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It’s that time of week yet again. This week was another modest week, thanks to the five-Wednesday schedule. There were only 14 books this week, 4 from DC and the rest (10) from the Marvel.
Spoiler Alert
-DC-
-Batgirl #8- This seemed to be a one-shot type issue. Basically Tim Drake shows up (as Red Robin) and he teams up with Batgirl. They still have their old feelings for each other and that is played up well here. They take out some League of Assassins ninjas before Pru from the pages of Red Robin shows up. There was one thing I didn’t like about this issue and that was the art change towards the end of the issue. It was just way too jarring for one issue. The story stands on its own but please, don’t change art in the MIDDLE OF A COMIC BOOK! 1/1.
-Batman and Robin #10- This is the definition of cool. It had a very interesting plot (Bruce is lost in time and is possibly sending messages through the portraits on the wall), current threads that are kept going (Talia trying to have Damien kill Grayson by almost being programmed by Talia) and cool characters showing up (Oberon Sexton and ninjas). This seemed very thought-out and I want to know more about these hidden Wayne mysteries. 2/2.
-Batman: The Widening Gyre #5- Bruce is away and Gotham is in good hands with Robin and the new guy, Baphomet, on the scene. Bruce returns and is shocked to see Baph take out Joker on his own. We also get the origin of Baphomet (donning the costume to avenge his brother’s death). This guy is an interesting character but I’d imagine he dies by the end of this mini-series just because this takes place in the past and how can we bring Baphomet into continuity? It is a solid all-around effort. 3/3.
-Secret Six #19- I have to say, I don’t like Calafiore on art. However, the story was strong enough to make this enjoyable and I think Calafiore is improving. So The Secret Six go to save a boy that has been captured by a cult but the boy has already been killed. They tell the father and he’s ready to offer them up money when Catman gets a call saying that they have his kid and in order for him to live, he must kill the Secret Six. It’s a hot start to a new arc. 4/4.
-Marvel-
-Amazing Spider-Man #624- This story got some mainstream press already so the ending was no surprise. Spider-Man saves Jonah from the Vulture (who’s origin is just mobsters turning on one of their own to create their own super-villain) but Jonah’s career is over. So Peter doctors a photo to save Jonah but JJJ calls Peter out on it in front of everyone, ruins Peter’s career, and fires him. So Peter’s reputation is completely gone and who knows what stories that will hold. I’m not crazy about this but I at least the Vulture gets his origin and we can move in a new direction with Peter. I still wonder about evil Aunt May. 1/1.
-Cable #24- Well, we’ve had 23 issues of Cable and Hope being chased by Bishop so why should this be different? There was one difference, they end up at home at the end and Bishop is sent to the year 6700. You know what; I thought this was the best issue of the last year because it finally ended. 2/2.
-Criminal – The Sinners #5- So Tracy is in the clutches of the Triad (who still blame him for killing their boss) and he’s beaten to a pulp. He also learns that his boss has found out about Tracy’s relations with his wife and tells the Triad to do what they wish with him. The CID officer actually saves Tracy to arrest him but Tracy asks for 24 hours to clean things up. He gets it and Tracy goes about killing his old boss and arranging to have the evil priest killed, too. Tracy gives himself up after the 24 hours and is going to be sent back to war. What a great conclusion that is just appropriate for a book like this. 3/3.
-Dark X-Men #5- I was so happy that Nate was coming back and how am I rewarded? Nate’s defeated and sent away to some prison by Norman. WTF? Way to bring back ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MUTANTS OF ALL TIME. This should’ve been X-Man just decimating Norman’s psyche (leading to his errors in the Siege that would finally overthrow him) before rejoining the X-Men but nope, he’s just captured and the whole mini-series is rendered basically worthless and useless. What a downer. 3/4.
-Twelve: Spearhead #1- So this is promising. We finally have another Twelve comic and it seems that the mini-series will be continuing “soon.” Anyway, this is just a reintroduction to the Twelve, who they are, what they can do and set in their original setting of World War II. It was a really good look at our characters in their world before the events that started the Twelve mini-series. 4/5.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #8- Spidey continues his hot streak in this very wordy issue. We have our big three (Spidey, Torch and Iceman) talking to Rick Jones and they head back to where the Watcher’s first showed up (and dealing with the Serpent Society, too). Rick decides to call himself Nova, and he will be the heralded one. The art was great, the story made sense and Ultimate Spider-Man is back on track! 5/6.
-Web of Spider-Man #6- We have two Lizard stories (one is where he fights Man-Thing and the other is him starting to submit to his Lizard desires) that weren’t special in away. The Spider-Girl story again makes this worth it. Spidey and her clone (now named Mayhem) start playing against each other and when Spider-Girl arranges a meeting with the Tarantula and the police to try and stop these gang wars, someone told the competition and Tarantula was ambushed. Spidey immediately thinks it is her clone that is the traitor. I can’t wait for Spider-Girl to get her own ongoing again so I can dump this book. 6/7.
-Wolverine: Mr. X #1- This is a one-shot featuring an obsessed Mr. X trying to beat Wolverine in battle (wanting to take out the animal side) but Wolvie wouldn’t go into his berserker rage to accommodate him. So Mr. X is contacted by Norman and joins the Thunderbolts. I can’t hate on this book. I think Mr. X is an interesting character and Wolverine was portrayed as an intelligent guy who won’t give in and give X what he wants. 7/8.
-X-Men Forever #19- The Consortium story really starts picking up here, with Sabretooth, Gambit, Dugan and Fury infiltrating their secret base (underneath the UN) and taking on some soldiers in their place. They find Fabian Cortez captured and experimented on but they can’t free him before more soldiers show up. There is some added storylines here (Rogue and Nightcrawler have switched powers but Rogue is immune to Kurt, and the ongoing Jean Grey love interests) that make this a fantastic value. 8/9.
-X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #2- So Pixie is still under the mind control of a demon and her crazy high-school fantasies are definitely unique. Meanwhile, Emma and the rest of the X-Men discover that Pixie is missing and set out to find her. Like I said, this is unique and I’m gonna stay on board to see what’s happening. 9/10.
-The Bottom Line- Anytime you can go (almost) perfect you know it is a good week. Just going over the titles here there were a couple of stand-outs. Batman and Robin was awesome and I love where this storyline is going. It was nice to see the Twelve back on the shelves and the story delivered and I have to say that the ending of Criminal was just perfect for the type of world that Tracy is living in. Next week looks like a bigger haul (21 books and it looks like 2 trades) so I better make sure I have enough time to read them all!
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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