Masquerade #4 - Dynamite Entertainment

Every once and a while I come across a comic that stalls me. Well . . that is to say that it stalls my blogging, because I'm not sure how I want to approach the review. This just happened to be that comic, this month. I don't really know why . . it just left me feeling . . well, nothing really. I read the book, I understood the story, but . . I didn't really care. I just felt like I was reading it to read it, and there was no 'buy-in' from me as the consumer. It's not that I've lost interest in the Project Superpowers from Dynamite. I still think it's a neat concept, and I applaud Alex Ross and Jim Krueger for basically creating a unique and separate comic-book universe here. This character just doesn't really do anything for me. This issue basically just recaps her story from when she started back in the 40's. She started out assuming the role of hero, without really having any distinguishing abilities to back it up. She was a 'wanna-be'. But, she was still part of the family of 'super-heroes' that existed at the time. She had some connections. Which, in the end, is why the Yank pulled her into the Urn with the rest of his comrades. So, now that she's returned, she's gone through the usual disorientation that has affected the rest or her friends, and she's finding out that the Urn has changed her. I'm not really sure of the purpose of putting this into the plot. It's been recurring through the initial series, and some of these minis . . the concept that the Urn has changed almost everybody that was within it, and now they're individually finding different or strange abilities. These heroes have been basically brought to us from scratch. Their origins and abilities have been defined as the 'project' has unfolded. So . . why is it necessary to put this twist in the plot when Alex or Jim could've basically done anything they wanted with these characters right from the very beginning. I've done a little research and I've seen that most of the characters have come from an old comic line, Nedor Comics, which operated from 1949 to 1956. And, with that in mind, I understand Alex and Jim's need to update the characters. But, seeing as how the books, and the characters are, I'm sure, hardly remembered . . I don't see why such an elaborate explanation has to be provided. Just say that they've changed and start them on their new path. We see in this issue that Masquerade has a 'possession' power. Whether she had that before, or not . . I don't know. I don't really care. Also I wasn't even really sure what had happened until I read the credits in Project Superpowers: Chapter 2, where they list the characters and their abilities. The book was . . ok. Phil Hestor does the story, and Carlos Paul does the art. It's . . adequate. But like I said, it just left me feeling . . nothing.

Dark Reign Hawkeye #1, #2 & #3 - Marvel

Honestly, I wouldn't have bought this series had it been about Hawkeye alone. He's not one of my favorite characters or anything. However . . I think Bullseye is fantastic. I know he's an ass . . a real scum of the Earth, but . . I just find his character intriguing. I always liked him in Daredevil. Yes, I used to read that series a long time ago. And, there was a mini-series a few years ago by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon, Bullseye: Greatest Hits, that was pretty cool. So . . I thought I'd give it a shot. But, I missed the first 2 issues so now I have to do these 3 together. The other thing that caught my eye . . this series is by Andy Diggle and Tom Raney, so . . I had to give it a shot. I love Andy's work. And I definitely wasn't disappointed by the story here. It seems to me that Bullseye just wants to push the envelope. Well, to be fair, all of Norman's team here seem to be on their own agenda. That's kind of obvious when they try to work together to take down a Hulk-buster that's heading for the Federal Reserve. Everyone is taking their shots, but in the end it's Bullseye/Hawkeye that stops the rampage. Unfortunately he leaves the suit standing in the middle of the street and no one else knows that the fight is over. They end up knocking it over and it kills 3 dozen innocent civilians. It's funny watching Norman trying to back-pedal that one. Later when Norman is chewing him out . . "You want me to run around in this stupid outfit and pretend to be some kind of Hero? Fine . . but if you ever expect me to hold back . . then you don't know me at all. Besides, that wasn't me. That was . . gravity. They had it coming. Rubber-neckers." Like I said . . he's a real piece of work. Then, later that night, Bullseye/Hawkeye stops a lady from being attacked. He kills 2 of the assailants and then pins the third to the van with arrows through his hands. The lady is very relieved. She doesn't even care that he killed 2 of them . . she just wants . . Hawkeye's autograph. Needless to say, that doesn't sit to well with him and he shoves the pen through her eye. And then he sends the van, with the guy still pinned to it like a giant butterfly, off the roof of the parking garage . . . directly on top of a police cruiser. And to make matters worse . . it's all being caught by a news-copter directly over-head. So what does he do? What do you think? He kills the camera-man, the reporter and blows up the copter with the pilot inside. This guy is a public relations nightmare. HAMMER then shuts down the broadcasting station, under the guise of 'National Security'. But it's still a big mess that Norman has to try to work his way out of, and . . Ben Urich is hot on the story. But rather than discipline Bullseye/Hawkeye, Norman gives him a job . . he wants him to take out a group . . the PTSF . . "Peace Though Superior Firepower". He tells him where their hideout is, and that he wants him to kill them all. But when he gets there, they're all already dead, and they have a bullseye carved into each of their foreheads . . his signature MO. He then thinks he sees himself there too. Or . . someone dressed in his old costume. It turns out there's a couple of things wrong here. First of all . . Bullseye/Hawkeye thinks he's going crazy. Then they find a Senator, Irving Gray, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, dead . . with a bullseye carved in his forehead. Norman wants to know what's going on, but Bullseye/Hawkeye doesn't know, or remember, anything. To make matters worse, Ben finds out . . and I'm sure Norman knows as well . . that Senator Gray used to oversee an NSA based black-ops outfit in South America. Bullseye was his #1 operative. And the PTSF was also an NSA front organization. It was a group that was used to lure in 'real' bad guys, like AIM and HYDRA. And Irving Gray was the man who approved it's creation. So . . I'm thinking that either Norman was eliminating one of his competition in the government, or . . he's doing a really good job of setting up Bullseye/Hawkeye to take the fall down the line. The third issue ends with Bullseye/Hawkeye thinking that he sees himself . . his old self, Bullseye . . standing out on the ledge of the Avengers building. They fight for a couple of pages, until Bullseye/Hawkeye gets the upper-hand, but then . . then he turns around and sees about 15 of himself. Apparently someone is in the business of cloning this guy. That or he's figured out how to copy Madrox's powers. All in all I thought it was a pretty decent story. All the subterfuge and back-stabbing is great. What else would you expect from a group comprised of these individuals, and . . they have Norman Osborn as their leader. What a role-model. I actually like that I read the 3 issues together because the story flowed real smooth between them. When all's said and done, I have a feeling that Bullseye/Hawkeye won't be on this team anymore . . either because he's fed up with the games, and Norman trying to keep a leash on him, or . . Norman's going to kill him. At one point he tells him, "Have fun. Oh, and Hawkeye? One last thing . . screw this up for me, and I'll have the Sentry throw you into the heart of the sun." Don't we all wish that we could say that to our subordinates at one time or another? I'm just playin'. Seriously!

the Mighty Avengers #26 - Marvel

Ok, I know I ragged on Hank Pym a little bit in previous blogs. But I'm really starting to dig this book. I mean . . I've always liked it, but . . I think it's gotten much better. I'm not sure if that's due to Dan Slott's scripts, but . . it's definitely a good place to start. Last issue we saw that Hank needed his dimensional wave inducer in order to save his lab that he's got hidden away in a pocket dimension. The problem is . . it's in Reed Richards possession. And he ain't giving it up because . . well, he just doesn't trust Hank. I think he thinks he gets a little wild-eyed sometimes. So, since the tactical approach didn't work, Hank decided to assault the Baxter Building and take, what he considers to be rightfully his. This issue we see the results of that attack. I think it's cool that he's got Hercules and the vision keeping Ben and Johnny. But what I really thought was brilliant was when he has Amadeus use the Ant-man helmet to send in 400 ants with masking technology. Reed thinks the building is being assaulted. "According to my new sensors, our air vents have been compromised. Over four hundred Skrulls and counting! Sue, get the children . . ." But before Hank can proceed much farther Reed leads him into his Zeno room. Suffice it to say that he's made it nearly impossible for Hank to reach him. That is until Hank thinks his way out of it and realizes that sound is the only thing moving at the right speed. With the wave inducer almost in his grasp he takes Reed on a little side trip. They travel through various dimensions until Hank take Reed to one of his secret ones. "I wanted you to see this. This is why I need this invention, Reed. To get here. This is the dimension where I hope to tether my lab." Then Reed sees Hank's secret . . "What's so special about . . . Oh. I had no idea. Now I see . . . take the device. It's yours." And like that . . their conflict is over. Unfortunately . . we don't get to see what Reed saw. So we don't know exactly what the big deal is . . yet. Now that he has the wave inducer he just needs to add one more piece . . Jocosta " . . and then salvation two will fix everything." Whatever that means. When everything is put together, Hank tells them their new base is ready and it's indestructible. "You're just going to have to see it for yourself. Everything's been building to this. And it's just beyond that next door. You've followed me this far. C'mon. It's time for phase two." How come when he's giving that speech . . I picture Willy Wonka in my head, getting ready to lead all the kids down his chocolate river? Weird! Anyways, like I said . . I thought it was a great issue. Dan's done an incredible job here. The only thing we didn't get to see was any of US Agent, and Pietro's mission. Maybe next issue. By the way, Stephen Segovia and Noah Salonga does the art. It's actually pretty cool looking. It definitely added to the story.

the Invincible Iron Man #14 - Marvel

I'm really kind of at a loss to figure out just where Tony Stark, or Iron Man, are going to be able to go from here. Matt Fraction has diminished this character so much . . Tony has been going to each of his hidden bases, and is using repulsor generators to delete all the information that's locked in his noodle. Tony runs into the Crimson Dynamo in Russia, and after explaining himself, Dmitri has a good suggestion . . "Why not just jump into volcano? Entire brain vaporized in instant." Unfortunately, any allies he may have . . all of his friends have been dragged down right with him. Maria Hill helped him by retrieving a hard-drive that he was looking for. The problem was, the Controller has taken over the base, and Maria suffered some serious damage in the process. We still don't know if she's ok or not. Currently though . . she's hiding in New York City. Well, maybe hiding isn't the right word. It appears that she's trying to make contact with Natasha Romanova. Tony also gave Pepper a modified Iron Man suit. With the power source that he'd implanted in her chest, she can operate it almost as efficiently as he did. But it's only a defensive suit. HAMMER had her in custody for a little while, but Norman Osborn let her go. Now that she's figured out that Tony is in Russia . . she's going to lead them right to him. You'd think she'd be a little smarter than that. By the time she comes across Tony she's got 2 problems. First Madame Masque is already there and she's staring them down through the scope of her high-powered rifle. Secondly . . Tony has degraded so much that he doesn't even remember Pepper. I don't know how much lower this guy can go. I'm pretty sure he's scraping the bottom right now. So . . where does he go from here. Well . . only Matt and Salvador Larroca know. And they ain't tellin'. I really like this book. I'm left every issue wondering where we're going from here.

Wolverine Origins #37 - Marvel

Last issue, in his quest to find Romulus, Logan has followed Victor Hudson to Russia. What he doesn't know is that in the town that he's gone to, there's a prison. Recently they've gained a new prisoner . . Omega Red. Red's not at full power right now, but . . Romulus has people recovering the Carbonadium Synthesizer that Logan had dropped in the bottom of a river in Amsterdam. By the time that Logan realizes what they have, he's neck deep in the trap that Romulus has set for him. "Victor knew I was trailin' him. He led me here. By the nose. All my moves, all my plans . . an' I still walked right into Romulus's trap." I like the story that Daniel Way is weaving here. Supposedly, by next issue . . we should finally find out who Romulus is and why he's got such a hard-on for the diminutive Canadian. I'm thinkin' it's his father. But I could be wrong. And, for some reason, I still think it has something to do with Creed also. I've loved this book from the beginning. Except for Mark Millar's Old Man Logan story-line, I generally like this book more than the main title. I like the way they've shown that Logan's history goes back much farther into the Marvel Universe, than we ever suspected. And he's connected to . . well, pretty much everything. As long as Logan survives Omega Red's attack . . we should get a much larger piece of the puzzle next issue. I also enjoy Scot Eaton's pencils. He's been doing a fantastic job in the X-Men Legacy book. It's nice to see that he's brought his talents here.

Cable #15 - Marvel

Again, we don't make a lot of progress in the story-line this issue. Some. But not much. We do learn a couple of things however. First of all, Stryfe has figured out what the 'big deal' is with Hope. He's gathered it from Elixir's mind, of all people. I'm not quite sure how he's aware of what her true potential is. Anyways, now that he knows . . Stryfe wants to take her over . . literally. I think he wants to put his consciousness into her body. And not in a perverted pedophile kind of way. So now everybody is trying to stop Stryfe, not just from taking hope, but also from doing the Vulcan mind-meld thing with her. On top of that, X, Domino and the Vanisher have figured out the source of the chronal net that's holding them in this time. It turns out it's one of X's friends . . Kiden Nixon. You know, from the Nyx mini-series. Deadpool tells them the Bishop and Stryfe picked her up back in 2009 . . or 2010. Either way, she's been there for a long time because she looks like she's in her 60's or 70's now. But, the one thing that may put a crimp in Stryfe's plans is that Archangel has brought Apocalypse back to his ship, the Celestial City. Warren took a little sympathy on him, because of the pathetic state he was in, but as he sees him connect to his ship and regain his former posture . . "I can't help but think . . I've made a huge mistake." Anyways, there's a whole lot of fighting, but . . this issue pretty much ends in the same spot in which it began . . Stryfe has pretty much beaten all of his opponents, and the gang can't decide what to do about Kiden. The issue ends with the timer she's connected to reaching 00:00:01. The next issue of X-Force, #16, is supposed to wrap up this story. Maybe then we'll finally find out just what the big deal is about Hope. Duane Swierczynski writes this story, and Ariel Olivetti does the art. I like the concept of this story . . where it's supposed to be going, and what they're trying to accomplish, but . . it seems like we keep rolling through the same paces every issue. There's a whole lot of filler in this story-line. It probably could've been done in 3 issues, instead of 7. I love all of these characters, and the fate of Hope, and Cable, rests on what happens here. I just wish we could've moved it along a little faster. There's not a lot of suspense . . just the endings of the various chapters, but . . there is a lot of fluff. All we can do is wait for the next chapter and see what happens.

X-Men Legacy #225 - Marvel

Again, another issue of the X-Men that definitely didn't turn out the way that I expected. Basically, Charles puts Exodus and his Acolytes on notice . . "Amelia, I wanted to warn you. I'm coming to New Avalon. I'm on my way right now. I'm coming to tear it down." And just like that, Charles comes waltzing through the front door. He walks right through all of their defenses. Basically, he planted little suggestions in everyone. He uses Unuscione's hands to adjust the defense grid as he comes through. She has her psi-shield on 'stand-by'. Charles planted the memory of her turning it on. The scanners go off-line, and they figure out that Tempo used her authorization code to shut them off. Random, Unuscione and Tempo go to find him, but . . when they do he turns them against each other. "The psi-shields keep me out . . now. I left those post-hypnotic suggestions last night when I visited your dreams." When he comes across Amelia, he just tells her how he feels and she lets him pass. "I did that to you one, and then forgot it. Now that I've remembered, I'd see the green Earth burn before I hurt you again." Which just leaves Exodus and Sentinel. "Sentinel, are your weapons systems trained on Charles Xavier? Locked, and primed?" To which she replies, "No. They're trained on you. Whatever humanity I still have, it's down to this man. I can't harm him. Or stand by and see him harmed." Which leaves Charles in the solo audience of Exodus. That's when he tells him that all he wants to do is talk. Basically he makes the argument to him that it's time for the paradigm of 'mutant vs mutant' relations to change. With the number of mutants dwindling, there's not enough left to be fighting amongst themselves. They need to band together and work to their strengths. "When human armies come against you, how will you make an alliance with former enemies? Because they will come, impelled by their fear and our weakness. Mutantkind must act together, or else they'll die piecemeal. Those really are the only options." As Exodus goes off to ponder what has been presented to him, Charles goes an wakes up Joanna Cargill, out of her Exodus induced coma. Even though he knows that she wants to kill him . . "A debate is about to start . . concerning the future of the Acolytes. You should be a part of it. Or try to touch me again, and sleep for another year." The decision is . . Exodus is going on a pilgrimage. Amelia, Random, Karima and Tempo are going to San Francisco. Amelia tells Charles, "Cargill and Unuscione are angry. They don't understand what's changed. you've defeated the Acolytes, almost without a fight. I suppose I'm impressed. The part of me that hates you for it is relatively small." And with that Exodus . . actually, he's decided not to call himself that anymore . . he take New Avalon down to the ground. He and Charles have a bit more of a discussion when Norman Osborn shows up in a HAMMER helicopter. "Professor Xavier, I wonder if I could have a moment of your time?" I'm not sure what this is all about, but . . it should be interesting. I thought it was great to see Charles in such a strong and determined character. I know that's how he really is . . how he has to be, but . . he doesn't always come across that way. As a teacher, he has to let his students make their own decisions . . and mistakes. But I much prefer this role on him. It fits him like an expensive Italian suit. But the question is . . what does the future hold? . . for all of these characters. And that's what I feel that Mike Carey has done here. He's opened the future completely. Their paths and destinies are wide open now. As I said, this was a fantastic issue and it's going to be a pivotal one in the futures of these characters. By the way, Phil Briones does the art. It looks pretty good.

Ultimatum - Spider-man: Requiem #1 - Marvel

This was an incredible book. The emotion that came out of this one was just staggering. We still don't know for sure that Peter's dead. But . . everyone is assuming that Spider-man is since Kitty found his mask in the rubble. Anyways, people are starting to shuffle back into the city, now that things have calmed down, and the Bugle staff is back in the building trying to see what's left, and what it'll take to get some news out there. Jonah is standing looking out the window and all he can see is Spider-man swimming through the water trying to save lives. And then he looks at the head-lines hanging on the wall. Half of them are bashing Spider-man, claiming that he's a 'Menace!'. When Jonah tells Robbie and Ben what he witnessed, and that he's been wrong all this time, Ben offers him his portable hard-drive. "On it is every story of mine you've ever killed. Most of them are Spider-man stories. True Spider-man stories. You should run them." Jonah's a little puzzled but he decides to take a look and see what he's got. In it is a story about Mary Jane Watson and Tony Stark. MJ had gone to Stark's offices to interview him for her school newspaper. During that interview the building is attacked by HYDRA. Spider-man swings in and rescues MJ from a hostage situation. And then . . after taking her a safe distance away, comes back to single handedly fight HYDRA. He knew that he had to give Tony the opportunity to not only change into Iron Man, but also to activate the buildings formidable security measures. Afterwards, Stark industries released a press statement: "Stark industries will work privately with the proper authorities to ensure all leads are followed and all justice is done. We will not be releasing the names of our alleged attackers because fame and glory seem to be part of what they are hoping to achieve. Tony Stark would like to publicly thank the costumed hero known as Spider-man for his selflessness in the face of great danger. 'Hero' is not a word I use lightly, but Spider-man defines that word in every way." Jonah's sitting there staring at those final words when Ben sticks his head in the office. "That article you're writing on Spider-man. Make it good. CNN says he's dead. You're writing his obituary." I mean, we knew what the possibilities were here, but . . damn, that was a powerful ending. If this is to be the last story of the Ultimate Universe's Spider-man, I think Brian Bendis did a good job of sending him out in style. I still think it's sad that this book is ending. I loved every issue of it. But, Mark Bagley returned with this issue, and I assume the next, to help out Stuart Immonen on the pencils. It was good to see the old team back together again. Even if you didn't buy any of the series . . were you living under a rock? . . this is still a fantastic 2 issue mini. It's full of emotion, and that usual Spider-man flare. It's definitely worth the price of admission.

Captain America #600 - Marvel

As expected, this was a fantastic issue. We start out with 2 great covers . . Alex Ross on the right, and Steve Epting on the left. From there . . it really just got better. We open the book with Alex Ross' 2 page origin of Captain America. It was originally published in Red, White & Blue . . but it was good enough that they showed it again here. Thanks for that. I missed it the first time. We then have a One Year Later story by Ed Brubaker and a plethora of artists . . Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, David Aja and Mitch Breitweiser. It was a fantastic story showing us how other people were dealing with Cap's death, a year later. To me the most important one was Sharon Carter. She's starting to regain some of her memories so she now knows that Dr Faustus had hypnotized her, or something, and she was actually the one who shot Steve. But then she gave the gun to someone else. She's just remembered this incident and has decided to go after the gun and retrieve it. I'm not sure of the repercussions, but . . somehow having this gun back has lead her to believe that they may be able to bring Steve back. All we really know is, "When I hold it in my hands again, I know I was right . . because, this is not a normal gun." We then catch up with the 'Evil' Cap. Also, Rikki Barnes, the girl that was Bucky in the other reality, sneaks up on Eli, Patriot. She wants him to introduce her to the new Captain America. I think she's feeling lost without her mission to guide her. Obviously she'll be showing up in Young Avengers. For some reason, we also catch up with Cross-bones and Sin. We then find the Avengers in a bit of a dilemma. The Avengers want to go to the Rally they're holding in Steve's memory, but they know that doing so will make them an open target for Norman Osborn and HAMMER. James is especially perplexed because he feels that he's missed out on so many other things, having to hide, that he'd hate to let Steve down like this. We also see that there's something strange going on with the Red Skull and MODOK. But we only get some hints at it here. And finally we catch up with Sam who's also arrived at the Rally. He eventually finds the Avengers and talks a little shop. Their fears are allayed when Norman decides instead of pursuing his opponents, that he's going to use this opportunity as a way to negate the negative publicity he's gotten from opposing this rally. He gets on stage to talk about Steve, and ends up leading a 'Captain America' chant. Finally Sam finds Sharon and they catch back up with each other. The story ends with her telling Sam, and the rest of the Avengers about her good news . . "I'm fine, Sam. I'm better than fine. It's Steve . . I think we can still save him." Needless to say, this story will lead directly into the Reborn mini-series. There's also a story by Roger Stern and Kalman Andrasofszky in which we catch up with Bernie and she remembers some of her fondest memories with Steve. Of course, she also remembers where she was and how she felt on that final day. We then get a fantastic story by Mark Waid and Dale Eaglesham. It's not about Steve directly but rather the effects his image and character had on the rest of the world. In it, Joseph Paglino is the owner of the world's largest collection of Captain America memorabilia. And he's decided to put it all up for auction. Everyone is speculating on why he's doing it and what he's trying to gain, but it turns out that there's a comic book company that's trying to pounce on all the media attention Steve's getting right now, and they want to relaunch the Captain America comic book. The problem is, they see him as a man who committed treasonous acts . . a traitor. It ends up this Paglino guy sold all of this stuff so that he would have the money to buy the comic company and publish the book the way it should be published. However, during the course of this story, we see how important some of these items were to the people that were connected to them. I think it was the best story in the book, but . . that's just me. To finish off the book, we get a little diatribe from Joe Simon and a reprint of an old story . . Captain America Comics #16, July 1942. They reached way back for that one. And, of course, a cover gallery showing, literally, almost 700 covers. It was amazing! All in all I thought it was one of the best 'anniversary' issues that I've ever read. Whether you follow the character or not, it had everything that you could've wanted. And . . all of this leads into 'the comic book event of the summer' . . Reborn, by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice.

Ex Machina #43 - WildStorm

This continues to be one of my favorite comics. And the reason? Because it is so smartly written. I absolutely love what Brian K Vaughan brings to this book. Of course Tony Harris' pencils don't hurt either, but . . the story, and the way it makes you think is what draws me back month after month. In this issue, Mayor Hundred's city is threatened, yet again, by someone from his past . . Pherson. He the guy that controls animals the way the Mitchell controls machines. Anyways, he thought he took him down once . . twice actually, but he seems to keep coming back. This time it seems like he's sending a message specifically for the Mayor. There's been some rat attacks around town, and no one seems to be able to make the connection except for the great machine. Pherson's words keep ringing through his head . . "You need to know why. Why you are what you are. You don't know who you're really supposed to be. You're failing the people that made you. You and I are meant to be the harbingers of . . . " But that's when he awakens from his dream. All he knows about their connection is that they seem to have gotten their powers from the same source, and . . Pherson considers them to be blood brothers. Underneath City Hall there used to be a City Hall Station, the MTA closed it back in '45. "There's some large tubes under Warren St. and Broadway. Parts of it are still connected to the City Hall Station." That's where he believes Pherson is operating out of. As he's going down there, Mitchell is taping his last words. Whether it's a confession, or 'last will & testament', or just the ramblings of a wannabe hero . . you'd think that in the words that he's saying, he'd start to put some of the pieces together. He's actually leaving it for Kremlin, but he's talking about Bradbury also. When he's talking about Kremlin's 'stupid theories and insane stories', you'd think that he's start to put some of the pieces together and at the very least raise a red flag about Kremlin's involvement here, and in other things. "There's been a noose around my neck since the day I was elected. And someone out there has finally started pulling it taut." So as he descends into his own personal hell . . Bradbury is in New Jersey on his mission to destroy the 'white-box'. The reported woman has followed him there and is asking questions. 'What were you doing with the 'white-box' on the morning of November 6th, 2001?" So maybe we're finally going to find out just what the deal is with this and it's connection to the Mayor. The stories in this book usually move rather slow. But here . . that's ok. Brian weaves an intricate web with events and actions, both past and present, that are essential to the current state of events as explained through whatever the crisis du'jor is at the moment. The reason the slower pace works here is because it's through these moments that we learn more about our characters and their motivations and actions. There's been smaller story-lines and plot-threads throughout this title, but you can really look at these 43 plus issues as one big story-line. Just like a man's life . . Mitchell Hundred's, the Mayor, the Great Machine . . even though there's been different aspects to it, different stages, in the end it's all connected. Unfortunately . . there's only 7 issues left for Brian to pursue the course of events in this story. Yes . . it's been advertised that issue #50 will be the final one for this series. Which is sad because the marketplace will definitely be missing something when this title is gone. So . . enjoy it while you can . . or pick up the TPBs. You won't be sorry.

Hellblazer #256 - Vertigo

You'd think after all this time in this game, John Constantine would know better than to muck about in places that he knows so little about. This story basically stems out of his still wanting Phoebe. The problem is, it's one of those 'you always want what you can't have' scenarios. So, he turns to the alchemy of one of his 'friends', Epiphany Greaves, to cook him up a little love potion. Part of the problem is his involvement with Julian. He's the little teen-aged magician who's got John hooked on the 'juice' that he keeps giving him fight his magical excema. He goes to Julian shortly after he gets the potion from Epiphany. He doesn't like the way that Julian has turned him into his little bitch because he keeps dangling this carrot in front of him. So he decides, he's still got a bit of the potion left . . why not muck-about with Julian a bit also? Like I said, you'd really think that John would know better. But sometimes . . he just jumps into the pool without looking to see what else might be in there. I think it's one of his character flaws. So then, Phoebe gives him a call. She's decided that even though John, and his life, scare her . . she's also intrigued and excited when she's around him. She wants to give 'them' another shot. And now that John has a chance at what he wants . . he doesn't really know if he wants it anymore. And therein lies the problem with magic. We all think we know what we want, what we need, but . . "be careful what you wish for . . you just might get it". I'm glad that Peter Milligan is back on this series. I really enjoy his writing and what he brings to this book, and this character. The interior art is by Giuseppe Camuncoli, with that cool cover by Simon Bisley.

Final Crisis Aftermath - Dance #2 - DC

This series is all a bit perplexing. But, it's original and interesting at the same time. We have this group of teen-aged Japanese super-heroes . . at least they want to be heroes, and they have powers. But everything that's going on here seems to center, and rotate around what's going on back in there homeland. The problem is . . nobody really know what that is . . yet. Rising Sun, from the Global Guardians, tries to get into his country, but . . "Tokyo is off-limits. Even to you honored Sun." And when our group tries to take a look at their country, through satellite images, they find that even those are being scrambled. Meanwhile, Shiny Happy Aquazon has decided to take the first step into commercialism and has decided to endorse a product. To bad that product happens to be a breathing induced mass-hypnotizer. But she didn't know that her first foray into commercialism would really be more about socialism. Luckily . . the rest of the team has her back. After arriving at the scene of the hysteria, they soon find out where this mind control oxygen is coming from, and soon find the source of the dastardly plan . . an amoeba who has named himself Brain Drain. But with teamwork, they break his grip on them and solve their first case. Joe Casey does an interesting job of presenting these new heroes. They're different and unique and seem to have a new perspective, and expectations, of this whole 'super-hero' game. But I think that's the point. In Final Crisis they just helped save the universe. Now they have to settle into everyday life in 'Las Vulgar'. That's their nick-name for their new home-town. So while they're trying to establish thier life, whomever is behind their new 'image' and commercialism, is trying hard to keep them from gaining any perspective on it. "This generation. They barely question their environment. As long as their pleasure centers are being adequately stimulated . . . getting them on TV is a good bet. One season and they won't even be able to discern reality . . .! Exactly what Mr. Itam and his backers want. Anything to keep the focus on them and not on their homeland." I also enjoy the way that Andre Coelho and Eduardo Pansica are presenting these characters visually. They're keeping things fresh and hip and full of bright colors. I mean, look at that cover. Personally, I think this will be the best of the 4 Aftermath mini-series. Unfortunately, it'll probably also be the least read.

Supergirl #42 - DC

This issue, with Lana's help, Kara decides to come clean with Lois. You know, about her sister and all? Lois is pretty upset, and can't even stand to look at Kara, but . . what I think she's really mad about is that her sister had this secret life and she didn't even know about it. In the old days she just would've blamed her dad, because he pushed her so much that she always felt like she had to prove herself in his eyes. But since he's dead . . oh, wait . . he's not dead. Only Lois doesn't know that. Yet! Give it time. She's the master snooper. She'll figure it out. Speaking of figuring it out, I can't believe that the General has been keeping such a close eye on Lois' apartment, has seen her interaction with other 'supers', but still hasn't put together the pieces about Clark / Superman. "Lois married that oaf of a man, Clark Kent." I think, sometimes, when it comes to family, we can be blinded by what's blatantly staring us in the face. But still, you'd have thought that one of his advisers or someone would've put it together. Anyways, the General retrieves Reactron this issue. Lois, after hearing the story about her sister, starts doing some snooping. It's only a matter of time now. And, now that Kara's cleared the air, as it were, she's decided to head back to New Krypton and see what she can figure out there . . about Lucy, about Zod, about Ursa . . about so many things, really. She's got a lot to sort out. I thought this was a great issue. It really progressed the various story-lines quite a bit. I really like the way that Sterling Gates expressed the relationship between Lana and Kara. "When I'm here, why don't you just call me Linda from now on." They've really become quite close. I also enjoy Jamal Igle's pencils. He's really become the perfect artist for this series. It seems like this book is getting better with every issue.

Vigilante #7 - DC

I like this book . . I like this character . . I like this concept, but . . if Marv Wolfman doesn't pick up the pace here, I can't see it sticking around a whole lot longer. Don't get me wrong, no matter what happens, I think the Vigilante will be seen throughout the DC Universe for some time. Even though Adrian Chase, the original, committed suicide, this guy appears to be much more clear about his mission. And he's got ground rules, so he's not just going out there shooting up anyone who comes across his path. And although his mission is defined, I think the scope of it may be more than one man can bear, "I'm no meta hunter. I have no desire to be one or to fight alongside them. I came to New York to tear apart the mobs from the head down. My SOB father-in-law included." So it's going to be a good amount of time before he can accomplish that . . or even put a dent in it. And here it is issue #7 and I still don't even remember this guys name. I remember JJ because he worked with Adrian also. Anyways, currently he's trying to take down Tobias Whale, but he doesn't seem to be accomplishing very much. However, he is doing enough to make Tobias uncomfortable. And, he does give the Penguin reservations so he pulls himself out of his dealings with Tobias. Tobias' guys have the Vigilante's identity narrowed down to 15 people. And they all work for him. So rather than sort it out, he orders the 15 men to be gathered up and taken out and slaughtered. Later on we find out that the 'info' that Vigilante got about the Whale, the stuff that doesn't seem to be accomplishing much but still makes Tobias twitchy, was actually provided by the Penguin himself. Although the Vigilante doesn't know that. It seems that the Penguin wants Tobias to go down as well so that he can take over for him. All in all, I like the series. I just wish the pace would pick up a little bit. Rick Leonardi does the art.
His style fits the book very well. And, Walt Simonson does that cool cover.

Power Girl #2 - DC

Personally, I like this book. I think it's fun. I mean, you could look at it as if it's another Supergirl book, but . . really it's not. Part of that credit, I think, goes to Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's writing, but I think most of the feel of this books belongs rightly in the hands of Amanda Conner. She really does a fantastic job of giving this book it's 'feel' through her art. The scene where Kara is pummeling the Ultra-Humanite is hilarious. Do you remember how the early issues of the Justice League, when Kevin Maguire was doing art . . how they felt more light-hearted than the previous series? Sure part of it was Keith Giffen's hilarious stories, but . . there was also a light-hearted nature to the art. It was in the facial expressions, the flow of the panels, the cheeky sound-affects like from the Batman TV show . . it all combined to give the book it's feel. Anyways, that's the long way of me telling you that's how I feel about Amanda's work also. Kara spends this whole issue fighting the Ultra-Humanite and ultimately she ends up captured by him. He wants to be human again, but in order to do so he needs a body that can withstand the rigors that he puts it through. So, in his twisted mind, the next logical assumption is . . Kara. "I'd imagine there's countless men who want your body. I'm going to be the one who gets it!" And of course, after he has her captured, and before he begins the process, he gives Kara the obligatory origin story . ."Before we get started . . I'm going to tell you something I haven't told anyone . . . " It feels like we should've broken into a musical or something . . like something out of Rocky Horror Picture Show. You know what I mean? But, the important part of that story is to give us the Humanite's real name, Gerard Shugel. And to introduce us to his partner in crime, Satanna. The issue ends with Kara completely immobilized and the Humanite starting to cut into her skull. Like I said, I really liked it. It was fun. There's also a fantastic Adam Hughes cover. When I get it, I'll put it up.

Action Comics Annual #12 - DC

As annuals go, I thought this one did quite a bit to fill us in on Thara Ak-Var and Christopher Kent, K'Riss. The last we saw of K'Riss, then Christopher, he had volunteered to go back into the Phantom Zone to help out Superman. Plus . . he was only 6 or 7. Now, as we've seen in recent issues of Action, he's about 18 or 19, and . . he's Nightwing. Also, what about Thara? She was the head of security when Kandor first emerged on Earth. So, how did she go from being a trusted aide of Alura's to becoming Flamebird? Well . . it has to do with Kryptonian religion. Flamebird is a major character in their religion. Flame and fire is an important symbol to them. The creature that represents that, Flamebird is a half Phoenix, half dragon type character. Nightwing, her polar opposite is her antithesis and her lover. And here I thought Nightwing & Flamebird were just a couple of characters that Superman and Batman created when they visited the bottle city. At least that's how it was originally presented in those old World's Finest comics. This way makes a lot more sense though. Anyways, Thara became a member of the Religious Guild and through them had a vision of Flamebird, and she believes a melding of minds. That's when she became aware of Nightwing. K'Riss on the other hand, is suffering some kind of mutation, probably from being born in the Phantom Zone. In the time since he's been back his age has accelerated a couple of times. Non helps him hide from the rest of the Kryptonians, until Zod and Ursa get upset because K'Riss looks into Zod's collection of Brainiac stuff. It seems that Zod was obsessed with Brainiac before be became obsessed with Superman. But K'Riss isn't just looking. He puts one of Brainiac's devices on his head and . . everything in the room comes to life. At the same time, Thara has another vision but this time it's of K'Riss. She thinks of him as Flamebird would of Nightwing. And in that instant they become connected. She obtains an experimental Phantom Zone projector from her step-father, Zor-El, and goes into the Zone to free K'Riss. And . . ta-da! Just like that we're all caught up on their background story and the motivations for them becoming the crime-fighters that they are now . . Nightwing & Flamebird. Well, it's a little more involved than all of that, but . . I have to leave something for you to read. Right? Greg Rucka and Pere Perez did a great job with this story. It really filled us in on the whole transformation and brought another piece of Kryptonian lore up to date. Plus . . there was 40 pages of art in this issue. Fan-frikkin-tastic!

Green Arrow and Black Canary #21 - DC

Ollie's going to be in some serious trouble with Dinah when she finds out about his recent escapades around town . . with Cupid. Aye-yi-yi! They used to talk about how the 'heroes' in the DC Universe were 'trouble magnets'. Well, Ollie's the prime example of that. But with the women . . not just trouble in general. If I had to choose, I think I'd just go for being in trouble. Why does he have to complicate everything with all these women? Maybe he really does have a death-wish. Anyways, he's running around town trying to help out wherever he can . . remember last issue all sound went . . well, soundless. So when nobody could hear anything, the whole city panicked and chaos ensued. Cupid is tagging along with him, but I really think he's just trying to keep an eye on her so she doesn't make matters worse. Dinah is the one that keeps the level head and goes to the University to see if there's a professor or something that can help her counter-act what's going on. It turns out that someone is basically sending out a modulation wave that's cancelling out all other noise. She gets a detector and figures out that the guy who is doing this is on top of one of the tallest buildings. When she gets up there, I think he's surprised that she figured things out so fast, but I also think that he was expecting her . . or wanting her. She's been having these flashbacks of when she was a kid and her powers first manifested. They accidentally went off near a friend of hers and he lost his hearing. I'm thinking, that kid is connected to this guy. They don't tell us so in this issue, but . . we'll see. The issue ends with him blowing up the top of the building, with he and Dinah still up there. I wasn't sure about Andrew Kreisberg's work when he first took over this series, but . . now that he's settled into his groove, I think he's doing a fantastic job. He hasn't broken up Dinah and Ollie yet, but . . he's definitely testing their relationship. Which I think is good. Mike Norton is the penciller of this series.

Superman / Batman #61 - DC

Last issue ended with us finding out that the protagonist of this story . . this mixed up, pushed together world, was none other than Lex Joker. Huh? Hey, if we can have an Amalgam Universe, then we can certainly believe that this is possible. Right? Anyways, Batman makes the discovery this issue that this is really all just a dream. Of course it's a community dream . . that is to say that all of the participants in this dream are dreaming it at the same time. That way, the more of them that believe it's real . . the more real it becomes. It turns out the whole thing is the work of Doctor Destiny. He's in Arkham, supposedly in a coma, but . . apparently he's cognizant enough to pull this off. Anyways, in order to beat him, Batman just has to get the others to question the reality that they're immersed in. Eventually he does, and the dream starts to unravel. Of course that's after a little side-trip with Bruce and Zatanna, and Superman and Raven. All in all, it was an ok story-line. Obviously it hard to keep this guy down and I'm sure we'll see him again. But Michael Green and Mike Johnson did a pretty good job with what they had to work with. And I really enjoyed Francis Manapul's art. Next issue Rafael Albuquerque takes over as the regular artist.

Outsiders #19 - DC

This book is fantastic. You knew it was just going to be a matter of time until Vandal Savage crossed paths with these people that are looking for pieces of the meteor. It is, after all, the same meteor that gave him his powers . . and longevity. And really they're just being selfish about it anyways. All they really want is the added life-span. All I know is that when I turn the ripe old age of 100, I'll be looking back thinking, "I've been paying my utility bills for the last 88 years. What do I have to show for it?" Can you imagine how Vandal feels after having lived for 37,000 years. I wonder what kind of 'senior discount' he gets. Anyways, at the end of the story when he finds thier base, he's surprised to see that Ra's al Ghul is also there. "Greetings, Vandal. You seem to have a little something on your face. Not very becoming, I must say." Remember, during the Final Crisis he received the 'mark of Cain'. I thought that was hilarious. Anyways, with our team, most of this issue is spent battling Deathstroke. But remember, for Brion . . it's personal. The only reason Deathstroke sticks around as long as he does is because he's here to retrieve the piece of meteor that inside the corpse of the guy he just killed. But he doesn't need the whole body. Just the part with the rock. However, while Deathstroke is escaping, without his knowledge, Brion subtly manipulates his powers and pulls the rock out of the body, and to him, as Slade slithers away. He is going to be pissed when he figures out what Brion did. Meanwhile our little covert group has decided to make a strike against their opponents and hit them at their base . . the Haven . . Batman's little rocket base. What they didn't know though is that they would have to face the Creeper. And the dead guy has left behind a clue in his own blood . . '6542-140'. Whatever that means. Peter J Tomasi is doing a fantastic job with this book. I really like the way that he's handling all these characters. This issue Fernando Pasarin does the art. It's ok. I liked Lee Garbett's stuff better. But, it looks like Fernando with be the artist in residence for the foreseeable future. I think it's a great book and I recommend it to anyone who isn't reading it.

the Brave and the Bold #24 - DC

With the characters from the Milestone line of comics becoming more integrated into the DC Universe, it was only a matter of time until one of their villains showed up also. Static has been appearing in the Justice League and Teen Titans books. This issue, he gets a solo story . . of sorts, except for the reluctant team-up with Black Lightning. Jefferson Pierce is the key-note speaker at a graduation in Dakota . . Hemingway High. Which appears to be Virgil's home-town. Holocaust is there also. It appears that while Luthor was in office, Holocaust was trying to ride on the tails of a gambling bill and hoping to open a casino. He had the up-front money and everything. But when Jefferson helped to defeat the bill, remember he was the Secretary of Education at the time, Holocaust now blames him for losing all of that money. Anyways, long story short, they each try to defeat him separately, but they can't. Together they have enough power to bring the guy down. Virgil goes into the story being a little suspicious of Jefferson, and his motives. He was, after all one of Luthor's lackeys. But by the end of the story, he has a new-found respect for him and even goes so far to say "Forget what you heard, Black Lightning's my hero. Um . . and Static's. I'd imagine." Matt Wayne does the story. It's a little simplistic, but . . it's ok. Howard Porter does the art. There's going to be a couple of fill-in issues here as we wait for issue #27. In it, J Michael Straczynski takes over the reins of this book. That's when this title should be back in it's glory again.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 - DC

First of all . . you gotta love that Dustin Nguyen cover. That's frikkin' fantastic. He does the interior art also. Dustin's art is kind of quirky, and doesn't really seem like it would fit a Batman book, but . . after reading this issue, plus the work he did in Detective, the quirkiness and moodiness of his work really brings out the best in these stories. Paul Dini is the writer. I really like his work also. He's very familiar with this character, and I think he does a great job, especially in this issue, giving us quiet moments with each of the Batman's vast supporting cast. I really liked the interactions between Damian and Thomas Elliott, who is still in Batman's custody in the Wayne building. I wonder how long that'll last. Firefly is the main protagonist of this issue. He's figured out a way to cause ordinary citizens to combust. Just what Gotham needed . . . more chaos. Dick seems to be fitting in quite nicely with his new role. I'm sure the Commissioner knows the difference, but . . he's not saying anything, if so. The story ends with Firefly filling the streets with flames. From the rooftops . . it looks like the Bat-symbol. "The dancers are filling the streets. The city is alive with fire. It's time to invite the final player . . in a manner I'm sure he'll appreciate." In the back-up story, it appears that Manhunter will be taking up residency in Gotham as well. Marc Andreyko is back as the writer. And Georges Jeanty is back as the penciller. Thank god! I just really didn't like Michael Gaydos' art in the final issues of that series. Anyways, Kate Spencer, Manhunter's alias, has been selected to take over the position of District Attorney in Gotham. It looks like both of her persona's will make their presence known here. And, she's already on the trail of DA Hampton's killer. Her only lead right now is . . "Jane Doe." I think this book is off to a great start. We'll just have to see if it can keep up the momentum.

Uncanny X-Men First Class - Giant Size #1 - Marvel

This book basically serves as the transition between the X-Men First Class book and the Uncanny X-Men First Class book. The first one has been going for a couple of years now, and much like the 'original' X-Men Giant-Sized (1975), this one will signify the transition between the 2 teams. Although, I really doubt that this one will carry near the amount of signifigance as the original did. The opening page explains it all . . "Charles Xavier created a school for mutants, and trained his students to protect a world that hated and feared them. Scott, Jean, Bobby, Warren and Hank were called the X-Men. There was a mission that went horribly wrong. Scott lead a new team of X-Men on a rescue mission and saved his old team. Now the new team is the only team. Scott's having trouble dealing with that . . . " This issue is brought to us by a rather large creative team. Jeff Parker, Scott Gray and Roger Langridge are the writers, and Craig Rousseau, David Williams, Dennis Calero, Sean Galloway, Joe Infurnari, Cameron Stewart and Jeff Parker are the artists. Oh, and Scottie Young who did the cover. I have to say, they put an awful lot into this book. This will definitely catch up all those younger readers who might not be familiar with the intricacies of the X-Men's history. I guess it's cheaper than buying the original. Anyways, all the creators are involved because of all the little origin stories. Although, Wolverines's is clearly made-up. Bit by a radioactive Wolverine? I think we've heard that one somewhere before. It was a cute book. The series will be by Scott Cray and Roger Cruz. So it should have a lot of the feel of the other First Class books. Personally, I like this approach that they're taking to representing the X-Men history. It's young and fresh and . . it should bring in new readers.

Knowing - Summit Entertainment

I finally made it to the movie theatre to check out this movie. Of course, by now, it's at the $1 movies . . actually $1.50 or $2, depending on which day you go . . but that's ok. There's nothing more satisfying than watching a movie for a buck . . or 2. Going in to it, I really didn't know anything about this movie, other than he finds a list that foretells every cataclysmic event in the last 50 years. It had a neat premise. 50 years ago an elementary school class participated in the burying of a time capsule. They all made pictures to put in it. One student however, who seemed to be haunted by voices whispering to her, puts in a paper that's a big list of numbers. 50 years later, when the capsule is opened, Nicholas Cage's son, Chandler Canterbury, is given the page with all the numbers on it. Nicholas' character, who is an MIT professor, quickly notices a pattern in the numbers. It turns out they're a list of dates, and casualties, of events that have happened in our recent history . . 50 years. One of which is the hotel fire in which his wife died a year or so ago. Nicholas' character was a religious man. At least he came from a religious background. But, upon his wife's death, he forgot all those beliefs. He gave up the notions of 'destiny' and 'pre-determination' for those of chaos and randomness. A universe without a supreme being. Those are pretty strong, and intense themes throughout the movie, but . . I don't feel that that's what it was all about. Yes it was a driving force for him, but . . I really think it was his thirst for knowledge and answers . . no matter what the cost, or repercussions, that was this characters motivation. I don't think he was necessarily trying to prove or disprove any beliefs, he just wanted to know why his wife died and what purpose it served . . other than the 'random chaos' that he now believes makes up the universe. He never really gets the answers to those questions, but . . the movie does come to an unexpected conclusion. Yes it's the natural course of events . . what the movie was leading up to, but . . I didn't really think that they'd go there. I thought that somehow they'd avert the crisis. And the mystery men that appear . . the 'whisperers'? They're really left to the viewers interpretation. They could be angels, aliens, from the future . . it's never really explained. You have to sort that one out yourself. Being a father though, the part that always appeals to me the most is the relationship between the father and son figures. There's a really touching moment during the end of the movie between Nicholas and his son that had my eyes watering. My wife was balling. But it really made me think that everything he had done during this story was to try to protect his son, and make his life a little better . . a little easier. As much as he mourned his wife's loss, I think he also felt guilty that he left his son without a mother. In the end it's a science-fiction movie . . with a science-fiction story and ending. But I think it's the human story that makes it worth watching. I think it might be a good movie to watch a second time . . to pick up on some of the stuff I missed the first, now that I know what's going to happen. Either way, I feel like I got my $1 worth, and I enjoyed it. The ending was a bit . . questionable, but . . what else were they supposed to do? 

Uncanny X-Men #511 - Marvel

Well, this issue wraps up the Red-Queen story-line. It ended about as I expected, but . . there were a few things of interest along the way. Last issue ended with the Red-Queen's Sisterhood grabbing the lock of Jean's hair that Logan had kept in his possession. This came as a complete surprise to . . well, everybody except for Logan. Needless to say, Logan and Scott don't really talk to each other much this issue. Anyways, I thought they were going to clone her or something, but the lock of hair was so she could use a magic spell to point out where it's original owner was . . the cemetery behind the mansion. But Scott already knew that, so he, Logan, Northstar and Peter immediately head back towards the school. Luckily though, they find out that Domino isn't to far from the school right now. Anyways, the Red-Queen, along with Spiral, Deathstrike and Chimera head out to get the body. She leaves the Mastermind Sisters, as well as Kwannon and Betsy Braddock behind. Well . . she doesn't have much of a choice with Kwannon and Betsy, but the sisters are supposed to protect them. Needless to say, Storm, Emma, Allison and Armor take them out pretty fast. Allison hurts Kwannon, helping to release her grip a bit on Psylocke's psych. Betsy soon takes care of her on the mental-plane, and . . she returns to her body, and Psylocke is back. Meanwhile, when Scott got ahold of Domino, he had her pull the old switcheroo. So when the Red-Queen tries to enter Jean's body . . it's not actually Jean. Therefore . . she burns it up pretty fast. The good news is Betsy's back. The bad news . . all the rest of the Sisterhood escape, and I think it seems like a pretty hallow victory over the Red-Queen. Plus, you know she's going to be back. Right? But, to me, the most important scene in the whole book was at the end when Hank comes into Scott and Emma's room to wake them up. Something is bothering him, and it bothers him enough that he doesn't care if he inconveniences them. "Lots of secrets filling these halls nowadays, Scott. Logan leading a gang off to god knows where. Bloodstained clothes in the laundry. Warren transforming into Archangel again. To say nothing of what you've been up to Miss Frost. Secrets, Scott. Secrets, Emma. In these times . . these awful, fractious times . . we . . are all we have left. I'm taking the X-Club on a mission come daylight. I expect I'll be gone some time. But when I get back, we're having it aaall out. Do you hear me? These secrets will kill us. And I won't stick around to watch it happen." Boy, he really got a lot off his chest, didn't he? It'll be interesting to see what this little 'adventure' he has planned for the scientists is, and . . it'll be interesting to see what happens when he comes back. All in all I thought it was a great issue by Matt Fraction and Greg Land. The final 2 pages of the book are by Terry Dodson. I think Matt's doing a great job with these stories, but . . I don't really feel like they've let him cut loose yet. He's a 'big-idea' man also . . like Mark Millar, or Grant Morrison, but . . we haven't seen to many of those yet. There's been some interesting concepts, but nothing really 'ground-breaking'. I'm enjoying what he's doing right now, but I'm waiting for that 'ah-ha' moment.

Wolverine #74 - Marvel

To be perfectly honest with you, I didn't really dig issues #73 and #74. Of course it is hard to follow up a fantastic Mark Millar story. Especially one like Old Man Logan, but . . these 2 stories seemed more like something out of the old Marvel Comics Presents series. It felt like a fill-in. The first story was about Logan running into an old pal, Horrorshow, who is the leader of a bike gang. Apparently there's some bad blood between his gang and another . . no surprise there. But his son is part of the other gang, so . . what's a father to do. However, things keep happening . . murders, deaths, whatever . . and all fingers point towards his son. Horrorshows second in command, Ram, is getting restless and is stirring unrest about Horrorshows reluctance to declare war. The ending is what confused me the most. Logan finds out that his son, and Ram were doing dealings behind Horrorshow's back. But, of course, Ram was getting greedier and greedier until finally his son had to cut him off. Which is why Ram is trying to eliminate him by making it look like he's the one trying to start a war. Logan has him but let's him go. He tells him to go far far away. That part I get. But then he tells Horrorshow that his son's dead. Of course Horrorshow is upset and blames Logan, but . . I think deep down he knows it's not really his fault. However, he doesn't tell him about Ram. Instead, he just quietly kills him and then rides away into the sunset. I just thought it was a peculiar ending. Anyways, in the second story, Spider-man has come to confront Logan about everything he's trying to take on in the world. He's worried about him . . like he's trying to push himself to hard. After a heated discussion, and a distraction by someone trying to rob their bar, Logan admits . . "You were right, about everything. I am afraid to be alone with my own thought. I'm afraid of my own memories. All the lives I've ruined, the lives I've taken. All the horrible things I've done. All the things I wish had stayed forgotten. I know nothing I do can change the past. And no matter how many different super teams I join, it can never make up for all those old sins. But I gotta try. Even if it kills me, I gotta try." However, before they can have a more 'touching' moment, Logan is called away on X-Men business. I liked the feel of the second story more than the first. But ultimately . . it was still just a fill-in. Our creators this issue were Jason Aaron, Daniel Way, Adam Kubert and Tommy Lee Edwards. I guess overall the issue was ok. It's just awful hard to follow up such a great story. By the way, the final chapter of Old Man Logan . . the Giant-sized issue . . it isn't scheduled to come out until the end of September. So . . we'll probably see it in October. That's really not here or there. I just wanted to let you know.

X-Factor #44 - Marvel

I love this book . . I really do. The characters are intriguing, and I think Peter David is doing a great job with the story. He's very good with team-books. He does a good job with keeping multiple story-lines going . . and interesting. This issue Jamie and Layla are still in the future. There's something there, between them . . feelings. They've kissed, but . . rest assured, they haven't 'done it'. Jamie doesn't really need more complications in his life. Anyways, they're trying to figure out their role in this Summers-rebellion, by trying to help Scott and Ruby figure out why people seem to be disappearing. Meanwhile, in her recent attempt to help Lenore's mother, Monet seems to have been posessed by someone . . or something. When she tried to dig into her mother's mind, trying to figure out why she attacked Lenore, she seems to have been bounced out of her mind. She appears to be in a trance-like state, and says a single word . . 'Cortex'. Although the team misses it completely, she was trying to strangle Longshot after all. They thought she said 'Codex', or 'Kotex'. So, they're basically clueless right now. Anyways, after she comes out of it, she appears to be normal. She even volunteers to try to keep Lenore safe, with Darwin's help. She takes them to a fancy hotel for privacy. But . . it's all a ruse. Monet seems to be under Cortex's control and is still trying to eliminate Lenore. Lenore is passed out from drinking, and the issue ends with Monet making her move, literally, against Darwin. "You weren't on Cortex's list. But there's always room for more." Oh yeah, coincidentally, 80 years in the future Jamie is looking for someone smart "like Reed", to help them figure out if someone is trying to play with time . . I'm thinking maybe Dr Doom? Anyways, whomever he is . . he's half insane, and he's living in the same hotel that Monet, Lenore and Darwin are at right now. Kind of a coinkidink. Right? Anyways, like I said . . Peter does a great job of keeping the momentum going. The only thing we didn't see this issue is . . what's going on with Rictor and Guido right now. Remember they went to look for the other 'dupe' . . the minister. I'm sure we'll get more into that next issue. I also really liked Marco Santucci and Valentine DeLandro's pencils. Overall I thought it was a good issue.

X-Men Forever #1 - Marvel

Ok . . this is an interesting turn of events. When I opened this book, there's a recap page . . 'Previously, in the X-Men: . .' I'm wondering what's going on. This is the first issue . . right? Well, apparently, Marvel has decided to create yet another alternate universe. This is for all of you X-Men fans out there who feel that the X-Men have gone astray ever since Chris Claremont left. I mean, he did guide the direction of this team for 16 years, after all. And then, after the Mutant Genesis story-line in 1991 . . he left the fold. Apparently this issue, and this series, picks up immediately after that . . as if Chris had never left. Wow! What a bold experiment. I never would've expected it. So we start out at the stage where Jean, after she came back, is exploring and questioning her feeling toward Logan. Remy has just joined the team to help them out. He doesn't know how long he'll be staying. Nick Fury has recently shown up to give the X-Men a hand. And the team is currently trying to chase down the rogue mutant, Fabian Cortez, whom has apparently killed Magneto. Fabian proves to be more than the team expected, and apparently can handle. He takes them all out rather quickly. Which forces Fury, in response, to assume control of the X-Men. "From now on, you X-Men will have to get used to having someone official looking over your shoulders." Logan is the first to voice his disapproval and promptly quits the team. But it quickly seems as if he's found trouble when Jean picks up on his thoughts. They quickly overload her, and that's how the issue ends. This should be interesting. We all know that Chris is 'the' X-Men scribe. I'm sure things didn't go as he had planned with them after his abrupt departure. But that's the way of comic books. Things don't often go the way the writers had planned because these characters start to assume a life of their own. I don't think it's really fair to blame that on Chris' leaving. However, apparently, there's a audience out there that wants to know what would've happened if Chris had stayed . . if he had followed out his various story-lines to their fruition. So now . . you have it. And, as I stated, we have yet another alternate universe. Tom Grummett is doing the art, and I think it's fantastic. It really puts us in the feeling of the older style X-Men books. Obviously I'll have to keep buying this one. I want to see where things go from here . . how the last 18 years of history with the X-Men will be changed. It should be an interesting ride.

GeNext United #2 - Marvel

I appreciate what Chris Claremont is doing here, but . . as I stated in X-Men: Forever . . here we are with yet another alternate universe. This would be one of 5 or 6 various ones going on right now. This reminds me of DC comics in the 70's. Are they setting themselves up for a Crisis-like series down the line here? Anyways, having said that, I really do like the characters in this book. They're reluctant heroes, much like the X-Men in the beginning. They want to do good, and find themselves in the world. Right now they're basically traveling the path that's being laid out in front of them. Scott's given them an ultimatum, of sorts . . either they can be adventurers, or they can be students . . but not both. And, apparently, Hank has the same wonder-lust as these kids. He's not very hesitant about going along for the ride. Sure he can say he's trying to protect them, but . . it didn't necessarily have to be him.But he quickly stepped into those shoes. After the fight on Genosha, trying to help Sati from the little 'goblins' chasing her, our team is now traveling to Mumbai to help Sati in her fight against the Ravarati. And they do come across Kalima and her little 'goblins', but . . they also find someone else, a new foe, that they hadn't expected. "Guys, I'd like you to meet . . Sophie Von Doom . . heiress to the throne of Latveria . . and the only child of . . Dr Victor Von Doom." Although Sophie may need them as allies . . Kalima doesn't take lightly to her operations in this country without her permission. I like this series . . as I did the first. Jon Boy Meyers gives the visuals a unique look. Kind of a 'young', 'fresh' approach. This should all roll out to be a very interesting story.

Fantastic Four #567 - DC

I'm not sure who's going to follow up Mark Millar's run on this book, but . . whomever it is, they are going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. These issues have been brilliant. This issue begins immediately where the last left off . . with Doom burning at the feet of the Marquis of Death, his master. It appears that is was Doom himself who first track this guy down. He wanted him to teach him everything he knew. But now, this Marquis of Death, doesn't feel like he's lived up to his potential. "How eager he was when he first tracked us down. How full of cruelty and ambition. Let's dump him in the Pliocene Age. His corpse will make a fine meal for the Megalodons." And he's quickly swallowed by a dinosaur sized shark. But I'm getting ahead of myself, in the beginning of the issue Doom rises up and confronts his would be master. The battle he then engaged in lasted six weeks. "Others joined in this terrible fight, but it was Doom who created the Omega Box and Doom alone who defeated his master." With the Marquis dead, and the FF torn apart, Doom mourned. He then, "Married and rehabilitated, his only interests were scientific progress and the well-being of all mankind." We see in the 5 years that follow that the Earth becomes a Utopia. Until one day, in the Omega Box, Doom and his wife, Susan, are talking about the future of their unborn child when it's revealed that this was all a hoax by the Marquis. "You haven't been gone five seconds. You're still lying burned in the dirt. You haven't even blinked yet. There was no Omega Box, no ultimate battle, no wife or heir apparent. We were just having fun." And then he uses his powers to wipe out Latveria, and all the people in it. "This is real. This isn't a battle we came here to wage . . this is punishment." Then after he dumps Doom's body in the past he decides he's going to forgo the Slaughter. Instead he dons the mask of Doom . . "Honor will be restored by rectifying his failures . . starting with the Fantastic Four. Let us see how they fare against the new Doctor Doom." I have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot worse before they get better. This is a fantastic story-line and I can't wait to see how this one is resolved. You just never know with Mark. It could go in so many different directions, and the only thing you can know for sure is that it won't go in the direction you expect. Mark is definitely a 'road less traveled' type of person. Fan-frikkin-tastic!! Oh yeah, by the way Bryan Hitch's pencils are just as stellar.

the Amazing Spider-man #597 - Marvel

We get yet another artist this issue . . Marco Chechetto. He's not nearly as good as the last 2 . . Phil Jimenez and Paulo Siqueira, but . . I guess with this story-arc, it's the story that is more important. Don't get me wrong, Marco's work isn't terrible . . it's actually ok. It shows a whole lot of potential. But, being stacked against Phil and Paulo's work is a hard thing to do. However, Phil does still do the cover. Anyways, we find out some more about Norman's plans this issue. Remember, Peter has now infiltrated the Avengers headquarters and is posing as, well . . himself. Or I should say, the the slimmed down Venom, Gargan, version of himself. Anyways, Norman is working on a way of combining his 'Goblin-juice' with the Super-soldier formula. He's testing it on various subjects in the Avengers labs, breeding a whole bunch of monsters. But . . "Monsters breed miracles. We have stabilized the formula, finally. All that remains are a few practical tests and then we'll be ready. Harry is more than capable of rising to the challenge . . once he's properly motivated." It appears that Harry actually is in love with Lily, Malice. But he has to figure out how to help Lily soon because the Menace persona is already changing her body, and . . there's no telling what it's doing to thier baby. Peter goes up to the 25th floor to for 'monitor duty' when he's confronted by Daken. It appears that Peter's fooled everybody else, but Daken says he doesn't smell right . . "You forgot to do something about the smell. You're too clean for Gargan." There's a great fight scene between them, and surprisingly Peter takes him out. Then Harry shows up. Peter tries to explain things to Harry . . fill him in on his father's plans really quick, but then Norman and the rest of the Avengers show up. Peter doesn't know that Harry is trying to protect Lily so he doesn't understand what's going on when Harry betrays him to his father. The issue ends with Norman shooting Peter, and then . . it looks like Norman's going to perform another test with his 'Goblin-juice'/Super-soldier formula . . on Spider-man. Also this issue, it appears that there's another new menace starting to pop up around town. Could this be the beginning of Dr Octopus' return? Joe Kelly is doing a fantastic job with this story-line. I really like the idea of Spider-man infiltrating the Avengers like this. We'll see everybody's true colors because I can't believe all these guys would let Norman follow through with his plans here. But there's 2 issues left in this story-arc, so . . .