Batman - Street of Gotham #10 - DC

We find out this issue that even though the last few issues have seemed like different stories . . they're really all connected. Zsasz has been abducting children and making them fight to the death. If they refuse to fight . . then they have to fight him. Anyways, Humpty Dumpty found some of these 'broken' children by the river and was trying to 'put them back together again'. We also found out that this mysterious vigilante that been running around Gotham, was actually a young boy from the Orphanage. Well, come to find out, he's the same boy that the Scarecrow used against Batman, a few months ago, by pumping him full of Venom. You know . . the stuff that makes Bane powerful. Well . . Batman helped the boy out of that mess, but . . all of the Venom didn't work it's way out of his system. He found out that if he concentrated, and with practice, he could control it. So that's how he's been turning into that vigilante guy with the trench-coat and hat. Not much of a costume, but he was just afraid that he looked like a monster. Anyways, after seeing the dead boys that Humpty had recovered, Damian is definitely moved. So he's doing some digging. As is the boy Colin. They run into each other, just as Zsasz' assistant, Buddy, is trawling for new 'talent'. Damian doesn't know what Colin is capable of, so he tries to protect him. Unfortunately, that leaves him alone in the ring facing Zsasz. And right now . . he's not faring to well. Zsasz seems to be taking him apart piece by piece. I enjoyed this chapter of the story by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen. In the back-up, we see more of the story of Two-Face's trial. Kate is trying to prosecute him, but Harvey is defending himself. It all comes to a head when Harvey puts Jane Doe on the stand and she ends up blowing up the courtroom. In the melee, Jane and Harvey both disappear. But Kate, as Manhunter, later finds him in the judge's house, and . . he's just killed him. The ManHunter story is by Marc Andreyko and Jeremy Haun. I enjoy this book. I like seeing the different aspects of Gotham's landscape. And I like the focus that they put on some of Batman's supporting characters that normally wouldn't get it.

Power Girl #10 - DC

This is a silly issue. That boy that took the pictures of Power Girl coming out of the Starrware building, and changing into uniform . . he's decided that he wants to blackmail her. But it's not how you'd think. First he wants her to come to his comic shop with him when he goes to get his weekly books. Secondly, he wants he help with a bully, and his gang, that has been tormenting him. And finally . . he wants her help in asking a girl for a date. You know . . typical teenaged boy stuff. But first, Power Girl has to deal with Satanna. At the end of last issue we saw them fighting and then Terra shows up. Well Terra helps to get her off of PG's case, but . . in the more personal events that follow the fight, Karen notices that Atlee is acting funny. Just little odd personality traits. Then later when Satanna attacks again, but this time not with her ani-men . . this time she uses Manhawks. They're usually something that Hawkman deals with. Anyways, during the battle she notices that Terra is a little more blood-thirty than usual. And by the end of the book, she finally pieces it together . . somehow Satanna has put the Ultra-humanites brain into Terra's body. Now she just has to figure out how to fix it, and find out what they did with Terra's brain. The thing I really like about this book is the humor that Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti put into their scripts. At some points it's almost a slap-stick type of humor. But . . I think it's perfect for this book, and this character. That, coupled with Amanda Connor's rather whimsical art, and . . it really makes for a fun read. Hopefully these guys stay on this book for a long time to come.

Justice League: the Rise of Arsenal #1 - DC

I have to say . . this is one of those instances where I like the regular cover by Greg Horn more than the expensive variant cover by Mike Mayhew. Unfortunately . . that happens every now and then. Anyways . . this was a very moving issue. First we see Roy the day before his fight with Prometheus. He's at the satellite talking to Lian over the com-link. And then . . we finally get to see just what went down between Roy and Prometheus. In Cry for Justice we saw the after-affects of that battle. But we didn't see what actually happened. Probably because if we had we'd have known that Freddy was actually Prometheus. Anyways, a couple of days later, Roy finally comes out of it to find that his arm is gone. Vic is already making plans to manufacture a cybernetic one for him, but . . whatever it was that Prometheus cut off his arm with, it infected him with some type of nanomite . . a flesh eating bacteria. And then . . shortly after that . . he finds out about Lian. It's really almost more than he can take. This part of the story happens before Ollie goes off and kills Prometheus. I'm thinking that seeing Roy in so much pain and anguish . . it's probably what set Ollie off on that course of events. And then . . on top of all of this . . don't forget that at one point in his life Roy was a drug addict. Well . . right now they're pumping him full of Morphine, and who knows what else. So it looks like he may be facing that monkey again. Right now he's seeing it in his head as his pal Corey. He's one of the guys that he used to get high with during that low point in his life. But he knows that Corey is dead, so he knows that this is all probably just some drug addled dream. But then after seeing Lian's body . . and finding looters in his house, he starts pulling himself further away from his friends and family. Plus he's started taking pain-killers to dull his pain . . both physically and emotionally. I have a feeling that battling this demon will probably be worse than anything he faced with Prometheus. This is the beginning of a 4 issue series, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's by JT Krul and Geraldo Borges. I assume that Geraldo is pretty new to the scene. But I have to say his style and pencils really show a lot of promise. I can't wait to get further into this story.

Green Lantern #52 - DC

I enjoyed this issue . . we got some more information as to the creation of these various emotional / spectral creatures . . such as Ion and Parallax. And as I suspected, there's one for each spectrum of the ring's powers. But Sinestro has absorbed the main being . . the one from which all other life, and the rest of these creatures sprang . . the creature of white light. Although, we don't have a name yet. But even faced with this power, Nekron refuses to give up. Instead he physically splits Sinestro in two, thereby making it hard for either of them to focus their will or power. So it's up to the rest of the Lanterns to help Sinestro, and save the rest of the Earth. But first they have to deal with Xanshi. That's the planet that John accidentally destroyed, Fatality's homeworld. Basically, it's been turned into a Black Lantern version of Mogo. But it doesn't take long for John and a bunch of multi-spectrum Lanterns to find their way into the heart of it and destroy it with their combined projected array. This seems to cause of lot of Black Lanterns to have their connections severed. And in turn . . seems to weaken Nekron drastically. It weakens him enough that Sinestro can pull himself back together . . literally. And to announce himself as being reborn, and . . 'I am now the true Guardian of the Universe.' But I'm not sure if that's Sinestro or the creature talking. Either way . . the battle has begun anew, but . . from here, we have to wait for Blackest Night #8 to see it continue. We do get some more information out of this issue, but . . my only real complaint is that this issue is pretty much used to set up Blackest Night #8. But . . getting this close to the end, I guess I can understand that. I'm still loving the way that Geoff Johns is writing this story. And I've absolutely loved Doug Mahnke's art through this story-line. His style has been perfect for this book. I can't wait to see how this all gets wrapped up. And I'm wondering if even this being of white light can reign in the emotion and ego of a being such as Sinestro. It should definitely be an interesting final chapter.

Hulk #21 - Marvel

Well . . in Incredible Hulk #608 we got the story from Bruce's point of view. This issue fills us in on what the Red Hulk was up to at the time. We start out showing how the plan all came together . . how the Red Hulk contacted Bruce to ask for his help. To give Bruce a reason to trust him, he had to show him who he really was. We don't see that part of the story, but Red Hulk is surprised that Bruce wasn't more shocked. 'He barely changed is expression. All he said was . . where's Betty?' Which is how the Red Hulk pulled Bruce in . . he told him that he knew where they were keeping Betty. Anyways, they split up, and I think the Red Hulk's part in the plan is to release Jen and Betty. But he finds that Jen is nowhere to be found, and Doc Samson has been waiting for the Red Hulk to show up. He uses the Thinker's Gammaroid and the Robot Hulk to bring the Red Hulk down. After which he attaches him to the Cathexis Ray to drain off all of his energy. This in turn they use on the captured members of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to turn them into Hulked-out heroes. They were the third part of Bruce's plan, but shortly after breaking in to the hellicarrier they were captured in the Intelligencia's trap. I was wrong in the last post. I assumed that they had flooded the East coast with their changing ray. But apparently they had some very specific targets. That included a lot of 'heroes' and 'good-guys', but . . it also included AIM volunteers and AI Marines to create their own army of Hulks. Fortunately the Red Hulk was thinking ahead and brought a back-up plan . . Deadpool. Unfortunately . . he's also Hulked-out. So now the Red Hulk is afraid that this whole time he's been played. That by acting the way he has he's fallen right into the Leader's plans. He's done everything exactly as they'd expected him to do, and now . . 'This country . . which I gave an oath to serve . . will fall into a military coup which I designed. The Intelligencia has won.' But don't worry. We aren't even near the end of this story yet. We still have about 3 months, and 12 or so issues to go before we get anywhere near the end of all of this. Like I keep saying, Jeph Loeb has done an incredible job of keeping the important details of this story-line under wraps. Anymore it's almost impossible to second guess what his plans may be here. I guess we're just going to have to ride it out and wait. I also enjoyed Ed McGuinness' art. It was fantastic, as usual. My only complaint is that I wish we'd get some less-vague clues. Throw us a bone. Please!

Incredible Hulk #608 - Marvel

Well . . with this issue, it looks like things have gone from bad to worse. And, unfortunately . . it appears that I'm going to be forced to buy another addendum to this story . . World War Hulks #1. As you know, I try to keep out of these big myopic storylines of Marvel's as they usually don't really amount to any kind of significant change. They just take up time and space and force me to buy a bunch of books that I later regret. However, since I'm already reading the Hulk, I figured that I'd at least buy the Incredible title through this run, so I'm not as lost. Which unfortunately has lead me into the Red Hulk mini-series. And now, after the Alpha and Gamma issues, one of it's first addendum's. However, I'm going to try not to get sucked into the Hulked Out Heroes 2-issue mini. I gotta draw the line someplace. Right? Anyways, Bruce attempts to rescue Betty, but appears unsuccessful. However . . it's really all just a ruse. Bruce's rescue attempt is actually being performed by Amadeus Cho, while he himself is attacking the Leader. He's also somehow talked Lyra into helping him out. But in the process may have alienated Skaar. 'What's going on? You already know . . lies! I've deceived all of you. Used all of you. My best friends . . the heroes I most admire in the world . . and my only son. Because if any of you knew all the different angles I'm playing . . you'd never trust me again. But I've wrapped my brain around this a billion times . . and this is the only way . . the only possible chance I have to save the world . . and my wife.' But then things really go to hell. We don't know that it was the Red Hulk's fault, but . . it appears to be. He was supposed to be the final piece in stopping the Intelligencia. But instead they've activated their ultimate weapon and turned everyone on the East Coast . . civilians and heroes alike, into Hulked out versions of themselves. However, somewhere along the line . . we find out on the final page that Bruce is actually hooked up to the Leader's brain machine. The question is . . when did that happen, and how much of this story was just a dream? And . . I'm thinking, this may all still be part of Bruce's plans. Only he would have a big enough ego to think that once connected to the Leader's machine that he'd be able to recognize the dream-scape and affect it from within. I'm just guessing, but . . I could see that happening. I really enjoyed Greg Pak's story this issue. And as always I continue to be impressed by Paul Pelletier's pencils. This guy definitely does not get the credit that he deserves. We also get a back-up tale of the Red She-Hulk's first mission. You know, when they attacked X-Force. It kind of fills in a few holes, and . . we get to see Red She-Hulk and Domino naked. Well . . sort of. It's by Harrison Wilcox and Ryan Stegman.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6 - Marvel

I have to admit, I'm liking this title more and more with every issue. I was a little skeptical at first. They seemed to be forcing Marc . . er, I mean Jake, into a direction that he probably wouldn't go normally. It didn't' seem like the natural chain of events. But . . he seems to be adjusting to his new role, and he even holds himself back from actually killing Bushman this issue. I really didn't see that one coming. Jake leaves him to be arrested by the authorities, and put in what I assume is an insane asylum. Even though Khonshu's presence seems to be harder and harder for him to ignore. He's basically ordering Jake to become the killer that he once was. However, by the end of the issue is seems as though Khonshu may have a new servant. I'm sure we'll get more on that in the next storyline. So far I'm impressed by Gregg Hurwitz' story here. Jake seemed to be a new man, but . . you could still see glimpses of his old self. I really expected him to fall back into his old form. It would've been so much easier for him. But . . he prevailed. And with his supporting cast back around him . . encouraging him . . for the first time in quite a while . . it seems as if Jake may have the strength of character to remain on this new path. But . . I'm sure he'll be tested. That seems to be one of the constants of this character. However, with Bushman now back alive and in jail . . and, since Jake had a chance to kill him but didn't . . hopefully he'll be able to put a lot of his regret and self-doubt behind him. Which, to me, seems to be where Khonshu found the strength to control him. Overall, I thought it was a great issue. And . . Jerome Opena's art get better and better with every issue. I thought there were some fantastic panels throughout this issue. It looks like we'll be starting a new storyline next issue, so . . now's the time to get on board. If you're thinking about it.

the Amazing Spider-man #625 - Marvel

As much grief as I've given this book recently . . I have to admit, I really liked this issue. However, unfortunately . . I don't really think that it had anything to do with Peter, or Spider-man. At least . . not much. This new Rhino fellow has decided that in order for him to be the one true Rhino, the mantle has to be passed on to him. By defeating his predecessor. At least . . that's what his 'guardian angel' has convinced him of. Unfortunately for him, I think his 'guardian angel' is that Kraven chick. Which is equally unfortunate for Aleksei, the original Rhino. All Aleksei wants to do is live a normal life and spend time with his love, Oksana. But that choice is going to be taken away from him. Long story short . . the new Rhino challenges Aleksei, which he apparently accepts. However, he's just trying to stall and asking to be placed in witness protection. He's past trying to defend his honor. He just wants to spend the rest of his life with Oksana. But this new Rhino isn't going to let him slip away so easily and attacks the motorcade on the bridge before they can leave town. In the resulting explosion . . Oksana is killed. Needless to say, Aleksei retrieves his old costume and proceeds to kick the new Rhino's butt. But before he delivers the final blow, he tells Spider-man . .'All of this happened because I tried to be something I am not. I will never forgive you.' Which is really a crushing blow for Peter. Especially after everything that he's been through recently. Anyways, this story was framed by Norah Winters' journal of these events. She's writing a story for the paper, and the events are arranged according to her witnessing of them. I have to say . . I actually like the way that it all came together. I also have to say, I think some of the reason I liked this issue so much is because it was written by Joe Kelly and drawn by Max Fiumara. I didn't really like the art in the last few issues, and I guess . . I just didn't like the way the previous story was handled. But . . that's just my opinion. So . . I'm in it for a little longer. We'll just have to wait and see how long that lasts.

Dark Avengers #15 - Marvel

I really liked this issue. It didn't really have anything to do with Siege . . at least not directly. But . . since I don't really care about that . . for me, it was perfect. With all of the problems Norman has been having with Bob, this issue it seems as though he's taken a step towards taking care of that. Or . . he just made matters a whole lot worse. The issue starts out with Norman provoking a fight with Doom. This results in an all-out attack on Avengers Tower. While the Iron Patriot is fighting off Doom's robotic swarm, Norman orders an evacuation of the entire building. In the melee and confusion, Hawkeye ends up taking off in his own helicopter. Just him . . and Lindy. As they're supposedly flying towards a safe-house, Hawkeye provokes a fight with her. She begins to fight back, but then he snaps her neck and throws her in the ocean. When he returns alone, the Void attacks Hawkeye with extreme vigor. Norman has to call it off, and Hawkeye sends him on a wild goose-chase in the fields of New Jersey. A couple of things I noticed here. First of all . . does it scare anyone else that Norman has this much control over the Void, and Bob? I mean, it's like he has his very own rabid dog on a very short leash. The problem is, eventually those dogs end up biting their masters . . or someone they're not supposed to. Secondly, have you noticed how much Bob and Lindy kind of look alike? Almost as if they're just different genders of the same person. It seems as though Lindy has put up with an awful lot and still stayed with him. What if she's just another divergent aspect of Bob's already fractured personality? Or, since we found out that he can manipulate matter . . maybe he created her . . subconsciously. Either way, I don't think we're done with this story with Lindy. I don' think the problem is going to be as easily taken care of as Norman expects. And finally . . at the end, when Norman asks Victoria to notify the White House that the tower was a target of a Latverian terrorist assault . . I think Victoria realizes that Norman staged all of this. I don't think she's figured out why, exactly. But . . I think she's starting to realize that she's in way over her head. Or aboard a slowly sinking ship. One that it's captain doesn't even realize is going down, yet. I give Brian Bendis the highest praise for the fantastic job he is doing with the story on this title. And I continue to be impressed with Mike Deodato's art issue after issue. Unfortunately, next issue is it's last. I know there's other plans in store for the Avengers, and probably most of these characters, but . . I really hate to see this creative team dissolved. I hope they end up on something else together, because they really compliment each other's strengths.

X-Men Legacy #234 - Marvel

I think this issue is actually a little bit of a respite while we're waiting for the Second Coming storyline to start next month. However, in the process, we get caught up with a character that's gone through a lot of changes of late . . Rogue. Scott has recently asked her to be a mentor to the newer and younger mutants. She really seems to be adapting to that role quite nicely. But she's a bit overwhelmed this issue when she willingly absorbs some of the Cuckoo's powers. Scott is concerned that they haven't been able to find the Phoenix force ever since it left them. But as the Cuckoos observe . . the Phoenix can bend psi-scans to hide itself. So their theory is that if Rogue absorbs some of their powers, in thier diminished capacity they'll be able to perform a more passive scan. Kind of go in under the radar. As it were. However, that proves futile also. Anyways, while she's got some of the Cuckoo's powers, she's also tying to perform the responsibilities that Scott's asked of her. She finds that the psi-powers are both a blessing and a hindrance. Mostly because she's having a hard time controlling them. She's trying to help Indra get past the barriers that are stopping him from accessing his powers. She seems to be making progress. But . . when she has the Cuckoo's powers, he puts up an even bigger wall. She also has an encounter with Remy that's a bit embarrassing. She's having memories of their time together, but without knowing it, she's also broadcasting those memories out into the population. That is until Remy realizes what she's doing and stops her. And, while talking to him, Rogue realizes that there seems to be a separate person inside of his psyche. It's him, but . . it's not. I think she's seeing the persona that Apocalypse turned him into. But, I'm sure we'll see more of that later. Anyways, that's how it goes with most of her encounters. As I said before, it appears that Rogue is slipping into a 'den-mother' kind of role. At least with these kids. Hopefully we'll still see her in action with some of the teams also. And . . all of this is a breather before the real action starts next month. This issue is brought to us by Mike Carey and Yanick Paquette. Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent issue. Especially if your a Rogue fan.

Nation-X #4 - Marvel

This is the final chapter in the mini-series that shines a little light on some of the lesser known X-Men characters. However, this issue we journey just a little outside of the box by seeing a story about Doop. I'm not sure how many of you out there read the Static-X series, but he was one of the characters there. They were tethered to the X-Men by the thinnest of threads. Most people don't even consider them X-Men. Including many of the mutants living in Utopia. Anyways, Peter Milligan and Michael Allred give us a nice little tale her that shows what it might be like if Scott has chosen Doop to be the head of security on the island. The story is mostly about the relationship between Logan and Doop. Although, after reading it, we find out that the story is actually a dream. But, I'm a little confused as to whether it was Logan's or Doop's. Or, maybe . . somehow they were connected in their dream state. Anyways, the next story is about Emma and the Cuckoos. Apparently all of them are rather bored and dissatisfied with their role and existence on the island. So the Cuckoos, having recently watched a whole bunch of horror movies, have been playing with the subconscious of some of the younger students by putting them through some of the scenes they've seen in these movies. On the psychic plane of course. They don't really want to hurt anybody. So it's up to Emma to try to find new roles for them, and herself, to help them all try to alleviate some of their boredom. It think it's a work in progress. This view of the 'Bad Seeds' was provided by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Harvey Tolibad. In the next chapter James Proudstar has a little fun with some of the newer students. He's pulled guard duty on the food supplies, and with all the adolescent mutants running around the island, it's only natural that they would be hungry . . like, all of the time . . and therefore they would see the opportunity to liberate some of that food as a challenge that they couldn't resist. In the process he gives them a little lesson in fighting and about their powers. I liked it. It was a nice light-hearted tale by Ivan Brandon and Rael Lyra. And finally we see how Ororo and Namor are adjusting to their lessened roles in the hierarchy of the island. These are to people that are used to being monarchs of their own people and lands. And now their stuck in supporting roles. Roles that seem pretty insignificant to both of them. But as Ororo points out to Namor, after he announces to her that he's ready to leave, that it isn't just about them. It's about what they can do to support their people, and help to make the island into what Scott dreams that it can be. Even though Namor doesn't agree with all of Scott's decisions or strategies . . that's the burden of assuming leadership. A role that Namor should be able to intimately relate to. This part of the book was written and drawn by Joe Caramagna and Niko Henrichon. Overall I enjoyed this issue and this series. With all the story-lines and plot-threads that have involved the island and it's inhabitants, it's nice to get these less serious views of some of the other stuff going on . . on the side-lines.

Wolverine Origins #45 - Marvel

In this issue Logan is still trying to work his plan to take down Romulus. It's either that, or be taken down himself. Essentially . . Romulus wants Logan and Daken to fight to the death. To the victor goes the empire . . the perceived empire that Romulus has built up over the years. He knows that his time is limited, and he wants to pick his own successor. So, in order to spoil Romulus' plans, Logan has decided to ask for help. Since Romulus has been manipulating him his whole life, anything that he could think of, Romulus would anticipate. It seemed as though Bruce Banner and Skaar were going to be the orchestrators of that plan, but . . apparently Logan has decided put wheels within wheels. Logan, with his new partners in crime . . the Silver Samurai, Bruce and Skaar, and Cloak . . have recently broken Ruby Thursday out of jail. Only to find out that she was almost immediately captured and questioned by Romulus. So their plan thus far is pointless. But Logan anticipated that. Which is why this part of the plan has been put together by someone called the Answer. It was his idea to break out Ruby. Even though he knew that she would most likely betray them. But he had to include her as he's secretly in love with her. Anyways, all of this was just a feint also as Logan's real plan rest in the mind of Deadpool. I like the way that Daniel Way is orchestrating these events. I can appreciate that, facing a superior opponent, Logan has deferred to other peoples plans. He wants to 'win', to take Romulus down, so bad that he's willing to put ego and pride aside. I think that really shows the true strength of Logan's character. It's amazing to me that after all of this time we can still be surprised by his actions. And I still think that we're going to find out that Romulus and Logan are somehow related. I'm thinking his father, but . . I could be wrong. But somehow they're related. Doug Braithwaite provides the pencils on this issue. I really like this book. And I think that Daniel has done an amazing job these last 4 years.

X-Factor Forever #1 - Marvel

To put things in perspective here . . this is going to be a 5 issue mini-series by Louise Simonson and Dan Panosian. It picks up immediately after X-Factor #64. The team consists of the original X-Men. They're living in Apocalypse's old home, a sentient Celestial space-ship, that landed in Manhattan. Christopher is still a toddler, but Madelyn has already been killed. Scott wants Jean to marry him, but she has reservations for a number of reasons. The rest of it I think we'll pick up as we go along. This issue mostly just gets us back into the swing of things. All the boys are chasing their loves. Hank is chasing after Trish. Bobby is in love with Opal. And even Warren seems to be settling down as he's attracted to Charlotte. But things are already starting to brew beneath the surface that are going to cause problems for our team. The ship has some programs running that it can't access. Everyone is assuming that they're the monitoring programs of the Celestial's that have been running for millennia. But no one knows for sure. Including, Apocalypse. But he seems the most curious of all. So he plans on breaking into the ship to find out exactly what it is that they're monitoring. To do so, he needs to distract the team. So he's going to revive Master Mold and Cameron Hodge. Meanwhile, Caliban has been hunting the Marauders for what they did to the people he lived with in the sewers. And this issue he catches and kills the last of them . . Sabretooth. Also, it appears that the Celestials are on a course for Earth. I don't know what it has to do with the ship, but . . I'm sure it does. Overall . . I thought it was a pretty good opening chapter. It seems to set the stage for a whole bunch of stuff that should put this team to the test. In the back of the book we get some crib notes on Apocalypse . . basically from when he was a caveman, right up to this story. We learn about his connection to the Celestials in this chapter. And there's a bunch of notes on X-Factor. Basically whizzing us through the first 64 issues. I think this will be an interesting story. Plus, X-Factor is one of my favorite X-teams.

Green Hornet Year One #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

Well, now that Dynamite has started the Green Hornet book, I guess it was only inevitable that a series like this would follow shortly. But I didn't expect it to be this quick. Plus, there's a Kato mini-series coming out soon, also. You're either on board or you're not with this one. In this issue we follow the parallels between Britt and Kato as they grow and develop through life. Britt grew up in Chicago . . son of a journalist and newspaper mogul. Hayashi Kato grew up in Japan, son of someone as equally important in stature, if not in money. His father was a samurai and intends to teach him the way of the samurai, and it's true meaning . . integrity, courage, charity, respect, honesty, honor and loyalty. We kind of bounce around through time . . showing where the boys are at the same time of their development, but the issue ends when both of them are ready to leave home. Britt feels that he needs to experience, and see more of the world. Hayashi Kato wants to serve his country and his Emperor, Hirohito. The story starts in 1921, but it's 1934 when they're ready to leave home. We also get to see a little bit of them when they first go into action as the Green Hornet and Kato. That was in 1938. So I'm guessing that the rest of this series will explain how the 2 of them came together, and what happened during those 4 years . . 1934 to 1938. As far as an origin story goes . . so far Matt Wagner seems to be sticking to the traditional formula. But I have a feeling that things will get a lot more exciting in the next issue or two. Aaron Campbell does the art. Overall I thought it was an interesting book. I wasn't overly thrilled with the art. But . . if Aaron is like most of the artists in Dynamite books, he's only going to get better as he goes along. I'll probably pick up the Kato mini-series also. But I'll skip the Green Hornet Strikes mini-series. That's a story about the Green Hornet in the near future.

Echo #20 - Abstract Studio

Well . . that's not cool! When I picked up this issue of Echo my comic-shop guy told me that he was only ordering 1 issue now. I guess I felt lucky since I got it. But now, I just noticed . . I never got issue #19. Apparently he only ordered 1 of those also. And I didn't get that one. That stinks! I don't blame him. He's just ordering according to his customer's demands. But I guess there's more than 1 person in the shop that follows this book. When I read it, it did feel like I had missed something. But I wasn't sure what it was. Anyways, I'll go through this book to the best of my ability, and then I guess I'll have to do #19 whenever he gets me another copy. So . . Julie is noticing that the more of the alloy she collects on herself, the easier it is for her to tune in to Annie's thoughts. This issue starts with Julie and Dillon sleeping together, but . . Annie is in the driver's seat. Later, when Ivy is taking Julie back to the town where HeNri is located, they're attacked by that guy who tried to develop the proton gun to use against Julie, and the alloy . . Liu. You know . . the guy that got half his face blown off. Somehow Liu's been able to stay alive, and whatever happened in that explosion has changed him . . for the worse. And Jack returns home to find that Ethan is leaving him. He feels neglected and unloved, so he's dissolving their relationship. The problem is . . Ethan knows to much. I guessing, to much about HeNri and too much about the things that Jack does. So as he and his friend Todd, who came over to help him move . . as they're leaving . . Jack shoots them both in the head. I don't think he really wanted to do it, but . . in the business he's in, he knew he didn't really have a choice. But it doesn't make him feel any better about it. He's actually crying. He calls up his cleaner, who's finishing another job for him, and says . .'I have something else for you. I need cleanup. Tonight. I'm sure you checked me out. You know my home address? Okay. Clean up inside . . then burn it to the ground.' Sorry if that all seems a little discombobulated. Unfortunately, I have to wait for that other issue to catch up on what's going on here. However, I still thought it was a good book. I love Terry Moore's scripts. He's another one of those writers that just naturally has character development going on at all times. And, for anyone interested . . there's 3 TPB's out for this book now. I highly recommend them. I think this is a great book. I look forward to it every month.

the Authority - the Lost Year #7 - WildStorm

We saw last issue that the most recent world that the Authority has landed on has been taken over by it's version of their group. Consequently it's been split into 3 factions. One faction is led by the Doctor. It's power is magic and mysticism. The other is based on science, and led by the Engineer and Jack Hawksmoor. The third faction is a neutral ground . . or 'dead-zone', if you will. It's obviously the smallest of the 3 and contains only 1 Authority member, Midnighter. Apparently in their 'coup', Apollo was killed almost instantaneously. Which left him alone and disenfranchised. I think the other 2 groups leave him alone because he's less trouble that way. Anyways, our group has ended up with him in New Orleans, and Angie has begun concocting a plan for their escape from this world. She theorizes that if this world has a version of the Authority, then it should also have a Carrier. And if that's true . . then it needs a power source, which gives them a chance at replacing their own baby universe. It's actually pretty masterful how the whole plan comes together. Our Authority uses their knowledge of themselves, to predict and manipulate what the other groups are going to do. They approach the Doctor first, because that what they'll be expected to do. Angie and Jack, thinking that this will weaken the Doctor's position, will then attack him and take him out. But nobody else knows that has happened. So our Doctor will fill in and declare a ceasefire between the 2 factions. He talks about ordering a standing down for all of their forces, for now, except their border guards. And while Angie and Jack think they're in a weakened position, they actually attack with everything they've got . . full force. But it's all just a ruse to get into the Carrier and steal the baby universe. This world's Midnighter likes their plan, but he is concerned about what they're leaving in their wake . . a world torn apart and without leadership. But . . the Authority doesn't worry about things like that. They just worry about doing whatever's necessary to get off this world and back on a path towards home. Keith Giffen writes this book . . with some ideas and input from Grant Morrison. I thought he did a terrific job. I really like the way that this chapter of the story wrapped itself up. And Brian Stelfreeze's art was terrific. I believe this story is going for 12 issues . . the Lost Year. In the main book the team is a little fragmented right now. So I'm guessing this is a hold over for us readers until that situation can get sorted out. So far, I'm thrilled with what we're getting here. I think this is a terrific series.

the Shield #7 - DC

I think that the thing I like so much about this book is how well it's written. Don't get me wrong. Marco Rudy does a good job with the art. But Eric S Trautmann is just phenomenal with these stories. I'm not sure if he actually served in the military, or if he just studied it a lot, but . . he's really seems to have the feel for the verbiage and the involvement of a military procedure. As we've seen through the first 6 issues of this series, as well as Magog's . . there seems to be a lot of abandoned HIVE bases around the world. And I'm not sure if it's through destruction, or incubation, but . . they seem to be falling into the hands of individual would-be conquerors. They've downloaded files from all the bases that they've attacked, but the only information they can find is some cryptic clues about an organization called the Black Seven. They seem to be selling high-tech weapons to anyone willing to pay their price. Lt Higgins, and the rest of his team's job now? 'You're going to burn it all down.' They're new orders are called Operation Gunslinger. And Lt Higgins has been assigned a special operative as an information source . . someone who has dealt with this Black Seven. It is the Brain Emperor. You know . . that guy with all the snakes coming out of his head that we saw in that other HIVE base that was controlled by Grodd. When Shield and Magog attacked it, the Brain Emperor was one of the people inside. Although it was never really clear if he was working for Grodd, or under his control. I guess we'll find out as this operation progress'. I also liked that we got a little more information about what Lt Higgins went through when they changed him into the Shield. I'm sure we'll be getting more of these pieces as we go along. Like I said, I though Eric and Marco did a terrific job here. I'm really enjoying this book. Luckily, we start a new chapter with our back-up story this issue. Obviously it's centered around another Red Circle character, the Fox. We don't get whole lot of information this issue, except . . he does freelance work for the JSA. He's apparently an ex-agent, as well as his father. CIA? Maybe? And his father disappeared 15 years ago . . he's been looking for him ever since. It was an ok story. We'll see what happens in upcoming issues. It was by Brandon Jerwa and Michael Avon Oeming.

Supergirl #51 - DC

I have to say . . the majority of this issue is kind of frustrating. I mean . . Connor and the Legion have come to try to help the Kryptonians, and save all the various races that are trapped aboard Brainiac's spaceship. But Zod has branded them all 'alien terrorists', so . . their hands are kind of tied. They're being attacked by both sides of this conflict. But by the end of the issue, things have started to sort themselves out. It seems that Zod and Ursa are starting to show their true colors. I believe that they are up to more than we know. Also, Kara has stepped up and helped to push her mother to use her position of authority more constructively. First she helps to sort out the confusion about Connor and the Legion, both with her mother and with the rest of the council. Which pisses Zod off to no end when they are all granted a pardon. And then I think Kara has pushed Alura to think about who's really running this planet . . her, and the council . . or Zod? I'm thinking that besides this attack by Brainiac, there also may be a form of civil war in New Krypton's future. One of the main reasons they aren't having any success against Brainiac is that the whole society is split into factions. And none of the factions seem to be willing to help the others. They need a leader that will tear down these walls. And, with the Legion pardoned, the issue ends with them all . . as well and Supergirl and Connor, heading off to help Superman and Mon-El aboard Brainiac's ship. Which leads us into Superman #698. I thought that Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle did a great job with this issue. They moved the story along, and we got more of a feeling of how things are shaping up on New Krypton. Not just with the attack, but with the society as a whole. Or . . the pieces that it's in right now. Which I think is exactly how Zod wanted it. He's a crafty SOB!

Booster Gold #30 - DC

This issue wraps up Booster's little Coast City trilogy. He and Skeets are back there because it seems that sometime in the near future the US Government has assembled it's own time-stream continuity agency. The problem is, they're more concerned about righting their perceived wrongs, than necessarily following the rules of time-stream management. And since Michael and Rip seem to have written that book . . they should just leave the driving to the professionals. Anyways, there's an agent, Sondra Crain, that's trying to stop Coast City's destruction, or . . failing that, she'll try to evacuate all of it's citizens. However begrudgingly Booster knows . . the past is solid. It can't be changed. At least that's what Rip has told him over and over again. But this Sondra makes a pretty good case for it's 7 million inhabitants. So Booster says 'Screw it!', and tries his best to block Mongul's attempt to blow it up. We already know, though . . that effort will be in vain. It does however give Skeets the time to home in on 2 more chronal anomalies . . Michelle and her friend Drew. They end up saving Michelle, but they can't save Drew. And . . Booster ends up saving himself. That is to say . . a future version of himself has come back to stop him from trying fix something that's destined to happen. When he creates the time-portal to save Michelle and Skeets, his future self pushes him through it also. Yes it's a little confusing, but . . it works. And in the future at Vanishing Point we see that Rip also knows about this future Booster/Michael. In fact . . he's very comfortable with him because the future version knows that Rip is his son. At the end of this issue, it almost feels like the series could end. But it won't. Next issue we'll learn the final fate of Michelle. Then . . after that . . the creative staff of this book will be changing. Keith Giffen and JM Dematteis will be taking over the scripting chores. While Chris Batista will be doing the art. Oh yeah . . and Kevin Maguire will be doing the covers. It'll be sad to see Dan Jurgens move on, but . . he's done a hell of a job on this series. And since he's leaving it in such great hands . . I can't wait to see where we go from here. I really like this book. I hope it keeps it's momentum for a long time to come. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that Jerry Ordway helped Dan out with some of the art this issue.

Azrael #6 - DC

Now that he's gotten a little bit of a breather . . Michael has decided to look into this 'cult' a little bit. You know . . the Order of Purity, that's recruited him to be their voice and warrior. The problem is . . the book he's reading has been written by all the various people that have been given the Suit of Sorrows and the swords over the years. And most of them . . seem to have been driven to madness. Michael seems to have staved off the madness, and the 'voices' . . so far. But as he's reading this tome, he starts to notice a pattern. ' . . every sixth line of every sixth entry of every sixth chapter . . ' He's started to notice the pattern in the messages, but . . I don't think he's noticed that he's just utilized the number of the beast to find them. The messages throughout all of the stories though seem to be pretty much the same. The Order recruits their soldier, but as he gains power they become suspicious of the demons driving him. Eventually they all seem to fall into the abyss of madness, and their 'handler' has to ' . . end their suffering.' Or at least that's what they tell themselves. But basically they have to get rid of the soldier they can no longer handle so that they can replace them with a young, naive recruit. One that hopefully they'll be able to control better. However, the cycle just keeps repeating itself. Isn't that the definition of insanity? Even Adrian, the guy who's supposed to be helping him, has been given the means to take him out should the need arise. Anyways, he reads through this book over and over again . . for 6 days. And after all of that he's been able to decipher a clear message. 'Kill them before they kill you.' I believe Michael may have started on the road to madness. I enjoy Fabian Nicieza's stories, and I think he's doing a terrific job with this book. My only problem is . . if it stays on this path . . it doesn't seem to have much of a future. However . . it's early. I think if we wait to see what's going to happen, we'll probably be pleasantly surprised. I'm also enjoying Ramon Bachs pencils. I'm actually glad that the Azrael character this time isn't as intimately tied in with the Batman mythos. There's enough history with the Order of St Dumas, and the Order of Purity, that I don't think it's no longer has to be dependent upon Batman for legitimacy. But . . it still needs readers. And being tied with Batman did do that. So . . I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Superman 80 page Giant #1 - DC

As with most of the 80 page Giants and Specials lately, this issue served as an outlet for new talent. Which is cool. I'm all for giving a guy a leg up. But . . unfortunately . . it makes for a kind of boring issue. Obviously, the stories aren't going to have any relevance to any of the current story-lines going on throughout the DC Universe. They're more of like captured moments . . Hallmark moments, if you will, of some of DC's characters. So, while I appreciate the opportunity for new talent . . writers and artists alike . . overall, the issue fell kind of flat for me. But . . I'll give you a quick rundown anyways. The first story was about Clark when he was younger. He was first coming in to his powers and he made mistakes. As well as Jonathan, in the way that he confronted those mistakes. Basically it was a story about both of them dealing with Clark's emerging powers. And both of them learning as they go. It was by Mike Raicht and Charles Paul Wilson III. The second story was about Lois & Clark. Lois is sick. And while Clark can take care of the world, he has problems taking care of his wife. In that sense . . it was kind of funny. Kathryn Immonen & Tonci Zonjic supplied the talent for this one. The next story is about some alien bugs that followed Superman back to Earth on his uniform and end up infesting the Planet building. Nothing to exciting about this one. It's by Ben McCool and Matt Camp. Next we get a story from the criminal's point of view. You get the impression that they're driving home after committing a robbery in Metropolis. Actually, they're being flown to the Police station by Superman. But you don't realize that until the end. It was an interesting point of view. And I especially liked the art on this one. It wasn't overly fancy, but . . I just like the style. It's by Pat McCallum and Mike Shoyket. Next we get a story about a guy who thinks he's invincible because Superman has saved him once or twice. But he has to learn the truth about the way the world really works. Superman does change his life. Arguably for the better. But by the end he realizes that it was his choice . . not Superman's. This story is by Jason Hall and Julian Lopez. The next story shows us how much Clark can accomplish in the 5 minutes it takes for him to wait for Lois to show up for a date. It's by Rik Hoskin and Rb Silva. I thought the art in this one showed a lot of potential also. The last story shows how the rest of the world deals with being a supporting cast member for Superman. He's in a fight with Bizarro, and we see the impact it has on the people as he passes through, and how they deal with and talk about their experience. I thought this was one of the most original stories in the book. It's by Sean Ryan and Clayton Henry. Also the cover is by Aaron Lopresti. Like I said, I can appreciated the purpose of these books . . as I hope to one day write stories myself, but . . it's just not all that thrilling. However, for someone wanting to maybe get a quick read about Superman's character, without investing to much time or money into it . . or by being lost because they picked up a book in the middle of a story-line . . I can see the appeal. It just didn't do much for me. Sorry!

the Brave and the Bold #32 - DC

I'm sorry that I keep raving about J Michael Straczynski, but . . I think he's doing an incredible job here. And no . . before you ask . . I'm not the president of the JMS fan club. But . . I wouldn't mind joining . . if there is one. This issue JMS does an incredible job of bring Aquaman and Etrigan together. I also liked the way that this story was told . . from a third person's perspective. It seems that there's some yearly ritual where this demon like creature tries to cross over into our world from another dimension. Apparently Arthur and Etrigan's powers are the best impediment for it. So . . they've agreed that once a year, when the future of our world is at stake . . they'll work together and try to thwart the demon's conquest. The problem is . . finding out where and when it's going to happen. Luckily, for them, this year the entity has assembled an army of the dead, by reviving every person that's lost his life to the seas. That's hundred's of thousands. But that's not really the lucky part. In the process of building it's army, it also starts to try to draw even more soldiers for the various vessels on the seas. The lucky part comes when this one vessel is capsized, but one of it's passengers survives, Whitford. He eventually washes up on shore, and apparently at the feet of our 2 heroes. Since he knows where it happened, Etrigan casts a spell that allows him to breathe underwater so that he can take them to the site. Once there he witness' the true potential and power of Aquaman and Etrigan as they fight to save the world. The ironic part of this story is that it's framed by the scene of Whitford, after the incident, robbing a grave. Or so it appears. While underwater Whitford came face to face with a friend of his that he had lost to the seas years earlier, Philip. When the incident was over, Arthur tried to take the memory away from Whitford. But . . he still retains it . . like a dream. He just doesn't know if it's real or not. But when he digs up his buddy Philip, and finds him grasping the St Christopher medal that he yanked off his neck . . his confusion is verified . . and he knows that it was more than a dream. As well as JMS is doing with scripting this book, so to is Jesus Saiz doing a tremendous job with the art. I've always liked Jesus' style, but . . I feel like he's putting in some extra effort on this one. The pages and panels are beautiful. And if that weren't enough . . next issue features Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Zatanna. After that we have a two-parter where the Legion has come back in time to recruit some new members. The first part is with the Legion and the Doom Patrol, while the second half features the Substitute Legion and the Inferior Five. It looks to me that this series is just going to get better and better.

Batman #697 - DC

So far I've enjoyed this story-line that Tony Daniel has given us here. But . . it really didn't surprise me a whole lot that Black Mask was Jeremiah Arkham. Well . . maybe I should rephrase that. The Black Mask thing was kind of a surprise. But . . it didn't surprise me that Jeremiah had gone over the edge. From the Arkham mini-series you just kind of had a feeling that he was hanging on by a very thin thread. Although . . after reading this, I guess the argument could be made that it wasn't entirely his fault. It seems that the Black Mask is posessed. We don't know exactly what's going on, but . . when Jeremiah was wearing it, he seemed to be arguing with himself . . in two very distinct personalities. So . . either the mask is posessed, or Jeremiah is seriously unhinged. And, while I don't doubt that, I think it's more of a problem with the mask. So, now that Dick has defeated Black Mask, and Jeremiah is sitting inside of his very own cell, Dick seems to have taken the mask back to the trophy room. So you have to ask . . who'll be the next one to put it on? You know it's going to happen sooner or later. It's just a matter of . . who? Like I said . . I've enjoyed Tony's run here. I thought he's done a great job. Especially after following up someone like Grant Morrison. Unfortunately, it looks like he'll only be here for 2 more issues. Issue #700 will be written by Grant. But Tony will still be on board for the art. As far as #701 goes . . I have no idea . . yet.

Green Lantern Corps #46 - DC

I've been dreading doing this review, and . . I think that's why I've put this one off for a couple of days. To be perfectly honest . . I wasn't blown away by this one. It was . . ok. But . . there really was only a couple of pages that, for me, really progressed the story. We start out with the Green Lantern Corps defending the atmosphere of Earth from a plethora of Black Lanterns heading towards it from . . well, everywhere in the galaxy. We've learned that Earth is actually the planet from which all life sprang, and the entity that resides within it . . a being of white light . . is the ultimate protector of the universe. Or . . the final spectrum of the universal power . . the emotional power of light. Anyways, all of this has been kept a secret by the Guardians. Nekron, however . . I assume because his black/death theme is the antithesis of the white entity . . knew what was going on and has set Earth . . or more specifically Coast City, as the staging area for his big battle. His Normandy, if you will. But we knew all of that coming into this story. The first 18 pages of this story are spent with Kyle and Guy fighting the Black Lantern versions of their lost loves . . Alex and Tora. We know that Alex died. Obviously. But . . I'm guessing that Guy doesn't know about Nekron using the heroes that have been resurrected by controlling them through his power of death. Which they've all tasted. Luckily he doesn't lash out at Tora to bad, so . . when Nekron is defeated, hopefully she'll return to normal. So . . that was all . . ok. But . . we knew that it was coming, so . . it didn't really move the story along. It was just another aspect. That seems to have been the major theme of this epic story-line . . heroes being forced to faced the loved ones they've lost or wronged. But . . since the added the extra 8 pages directly to this story, the final pages of the book are spent dealing with the real issue in this tale . . the return of the Anti-Monitor. Well . . kind of. It seems that Nekron has not only found the Anti-Monitor, but has gathered him up, put him into his Black Power Battery, and is siphoning off his power. We don't really know why, yet . . but, I'm guessing that this is the chink in Nekron's armor. If they can figure out how to separate the Anti-Monitor from the Power Battery, hopefully Nekron will be diminished enough that he'll be beatable. And . . they give it the ol' college try. Unfortunately it's just not good enough. They seem to knock out the Anti-Monitor. I'd say that they've killed him, but . . I don't know that's necessarily the truth. But . . even unconscious, they can't get him separated from the battery. And that is how the issue ends . . with Kyle and Guy's technicolored emotional Lantern army getting ready to charge the Black Battery. I don't think that Peter J Tomasi necessarily did a bad job here. But . . he probably was only allowed to take the story so far, since issue #8 of Blackest Night comes out in a few weeks. I'm sure his hands were tied even more than normal. And I still think that Patrick Gleason does a fantastic job with his depiction of these numerous alien races. Like I said, I just wasn't thrilled with the progress of the story here. There really wasn't any. I'm just hoping that Blackest Night #8 has a revelation on every page because we're going to need all of that momentum to wrap this one up. I guess I'm just disappointed because this book has made so much progress. But then this month, it's stuck playing second fiddle to everything else . . again. I just don't want to see it fall back into that role. But I'm probably over reacting. It's probably better to wait and wrap up this story-line, and then . . then we'll see what the future holds for this title. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Titans #23 - DC

As much emotion as there was in that last issue of Green Arrow . . so to is this issue filled with the regret and love of Roy's original team-mates . . the Teen Titans. Dick, Wally and Donna spend this issue trying to figure out what they can do for Roy now, but . . they're also thinking about the past. When they were a group, as the original Teen Titans, they didn't always agree on things. And more often than not, Roy was the voice that rang out against the rest of the team. I think a lot of the problem came because Donna was the only girl on the team. I'm not saying it was her fault, but . . this was a group of teen-aged boys, and one hot chick. You know there was jealousy and competition between them. There had to be. And they each had their own separate personalities that she was attracted to. Dick was the rock-solid one. The one that you could always count on. Wally was much like his namesake . . Speedy. He was aloof, flighty and easily distracted. And Roy . . Roy was the bad-boy. And for some reason . . the girls always go for the bad-boys. Personally . . I think it's because when they do show those rare moments of emotion and feeling, that it's so opposite of how they usually act that the girls are completely thrown out of balance. Anyways, at the time, Dick and Wally didn't really let Roy get away with anything. They didn't give him an inch, and they called him out on every mistake he made. Which, right now . . they're feeling guilty as hell about. They've already lost Garth . . they don't want to lose another friend. In the end though, they make the right decision. They decide that all they can do right now is to be there for him. They need to help him get past his physical injuries, and they have to be there to help him deal with the loss of Lian . . which he doesn't even know about, yet. That's going to be an emotional conversation. Eddie Berganza wrote this issue, and I thought he did a great job. Scott clark and Ardian Syaf do the art. I thought it was one of the best issues of this title in quite a while. You almost get the feeling that this is the end of the series, but . . apparently they're just taking a little hiatus. Issue #24 is listed as a June release. The new creative team will be Eric Wallace and Fabrizio Fiorentino. It'll follow a special called Titans: Villains for Hire, and will feature the return of Deathstroke. I'm sure the couple of months in between will be used for Roy's character to work through everything and decide on his future. Hopefully he'll be a part of this team. I really do love these characters . . through thick and thin.

Green Arrow #31 - DC

I gotta say . . I like Ollie with this little bit of a harder edge to him. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with him killing Prometheus, but . . we have yet to see if that's really going to 'stick' or not. Actually, the only thing I don't like about his little crusade here is the way he's shutting Dinah out. She's never really agreed with his politics, but . . you'd think she's have a little more compassion or understanding for what he's going through. Obviously she doesn't think that he did the right thing, but she could at least sit down and talk to him and listen to what's going through his head. As much as he's upset about what's happened to Star City, I really think he's only using that as an excuse. What he's really upset about is Lian and Roy. He's upset that he wasn't there when Lian was crushed, and with Roy there's nothing he can do but wait. He has to wait for him to pull himself out of this. And the one person he does have on his side, Mia . . well I'm sure she blames herself just as much for what happened to Lian as Ollie. So at the end of this issue when they capture the Electocutioner, and Mia asks for Ollie to let her kill him . . I think she really means it. This girl's had a pretty tough life. And now she has the means, and the excuse, to even the tables a little bit . . to enact a bit of retribution. The question is . . is Ollie going to let her go down the same path he's traveling? I'm betting . . no! Even though he's crossed the line . . I think he still knows not only right and wrong, but that it's not to late for Mia to make her own choice . . a better choice. I think this is already shaping up to be a fantastic story-line. JT Krul did a great job with this issue. He really brought out a lot of Ollie's emotions and frustration. And I thought Federico Dallocchio did a superb job with the art. And lets not forget Mauro Cascioli and Mike Mayhew's covers. This is one that you just can't miss. If you haven't already bought it . . get out there and find a copy. You won't be sorry.

Ultimate Comics Spider-man #8 - Marvel

Finally . . one of my favorite books out there. Last issue we saw that Rick Jones had gained the powers given to him by the Watcher . . you know, those stone obelisks that appeared everywhere during Ultimatum? Well, when his powers activated, Peter, Johnny and Bobby went over to see if they could offer some help, or encouragement. But Rick wasn't really listening. He was mostly just freaked out. This issue they finally start getting through to him, but . . he just wants to know why? Why was he chosen? It isn't until he starts talking about the 'eye' that he saw shortly before his powers activated, that Johnny puts two and two together with what he and the FF experienced during the Ultimatum out in Wyoming. That's where the obelisk that they saw talked to them through Sue and told them that the world needed a saviour for the times to come, and that he had been chosen. But they never found out just who it was. Until now. Since he wants to know why, Rick shunts them all out to the base in Wyoming. But just as they arrive, they find that it's being attacked by a group of women with a lizard theme going. They seem to be working for the HYDRA . . maybe? They call themselves the Serpent Squad. Anyways, Rick is really freaked out about all of this and just wants some kind of answers. However, when they're all thrown into this conflict, he ends up trying to help. Afterwards . . he's thrilled to death. They end up back in his backyard, but he decides that he doesn't really want any of the guys' help. He thinks he needs to figure this one out on his own. As he's flying away, he even comes up with his own name . . Nova! Unlike other writers, Brian Bendis' stories are loaded with characterization. I loved all the banter and humor between Peter, Johnny and Bobby. It was perfect for 3 teenaged boys. I also thought Rick acted perfectly for someone who'd just been given this amazing gift that he didn't ask for. First he comes out of a coma. Then he's given these powers, and responsibilities . . the World's Saviour? Come on, that's pretty deep for a teenaged boy. And then 3 super-heroes show up in his back-yard. That would be a lot for anyone to take in. He freaked out. It would've seem fake if it was otherwise. I'm also enjoying Takeshi Miyazawa's art. It's got just enough of a manga feel to make it interesting. Plus, it fits in nicely with these characters. Like I said, this is one of my favorite books out there, and I love reading it.

Cable #24 - Marvel

We almost get a wrap-up to the story this issue. I say almost because the story has gone as far as it will in this title. But it's leads straight from here into the X-Men Second Coming story-line. So there's not really a clear ending. Basically, throughout this book, Cable keeps jumping back and forth through time trying to get closer and closer to their destination. In the end they land in 1990. It's about the same time that Bishop and he first came to this time-period. He ends up sabotaging Bishops time device and sends him into the far future. When he tries to use his device to come back . . it's booby-trapped. So . . he's stuck. For now. I'm sure it's not the last we'll see of his character. He'll find some way to come back. Even if he has to sit and wait to cross paths with himself. Cable, on the other hand, uses his resources to prepare. Since this is when he first arrived, he knows of storage places around town where they can load up on supplies, guns and ammunition. On the final panel of the book they make the jump to the present. Which is where the Second Coming story-lines picks right up from. I enjoyed this issue. We still don't know much about Hope's character, but . . that's what I'm sure the next story-line is going to be all about. This issue was done in chapters. So while Duane Swierczynski wrote the whole thing, the artists were Giancarlo Caracuzzo, Alejandro Garza and Denys Cowan. With the cover done by Marko Djurdjevic. It was an ok issue. I'm more excited to see what's going to happen next. And . . on the next issue of this series, it shows that Deadpool will be joining the story. That's always interesting.

the Amazing Spider-man #624 - Marvel

Once again . . I'm just not thrilled with this book right now. I am starting to see a direction, but . . it's slow and crawling. Most of this issue is spent with the new Vulture first attacking J Jonah Jameson . . he's led to believe that JJJ is the one that caused him to be like this. And then he goes after the mob, whom really caused his distress, and we get a little more background into his character and how this all came to be. I still don't see the connection between all these various characters and the Kravens. Every once in a while we get a little bit, but . . not often. However, the important thing to take out of this issue is Peter's muck-up. Obviously he tries to protect JJJ when the Vulture comes after him. He knows that JJJ had nothing to do with his creation, but it's been leaked to the press that the two of them are connected. And after the attack, JJJ is flabbergasted because on of his personal aids has been killed in the process. It looks like it's the end of his career as the Mayor. However, as much as Peter dislikes him, he also can't stand to see him blamed for something he didn't do. He knows what actually happened, but he didn't have his camera with him at the time. So he decides to do a little doctoring and make a photo to depict the events. Jonah is pissed about this, and announces in a press conference that the photo is fake. 'I cannot support a lie, not even to save my own skin. Parker's intentions may have been good . . but his ethics are deplorable. And that is why, effective immediately, I am firing Peter Parker from my payroll . . and strongly advising every honest organization, news or otherwise, to stay well away from him.' That was brutal. The story ends with Peter perched on the wreckage of the Bugle building, thinking . .'How did I lose this badly? How much worse can my life get?' And we all know . . those are famous last words. Things will get much worse. I've said it before, but I think the main thing I don't like about the book right now is that Mark Waid has virtually no character development going on during this storyline. It's just all action and fights with no substance. The part between Peter and Jonah is the heaviest thing that's happened in this book in quite a while. And I'm definitely not thrilled with Paul Azaceta and Javier Rodriquez' art. To me it just doesn't fit this book. I refuse to get sucked into all the other Spider-man titles. So . . if I can't enjoy this one on it's own . . I may just have to drop it. I haven't made that decision yet, but . . I'm thinking about it. Plus . . I enjoy Ultimate Spider-man so much more!

X-Men Forever #19 - Marvel

Ok . . I finally figured out a way to get some better pictures of the Marvel Comics. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake, but . . eventually I get there. Anyways, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't my favorite, but . . that may be because I enjoyed previous Dark X-Men comic so much that this one kind of pales in comparison. But . . it was still ok. As you can see from the cover, Nick has decided to go after the Consortium. I don't think it's so much because of what they did to the X-Men, as the infiltration within his own ranks. I think that's got his dander up. Anyways . . he takes Remy, Creed and Daisy in with him. Right now . . they're the only ones he can trust. All of this happens right as Scott has returned from Alaska. He too has decided to go after the Consortium to help keep his family safe. Nick just beat him to the punch. Anyways, they get in . . the X-Men establish contact as soon as the figure out where they're at, and they all discover that Fabian Cortez is still alive. He begs Nick, and the X-Men to get him out of there. They've been experimenting on him ever since he joins. His offer? 'I accelerate other mutant's powers . . I cause Burnout. Maybe my powers can cure it too.' But they don't have long to choose as they quickly find themselves surrounded by Consortium agents. We also find out that not only has Rogue absorbed Kurt's powers . . and looks. But Kurt has also gained Rogue's. He can now absorb other's powers. Except for Rogue. They seem to be immune to each other. Hank, Charles and Jean are now all trying to find a way to fix things. Like I said, it was a decent issue by Chris Claremont and Graham Nolan. To me, it just wasn't all that exciting. It did move the story along, but . . that was about it. However, there is other news with this series. As you probably already know, there's also going to be an X-Factor Forever series coming out next week. And in June this series moves into chapter 2. I'm guessing there will be 24 issues in this chapter, and then we'll start the next. June is also when the first issue came out, so . . it fits. Now don't get me wrong. Even though I wasn't particularly happy with this issue, I still enjoy this series immensely. I love these alternate universe stories. To me that's the problem with the more established characters. There's so much history and continuity involved that a lot of times things can't be done to far outside of the box. Which is where these stories come in. We get to see all the various possibilities. And . . some we hadn't even thought of. Cool stuff!