Crap really. FCBD Civil War 2 is an obvious lead up to another Marvel summer cross over blockbuster and if this prelude issue is a sign of things to come, the best thing would probably be to stock up on back issues to keep yourself busy during the summer while the entire marvel section at your local comic book store is filled with this summer series. The main problem with this issue, and these types of series in general, is super hero overload. So many characters are thrown in here, almost forcibly stuffed for the sake of hero count, that most of them are reduced to single battle scene lines and for the reminder of the time they are merely background wall paper. If this issue was just the art with the dialogue removed, it would actually be alright. The art is good and whatever the reader imagines himself/herself the dialogue to be, it probably would be better than what actually is written. The second part of this issue, "All-New All-Different Avengers", is a quick synopsis of the Wasp's origin and motivations for her upcoming story arch. It's written by Mark Waid, so the writing is comic book writing safe and solid. The art is alright.

Imagine you are 11 years old again. You liked reading comic books back then, right? You probably thought of your own comic book stories also, right? Now imagine your 11 year old self had the opportunity to write and publish your own comic. Divinity 2 is basically what that comic would be.

You wake up in the morning and the first then you do is go take your morning piss. Once you are finished, you go to the sink and wash your hands and splash a little water in your face to shake off the cobwebs. The water drips from both your hands and face. There is no towel near you, so shake your hands in an attempt to dry them. Next, you take those very hands and use them to dry your face. Once you remove them from your face, you see your reflection in the mirror. You are Tom King- the best writer in comics today. You got a busy day ahead you. You have dozens of story arcs to write for the dozens (or at least half a dozen) comics you are penning. But moreover, you have your business to attend to, you have to sign new exclusive contracts; you have to prepare yourself to take over the reigns and direction of one of the most important and iconic characters of the medium. You, Tom King, have a lot on your plate. And with so much on your plate, you are bound to have a little slip, a little hiccup every now and then. But it's o.k., you are human. You are Tom King.

I'm really on the fence with this one. I haven't read any issues from this series aside from this one, so I don't know if this issue is representative of the series in general. The art here is incredible-clear, elegant, gritty and nightmarishly surreal. While the story can only match it in the surreal department. I don't know if it's cause my ass is dumb, but I didn't know what the fuck was going on in the story. Maybe I was a bit sleepy when I read this too or it could be that the dialogue is choppy, clumsy and nonsensical. And maybe that's the purpose, maybe the story is supposed to be as surreal as the art. If that's the case, then that's pretty cool.

Campy, funny and enjoyable. Campy, funny and enjoyable until you start getting beat over the head with jokes, especially the annotations at the bottom of each page. Overall, the story is solid, it's just that after awhile the jokes feel so forced and are overdone.

An evil former Soviet mad scientist, to appeal to our 80's specific xenophobia and a purely good at the root hero whose golden heart and motivations are splashed over the pages in the form of his unwithering love for his mother who he is trying to save in this issue- all adds up to genericness. While that doesn't necessarily make Huck a bad comic-on the contrary, it's well written and drawn- it just makes it one that is not unique. Seen this, been here, done that. Maybe I was expecting a lot more because of the scores this comic was getting on this site; I don't know. But I know what I got- a readable, decent comic.

A nice ode to Bats and Gotham. In this single story issue,the reader is taken on a journey with Batman as he patrols the city at night and it is then and there that you go into his psyche and see his love, concern and straight out paranoia he has for his city as its protector. In this issue there is not much action or any villainous obstacles Bats has face or overcome, aside from a little visit to Arkyam to check up on a potential breach in their security system that ends up being for naught, his night is slow and uneventful. Yet still, there is always the potential for danger to arise and those possibilities mindfuck him and have him constantly at the jump of a batarang, so to speak. Though he fights no super villain in his glorious rogue's gallery, this issue feels like a quintessential Batman story if there is one. Here you get into the mind of the character stripped of any peril or flashy sparks, and see how he feels and thinks when everything is quiet, when the storm has yet to arrive.

Though the different story lines in this comic are all starting to unfold more and more and as readers we are getting to see the bigger picture, especially in regards to the Robot Resistance and what they had been doing and how they had been living after their banishment from the UGC, the story is beginning to feel a little static and stale. The build-up of the previous　issues of this LeMirian universe had me eagerly reserving each issue from my local comic book shop in hopes that slow peeling aways of this story would deliver on all the promise and anticipation I had been feeling about it. But with this issue, I realized that most of those feelings were my own projections of what I wanted the story to be. With sci-fi works, I look for and hope that they touch on the loneliness of space and how it affects the people in it and how its vastness makes everything in comparison, especially humans, seem minuscule and insignificant. Moreover, with Tim-21, I hoped that story would use him as a vehicle to explore raw human emotions such love, fear and helplessness vis a vis him being a robot and the absurdity that an artificial being would possesses these emotions would make them stand out even more. I wanted Descender to be about Tim-21 and his world and the people in it and the things they do to basically be a microscope to who we are as humans with all our beauty and ugliness and how these characteristics would follow us long after we departed from earth. And you do get some of that in Descender, but not enough for me personally. With this issue, you can see what direction this comic is going to take, the direction of an average action sci-fi that leans more towards the chase genre and shocking plot twists rather deep character examination and honest human drama.

This first issue's first half does a good job of setting up the tone of the comic and the characters in it. Immediately you as a reader know what you are getting into, you are entering a world of young millennial women who use social media as a catharsis for their daily emotional highs, a mask for their insecurities and the face they want the world to see them as. In other words, don't expect anything too deep here, but that's not the point. The point is to take a voyeuristic view of the world of the much maligned millennial generation and see their ways of communication and interacting with one another. One thing to critic this issue on is the way the second half of the story is told. The relationship the main character finds herself in feels forced and happens way to fast. After reading the last page, you can tell it was rushed and done this way in order to have the shocking ending on the final page.

This issue was my first foray into Ms. Marvel and I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable it was. The comic, just like the title's namesake, is cute, quirky and funny. The comic does a could job showing all sides of the character whether it be her as sister and daughter in a traditional Pakistani family or as an awkward high schooler or an even more awkward high schooler learning how to be a superhero on the fly. Two notes on this book- the scenes of Kamala and her family, especially when they sprinkle their conversation with Urdu,feel genuine and not forced like some comics are that have "ethnic" characters in them not written by people of the same ethnicity. Second- as far as villains are concerned, they are pretty muted, regulated to faceless characters that are not even secondary or go beyond the backdrop of a singular scene. Perhaps more will come in the next issue or so, but even with that, this superhero comic reads well without there being much super heroics in it.

The cover is a 10 though.

This issue is really a small town boy in a big city story in disguise, but when Superman and all the history and characters attached to his mythology are added, it really gives this standard type of story some pop and also humanizes Superman to an empathetic level. In this issue supes' alter ego Clark Kent is visited by a couple of boyhood friends from his hometown of Smallville. While riding on a train before they enter Metropolis and meet Clark, Pete and Kenny, are a bit overwhelmed by an uneasy tension and apprehension they both feel about reuniting with their friend,fears of how the distance and the time passed might have changed their old friend and their friendship. This issue is filled with very authentic, human scenes like his that make the reader reflect on their own personal experience. As the issue goes on, the three friends break bread, enjoy the night out in the city, get buzzed off of brews and air out their hopes, dreams, fears and grievances to each and at each other just like any friends in real life would. When reading this issue, you could easily forget this is actually a Superman comic if it wasn't for all the name dropping and references to Kyrpton and it's favorite son. When reading this, you actually feel that you are reading an anecdote of yourself, or least someone you know or used to know. And if it's the latter, well, that's just the way friendships sometimes go. Even Superman can relate to that.

If you have ever been in love, if you ever have been in love and it didn't last, if you ever been in love and it didn't last and you still think about the person from time to time, if you ever had your heart broken, if you ever broke someone's heart and it was all your fault, if your peak came crashing down and you were the one to blame, if your best of all time is somewhere fucking someone else that isn't you, if you ever wonder how they are doing and all you have are photos and fading memories- this comic is for you.