June 2008 Reads Part IV.

Avengers: The Initiative #14: So, this is the first Avengers: The Initiative book I've bought, and I've gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. Some of these cross-overs I've been buying I think are good, but I don't know if it's because they're involved of the cross-over (see Ms. Marvel) or because they're just usually good and they just happen to be involved in the cross-over. I think this one is good and it happens to be involved in the cross-over, but I just don't know. Yes, they've somehow managed to make characters like the new 3D-Man relevant and interesting again, but I've read a couple of issues off the rack and there are things I like about it and things that I can do without. So I think it might just be good because it's involved with the Secret Invasion story. With that said, this issue was very interesting and I will be buying it at least until the cross-over is done with and then read a couple off of the rack and make a decision.

Fantastic Four #558: This issue was pretty good, it keeps building on a lot of storylines from the last five or so issues. I still like this series and I'm going to keep buying it. This new story arc is called "The Death of the Invisible Woman", but I highly doubt that they're going to kill off Susan Storm. She's a pretty integral part of the Secret Invasion cross-over and it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they killed her off at this stage of the cross-over, unless, of course, they plan to retcon or bring her back. So, I'm not really expecting her get killed off, but we'll see.

Hulk #4: So, this one was pretty much full of people socking each other in the face. Which is pretty cool. Sometimes, I really don't want to read a whole bunch of words and I just want to see big giant monsters kicking the crap out of each other. And this issue delivers just that. It starts out with The Watcher getting punched in the face by the Red Hulk. Yeah, you heard that right, the Red Hulk socks The Watcher in the face, breaks the Hulks arm, and we finally find out who the Red Hulk really is (I believe I called it early on). So at least there's that. I'm going to continue to buy this book because I really want to see where this is going and I've never really bought a Hulk book for an extended period of time. So, this is a keeper.

Marvel 1985 #2: Ok, this one is getting better by the issue. Granted, we're only on issue two, but I thought this one was a lot better than the first one. Much, much, much, much better than the first issue. I don't know if it was the Juggernaut/Hulk battle or the fact that they deliberately set some stuff up that will hopefully be resolved soon, but it was just a whole lot better than that first issue. I was really disappointed with the first issue and this one convinced me to buy this series again next month. I still think it's a crapshoot, but we'll see how it goes.

The Mighty Avengers #15: This one focused on Henry Pym. And it was a very interesting issue. SPOILER WARNING: Henry Pym is dead. It was finally revealed in this issue and it basically went through the entire Mighty Avengers story this far to explain what the Skull impersonating Pym did to undermine the Avengers. Like I said, it was a pretty interesting issue. I am wondering when this is going to be retconned or when they're going to concoct some wacky storyline to bring him back. It's only a matter of time.

Ms. Marvel #28: Much like the Hulk #4, this one was wall-to-wall action. It kind of gave us a little window into the mind of Carol Danvers, and it was also pretty cool to see her kick a lot of Skrull ass. This is an interesting series and I haven't really made up my mind if I'm going to keep buying it after the Secret Invasion cross-over is done with. Part of me thinks it's good because of the cross-over, but part of me thinks it's good on it's own. Ok, to be truthful, I think it's good just because of the cross-over. So I'll keep buying it and once the Secret Invasion tie-ins are over, i'll flip through it off the rack and make a decision. Right now, I'm leaning towards dropping it, but it's so good right now that's it's very tough choice.

New Avengers #42: Whew, third Avengers comic this month. I really like how they all keep a different kind of feel, and this one has a spy theme going on. Lots of Nick Fury, lots of flashbacks and lots of Skrull backstory. And it was all very nicely executed. This is probably the only cross-over series that I'm going to continue to buy when it's all over. I bought a couple of backissues and liked it, so I'm in. Plus it doesn't hurt that I like a lot of the characters that they've included on this team and that they're underdogs and are fighting against the system. I'm a sucker for a good underdog story.

Thunderbolts #121: Sigh...the awesomeness, once again. I can't say enough about this series, it continues to impress. I'm about halfway through the series reading all of the the back-issues and a couple of days ago, I just wanted to start from issue #100 to get caught up because Bullseye makes an appearance at the end of this issue. Lots of interesting resolutions and the end of the story (which also finishes the "Caged Angels" storyarc) and next issue looks like it's going to be another barn burner. What happened at Thunderbolts Mountain in Secret Invasion #1 is finally going to be addressed. I can't wait for the next issue already.

Uncanny X-Men #499: Yeah, so, the more issues of Uncanny that I read, the more I think that they are just filler to get to issue #500 and the next story arc. I thought that the San Francisco storyline was pretty weak and easily resolved and I would have loved to read more about the adventures of Logan, Nightcrawler and Colossus in Russia. I really don't understand why they even included the San Fran story because they really didn't develop it and then it ended rather quickly. I hope it has something to do with the next storyline, otherwise, I'm going to be pretty pissed. As I said, I think this was just filler for the landmark issue, which really kind of irritates me.

Wolverine: First Class #4: I have no idea what is going on in this series. At first, this series kicked butt. Then there are Knights of Wundagore and Kitty gets turned into an actual kitten and I'm thinking to myself, "What the hell is going on here?" Seriously, it turned from awesome to WTF in less than ten pages. This was really, really solid for the first two issues and then it went and took a severe right turn. I don't get it. The only thing I really liked about the last two issues were the stained glass art that told the key parts of the story.

Wolverine: Origins #26: Ya, so, this one was interesting. It focused more on Daken (Wolverine's son) but there was also a flashback to Logan's past and some questionable actions that he's taken in the past. I like this series a lot. It's a nice mix of the oldschool Wolverine with the current Logan, if that makes any kind of sense. It's a nice throwback I guess. I don't know how else to explain it. It fits in nicely with the other Wolverine titles and adds nicely to his mythology.

X-Men Legacy #213: Alright, this series is officially good. It kind of rewrites Professor X's history in an interesting way and I really like it. A lot. It also pulled together the last couple of issues rather nicely, so that was pretty cool to read because I had been wondering about a couple of things.

Tomorrow, I've got Astonishing X-Men #25, Cable #5 (I'm giving it another try), Secret Invasion: Front Line #1, and that's it. Pretty light week. I wish Marvel would spread things out a little, but whatever, it's not Tyler Comics, it's Marvel Comics. If I had my way, Hercules, Thunderbolts and Guardians of the Galaxy would all be weekly series by now.