The Lee/Simonson and Claremont throwback stories were kind of neat. I particularly enjoyed the classic Stan Lee dialogue and other 60's era X-Men tropes. The other stories were fine. Frankly, I wish I had not purchased this ($5.99 cover price!) The last 15 pages were reprinted excerpts from Amazing X-Men #1 and All-New X-men #18, issues that were literally on the shelves at the same time as X-men: Gold. All-in-all this is pretty non-essential. I wish they had done something better to celebrate the X-Men's 50th. Something truly noteworthy and impactful. Oh well. Maybe X-Men: Diamond #1 will be better. I should still be around for that.

More of this noticeably decompressed story-line. In the last installment, Jean and Scott went on the run. In this issue they are still on the run, and it ends with them on the run. I did like the "turn" at the end when they go to the "Uncanny" team for help. Not a huge fan of Lopez's work here. I think his faces are pretty inconsistent, changing from panel to panel. Young Jean's face structure goes from Scarlett Johansson to Marilyn Manson and lots of places in-between. I'm not "not enjoying" this event. I had just hoped for more from an event with the hyperbolic title "Battle of the Atom" that crosses over three books that I've really been impressed with prior to the event.

Reading this title as part of the event has allowed me to really compare X-Men against Uncanny and All-New, and I think it compares unfavorably. Both in terms of Wood's writing, and Lopez's art, it seems a little lesser-than. I also didn't like this installment in terms of the pace of the arc. Prior to this issue, we already had a strong sense that the first group of future X-men were bad guys of some sort. In this issue, we see them wreak some havoc, but we don't get any indication as to their motivations. I think the story needed that beat at the end of this ish in order to propel things forward another step. Instead, we get the somewhat lame reveal of Shogo being the guy in the Iron Man suit. I don't like this appearance, as it takes the steam out of the Shogo story-line in Wood's X-Men. Before, he was a bit of a mystery, but now it's like, "okay, guess all that turns out just fine." I also disliked the introduction of the red baby bubble, and hope that it doesn't become a recurring thing. I'm going to give this title a couple more issues post-BotA, but may need to drop it if the quality doesn't pick up.

Right off the bat let me get this out of the way. I sort of thought we had moved beyond basing characters' costumes or powers on their ethnicity. As I started reading this, I was thinking, "wait...he's making a villain who is Latina have a 'day of the dead' costume? For real?" At the same time I was thinking, "is 'day of the dead' even a thing in South America?" A quick google revealed that no, it is not. Ugh. So bad Brian Wood...you should really know better. Even beyond that little display of unintentional racism, this was not a great book. The beginning was a confusing jumble. Why does Cortes have a USB port in the back of her neck? How did she know about the Lady-Deathstrike-download and why did she seek it out? Who knows? Then there is a little subplot about the Roxy and Mercury conflict that has been drawn out way too long for what it is--we get another single page of it doled out here. And apparently Lady Deathstrike was planning on infiltrating the Jean Grey School solo. But that would have been so ridiculous that Wood had to introduce the coincidence that Deathstrike's target was out on a jog. And it still didn't go Deathstrike's way. I don't have too much to say about Dodson's art. The problems with the story distracted me from noticing it much. The one thing I did think of was that it seemed to be just bordering on cheesecake at times, which had been largely avoided in previous issues of the series. Anyway, knowing this is the first of a six-issue arc is disheartening. I may be dropping this title sooner rather than later.

Not exactly "Amazing" but not bad either. The idea of there being a "Heaven" in the Marvel universe seems a little strange to me. I don't blame Aaron for being short on details when it comes to the biblical paradise, but I wish he had just avoided the concept altogether. It just seemed a little unconvincing that Nightcrawler had been hanging out on the edge of heaven for the past 1000 years, feeling like he needed to go back. McGuinness' art was good, though I did notice that his Iceman is off model. I think the spike-head look is better, especially since there is a "classic" looking Iceman also currently in the Marvel U over in All-New. I'm sticking around for the entirety of this initial first arc, and we'll see if I can be convinced to continue after that. I'll be curious to see how, or if this is any different than Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men.

I didn't get a lot out of this issue. I'm finding certain aspects of the story a little ho-hum. There is little world building to be noted, even though the settings of heaven and hell sort of call for it. As it is, we don't really understand the "rules" of these realms or even just a few details that make them interesting. And the concept of floating pirate ships where Azazel has recruited Billy the Kid and Jack the Ripper to "steal" souls just seems sort of random. I don't know, maybe I'm just not terribly invested in Nightcrawler returning, so all this build-up seems a little uninteresting. One last thing: with two separate fold out pages in the issue, I wish they'd let McGuinness do at least one tripe-splash, instead of the useless advertisements (can't even recall what they were for).

With so much good storytelling coming out of Image these days, this one did not stand out as particularly noteworthy. I was looking forward to the 80's setting. Luckily, "1987" was stamped on the cover since otherwise, I might not have pegged it as a period piece at all. Whereas Rocket Girl really succeeds in evoking the 80's for me, this did not. The 720 arcade game was a nice prop, but that was about it. Part of it may be the monochromatic coloring that is so in vogue at present. The choice to use this trendy coloring technique has made it hard to feel that 80's vibe. I also found the back-matter a little, I don't know...unnecessary. I don't really need for an author to present a personal back-story in an attempt to validate the particular story he or she is telling. A good story is a good story, regardless of the author's life experience. And humble-bragging about witnessing someone being shot in the head just seems distasteful to me. That's a story you relate to your therapist, not to your comic book audience to prove that you're keepin' it real.

On a pure storytelling level, this is on par with Aaron's previous work, which taken as a whole is pretty great. However, despite the "we're from the South so we're allowed to write this" attitude, I find the depiction of "the South" both in the story and in the back-matter to be full of harmful, inaccurate caricatures. They speak of "the South" as some monolithic, homogeneous "other" when that depiction can't be further from the truth. And having grown up in, essentially, the same place as Latour (Charlotte, one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country), I can assure you that I never once encountered a barefoot-crooked-tooth-tree-climbing-bad-haircut-4-wheeler-riding kid with a "Sweet Tea" t-shirt whose grandma thinks the TV is the devil. COME ON GUYS. I found Aaron's flowery description of "the South" as "more peaceful, primal, timeless, haunted, spiritual, hateful, beautiful, and scarred" to be utterly facile. I've lived in different parts of the "South" as well as the "North" and "Midwest." Despite being raised there and speaking with a drawl, I have no particular love of the South and am not some Southern apologist. I'm politically liberal, and my great-great-grandfather fought for the Union Navy during the Civil War. The reality is that Southern states have their various problems just like everywhere else. Southern Bastards does not depict this nuanced reality, it only reinforces unrealistic stereotypes and exploits the harmful fear some people have of "the South."

The story continues to be compelling. I do hope the cast of characters starts to grow and that this is not just a story about a lone old white man bringing justice to a back-woods town. I do feel that the depiction of the "South" continues to rely on fear-based stereotypes and not on the reality of small, rural communities in the South. Latour's art is very evocative and some of the details do remind me of the small towns of my youth. But I find his mix of cartooning and detail to be visually confusing at times. There was one face where I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the structure of the face was supposed to be--is that the mouth or the nose? Keeping in line with one of the apparent underlying themes of the book, he depicts all the rural dwellers as ugly and scary looking, with crooked-teeth and mean expressions. Again, not a very nuanced depiction.

This is bound to be a film or cable series eventually. Really interesting characters and tone. I'm still a little miffed that it's predicated around fear-based stereotypes of the South, but I'm trying to move beyond that and just enjoy the ride. I'm still not a big fan of the art when it gets overly stylized in a scratchy/messy way. But overall, the storytelling team of the two Jasons is knocking it out of the park...er...or maybe "splitting the uprights" to use a more appropriate sports metaphor.

In my review of a previous issue, I recall making a comment something to the effect of "I hope this isn't just a story about a big white man cleaning up a corrupt town." Well done, Jason Aaron. Well done. I didn't see that coming, but I'm pleased to have my expectations subverted. This issue opened with a Vietnam flashback, one that I couldn't really garner the purpose of; there was no real character or plot development, and it seemed unrelated to the remainder of the story. There's an extended scene of conflict and violence, similar to what we've seen in previous issues, and between the same individuals. So apart from the big plot twist, and perhaps a mini-revelation about the identity of Coach Boss, there's not a lot to this particular installment. Still, what a plot twist!

A pretty satisfying start to the event. I liked the character designs of the future X-men, and I'm eager to learn more about who they are. Cho's art was fine, although there was one panel where young Cyclops got blasted and it really looked like his head had exploded; it took me a long time staring at the image to figure out that his head was just bent down low and obscured. The one thing I'm wondering is if the premise of this entire event is just whether or not the original X-men need to be sent back in time. It seems a weak concept to base an entire event around--unless the story actually ends with them returning, which it will not.

Well, that's too bad. The previous issue really felt like we were building to something big, but alas, it did not capitalize on that promise. The measure of a good event, among other things, includes some meaningful change in the status quo, and some actual resolution to the conflict or problem. I don't feel like we really got that. Why won't the "universe" let the young X-men return to their time? That's something that needed to be explained in THIS story-line for it to feel like a complete journey. As it stands, this "force" was just a deus ex machina with no rationale whatsoever. Why did old young Jean explode? Why did the young X-men and Kitty decide to leave with Scott's Uncanny team? If there are plot-driven or character-driven reasons for these story beats, I'm left scratching my head as to what they were. The artwork didn't help things. Like many, I'm a fan of Ribic on Thor GoT, but his work on this issue is jarring when compared to the previous BotA chapters. It was also in stark contrast to the several other artists who contributed to this final issue. Ribic and colorist Svorcina's hazy atmospheric and painterly style is usually awe-inspiring, but here it just seemed stylistically inconsistent (even so, the Sentinel splash page was pretty cool.) I'm more disappointed than surprised that Cho was not able to cap off the event as originally solicited. Because Cho predictably flaked out on us, the resulting patchwork piece seemed rushed and unrefined. The cobbled-together nature of the art was apparent early on, and had a distracting quality that affected the story: once the disappointment set in, all the jokes seemed to fall flat and sentimental interactions seemed schmaltzy. I really wanted to like this event, and it had all the ingredients for a successful one. I had intended to buy the hardcover collection as soon as I was finished with the issues, but now, unfortunately, I needn't bother.

This was a pretty good first issue and I inflated the rating just a bit based on the great cover price and page count. The parameters of the story seem familiar and at least so far offers nothing new. But it was still really interesting and several of the characters are already fairly well-formed. The art was serviceable but not outstanding. The repeated little square panel that kept popping up was a bit distracting. Especially since the contents of this little panel were often visually uninteresting and seemingly unnecessary to the storytelling. Some of the "scary" images were well-done, but still nothing we haven't seen before. The back essay was a little strange. Kirkman insinuates that he believes in real demon possession. Come on, man. I don't mind suspending disbelief for the sake of a good story, but let's not be silly and pretend that magic is real just to bolster a fictional premise. Anyway, I plan on following this at least through the first arc.

I love the colors in this book. It evokes 70's horror comics for me. The characters are intriguing and a large part of the emotional backbone of the book is rendered through characters' expression and posture. Although I find the little micro-box panels to be visually distracting, on all other fronts Mr. Azaceta is killing it. The initial pitch for this book didn't interest me much (and I felt the same way about zombies, initially.) But if the first two issues are any indication of what's to come, I think I'll be sticking around for awhile.

Hmmm. It's hard to say much about this issue. Frankly I didn't get much out of it. This is probably an issue where Kirkman is setting things up. But even if that's the case, nothing that's being set up seems particularly interesting. This did not leave me jonesing for the next issue, by any stretch of the imagination. The art creates a lot of good atmosphere and a creepy vibe. It would be a lot more effective if interesting or creepy things were actually happening in the issue. I'm still onboard for the first arc. But things aren't looking good at this point. I have a feeling sales for this series are going to drop following this early dud.

This issue was 99 percent conversations. Bendis does realistic dialogue, but it makes for some loooong discussions and belabored points. But, I'm still interested to see where this is going.

I feel like we're finally getting into the meat of the story. All the players and their various motivations have been revealed, to some extent. At least I hope that's all the characters--don't think I can handle too many more. It's all ridiculous, but in a fun and clever way. At some point one of the characters wishes he had a flow chart to keep up with all the time-traveling confusion, but honestly the story is pretty coherent and the story-line has been laid out in a fashion that makes it fairly easy to follow along.

I guess taking a breather after a big event makes sense. But the result is another standing-around-and-talking issue where there is a good amount of soap-opera character moments and expository conversations, but very little else. Immonen provides great character acting, especially with faces. But I did notice that he seemed a bit averse to depicting the young members of the Uncanny team. They were almost always shown at a distance, in shadow, or from behind. Maybe he's not comfortable with those characters yet. This begs the question, what's the difference between the Uncanny book and All-New when both groups have merged? Essentially, Bendis is now telling a single story that ships 3x a month. I'm not at all impressed with the 90's-reminiscent costume designs (what's with the X symbol on their bellybuttons?) Taking away the original costumes removes the nostalgia factor that made the characters so attractive to begin with. And this is a nit-pick on top of the larger critique, but if you're going to color-code them, why make the two men of the same approximate build and hair color have costumes of a barely discernible color difference? At the end of the issue we have a Cerebro alarm, so maybe next issue (or rather in the next Uncanny X-men) we'll get into an actual story arc of some variety.

In the early pages of reading this, I actually entertained the notion that maybe this was some sort of gimmick story that needed to be read backwards to be understood. The dialogue consistently seemed non sequitur and apropos of nothing. Being that the medium is built upon the concept of sequencing, this was not a good thing. To reference one of Beast's quotes in the issue, I didn't feel like two pages of my book were stuck together so much as that a bunch of sentences got mixed up during the printing. In some cases, the stilted nature stemmed from Bendis trying to work in some clever idea or character moment that really didn't work in the context of what was said before or after. Perhaps as a result of Bendis' jumbled narrative, the art seems to suffer the same issues. Take the opening sequence: hoodie girl walking in the middle of the street, unexplained red light behind, she appears startled at something ahead, she peeks around a corner that suddenly appears in middle of the street, she runs in middle of street, is surprised to see she is running toward a large group of heavily armored men (apparently not what she had originally spied and ran from), she screams no, she is in weird bent over pose and men are suddenly 50 feet closer. Anyway, there were several instances where the visual storytelling was weird like this. Many of the compositions within the panels also seemed a little dated--definite 90's vibe. Peterson was in fact an artist on Uncanny and other X-titles in the 90's. It's nice that he's still finding work, but I don't think he's a great fill-in artist for Immonen.

This was enjoyable, but I was disappointed when I discovered that the story was only the standard 22 pages and that fully half the comic was "bonus" material. I feel like you save the bonus stuff for the collection. There are some classic comics that I enjoy seeing the original script and rough art, some years later. But not for a standard issue at the time of publication. Anyway, the story itself started out strong. The art was really impressive in its attention to detail and complex layouts. Soule gives a voice to Logan that is on-character and full of attitude. An interesting opening, but at this pace I wonder how Soule is going to pull this off in four issues.

This reminded me a bit of 90's Claremont storytelling. Very crowded plot, lots of ideas and characters, not always coherent. The art was very good, and Storms definitely has his own thing going on, but it didn't knock me out. This will probably be my only issue of this. If it continues to get good reviews and buzz, I might track down back-issues and jump back on.

Pretty good. Not much to say about it though. It's the only comic I read digitally. And perhaps because of this, it's a little harder for me to soak in. I don't know why, it's just not the same. There were some funny "historical" references. Madonna'a tomb, a King's of Leon shirt, stuff like that. A few interesting revelations as well.

Wow. Even more so than in the previous issues, this one is just various groups of people standing around arguing. They're essentially just rehashing the same arguments that we got previously, just with different nuances. That said, the dialogue and characterizations were, as always, Bendis-good, and I really love Bachalo's style. There was one weird scene where Magneto's helmet went missing for a panel, but otherwise top marks on the emotive visual storytelling.

This segment of BotA seemed to have some storytelling problems, both written and visual. Much of the dialogue was comprised of half-finished or vague statements, and while this might be appropriate for a "heat-of-battle" setting, it got a bit frustrating and made for a disjointed reading experience. For the first act of the arc to be so drawn out, it felt strange and rushed for several of the "bad" future X-men to die in such quick succession. And we learn, via the summary page, that these bad guys are the future Brotherhood of Mutants, though that had not yet been made clear in the previous issues. Xavier's statement about Krakoa was also odd (that he had just discovered that it was real) when he had already encountered Krakoa in a previous issue. The sequencing and portrayal of action had some problems as well--I was taken out of the story several times when I had to figure out just what was being depicted. I do like Bachalo's character portrayals, and his style in general, but the storytelling could have been better conceived. I'm also not following what the motivation of the Brotherhood is. Why are Jean, Hank, etc. members? The explanations thus far have been pretty non-specific and unconvincing.

I wonder if this title is going to start focusing on the new young members instead of standard team-Cyclops. Maybe so, if the primary characters from Uncanny have melded with All-New for the time being. Based on this issue, I'm not too sure it's such a great idea. I'd rather learn about the new characters in subtler ways within stories than have ones dedicated to each new member. Except for getting to know this new kid whose name might be "Morph," the details of this story are pretty inconsequential. His abilities are such that writers will have to keep reinforcing the idea that they are pheromone-based, and that his mimicing the individuals he's manipulating is not the reason for his ability to con people. My point being, it's sort of a confusing power. Visually, it looks like he's just transforming to look creepily like the other person, and this somehow makes him more trustworthy--which I think in reality would have the opposite effect. There were some glitches in the usually flawless Bendis-dialogue. What does "Don't handle me, Mr. Summers" mean in that context? Is that some regional euphemism I'm unaware of? And living in the 616, how could a teenage kid not know who Galactus is?! The scene at the Casino where Morph tries to hit-on the girl was also confusing--the fault likely equal parts writer and artist here: Illyana suddenly appears when at first it seemed like she wasn't there--was the blond at the bar actually Illyana? Why was the security guy freaking out? Anyway, Bachalo does a fairly good job depicting unique faces--Morph's Adrian Brody look is not one you see too often. But why did Illyana and Emma suddenly have the same haircut when they went to the casino? Emma must have got 5-inches cut off just before she went. The blond at the bar also had the same haircut. Despite a few goofs here and there, and the "doesn't really matter" story, it was fairly enjoyable overall. Man, Scott Summers sure is a jerk.

A fun little story, for what it is. I haven't been following the Inhumans event, but the crossover in this issue isn't difficult to follow. The interactions between characters are interesting--we get a little more of the Jean Grey vs Cuckoos tension, as well as some fun character stuff with Illyana, Emma, and Kitty. I thought Anka did a good job representing the women with different faces, although their body types are all pretty similar. He does a good job with clothes as well. I especially liked the costume-reference designs of Jean's various wardrobe. One set of panels really stood out to me: the images of Emma sleeping "like a toddler" and her posture when she wakes up--great body acting. With the compositions, several times the figures were arranged in a way that made it hard for me to clearly tell who was saying what. The colors, also by Anka, were pretty standard fare--not bad but nothing too noteworthy. The way the story ended, I wonder if next issue will have anything to do with the events here--probably not. While I'm sort of interested in what is happening with this new character (Geldorf or something), I'm not planning on jumping on the Inhumans train.

Despite a severe lack of action, this was enjoyable and featured a number of nice character moments. Good cartooning by Aja, and the nine panel grid throughout created a pace that emphasizes the drudgery of Clint's existence, which essentially is one of danger, self-destruction, and obliviousness with empty, lonely moments in-between.

I feel like I could hand this to someone who has never heard of Hawkeye or the Avengers (might be difficult in this day and age) and that person could understand and enjoy this little story. I love Kate's personality as crafted by Fraction and Wu. The face acting is often cartoonish, and I mean that as the best of compliments. Some of my favorite panels are when Kate pulls a face. The dialogue is funny, but not unrealistically over-the-top. This might be my favorite issue of the run thus far.

A pretty good issue. The tracksuit bros are pretty one-note, but the joke hasn't become stale just yet. A gasp-inducing cliffhanger--very nice. I am certainly a fan of Aja's work, and his Mazzucchelli Year One aesthetic never fails to win me over. The panel designs, while creative at times, can also be occasionally confusing. The crossword theme was interesting but only seemed to pertain to the first few pages of the story. While Aja is a master at body-acting, some of the story sequences weren't clear. It took me a while to figure out exactly what had gone down at the end, when Clint and Barney get futzed. I almost wish they would just have Aja do the Annual or back-up stories. Apparently we won't be seeing him again until issue #19, even though he was originally solicited for #17. Either that, or just move to a Saga-style publishing schedule instead of using "fill-in" artists who actually are doing as many issues as Aja is. The guy is clearly talented, but not a good fit for a major publisher's schedule demands.

Another fine issue from Fraction and Wu. I was disappointed to read in the comments section that Wu is only scheduled to contribute to one more issue. That's too bad; she really is a good fit for this title. That said, the pencils and ink in this particular issue did seem a little less crisp as compared to the previous one (#14). I wonder if she had to rush a bit due to the weird schedule change of getting this one out before #15. In the comments, it was made fairly clear that it's on Aja for the delay. The story was interesting in concept. With a Brian Wilson analogue and lots of references to the Beach Boy's Smile sessions, this is right in my area of interest (I can look over and see Pet Sounds framed on the wall here in my office). But even with the cool premise, the detective story itself was a bit bland. No twists or surprise reveals. The guy that was initially accused of being behind the theft, was the guy behind the theft. And then the story ends with something vaguely bad happening, though it's unclear what. Even with these critiques, the character work, both in terms of dialogue and visuals, is pretty outstanding, so it still gets high marks despite the lackluster plot.

It's not so much that this was a bad issue, it's just not the issue we needed right now. We need Clint's story to move forward. Waiting on Aja to finish his issues makes for a long, drawn out serialized experience. I rather enjoy the Kate issues, but this story seemed like last-minute filler just to give Aja even more time to get his work done. This might have worked well as an Annual or xmas special. Looking at the little TV cartoon story as a metaphor, I'm not sure it told us anything about Clint that we didn't already understand. It just spelled it out in a simple, cartoonish manner. While sort of clever, it also seemed sort of unnecessary. Particularly so when we're longing for the thing that is necessary: the next chapter in Clint's story.

The premise is loosely based on a line from Hotel California, but I'm okay with that. The issue started out strong, with clever dialog and convincing acting. Sunset Boulevard is one of my faves, so I appreciated the references. And Kate sure can pull a face when Wu is drawing her. I really do like this creative team, and I think they do great work together. But by the end, to be honest, the dialog started getting maybe a little TOO clever and word-dense for my taste--the Narnia business made me groan. And I got tripped up in some of the visual story, particularly the car chase scene. I'd love to see Fraction and Wu together on some ongoing, maybe a five-week schedule where Wu can take her time. I wonder if all the Aja delays have put pressure on Wu to get issues out faster than anticipated. If so, she's done a wonderful job, but I'd like to see her working off her own schedule, and not having to swoop in to pick up someone else's slack.

After hearing all the accolades for this issue, I am a bit stunned now that I've read it. I know the barest amount of ASL. At some point in life I learned the letters, and in the past couple years I've watched Rachel Coleman's intro Signing Time DVD with my kids dozens of times. I appreciated that Coleman and her daughter Leah got a shout-out on the credits page. But I was really lost with the ASL panels, and I don't have the impetus to pore through The Joy of Signing to translate. I'm always a little wary of high-concept storytelling, because so often the actual storytelling is sacrificed to the gimmick. And this is a superb example of that phenomenon. I just didn't get much out of this story-wise. The plot barely inched forward, and I don't feel like I have any greater understanding of any of the characters, except perhaps in some minimal, terribly nuanced fashion. The fact that we only got 20 pages of actual comic didn't help things either.

A fairly satisfying conclusion to the 'Kate in California' storyline. In terms of story structure, this was pretty impressive. Less impressive was the dialogue. Kate's Cody Diablo-speak really grated this time. And some of the dialogue was unclear. What does "I was like totally swiping right over here" even mean? Fraction, please delete the Urban Dictionary shortcut link from your browser. Wu is really great, and she rates right up there with the best when it comes to face and body acting. I hope she lands with another top tier writer for her next project, because I want to see more of her brilliance in the months and years to come. One last thing--this was a short comic at 20 pages, which is a little disappointing. Plus, there hasn't been a letters page in a while, which is too bad since the book has such a fervent fanbase.

Great issue. Despite the ramped-up publishing schedule, the quality hasn't suffered. Surprisingly, Gaudiano's inks haven't affected the look and tone of the art--it still looks like standard Adlard work. The ending--I did not expect that. I had several scenarios going through my head about what was about to happen, and I was wrong on all accounts. Kirkman's still got it. I'm enjoying the fast pace of this event, both in terms of the release schedule and the storytelling itself. I did not expect a retaliation from the Saviors so quickly. I'm glad I have the next issue in hand, because I can't wait to see what's next.

Here at the halfway point, I'm impressed by the structure of the arc thus far. It's not clear at this point that one side or the other has the advantage. There's a lot of back-and-forth and the scenarios seem plausible. Both sides are suffering real loss through attrition. With Kirkman at the helm, I'm really not sure how this is all going to end. There have been some hints that big changes are in store, and I find this both exciting and worrisome.

I had thought maybe the second half of this 12-issue arc would start off with a bang, but not so much. A character dies, but really she essentially died in the previous issue when she was bit. Her passing was inevitable and didn't have much impact because of this. Eugene and Rosita were captured, for the lamest reason imaginable. Dudes have no compunction about peeing in a cup when the situation requires it. It didn't make a lot of sense for that character to INSIST he needed to go outside (where there are hoards of roving zombies and a battalion of machine-gun wielding psychopaths) to do his business. Kirkman's dialogue is pretty good, as usual. Though I was a bit confused about the underlying meaning behind the "wimp" conversation. I couldn't figure out what that was supposed to be about. The art was also strong, as we have come to expect from Adlard. I'm still very invested in this arc, and in the Negan character in particular. But this issue seemed a little bit like filler.

More good Kirkman and Adlard storytelling. The chess match continues and we have some interesting moves in this issue, on both fronts. It's neat to get a real sense of the stratagems of the two generals in this war, prior to those plans being undertaking and then seeing in practice how the various plans succeed or fail. I must admit though, I'm not a fan of these newly introduced "infection" rules, as explained by Negan. It seems inconsistent with the WD world as we know it. If you could die and turn just by getting a little zombie goo in a little cut you had on your hand, or in your eyes or mouth, then basically everyone who has ever bashed-in the brains of a zombie should be also be one by now. The only other nitpick I have, why is a two-legged Heath on the cover? Dude lost a leg two issues ago.

It was a pretty satisfying issue overall, but I do have a few critiques. First off, what's with that cover? What a weird composition. There is a front and rear view of the last page's action. And overlapping that, a posing-for-the-camera Ezekiel, who barely gets a line in this issue. The overlap gives an optical illusion that Ezekiel is bow-legged. Not the best cover. I hate to be one of those guys who points out something unrealistic in a zombie-apocalypse comic book, but purposefully ramming and knocking over a picnic table with a motorcycle? It's just not done, man. Even if your bike is armored. I sincerely doubt either Kirkman or Adlard are riders. Despite this bit of ridiculousness, the action sequence was well-paced and exciting. I was definitely into it. The ending was a little silly. Clearly that wasn't a kill shot, and the bolt wasn't infected. Dwight even made a point that the zombie goo threw off the balance of the bolts, so there's a built-in excuse for it not being infected. It was a little eye-rolling for Sean to immediately say in the Letter Hacks that "well, that now proves Dwight's true loyalty!" Nice try, but unless it's reverse psychology, it's a pretty poor ruse.

I like how the tide turned a couple times during this issue. The generals are pretty well matched strategically. I's still wondering if we're actually supposed to believe that Rick is infected. It seems pretty obvious that he's not. But I guess he doesn't know that, so maybe that's the point of it. It's ramping up nicely here to the ending.

It's a bit of a cliched observation to say that this arc has had too much talkin' and not enough all-out-warrin'. This issue proves to be no different, with an extended bubble-heavy conversation between Rick and Negan. Rick lays out his long-form grand opus on where humans are at at the moment in this changed world, and what the long-term goal is for humanity in the age of zombies. It was long-winded...and terrific! I really loved that speech. I wasn't sure if Negan really was being convinced and would agree to peaceful coexistence, or if he was faking it and was about to attack Rick. It was neither of those things. The Kirkman twist strikes again.

I always wonder if issues of TWD go by so quickly because they're so engrossing, or because the storytelling is less dense than the typical comic. Maybe it's a combo of both. As endings go, this was unsatisfying. I can see that Rick is being the good guy and doing the "right" thing in the circumstance, but it makes for uninspired storytelling. It certainly leaves the doors wide open for future tales with Dwight and the Saviors and with Negan. But that doesn't change the fact that this was the conclusion to a 12-issue arc, and my expectations that something major would happen were not fulfilled. TWD is still one of the best series out there, but this issue was a bit disappointing.

The time jump is an interesting concept for the series, and it's not as far in the future as I'd expected. The massive zombie herd was a little weird. At first I thought they were intentionally rounding them up to dispose of them somehow. But apparently huge herds like this are a new thing for some reason. It's nice to see a new crop of faces, but we don't get a lot of characterization just yet. So at the moment they seem a little bland. And that pretty much sums up this issue. Kind of neat, sort of bland.

There's no denying that I'm still really enjoying this series. This issue seemed to be filled with largely unimportant events and dialogue. Much of it just reiterates subjects that were explored or hinted at in the previous issue. I don't get the cover which doesn't relate to anything in the story, nor the tagline "After all this time, she should be more prepared." It's weirdly unrelated to the story. And the end was strange--are we being led to believe that something is not on the up-and-up in Alexandria? Well, like I said, despite all the nit-picks, I nevertheless am on board for the next issue and probably many more to come.

"Even now, they still find new ways to dispose of the dead." Huh? I guess I missed something. I saw no new disposal method occur, either literally or metaphorically. That aside, still an enjoyable issue. I liked the war of words between Negan and Rick, and also seeing Rick's violent overreaction towards an underling. His character is evolving, and not always in ways that are admirable. The discovery of Negan by the new group was fairly predictable, even a couple issues ago. And unless Kirkman completely subverts expectations (as he's known to do from time to time) it's also somewhat predictable that they will help Negan escape. I guess I'm okay with that, but I'll have more to say about it when and if the prediction comes true.

We get a potential major revelation in this issue, with the dead "speaking" to one another. Also, maybe the guy who heard it was just hallucinating. Guess we'll find out eventually. If the dead are evolving in some way, it would be a bold direction, and I'm not sure how Kirkman would pull it off. It's hard to know what the long game is with this story and how the creative team will avoid giving us more of the same. Apart from the talking dead, we also get to see the cult of personality forming around Rick, and also a kink in Carl's plans to become an apprentice to the Hilltop blacksmith. So some interesting stuff is occurring. In the beginning of the issue, we find that the suggestion that the new Alexandria residents might free Negan was nothing more than a tease. I hope all of that build-up wasn't just to trick us, and something more comes out of that little story.

A nice retelling of Brubaker's The Man Who Laughs. I appreciate the degree of ambiguity regarding the Red Hood and his disappearance. I do wonder about Uncle Phillip. Did he actually die? Was HIS body recovered? Hmmmm.... Capullo is in top form, and Snyder is finding ways to communicate big ideas in the story concerning the role of Gotham in the mythos. And he provides functional and philosophical reasons that counter the idea that Gothamites would easily figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Despite the neat origin-related details that Snyder is providing, and the clever way he reveals them, and despite Capullo's near-flawless storytelling, the story is not really resonating much on an emotional level for me. Maybe it's just that this storyline is laboring under the shadow of that other origin (you know the one). Or maybe the emotional gut punches are yet to come. Either way, I'll be along for the ride.

There's something about this that's so black, it's like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black. The embossed finger-print magnet cover aside, this was another fine Zero Year offering. The mystery builds, and more questions are raised. This is, as advertised, a decompressed slow-burn Batman origin tale, so not too much happened in terms of the story moving forward. But that's OK; we'll get there. It's clever to introduce the earliest supernatural Batman villain from the Golden Age, Dr. Death, and I'm interested to see how this particular thread unravels. The idea that Gordon may have acted improperly in some way in the Thomas and Martha Wayne murder investigation disturbs me a little, but I suspect that Gordon will be acquitted of any wrongdoing as the truth emerges in this subplot. The second little story was sweet, but also not the least bit relevant to Batman's origin. I miss the little vignettes of Bruce's globe-hopping training sessions. We still need one where he trains to dodge bullets--Batman's most important talent, when it comes right down to it.

The Zero Year story continues to be interesting but not very affecting. The occurrences in this particular issue do move the main story forward, but don't have any profound impact on the Batman origin as we know it. The desert-based subplot continues to be doled out in a feeble trickle; I have no idea what's going on here, and haven't been given much reason to care as of yet. It's hard to be critical of Capullo's work, but I will say that his frequent use of extreme close-ups often disrupts the pace of the visual storytelling. While the close-ups add visual variety, I often find myself having to stop and mull over what it is exactly that I'm looking at and where in the frame the close-up is centered. I can't always sort it out, but even when I do crack the code, the interruption has a deleterious effect on the flow of panels. There was no secondary short-story in this issue, a feature that I've generally been enjoying with the Zero Year run. The idea of showing mini-episodes of Bruce's early training days seems to have fallen to the wayside, creating an unfortunate inconsistency in the rolling-out of the arc.

This episode was a bit more exciting than the previous. I particularly enjoyed the opening action sequence where Batman is desperately trying to escape from the GCPD. Without getting into the whole thing, let me just say I'm not a huge fan of the "Jim Gordon's coat" subplot. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar--it doesn't need a back-story to give it some supposed deeper meaning. The cover is not representative of the story--spoilers, Batman does not die a horrific bone-growth-serum death. In fact Dr, Death does not even appear in this issue. Perhaps it was an intentional red herring, to help the "true-villain" reveal. Such reveals are a bit of a trope, but used pretty effectively here I thought. Capullo's pencils and panel work are top notch, as per usual. His subjects seem particularly loquacious this issue, so I'm glad he was able to make it all work with all the word-bubbles. I do wish he had more opportunities to draw some big, iconic images. I would have loved to see that bat-on-a-wire image as a splash. We get one splash at the end, but just of Batman's purple glove. I wonder if part of the new origin will include someone breaking the news to him that the purple gloves look a little silly?

I found the story to be a little bland. Essentially, sometime in the "soon" future, Batman and Harper bust into Catwoman's secret nightclub, tangle with Selina and her henchmen, Batman is utterly defeated by a leather whip, is rescued by Harper (now his latest sidekick Bluebird who uses guns) and discover **Spoiler** Stephanie Brown, who apparently calls herself...Spoiler. Okay, I suppose that's a clever bit of meta on Snyder's part. This is a lead-in to Batman Eternal. Frankly, I have no intention of buying a weekly series for the next year, and this teaser did nothing to change my mind in that regard. Nguyen's art was strong in terms of layouts and panel design. But I thought the acting wasn't always great--for instance, Selina basically has only one expression throughout. The depiction of Harper is inconsistent. I would assume this is the first time he is drawing her, so that explains it to a degree. I also wasn't impressed with the Bluebird design, but maybe seeing Capullo's take on it would change my mind. Any therein lies the main problem. It's that I'm trained to expect Snyder-Capullo storytelling when I crack open Batman. There are not too many fill-in artists who are going to viably stand-in for Capullo. Barring some incapacitating illness or life trauma, I can guarantee this break in Zero Year is not Capullo's doing. Knowing his work ethic and workhorse output, it's got to be an editorial thing, or just a way to promote the new weekly title. Maybe I was supposed to see Stephanie Brown, freak out, and pre-order four issues of Batman Eternal. But there are too many quality titles being published right now for me to invest that much time and money into another Batman series.

There was a point in this issue where things got amazing: the leap to the dirigible and the sudden unexpected appearance of Dr. Death. Other aspects were less enthralling. The answer to the whole Tokyo Moon mystery is revealed, only to discover that it's really not all that pertinent to the Batman mythos. And it seemed like an overly complex set-up over several issues and a lengthy expositional monologue from Dr. Death in this issue, for it to be such an inconsequential plot point. Capullo is still at the top of his game, though his habit of using extreme close-up panels often trips up the flow of the story. I often have to stop to figure out "what is that?" Overall, the story thus far is great. The Riddler is depicted as a worthy opponent of the Batman, and I'm looking forward to the Savage City arc to see just how Batman triumphs over this impossible situation.

It's clearly a story Snyder has put a lot of thought into, and its interesting to see how the puzzle is being put together. But the story seems a little clinical and sterile to me. There weren't a lot of character moments that stood out. Instead of being sucked into the story, I feel like a detached observer. There's none of the pathos I associate with a good Batman tale. I like the overall design of the book, and the only fault I can find with the art is one that I've encountered a few times before. Sometimes Capullo uses a close-up shot, maybe at an unusual angle, focusing on some specific detail--and I just can't figure out what the heck I'm looking at. On the second-to-last page, what is that in the water? Is Alfred fishing something out? "I'll catch the next one." The next WHAT one? What is that black pole in front of the Riddler sign? Or is that one of his balloons? I find it frustrating to get tripped-up visually like that, but maybe I'm missing something obvious? I was not one of those moaning about the long arc when it was first announced, but I must admit I'm itching to be done with this particular story. I'm a fan of all the creators involved, but from my perspective, this isn't one of their better collaborations.

As much as I found the face-off with Nygma to be exciting and fun, I found the flash-backs of Bruce as a troubled, shave-headed youth to be tangential and insignificant. At best, its just some coincidences from his youth that vaguely and unnecessarily mirror the present. So he burned a zero into the teacher's grass to answer a really simple physics question. It just seems boring and unimportant. It's almost funny to me now how Capullo in every issue has a ton of great visuals and storytelling, except for a couple of glaring panels where things just look weird or unintelligible. In this one it was the panel showing the grate opening below Batman and the one of Jim jumping off of a skyscraper into a tiny little plot of water. There needed to be more visual cues to let us know the size and form of the grate to lead to that moment (and why is the steel bat apparently just floating there like that?). And the depiction of Gordon's landing just looked unrealistic--to a comical degree. What a great cover image though.

I haven't been the biggest fan of Zero Year, but this issue was a lot of fun with all of the twists and turns. I'll be duly impressed if Snyder can pull off a satisfying ending to the who thing. Capullo's art, as usual, is masterful. I'm enjoying his tenure on Batman, but I'll also be interested to see what he does after this tremendous run.

A strong finish to a long, somewhat uneven arc. I loved the battle of wits and was even a little disappointed that Batman got free of the trap without having to solve all twelve riddles. But it was very clever and well devised; Snyder deserves a lot of credit. I did find the denouement to be a little text-box-heavy for my taste, and I wish Snyder could have distilled his concluding ideas down to fewer words. Capullo is solid, and I especially liked the cover design. He was afforded two splash pages, one with the felling blow and also the final page. The first has a really kinetic design, with different layers of angles (window sashes, lasers, Batman's arm, Riddler's arms and legs) progressing from the background into the foreground with a great effect of Riddler being punched out of the panel. The second splash I thought was a lost opportunity to do something really iconic to cap off Zero Year. The colors and architectural designs are nice, but the depiction of Batman isn't very strong. That said, Capullo has done an incredible job on this arc. You can tell a lot of love went into this.

I didn't go the Batman Eternal route, so it was nice to get a story set in the present in the actual Batman title. I'm made to realize that I'm pretty out of the loop. Gordon's in Blackgate for murder? Well...okay I guess. The conceit was interesting, that there is a villain who, unlike most of Gotham's maniacs, appreciates anonymity. And I liked that Snyder knocked out this little tale in a single issue. That said, the pacing seemed a little odd to me. Like the beats seemed a little too compressed or something. One-offs are hard to do effectively, but Snyder gets close enough for my taste. Duggan's art was appropriately dark and gritty for the tale. I'm not a big fan of his Bruce--looks like a thin 50 year old man. The tentacles on the Batmobile also seemed a little bizarre. But overall competent design, panel-work and storytelling.

The art for this series has been incredible. The precise line-work reminds me of Quitely at times. Some of the shots (thinking of DaYoung under the table) are just mindblowingly good. The overarching premise of the story is also a fun one. I do notice a few flaws here and there in the storytelling (both visual and written) where it is not clear what action just took place. I wonder if some editorial oversight would help (some Image books employ an editor, others like this one do not). But these problems are few and far between. Overall, this is one of my favorite new series.

I look forward to reading this again in the context of the trade, just to make sure I'm catching everything. I sort of think I may be missing something at the moment. The way Reeder executed the extended jetpack vs. rocket-car chase scene was well-designed and thrilling. But that was essentially the highlight of the issue. We got a tiny glimpse of how the past and present are connected, but in general the plot doesn't progress much.

I was hoping for a bit more with the end of the first arc. There's not a lot to grab onto at the moment plot-wise. Reeder's depiction of action and expression continues to be laudable. She has a really nice line. There was one scene that confused me a bit. When the kid cops of 2013 saw something significant that stopped them in their tracks, and then we see from behind them in the direction they're looking...what was I supposed to see there? Anything? If I was supposed to see something of importance, I failed to realize what it was. And if I wasn't meant to see what they're seeing, I would've thought just the shot of their surprised faces would be enough for that beat. The extra shot from behind them made me stop and look for a couple minutes trying to figure out what was going on. Anyway, I'm on board with the next arc, but I hope interesting things start to happen and that I'm able to make sense of the plot a little better.

I'm not sure what to think about this narrative structure. The protagonist's story has seemingly come to a close with this issue. She's the only character that has been developed at this point; the other characters are just stand-ins in roles that fans of genre fiction will find comfortable and familiar: the crazy hunter guy, the professor of arcane knowledge, and so on. Although we the readers have had more details of Lee's past revealed to us over the course of the story, she has not really gone full circle along the hero's journey--no real transformation has occurred. Basically, Lee's story just seems to exist in order to set up the shocking reveal that there are actually thousands of these gargantuan creatures, and not just the one they've defeated. Basically, all her efforts were essentially useless, and her story is apparently irrelevant to the next half of The Wake. In this way, this story becomes less about Lee (or any human) and more about mindless monsters. With the knowledge that Lee will not be a part of the second arc (unless Snyder really surprises me), I'm much less interested. That said, I'm certainly sticking around for the next arc. Despite a somewhat unsatisfying end to this part of the story, it was still fun to read, and the art is obviously fantastic.

I can appreciate that there is a mastery-of-craft being demonstrated in this series, for all parties involved (except perhaps whoever decided to print light-yellow text on a white background, which just seems bush-league). But on a personal level, I'm a little burnt-out on post-apocalyptic-dystopian-future sci-fi. I realize it's a popular and celebrated storytelling device in genre fiction, so there is no fault to be given on a purely objective level. Plenty of creative world-building details are provided in this new Waterworld-esque setting, but the dramatic change of characters and place makes me sad that we've left the old familiar world behind. This is a narrative structure that probably couldn't be pulled off in other visual media, unless you count Cloud Atlas (the film), which would actually sort of support my point. So props to Snyder for trying something bold. But I don't love this as much as many others seem to. At least not yet. I'm on board until the end, and I'll be happy to be won over, so here's hoping.

Any comic that gives me chill-bumps on the last page gets a 10 from me. I've been hearing a lot of good buzz about this series, so I gave the first issue a try. It's a really great introduction to a character and his world(s). I feel like the "ungrateful children" thing is a somewhat overused device, but I anticipate the characters may become a little more complex as we go along. Much like Jupiter's Legacy, the fact that one consistent art team will be doing the book means that it won't be coming out every single month. That fact, coupled with the friendly $2.99 price tag makes it much easier for me to put this on my permanent pull-list.

Huh. I have to admit, I didn't really enjoy this issue too much. It's a surprise, since the first one was SO great. The story itself consisted mainly of a conversation between Duke and the "spaceboy" who'd come to recruit him. First Duke says no since he's too old. Then, apparently after some thought process that we're not privy to, he says yes. Then they fly to Tantalus, which apparently takes just three seconds. Even though interstellar travel is so easy, no one has bothered coming to Earth since there's "nothing to see." But they write songs and build statues and celebrate Duke on Tantalus. It doesn't make sense that no one would have contacted him before now to say, "hey--we've invented warp travel, so feel free to visit anytime." The art also seemed a little sparse. Even the double page spread seemed plain and geometrical and uninspired. Svorcina, whose colors I love over on Thor, forgoes the atmospherics she's so good at, and renders everything in a consistently flat manner. It's been awhile since a first issue had so much promise and such a bland follow-up. Hopefully it's just a sophomore slump and #3 will pick back up.

Okay, this was better than the last issue, which I didn't much care for. Actually, it was pretty darn good. The action really picks up, and we're introduced to the evil Ming analog. That was a pretty horrific telekinetic murder scene, by the way. I thought the storytelling aspect of the art was great, and it seemed to flow really well. Parlov gets to have a bit of fun here, since this issue isn't just a lot of talking like with #2. One nit-pick is that on a few pages, the background is pretty sparse or non-existent. I liked the world-building aspect of people taking to American 60's fashion, but the explanation that it takes a long time for pop-culture to make it to their world makes no sense, as it's been demonstrated that travel to Earth takes about 3 seconds. Another odd contradiction is that the statue of Duke is still standing, when the evil dictator has leveled so much of Tantalus and is really into hegemonic symbolism (eg. the ceiling of swords and the castle with no doors). Despite these little criticisms, I look forward to see how Duke manages to avoid execution.

Pretty good. The pace dragged a little in places, but I liked how Waid tied it all together in the end with the heartbeat theme. The illustration was fantastic, but I wish some of the panels with exciting action could have been afforded a bigger scale. Notable, there wasn't a single splash or double-splash page. The various panel sizes seemed almost random, rather than being suited to the particular scene. I believe this was originally digital (was it an infinite comic?) so maybe the transference to print is to blame for the panel wonkiness.

I've read the first 10 issues or so of Waid's DD run, but I'm embarrassed to admit I got behind in my reading and have yet to catch up. But this #1 gave me an opportunity to get back into the story, and I'm so glad I did. Samnee and Rodriguez do such a good job with the art. Samnee's style, to me, hearkens back to Ditko and Kirby, with simple lines and dynamic compositions. Waid continues to impress with his knowledge of the waves and signals that exist beyond the visible light spectrum, and how DD uses his advanced senses in his adventures. The extended chase scene through San Fran was thrilling, and the mysterious ending left me wanting more. Great job guy--this is Marvel comics at its best.

All things considered, I did enjoy this issue quite a bit. I was a little lost--the two month wait for this ish didn't help things. A recap page is a must whenever there is a delay like this, especially when the plot is a bit complex. I enjoyed the exploration of Wraith's and Superman's power set, and the mystery of who Wraith is and what Ascension and Luthor are up to. Lots of intriguing plotlines. I'm happy to hear that this will be a limited series, so it sounds like we'll be getting a full resolution by the time it's all over with. Lee's doing a great job, but I do hope he'll be able to churn these out monthly without delays from here on out.

It's a satisfying and complex structure, tying together several different story-lines. We didn't see Luthor and Jimmy at all this issue, but instead got an interesting flashback story which is "to be continued." One thing I didn't like is the plot point about it being alien influence that led to the technological advances of the 20th century on Earth. I always find that trope a little boring and somewhat insulting to the reality of human ingenuity.

This story is picking up a bit. It's a pretty convoluted riddle they are constructing, and I appreciate its intricacy. Despite the ever expanding cast of time traveling X-teams, I'm able to follow it without too much confusion. I even got a few laughs out of this issue; thanks Jason Aaron. I appreciated the Back to the Future reference. I've had that trilogy in mind the whole time I've been reading this time-travel tale. The cover wasn't great, but the interior art was pretty good, or at the very least up-to-standard and serviceable. I didn't notice it being particularly terrific, but neither was I distracted by any "bad" renderings.

This might be my favorite issue of BotA so far. There were lots of good story beats, and it felt like we were definitely moving forward through this complex plot and building toward the end. I particularly enjoyed the small character moments, Quire meeting himself, the father-son/mother-daughter/brother-sister moments featuring Wolverine, Storm, and Illyana. And lots of great in-jokes throughout. I didn't understand why future Xavier and Molly were still alive, but I put more blame on the previous installment for that bit of confusion. The art by Camuncoli, Currie, and Milla was quite good. With such a vast cast of characters, I was impressed that they were all consistent and on-model. This is not the regular art team for any X-title, but I would be happy to see Camuncoli as a regular, perhaps taking the lead on Wood's X-Men. The panel design was great--take for example the Quentin Quires page and the following one featuring Scott's and Logan's teams facing off. And loved that wordless double-page spread. Now I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

The overall structure of the story was fine. It had some interesting beats. But it was a bit of a slog to read. There were some very dialogue-heavy pages. There was a good bit of reiteration of jokes, situations, and information that we already got in previous issues. I typically love Aaron's work, but it sort of feels like he's running out of ideas or impetus to keep this school-setting interesting. As for the art by Larraz and Milla, I thought the layouts and panel design were varied and well thought out. But some of the character depictions were not the best. Wolverine's face kept changing, and Idie suddenly looks like a 6 year old. The double page splash where Broo declares "This is the most amazing school in the universe!" was so underwhelming in scope and detail that I actually laughed a little at the obvious disparity between the grand intentions of that statement and what was shown on the page. They should have spent more time really putting some crazy ideas and details into that splash, but it's a lost opportunity. From recent news, it appears that Aaron's run in the X-universe is coming to a close. I have faith that he'll finish strong, despite this below-par offering.

I thought this was good. Great writing, as we've come to expect from Aaron. Interesting beats, nice pacing, great dialogue. The jokes weren't too on the nose or rehashed from earlier stories. The art was top shelf. Nice panel work, good character designs, expert use of perspective. A nit-pick--I'm not a fan of the way Wolverine's face is depicted, but at least Larraz has gotten consistent with it. I won't say that I was absolutely wowed, but neither do I have any real complaints.

It's interesting how quickly this story is evolving. One prime example: Chloe, who we were introduced to as an unlikable, drug-addicted socialite, is now an admirable, doting mother doing anonymous work in a factory in order to protect her family. Yet somehow in the context of the story it all makes sense. I like the new character Jason, the son of Chloe and Hutch who, like his grandfather, just can't help but to do good for people in need. This story is moving along so swiftly, with time-jumps and character makeovers, that I wonder if it will end up being a limited series. If it's meant to be truly ongoing, you'd think the plot would need to stabilize at some point--unless Millar is planning a One Hundred Years of Solitude-esque family epic, which could actually be sort of awesome. But a limited seems more likely to me. You'd assume it wouldn't make much sense to continue this book if Quitely isn't doing the art, and he probably won't be doing this sole project for too much longer. He's just in too high demand to be locked into an ongoing for the next decade. If we're getting 4-5 issues a year out of him, maybe this can last another one or two years? In any case, his work in this issue is up to par. I particularly liked the sequence where Jason forms the funnel cloud and puts out the fire. Although I will say that the cover portrait was so masterful, the difference in quality when you actually opened the book, although understandable, was still a letdown. Can't wait for the next issue, by which I mean I will gladly wait for the next issue. This is quality stuff on all fronts.

More great world-building from Rucka and Lark. The title of this arc, Lift, seems to refer both to a family of "waste" looking to improve their situation, and the story of young Forever (Eve) taking a major step in her life. The structure of the story is complex but not complicated, and the dialogue is convincing and full of subtext. If you haven't checked this out yet, I would highly recommend reading the first trade. This is among the very best of titles being published today, and the story is just getting started.

The look and tone of this book are just amazing. It's truly like nothing else on the shelves right now. The story takes a tragic turn for the recently introduced "waste" family, and we also get Eve and Johanna and the "terrorist" story, and a little bit more of Eve's sad upbringing. Really great narrative structure and Lark and Arcas are really doing the story justice. One thing I just noticed--maybe it's always been this way--this comic has no ads. Not even Image ads. I mean there are the great fake-out ads that relate to the story, but otherwise, nary a one. That alone is impressive.

This issue was perhaps not as impactful as some of the previous, but it's clearly a slow-burn style of storytelling, and this just happens to be an in-betweener. The world and characters continue to be compelling, and I expect to see some interesting resolutions as we finish up this second story arc.

This is one of the most consistently good books in the industry. In this issue we see the culmination of several of the ongoing plotlines. The Barrets kids get lifted (after a cool testing montage), the terrorist with the bomb is apprehended, and in the flashback young Forever defeats her teacher without resorting to murder. Pretty great stuff and a satisfying end to arc two. Sounds like the price tag will go up by 50 cents, but that seems reasonable given the quality of the product.

This was an interesting little tale that sets up the next arc. Essentially, we get to wallow in schadenfreude as we see the most deplorable character in the book undergo a series of abuses and experience some comeuppance for once in his life. A couple interesting items were revealed that I was not aware of, including that Jonah (and by extension other Carlyles) is much older that he appears, and that his genetic makeup holds some long-held secret. Lark is just a master of visual storytelling. The snapshots he choose are perfect, so that I never wonder "what's going on here?" It's always crystal clear via character acting and environmental detail. But on the down side, this visual smoothness may have contributed to the sense that this was a unusually quick read with seemingly less substance than your typical comic. In this case, the pro well outweighs the con.

When I sat down to read this and noticed the INFINITY banner, I immediately regretted buying it. It's not a event that I followed or am interested in. But I dutifully read this Annual in any case--and was pleasantly surprised! It was a fun little character study of Kid Gladiator, a character that I'm only familiar with via Wolverine and the X-Men, and someone I didn't know much about. Bradshaw's art was good. Lots of nice set pieces and background detail. I could follow the action without too many visual snags. One strange thing was the banality of the double-page splash. It seemed like there were several other deserving moments for a big image like this. I mean, the interior architecture showed excellent draftsmanship, but the occasion itself was not terribly poignant or momentous. But overall, great Annual.

This was a really strong debut issue. Familiar characters and that same Sandman vibe. Williams' panel designs are brilliant as always. The multiple Sandmen angle is an interesting one, but kinda reminds me of Hickman's Council of Reeds. Looking forward to see where the various threads introduced in this issue lead.

I'm a fan of the original series, and I'm really enjoying returning to this universe of stories. In terms of the narrative, there's still a lot of setup here, with many tantalizing details foretelling the possibilities to come. The art is very detailed and often includes watercolor backgrounds. There's a very specific "Sandman" tonality that Williams has created anew. The panel layouts are inventive, but at times seem a little overly complicated and self-indulgent. But it's a minor quibble. I can't think of an artist I'd rather see working on this title.

This was a fun little one-and-done. I'm not sure if there was supposed to be a moral in there somewhere--if so I can't quite tease it out--but the narrative structure is evocative of some familiar childhood fable. Pastoras' art was unique and enjoyable. Thor's facial type here is of the big-teeth, thick-lips variety, and he is depicted pretty consistently throughout, except for one particular panel where I mistook his face for one of the women. Pastoras is also the color artist here, which I think is where the visual uniqueness really comes into play. I can't tell what medium he's using to produce the particular effect, but it's unlike anything else I'm seeing in the comics I'm reading. Not quite watercolors, not quite colored pencils--I'm really not sure, but it doesn't seem like digital coloring at all. It makes me realize that there is a level above the sort of standard Jordie Bellaire style that many colorists seem to be adopting these days. I hope to see more of Pastoras--I think the variety he brings is good for the medium.

This new story is really intriguing, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Great setup. I like the comparison Aaron seems to be establishing between the super-corporation Roxxon and Galactus, both of whom want to suck the planet dry. One thing that is lacking is good old-fashioned fight scenes. Like in the previous issue vs. the dragon, the battle with the frost giant here is almost entirely off-screen. The awesome splash by Ribic is some consolation, true--but I'd also like to see him choreograph some cool combat sequences. In this instance, not having an extended fight with the frost-giant does make sense from a storytelling point-of-view. But I'm just saying, occasionally letting these artists really cut loose with a god battling a mythological creature would probably be worthwhile. Ribic hasn't grown rusty during his hiatus from this title, and I'm starting to appreciate more and more just how consequential Svorcina's coloring is to the finished product. I think this would be a vastly different book without her, and I hope we never have to see that book.

This continues to be one of the best superhero comics being currently published. I like the environmental theme to this arc, especially as it pertains to the future King Thor vs. Galactus. Svorcina continues to be the unsung hero. I think her colors elevate the art to a degree seldom achieved in other titles. I know she's also coloring Starlight, so I look forward to seeing what she does there.

What a lot of fun. I enjoyed the war of put-downs and zingers between Old Thor and Old Galactus. Although I wasn't a big fan of the cover-Thor smashing...something, the interior storytelling is inspired and entertaining. The color art sets a consistent tone for the book and Svorcina is definitely in the top tier of current colorists. The story Aaron is telling is pretty great. I like the comparison between these two battles being waged between Thor and an entity that's out to destroy the Earth. And there are fun fantastical elements throughout, like floating pollution plants and a character being punched through the moon.

This arc just keeps getting better. I like that we are revisiting aspects of Gor the god butcher in the battle between Old King Thor and Galactus. And it makes me wonder if we might get some reference to him as well in the current timeline story. The Roxxon boss guy, the Minotaur, is an interesting comparison with Gor. He also gets fulfillment out of defeating gods and says he doesn't view himself as a mere man either. Maybe it's a stretch on my part, but either way, this is great.

This issue had some awesome moments. Such as King Thor's transformation to Necro-Thor and his trash-talk. And Roz's transformation to a 14-troll-slaying maniac. Facial acting is something that Ribic depicts well, and there were a few winners in this issue. I did think the ending fizzled just a bit, and it may come down to less than clear visuals. How exactly did Thor finally beat the Minotaur and Troll king? Something exploded, but that's all I got out of that panel series. Same with the defeat of Galactus--not sure exactly what the felling blow was. But overall, The Last Days of Midgard was a really satisfying arc.

I found this one hard to rate. I got bogged down a few times in the heavy dialogue, especially the extended conversation between Thor and Freyja. I feel like the gist of it could have been distilled down into a single page. Some interesting things occurred, with Asgard departing Midgard and Jane leaving with it. And Thor leaving his castle behind for the residents of Broxton was a touching moment. Overall though, the story seemed a bit bland and long winded. The art was SO pretty to look at, and that bumped up my enjoyment quite a bit. A lot of nice detail and Alessio also does his own colors, which rival those of Svorcina. Alessio was a great choice to fill-in here, and I hope to see more of his work in the future.

Whenever I'm in the grocery check-out, I often wonder to myself "Who actually buys these Archie digests?" I can't figure out what the demographic is and why it's the only comic to be found in nearly every grocery store. Anyway, this is the only Archie comic I've ever bought, and only after hearing over and over how good it is. And it was an enjoyable read. The story is interesting; I somehow already know the basic Archie characters, and Aguirre-Sacasa does a good job of subtly cluing us into their personalities and social relationships. The art is perfect for this story--it has the right mix of pulp, Archie-Americana, and horror. I'm not really into horror comics (or Archie comics) so I don't see myself continuing on with this indefinitely. I'll check out the first arc, and then I expect the novelty will wear off, and I'll have my fill of Archie for awhile.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with this first issue. The cover image is a little misleading, in that it seems our main characters (at least thus far) are a pair of Zuckerberg-like billionaires. In the issue's opening sequence (which culminates in a chill-bump inducing double splash) they use their hacking prowess to create an opportunity for Arab Spring freedom fighters. The occasional "good billionaire" fantasy can be an enjoyable one (see Edmond Dantes, Batman). The personalities of the two protagonists(?) are sketched out pretty thoroughly already, and I'm looking forward to learning more of the various machinations that are transpiring.

Another great issue from team Saga. After reading this I was thinking about what a master of serialized storytelling Vaughan is. He does really great cliffhanger or poignant issue/arc endings that leave no doubt in my mind that I'll be picking up the next one. If you only read this in trades, you're missing out on this great serialization (as well as the best letters column in the biz). Man, Staples draws cats SO well. Especially (apparently) cats with an injured eye.

This was a very satisfying return after the hiatus. Crazy first page, heart-skip-a-beat last page, and great character and world building stuff in-between. About that first page--I loved how Staples made you work for it, to figure out what you're looking at; it made the impact of the image even better when it suddenly dawns on you. I appreciate that the story is hurtling forward and that we're not dawdling in the status quo, regardless of how fun and amazing the status quo was. Vaughan and Staples are currently the best storytellers in the biz, and I'm looking forward to this latest batch of issues.

Saga continues to be top-of-the-reading-pile material. The outrageous first page is starting to be one of the beloved staples of the series (pun...intended), and this issue certainly delivers. Another of the beloved staples, besides the great letters page and well, Fiona, is the powerful ending, and the carryings-on of the janitor-samurai was pretty intense. I like this new character and really want to see more of his story.

The creators are quite simply masters of the medium. We get plenty of story here, with the death of a character and the re-emergence of IV into the fray. I'm really invested in the subplot with the B&W janitor character and the kidnapped princeling. We see Alana and Marco continue down the path of their apparently doomed relationship, and it's heartrending. King Robot? So awesome.

We get some major plot movement and set-up for something big. Marko and Alana's relationship problems come to a boil in a sad and discomfort-inducing fashion. Staples' art is, generally speaking, beyond reproach, and the quality of each issue seems to be incrementally better than the last. The one thing I'll say is that I wasn't a fan of the somewhat predictable design of King Robot. He was rendered wonderfully though. And I would guess that the basic parameters of his design came from Vaughan. There were a few story details that I got hung-up on in this issue. The opening page seemed random. It seemed like a crazy thought that Vaughan had, and then he came up with some unnecessary story element in order to open with that image. When I first saw it, I was like "oooh, now what's this all about?" I got the disappointing answer on the next page, which was that it was not about anything. Next, how does Yuma know about Alana's identity? And even if she did, how would she know that the line Alana said was from a specific novel that Alana read? And even if she knows that, how does she know that the people looking for Alana associate her with that particular novel? Finally, I found the "saying another woman's name in your sleep" cliche a little uninspired, in terms of why Alana would be suspicious of Marko.

This was really great. The one complaint I would have is that it could really benefit from a larger edition. A lot of important visual details, and even text was too small at times. One really interesting point that was brought up a couple times was how the MLK comic book in the 1950's played such a big role in the civil rights movement. One of the leaders of the Greensboro sit-ins apparently was inspired by the comic. That makes it probably the most important comic book in history, even more that Action #1. I'll be picking up Book Two the moment it's available, and I hope we get a deluxe oversize HC collecting both as well. By the way, you can still get a signed copy of this (by John Lewis et al.) on Midtown's site--for less than actual cover price.