on the cover, and a lot of the book felt predictable or just like a bit of a “too convenient” turn for the story, or just a big heaping helping of appeasing and low hanging fruit to feed the fans, because who doesn’t want to know what Nerf is, why someone being a Nerf herder is bad, and what it would be like if Han and Luke WERE IN FACT NERF HERDERS?!?! It just felt a bit too on the nose, and I wanted more of things being NOT that in this series.

The opening scene of this issue all but makes up for last issues fan-service-a-palooza where we got nerd herding, gambling han, unlikely allies and a rebel space prison that is so top of the line it makes the brig on an Imperial Star Destroyer look like a wild west movie set prison (which were made out of cardboard and balsa wood). I liked seeing Luke get a chance to pilot the Falcon, and this issue’s cover art started things out on a much higher note (nobody looked androgynous for no reason, so thats a plus). The prison sequence is gorgeously drawn, and even though we don’t get any real answers as to WHO is taking over the space prison, we do get some pretty JUICY details about what they know (specifically: that Emperor Palpatine is a Sith… WHOA!! no spoilers on that- thats some old stuff there). the line “I am what you made me, princess” is a very telling one. it means that this isn’t just a stranger on a vendetta against Imperials- this is a strike at Leia personally. but aboard a giant space prison. “he’s trying to teach you something. the way you once fought him”. this issue has some very LOADED dialogue, but no concrete answers… yet. the last page teases a BIG throw down to come in the pages of this series, and hopefully a big flashy reveal as to who orchestrated this attack on a space prison. i liked this issue’s art a lot, and the story worked very well for what it’s trying to do (the fewer nerf poop references, the better) and it adds a lot of stress and mystery to the story without really putting Han, Luke or Leia in “mortal peril” from which they all certainly escape. i like that it’s adding in characters like Sana and Aphra (both of whom are expendable) to the story, so that at any moment SOMEONE could die. and probably should, in order to keep us on our toes.

This book took forever to come out, was hit with delays, and that always worries me when it comes to comics. DC is having their own mess of delays/resolicits and Rebirth hasn’t even started yet. but this is Marvel’s one big gaffe (at least that we knew about up front) so i am willing to let it slide. we get to know how 3PO lost his original arm, and was given that replacement red arm we saw in the Force Awakens. The opening of the book, that very first page is REALLY cinematic, and it is followed up by a VERY tongue-in-cheek title page: featuring oversized lettering for “C3PO” and below it, reads “the phantom limb”. Getting an entire story that focuses only on a group of stranded droids looking for their “base” with a prisoner droid in tow is NOT how i expected this book to be, but it allowed for a lot of different personalities (yes, droids have personalities) to arise, and for some really emotional moments to play out at the loss of a comrade without it needing to be robbed of it’s weight and mortality by it being Leia, Poe or Ackbar- someone who is shown in the Force Awakens, so the moment loses something. these are all expendable droids, save for 3PO, so they live moment-to-moment in this story. The cast of six droids is whittled down to two in short order (not spoiling anything, but you can guess who the two are, once since his NAME is on the book…). The emotional tone of this book is a rather somber one, and that was unexpected. i really enjoyed this story a lot, and the art was stellar (well worth the wait) and by the end, i myself felt like i learned something about the droids, about choosing sides of a conflict and about myself.

I love that this story ties back to the Darth Vader annual in a meaningful way, AND connects the story back to Vader Down as well. I think that this book is extremely well written, and the art is gorgeous- I love how dark and ominous Vader looks ALL THE TIME, because he is dark and ominous all the freaking time! I enjoyed seeing Vader return to Shu-Torun, and how Queen Trios (the last surviving member of her family who was tasked with leading Vader through a myriad of killing fields) is really not happy with the Empire and the fact that Vader’s last visit basically caused this all-out civil war on Shu-Torun. And hey- **SPOILERS** but in Vader Annual 1 Vader chopped off Trios’ hand, and in this issue she has a metal hand, not a metal foot or a cybernetic backbrace- so maybe DC should take note and learn to keep their continuity within a single freaking book in line! Even though I have had my problems with Heather Antos and Jordan White as editors in the past… Okay, enough of a rant there- this book is a lot of fun to read, and I really recommend checking out that Annual and jumping in here if you don’t want to go all the way back. But do go back if you can, because this whole series has actually been pretty fun to catch up on.

This series is really solid up to this point, so I'll let go of the book's need for Dr aphra to be a part of it, even though she is currently indisposed by a rebel prison that only serves to confound me. How can a scrappy, unorganized, underfunded, understaffed and clandestine organization of rebels have enough resources to build a supermax space prison. But this isn't that book. This is a really solid story, with great art, and only a couple moments that really felt odd or clunky to me. The emotional payoff with Queen Trios was really great, and her last panels were actually really humorous and endearing. Things don't end well for Vader, seeing so much of his deception being discovered by Inspector Thanoth. I'm intrigued to see where this goes from here, but as I always say, the series needs to find a hook beyond mortal threats for Vader, because we know (those who have seen Return of the Jedi) what his final fate is.

This issue didn't do quite what I expected it to do, we are following poe almost immediately prior to his scene in the opening of TFA. But what I wanted, what I expected, was the story of YOUNG poe, connecting this story to the one in Shattered Empire about Poe's parents. The art is great, the likeness to Oscar Isaac is uncanny in places. Charles Soule's writing is solid, I just wanted something different from this than the journey that led him DIRECTLY into the line "this will begin to make things right"... I think that this story has potential, and I would really like to see this slow down and change course (quickly, if possible) and do more of the non-traditional and non-linear stuff that takes us from issue one and ends up with dumping Poe right into the credit scroll for Force Awakens. I did enjoy the Eliopoulos backup story of BB-8 and his meddling and matchmaking- mostly because it really helped to drive home the concept that BB-8 is a more adept character at reading people, because 3PO would NEVER have gotten that vibe from them (as evidenced in his greeting of Han Solo during The Force Awakens) and R2 seems to think he is above such things (at least in my mind- R2 doesn’t fraternize, so nobody else should).

This book was free on Comixology, and you know me- I love free things. So I thought I would check this out. I assumed this book was older, and that the subject material was much different from what I actually got. The book is only a year old, and only has a handful of issues out at this point. So it was strange for there to be a giveaway of the first issue so soon- not that I mind, I will read anything from Brian Wood, and I have fallen head over heels for Danijel Zezelj’s artwork- it is so scratchy and rough-hewn, but still very emotive and expressive. This book is like iron chef, survivor and the apocalypse all rolled into one, with a main character who seems to be a very unlikeable, bad dude. He does have some redeeming qualities, though- his daughter seems to be his biggest soft spot, and I see that being played up to his detriment in this story. Like I said- the art is stellar, but the worldbuilding in this issue is what really got me; without a ton of infodumping, or an over-the-top flashback sequence, this first issue pulls off the often impossible- dropping the reader in a dystopian future, without an exposition heavy start, and really makes you care about the world and it’s inhabitants. The big reveal at the end, for what chef Gavin would be using as his secret special ingredient, and what it meant for the society at large, and also his reaction- were both big moments that blew my mind. I really don’t think I made many judgments about this book prior to reading it- except that I thought it was a cannibal murder story (and who knows- maybe that’s what it becomes) but the story that I got was much different, and so much MORE, than what I was expecting.

This is a team up of epic proportions that a child of the 80s like myself had imagined for a long, long time. The first issue had some surprises, but this issue actually kept me guessing, and I enjoyed that a lot. The animated art style was a lot of fun, and the fighting was actually quite dynamic for being filled with 2D sidescroller characters, and 80s animation characters. The fight between Cammy and M Bison was a really awesome and high-energy way to close out the issue, and I loved the way Storm Shadow and Guile acted- they seemed very much like their natural selves. Jinx, Guile, M Bison and Snake Eyes are my picks for the Final Four of this crossover mismatched madness tournament. But we will see how close, or far, from right I am.

This book has been consistently great, and I think Max Landis could really write basically anything he wants once this is over. So marvel will probably come calling soon, and offer him something big and meaty (or an exclusivity contract) and BOOM! He will blow up like the engine on Clark’s plane. This story was a great, and unexpected, case of mistaken identity- where Clark is somehow confused for Bruce Wayne when he climbs aboard a luxury yacht after his plane crashes on it’s way to his ACTUAL destination- a Bahamas vacation that he won. The artwork was really good in this issue- my only problem was that the female lead of the story- Minerva or Barb? I don’t know which she is. Was that first time a dig of some sort? Is she Barbara Gordon? I didn’t think that Oliver Queen and Babs ran in similar circles. Beyond that one small moment- because she could have been LITERALLY anyone, she didn’t have to be someone we already knew- it was a really fun and solid issue. The deathstroke appearance was amazing. The secret doping of his champagne was amazing, seeing Superman shrugging off a deadly dosage as though he was just doped up on a hallucinogen. I loved the visuals of this book, and the ending was one that really makes you go “OH EXPLETIVE DELETED!” I am really excited to see how the rest of this book goes, because it has just been a TON of fun, and very different and something utterly unexpected from a “back to basics” DC Comics. Get out there and read this book- you wont be disappointed.

This was a really great story, and I liked how effortless the longwindedness of Lex Luthor felt in this book, but Jae Lee, who I usually don’t mind on art, just made this book look so different from how the story and dialogue (I felt anyway) was supposed to make you feel. There were some great panels, and the ending of the story seemed okay, but most of the artwork just didn’t really grab me like the earlier issues of this series had. The parasite backup story was fantastic, but for a single page story, it wasn’t enough to bolster this book beyond a middling score. I have hopes for the last few issues to really ramp things up and get back to what we got in the first three issues, because this book was okay, but it wasn’t anywhere NEAR as great as what I was hoping for as I came in. I loved the page with the layout working around the skyscraper with the glass-walled external elevator where Lex is giving Clark Kent some seriously high-concept blurbs for his “quote” he was offered by Oliver Queen. I loved his moment of “wait- what?!?” when Lex uses the phrase “availability cascade” which had me just as confused as Clark- so im glad he asked. Seeing just how megalomaniacal Lex is even in these early stages is really driving home who this guy is, or who he THINKS he is, and that he so casually belittles Clark Kent by dropping him off in the LexCorp Kidz Zone, (that’s “kidz” with a Z) was a great parting shot dig at him. Again, the art felt a bit distracting, but the story was right on point so that helped to save this book from a worse score.

Not only is this a great Superman book, this issue could serve as a pretty nice Green Lantern short story too! I really love this books art, and max Landis has a really great voice in comics (even if his voice other places is a bit difficult to handle at times...) I love this series, and it has been such a fun ride with superman through his life he has led from smallville to metropolis. Seeing him with his small town friends in the big city is very different than the Superman were used to seeing, and seeing him be called out for his brash and stupid behavior is the kind of thing a superhero needs every now and again. Add to that an eventful trip to the moon, and a bit of a personal revelation or two for Clark, and this issue is chocked FULL of goodies!

This series has been decidedly the best (and really, ONLY good) thing to come out of convergence. That mess only made my head hurt, and make me question DCs editorial process and their whole process regarding the new 52 and now Rebirth. But this series has been a shining example of what a good book can be. I really appreciated how Jonathan's reaction to being told his parents are from another universe. I'll be sad to see this book end, but I'm hopeful for good things coming from camp Superman with rebirth.

Okay, so I have said things about Neal Adams’ Batman Odyssey before, and how weird and inscrutable it is, how it would make a masterclass of an art book, but as a story it basically serves as a free acid trip. The story is VERY difficult to follow, and the logic of the characters within it’s pages are basically nonexistent. But with this book, things seem a bit more straightforward- I cannot tell if that is because this story doesn’t suffer any of the problems that Odyssey suffered, or if it is because there is a co-writer (or coco-banana-bonkers wrangler) on this book. Neal Adams could school LITERALLY anyone in comic art, and also in the art of being a super nice, very awesome dude. But even having met Neal, and my wife and I referring to him as “Uncle Neal” because he is such a nice, friendly, warm and convivial gentleman- I can say that Batman Odyssey’s story was a mess. But this first issue has a decent narrative, and it flows pretty well, with only a few minor hiccups along the way. Throw in the fact that there are lots of genuine questions left to be answered and this is a story that has me definitely intrigued. I am not happy that the book has been delayed once already, and I well and truly hope that it doesn’t happen again, but who knows? Also- the overall arc of this story is one that is quite confusing, because Uncle Neal has given several different accounts of what this story is to be about- the one that I read in a published interview was that Neal said there is a planet similar to Earth that travels on a parallel course around the sun, but at the opposite side of it so that we cannot see it, and that is what New Krypton has become- so these three Supermen are from the planet behind the sun that we on Earth cannot see, I guess? Then comes the thing that I got from the mouth of ol’ Uncle Neal himself, in that Superman submits himself to a blood test, or someone collects a blood sample of Superman to test his blood, and then when the resul

So that thing I brought up about Superman and his blood and the testing done on it from before- seems to be coming true now. I don’t know how much of it will hold up through this story, and I’m not ACTUALLY confirming anything, because I know nothing that you don’t already know- I’m no industry insider. I’m not on anyone’s payroll, or in “big comic book’s” pockets (though, if you’re looking for a weird beard fella to fill up that empty pocket of yours- please get in touch. I don’t ask for much in order to sell out…) so I may be way off here. But what isn’t way off is the artwork on this book. And the action- it is really, really good. Some of the dialogue is weird, clunky and even felt weird rattling around in my brain, but beyond that, this was a solid issue- it followed up last issue well, and has got me to start letting go of my Neal Adams/Batman Odyssey fears, ands tart to unwind and really, truly enjoy this book. Who knows how long that will last, but for now- I am enjoying Uncle Neal’s Wild Ride. Kalibak v Superman was a pretty epic showdown, and I was glad for a bit of the fisticuffs with Kal-El involved instead of his three-cloned-stooges (I am using clone here ironically, not literally- I don’t know WHAT these dudes are!) and the throw down with Luthor was pretty savage, too. Though, to be honest, I do feel like that went down a bit oddly, and that the way that Superman and Lex had their confrontation in Superman American Alien felt a bit more akin to what would ACTUALLY happen. I know that no two books are the same, and no two people tell a story the same way, but it just felt a bit off to me, especially after reading American Alien this week. But beyond that it, was a solid issue and I really enjoyed it. Superb artwork, as usual- no surprises there.

This book was a bit all over the place, succumbing to the Neal Adams Batman Odyssey problem. It needs something or someone to pull back the reins and focus this story a bit. There was more clunky and awkward dialogue, and a great (objectively) shot of Lois Lane's journalistic integrity... Lol I'm just kidding I mean her butt. Beyond that, there's good fighting, but no real progress to the story until the last page. Somehow I don't even feel like New Krypton was that big of a reveal. Maybe Im just already waiting for the rug to get fully pulled out from under me, but I'm feeling a bit cautious about this story going forward.

This issue was a marked improvement in the voice of Swamp Thing, which was really the main problem holding the first issue back. This one gets some good fighting, and some really unique visuals with Swampy, and doesn’t languish too long under the language that felt so foreign to Swamp Thing in the last issue. I love the art, Kelley Jones can draw anything they want after this, in my opinion- this book looks great, and the voices of the characters finally feel more like what I was hoping for from this series, so I am back on this book, and ready to see where the rest of the miniseries takes us, and if this book means that we see more Swamp Thing post-Rebirth, or if the muck-encrusted mockery of a man ends up down the drain like so many unpalatable kale smoothies…

This book was really good. After the first issue, I was worried about what we were getting with Swamp Thing, especially after reading Suicide Squad’s Most Wanted, and that Poison Ivy mess, I wasn’t sure that this book was going to right the sinking ship, and was just going to sink deep down into the nothingness, never to be heard from again. But things turned around well in issue two, and have continued to fair well in issue three. The opening sequence with the Boa Constrictor was beautiful, and I loved the way the snake was coiled and contorted around Swampy’s body, and then the intervening of Matt Cable was a welcome addition tethering this story back to Swampy’s history. Then we get to see more of Lucius Fox’s niece (I assume she is his niece, I don’t remember for certain) as the sheriff of Houma, Louisiana, and her skeptically dealing with the zombie character from the first two issues. Then we get some time with Matt, Swamp Thing and Zatanna, who’s face looks like it changes basically every page- maybe that’s just the candle and moon lit lighting for the scenes, but it definitely was something that I had to sort of plod through, because of how different she looked on each page. Beyond that, Swamp Thing looked amazing, the art was really solid on this book, and pretty mystical looking in the last half- plus the big twist at the end was one I did NOT see coming, but is something that we have gotten before from Swamp Thing, so it isn’t that unheard of that things like this would happen. But I am very interested to see where things go from here, and I hope that we continue to get the best possible Swamp Thing story we can, because it is what we deserve.

Image comics cranks out great books, and The Beauty is another of this great titles. This issue wraps up the first arc, and it really leaves you wanting more. Things wrapped up neatly (for the moment, anyway) for our main cast of characters. And in the afterword, the creators state that they are stepping away from these people to get more in-depth with the rest of the world that is afflicted with this STD that makes the victim beautiful. Thankfully, I am very much #beautyfree, because I am an overweight, out of shape, weird beard fella. No worries there. But this is an idea that really makes you think, because there is so much more to the story than just a venereal disease that makes you look hot, because it is also a disease that kills you (via spontaneous combustion) AND it touches on the economic and political side of covering up a diseases deadly side, PLUS the idea that pharmaceutical companies would rather mitigate a disease rather than cure it. This was a really good read, and a book that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy anywhere near as much as I did. You have a while before the next arc starts, but the collected edition will be out soon, so pick this up in trade and make sure to keep yourself #beautyfree…

I also picked up the first trade of The Beauty from Image by Jeremy Haun, Jason A Hurley, John Rauch and Fonografiks is an awesome, dark, wild wonderful book that I got turned onto because I follow Jeremy Haun on social media, and I enjoyed his work on Batwoman greatly, plus his book Wolf Moon, and his kickstarted anthology project Bad Karma. This book is about a disease that is catching, and for all the wrong reasons. A sexually transmitted disease is discovered, but instead of the normal discomfort, or possible death involved, this disease makes you perfect, it makes you handsome and fit, toned and tan and looking like a million bucks. If you think that sounds great- then it is probably good that this isn’t real, because there is a catch (there’s always a catch) and this one is a doozy- people with this disease (called “The Beauty”) are dying, but not just in any mundane, old-fashioned way… no, people who have this disease are dying by spontaneous human combustion. Sheesh! Wicked right?!? The art on this book is fantastic, and I got drawn into the first issue because my favorite cover artist Jenny Frison did a gorgeous and terrifying variant cover, and I had to have it. From there, I kept reading the series digitally, but I knew I had to have this trade, so I picked it up with my usual pulls this week, and want to push this collected edition of the first full story arc as my recommended trade of the week! Go check this book out- it is really unlike anything else out there, and it is really compelling and interesting stuff, and the first arc ends with a nice bit of finality for our cast of characters, but leaves things wide open for more stories to be told; and I for one, cannot WAIT for more…

The opening scene of this issue was a bit off-putting with it’s racism, but I think that just meant to drive home the fact that while war is something we know and see a lot about, it is something that we don’t really know EVERYTHING about WHO we are sending to these wars, and that can be a bad thing. The first scene set in current time serves to showcase the fractured (to put it mildly) mental state of Iris. The bit of side story with the old dude with the pet possum was such a weird, silly moment it felt a bit out of place, but only for a moment. It worries me that after two issues we already have so many people that are connected to the weird bird/woman/monster/ghost/thing that is killing a LOT of people in a short time… the end of this issue lives up to the name, it is in fact BOTH Dark AND Bloody, and the last page confirms a suspicion that I would hazard a guess I am not alone in making, and showing there is still a lot more Darkness and Bloodshed left to come in this strange and unique story. I am really looking forward to reading more of this story- it seems to be a much better series after two issues than the other two horror/thriller books from Vertigo at the moment. Survivor’s Club has dropped off my radar entirely (and may even be ending after issue nine) and Unfollow has had a few too many slow issues in a row to really make me fawn all over it (though, that isn’t to say that it wont get better and be a good series once it is finished) maybe it will improve when it’s taken as a “big picture” collected volume… This book, however, seems to really stand quite well on it’s own, without any end in sight for the coco-banana-bonkers violence, and the feathers-in-the-mouth creepiness that I had no idea would have been so prevalent since I saw it on the first issue’s cover.

The second issue of this book has changed my opinion of it completely. The first issue didn’t really thrill me- it didn’t do what this issue probably SHOULD have done as a first issue origin story- and it is very successful as a first issue. So maybe go ahead and skip number one and just read this, because it is actually pretty good on it’s own. The artwork is solid, and the story actually felt a quite compelling- IF you can overlook the fact that it looks and feels VERY CLOSELY related to the Image Comics SPAWN origin story. But then again, any sort of “deal with the devil” book is going to have some similar tones, themes and moments shared between them. I liked this book a lot, and it was a pleasant surprise that this book had turned itself around quite so thoroughly in one issue. Which gives me a lot of hope for other, less stellar books lately, and specifically this week, to turn things around and get better. But this book doesn’t have a lot of room to go up from here, but if it did improve a little, and give our main character, aka the new Spawn- I mean Hangman, a bit more humanity and humility, it will become a great, dark, strange and unique book worth picking up every month.

This book has a lot going for it, but it also has a bit higher than average accessibility hurdle, which hurts this book as a new number one issue. I love the writing, and the way the artwork flows with the time the story is set in. the wibbly-wobbly time changes don’t really do any harm to the story, but just drive home the cosmic and “other-worldly” nature of Adam Warlock. The character that is revealed at the end- the In-Betweener, he is really cool. But he isn’t someone I recognize, or remember from the Infinity Revelation; is he new, or did I just miss his introduction? This book makes Infinity Relativity (and by extension the rest of the Thanos Marvel Now OGNs) pretty required readings, with hurts the accessibility a bit, but not enough for me to totally disregard this book. I have read all those books, so I know what led up to this point, but it will take a lot more to really draw people into a new title that requires a $25 standalone graphic novel as a prologue to this story.

I loved this chapter, I loved seeing Wonder Woman really kicking butt. The art on this series is impeccable, and I want to see this creative team doing more for DC (or some other nice, publishing company **wink wink nudge nudge**) well into the future. I love the way Wonder Woman talks and behaves in this book- she definitely feels like that fish-out-of-water that I have come to expect, but that she really has this deep-rooted sense of duty and honor to help those in need that I don’t think will be quite what we see in Batman v Superman.

This book has gorgeous art, and a puppy dog Steve Trevor, but I don't like how tactless WW seems sometime, like this issue she gets a telepathic message from the Duke of Deception and tells Steve to forget her forever and dashes off! The fight was good, if not predictable, and the skeletal spirit things were totally awesome looking. The cliffhanger is yet another predictable part of this story, but it doesn't need to be revolutionary to look great, read well and keep me entertained! I am hopeful that Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon get on a new book after Rebirth, and if it isn’t with DC, I will still have to give it a shot, because this is a great story, and I am hopeful that they get picked up for something else new and different, and soon!

At first I felt a bit confused by the jumpy and jumbled beginning of the story- Diana has a vision of the Duke of Deception's dead brother, why I can't fathom; she meets with her dead mentor AND Zeus, only to denounce Zeus, relinquish her godly powered items and apparently live a mundane life amid the **SPOILERS** courtship of Steve Trevor?!?! Is this all a test from Zeus, or Aries, or the Duke of Deception? I don't know, all I do know is, I am do excited to see what happens next!!!!

This series is great. Last issue bit of confusion turns out to have been reality, at least as far as we know, and we get stellar art, and a song! I was a bit confused by the inclusion of one Alfred Pennyworth, because I do not recall him being a juggler or a dirty-cheeked street urchin who could have given Oliver Twist a run for his money, except as a theatrical stage hand. The art in this series is stellar, and I have really enjoyed this book quite a lot. I am hopeful this "civilian Diana" only last about another chapter, and that seems to track, because Steve Trevor is flying into hostile territory. I'm sure WW will swing into action and save the day, like she usually does.

This chapter has dogfights and an invisible bomber jet. The story works well, and the artwork is stellar. I'm really excited to see how this all shakes out, and what happens between Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman. The dogfighting pages were both actiony AND funny, which I appreciate. I love that this book is much lighter, brighter and funnier than I would have expected from a WW book. I just plain love this book!

This issue dragged out a bit longer than I expected, and the big solution that Thor came up with to fix Loki’s little red wagon and get to the bottom of things seemed like the kind of solution that should have come to mind right away. The artwork on this series has been PERFECT, I think Russell Dauterman could draw stick figures or a bowl of fruit and give them the kind of dynamic action and unique framing within the panels to make it LITERALLY the best looking thing on the shelf at your LCS. But the art couldn’t save a story that wasn’t anywhere near as good as I was waiting for. I hope that things get ramped up to epic levels next month, and if the end of the issue (both arcs) is any indication, things are going to get WAY CRAY coco-banana-bonkers with Freyja AND Thor (also- where was Odinson in this story? I mean I know we are focused on Lady Thor, but he doesn’t even get a page?) but beyond those little drawbacks for this issue, I am still 100% on board for this series. Not every single issue can be a homerun, and this issue was good but not phenomenal.

This issue starts off a new arc, and has a VERY dynamic and unique cover to go with it. The story in this issue is almost entirely backstory about Bodolf the Viking, and his time as a worshipper of Thor, but how he grew resentful of him, turned his back on him and how Bodolf was eventually defeated and left destitute at the hands of the thunder god. I love the art, both Russell Dauterman's modern art and the more painted canvas looking flashback artwork. I am hopeful for a big upswing in action next issue, because this chapter was a bit too slow for my taste. The book is nice to look at, but I wanted MORE. So I hope that's what next month holds

This book is a breakout hit for me- it’s a DC (I mean, technically its Vertigo) book that I actually look forward to reading now. beyond Secret Six and Deathstroke, that is really it for me with DC lately. I have been reading Survivors Club and Unfollowed, but those haven’t been the kind of tentpole books that I think Sheriff of Babylon could be. Following more of our main characters exploits in and out of the Green Zone in Iraq in 2004, we see a lot more of the world beyond these characters, and get some insights into the inner workings of the groups operating at this time. We get some good dialogue pages for Sofia (who as of this moment scares me most out of all these people) and Chris and Nassir team up to refute the identity of a John Doe (via some genuinely humorous but REAL comedic timing and motivation with Nassir) then we see Sofia in a state of undress (which means that this book is NOT for kids) the way she delivered her last line of dialogue really sent chills down my spine. The last section of the book deals with Chris and Nassir chasing down a lead and finding a house that was full of dead bodies, and there is some confusing stuff involving the family’s cat- which ends up coming back in a big way at the end. This book is visually stunning, and tackles some really big stuff- this is a heavy, HEAVY book, but is a really good read after two issues.

Another book that is absolutely stunning, is this book. I love the gritty, realistic story- the artwork is beautiful and unique, and I literally gasped at the big shock ending of this issue. I had some major “WTF?!?!” moments from earlier in this series, but that one takes the cake. I love how gritty and real this book is, which I have said before already. And things just seem like they have gone from bad to worse now. I hope that this book continues to maintain the high bar set for it, and helps to raise up the other Vertigo books (two of which came out this week) that were a bit less than stellar outings on their own. I am hopeful this book can continue the great and unique storytelling it has started here, and I am sure it will keep readers on the edge of their seats for a long time coming.

This issue doesn't have the explosions or bloodshed that the earlier issues had, but this issue has some really deep, emotional and haunting stuff in it. The frank conversation about 9/11 and Sadaam's palaces/swimming pools was something unexpected. I love the art of this series, and the way this story is so slowly unfolding, it isn't afraid to take its time and really get you knee deep in the you-know-what before anything is revealed. This issue really stuck with me after reading it, because it felt a lot more personal and intimate than two relative strangers drinking together in a bombed out pool house. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and if this issue is any indication, if Iraq was full of rats, and they brought in cats to take care of the mice problem, then who is going solve the problem of a city being overrun by cats?

This book ends it’s run on a pretty high note, but not really too much in the way of positivity or happiness for the characters of the book. Though this does set up a big Matt Hawkins-verse crossover event Eden’s Fall, combining The Tithe, Postal and Think Tank. I haven’t read Postal or Think Tank, but I know that Matt and Top Cow have put some of those first few isses from both books out on the internet to read for free, so I will definitely be dipping my toe into those waters to prepare for the three-part crossover. This book really does quite well involving action, suspense and a bit of romance-y stuff to really drive this second arc home quite effectively. I would have liked a more complete ending for the story if we aren’t looking for a next step story in the Tithe universe, but I guess it does well leaving it open, so it’s kind of a “six of one, half a dozen of the other” thing. This book probably wont sit too well with conservatives or overly-religious types, but I doubt there are too many of those who haven’t already written off a book called “The Tithe” way before ever even reading it.

This book was a strange and interesting trip to take for four issues, giving readers who are new to Gabriel Hernandez’ work (people like myself) an opportunity to dip a toe slightly into the deep waters of the creator of Love and Rockets, along with giving us some gorgeous artwork (as is the expectation) from Darwyn Cooke. The first issue of this series floored me, and made me certain I would not miss an issue. The first issue reminded me why Vertigo does what it does so well, and showed me that they were far from over making independent stories come to life in ways that DC doesn’t often foray into. But this issue just wasn’t up to par for the rest of the series. Not that this issue was some abhorrent monster, or some sort of slapped together “thing” that only barely resembles an ending- on the contrary, this book continues to look gorgeous and to be a well drawn piece of work, but the story seemingly was thrown aganst the wall to see what sticks for this last issue; and what stuck to the wall in the last issue of Twilight Children? Not much. The ending was inscrutable, without a clear answer in sight. And the scene meant to be the prologue to the story answers little to nothing about what transpired over the four issues. I don’t know if this book suffered under the same delusions that Lost did, that creators proposed a great pitch for an opening story, but never thought to formulate an ending, so when the time came to wrap things up, everything had been squandered in the efforts to craft the idea behind the story that the actual conclusion was something beyond their grasp. But still, this book is gorgeous, and maybe with some retooling, and possibly a new ending, the collected edition of this story could read better and with a bit more cohesion. Hopefully there will either be more story told for this, or a new and “proper” ending given to us, because I really felt more than a bit let down by the way things ended. I still feel like there should ha

Zdarsky is back for a second heaping helping of humor this week, cowriting this issue with Ryan North and adding his own flare to North's footnotes that I enjoy so much. This issue has everything, ducks, squirrels, cosplay doombots, a southern belle who hunts people for sport, a kidnapped cat turned into a murderous cyborg creature, AND SO MANY JOKES!!!! I love this issue so much and I'm already having withdrawals waiting for part two of Animal House to come out. Sidenote- I love the movie animal house, and would love for Chip, Ryan and Erica to make a Marvel OGN that is a shot for shot remake of the National Lampoon film.

so I was way, WAY behind in this book for a good long while, but thanks to my local library, and friends with some trades, and the last few single issues- I was able to get caught up just in time for this issue to come out. This story has gone quite a long way beyond anything we will probably ever get from the TV show- I know that Rick will probably not ever lose his hand, and Ezekiel’s character will probably change quite a bit- but the biggest thing that is probably going to change will be Negan’s heavy (which is an UNDERSTATEMENT) use of the F-bombs. It is such a major part of his character, that even when it tails off, Rick brings attention to it. So, since the moment in the shipping contained where the show took the soft route and said “messed with” instead of the comic’s line of “effed with” im sure they wont do too many f-bombs, or ANY. And my wife’s suggestion that they bleep it would really just take the viewer out of the experience. So I am not sure how the show will cope with that hurdle, but that’s enough about things that don’t actually impact this book. I liked this story, and I was glad to see how things were working going forward. Seeing Dwight join up with Rick’s people was cool, and his new girlfriend will be something that I am sure will not pass without incident. I also really liked seeing Tony Moore come back to do an homage cover to his own work for Walking Dead #1 (which I have a pair of reprints of- the $1 debut AND the 10th anniversary color reprint). This book has an ebb and flow to its momentum and this was a bit of a less all out action (not to be confused with All Out War) issue, but it was really good. This will be a tough book for people to jump into now, but if you have access to the compendiums and trades and have some friends willing to loan on some later trades and single issues (or dropping a bunch of ducats on comixology) you can get caught up in like a week, or weekend- for me I read like 50 issues in three

This issue supposedly serves as a new jumping-on point for the series, but at this point 150 issues in, can there ever really be a true jumping on that doesn’t leave the reader with a TON of homework to do to find out what the heck this, that and the other thing means??? But beyond that, this was a really good book- I loved Rick continuing to check in on Negan, and seeing Michonne’s progress through her mental block (or just reservations toward being among people who care for her) with Rick was a really nice moment in the story. Dwight’s arc is getting to wear a bit thin, and I am hopeful that his new girlfriend can help to keep him from messing up too badly. I really hope to see more way-cray stuff from the Whisperers, because they are some of the most messed up bad guys in Walking Dead yet. I love that they wear zombie facemasks, and I think that is the most freaky and dynamic visual for a zombie apocalypse story yet. I really hope that things keep up the pace that was set after All Out War, because this issue was a bit slower and just felt like more of a setup issue than anything else, but it was a really well written and drawn story, so I enjoyed it quite a bit all the same.

This issue was solid, but without much in the way of answers, except for the one that goes "is Negan still a murderous foulmouthed psychotic?" The short answer is "yes". Speaking of Negan, his appearance on the Walking Dead TV series was last week and HOOBOY was it something else. I've often been of mixed feelings towards Negan's affinity for profanity, but I wondered if that would translate to a show that doesn't even let Rick drop one little F-bomb in the final moments of one of the final episodes of a major arc of the Terminus storyline. But the TV version of Negan as played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan is superb- he is menacing, violent, gives no craps about anyone but his group of Saviors, and wields that barb wire wrapped bat like a true extension of himself. This issue sees Negan getting back to his old self again, and I was excited to see Negan's TV debut and his emergence in this arc fitting together nicely. I expect a LOT from this arc going forward, as this issue sets up plenty of "fun" stuff to come.

As far as free things go, this one is pretty much the best value EVER. I LOVE bkv and his writing and this book is exactly what you'd expect from the creator of Saga and Paper Girls playing in the Walking Dead sandbox. I truly don't want to spoil the reveal that connects this story to the main TWD story, because this story is available in a pay-what-you-want format, DRM-free and in several film types, so LITERALLY ANYONE who hears this should go and donate whatever you can to panel syndicate and read this story! the look of this book is very different from the main series, but still mostly black and white (except for some spot coloring, which really enhances the story) and it has a lot of similarities to the main Walking Dead books, but it does it’s level best to stand on it’s own. i liked how this book ended, and i am interested to see if anything ever comes of this story, or if it’s one-shot nature is just that.

This book was a pretty decent start to reintroducing the X-Men to a post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe (even though it is technically not even post-Secret Wars yet) I really liked the look of Magneto in this book, and his voice was really solid for this story. I also was glad to see a decided lack of Deadpool for this book, because he is prettymuch everywhere- which I will get into more shortly- but I really was glad to see Psylocke making this team, with her inclusion in the Age of Apocalypse movie, it just makes sense to get her onto the page somewhere, and this seems like a good a place as any to really let her work. I don’t think a psylocke solo title would work, but as part of a team, especially a more morally ambiguous one like Magneto’s X-Men. Continuing to give Sabertooth plenty of time on the page is nice, and I am glad to see that he is keeping his non-lethal mindset following Secret Wars (along with Wolverine still being DOA) which is a change that I really liked. Cullen Bunn really knows how to write baddies, and he does a good job with them in this issue. The end reveal of the team called “Dark Riders” was one I am unaware of any connection to the X-Universe, so if it is something I SHOULD know, I will need to do some digging. The second issue cover was I think what really sealed me coming back for issue two- Mystique holding a gigantic gun of some sort sitting (a little too) seductively on a large pile of unconscious or deceased soldiers, with some epic looking flame-explosion stuff going on in the background.

This book has been really interesting, and I really love the way Greg Land draws this book. I think Cullen Bunn has a great and authoritative voice when it comes to writing baddies, and this book is no exception. The way this issue opened absolutely floored me. Seeing Mystique just completely dropping the hammer on some random dudes was a welcome bit of action to open this story. I also really like the visual of Psylocke’s mental connection that shows up in that pretty bright pink sort of helmet/halo type projection that looks quite a bit like a butterfly tramp stamp design. I still don’t really know much about Monet, but that doesn’t matter much in this issue, because when the Dark Riders show up, she does a good job of showing off her power set in dropping plenty of them. The back and forth between Sabertooth and Monet is really solid- I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I think everyone on this team really seems to work well together (except for Archangel and Psylocke, but I don’t really know why. Though, I am guessing it wont end well when it finally comes back around). I think this has been a solid start to this new book, and gives a pretty easily accessible X-Men story to newer readers.

This was a book that I was very unsure of after the first two issues. It could have either gone way up or way down in overall quality; because there just wasn’t a lot of story to go off of early on. But with the third issue things got a little clearer, and we actually get to see some of the members of the 140 interacting, and the end of the issue we get the big reveal as to what our “benevolent” dying billionaire has in store for the 140 (which after last issue is the 139, but I’ll get to that part later). I had been concerned from the beginning that this book would be a bit too “preachy” and try too hard to be modern, because the incorporation of a twitter-analogue and the idea that certain people are picked at random to share in the social media creator’s billions as part of his dying wish all seemed to be a bit on-the-nose, and it reminded me of all the stories of late that try too hard to shoehorn in “hip” ideas and to force themselves to be modern and topical, when things in comics should (try, at least) to happen naturally; or at least as “naturally” as anything can in a comic book. The opening pages showing some of the events in Ferguson, while well done and not feeling “exploitative” will most likely be the kind of thing that is utterly lost on another generation of comic book readers who may go back and read this story 40-50 years from now. But besides that point, I really liked the way that opening scene ended, with Dave and Devon (the brothers from the first two issues) standing in Ferguson when Devon asked Dave “how many rich folk do you see in Ferguson right now?” which is something that really floored me, personally. I am a Midwestern boy, born and raised in Central Illinois, and have been to St. Louis more times than I can count. It is roughly 2 ½ hours by car for me to drive into STL proper, and to think that the kinds of things occurring “a world away” in Ferguson were really happening only a few hours from my ho

I read this issue right after The Sheriff of Babylon, so I got a double-dose of Tom King writing two VERY different stories. Where Babylon is grounded and feels like a history lesson or biopic, Vision feels like the darkest corner of Marvel brought to reanimated life. I love this book, the art is fantastic, and the things Vision and his family do are increasingly incomprehensible, to the point the end of this issue is the logical conclusion. I really cannot wait for more from this series, and can't wait to see what Tom King does with the main Batman book over at DC for Rebirth. I think that if he brings the grittiness and darkness that this book has, while still being a bright and colorful LOOKING book (you know, because a character like Batman needs BALANCE, not just all bleak, dark and depressive stuff, or like to use fully automatic weapons or anything like that) but if you bring a lot of the smart and intricate storytelling elements that are here into Batman, that book is going to be big, like super huge. Marvel is missing out letting Tom King go.

This was a nice, action packed issue, and it moves the story along well enough. I'm fairly certain this book ends next issue what with Sam Humphries moving to DC. I love the art on this book- weird is one word to describe the look of this book. But a good weird. I actually had a few moments of genuine worry in this issue, which surprised me. I also really like the look of Morgan LA Fey in this series- she is every bit the evil queen, and it works well. I enjoy Sam Humphries' cosmic and spacey writings, which should translate well to Green Lantern, I hope.

I was actually pretty excited about reading this, but of course, my amazon order was delayed by almost two weeks. so i had to wait to get this book, but once i got it, i threw myself right into it. i love Yannick Pacquette’s art, and i doubt there are many people left on the earth who don’t know my affinity for all things Grant Morrison. This book doesn’t have his typical “Morrison-ing” ending, but ends on a rather upbeat and positive note, letting Diana triumph (at least in the moment) and to have her arrival as Wonder Woman in the world of man. I love the look of this book- all the crazy asymmetrical page layouts, and how the borders are all rope, or scales, or whatever helps to tie the art to the story. not to mention that some panels are shaped like Diana’s crown or other items seen in the book’s pages. one big change that i was not expecting, but that really gives the character a lot more depth in this story, is the change to Steve Trevor- he is not a blonde haired, blue eyed pretty boy: in this book he is a tall, muscular and VERY handsome black man. which lends itself to a nice moment during the “trial” of Diana. the trial, which even features the Holliday girls, which was a nice touch (for more on the Holliday girls, check out the Legend of Wonder Woman digital first series). I don’t want to give to many plot points of this story away, because it is a really nice rebooting to the origin of Wonder Woman and Paradise Island and their relationship to the Fates. but i really enjoyed the story. i understood much of what was going on, and never felt like Grant Morrison was actively trying to Morrison-ing us into some big, ham-fisted twist ending. I liked the characters of this story a lot, basically all of them, because they were all quite genuine PLUS they looked really nice drawn by Yannick. i had seen somewhere on the internet where someone had issue with the all-female Paradise Island raised Diana referring to a group of soldiers she just m

This is a property that is very near and dear to my heart- a horror and western mash-up. Now, I don’t know much about Wynona Earp, or her publication history, but I do know that she’s getting a new series, and that she will be kicking all sorts of supernatural booty on screen and on the page now. I think that this book drops the reader right into the heart of Wynona’s story, without showing the typical origin story, or a massive infodump title page- you just get carried along by the story and get bits and pieces of the background filled in as we go along. I liked how this book felt, the flow was really solid, and the artwork is good. I like the violent nature of the vampire killings, AND Wynona’s humor is really solid. It feels like a spiritual successor to Ash from the Evil Dead, but with ties to the old west, so there’s lots of deserts, and motorcycles and small towns out in the middle of nowhere. I think that this is definitely a book that people will pass on, because im sure people are hearing about it being optioned for TV, and that there is still a bit of a stigma on licensed comics, but this book is actually really solid and was a good fun read. I like where this book sets off on in the first issue, and I want to come back to find out more about the characters in the next issue. this is definitely a book that I think is less likely to be on people’s radar, because it is a bit different from typical capes and cloaks punchfight comics, but there is still a lot of fighting and crazy stuff, which is a welcome SMALL change of pace for me.

This was a decent issue, but not as good as I had hoped. Something just felt missing from this issue, and maybe it was just a slower issue, one that didn’t grab me quite like the first one did. The art was still solid, and I am really interested in watching the first episode of the Wynona Earp series (so in that respect, this book earned itself a 10- because it is getting me to tune in, at least once) and to try and keep on this book. Maybe it will be something for the next issue to bounce back from and give us more story than action, and possibly even a bit more background on our cast of characters. If that is something that is left for the pilot episode of the series to air, then I will say I wish that they would have held off on this book until after it aired- or that, like free digital copy codes in Marvel books, that the issue entitled readers (or just anyone who has the internet) to go online and stream the pilot episode early, and get all that backstory out of the way. The scene with the old lady demon was something that reminded me of Evil Dead, and I loved the knock down drag out fight on top of a milk truck. I wonder if “John Henry” (who in this story, is surely no steel-drivin’ man) is connected to the shadowy figure Xavier we met in the epilogue that wasn’t actually labeled an epilogue, even though it should have been, since the last page splash on Wynona served as a very nice, logical and easy point to end the story, but tack on a post-credit scene for fun- but I digress. I wonder if Xavier and John Henry are connected, because they seem to want to talk to Mars Del Rey’s brother Bobo, which is unfortunate, because what the heck kind of parent names one kid MARS and the other one BOBO? But that is neither here nor there…

I missed both the first volume of X-Men '92, and the infinite comic, but I am no stranger to the classic animated universe X-Men. The characters in this book are mostly familiar to me, except for a few random Russian characters and Maverick, an old mercenary buddy of Wolverines. I love the look of wolverine and psylocke, and some of the humor even feels straight out of the TV series. I love seeing Omega Red, I was always a big fan of his tentacle weapon arms back in the day, and even had one of the Mighty Max-esque pocket comic toys with Omega Red and a black and gold suit wolverine, and I still have the classic wolverine and sabertooth one on my desk as we speak. The reveal that Omega Red was a product of a Russian program like the Weapon X program, and that there is an ALPHA Red is pretty boss. This was a decent first issue that doesn't require the previous '92s as homework, but I'm sure they would have helped connect to the characters emotionally. Otherwise, pretty good.

So, I have to start off this review with a bit of capitulation, because for some reason (the reasons actually being that I am recovering from being sick, and had suffered a minor injury to my back taking down all the Christmas decorations in my house, so my focus was not as laser-sharp as it usually is…) I completely forgot to discuss this book on the podcast this week, and even though I meant to do it for my Other Side segment for the Weird Science DC Comics Podcast, I went with Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 instead. I think this book got lost in the shuffle, and with some books from Marvel being realeased on Saturday instead of Wednesday, coupled with my injury and distractedness lead to this book slipping through the cracks. And I am very, VERY sorry that I let that happen, because this is a book that I very much wanted to talk about. If you have been reading my reviews for a while, you’ll have seen that I always enjoyed Max Bemis’ writing- I loved his first work for Marvel with his Magneto & Spider-Man team-up in the pages of A+X, and his miniseries books Polarity and Evil Empire were both stellar books, while both being very different stories. I had heard about this book when it was first announced, and got really excited for it’s release, but as with most things, being a dad and a husband got in the way of what little extra short-term memory I have, and I completely blanked on it’s release date. That is, until my wife, who is also a big Max Bemis fan, asked me about the book because of him mentioning it via Twitter. My wife hasn’t actually read any of his comics before, but is a big fan of his band Say Anything, and has even seen them in concert (I want to say twice, but I could be wrong there) which is something that I feel quite remiss about, bcause even though I have been listening to Max’s band since the release of “…Is A Real Boy” I have always WANTED to see them in concert. So getting a little more intimate peek inside the mind of a creativ

This book probably could have benefitted from coming out, oh i don’t know… more than fifteen years ago when the show was still on the air. or even possibly AFTER the new Xena reboot has hit. i feel like i am missing something in reading this, but it is probably just because i haven’t seen anything involving Xena in about a decade. i loved the show, and the characters, and i will gladly put the new series on once it airs, but this series just feels like it’s missing something. maybe it is just because of it’s age, or maybe there is a certain character missing (for my money, it would be Joxer). i really liked this issue, though. it has a lot of the same sensibilities as a Red Sonja story, except this has a TV style to live up to. i like that the characters aren’t really FORCED into looking or behaving EXACTLY like Lucy Lawless and Rene Oconnor, but that they can be a bit different while still being very similar. i imagine this is so that these kinds of stories can bridge the gap between the original Xena and the new Xena reboot. I hope for more action, and some more familiar faces going forward, but all in all, this was a decent first issue, with some dark moments in the beginning, some lighthearted stuff in the middle, and a nice cliffhanger ending to take us to the first commercial break (sorry, still putting this is TV terms).

This book has been really fun to read, and is probably a much bigger hit with teen and tween girls than myself- a weird beard 30something straight married dad. I like this book though, and I enjoyed how this issue ends the arc. Things are left pretty well open for a follow up or sequel or continuation here, and I hope we get one- books like Welcome Back and The Tithe have gone from miniseries to ongoing, so why not this one? I really like the bright, poppy colors of this book, and I thought that the characters all felt really unique and really like what I remember being a teenager to feel like. I don’t know what it feels like to have been a teenage girl, I mean I just wore skinny jeans and had swoopy hair, but that doesn’t really make me an expert. Though I really enjoyed this book, I am sure people will be up in arms at the big splashy panel showing some teenage girls kissing. But I say back off- it was a tender emotional moment that was punctuated by a bit of affection. It wasn’t gratuitous or gross or anything graphic. It was a nice moment to help drive home the emotional stakes of this story. I really enjoyed all four of these issues, and definitely recommend putting the collected edition on your pull list- it’s worth checking out!