The Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog

Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 05/14/08

2008-05-15T18:49:00.008-03:00

As you can see, I've finally settled on a new title for the Thursday reviews. They were originally the Quick Shot Reviews, as the actual reviews were quite short and simple reviews for the various books I didn't get a chance to spotlight. Over the past six or seven months since I started doing them, they've gradually grown in length to the point they are sometimes just as long or longer than the the Wednesday reviews.

I let it slide for a while, as I was unsure of what to call it, but it finally started to catch up to me and, after reading over many requests and suggestions, through email and comments, I've decided to stick with the crisis motif and, considering these are the last of, or final, comic book reviews for the week, I decided to name the Thursday reviews after the upcoming DC event, Final Crisis, and they will now be known as the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews. I've also updated the Wednesday review banner with the same subtext as the above banner. A minor cosmetic change that should help new readers quickly see that the post is about comic book reviews.

With that said, I'll wrap this up quickly by letting you guys get to the rest of this week's reviews in the inaugural edition of the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews!

BOOSTER GOLD #9
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

The last few issues of Booster Gold left me a little disappointed. The humour and fun had been sucked out of the book in favour of a desolute future storyline and we were going in circles with assaults on Maxwell Lord with BG and Ted going alone and then doing it again with Green Arrow and Hawkman and it looked as if they were setting this issue up for yet another recruitment drive to plan an attack on Lord...again.

To say I was a little unimpressed with the repetitive nature the story was taking would be an understatement. However, this issue manages to redeem the recycled plotlines with the return of the old Justice League International and some actual ass kicking being delivered to Lord and the OMACs for a change.

I was really impressed, for probably the first time ever, with Mr Miracle's elaborate prison cell sequence. I always considered the character a joke and it was an unexpected show of respect from the villains to have him locked up the way he was. I was equally impressed with the female Dr Light, who was the one responsible for putting an end to Lord in an excellent display of power with her killing blow.

Overall, I'm still disappointed with the way this book has turned out ever since Supernova was revealed to be Booster's father, but the series is showing signs of life again with this build up to the conclusion to Johns and Katz' run on the book. Shame they didn't cut the filler issues with Green Arrow and Hawkman and the numerous failed attempts at stopping Lord.

Verdict - Check It

GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8 (OF 9)
Written by Frank Tieri
Art by J. Calafiore and Jack Purcell

If you've been following the book, or even my reviews, of this title, you'll know that it's far from the best book on the market, but it somehow manages to be a fun read, nonetheless.

This issue picks up on the return of Batman,from last issue, as he puts an epic beatdown on the vigilante named, well, Vigilante. The poor guy didn't stand a chance and Bats just lays into him for an entire issue, as the fight is intersperced with Penquin related interludes, and ends kind of oddly, as Batman lets the murdering, gun totting Vigilante go free, simply telling him to stay out of Gotham instead of carting him off to Arkham. It was the only problem I had with the issue and seemed really out of character for the gun hating Bruce, especially after seeing Vigilante kill some people in previous issues.

As for the Penquin and mob related goodies, the knock off villains start having some infighting before Penquin has a meeting with Stitches. This leads to a rather forced badass act by this Stitches character as he pulls out files on all the random no name villains, claiming he'll kill all their families and friends as he lists off their addresses and other personal information. Instead of, you know, killing him as he sits there all alone, they all cower in fear and leave Penquin to fend for himself. Kind of odd, to say the least. Seems Stitches has also managed to put Tobias in his pocket and Penquin is left alone with the ultimatum to get out of Gotham and to make room for Intergang.

Verdict - Check It

SKY DOLL #1
Written by Barbara Canepa & Alessandro Barbucci
Art by Alessandro Barbucci

I've spoken at lengths about Sky Doll a couple of times already, most recently in this week's previews, but I wasn't sure how I was going to go about reviewing it. I wanted to do it yesterday, but I also wanted to give it a bigger spotlight rather than lumping it in with a bunch of other reviews.

As such, I'll probably run a separate post review for it on the weekend some time, but I'll give a basic breakdown today, just for posterity's sake.

Sky Doll is the first of, hopefully, many Marvel translated comics from European publisher Soleil. It's about a doll, which is basically a robotic "pleasure" toy, named Noa. It is immediately noticeable that Noa is different than most dolls and you could draw parallels to Pinnochio, if you were so inclined. Her life changes drastically after meeting two missionaries, whom she runs away with, and it's a rollercoaster of events after that, as we learn all about the world of Sky Doll.

The creators do an excellent job of blending religion, politics, sexuality and freedom of individuality into one homogonous blend of storytelling. I honestly believe everyone will be able to take different things away from this story when they are finished reading it based on each individual's views on the various topics addressed in the book, specifically in regards to religion and the way they use it to govern and control the docile populace and the use of propaganda to quell any problems or rebel movements.

I can't speak about the storytelling without mentioning the beautiful artwork. It is both unique and captivating and I suspect many will find the foreign style to be as alien and wonderful as the story telling techniques employed.

Simply put, look past the high cover price on this issue, as it's more than worth it, and give this issue a try. Even if you opt not to continue collecting this series, I doubt anyone will regret or begrudge having purchased this issue.

Verdict - Must Read

WOLVERINE #65
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

Jason Aaron and Ron Garney delivered a great conclusion to one of the best Wolverine stories I've read in a long time and, while the Millar / McNivan, Old Man Logan, will probably sell better, I don't think it's going to measure up to the standard that's been set on this storyarc.

Mystique is done running and is making her final stand against Logan and it ain't pretty for the ol' Canucklehead. He's sniped, blown up, burnt, shot, chewed up and spit out and that's all before he even gets near Raven.

After the opening salvos, we get into the up close and personal stuff, with Wolverine being the best there is at what he does with various slicing and dicing antics while Mystique relies on good, old fashioned bullets to the brainpan. It's a pretty gruesome fight that features Mystique taking claws through arms, her stomach, and so on before the two end it with a double KO, leaving Logan temporarily braindead and Mystique bleeding out.

Meanwhile, this is intersperced with the typical flashbacks that have been running throughout Aaron's run. This time, we see the conclusion to the robbery Logan and Mystique had planned with their circus crew of a gang. It turns out that they were betrayed and the cops show up, killing everyone but Logan and Mystique. The catch? Logan sold them all out for money, not Raven. They meet up on a train later, as they both attempt to flee the city, and Logan claims he was just doing it because he knew she'd sell them out, so he did it first.

It added a nice touch to the book and, while a bit subtle, is also the reason Logan leaves Mystique to live, or die, bleeding out in the desert instead of finishing her off himself at the end. I'm usually torn on these cop out endings, but it just didn't feel like it here and it actually made sense given their relationship and how it's been established in the flashbacks and present day aspects of this story and leaves me a bit sad knowing we won't be seeing Aaron back on this for at least another year, if ever.

The art was great, as usual, but it seems like the naked Mystique aspect of this final battle was getting to Garney, as he was always trying to find creative ways to cover her up and I think it hurt the art a bit. He should have went with a movie version "naked" Mystique to allow him more creative freedom while keeping it PG friendly. Still, hardly a major complaint.

While I'm not a fan of invincible Wolverine, as these wounds should send him into shock or outright disable him for hours, it's still a lot of fun to watch the two tear into each other like this and there was enough story here to keep the action from becoming monotonous or just plain sensationlized.

Verdict - Must Read.

Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews for 05/14/08 - Updated

2008-05-14T20:23:00.005-03:00

I was really pleased with this week's haul. Not only was it bountiful, but they were almost all, universally, amazing issues. I was really happy that I decided to pick up Amazing Spider-Man again, as this was quite literally one of the best issues of that series I've read in a long, long time. Batman RIP read like a prologue or teaser more than the first part of a major story. Guardians of the Galaxy brought the goods and has the scope and scale that Annihilation: Conquest should have had and Thunderbolts was more insane telepath goodness with the Green Goblin getting in on the action.

I'll try to update later with some more reviews of stuff like Sky Dolls, The Walking Dead and Wonder Woman, the latter two being titles I missed on my previews that were brought to my attention by commenters.

Oh, one more thing. I didn't forget about the archives of my old reviews. I've been chugging along diligently (okay, lazily) and am nearly finished with all the Wednesday reviews. Still have the Thursday ones to do, but there's far less of those than the Wednesday versions. One of the reasons I've slowed down is that every time I get a chance to do it, I usually plow through a bunch, but Blogger comes up with a spam protection captcha (insert random generated letters to continue) after 30 or so posts. Considering I do 10+ reviews a week, it makes it annoying to keep going once it comes up, but I'm really going to go at it this weekend to finish up. I'll probably launch the new archives within the next week or two.

Enough of my excuses, hit the jump and enjoy all the reviews!

UPDATE - Added Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1 and Wonder Woman #20 reviews.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #559
Written by Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin

For some reason, I hate to admit this about a Brand New Day story, but I really, really enjoyed this issue. Maybe the first storyarc just had to deal with having the taste of One More Day still in my mouth or the expectations of having to prove all the retcons and magic nonsense were worth the effort, but I found myself loving just about every minute of this issue. To be honest, I think it actually felt like I was reading the old Spidey again. It was fun, easy to get into and there were lots of things happening throughout the issue to keep me interested and entertained.

First up, we open with the new villain, Screwball, in the act of fleeing from Spider-Man after a daring daytime robbery of some random gambling den. She and Spidey engage in some great back and forth banter, which lasts just long enough not to feel forced or get stale, as they make their way across town, both highly agile characters doing various acrobatic feats along the way.

Screwball, if you haven't heard, is an internet attention whore that has people set up to film her robberies and escapes in action and broadcast them live on the internet on her very own webpage.

She actually manages to elude Spider-Man, prompting him to ask how she's managing this with his spider-like speed and agility. She only quips she's into parkour and he's too slow to keep up. This leads to my only complaint with the issue, being that they use the word parkour about a million times, as if they are beating us over the head with it, but it's only a small gripe. As she makes her last escape, she quips that it's all about the "Parkour luck", which actually made me laugh a bit as even Peter groaned out a, "she did not just say that", in reference to his Parker luck.

This was only the opening act of the book and the rest focuses on the paparazzi aspect of this storyline, in that Peter gets reassigned to the paparazzi section of the paper to put his "ninja photography" to work on catching celebs in action, which he takes a liking to and is actually quite good at doing with his spider powers.

I found it interesting that we've never seen Peter try this before or, at least to my knowledge, it has never happened in the books. It just seems like a natural fit and it was a nice twist to the character. I don't forsee him staying with it, everyone from Robbie to Aunt May and even Harry were a little annoyed and concerned over his bottom feeding new job.

Finally, the other new villain, who I had the least amount of interest in, Paperdoll (think that's her name, it wasn't actually stated), was actually incredibly interesting, and creepy to boot! I'm not sure what her powers are, but she seems to be able to blend into walls and has a fixation with paper that seems to have some connection to her powers. She's obsessed with a celebrity that Peter was covering earlier in the issue and is stalking him. She bought an entire newsstand's stock of DB paper's simply because his picture was splashed on the front page and went back to her apartment, which is covered with photos of him, and pinned a new one up. She "shed" her skin, for lack of a better term, and appeared ghost-like or paper thing, possibly blending into the wall, and was kissing the photo.

The art was really good for this issue, as well. Marcos Martin is a great artist, but I don't hold him up in the top echelon, like a McNivan or Hitch or what have, but his style really fit this book and I loved one page where he had Peter mulling over what to do with a photo as he walked up, down and around a building before coming to a stop upright as he made his decision. Great stuff.

Verdict - Must Read. Definitely worth picking this issue up, even if you dislike much of the BND stuff. At the very least, you can drop it after the three issue story is over. However, I think you'll all be very impressed with this issue and, hopefully, the entire storyarc.

BATMAN #676
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea

Batman RIP officially starts with this issue and it felt very much like a prologue or teaser than an actual story. We begin with a brief introduction to the Black Glove, showing off some very Morrison-esque characters. You'll know what I mean when you see them, as they are about as conventional looking as the Authority is diplomatic.

Afterwards, we get a random chase scene that seems designed only to show off the "new" Batmobile. I say "new" only because it looks identical to just about every other standard Batmobile design we've seen except this one has, oooohhhh, red lights.

The chase ends predictably and leads to a scene back at the mansion where Bruce begins undressing upstairs as he enters his room, where his current girlfriend, Jezebel Jet, who recently learned he's Batman, is waiting for him.

As they embraced, we listen in on Alfred and Robin going over all the changes and craziness Batman's been through over the past year with his trials in 52 and the recent near death experience. It felt very much like a "hey, you guys that picked this up for the big event, but don't know anything about the current run, this is a recap" and had me wanting to just flip through the pages to until something new came up.

We then have Bruce talking with Jezebel about his parents at their grave as she shows him a letter from the Black Glove, requesting their attendance at a party, to Bruce's shock and surprise, as they are the ones he's looking for.

The issue ends with a really creepy Joker segment that has me wondering what was real and what wasn't. This is definitely the prose version earlier in Morrison's run and doesn't even try to explain how he was in Salvation Run, even though they basically say all the crazies are missing earlier in the issue, which seemed to reference said Salvation Run.

The Joker scene opened with Arkham's doors open, blood running down the steps and then switches to a more monotone colouring scheme of the interior. Joker is seen amongst blood stained hallways and dead bodies strewn about as a television talks about an airborn Joker virus killing millions. We then get a shot of his therapist talking to him before the power goes out and the Black Glove request his attendance at a party to kill Batman. As the power comes back on, we see a normal coloured version of this Joker with blood stained clothing and cell.

So, as you can tell, I have no idea if Joker was imagining all this death during his session or if the dead bodies are from the Black Glove infiltrating and if that Joker virus is even real or not. I'm pretty sure it isn't, but the scene was one of the more disturbing takes on the Joker I've read and a bit insane and confusing at the same time, which I imagine was the intent.

Verdict - Check It. The Joker scene was great, but the rest of the issue felt like filler and recaps for new readers jumping on for this event. The art was excellent by Daniels, but I hope the story picks up next issue.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #24
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins

Well, Mongul is one messed up individual. Apparently, the planet he's seeded with the Black Mercies has a ring around it. Nothing special, right? We've seen lots of planets with ring formations. Hell, our solar system has a bunch of them in the outer parts. Well, not like this one. It's made of dead bodies and it's thick enough to impede the Lanterns' descent to the planet. Awesome.

Oh, speaking of the Black Mercies, I was afraid this issue would turn into a rehash of the last Green Lantern appearance by Mongul where Ollie and Hal had perfect dream worlds for two issues before taking down Mongul in the span of a few pages. Well, not this time. It appears Mongul has reverse engineered the Black Mercies to be more in line with the Sinestro Corps' fear motif and they now generate absolute fears for those they enslave.

Ion and Arisia received a two page splash page depicting their inner fears and Ion's appears to be related to the Blackest Night prophecy from back in the old Alan Moore Green Lantern Annual. It seems to have him getting attacked by shadowy figures with giant metal poles, similar to the White Lobe's stabbing him with the lead pipes in the Annual, a scene where a rainbow of rings pierce his chest, showing the various corps' rings flying through his chest, and other shots of him failing as Ion and being the "last one", in reference to last Green Lantern. Not a spot on reenactment, but pretty interesting nonetheless. Arisia's fear sequence showed her buried alive, from back when she "died", and even a shot of what looked like Parallax escaping from a Manhunter's body and jumping at her. Something to look for in the future or just random fear related dreams?

The rest of the issue deals with some boring, for me, at least, recaps of Mongul's origin and history for those that don't know who he is or only came on during the Sinestro Corps War and the search for Ion and Arisia. The GL's retrieve both, who appear to be alive, but in critical condition, but are interrupted by an angry "queen" Black Mercy that seems upset they killed so many of her children. Not sure how it will put up a fight, though.

Where was Mongul during all this? Well, he was making some kind of planet seeding gun construct as he fired the modified fear Black Mercy seeds into space to, I supose, land on random or targetted planets and begin spreading fear and taking over those planets, too. I suspect he'll show up next issue for the showdown with the Green Lanterns.

Finally, we had a seen with the sciencells on Oa, where Sinestro, and every other Sinestro Corps member held captive, begain cutting themselves and drawing symbols on their cell windows. I'm not positive, as I don't have my Corps symbols memorized, but I think they looked like the Red Lantern logo, but it could have simply been the Sinestro Corps one.

Verdict - Must Read. It was a great issue that had some very interesting developments for everyone. I enjoyed the fear dreams Ion and Arisia had, although I still dislike Ion being out of action so easily, and was impressed with Mongul's continued plans and just about everything was done right this issue with the sole exception being that boring recap section.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier

Guardians of the Galaxy was a great first issue, but, much like The Order, decided to use the reality television style action scenes broken up by the random character in studio talking sections. Maybe it's just me, but I don't particularly care for this type of narrative, but, at the same time, it wasn't enough to stop me from enjoying this issue. I hope they don't choose to go with this style of narration for the entire series, though.

The events of this issue are relatively mundane and easy to describe. The GotG, who are nameless at this point, have discovered that space is broken, due to the Annihilation Wave's forced entry and destruction of the Kline, and Warlock wants to fix it. This leads to their first battle with, to my surprise and delight, the Church of Truth.

For those unawares, Adam Warlock has a lot of past with the Church of Truth and they touch on it briefly here, but, like me, choose not to go into it too much, as it deals with time travel, alternate realities and other complex stuff. Just know that they are a bunch of zealots that convert or destroy anyone that is not a part of the church and they once worshipped Warlock, or his evil counterpart, Magus. This opens up a lot of great story paths that could eventually lead to an appearance by Magus or Warlock returning to that persona on his own or what have you.

Back to the summary, the issue deals with the team kicking ass and taking names as they attempt to stop the ship from colliding with one of the fissures in space, which are the "broken" parts that Warlock mentioned. Intersperced, we get each members reality TV log of the mission and the reasons and recruitment scenes for each of them.

They aren't as bad as I make them out, and the Rocket Raccoon drinking binge with Starlord and Gamora's getting upset with Nova for calling her for a recruitment instead of a booty call followed by make up sex were some of the highlights of the issue, but I just didn't like how they broke up the action all the time. This is probably a personal preference, though, so some will like, others will have the same issues I do.

Another one of my favourite scenes was the return to Knowhere, the current base of operations for the team, where we get to see "Mister Cosmo", the talking Cosmonaut dog from recent Nova issues. He's still just as funny and it looks like he and "Comrade Raccoon" have some issues with each other that I can't wait to see explored.

We end with the reintroduction of Mantis, who's the team's shrink, for lack of a better term, and no longer a field operative, and Groot, who's still a twig, but growing nicely. Mantis didn't seem like the Mantis from Starlord or Conquest. She's still mysterious and has the odd speech patterns, but, and it's hard to explain, her actions and speech just seem off. She's far more of the Matrix-style Oracle now, giving random omens and what not.

She has her little reality TV moment where she reveals she knows the team will be named the Guardians of the Galaxy in 24 hours time and that in nine months, one of the team members will betray and kill them, but can't reveal it to anyone due to consequences of revealing the future and other mumbo jumbo. Again, it came off much less like the Mantis I enjoyed in previous appearances. Bug was no where to be seen, despite being at Mantis' bedside at the end of Conquest.

Everyone had their time to shine this issue and all had some memorable scenes. Raccoon and Cosmo had lots of fun coming up with random names for the team, Drax had a funny "should I stab it, would stabbing it help?" type of line, Gamora and Nova had their recruitment scene and so on. There was definitely something for everyone and I'm looking forward to more of the same next month.

Speaking of next month, the issue ended with a fissure in space and the team suiting up to go stop it. Coming from the rift this time was a frozen temple-like object and clearly seen in the ice is Captain America and his shield, frozen. They spoke of alternate dimensions outside of ours beyond these rifts, so it could be related to that, but it looked a lot like Thanos' temple from Infinity Gauntlet, but the ice made it too difficult to tell, so it could be anything at this point. I thought the Cap shield meant a trip to Earth, but looks like they're going in a different direction.

Oh, one last thing, it seems the Church of Faith has a woman in charge and is quite interested in who the mysterious invaders of their ship were and it looks like they will be the villains of the piece.

Verdict - Must Read. If you like Green Lantern / GLC, Nova, Annihilation or fun team books, this is a must purchase for you. I'd recommend everyone give the first issue a shot at the very least. Easy jump on point, lots of great characters and solid art make this a hard to pass up book for anyone.

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Barry Kitson

As Secret Invasion is a comic book event and comic books don't typically kill off major characters, I didn't exactly expect the Fantastic Four, or two, since it's just Johnny and Thing, to die with that Skrull Negative Zone bomb set off in Secret Invasion #1, but I still get annoyed when it ends up being just a cheap gimmick used to build up suspense when we all know it means nothing.

Case in point, no one dies from this giant, swirling Negative Zone vortex and it was literally designed just to pull the Baxter Building and Reed Richards' inventions into the Negative Zone. What looked like some big, "OH SHIT", type explosion is simply another random day at the Baxter Building, as evidenced by one of the onlookers making the same joke in one of the panels about how stuff like that happens everyday with the FF.

So, while I did enjoy this issue, I have trouble accepting the very concept that it's built around, namely being sucked into the Negative Zone when they should be killed.

As for the issue, it does explain what happened to Sue Richards, sort of. For those interested, she was off on a conference in Vancouver during SI #1 and a Skrull Reed Richards was waiting for her in her hotel. She knew right away it wasn't him and the Skrull used his own invisible powers to disable Sue. Not sure why she isn't dead or why she was taken captive.

Meanwhile, we see the events, step by step, as the Skrull, who was revealed as Lyja, to no one's surprise, since it's been on covers for this series' solicits. In the Negative Zone, the Thing looks after the kids while fighting off some of Annihilus' bugs, which I assume didn't bother to join the invasion into our universe. Johnny, on the other hand, goes to check on Sue, who they saw enter the lab before the N-Zone portal blew open.

He starts questioning "Sue" and, through stupidity or just plain bad Skrull intel, Lyja can't remember Sue's favourite movie and is found out fairly easily. Good thing they are "undetectable". I guess Reed's big discovery before Pym shot him was the ability to ask the Skrull imposters questions.

Verdict - Check It. The creative team works well with what they were given by Bendis, so I can't fault them for an otherwise decent issue, but the majority of my complaints are more Secret Invasion related and the setup of this issue than the actual issue itself. I'll probably stick around for the whole thing, so it's not a terrible book by any means.

THUNDERBOLTS #120
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Mike Deodato

Man, they shouldn't release the Thunderbolts one-shots so close to the infrequent appearances of the actual book. It just makes the one-shots seem so much worse than they are and goes to show that very few are as twisted or insane as Ellis is.

As predited, Venom didn't suffer any fatal wounds in his epic battle with Swordsman last issue and the symbiote is actually repairing him as we speak. Swordsman seems to have regressed to a more childlike state as he stumbles aimlessly through the compound and the telepaths are ramping up their plans and now forcing the Tbolts to target civilian workers.

Oh, and Norman Osborn was awesome and has my vote for president. As witnessed throughout this storyarc, he's gradually been losing it, probably due to the telepaths, messed up meds by Moonstone and general Goblin insanity. This issue sees it come to a head as he goes to collect his Green Goblin costume and equipment from storage in one of the more entertaining naked dictations I've read as Norman makes mad plans for presidency, bemoans having to do everything himself, from knocking up (god, why are they referencing this?) and killing the blonde girlfriend (Gwen Stacy for those not in the know) to running the Thunderbolts. It's a great scene and you can look for it, and many other Goblin related scenes, in the Moments of the Week.

Once fully garbed in one of the cooler renditions of the Green Goblin costume to date, Norman begins searching for Swordsman and Venom to put a stop to their tantrums. He stops casually to ask two guards where they are and they can barely spit out an answer before he takes off, cackling all the way, to kill Venom and Swordsman. We later see him catching up to Swordsman, who is practically whimpering like a child, and verbally berates him, saying things like he was born when a pig coughed and so on before absolutely tearing into him with bombs and those razor sharp batarangs. We find Swordsman, later, crucified, with the batarangs pinning him to the wall, near death and bleeding profusely as we cut to Norman, who's about to slaughter the entire complex population thanks to the telepaths' prodding.

The other Thunderbolts weren't forgotten either. Radioactive Man wants to give everyone cancer and, before he can do anything, one of the guards starts bashing him in the back of the head, knocking him out. Songbird questioned him and he said he didn't want cancer and Songbird agreed and complimented him on a good job before leaving. Moonstone was pushed towards going after Doc Samson and Penance, who are still having a casual chat about him becoming Speedball again. I'm not sure how they will stop these telepaths, as everyone seems to be insane, incapacitated or under their control at this point, so I hope Ellis has thought that far ahead and we don't get some rushed conclusion.

Verdict - Must Read. It was another deliciously insane issue of Thunderbolts and makes me sad that Ellis has made enough money off of us and is going to go do other stuff now. Might want to trade wait on this one if you haven't been picking the series up, but it is definitely another amazing issue of Thunderbolts.

WONDER WOMAN #20
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Aaron Lopresti

This issue marks the beginning of the four part, Ends of the Earth, storyline. To be frank, I'm not sure what's going on in this issue, but I like it.

We begin with Wonder Woman in her winter garb, making her way through the harsh winter climate searching for the Mead Hall. She is beign followed by wolves, which she is forced to put down before finally entering the hall. In this winter waste land, she does not have her powers, but is still quite formidable.

There, she encounters Beowulf, the man she is looking for. It just so happens he is looking for Grendel in this place and it leads them to butting heads before agreeing to put their differences aside and teaming up against the other hall inhabitants, who all happen to be Grendel supporters.

Meanwhile, it cuts to Diana Prince at her job, six hours prior to the Beowulf encounter. She's been promoted by her boss, Director Steel, but he seems to have suspicions about her ability to survive encounters that would normally kill a person. I'm not sure if he knows she's Wonder Woman, but it's surprising how a pair of glasses can mask your identity in the DCU.

After the promotion, Diana and her friend, Etta Candy, celebrate over lunch before returning to her office, where the red eyed man from earlier issues is waiting. He has a sword, which Diana easily takes from him and knows she is Wonder Woman. He's not there to fight her and offers to let her use her lasso on him to see the truth.

What happens next is a bit odd, even for someone like me who knows very little about Wonder Woman. She goes almost catatonic and, in some panels that cut to her inner pysche, we learn that the man, known as Stalker, has no soul and Diana is trapped in an empty void of darkness. Etta grabs the lasso and enters this void and helps bring Diana back from the abyss, but she still remains in shock afterwards. Stalker then reveals that Diana isn't strong enough to do what he wants and has helped remove her compassion so that she can help him kill D'Grth, otherwise known as the Devil. Not sure if this is Neron in the DCU or not.

Verdict - Check It. The art was excellent and I especially enjoyed Wonder Woman's arctic attire and the entire Beowulf section. The entire issue, while a bit confusing as to how or why she was searching for Beowulf didn't bother me so much as it made me want to find out more, which is a good thing. I'm not sure if this whole kill the devil routine will end up being a great story or not, so I left this as a tentative Check It, despite enjoying the issue a great deal.

Anti-Venom - Where Have I Seen That Pose Before?

2008-05-13T22:19:00.002-03:00

I'm not here to accuse John Romita Jr of swiping his own images or anything ridiculous like that. I'm just sharing something that had bugged me about the Anti-Venom image. From the minute I first saw it, I knew I had seen something similar from JRJr before and I finally found it with this Spider-Carnage image from back when Ben Reilly was bonded with it.

Obviously, from just looking at it, they are not the same, but I still find the similarities striking and I guess it just goes to show that it's hard for the supposed dynamic poses for these types of reveals to be entirely original, even from the same artists.

Post-Crisis Comic Book Previews for 05/14/08

2008-05-12T19:28:00.005-03:00

Mother of god. There are slow weeks like last week and then there are the ones like this week that make my wallet weep. It seems like a plethora of new titles or storylines have brought me back to books this week, ranging from the debuts of Guardians of the Galaxy to Skydolls to the new storylines in Brand New Day (!) and Batman's RIP. Add my regular pull list to that and I'll be eating cup ramen until next payday.

Enjoy the previews and don't be afraid to let me know what's on your list or what you're looking forward to this week and why!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #559
Written by Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin

Peter Parker: Paparazzi! Part 1 of 3
"The Money Shot"
The DB, New York's trashiest tabloid, has just hired the sleaziest, most muckraking, lowlife paparazzi of them all...PETER PARKER?! Say it ain't so, true believer! Also in this ish, J. Jonah Jameson finds inner peace and harmony...(Hey, it could happen! Maybe.) All this and the first ever livestreaming super-villain: Screwball!
Dan Slott returns to Spidey, and he's bringing Marcos Martin (DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH) with him!

Kirk Says: Amazing Spider-Man? Back on the pull list? What the hell? Well, the short and long of it is that Screwball, with Slott's typical humour at the helm, was one of the only new villains that interested me, along with Mr Negative, and I decided to give the book another crack after the equivilent of about a year's worth of stories in the Brand New Day era. One thing that might be beneficial to this new thrice monthly deal is that you can wait a few months and hope something new comes along to get you back into it with these relatively self contained stories. Let's see if they can win back a reader with this arc.

BATMAN #676
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea

Are you ready for "Batman R.I.P."?

Beginning the epic story that will change the legend of the Dark Knight forever! Everything in Grant Morrison's groundbreaking run on Batman has been leading to this story, and nothing will ever be the same again.

Who will live? Who will die? Who will be Batman? The answers are sure to shock you in "Batman R.I.P.," featuring artwork by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea and covers by Alex Ross.

Kirk Says: I loved the opening arcs of Morrison's Batman. They were off the wall, filled with unique and new ideas and made the book fresh. However, the longer it went on, the less it felt like it was actually a Batman book and I dropped after the disasterous Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul event.

It looks like RIP will be a huge, "status quo altering" event, just like the Resurrection was, so I'm going to take another sip of the Kool-aid and see if things have improved as of late.

BOOSTER GOLD #9
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

"Blue and Gold" continues as the Justice League International returns! In a desperate attempt to correct time, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are forced to rebuild the team that defined them so long ago! But can what's left of the JLI stop Max Lord and save the world from his O.M.A.C.s?

Kirk Says: To be frank, this book is quickly losing my interest. It started out as a hilarious romp through the DCU's history with Skeets and Booster and their various team ups and it's quickly devolved into a rather generic alternate future story and there isn't an ounce of that wit and charm that the first half a dozen issues had. I'll stick it out until issue twelve, when Johns and Katz are scheduled to leave, but I doubt I'll be around after that, if the book even survives their departure.

GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8 (OF 9)
Written by Frank Tieri
Art by J. Calafiore and Jack Purcell

Featuring Spoiler! Penguin and his troops now control the Gotham underworld scene — but when the various gangs under his control start squabbling among themselves, can even the Penguin stop his empire from crumbling? Plus, Batman vs. the Vigilante!

Kirk Says: The whole Spoiler mystery seems redundant now that she's been seen in Robin and even unmasked in those issues. Despite that, I've grown to like this series. It's not great, but it manages to keep its head above water long enough to tell a story and dishes out the odd surprise here and there.

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #8
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Mike Norton and Wayne Faucher

Still on the trail of the people responsible for Connor Hawke's condition — and subsequent disappearance — Green Arrow and Black Canary face their uncertain pasts…and a future of uncertainty! And Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins won't make that easy!

Kirk Says: Everytime I see a new issue of this on the list, I keep wondering how long this mini-series is going to last before I realize it's actually a monthly. I don't know why, but I can't help but think of this on-going as anything but a mini.

If you ignore all the inconsistencies and strange twists and turns, you'll probably enjoy this series. You pretty much have to ignore thigns like Ollie using a gay sex and donkey show as his means of interrogation from last issue and everyone having laughs over it while his son has been kidnapped after being shot by a mysterious and evil cloud and is now "brain dead".

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #24
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins

As their quest to track down Sinestro Corps rings continues, the Green Lantern Corps discover to their horror that fellow Lanterns Sodam and Arisia have been captured by Mongul and subjected to the dreaded Black Mercy, causing their deadliest fears to be dragged into the light.

Kirk Says: I was never a fan of these Black Mercy plants. They just seem to be used for the generic "dream realization" or fantasy illusion for the heroes to overcome before they usually pound Mongul into the ground, despite his supposed powerhouse status. It typically ends up 15 or so pages worth of dreams before they break out and then the quick wrap up I just spoke of and I feel ripped off everytime I see these damn plants. Add in Ion being captured so easily and enslaved by them and it's even more deus ex machina.

However, I've enjoyed just about every Tomasi penned issue of GLC and I'm hoping he avoids the generic pitfalls of these plants and gives us something worth while.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier

Launching out of ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST, Marvel’s sci-fi heroes unite to protect the cosmos! Back-to-back Annihilation wars have weakened the boundaries of our universe. Dark gods and monsters are seeping through the cracks, reigning horror upon those still reeling from the recent calamities. In the face of terror, who stands to defend a desperate universe? Star-Lord and his squad of butt-kickers – the modern day Guardians of the Galaxy! You’ve heard that ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST rocks – the guy at the comic shop keeps telling you to try NOVA – well, now’s your chance to experience the glory that writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning and artist Paul Pelletier can unleash! All this…plus a wise-cracking raccoon and a telepathic dog!
C’mon, people, time to lock and load!

Kirk Says: I wouldn't say Conquest "rocks", but it definitely had its moments. I think the scope and scale of the setup was great, but it then dove tailed into something lowbeat, like infiltration and Ultron getting new bodies and turning into a 100ft robot. Great concept, poor execution, but just enough to make it an entertaining, if not perfect, read.

That said, Starlord and his crew were the best part of the event and I can't wait to see more of them, especially Mantis, Groot and Rocket Raccoon. I could do without Wraith or Quasar, but we do get a monthly with Gamora, Warlock and Drax, three more of my favourite characters. I'm hoping this turns into the Green Lantern Corps to Nova's Green Lantern for the Marvel Universe and gives us a decent cosmic selection of titles for the first time in years.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #15
Written by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham and Ruy Jose

"Thy Kingdom Come" continues! The cracks begin to show within the Justice Society as the "Heartbreak Slayer" stands revealed. Now, the Justice Society are face-to-face with an ancient being whose mission to help the world surpasses even their own.

Kirk Says: The cliffhanger ending, and all of the last issue, was amazing and Johns is finally giving us what was promised with this less than spectacular and, what I'd describe so far as, boring storyline. I can't believe it's taken so long to get to this point, but this book just skyrocketted back up to the top of my list.

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Barry Kitson

"NO ONE GETS BACK ALIVE!"
Part 1 (of 3): "Negative Energy"
The invasion has started, and no one in the MU is safe, not even the First Family of Comicdom! Aware that some of the Earth's most advanced technology and weaponry is housed in the Baxter Building, the Skrulls have neutralized the building--by transporting it and its inhabitants straight to the Negative Zone! With one member of the Fantastic Four M.I.A. and another "replaced," it's up to the remaining family members--not to mention Franklin and Val—to get back to our dimension, Skrulls or no Skrulls. But are any of our heroes who they think they are?

Kirk Says: The reason I'm grabbing this tie-in series, despite my disinterest in Secret Invasion, is that I'm digging the creative team slated for this book and I was curious to find out what happened to the Fantastic Four, specifically Reed, after the Pym reveal, and how Invisible Woman was replaced to begin with. It's kind of sad those things aren't being explained in the main series, but I guess the Fantastic Four won't be a big part of this Skrull invasion for some reason.

SKY DOLL #1
Written by Barbara Canepa & Alessandro Barbucci
Art by Alessandro Barbucci

The internationally acclaimed best-seller is now finally presented in English! Meet Noa, a so-called Sky Doll; a life-like female android without rights, who exists only to serve the State's needs and desires. But when Noa meets two so-called "missionaries" who aid in her escape from her tyrannical master, all hell breaks loose for our cyborg siren as she uncovers clues that she may be much more than just a robotic toy. The first release in a new partnership between Marvel and cutting-edge French publisher Soleil!

Kirk Says: First thing I noticed, after having seen the original cover and solicit for this issue way back when, is that they have censored / edited it. There used to be a robotic nipple just under her crossed arm on that breast that was just barely visible (don't ask me why I remember such details). Now, this might just be a "revised" version for shelves so small children buying books with women overly sexualized and typically stuffed in refridgerators don't see, gasp, a robotic nipple, of which Batman movies have featured rubber ones on costumes, but I'm also fearful that the interior of this issue may have undergone similar treatment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not buying books for boob or ass shots, but I also believe in artistic expression, the original message intended and all that jazz. As such, I'm going to be highly disappointed if Marvel went to such lengths to edit the interiors of a MAX labelled mature readers book.

As for the book, I think this is a title everyone should make room for in their budget. I've read the first issue already and was thoroughly impressed with the unique writing style, beautiful artwork and fantastic story of the book. It's an excellent blend of themes that touches on religion, politics and sexuality, but it is by no means a porn rag and there's only a handful of scenes that features nipple shots and there wasn't any sex or other questionable things in the book to my knowledge.

The fact this received a MAX and mature readers label at all is kind of a sad reminder of the western mind frame where having women with their 44DD breasts in skimpy costumes punching holes in bad guys and snapping villains' necks is more acceptible than a non-sexualized robotic nipple to the point that the latter is censored and labled as inappropriate material.

In conclusion, please give this book a try. I'd love to see more books like this come out over here and I think most people will enjoy this book, provided you're willing to try non-super hero comics.

THUNDERBOLTS #120
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Mike Deodato

It’s all-out war inside a locked-down Thunderbolts Mountain, where a team of rogue psychics are twisting the minds of the field team. Venom's on the loose, the Swordsman has reverted to the crimes of his father, Norman Osborn is losing it...but the psychics have already written off one Thunderbolt, and completely forgotten about another...

Kirk Says: Hmm, looks like Venom is relatively fine, after receiving that skewering from Swordsman last issue, on the cover, but those are rarely accurate to begin with, so who knows how he is.

If I had known the delays would be this long, I think I would have trade waited this series. It really kills the momentum of Venom eating a bunch of guards and having an epic battle with Swordsman from last issue when it's two or three months between issues. I'm still looking forward to this, but excitement fades after so long a wait.

WOLVERINE #65
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

“GET MYSTIQUE,” Part 4
"Get Mystique" comes to its bloody conclusion in the deserts of Iraq. The quest for Mystique is over, and now the no-holds-barred face-off between her and Logan begins. Only one will walk away, but both will pay a price.

Kirk Says: This has been the most enjoyable Wolverine story I've read in ages. If Aaron's going to be sticking around after this issue, I think this book might be finding a permanent spot on my pull list.

X-MEN ORIGIN: COLOSSUS #1
Written by Chris Yost & Craig Kyle
Art by Trevor Hairsine

The origin of fan-favorite X-Man Colossus is finally revealed, brought to you by Chris Yost (New X-Men, Messiah Complex) and Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis). Deep in the wastes of Siberia, young Piotr Rasputin discovers his mutant abilities -- and becomes the newest target of the ruthless KGB! Guest-starring Professor Xavier.

Kirk Says: I don't even like Colossus and I'm buying this issue on the strength of Yost and Kyle's work on New X-Men and X-Force and that's not something I typically do for any writer or artist. If they can make Colossus interesting outside the random Russian or language joke, then I do believe miracles can happen.

Iron Man Movie Review

2008-05-11T23:28:00.006-03:00

I saw Iron Man on Thursday and was completely blown away by it. I loved all the trailers for it, especially the one with the "I am Iron Man" music playing, but I was kind of on the fence in regards to if it was going to be good or if the trailer had all the good parts in it, as it looked like it was just going to be Iron Man vs. some jets and a knock off armour. Thankfully, it was the former and few movies have I enjoyed for every minute, from start to finish, like I did with this movie.

As always, my reviews are full of spoilers and this will be no exception. So, if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'd recommend holding off on reading this until you do so. I won't go into a full plot breakdown, as that's covered in a variety of other places already, but there will be spoilers, so tread lightly.

First off, I just want to show off this awesome fan-made costume someone made for the opening a couple weeks back. I wish I had the time or motivation to make something like that, but, for now, I'll just have to stare on with nerd envy.

What I Liked

Not Just An Origin Story

While this is a standard super-hero origin movie, it actually had a story, fleshed out characters and real action, unlike others that just have the hero fly around or pose in their costume while showing off powers one after another.

Great Characters

Robert Downey Jr will forever be known as Tony Stark in my mind. He was absolutely perfect. Many forget, with all of Downey's troubles in his personal life, that he's an exceptional actor and without him, I don't even want to imagine how this movie would have turned out.

Also, Jeff Bridges turned what could have been an overacted and Superman Returns' Lex Luthor-ish performance into a menacing villain that didn't fall into the typical super villain tripe.

Other key performances came from Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, who I can't wait to see in the sequel, and, surprisingly, a perfect performance from Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots.

Fan Service

There was plenty of fan service for the comic fanboys. My favourite was the "Next time, baby." line from Jim Rhodes, as he looks longingly at the prototype black and grey Iron Man armour, alluding to his War Machine armour.

Another great, but obscure, one was the Iron Man cartoon theme song. You'll have to be quick to notice it, but it shows up in a rather obscure form and I'll let you guys pick it out, if you haven't already.

I guess the biggest one was the Nick Fury and Avengers Initiative bonus clip at the end of the credits. I love the new Marvel Studios due to stuff like this. It actually feels like a universe now that we can see "crossovers" like this in the movies. I can't believe DC and Warner Bros hasn't exploited this with their movies yet.

No "Tobey McGuire Syndrome"

By this, I mean the fact Iron Man doesn't lose his helmet in the first 5 seconds of every encounter just so we can see the damn actor's face. We know who's playing the character. You pay them millions of dollars. There's no reason for the mask to come off all the goddamn time!

Thankfully, this only happens once and for a very brief moment, and in a very plausible situation, in the final battle with Iron Monger / Stane. They kind of get around this with the interior armour shots of Stark's face and his HUD inside the armour alla Tony's Extremis interior views in the comics. These felt natural and didn't pull me out of the movie like seeing Christian Bale or Tobey McGuire instead of Batman and Spider-Man, the actual characters I came to see for those movies.

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

I know I said this already, but he really makes this movie. The switch from the boozy, womanizing asshole that only cares about making weapons and money at the beginning of the movie is almost the story of his life and Downey displays the perfect amount of emotion during his trials after being captured and dispalying Stark's newfound resolve to change the world. I can't believe I'm even contemplating this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get an Oscar nomination for his role, something I never thought a "comic book movie" actor could possibly do.

Fun fact - one of my best friends and former university roommate is named Robert Downey Jr. Yes, he's even a Jr.

Action and Special Effects

They don't go overboard on the action scenes, but this isn't the Hulk movie from a few years back where all we saw was Hulk throw a tank and punch a couple dogs before fighting a water cloud at the end or Superman Returns where the villain of the movie is a giant rock. Bolstered by a great story and competent actors, the action scenes add just the right amount of excitement and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Whether it's his escape in his original Iron Man armour or the badass walking away as the tank blows up scene or his final fight with Iron Monger, there are no "filler" action scenes here. Everything is perfectly excuted and leave you dying to see what they'll throw at you next.

On top of this, the suit and all the effects were amazing. I'm surprised at just how often we got to see the suit in action, as it must have eaten up a nice chunk of their budget animating it.

What I Didn't Like

It Ended

Seriously, we have to wait three more years for a sequel? I hope they film two back to back next time or I may go into withdrawal.

The Power Source On The Chest

This is a small nitpick, but the suit is covered in titanium gold alloy, yet they leave this bright, glowing power source right in the center with what looks like a glass case covering it. Even on the Iron Monger armour, they don't go to any length to cover it up and I half expected Tony to just rip it out of his chest at some point to end the fight. I've suspended my disbelief with everything about the movie already, so I'll just assume it's some invisible paint or ridiculously strong glass or plastic covering.

No Mandarin

Another small complaint, but he is pretty much the only big name Iron Man villain outside the odd Dr Doom adventure and he's primarily a Fantastic Four villain anyways. They reference him with the Ten Rings named terrorist cell and talk of Ghangis Kahn, so I expect he'll be in the next movie. I think he could be the first recurring villain for 2 and 3 if they go with the traditional Mandarin appearance and rings on fingers followed by the current Knauf version with them embedded in his spine. I think the movie turned out better without him, though, as they were mainly doing the origin this time around, so I guess it was for the best he didn't appear.

Verdict - Must See

Great story, great characters, lots of comedy and the most faithful comic book to movie adaptation to date. I don't typically do this, but I'm probably going to go see this again next week when my brother comes for a visit. It was that damn good.

As you can see from the likes and dislikes, there's almost nothing I can fault this film with that wouldn't just come off as nitpicking. I don't even go into the comical parts of the film, like Tony and Jim drinking sake on his private jet or Tony's workshop AI's and his bloopers while testing out the prototype Iron Man suit. Oh, and let's not forget, "Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!". Truely the greatest meme to come from that movie and a hilarious line that could have been extremely corny, or cornier, if delivered from another actor.

The Dark Knight Returns and Hulk have their work cut out for them if they want to measure up to Iron Man in the battle for Best Comic Book Movie this year. I'm still going to both movies, but the bar has been significantly raised for them and any future comic book movies.

Before I wrap this up, here's a cool shop of an Iron Man still shot depicting what War Machine could potentially look like in the inevitable Iron Man 2. There's a small bit of red visible on the helmet if you look closely, but, overall, I think the unknown creator did a great job on it and that small defect can easily be overlooked. Add a little bulk to his armour and it would be perfect.

Comic Book Moments of the Week for 05/07/08

2008-05-10T15:20:00.010-03:00

There weren't as many moments as I thought there would be this week, but I somehow managed to find a nice collection for you guys. House of Mystery is now on my "most f'd up" list after coming across a scene from its debut issue. I didn't even want to post the images here, as I don't have a spoiler option to hide it from people, so just put links from imageshack for those curious, and brave, enough to view it. Some things, once seen, cannot be unseen. Enjoy the moments and check back tomorrow for some Iron Man movie review action.

ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #11

"And. They're. All. CRIMINALS."

This was one of my favourite scenes in the book, mainly because of the dialogue, as the art was basically a series of cut and paste affairs with the odd change in expression. I actually kind of agree with Lex's line of reasoning here. Of course, dedicating your life to killing Superman seems counterproductive compared to just curing cancer or famine and reaping the rewards and accolades from that and proving human superiority that way, but, hey, it's a hobby.

"I am Lex Luthor."

Yet another great scene with Lex Luthor in this week's Annual. I'm a little unimpressed with the jobbing out of a Superman level goon in such a quick manner, but the whole issue was ripe with that kind of stuff. At least this was done by Lex instead of some D-listers.

"It was ME!"

Man, Superman is a dick. Lex put together all the weaponry, which even Supes used, assembled the Revenge Squad, helped take down everybody while Superman chatted with Zod and even put his ass on the line to infiltrate the fortress and jury rigged the pod to suck everyone back into the Negative Zone and Superman gives all the credit to the kid while Lex goes to jail? Now, I know how Lex has felt all these years. Even I want to kill him after reading this.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1

Click Here For the Most Disturbing Thing I've Seen In A Long Time

I'm serious, the above link is not for the faint of heart and I'm not talking something like The Walking Dead, where a baby and mother were shot, or the Punisher MAX moments, where it looked like Baracuda shot a baby in the face. This is like something from the most disturbing corners of the Japanese hentai world.

INVINCIBILE IRON MAN #1

"Shut up, you're fired. Can I fire you?"

Good to see Tony and Jim carrying on like this again. Jim is surprisingly missing from the Knauf's work and it was nice seeing Fraction bring him into this book, if only in cameo form.

NOVA #13

"How does the Surfer's board make a "SHOOOMMM" sound in space?"

That's a badass looking Galactus. Rare to see a slightly modified version of him in the comics, but I loved the addition of the stars and planets in his torso. Could just be something to do with eating a planet, but made for a great image, nonetheless. The last page with the Silver Surfer grabbing Nova made for an evil cliffhanger, in that it will be another 30 days before we get to see the next issue.

SECRET INVASION #2

"A dinosaur? In the Savage Land? That's new."

After a couple pages of rather generic fight scenes, where we don't really see anything except grappling, the whole thing was wrapped up with a dinosaur barging in on them and ending the fight? Half the people present could have simply hit it with their pinky and stopped it. How did it manage to end a fight between 30 or so of the Earth's so-called Mightiest Heroes? Clearly, the only solution to the Skrull problem is to have Deadpool bring a large contingent of dinosaurs from the Savage Land back to New York, alla the last issue of his series.

"Wallpaper'd."

What an awesome final splashpage to this issue. It almost made the issue worthwhile. Almost. I'm a little confused at who would honestly want Doc Ock's tentacles when they could just make him another Thor Skrull, but I guess there's a limited supply of hammer's and that guy got stuck out in the cold in the powers department. My favourite is the Mr Fantastic Strange Bolt Man, who seems to have Reed's stretching, Dr Strange's cape, Black Bolt's antenae and Iron Man's gauntlet.

Anyone have any idea who the guy in the lower right corner is supposed to be? All I can think of is Sabertooth for the claws, but can't place anything else.

X-FACTOR: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD #1

"This here is just messed up."

Quicksilver is going a little stir crazy here. I know I'd be freaking if I was in a cell with someone like that.

"I can fly! Oh wait, no I can't."

I'm not sure if his powers cut out or if he's just not Flash enough to spin his arm's fast enough to fly, but watching him bounce of the plane and hit the ocean makes me wonder where he got the super strength / durability to survive that.

YOUNG X-MEN #2

"I hate you Cyclops."

There were some mutant detector thingy's given to the members in the comic shortly after this and Santo's said there were only 5 mutants present for the 6 of them, counting Cyclops. I'm praying that it's not broken and Cyke is a fake. It's possible Ink is the false one, though, seeing as he betrayed them at the end of the issue. He seems to know too much to not be Cyclops at this point, but it just doesn't make sense if it is him. Even if it turns out to be a fake, it won't fix bad writing and this series won't get any better because of it.