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I doubt this will be on time, but at least I will done with St. Johns by the time you read this and I don’t foresee any delays in the future (save for maybe some vacation weekend trips I’ll be taking). Anyway, DC, Dynamite and Marvel are represented this week, with DC dropping 6 titles, Dynamite a sole issue, and Marvel landing 16.
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-Avengers/Invaders #10- Our heroes are in the altered past where the Red Skull controls the world thanks to the Cosmic Cube. Nick Fury meets with these Avengers to plan an offensive as Spitfire and Union Jack meet their demise. This is a really interesting story and this dystopian Nazi society looks very strong thanks to the Cosmic Cube. The heroes really have a fight on their hands! 1/1.
-Captain America: Theater of War – A Brother In Arms #1- This is written by Jenkins and like his other Cap stories is just amazing. Cap takes a Nazi prisoner and it really shows Cap’s values as a soldier and obeying the rules of the Geneva convention and actually sticking up for the POW and turning him over to the German army, before the more evil Nazi’s shoot them down in cold blood. It really shows that the soldiers on the German side weren’t all Nazi’s, some were just soldiers doing what they were told, sort of like what’s happening in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Awesome story. 2/2.
-Dark Avengers #4- Doom and Norman take care of Morgana in the past as the rest of the Dark Avengers battle her demons in the present. When the day is won and the Avengers leave, it seems Doom has the Cosmic Cube and rebuilds his kingdom. Sentry shows up at the end, too. Great art, some interesting plot lines (Marvel Girl and Marvel Boy) makes this a lot better than it had any right to be. 3/3.
-Dark Reign: The Cabal #1- This is a series of short stories focusing on the dark Cabal members and really just shows how each of them don’t trust the others. A future Doom story sees him in possession the Hood’s hood and he takes the land while Namor gets the sea, we look into Emma’s past, we see the Hood’s secret (he has a kid), Namor sends a mutant Atlantean to the X-Men in SF, and Loki wants to bring the Asgardians to Latveria. The last story was the most interesting but all five were generally worth-while to the whole dark Illuminati story. 4/4.
-Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2- I missed #1. Basically there are three stories that are (allegedly) inspired by the assistants. The hook is the best story will get their own issue and will be voted on by the fans. One story sees Luke Cage as a local politician, the second is the daughter of Galactus, and the third is an Elsa Bloodstone story. The lady Galactus one was the best. It was worth the four bucks. 5/5.
-Ms. Marvel #38- I wasn’t going to pick this up but here it is. I wanted to look at how this new Ms. Marvel (formerly Moonstone) would be. It was alright. She’s interviewed by a psychic shrink who wants to kill her and the rest of the Avengers. Ms. Marvel shows she is mentally stronger and kills him. This did a fair job of introducing the new person wearing the costume to fans that may not know, and even for those who do it adds a new wrinkle to what we’ve read before. 6/6.
-Nova #24- The Nova Corps are obliterated by the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. Powers don’t help if you don’t have experience. Meanwhile, Richard Ryder, now as Quasar, invades Ego’s brain and finds out that Worldmind and Ego are one and the same? Just a great run on the title so far, and everything War of Kings is just regal. 7/7.
-Runaways #9- This is the conclusion to Rock Zombies. The Runaways win but the most interesting thing are the powers of Nico and how they are acting strange, and when one of the baddies picked up the Staff of One, a fricken dragon eats him! Molly is also developing into a smart strategist, which is a new facet to her I hope we see more of. Moore just gets these kids, and Miyazawa’s art is just perfect for the Runaways. 8/8.
-Skaar #10- Skaar tries to fight Galactus and fails miserably. Luckily it was just a vision of what would happen so Skaar would learn and save his people. Does he learn? No. Caeira then sends him away as their world dies thanks to Galactus. Interesting twist at the end that will lead to Planet: Skaar. If it is 1/10th as good as the original we will be in good shape. 9/9.
-The Stand: Captain Trips #4- I already read and reviewed issue #5 of this series, and this was just the lead-in to that, setting up the main players to the conclusion of Trips. This was a great issue, like all the Stephen King issues have been. 10/10.
-Thunderbolts #131- Deadpool is defeated by the Thunderbolts and beheaded, although Black Widow sews his head back on. Could it be true love? This was a decent fight issue, but the art seemed too cartoony for a series like Thunderbolts. The story gets the point this time around. 11/11.
-Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #5- This was a really fun issue, as Wolverine is talking to a Panda that represents his spiritual side. That led to a funny conversation. So Fury has beheaded Wolverine and wants information on Hulk and the She-Hulk. Wolvie won’t tell him but escapes and ends up telling Forge (who was being recorded by Fury). This will lead to a big showdown next week. This has been a great series so far. 12/12.
-Uncanny X-Men #509- The mutants are getting acclimated to San Francisco in a nice few pages. The scientists want to look at the first mutant, who is associated with one of the scientists they are hanging with (I thought Apocalypse was the first mutant?). Finally, Psylocke/Kwannon/Betsy is revived and the women attack the Mansion. I don’t know how to go with this. You know, the opening panels made this worthwhile. 13/13.
-War Machine #5- War Machine absorbs the Ultimo virus to contain it, earning the respect of Ares and getting an offer to join Osborn. He refuses and now has his sights set on America and cleaning that place up, knowing that Osborn will be after them. This has been surprisingly good to start off. 14/14.
-X-Men: Origins #1 - Wolverine- This is a really condensed origin of Wolverine that hits all the main points, from the Origins mini-series, to Weapon X, to his time in the Canadian service. If you want a quick look at the early Wolverine, this is very handy to have. 15/15.
DC
-Batman: Battle for the Cowl – The Underground #1- This was an interesting story focusing on Two-Face, Penguin (looking like Danny DeVito), Riddler, Catwoman, and other of the rogues dealing with Black Mask taking over the Gotham Underground. The evil Batman kicks Catwoman off a roof into the hands of Riddler, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. It sets up all our characters to the conclusion in Battle for the Cowl and it stood alone on its own as well. 1/1.
-Batman: Gotham After Midnight #12- This is the thrilling conclusion to the 12-part series by Niles and Jones. Batman learns the identity of Midnight and it tears his world apart. It’s an examination of Batman and his psyche, as well as his relationships with Gotham and Alfred and how it affects him. This was a great ending (which I won’t ruin here) and when it’s collected it’s a must-own. 2/2.
-Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4- Well, this wasn’t late at all! It’s a shame because it is probably the most interesting story from Final Crisis. It’s just huge space fights with Superboy Prime locked in the middle of it. This has two great ending scenes, the first features Superboy Connor coming back to fight Prime, and Superman in the timestream fighting an old version of Prime. Next issue (whenever it comes out) has to be great with all this Superman fighting, with the Legion getting torn apart, and just tons of characters and tons of elements written into these stories. 3/3.
-Justice Society of America #26- This is the swan-song of Johns on the title and he writes a sweet story of Stargirls birthday and her role in the JSA, and how the group really is like a family, a big family. Enjoyable issue and a nice send-off for Johns. 4/4.
-Superman #687- This is now the Mon-El/Guardian series. Mon-El struggles to keep his secret identity secret but struggles even more when his powers crap out when he’s flying. I like how they are putting all these different characters in Superman’s title, but still keeping it in the Superman-universe. Good stuff so far. 5/5.
-Superman/Batman #59- Batman saves Superman from the nano-world, then they both restore peace there. It was a serviceable story. It’s nothing I’d go out of my way for. It’s Abnett/Lanning so you can’t really go wrong, but they didn’t write it, they only provided the idea. This barely gets a point. 6/6.
-Trinity #48- The awesome continues. Trinity beats up on the evil Trinity, then trap powerhouse Krona. It doesn’t look good for the bad guys. The back-up shows how Krona was captured. I love how things are coming together so smoothly for this title. 7/7.
Dynamite
-Masquerade #3- Masquerade continues with the visions of her past and we see how she was locked into the urn. Fighting Yank actually set it all up. So, these visions were here reliving her life in the urn? I love this so far, Masquerade is just a conflicted heroine, who is really looking for herself more than anything else. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Looking over the list there was one clear winner and that is Captain America: Theater of War – Brother in Arms. I guess I am a sucker for World War II era stories that are based in some sort of reality. Jenkins just nails this stuff, he wrote a really awesome story last year with Cap (Mythos) and he just captures the essence of not only Cap but the time that he’s from.
-Disappointment of the Week- None Awarded!
-Cover of the Week- Dark Avengers #4, with a cover by Mike Deodato, wins this week. It was just an awesome Doom vs. Iron Patriot cover with a killer angle. Deodato is now number 2 on the COTW list with 7, only 13 behind leader Alex Ross!
-The Bottom Line- Sorry this is late guys, I have been at wits end thanks to the end of the school semester and about 15 major things being due all at the end (and me being a procrastinator didn’t help!). So this is late, I haven’t even picked up the next week’s comics (which is bad since the next TPL is due in two days from today!) but what can you do? Sometimes life just gets in the way. I had fun reading this week’s issues and that is all that matters to me.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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