This Week In Comics

Batman 668
Wow a real detective story? Morrison continues his strong stories. This one again centers on all the "cheap" imitations of the real "Batman". A welcome reprieve from the Gotham villains, which Morrison really hasn't exploited. Missed the art normal art team. Not a big fan of J.H. Williams' art. Interesting page layouts but poor follow through as the advertising really interrupted the flow. Interesting to see what happens.

Astonishing X-men 22
Once again Whedon shows that he is the best X-writer in the last 15 years. Amazing storyline, captures the imagination, strong characters, and unbelievable cliffhangers. Whedon has a thing for really beating down my favorite character. This one really leaves Cyke floating into oblivion. First he loses his optic blast, now he is floating into space, but at least he is still the leader, always the leader. Some great lines in this one, Beast's line about, "You know, I thought I'd have a lot more fun if I ever got to say this...that's no moon." and Wolverine's "Good Luck, Summers". That last one is the essence between Wolverine and Cyke. The dueling egos, the constant professionals, the love of the same woman, the constant sparing between two great heroes but in the end the endless respect that both have for each other. Good stuff...good book...not happy about only 2 issues left :-(

Captain America 29
Big week two incredible storylines. Brubaker is doing a tremendous job telling a complex tale and keeping it interesting. I really need to get his first 24 issues! Anyway Winter Soldier plays his card but gets trumped (for now), Stark is realizing that SHIELD is a giant mess and a sinking ship, and hey we even get Natasha doing her best imitation of Spidey. Kind of a linking issue...no real eye openers...but another piece of the puzzle to ponder over.





Ultimate Spider-Man 112
New artist! A welcome site...I was getting tired of Bagley's art...not that it wasn't a heck of a run but it was getting dated. Immonen adds some life to the characters. A new perspective, a new starting point. The story seems a bit fresher...some of the previous series were getting a bit drawn out. Anyway not much to report, a lead off story laying the foundation of the spidey and the goblin.






X-men 202
Reading all the x-books for the endangered species back story makes me realize there are too many mutants running around. When you read Astonishing X-men you get the point...there are 6 tight characters with a good team dynamic. Some of these other books just have too many mutants running around. No dynamic just we have these important characters that should be in a book but their not so let's throw them in. This issue has the new x-men in it which just makes it all the more busy. Aren't they busy with Magik? Ughhhh. At least we have Mr Sinister...he is always a good baddie.



New X-men 41
Well the quest for Magik is completed...yet no Magik at least not one that isn't still in Limbo. Of course what the x-teams don't need is another character but it was a nice diversion to see an old school mutant. This issue we got a surprise panel of spidey and Dr Strange. How about that? And a nice appearance of the astonishing group even though they are light years away in space...can't we sort of have some continuity. How about some book cancellations and get the core X groups together. Really two x-teams and a new mutant type book is all you need. Readers do appreciate some continuity (even though we now that Wolverine has a personal time dilation device which allows him to be in all the books simultaneously! Ha). Anyway the quest for Magik story was a bit disappointed. For 4-5 books all we did was establish that Magik is around and now she is in charge of limbo. No real character developments...pretty weak.

This Week in Comics

Captain America 28
Another good story line. Had to go to wikipedia to figure out what exactly is the story behind all of this and I quote, "the Red Skull was assassinated by the Winter Soldier under the orders of Aleksander Lukin, and one of the Skull's henchmen, Crossbones, broke into the facility and kidnapped Synthia (Skull's daughter). Crossbones tortured Synthia to break S.H.I.E.L.D's conditioning. After he succeeded, she entered into a relationship with him, and - with Synthia now calling herself simply Sin - the two went on a killing spree. They later reunited with the Skull, now living inside the mind of General Lukin (However, before he died, the Skull used the Cube to transfer his mind into Lukin's body, leaving the two men stuck together "like rats in a cage." Well there you have!






Ultimate Spider-Man 111

Filler issue...although we do get a sneak peak of Stuart Immonen's pencils starting in issue 112.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5

Must be filler issue month. Joss does a one shot. Not really my thing...enjoy continuity. Vaughan starts his mini next month.

New X-men 40
I want to love this book...but the characters are too diverse and the art makes it difficult to determine who is who. Have to hand it to Claremont...he was lengthy but he always tried to write a book as if this was someone's first. A fine line for most comic book writers but they need to remember that every issue could be someone's first so ensure you give a little background so we don't get lost. Anyway love the characters but there are so many it is difficult to figure it all out. And this is my 4th issue...aghhhh

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Being a slow week I didn't have a lot expectations. New X-men 38 was a pleasant surprise. The team up writing approach seems to work well. Although they kind of overdid the amount of "new" x-men involved it does show a surprising array of new talent in the x-men ranks. Since I started this book on the last issue I am still getting the feel for who is the "new" x-men. It appears to have a core group. I wonder if this "search for Magik" will add to their ranks or just serve as a intro for readers like me longing for the past! Anyway promising story arc...stay tuned.

What can you say...Bendis sucks...as in he sucks you back in just when you think you out! Again all these mega crossovers have really messed with any sort of continuity he was trying to get across but surprisingly he is able to keep it together. Looks like Hawkeye might be returning. Hawkeye to me as always seem to be a cheap rip off of the Green Arrow but ma ybe with his death he will return to be more grittier? Any good issue...some great spidey lines as usual especially the Ninjas, "Well!, I'm fighting ninjas again, even though I specifically said I'm done fighting ninjas."