July 2008 Reads Part I & II

Astonishing X-Men #25: I'm pretty new to this series, which really doesn't mean too much now because there's a new creative team now, but I really don't see what the big deal was about this series. It's ok, I guess, I picked up issue 24 and really wasn't too blown away. I'm going to keep picking this one up I guess, I mean, it is part of the X-Men franchise and it does have Wolverine in it, so that's two things it's got going for it. I guess it will probably be one of those series I buy because it's related to the X-Men series and I would feel left out if I missed an issue (see the next paragraph for more on that).

Cable #5: I really don't know why I keep buying this series. Nothing really happens and it's very boring. Kind of like how I kept giving New Exiles a chance, for some reason, I just keep picking this one up every month, just hoping something will happen. I've heard that in issue #9 or #10, it's supposed to be very good and it will relate to some current events, but that's four or five issues away. I mainly buy this because I'm afraid that I'll miss something because they keep promoting it as part of some cross-overs, even thought Cable and the baby are trapped in the future and nothing they do relates to the past. Yet. By the way, is the baby ever going to get a name?

Genext #3: hmmmmm, really not too impressed with this series. Good thing it's only a five issue series, anything more than that and I was going to drop it because it's $3.99 an issue. So, I've been really disappointed with the last few projects that Chris Claremont has written. I found the New Exiles to be very boring and this series had a very good premise behind it, but it really falls flat. The characters aren't really that interesting, and most of them are rehashed from their "parents" or other characters that they are associated with. This series started off nicely, but the last two issue have been a chore to get through. It's too bad because right about 1988 or 1989, I was probably the biggest Claremont fan on the face the earth.

Guardians of the Galaxy #3: once again, this book is super awesome and if you're not picking it up, you're missing out. Get on board when the trade comes out or something, it's so good. Drax is slowly becoming my favorite character of all time. I am interested to see where the Groot/Vance Astro storyline goes and the Universal Church of Truth Believers is a very interesting nemesis for the group. I just really love this series, it's the right balance of action, story and sarcastic one-liners; I look forward to it every month and once I'm done reading it, I immediately go through withdraws because I have to wait thirty days for another hit. A reason Chris should go out and pick it up: they made Starhawk relevant again.

Secret Invasion #4: This one was pretty boring, as most halfway issues of a series are. It basically recapped the series so far, and it also recapped a lot of the crossovers, which because I've been collecting most of the tie-ins, is probably the reason why I thought this issue wasn't so great. It did have a brief Nick Fury appearance. So that was kind of cool. He was leading his new group that he put together, but they were on just enough pages to introduce the team, beat up some Skrulls and then leave the scene. As I said, the rest was just recapping and there weren't any new Skrull reveals at all. So, hopefully, the next four issues are as good as the first three were. I'm willing to let this slide because it's I understand it's needed. If issue #7 is a recap issue though, I'm going to be pissed.

Young X-Men #4: Wow, with each issue, I become more of a fan. Nice pace to the book, there's a lot of neat insight to some of the characters and how they're dealing with being X-Men at such a young age. And in this issue, there was a major reveal/twist ending that made me mad that it's not next month already. I personally really like this new Ink character they've created just for this series. Very interesting concept and execution. If you haven't been following the series, his power is that he can get powers from tattoos that he gets. Like he had a biohazard tattooed onto the palm of his hand and he can make people sick when he puts his hand in their face. He also has some tattoo on his left hand that gives him super strength. In this issue, he got a thunderbolt tat on either side of his head, and the reference they used where the old X-Men comics with Xavier concentrating on the cover (like this), so now he can read minds. But he can't read someone's mind if they have an Xavier established Psi-shield, and he's just getting used to the new power. I just really like the character and I'm excited to see what they do with him and how he evolves. I really want to see a future version of the character where he looks all tatted up and has a whole bunch of powers. That would be pretty cool. So far, this series has been a nice surprise and I think it's in my top five comics that I look forward to every month.


So on Wednesday, I'm planning on picking up the following: Incredible Hercules #119 (awe yeah!), Marvel 1985 #3 (I'll ride it out), Mighty Avengers #16, Moon Knight #20 (look REAL good), X-Factor #33 and X-Force #5 (I've been waiting for this one for a couple of months now).