May 2009 Reads Part IV.

Avengers: The Initiative #24 - This book is starting to get very interesting. I've been reading it off and on, but I think it's finally going to make it onto the regular pull list. There is a lot going on in this book, and they constantly refer back to earlier stories and characters, so it's a little tough for me to follow right now, but things are changing very rapidly for this team and it's starting to come together in a pretty good way. There might be a couple of factions and there will definitely be a lot of disgruntled heroes in the Initiative by the time it's over. It's been a pleasant surprise lately and I'm going to keep on reading.

Guardians of the Galaxy #14 - This one was a little bit of a disappointment, as it was mainly a set-up issue for next month, but I'm hoping that next month's issue makes up for it. One thing I like about the series are the "interviews" that are interspersed throughout the story, and I don't think there was one until the middle of the issue. It was long enough for me to notice, and then there was one when I flipped to the next page. So there was a lot of action going on in this one, but I enjoy the interviews because that's where most of the comic relief takes place. Speaking of comic relief, Rocket and Groot were missing from most of the story, so maybe that's another reason why I thought this one was just average. By no means am I thinking of dropping the title, I was just a little disappointed because I look forward to this series the most. But this was one of those issues that needed to be there to advance the story, so I'm not too mad. Hopefully it will return to it's regularly scheduled awesomeness next month.

Incredible Hercules #129 - This one was a whole lot of fun. Herc and company head to the Underworld (the one ruled by Pluto, not the normal Marvel underworld ruled by the Kingpin or Doom or whoever it is this week), which is a casino in Atlantic City. All kinds of hi-jinks ensue. I don't think this one had much of a flashback involved, which is when the series really shines, but it was a very entertaining issue and, as usual, I can't wait to read it when I get home. I'm also excited that it's going to be coming out twice a month soon, it's going to be double the awesomeness. I can honestly say that I've never read a bad issue and if you're not reading this series, there is something wrong with you.

Moon Knight #30 - I've been debating about dropping this one. The latest arc has been entertaining, but it's mainly because of the Luchador hitman twins more than the main character. And I'm a big Moon Knight fan, so it's been a little tough. It does help that it looks like Moonie is going back to New York to try and take on Norman Osbourne, so I'm kind of wondering why this story arc even existed. I guess they just didn't have anything planned for the book or know how to use him. I thought the issues with the Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers were great and I was expecting a lot more of that. But the last couple of issues have really wondered from that path and I can't really say that they added to the series because they're kind of irrelevant now; as I said, he's going back to NYC to basically pick up where he left off. And that seems like the norm for the Dark Reign Era, a lot of books are on this alternate tangent kick for 5-8 issues and then now they're back to normal events (I talk about it later in regards to the Wolverine series). And in my opinion it cheapens both events; it cheapens the current arc because it's essentially a throw-away story that doesn't add anything to the character(s) development, and it hurts the bigger event because it starts and then stops what's going on. I just don't think Marvel was fully prepared for how much their books would change with this thing. I'm going to hope for the best and give Moon Knight some extra rope because he's one of my favs; if he wasn't I would have cut this book already.

New Avengers #53 - Lately, I've been very having a very hard time with the books that Marvel has bumped up to $3.99 because there's no "added value". The page count is the same, the content is the same, so why the extra dough? I really have a hard time with this when one of my favorite comics that are regular price is released in the same week. This was still a good issue, but I got way more enjoyment out of Incredible Hercules than I did out of this one and Herc is the normal price. So, why am I paying more for this? Especially when it seems like a lot of these stories are stretched out for months rather needlessly. To review the book, it was good, there are a lot of funny and great moments, I just don't think it justifies the extra dollar.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #41 - You know, I really haven't been the biggest fan of the current story arc. I'm glad it's over because the next arc looks like it's going to be good. I do like that they take a break from all of the heavy stories and do a caper/heist arc every once in-awhile, but this one was just, weird. It didn't have a lot of Gryph, especially in the last issue, and that's where these caper/heist stories are most entertaining. But that's a moot point because this arc is over with, and I think it will be back to more of the mystery/reveal part of the series, as two of the characters have some backstory that needs to be explained.

Star Wars: Legacy #36 - This issue was so bad I didn't even bother reading it. They're doing this thing where every couple of issues they focus on what's going on in different parts of the Galaxy and, seriously, I just don't care. They're always overwritten and half the time I just know know or care what's going on. And it's always disappointing when I open an issue to find out that it's not about the main storyline. I was REALLY disappointed this time, but I tried to read it. I got about a page and a half. Just way too many words and way too much story about things I don't care about. I really don't even remember why I started buying this one, I'm really considering dropping it at this point.

Wolverine #72 - So this one FINALLY came out, and it was pretty good. I still think (and from what I read, a lot of people feel the same way) that Marvel screwed the pooch on the releasing schedule and they've confused a lot of people. The fact that this one concludes in a one-shot doesn't help matters. They should have just made it a seven or eight issue (or whatever it's up to now) limited series. But I don't think they had a plan for this title in-between Secret Invasion and Dark Reign, and this was probably something they had plotted for it's own series, so they just stuck it in as a place holder until the book becomes "Dark Wolverine". As I said, it was pretty good, including the Red Skull psychotic monologue where he dons Cap's costume like Buffalo Bill in "The Silence of the Lambs". The ending was kind of lame in my opinion; they basically spent seven issues and it's going to end exactly where everyone thought it would. The last panel did give me some chills though. I'm hoping for a lot of punching and slashing in the finale.

Wolverine: First Class #15 - For some reason I keep buying this series, even though every month I have the conversation with myself in the store that this book doesn't contribute to anything in regards to current events or current continuity, but every month I buy it and every month it's a fun read. This one is no exception. Thor alone would be enough, but Kitty's crush on him and the first couple of pages where she is trying to get Logan to get Thor to drop by her school so she can impress her friends was an added bonus. Plus there are a lot of funny moments like where Thor kind of stumbles through Wolvie's "Best There Is" line and the part where Wolvie's logic for getting introduced to Thor; there are three super heroes around, SOMETHING is going to happen. Smartly written and entertaining. I'm sure I'm going have the same conversation with myself next month, but I'm going to keep buying this one.

Wolverine: Origins #36 - Yeah, three Wolverine book in one week. Pretty rough. Can't you spread these out over the month, Marvel? Wasn't that the point of having multiple Wolvie books? In regards to this issue; I guess I don't remember what happened in the last issue or something is out of order or I accidentally skipped an issue or something because I don't remember where the beginning of of this issue picked up from. The ending was pretty disappointing because this whole arc has been setting up a confrontation between Wolvie and Dakan after Daken has two of his claws coated in the Muramasa blade's metal, and when that happens, they cheat the audience and it doesn't really happen. Very disappointing.

X-Force #15 - This story was just starting to get good and then they had to fill a couple of pages of useless dialogue and fighting right before they hint that Apocalypse is going to make a comeback and then they end it with a "to be continued in the next issue of Cable". This means; A. I've gotta buy another issue of Cable, which is a series I've been chomping at the bit to drop, and B. It didn't say "concluded" it said "continued", so there's AT LEAST one more issue of some book, be it X-Force or a one-shot that will finally wrap this thing up.

X-Men: Legacy #224 - For a book that has been prominently featuring Gambit and Rouge, who are two characters that I don't particularly care for (especially Gambit, Rouge I'm kind of just indifferent to) as well as the Danger Room robot (a story line that I thought was pretty ridiculous, even for a comic book), this one wasn't that bad. It was pretty entertaining. I was kind of shocked by that. It did kind of wrap up the current story arc, so at least we're moving on to bigger things next month. If you believe the solicitation for next month's issue, it says that Xavier's Legacy journey ends, but I'll believe it when I see it.

May 2009 Reads Part III.

Agents of Atlas #5 - This series just keeps getting better. It also doesn't hurt to have The New Avengers guest star. This issue was just so much fun, lots of action and fighting and a lot of intrigue and setup for future story lines. I liked the reference to the backup story that I forgot where it appeared, but it featured a team-up with Wolverine and the Agents, and for some reason, M-11 (the super awesome robot team member) either still holds a grudge against him or has orders or programming to kill or capture him. I'm hoping this gets explained sometime soon. I look forward to this book coming out every month.

Fantasic Four #556 - This was a setup issue and I was kind of disappointed after I was done reading. It has an awesome cover and the first half was pretty good, I mean, when you feature a dead Watcher on a beach looking like a washed up whale and then have Reed Richards do an autopsy on said dead Watcher, it makes for an interesting story, but halfway through, it kind of just fell flat. The last panel was pretty cool, but of course the pages leading up to it were ambiguous at best and you have to wait until next month where they may or may not reveal more. I know the point is to keep your readers wanting more, but I thought this was a very uneven issue and I really haven't been too excited about this book for a couple of months. I'm contemplating dropping it.

Hulk #12 - Um, I have no idea what has been going on with this book for the last couple of issues. I think this is just a lot of filler until Hulk #600 comes out, which sucks, because they've bumped this book up to $3.99, and I hate spending even $2.99 on filler. I also don't understand why they bumped it up a buck, because it's been one of their best sellers and it's consistently in the top ten sales-wise each month. I think it's just a cheap way for Marvel to make an extra $100k a month. Lame. And Hulk #600 is going to be $4.99. Great. Thanks Marvel.

Invincible #62 - Yeah, I don't know how I feel about Invincible anymore. I was a little late to the party, and when I jumped on the bandwagon I still felt that the series was really good, but the last six issues or so have just been mediocre. I really wish I knew where this story was going. And that big event that Image was promoting really wasn't that great either. I am starting to consider dropping this title unless they turn it around and it gets better. I just don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I'm not saying it has to go back to what it was before, but it should have some entertainment value and I shouldn't be all "WTF, mate" after I'm done reading it.

Secret Six #9 - Oh my God, I loved this issue. For some reason, my store got it a week later than everyone else, so I was trying to avoid reading anything about it, and I'm glad I did. I was pretty much laughing 90% of my way through this book. The banter between Bane and Catman arguing over who is least qualified to replace Batman was awesome and Ragdoll dressed up as Robin was creepy and hilarious at the same time. This was just a really good book and I really think it's starting to hit it's stride, so I'm hoping the next couple of issues are as entertaining as this one. I am now looking forward to this book as much as I look forward to Guardians of the Galaxy, Incredible Hercules and Captain Britain and MI13. It's that good.

Thunderbolts #132 - You know, I really liked this issue. There wasn't much action going on, in fact I don't think there was any at all, but I liked it because it gave a little background on the current members of the Thunderbolts, who seemed to come out of nowhere after the events of Secret Invasion. The best part was seeing how they were reacting to being under Norman Osbourne's thumb, some of them are ok with it, some of them don't like it at all, some are super paranoid (for good reason) and some of them who were ok with it to begin with have some things to think about after they start talking to other team members. I liked the intricacies that this issue had and I hope it's an issue that the reader can look back to as being a pivotal piece in the current plot line. It also helps that there's a Songbird teaser at the end for the next issue. Can't wait for THAT to happen.

Uncanny X-Men #510 - This is going to sound like a broken record, I think I've already said it three times in this post, but this issue had the same problem that a couple of other issues had; I don't really know where the story is going and I've felt uninterested in the story and the characters for a couple of months. Seriously, I had to stop and try and remember what was going while I was reading it. And I couldn't really remember everything that had happened in the last couple of issues. That's not a good sign. I am hoping that this series is moving along to the next cross-over or what have you, because this story has been a little tiresome already.

Wolverine: Weapon X #2 - You know, I really don't remember what happened in the first issue of this series, and because I read like 900 Wolverine titles a month, it was kind of hard to remember. That didn't stop me from enjoying this book though. There are some really strange things going on in this book (like the sniper rifle that shoots a bullet that has 39 different forms of cancer in it), but it's fun and I'm actually looking forward to the next issue. I just need to dig up the first issue and reacquaint myself with the premise.

That's it for now, big week this week, I think I've got like 14 books to read on Thursday. Crazy.

May 2009 Reads Part II.

Captain Britain and MI:13 #13 - Hmmmm, I'm really not sure what happened in this book, because [spoiler alert] it seemed like half of the team died. So, that was kind of a bummer. I was starting to wonder if they had canceled the series are giving them this last story arc to wrap it up, but I'm sure that's not the case. It better not be, I just got the first trade and some back issues to catch up on the series. I'm hoping that this was just a setup for the next couple of kick-ass issues. I guess we'll find out next month. I guess the way it was written I just don't know how they're going to write themselves out of what happened. So I'm going to pick this one up just to see how they get out of this jam.

Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2 - This book was pretty fun and entertaining. A lot of punch/kick/shoot-em-up, but as I said, it's interesting. It's got Deadpool, the Punisher and Daredevil (in the last panel), so how can you really go wrong with that combination? I don't think you can. This was a fun issue with a lot of bullets, dismembering and jokes in between the bullets and dismembering, and I really like the art a lot; you really can't pull off an action book with as much fighting as this issue has if you don't know what you're doing, and I enjoyed Carlo Barberi's work, which is saying a lot because I normally don't comment on art.

Secret Warriors #4 - This was an issue that didn't have a whole lot of action, but I thought it was just as good as any issue so far, it set up a lot for the next issue and I liked Dum-Dum's performance. It also has some mystery thrown in there, like is Nick Fury even a real person? That's the feeling I got when they found that room with all of the Life Model Decoy androids. They promised at the end that they were going to bring the action next month, and I can't wait. I said last week that Agents of Atlas (which is coming out again this week, which is pretty rad) and this book were the best things to come out of Secret Invasion and I still mean it.

Umbrella Academy: Dallas #6 - You know, I've been a little disappointed in the Dallas series and I think this last issue was just ok. I liked the twist about half-way through the book, but I dunno, something about the entire series has bugged me and I don't think it was as good as the first installment. It's still decent and I will continue to buy/read it, I just wasn't as impressed with the second story arc as I was with the first. It was a little disappointing in my opinion.

Wolverine #73 - Ok, what the hell is going on with the this Wolverine release schedule? #73 comes out BEFORE #72? And #72 is part 7 of 8 in that "Old Man Logan" story, but part 8 isn't listed anywhere as being released, because #73 continues into #74 and then in #75 it becomes "Dark Wolverine" and follows Dakan's story. I understand that was hard to follow, but WTF Marvel? When and where the hell does this Old Man Logan story finish up? And why the delay/weird publication release? (::UPDATED:: I guess there's going to be a giant-sized Wolverine one-shot that finishes it up. Awesome. I bet it's at least $3.99 and wouldn't be surprised if it's $4.99. Thanks, Marvel.)

ANYWAYS, I actually thought this issue was pretty fun. I really loved the first story, "A Day In The Life" by Jason Aaron and art by Adam Kubert. It was basically eight pages with a bunch of throw-away panels on each page. But it was so well done, it actually took me awhile to read it even though there was barely any dialogue because I was checking out every panel and laughing. Very well done story.

X-Factor #43 - I like to check in on X-Factor every once-in-awhile when there's an interesting issue in the previews, and I was kind of impressed with this one and I went back to the shop to see if they had any more back issues. There's a very interesting plot line where Madrox is stuck in the future and there's a cool future Cyclops that is pretty awesome.

May 2009 Reads Part I.

I haven't done this in awhile, so we'll see how long this lasts. On my heavy weeks, I probably won't get to every book, but I figure I can easily cover the lighter weeks. So, here we go.

Agents of Atlas #4 - I really love this series. It's been a very pleasant surprise and I think along with Secret Warriors, it's been one of the best titles to come out of the Secret Invasion crossover (yeah, Dark Avengers, not so much). A lot of people may say that the flashback plot device has been done before, but I like it and it makes sense; they never use it to the detriment of the story. I also like that it a robot and a talking Gorilla as part of the regular cast.

Cable #14 - Man, there has been a lot of filler in the last couple of issues, so I'm glad things are finally starting to pick up. I almost dropped it a couple of months ago, because it was booooooorrrrinnnnng, but then I found out that it was going to be one of the Messiah War books, so I decided to keep with it for a few more issues. I can't say that I'm glad I did, but this crossover has been interesting and, as I said before, now it's finally starting to get somewhere. I loved the Apocalypse sighting near the end, and I'm positive that he's going to be involved at some point, and that's the main reason why I'm going to keep buying.

Deadpool #10 - I know Deadpool is kind of a polarizing character, people either love him or hate him, but I just love reading this book, it's so much fun. I think people in the "hate" camp might like Deadpool a little better when they see what Danny Way has done with the character. I think this and the next couple of issues are going to be great because of Bullseye's involvement. I loved the set up and the start of the battle and the fact that they seem to be trying to one-up each other. It was just a really fun book with a nice balance and I highly suggest picking it up.

New Mutants #1 - Wow. This was pretty impressive. The Young X-Men make an appearance early on in the book and I'm hoping they integrate them a lot more, but I'm a little worried because Cannonball and the rest of the New Mutants kind of take an adversarial role in dealing with the younger group. I was kind of hoping that they'd be more like role models to the other kids as a way to integrate them into the story. Anyways, I like this one a lot, it flows very nicely, every panel seems to be there for a reason. One funny sidenote; I had read about the ending in one of those Marvel interviews with the writer, but then forgot about it, and when I read the ending, it still sort of shocked me. Then I went back and read a few pages and it made sense. So, it's really well written and it doesn't give away a whole lot until it needs to. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of issues.

War of Kings #3 - You know, I'm really digging this War of Kings crossover. It does help that one of my favorite books, Guardians of the Galaxy, is heavily involved in the plot line, but I do like "the cosmic stuff" even though I don't have a lot of background in it. As a kid, I loved any story with The Starjammers in it, and they are pretty much front and center in this story. I also always liked Havok, so it's cool to see him in a prominent, leadership role. This issue had a major, game-changing twist in it, and I like where it's going. I want to see how it concludes and how it effects the other titles I read that are involved in this thing. It's been pretty fun so far, so I'm expecting a good finish.

Crises

Thanks to the library, I finished up reading Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis recently. Both were better than I expected. As I've said here, I'm not much of a DC fan but got drawn into both stories even though I didn't know who some characters at all.

Identity Crisis doesn't really tie in to the whole Crisis multi-verse storylines DC is known for. Identity is a tight murder mystery story written by novelist Brad Meltzer. The identity of the killer and their motivation was a little bit of a letdown, but I did enjoy the story. I especially liked how it focused more on characters like Green Arrow and Zatanna, and the villain Doctor Light, who comes off looking like a threat. Rags Morales does a great job on pencilling the series, too.

Infinite Crisis deals with the multiple Earth storyline, and Earth Two's Superman, Superboy, Alex Luthor and Lois Lane wanting to make their Earth the true one. They consider Earth Two to be a more perfect world, as Earth One's Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman have all had their own individual meltdowns and struggles lately. JLA Watchtower has been destroyed and the entire DC Universe seems to be coming apart at the seems. Villains are uniting and all out chaos erupts. There are so many characters in this series it's hard to keep track of them all, especially to a casual DC fan like myself. Still, you can't help but get excited when the entire Green Lantern Corps races into space, Firestorm is taking care of business, and other characters are dying every few pages.

Infinite was a really thought out, well paced series. Since I'm always behind on comics, I'll have to wait until the trades come out for Final Crisis and/or the One Year Later storylines, but this series got me excited about the DCU.

August 2008 Reads, Part II.

Astonishing X-Men #26: I didn't really understand this one too well. I guess it's because I'm new to the series, but they kind of went off on an entirely new adventure, but they really didn't explain who they were going after. So it was kind of hard to follow and hard to keep up with. Also, do we really need them to mention THREE TIMES how heavy Wolverine is? I say we don't. We know his skeleton is made out of adamantium, we get it, he's heavy move on. I do like how Armor is kind of a major player in the X-Universe now. She's on this team and had a lot of face time in that Secret Invasion X-Men book (it's at the end of this review post). She's an interesting character and I like how she's been developed. Next to Ink, she's probably my favorite younger X-Man.

Fantastic Four #559: I think I am one of a very small group of people who likes this run. I think it's pretty interesting and there's a great balance to the book. They don't tell you everything, and there's just enough action to keep you interested. I'm interested to see how they pull it all together, because they just started to with this issue. There's a big cliffhanger ending on the last page, so it's kind of one of those "I really wish the next issue would hurry up and get here already" kind of situations. For some reason, I thought it had been an abnormally long while since the last issue was published, but I guess I was wrong.

Genext #4: Yeah, I'm pretty much waiting for this series to be over with. Next month it's done, and I couldn't be happier to cross it off of my buy list. This issue was actually pretty good, it's just the second and third issues lagged so much that the series became boring to me. And I really don't know what it's supposed to accomplish because it's only got one issue left. I guess it's just a one-off story about what would have happened if the X-Men aged correctly and then had kids. I guess I should have taken it at face value, but for some reason I was looking for more. I guess it's because I expected a lot more because Chris Claremont was involved. I dunno.

Secret Invasion #5: Yeah, so, this series has really dropped off in the last two or three issues. ::SPOILER WARNING:: So it turns out that ALL of the heroes in that spaceship were Skrulls. Even Mockingbird, who Hawkeye/Ronin thought was the real deal. So, understandably, he goes a little ape-s*%t after he has to kill her. In my opinion, this whole Skrull Spaceship situation that has taken place in the Savageland took WAY too long to tell. AND, they were all Skrulls anyway, so what was the point? I understand it was supposed to be a distraction and it was part of their plan to infect Tony Stark and Stark Industries with a virus, but really, this whole thing could have been wrapped up in two or three issues. Thanks for stretching things out Marvel.

Secret Invasion: X-Men #1: Definitely the best of the week. I had heard a lot of hype about this book and it claimed a lot of stuff, but it really delivered. The Skrulls attack San Francisco and they get plenty of resistance from the X-Men. I read an interview talking about how this book was going to be about the X-Men have been trained for war, and they really drive that home in this book. As disappointed as I was in the Fantastic Four Secret Invasion Series, I am incredibly impressed with this issue. I hope the rest of the series doesn't drop off like a lot of these Secret Invasion series have. One note: I understand we're dealing with Comic Book Logic here, but Wolverine being in the Savage Land for the Secret Invasion series , then in San Francisco for the X-Men series AND this series, then to fly somewhere in South America for the Astonishing series is a little too much. Not to mention that he's got two or three other series where he's off adventuring. That's why I think they're doing that "Old Man Logan" series right now, because he's overloaded right now. I'm just sayin'.

I'm also just sayin' that tonight I am going to buy; Guardians of the Galaxy #4 (Awesome!), Incredible Hercules #120 (It's like my parents got divorced and I get two Christmases!), Marvel 1985 #4 (Meh), Moon Knight #21 (This new story arc looks pretty awesome), Uncanny X-Men #501 (Already?), X-Factor #34, Young X-Men #5 (It's like THREE Christmases!!!) and I'm debating if I'm going to get that Layla Miller One-Shot or not.

August 2008 Reads, Part I.

Cable #6: For some reason, this one took me a long time to get through. It had a lot more words than normal, and that was a good thing. Normally, it's a five minute read - max, because it's a lot of shooting and running, and running and shooting. So this one was pretty interesting because it mainly focused on Cyclops in the current time line and how he's dealing with the decision to send his son (Cable) into the time stream with the mutant baby. There was also a lot of Emma looking hot in this book, but every time she's involved, be prepared for a lot words and psychological talk. I think that's why it took me so long to read it, there was a lot going on. This issue was slightly better than the normal issues, which have been pretty disappointing in my opinion.

Final Crisis #3: I keep forgetting to mention that I've been buying Final Crisis. Basically, I wanted to see what all of the hub-bub was about and if it was as good as the Secret Invasion books, because they are pretty similar; they're both shaking up their respective universes and they are big summer cross-overs. I've gotta say; I was lukewarm on this series to begin with, and this issue was pretty bad. Maybe it's because I'm not that familiar with the current state of affairs in the DC Universe, but I found it to be a hard book to follow. In my opinion, the Secret Invasion books are easier to read because you don't need to know every single thing that has gone on in the last two years to follow them. And I don't think it's because 90% of the comics I read are Marvel either, I've pretty much just gotten back into collecting in the last year after taking a considerable time off, so I think it's just how each series is executed. I think the Secret Invasion books are executed much better than the Final Crisis books have been. One thing that did get me a little excited was at the very end of the book because it involved time travel. I love time travel. I'll keep buying this for five more issues until it's done, but I won't be very happy about it.

Hulk #5: This was a fun one. Plenty of fighting and smashing. I have been considering dropping this book, but then every time I read it, I have fun, so I guess I'm going to keep buying it until it stops being fun. At the end of this issue, it had a "To Be Concluded..." in the last panel, so I guess they're will be some kind of closure to this Green Hulk/Red Hulk story. It also pretty much sets up another Red Hulk - Green Hulk collision, which should be fun. One thing that is annoying; this book has Iron Man in it and it's the "I can be on one coast of the U.S. on page twenty-two and then show up on the other coast of the U.S. by page twenty-four" variety. It's just lazy writing.

The Twelve #7: So, I keep making the same mistake every time The Twelve comes out; I leave it until last. I normally read new books on Wednesday night in bed right before I go to sleep. So I have a lot of trouble with the more verbose books if I leave them until later. I should always start with The Twelve. I think this was part of the reason that I didn't think Cable was that bad this month; I read it first and was able to get through it even though it was pretty wordy because I wasn't as tired as I was by the time I got around to reading this issue of The Twelve. So I read it the following night and it was a pretty solid issue. There's only five issues left so they need to start wrapping this up. There's also a major event that was revealed at the end of the first issue still has to happen. I liked this issue because it was more of a detective based story, it reminded me of reading Detective Comics in the mid to late '80s. I'm glad this one bounced back, I was a little worried there for a second.

Wolverine: Killing Made Simple: You know what? This was a pretty fun read. I've been kind of down on all of these Wolvie One-Shots because they seem to have a new one coming out every other month and they're $3.99 and they're just ok, but this one had a pretty good mix of fighting, killing and comedy. There's one part where he lists all of the ways that he can die, and it was pretty entertaining. I could have done without the preview of the issue of Wolverine that was released the week before. I guess they were short on pages.

Anyways, Wednesday I'll be buying; Astonishing X-Men #26, Fantastic Four #559, Genext #4 (Thank God it's almost over with), Kick-Ass #4, Secret Invasion #5, Secret Invasion: X-Men #1, and I'm thinking about getting Secret Invasion: Thor #1. I'll flip through it off the rack and make a decision.

July 2008 Reads Part IV.

Another pretty disappointing week.

Ms. Marvel #29: This one was a lot of fun. Not a whole lot of story involved, it was another slobber-knocker. Lots of pages of Carol kicking Skrull butt. It was a fun and fast read. BUT, the last couple of issues have been exactly like this one, without a whole lot of story to advance this whole Secret Invasion crossover. So I'm starting to think that this whole Secret Invasion thing is losing a lot of steam and I think they tried to do too much. It is also a pretty long cross-over, I think they could have compressed a lot of it into fewer issues. But since the limited series is eight issues, they've got stretch out all of the tie-in issues to fill that gap, which is pretty lame. I think this is a pretty cool idea, but I learned my lesson and I am going to be a lot more conservative when the next giant cross-over comes around. Unless it's X-Men related.

Skaar: Son of Hulk #2: Yeah, so, I think I'm dropping this. I didn't read the whole World War Hulk event last year, so I'm a little lost. Also, and this is just my opinion, but I don't think this book is very good. It's just full of a lot of stuff I don't get. Like, supposedly Skaar died, but he didn't? I really didn't understand that whole part. Did did have dragons involved which led to a part of the book where Skaar was jumping from dragon to dragon, killing both the riders and the dragons that were trying to kill him in return, so that was pretty freakin' cool. I might give this another issue or two, but if I don't like it after that, I'm pulling the plug.

Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four: You know, I'm glad this series is over. I've been saying for the last couple of months how I don't understand why this story couldn't have just been in the regular Fantastic Four series, and I stand by that. Why make us buy ANOTHER series, Marvel? I think they're just trying to drive sales with all of these tie-ins. Some of them are very good, but then this series is a good example of what looks like an opportunity to rob people of their money. Shame on you, Marvel. I mean, you guys aren't making enough money already? How about upping the quality? Personally, I think they're spread a little too thin and the bottom might fall out on them if they're not careful. Hopefully, they learned their lesson from the 90s. Like, knock it off with all of the variant covers already!

Wolverine #67: You know, the more I read this title, the more it seems like it's totally set up for the trades. Every story-arc lasts about about four to five issues, has a name and AT LEAST two of the issues are pointless and/or filler. This issue really did a whole lot of nothing. Once again, it's a cool idea and there were a couple of good pages, but I'm not paying $2.99 for a quarter of a book. I'm paying for the whole book, and if three-quarters of the book sucks and is filler, that doesn't make me happy. And EVERY SINGLE TIME, the last page has to be a full-pager with "The Cliff-Hanger Ending™". This series has just been so formulaic, boring and disappointing lately.

Wolverine: Orgins #27: This one gets the best of the week by default. It didn't blow me away, and it did seem like it was a filler issue for the trades, but it was decent enough. I mean, I didn't hate it. I guess that's not a ringing endorsement. So, one thing I don't really understand is when this series is supposed to take place. Wolvie wears his awesome Brown costume, so it's obviously supposed to be from the 70s/80s, but I've read elsewhere that it's supposed to run concurrent with the regular Wolverine title, and it's got characters in it like Winter Solider and Deadpool, which were introduced in the 90s. So, I really don't understand what time period this is supposed to be. Is it current or some time in the past? Speaking of Deadpool, Daniel Way is going to write that series, so I am expecting the awesomeness, because the Wolverine: Origins series has been pretty good. At least what I've read, which is the last couple of story arcs. I like Mr. Way's style, he always injects the funny in a story and it's never forced. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do with a naturally funny character. I can't wait for that first issue of Deadpool.

X-Men: Odd Man Out: I tried to read this one, I really did. A little back story, this book had two stories drawn by Dave Cockrum right before he died. So I bought it because I'm a Dave Cockrum fan. WAY too many words. Like, after the second page I started skimming and then after ten pages I flipped to the second story and after about five pages of that, I put it in a bag and board. It was mainly a recap of the history of the X-Men, which I knew anyway, so it wasn't that exciting. I some of the profits go to charity, so I was being a good human.

Next week we've got Cable #6 (still hanging in there), Hulk #5 (Thor!), The Twelve #7 (Yes!), and Wolverine: Killing Made Simple (Really tired of these Wolvie One-Shots, but whaddya gonna do?).

July 2008; The Last Two Weeks.

The last two weeks has been pretty much a mixed bag. Especially yesterday. I don't remember being that disappointed with so many books. So, instead of reviewing everything, which is a lot of work, I thought I'd pick a couple that I thought were good and a couple that I thought were disappointing. So here we go.

THE BEST:

Incredible Hercules #119: Once again, this is a great book and I personally think it's one of the top four comics that Marvel has been putting out. It is taking a long time for them to get to the Skrull home world though, but in the next issue Herc and one of the Skrull Gods will finally throw down. One disappointing thing though; they've kind of stopped the flashbacks that were a main part of the storytelling device, and I really miss that. I think it's only been in the last two issues or so, so hopefully it's just because of this Secret Invasion madness that's going on. I hope they return my regular Hercules series back to me when they're done with all of this.

Moon Knight #20: This was a pretty fun little story and it contained some pretty cool reprints, including Mooney's first appearance in Werewolf by Night #32. The story itself didn't really advance the series too much, so it was kind of a throw-away story, but it was kind of a nice break from all of the grim and seriousness that's been going on in the last couple of issues. It was a pretty big book too, so it paying the extra dollar was actually worth it this time. I didn't read the reprints, I just flipped through them, but I plan on going back and reading them sometime soon. It looked like it was way more interesting than some of the other books that I've bought lately that contain reprints. Mooney had a much different costume when he first appeared, he kind of looks like an all-white Tusken Raider.

Thunderbolts #122: Every month I write about how awesome this book is. It's just really witty and well done. And it has a bunch of interesting characters. The end is very interesting because it sets up the next issue, which will finally get to a major plot point in this Secret Invasion cross-over that I'm pretty sure was brought up four months ago in Secret Invasion #1. There are several laugh-out-loud moments in this issue and some interesting twists to the group dynamic.

One side note: I've been reading the back-issues of the Thunderbolts series and I just finished the "Fight Club" part. I don't really understand that. They had a series, with an established team, and then after about seventy issues of that they basically suspend the entire series to tell an unrelated story about unrelated characters that lasts for about six issues? Who's idea was that? No wonder the title got canceled. I still have about 40 some-odd issues until I'm totally caught up, but I think it's been interesting to read where the series has been.

Wolverine: First Class #5: This was a fun little story. I was a little on the fence about this series after the previous "Knights of Wundagore" 2-issue story, but once I saw that Alpha Flight was involved, I knew I had to give the series another shot. It is interesting how they're going back and rewriting a lot of pieces of Wolverine's past. Like at the end of this story, right before Wolverine joined the X-Men, Shaman (from Alpha Flight) told him that his healing factor was keeping him alive because he was suffering from Adamantium poisoning and that could be a reason why his memory is messed up and that he goes into berserker rages. Um, I thought they didn't find that out until Magneto ripped the Adamantium out of his body in the '90s? And, I know Logan does a lot of stuff, but going back and adding even MORE adventures to his already illustrious past doesn't seem like it's a good idea, but somehow it works. I really like this series, he's always had an interesting relationship with Kitty Pryde and this is a throwback to the early days. Pick it up, you'll be surprised.

X-Force #5: Yeah, so, like the other comics in this "best" section, I love this series and look forward to reading it every month. And the addition of Archangel has been an enjoyment for me, because I really like the character. It will be interesting to see how this effects the other X-Men books, because from what I've seen, it hasn't. I mean, the Angel still has feathery wings in all of the other X-Books, but in this one, he's back to being Archangel. Anyways, this one was pretty cool because next issue Warren is going to go take things out on the Purifiers, and X-Force is going to follow him and probably help him out. I'm thinking that a lot of what has been revealed in regards to the Purifiers in the first couple of issues will come into play and it will be an epic fight.

THE DISAPPOINTING:

Avengers: The Initiative #15: I thought this one was going to pick up where the last one left off, and it did, but it wasn't nearly as awesome as the last issue. The ending was kind of cool, but again, compared to the last issue, it just didn't pack the same punch. It did focus on an interesting subject, and that is that one of the Skrulls that has infiltrated The Initiative actually likes being human and has turned against his brethren, which is kind of the opposite of what is happening with Captain Marvel. Interesting story, not the greatest execution, and the more interesting story involving 3D Man was kind of dropped half way through, I'm assuming that's what the next issue will be about.

One interesting note: Marvel seems to be putting all of the titles and credits on the bottom of the very last page. While this is kind of cool because it stashes that stuff in the back, I do like a well executed title page, especially an epic two-page title page. Every comic I read yesterday shoved that stuff onto the bottom of the last page. I thought it was just an interesting side note.

New Avengers #43: This issue was just a big pile of disappointment. It did reveal that the Captain America in the spaceship was not the real Captain America and a Skrull, but the rest of the story was about that Skrull's story, which was kind of boring because he's dead now. So I guess it's supposed to give us more information on how they're making these Skrulls into undetectable facsimiles of certain people, but again, I really didn't understand the need to tell this Skrull's story because he was dead. And it was pretty boring.

X-Men #500: Yeah, so, this issue was VERY disappointing. I was expecting the awesomeness because, you know, it's the 500th issue, the they should bring the awesomeness, but unfortunately, there was only mild awesomeness to be found. Somehow they worked in a Magneto attack despite the fact that he doesn't have his powers anymore (he has some suit provided by The High Evolutionary that mimics his powers. So, why can't he just make suits that do that for everyone who lost their powers? I don't get it.) This issue failed to spark an emotion while I was reading it. I was expecting to feel some kind of emotion, and I was prepared for anything; but this just seemed like a normal issue and by the standard set from the last couple of issues, I this this one was substandard. And that's saying a lot, because I think that all of the issues since The Messiah Complex have been filler. I guess we'll see where all of this goes, I have no clue where it's going.