2 out of the 3 stories show that the creative team understands what it is to be heroic AND human, and 1 story that just doesn't get it. There are many definitions of a hero, but the one pertinent to ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH is this one from Webster's New World Dictionary 1988 - "the central main character in a novel, play, poem, etc. with whom the reader or audience is supposed to sympathize." Using mind-manipulation and brain-washing tactics to convince someone they have been the victim of mind-manipulation and brain-washing tactics makes Mac as scrupulous, ethical, and trustworthy as The Master. Unfortunately, this travesty goes much deeper: opening up this can of worms and trying to make believe it is something other than what it is should be beneath anyone with any shred of decency and honor. One would hope that MARVEL does not subscribe to the falsehood that if you repeat a lie long enough, people will believe it; if you repeat a lie loud enough, fans will accept it as the truth. The ugly truth: Alpha Flight Volume 4 #4 shows Heather to be a murderer. It will take a mighty big person to admit that doing this, approving this, green-lighting this...was a huge mistake. And MARVEL should think twice about opening up the same can of worms, over and over again, trying to convince people the worms are something other than what they are. For the most part, ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH shows Alpha Flight as promising. But make no mistake, turning Alpha Flight back (yes, I said "back") into a viable, well-respected team will take the sustained talent, supervision, and skill of writers, artists, inkers, letterers, colorists, and editors who truly believe that Canada's premier superheroes are exactly that.

The combination of desperation and impatience resulted in things turning out bad for Dr. Mirage, but it is the "why" and the "how" that makes the story compelling. No gratuitous violence and sex, just a person trying not to be alone, anymore.

Although I wanted to like Dr. Mirage #3 a bit more than I did, it is still a very entertaining and interesting comic book that makes me want to know how it all shakes out. Nick Robles is still solid on the art and the narrative is still trippy, but this issue feels like the monthly schedule is starting to take a toll. That's not so bad since the story holds together enough to move the story forward to the cliffhanger ending. Grace may not be telling the whole truth, but she proves to be resourceful and daring. As for Shan Fong Mirage, she may be in a situation she might not be able to get out of.

The only person shown to dismiss Jackie's anger is The Hulk, in IMMORTAL HULK # 5...with the most stinging rebuke possible from the person responsible for destroying her old neighborhood: "Just...go home, McGee. Go home." The conversation between Jackie and The Hulk is much more personal than a lot of people realize, not really a civil rights manifesto. Her childhood home was destroyed. Her neighbor's house was destroyed. Her neighbor's neighbor's house was destroyed...by a GREEN person. This anger is as focused and controlled as anger can be, and Jackie has only that to confront The Immortal Hulk with. It is enough.

The absence of Walter Langkowski, Carl (Bushwhacker) Burbank, and Shadow Base is noticeable this time. Even though the main conflict is still compelling, it was the exceptional character moments in the previous issue that gave it the groundedness it needed. Here, in IH # 12, it's not as effective. Hope Judd, Creel, McGee, (and Walter) get through this. Disturbing, partly in a good way, partly in a not-so-good way.

IMMORTAL HULK # 19 is the first time the short, 2-week interval between issues has affected the book, detrimentally: the art is uneven and the story is unfocused. The inkers aren't on the same page, which gives this issue an uneven, rushed quality to it. Although the Betty-Harpy sequence is fairly consistent, this should have been a book primarily about The ABOMINATION versus The Immortal Hulk. The Alex Ross-cover has The ABOMINATION on it. The fight promised to be epic. And it should have been shown. Moreover, the tight pacing and plotting that has characterized this series up to this point is starting to disappear, as if the direction and focus of this story-line is being tampered with. The inclusion of McGee and Betty-Harpy seems shoe-horned into this issue, and it isn't set up with the usual clarity and believability that had been one of IH's most reliable traits. And that is more than disappointing; it is a disservice to one of the few comic books worth being published. This is a title where the regular creative team should be helped instead of hindered. The true monsters are the ones who shoot innocent civilians in the head, who wear military garb while neither protecting nor defending anything, and who create ABOMINATIONS that they should ultimately regret creating.

Gamma-spawn don't stay dead. It is the main theme of this series. So, what was Fortean's "endgame" going to be? Admittedly, the ABOMINATION's stomach-acid proved to be a formidable weapon, but gamma-spawn don't stay dead...especially THE IMMORTAL HULK. Finding out how a man who claims to be instilling order ends up becoming a full-blown pawn of chaos is revealing. Fortean's successful sneak attack on Gamma Flight is vicious, and he piously condemns Walter Langkowski, but who holds Fortean accountable for Marge's death (shot in the head in # 19, by Fortean's mercenary strike force)? More importantly, how does shooting Marge in the head "contain" the situation? Because now there's a dead woman with a bullet in her head, a dead cab driver, and Anna---who if she isn't dead, probably wishes she were. Most important, someone who plays so fast and loose as to who is expendable should have EVERYBODY who has seen the ABOMINATION on edge, from Dr. McGowan all the way down to the pilots of the war-wagons...especially now that Fortean is---in form as well as mind---a monster of chaos.

While it is easier to go on and on about the writer and the penciler, this is a tip-of-the-hat to the colorist, Paul Mounts, and his contribution throughout this series. Instead of focusing on IH #26's lack of any mention of (or appreciation for) Puck, Sampson, Titania, or Creel having the Hulk's back during the battle in Shadow Base, I would rather focus on Paul Mounts' skills, something I hadn't really noticed until the Director's Cut of IH #3 came out: are Jackie McGee's pupils GREEN in the prolog? And is she crying green tears in IH #13?

When art is used in service of telling a powerful story, as it is in IMMORTAL HULK #28, then the guest-artists deserve a lot of credit for helping this book avoid coming off the tracks...which it was dangerously close to doing. However, by going back to the succinct, laser-focused storytelling that is the hallmark of the first 13 issues, the security guard 's story is compelling, and Dario Agger seems like he can do more than just intimidate businessmen and threaten teacups. Personally, I wish The Minotaur segment had been in IH #26 (or #27), but I'm glad it's clear he knows who he's up against. The IMMORTAL HULK who---even with the wicked smile and the anti-Roxxon agenda---(hopefully) prevented the security guard from making a mistake he would've regretted for the rest of his life. Sitting in his chair, in one piece, with the look of a man who knows that a tragedy was prevented by a being he thought was a Devil.

Much closer to the tone and pacing of the first 13 issues, but still one too many bits that don't really add anything to the story (which has been going on for a while, now) and actually ends up detracting from the fullest impact of Xemnu's plan. Up to now, long-form Immortal Hulk has not been as succinct and tight as it was in the beginning.

About as perfect (and deserving) a number 1 issue as you can get: excellent storytelling from the first page to the last, interesting (and fun) characters, and a solid foundation.

I know that issue 3 is set to be released on September 12th---two weeks from the just-published issue 2, but I hope that if the creative team needs a little more time to fine-tune things so the fullest, most comprehensive vision of THE NEW WORLD is conveyed like it is in issue 1, IMAGE can give them that time. This is a comic book that has the potential to be one of the very best.

I wanted to like The New World, but there isn't enough in it to like. After a promising start, there just isn't enough in this 5-issue limited series to make anyone want to spend a second more in this "New World." Despite the grand scope of issue # 1 and the aftermath of a second Civil War only glimpsed, none of the important questions are answered in the next 4 issues: (1) What happened to Stella's parents? Don't really know; (2) What happened between Logan Maximus and Kirby's dad (at the border)? Don't really know; (3) What happened to Herod to make him like that? Don't really know. And if everything is supposedly so divided and blown up, how does a television show reach and connect with the entire world? As much as the first issue had enough room to give a detailed and intriguing glimpse of this new world, there was an inkling something was off when Stella's nonlethal takedown of the vet/perp wasn't shown. Then, the surreality of the following issues didn't really add any clarity to the plot and the silliness didn't add much to the characters. After reading the last four issues, the reader doesn't learn much more than what was learned in the first issue. In the end, the questions don't matter. In the end, the answers don't matter. Because, in the end, The New World doesn't matter. And if comic readers realize there really isn't anything to The New World, whoever prints and distributes the trade paperback is going to take a bath.