Fantastic Four Annual #32 - Marvel

The Fantastic Four have faced many threats over the years. They've shown their faces as both idle threats and, many, the grandest of nature. They've saved the Earth, the Universe, the Multiverse, the Negative Zone, and . . well, pretty much every other dimension or plane of existence that they've encountered. And the villains that they've faced have been many, and varied. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time that they've had to face this type of threat. And I say that because . . knowing Johnny, and his 'man-whore' ways, I'm kind of surprised that this hasn't been an issue before. And if you haven't guessed already, this issue the Fantastic Four family, and Johnny in particular, face an issue that Johnny somehow has avoided for a very long time . . a pregnancy scare. But of course, in typical FF fashion, it doesn't stem from the typical 'one nite stand'. It appears that Psycho-man . . or actually his daughter, Psycho-woman, is behind this threat. One night, while at the club, she uses her powers on Johnny and Amy. Basically, while in miniaturized mode, she shrinks down and jumps back and forth between bodies to impregnate Amy. Not the most romantic of encounters. Anyways, she says she's trying to build an army of cosmic warriors and for that she needs Johnny's tissue. Which is why she's gone through this great ruse. And of course, all of this happens inside Johnny's brain, where she's taken up residency. With the combined skills of the FF they end up beating her. But the end of the story is left kind of open-ended. They decide that the pregnancy would leave Amy, and the child, to open to attack by any one of their rogues. So Reed is going to go back to stop it, but . . he starts to second-guess the the whole operation. In his moment of indecision, Amy grabs the time-remote, and jumps into the time pool herself. They don't know where she went, or what she did. The way she was talking, it looked like she might abort the Jr Johnny, wherever she ended up. But . . they don't know. She might of changed her mind. And at the end, Johnny says what everyone else is thinking . . 'She could've gone anywhere, at any time. My child could be alive, right now, walking the streets. All grown up' I guess we'll have to wait for future issues of the FF to see if this is going to come back to bite them. And, having said that, it's most assured that now . . eventually, it will. I thought it was a good story by Joe Ahearne. There were a couple of spots that seemed a little confusing, or muddled to me. But overall, I thought it was an interesting story, and a neat take on a realistic occurrence. Well . . as far as 'realism' goes with the FF. I liked it. Of course it helped that Bryan Hitch did the art. The whole issue looked . . well, Fantastic!

Superman / Batman Annual #4 - DC

While I enjoyed this story . . I'm just not a big Batman Beyond fan. Which, in essence, is really what this story was . . a big Batman Beyond story-arc, designed to peak interest in the character before the new series starts. Which is ok, but . . I just wasn't that interested. Although, I will say that Paul Levitz did a terrific job of filling us in on the parameters and landscape of this character, and Gotham City. Actually, Metropolis also. And I also think that it serves to kind of clear the slate before the new series begins. Superman has stuck around, but . . he's been sticking to the shadows because of what Luthor has done to the city, and . . because of his loss with Lois. However, while trying to rid the city of criminals, he hasn't been able to take on Luthor personally because of his heavy defenses, and all of his Kryptonite. Anyways, Batman is drawn into the picture when some of Metropolis' villains and drugs turn up in Gotham. It seems that the criminals are coming in droves . . because they're scared of the new threat, the Ghost. And when the drugs show up, Bruce finds them to be laced with Kryptonite. So, long story short, Bruce and this new Batman, Terry McGinniss, investigate and of course everything leads right back to Luthor. Superman uses their effort as a way to finally confront Luthor. And this Ghost thing is actually Superman sending all these villains, and finally Luthor, into the Phantom Zone. And now that Luthor's gone, and everyone else he's ever held dear, Clark decides to head out to the stars and do a little exploring. Like I said, the slate is cleared and set up for the new series. No Superman. No Luthor. But they can still use Metropolis as a backdrop. But, while I thought this was an interesting story . . I won't be buying the new series. Sorry! I'm just not interested. Anyways, the art for this issue was provided by Renato Guedes. With a beautiful cover by Stanley Lau.

the Amazing Spider-man Annual #37 - Marvel

This issue gives us the first time meeting, ever . . of Spider-man and Captain America. The story takes place after Avengers, Vol 1 #11. In it Spider-man helped save Cap, and the Avengers from a robot Spider-man . . in Mexico. So this issue when Spidey comes across Sandman robbing a bank . . Cap ends up coming to his rescue. And just like that . . things are wrapped up. But nothing ever goes that easy for Spidey. Shortly after he's hand-cuffed, and fitted with an inhibitor collar, some wacky scientists show up claiming that Marko is going to be responsible for wiping out 27% of the world's population. They call it some kind of convergence of chronal strands, and liken it to what happened before Hitler came in to power. So basically . . they want to kill him before he can do the deed. Of course, Cap and Spidey aren't going to let that happen . . under any circumstances. And . . the usual intent vs method fight breaks out. Sandman does threaten to wipe out a portion of the civilization, but . . it happens after one of the scientists does something to him that accelerates his mutation. But then Spidey and one of the other scientists figure out how to fix it. Thereby ending the threat. And it turns out the leader of this group, Darwin, had this all figured out. 'There were 17 easier ways, off the top of my head. But they were so pedestrian and this was much more . . rewarding.' Anyways, the point of all this is, after talking to Spidey, Cap realizes there are heroes out there that are misunderstood. With no way of doing anything that would actually change the public's perception of them. He wants to help them, but . . he doesn't have the time. Unless . . they to were also Avengers. Which leads into Avengers #16 where Cap decides to recruit other people into the Avengers. People like Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye. So, even though this was essentially a forgotten tale . . it was actually a turning point in Marvel history. And a pretty cool story by Karl Kesel and Paulo Siqueira. And, by the way, Paulo's art was fantastic. In the back-up, we get a new Untold Tales of Spider-man, by Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe. It was pretty cool also. All in all, I thought it was a good Annual. Better than some I've read.

X-Men Forever Annual #1 - Marvel

This book is set up to give us the story of the situation that happened which sparked the flame between Jean and Logan. Nick Fury needs some reconnaissance work done on an island in the South Pacific. This happens shortly after the time that the mansion was destroyed. So when Nick requests a team, Scott bows out because he wants to spend his time and resources rebuilding the School. Logan and Jean decide that they could use the distraction, so . . they volunteer. They end up on this beautiful vacation island posing as newlyweds so they can scope out the situation. As soon as they get there they know that something is up because Jean can't use her powers . . everything is psi-blocked. And there's some serious surveillance everywhere. Anyways, long story short . . they end up being captured by the Hand and put under some kind of sonic device that is intended to subjugate them to the Hand's will, much in the way that Betsy was captured and changed shortly before that. Jean can't fight back, and it appears that Logan's body has been inhabited by one of the Hand's assassins. Luckily Psylocke, Jubilee, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler show up because they were worried about their teammates. 'We're not just team-mates, y'know. We're like . . family. We all felt something was amiss. When Kitty couldn't raise you via com-link, nor Betsy via telepathy . . we decided to check things out for ourselves.' Once everything is over, Logan and Jean are feeling especially close because Jean had used her trust in Logan to save his life when he was posessed. So they decide to stay behind and take a little vacation. That's when they apparently decide to take a chance and go for it. And that, as they say, is all she wrote. I thought this was a nice story by Chris Claremont. It served it's purpose. It showed us why Logan and Jean had a relationship in this reality, but stayed away from it in the regular Marvel Universe. And the way the story played out, their emotions and decisions seemed like the natural course of events. Although it is a bit melancholy, on Jean's part, knowing that Logan died in the first issue of this series. Anyways, Sana Takeda does the art this issue, and . . I enjoyed it. This really isn't my style, but . . I thought it fit this particular story quite nicely. All in all, I thought it was a good story for an Annual. Plus . . I've really enjoyed Chris' story-lines throughout this series.

Justice Society of America Annual #2 - DC

At least in the Magog book you kind of get a feeling for what David's doing and why. With the internal dialogue, at least we get a little explanation as to why he does the things he does, or at least how he justifies it. Here however . . he doesn't explain anything. He just wants everyone to get the hell out of his way so he can finish doing what he's doing. Now, if you read this book, I'm guessing that you've been reading Magog also. If not . . that's ok. But if you have, then you know what's been going on with this Haven, and how it's a front for Flashpoint. But, just in case . . Flashpoint is a group that deals in exotic weapons. It's all rather futuristic and scientific, but . . basically, they're arms dealers. And they'll deal to anyone. They don't care which side of the fight it is. Anyways, the guy who runs Flashpoint is the warden of this jail, Haven. It's all a front. So Magog has been following the train and ended up here. He played the dumb jock until he could figure out what was going on. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the wardens second in command is actually his mother's sister. But that's a whole other story. You'll have to read Magog to catch up on that. Suffice it to say, the Warden tried to kill him . . Magog's 'aunt' saved him, by removing him from this reality, and then brought him back. That's when Magog went on a rampage and started tearing up everything that he could get his hands on. So the Warden uses his cover and sends out an alert that Magog is trying to incite a riot, or jailbreak. This goes straight to the JSA. The All-Stars are the first to arrive, but the JSA isn't very far behind. So . . now you know what Magog's doing here. However, the rest of his team-mates don't. All they know it that he's stirring up a whole lot of ruckus here. The frustrating part though is that he won't take the time to try to explain it to anyone. Instead he just attacks them with anger and animosity. Which really just pisses everyone off. So, rather than taking a few seconds to explain what's going on, or ask for help . . and maybe they could've caught the Warden with his hand in the cookie jar . . instead they just end up all fighting amongst themselves. So much so that they're fighting each other more than they are the inmates that are trying to kill them so that they can escape. Long story short, the Warden self-destructs the facility, and escapes before anyone is the wiser. Well . . except for Karen. Magog and Power Girl are going at it the whole issue and finally she asks Magog for some kind of tangible proof that something's going on here. He slams her through the ground and into the facility below. But that happens mere seconds before the whole thing blows up in their faces . . literally. Magog leaves, letting them know in no uncertain terms that he doesn't want to be a part of either team. Allan is ready to haul his butt to jail, but Karen asks that they leave him alone. 'God knows I can't stand him anymore. But he's still fighting the good fight. He doesn't belong in the JSA, but he doesn't belong behind bars either.' This Annual is actually more an extension of the story in Magog's book than it is of the JSA or All-Stars. But . . a JSA Annual would probably sell better than a Magog Annual. Keith Giffen writes this, as he does the Magog solo book. So . . he knows the story. Also Matthew Sturges helps him. This one is basically set up to remove Magog from the team atmosphere and officially place him as solo-status. I hope he's updated his face-book page. It was an interesting and action-packed story, but . . it was also very frustrating. A little communication could've solved a whole lot of grief here. Tom Derenick and Rodney Ramos provide the art.

the New Avengers Annual #3 - Marvel

Clint Barton decided to go public with what he knew about Norman Osborn. So he went on TV. He thought that with this revelation the public opinion of him would falter. But, when nothing really came from his announcement, he decided to go meet him face to face . . and kill him. Now come on. You just knew that wasn't going to work out. So now? Now Clint is Norman's hostage. When Norman realizes that Normal interrogation, and intimidation techniques aren't going to work . . he brings in Mentallo to dig information out of his brain. He wants to know where the Avengers are hiding. Meanwhile, back at their hideout, Bobbi, Ms Marvel, Spider-Woman and Jessica Jones have decided that they're going to do something about this. And as you can see on the cover, Jessica has decided to reestablish her identity as Jewel. Her and Luke have an interesting conversation about that later on. Anyways, they can't attack them head on, so . . they know that sooner or later Norman will get the information he wants from Clint, so . . they wait for Norman, and his Avengers to make their move . . and then they go to release Clint. In the end . . everything works out. They get Clint out. Norman gets nothing . . other than destroying one of their 'safe-houses'. And the Avengers move on to Plan-B . . the 'safe-house' a block and a half away. But 2 big things come out of this story. First is Jessica's decision to rejoin the super-hero community. And the second occurs on the final page. Bucky is kicking himself for this turn of events, when from the shadows comes a voice . .'Well, I'm not thrilled . . but for now I'm just happy that you're all okay. You're right, Hawkeye, the world has gone to hell. But thank god the Avengers are here to do something about it. And we are. You ready?' On the final page we see that Steve Rogers is back. That's going to change their plan of attack a little bit. I thought it was a great book, and a fantastic Annual. Brian Bendis did a great job with the story. But the real star of the book was Mike Mayhew's fantastic art. The whole book was amazing. I've been enjoying the Mighty Avengers just a bit more than this team. But . . with this issue . . that excitement has been reignited. Fan-frikkin-tastic!!

X-Force Annual #1 - Marvel

This ended up being another great Annual. It was different from the normal X-Force book . . kind of. But that's ok. Robert Kirkman brought us more of the humorous side of Wolverine's personality. But to me, the best part of the book was that Jason Pearson was the artist. I first got turned on to Jason's work during the incredible series Body Bags. If you haven't read it though, it wasn't a Marvel book, it was Dark Horse. It was a really, really fun series . . both in story and art. Anyways, back to the book at hand. The story starts out like any other X-Force mission. Wolverine is infiltrating a Hydra base, and this time he's doing it solo. How does he get in? They fly overhead and drop him from an airplane. Hilarious stuff. He's after a specific agent. We don't know why or who, but when he finds him he has to fight his way out. He starts out all stealthy . . 'No killing, no claws until I find the one I'm looking for.' Yeah! Right! That lasts about 20 seconds. So when he attempts an exit with the guy, basically he has to fight almost everybody on base. But many bullets and bruises later he makes his way to the roof for the extraction. There's a couple of story twists after that. First, the reason they extracted this guy was because his daughter was dying. She needs a bone-marrow transplant in order to survive, but he never would've done it had they asked because she's a mutant. Second, he's actually a General. Hydra is on them in the hospital almost immediately because he has a radioactive isotope in his blood so Hydra can trace him no matter what. And finally, since Hydra is there and ready to take him back, he doesn't have time to give a proper sample . . so he holds his arm out. He looks at Wolverine and says, 'You've got about 3 seconds before I change my mind.' Wolverine takes out his claws and removes about a foot of his arm. As Wolverine watches Hydra take him away all he can say is, 'Damn. That's hardcore!' It really was. Like I said . . not your normal X-Force story, but . . it was still cool. I liked the twists and the scene between the General and his daughter at the end . . and his estranged wife. It was comical, hardcore and touching all at the same time. Not something you'd necessarily expect from a Wolverine story. There's also a Deadpool back-up story. In it Wade gets involved with LOA when the resurrected Acolytes come after her for information about Magneto. It appears that Selene wants him returned to Genosha, but Cortez wants to get a little payback first. Anyways, long story short, Wade tries to kill them . . piece by piece, but soon finds out that he can't. They won't die. That is until LOA accidentally phases through them. There's something about her that turns them into so much dust. I'm sure we'll see some more about this in the Necrosha story-line. It was your usual half-witted Deadpool story . . full of comedy. This chapter was by Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost and Carlo Barberi. I thought it was a funny story. Plus . . it gives the X-Men a weapon to use against the undead that Selene is sending after them. Well . . that and Doug Ramsey. But that's another story entirely.

Dark Avengers Annual #1 - Marvel

I said it last issue, but . . I'm really surprised how much I'm enjoying this book. I started picking it up, mostly because of Norman Osborn, and the terrific Mike Deodato Jr art. Now? Now I think all the characters in this are great. I don't necessarily like that they're posing as the Avengers . . or, one of the teams, but . . I do think that because the membership is so eclectic, it makes for some interesting dialogue and interaction. This issue . . this annual, is pretty much dedicated to bringing us up to speed on what happened to Noh-Varr since he left the group. Basically he'd become disenfranchised with what he was led to believe . . what Norman had told him. When he realized that everyone in this group was either criminal, or insane . . I think that was right after he slept with Moonstone, Ms Marvel . . he decided that it was time to leave. Ever since he's been trying to make contact with the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire. His query is simple . .'Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing here? What do you want me to do? I need to know. I need to hear from you.' The ironic thing is . . Noh-Varr is trying to figure out the human condition . . what we want, our goals, our aspirations. But those questions that he's asking the Supreme Intelligence? Those are questions that we as humans ask our own deities, or ourselves every day. However, we don't really expect an answer. We just hope that we can figure it all out. All of this is interrupted one day when Noh-Varr goes out to observe the humans. While talking to a girl from NYU the Sentry shows up. He wants to return Noh-Varr to Norman. But Noh-Varr won't have it. They have this huge fight and cause untold property damage. But in the end, with a little help from the girl, Noh-Varr escapes the Sentry's intent and finally has contact with the Supreme Intelligence. He/it has decided that Noh-Varr is to be the protector of the humans, and in that capacity he'll be issued nega-bands, much like Mar-Vells. 'But these bands are of a different design and different power source than the ones Mar-Vell wore with controversy and honor. These were created especially for you. They are far more advanced and far more precious. You will be empowered to act and you will have the power to act.' He's also given a new costume. And finally, at the end, we see that he's being observed. He's being watched by Captain America and Steve Trevor. They're trying to figure out just whose side Noh-Varr is on. I thought it was a great story by Brian Bendis. It's about time that they told us what happened to Noh-Varr, and I'm glad that they're trying to make his character a little more relevant. The last time he had a bit of the spotlight was that Marvel Boy mini-series by Grant Morrison. That was quite a while ago. But I thought Brian did a great job of showcasing him this issue. Especially with the incredible artwork of Chris Bachalo. All in all it was a great issue, and a fantastic Annual.

Detective Comics Annual #11 - DC

I think it's great to see Annuals back on the schedule again. They've been very sporadic in recent years. And, for a while there . . there wasn't any at all. But I remember back in the 70's and 80's when they came out every year. It was a good time. Anyways, this is the second part of the story that appeared in Batman Annual #27 last week. Dick and Renee are trying to stop this Amon character from bringing the eighth original sin back to life. It has something to do with this cult, the La Saligia. Most of the information on them comes from the group the Order of Purity that back's Azrael, . Also, Dick substituted Damian for one of the kids that was kidnapped. Apparently it's their blood that is supposed to bring this 'sin' back to life. Anyways, long story short . . Dick and Renee figure out where the La Saligia is performing this ritual and she and Azrael go in to retrieve the children. Of course it helps that Damian breaks free. And once they realize they don't have the real Canton child, it's pretty easy for Batman to deduce that they'll make another play for him. What he isn't expecting though is Azrael's actions. When they get to the ceremonial chamber, he seems more interested in the corpse than the children. I guess he's following the direction of his Order, and they want him to eliminate the vessel for the resurrection. Which he does, but at the end Amon gives him a warning. 'You have earned a lifetime of enmity this day, soldier of God. This will not stop us. We are a part of you . . we will always return . . and when we do, we will need a new host to contain the Eighth sin of man . . and that host will be you!' Batman also gives him a warning because he doesn't like the tactics that he used. Plus, even though he knows that this is a different Azrael, I'm sure there's still a lot of sour feelings after the last one's performance. Overall, I thought this was a great story to lead into the new series that'll be out next week. This issue was done by Fabian Nicieza and Tom Mandrake. Issue #1 of Azrael will be done by Fabian and Ramon Bachs. Which explains why he's leaving Red Robin. There's a back-up story here also, by Mandy McMurray and Kelley Jones. It also started in the Batman Annual. It's about a new character, Stygian who believes himself to be a vampire. Therefore Looker is brought in to help deal with him. However, he seems to have a fixation on Barbara, so . . the story goes largely unresolved this issue. I'm assuming that it'll continue in Batgirl, or maybe a future Birds of Prey book. We'll have to wait and see. I enjoyed Kelley's artwork, but the story was a bit confusing. I guess they don't want to give away to much here so it can play out later.

R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual #1 - DC

This issue serves as the origin story of Starro the Conqueror. We've seen the Starro threat on Earth many times . . mostly in the Justice League books. But it's also shown up in Legion, LEGION and REBELS a few times. Now, with this story, we find out the true power behind the Starro, and the Motherstars. Basically, the story begins with what happening currently in the REBELS book, and then unwinds in reverse. As we go through each chapter, we learn a little more about the depth and meaning of this character. We find out that the end of the book that the story is being narrated by the motherstar that is attached to it's master's chest. We see the recent events of the Starro's conquering the Dominator homeworld which leads to Vril Dox enclosing half the sector in a force field. We then go back a bit to see Starro's conquering of Kalanor, Despero's homeworld. This ultimately leads to him killing Despero. This was done with the help of his first in command, Astrild. She is completely devoted to Starro, of her own volition, so then we see her origin story. Her power, and the planning of Starro's conquests is done by a group he has assembled called the High Vanguard. One of which is named Smite. We then learn his origin, and how he became to be part of his Vanguard. And finally we learn where Starro the Conqueror came from, the planet Hatorei, and how as a child, Cobi could resist the Motherstars and eventually became their master. But this is a story of irony and displaced virtue. 'My master seeks opponents who embody the highest virtue and the lowest depravity. He tests their morality to prove how empty such notions are in the face of overwhelming power. My master believes he does this with the goal that one day the universe will be of one mind: his. But as I told you, I have watched his story unfold from the start . . I have borne mute witness to all of his acts, and I tell you that Starro the Conqueror is not searching for victory. For deep within him dwells that time-lost boy from Hatorei who once knew love and hope and family. A boy who yearns for someone, anyone, to prove that heroes do exist and goodness counts for something in this cold, indifferent cosmos. Alas, the hideous strength of nine galaxies bolsters Starro, forever ensuring him victory . . denying him the peace of mind that he has imposed upon trillions, yet cannot find within himself.' Very interesting. Tony Bedard did a great job of stringing this story together. I like the way it all unfolded. This issue also contained many artists . . Claude St.Aubin, Karl Moline & Marn Pennington, Derec Donovan, and Kalman Adnrasofszky. I thought it was a great issue and provided us with the defining origin of this character. I wonder why they didn't do this in one of those Faces of Evil books? Anyways, great story . . and a great character.

Batman Annual #27 - DC

As we get ready for the Azrael series that is being prepared, it appears that this Annual, plus next weeks Detective are serving as an introduction to his presence in Gotham. This Azrael is ex-cop Michael Lane, and has been given power and purpose by the Order of Purity. To fulfill that, he's wearing the suit of sorrows and has been given 2 swords. The Sword of Salvation was given to him by the Order. While the Sword of Sin . . he took that sword from Talia in their last meeting. Anyways, now he's tracking Amon. He's working for a cult called La Saligia. They've got him looking for seven keys. Seven keys that open one lock. Apparently it's a lock that contains a secret. A secret that could . .'Adversely affect the church. By that I mean . . completely destroy the institution of the church and ignite a series of religious wars that could consume the planet.' Ok! I think that's a serious enough threat. Anyways, Amon is a man, but . . he looks like a demon from Goetia. 'Amon is a seventh spirit, a marquis in hell who wields great power. "He appeareth like a wolf with a serpents taile. He reconcileth controversies between friends and foes." He represents wrath. One of mans seven deadly sins.' Which goes with what we find out on the last page of the issue. Amon has abducted the children of some wealthy people. Batman intercepted his last though by replacing the boy with Damian. But on the final page Amon has them all strapped down on separate tables in a circle. He calls them their blood bounty. 'So that all man's sins can be absolved . . by God's decree, the eighth deadly sin must be restored . . and the children of the seven shrouders of sin must die!' It looks like Damian is in it neck deep this time. This issue is brought to us by Fabian Nicieza and J Calafiore. Both do a terrific job. The second part of this story, in Detective Annual #11 will be brought to us also by Fabian with the art of Tom Mandrake. And then the following week starts Azrael's new series with Fabian again continuing on with the scripts, and Ramon Bachs on the art. Which means of course that Red Robin will be getting a new artist also. So if you want to get in on this story with Azrael, from the beginning . . I suggest you pick up these 2 Annuals. Plus, don't forget about his back story that appeared in Battle for the Cowl: Azrael - Death's Dark Knight. That was a 3 issue mini. Also by Fabian and Frazer Irving. Who will be providing the covers for the continuing series. See how it's all connected? Are you excited yet?

X-Men Legacy Annual #1 - Marvel

I'm not really sure where to start with this issue. There's a whole lot of stuff going on here. Which really . . is the point. This is an exciting time in the X-Men's lives, and there's a whole lot of change and transition going on. I guess I'll start with the island. Maybe it just slipped past me, but I never realized that this chunk of land that Scott has risen from the bottom of the ocean was actually what was left of Asteroid M. You know Magneto's base is space. I guess this is what was left of it after it crashed. That never even occurred to me. Scott is busy on the island trying to get everything up and running, and also trying to figure out the social dynamics. He asks Rogue to use her experience to help the new kids, 'A counselor. Maybe a therapist and a trouble-shooter. They need someone who's been there.' Also this issue . . Emplate is back. You remember, from Generation X . . the brother of Monet. It looks like he was unearthed during some construction going on at the previous site of the school in Westchester. However, it's not long before he makes his presence known on the island. Scott's guessing that he's after them because he's looking for food. He lives off the bone-marrow of mutants. He was feeding on Penance's diamond form until she escaped from his dimension. So Scott's guessing that he's after another food source. I'm thinking it's probably not a good time for Emma to be stuck in her diamond form . . she's got a trace of the Void stuck inside of her. By the end of this story, Emplate has brought his Light-house to the coast of the island and he's captured Roxy and taken her back to his dimension with him. It looks like she's going to be his first victim. This is chapter 1 of Devil at the Crossroads story-line. It was brought to us by Mike Carey and Daniel Acuna. In the second story, also by Mike and Mirco Pierfederici, another loose end of the previous Utopia story-line is wrapped up . . what's to become of the Omega Machine? At the end of the Utopia story-line Norman retreated and took with him his device for torturing mutants. So Scott sends Remy in to tie up the loose-end. But the important part of this story is this mutant that Remy fights . . he's protecting it. He's got telepathic powers, and as he's fighting Remy he senses . .'You've got something growing in your hind-brain. Doesn't look altogether . . human. A little cluster of retooled cells. Autonomous. Asleep and dreaming in the dark down there. About someone named . . Apocalypse? Wonder what it would take to wake it up.' Which he does, and Remy becomes the Horseman Death. With that power it's easy for him to take this guy out, and blow up the machine. This story is titled . . 'Something like an Afterward . . . Something like a Prologue'. It looks like there's a whole lot more coming down the pike for Remy. I thought this was a great Annual. We get 2 new story-lines, plus some wrap-up on the previous one. On top of that the painted art on both stories looked fantastic. This one was definitely worth the $3.99 cover price . . well . . maybe not completely. But more than most.

Supergirl Annual #1 - DC

First of all . . cool cover by Renato Guedes. I really liked this one. In the first story of this book, we see Supergirl trying to use her civilian identity, Linda Lang, to fight crime. Obviously she can't just go strutting about as Supergirl . . since Kryptonian's are banned. But she also can't just sit around when she knows she can help. Anyways, long story short, she stops a bank robbery, but in the process she 'outs' a couple of other Kryptonians that were trying to lead a normal life on Earth. Not all of the Kryptonians that stayed behind are 'sleepers'. Some of them just wanted to try to eck out a normal existence, or as in this case, didn't want to be relegated to the labor caste. They wanted to make a future of their own. The Kryptonians, a mother and her child, don't get captured or anything, but . . now they're on video. Their faces have been seen so they to go somewhere else and try to start over. Kara really feels guilty about all of this. Lana tries to help assuage her guilt, but . . these were her own people she betrayed. Persecuted people . . who just wanted to be normal. It was a great story by Sterling Gates and Fernando Dagnino. It was a different side of Kara that we haven't really seen before. Also, I think Fernando's art is getting better and better with every issue that he does. In the second story, we get the origin of Superwoman. Well . . really it's the origin of Lucy Lane, but then she becomes Superwoman at her father's bequest, so . . it's all downhill from there. It was an interesting story . . showing just how a sibling can be manipulated by their parents just because they want to make them happy. But . . the really important part is that . . . it looks like Lucy will be returning. I'm guessing that her life-force, or the energy contained by the suit, dissipated when she exploded, but . . it wasn't necessarily destroyed. The energy has stayed pretty much in the same spot where it fell apart . . Piscataquis County, Maine . . absorbing the life-energy of those that happen to get to close. We don't get all the details right now, but . . we see Lucy curled up in a fetus position, sleeping and dreaming in the rain. We do see however that Project 7734 has got a satellite visual of her. Her story is going to be continued in Supergirl this fall. This chapter was brought to us by the same creative team. Overall I thought this was a great Annual. It actual gives us 2 relevant stories . . rather than just filler. And it was handled very well creatively. What more could I ask for?

Superman Annual #14 - DC

This issue finally puts into words what we've basically known about Daxam all along . . Daxam, and it's inhabitants are an off-shoot of the Kryptonian race. The world itself was discovered by a Kryptonian, and named after him . . Dax-Am. This happened during Krypton's 'Empire' phase where it wanted to discover, and conquer the galaxy. However, on this world, unlike the others it conquered, they inter-bred with the natural inhabitants. Apparently, that was not allowed on any of the other worlds. So, when the conquest ended, and most of Kryptons explorers and settlers returned to their home-world, the settlers on Daxam did not feel the same urge. And, after a few generations didn't really care or know much about Krypton at all. Other than what they were taught in their legends of lore. Anyways, long story short, eventually Daxam got to the point where it wanted to explore outer-space. However, they didn't have plans of conquest but rather trust and cooperation. One such world they discovered was Earth. During their stay, a Daxamite female fell in love with one of their Mayan associates. Rather than risk the child's birth on Earth, and it's Yellow sun, she chose instead to return to Daxam. He appeared as the rest of them, except for his strive for exploration. Over the generations, the Daxamites became an enclosed society. Their mistrust of aliens became dominant, except for this one off-shoot. Eventually Lar Gand found Bal Gand's ship, his great-great-great-grandmother, I assume, and used it to return to Earth. He is actually as much a product of Earth as he is of Krypton. There's a whole lot more involved in the story . . I edited it greatly, but it's all about set-up and convenience. I actually thought it was a great story by James Robinson. He really intricately tied these 3 worlds together. I also thought that Javier Pina did a fantastic job with the art. He hasn't done much lately, which is sad. The guys got incredible talent. Anyways, the ultimate goal was accomplished and Mon El has been turned into a much more approachable, and acceptable character by us the readers. He's actually, kind of, one of us.

Superman: Secret Files 2009 #1 - DC

Well . . this is the first 'Secret Files' book we've seen in a couple of years. Actually . . the last on was a Final Crisis: Secret Files that came out in January, and then a Green Lantern Corps/Sinestro Corps: Secret Files that came out about a year before that. But they used to be a pretty regular thing for a while there . . you know, the years when it seemed liked the Annuals had fallen by the wayside. They were a way to put out a 'special' edition, and a starting point to bring new readers into the fold. I'm glad to see that the idea is still around. This one is for Superman, but . . it's really all about the Codename: Patriot story-line that's running through his books. We've seen various parts of it in the books, but this is a way for the reader to connect all the dots. And when it comes down to it . . there's a whole lot of dots. This story actually starts . . as we find out in this issue, back when Lex had to step down from being the president, and Pete Ross filled his position. It was during that tenure that he signed the papers that Amanda Waller had given him and thereby secured funding and authorization for Project 7734. This then connects in with the Last Son story-line, by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner. And then the Superman / Brainiac story-line by Geoff and Gary Frank. Which brings us to the present where General Lane is now the head of Project 7734, with Atlas and Reactron by his side. He also had the help of his other daughter, Lucy, in the guise of Superwoman. However, she was killed in action. This book really gives us a whole lot of information. We learn about New Krypton, and Kandor. We get the background on a ton of characters including Superman, Red Shard, Alura, General Zod & Commander Ursa & Non, Brainiac, Superboy, Krypto, Lex Luthor, the Staff at the Daily Planet, Mon-el, the Guardian, Billi Harper, Supergirl, Thara Ak-Var & Christopher Kent / Lor-Zod, and the various characters involved in Project 7734. We see the story of how Ursa's life was changed when Brainiac originally stole Kandor. The budding relationship, and partnership, between Billi and Jonathan. And how close of friends Kara and Thara actually were . . at one time. I thought it was a great book and it really helped to fill in a lot of holes. This story has really been building for quite some time now. I don't think it'll be resolved anytime soon.

the Amazing Spider-man Annual #36 - Marvel

The story in this issue is about Aunt May's and JJ Sr's engagement party. He wants to do something special for May so he invites everyone to Boston where he has a special surprise for her. He's invited the whole Reilly clan . . family May hasn't seen in years, to come to the engagement party. To say that she's surprised would be an understatement. Anyways, that's what the book is about. But, the important thing that happens here is . . a new villain, Raptor, Damon Ryder, comes after Peter. But he's not really after Peter. He's after someone that looks like him . . Ben Reilly. Do not try to adjust your computer screen . . there's a signpost up ahead . . we're about to enter . . the Clone-Zone! Really? We're gonna revisit this again? We don't have a date, but it appears that several years ago, in Portland, Ben Reilly was involved in this man's house burning down and him losing his family. We don't really know what happened. All we know is that Ben was there, he was fighting with Damon and now Damon blames Ben for him losing his family. We did have one faux-pas in this story though. When Peter realizes who this guy is after he starts thinking about the past and everything Ben put him through. "For a time, I thought I was the clone, the doppelganger, and he was the 'real' Peter Parker. For years he wandered . . literally lived the 'road not taken' in my own life . . before returning to New York, and completely upending my life with Mary Jane." What? Wait! Excuse me? I thought Peter didn't remember Mary Jane? I thought that Mephisto fixed it so that he wouldn't remember what he had missed when he took it all away to save Aunt May. I know that was a big part of the 'clone saga' but . . some of those memories have been erased. Right? I liked the whole 'clone saga' . . the concept . . the story . . everything, really. But the one thing that frustrated me was that there seemed to be a whole lot of inconsistencies written throughout the story-line. Maybe they were intentional, but they felt like they were problems that they just couldn't talk their way out of, so they let 'em slide hoping that no-one would notice. Just like this thing with Mary Jane. This is the second or third time that she's come up, and Peter isn't even supposed to know who she is. Anyways, I understand that they're trying to reintroduce us . . or revamp the 'idea', or something. But I'm not sure if this moment . . this joyous celebration was the right time to do it. However, the die has been cast . . the stories been written, and it can't be taken back now. So we're just going to have to wait and see where we go from here. Oh yeah . . and Peter loves Boston more that New York? Say it isn't so!

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!

Teen Titans Annual #1 - DC

This issue is actually the opening salvo of the cross-over story . . Deathtrap. It's the story-line that's going to be crossing over between Titans, Teen Titans and Vigilante. The only question I really have is . . this whole issue I thought the attack on the Teen Titans was being carried out by a Jericho controlled Cyborg. We found out in the last issue of Titans, that's where he's been hiding out recently. However, at the end of the issue, Gar comes into the control room where Cyborg has just fallen because of the massive feedback caused by Static's discharge. But when he comes up on Vic, Gar says . . "There we go. Thank the robogod. I thought you were . . thought you were . . I thought you were Vic." So I'm wondering, is it actually Jericho, or is Ron, from the Cyborg mini-series back? Anyways, this story continues in Titans #12, then Vigilante #5, and then Teen Titans #70. It carries on that way through it's 6 parts. I thought this was a decent issue. Sean McKeever writes it and Fernando Dagnino does the art. Fernando is another artist to keep an eye on. That guy shows a whole lot of potential. I think he's just going to keep getting better and better. We see a little more of Sean's character development this issue. We don't get to see them operating as a team, but . .we get various members teaming up and interacting with one another. We know most of them already, so . . I think he needs to focus on Kid Eternity and Static to bring them up to speed. I love the Teen Titans and I'm hoping that this story-line brings them all together as a whole. We need to see them as a team, not a bunch of individual characters. But, like I said, I have a feeling that this upcoming story-line will fix all of that. At least I hope so.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 - Marvel

I think that the main purpose of this book was to set up some of the story-lines or plots for this Dark Reign theme. The story bounces back and forth between the past and the present. In the past, Emma was still associated with the Hellfire Club, and was still under the thumb of Sebastian Shaw. Sebastian was trying to think about the strength of the organization and when Prince Namor shows up to one of his parties, he's enamored with him. Well, not exactly, but . . he is drooling and dying to get him to join the Hellfire Club. He wants someone of prestige and royalty and he sees all of that in Namor. Plus, he can see that Namor is definitely interested in Emma. So he tells her to do whatever in needed to convince him to join. Meanwhile, in the present Norman Osborne has put together his little band of would be world-conquerors and Emma and Namor are once again brought together out of circumstance. But I'm a little confused about the part at the end. Basically, Emma tells Namor that she has a gift to offer him. Plus, at the same time, she gets to have a little vendetta settled. She wants to give Namor Sebastian's head on a platter . . literally. So she convinces Namor that she's cut off Sebastian's head with a sword. I'm really not sure what all of this was about. Obviously she wanted to capture Sebastian to take him back to the X-Men. But . . why was Namor involved in all of this? She had to have used her mind-tricks on both of them to pull this off, but . . like I said . . I just don't see what the pay-off is. Hopefully we'll find out just what she's up to in the future installments of Dark Reign. I don't know. Anyways, this book is brought to us by Matt Fraction on scripts. Mitch Breitweiser does the art for the present sequences, and Daniel Acuna does the art for the past. When I first looked at Mitch's work I really thought it was Lee Weeks. It's really got that look and feel to it. Overall, I thought it was a decent issue. It just left me a little confused. I guess we'll just have to wait for this to unfold.

Superman / Batman Annual #3 - DC

This sketch cover is the first one I saw for this book. I'm going to leave it here because I think it's kind of neat. However, the actual cover for this book was worth the wait. It's by Berni Wrightson. Fan-frikkin-tastic! It shows the composite Superman Batman, but . . they look like they've been stitched together by Dr. Frankenstein. Which is just the type of thing you'd expect from Berni. Anyways, the story is this book is about the composite Superman/Batman that Professor Ivo created. Back in the old World's Finest comic we used to get stories like this all the time. In fact I'm pretty sure there was one in the final year or so. Anyways, Len Wein writes this issue, so it really has the feel of one of those old comics. Which is appropriate because Len wrote a lot of stories back then and I'm sure he had more than an few that were in the World's Finest title. It also had the feel of one of those old books because of Chris Batista's art. This really felt like it could've been a story from the early to mid 80's. You could take it back and it would fit in perfectly. Well . . except that time wasn't Robin back then, and he is in this book. That's always the one thing I have a problem with in comics. Every 10 to 15 years, or so, they decide that it's time to update the origins and make everything more relevant. But to the readers that have been around for quite a while . . it just seems like they're changing everything. For example . . in this story, is supposed to be in the early years of Superman and Batman's partnership. It doesn't look like Superman has actually been to the cave more than once or twice. But, this early in their careers . . Tim is Robin. So did Dick go through the Robin phase before Superman even met Bruce? I know. I'm over-thinking it, but . . these are the kind of things that run through my head when all of this updated, or retro-continuity takes place. It's just how my head works. However, I still enjoyed the story. Like I said, it really took me back to the feel of those old books. And, like it's suggested on the title page, it's a re-imagined tale from yesteryear . . which also happens to be very similar to the story that currently taking place in the Superman/Batman title. So for those that maybe haven't seen those old issues . . they can kind of get a feeling for what those stories were like and how much the current one has changed from that. World's Finest really was a classic title.