Titans #13 - DC

I have to say . . either Joey's a whole lot smarter than anyone ever gave him credit for, or . . he's a whole lot crazier. We find out this issue just what his plans are. Basically . . he wants to kill all the Titans, and Teen Titans, and take the credit for it. He wants to show his dad that he could do it. And then . . then he's going after his father. Also we find out just why he has the guy tied up in his hotel room staring at the Hamilton Grande Hotel. He's got his eyes propped open, and we find out this issue that it was his emergency escape route. He comes into the hotel holding a trigger for a bomb. He tells them that until the Titans show up, he's going to kill a hostage every 2 minutes. Once the Titans show up he tells them, "I'm going to set off the explosives in this place . . and, because you're supposed to be heroes, you're going to have no choice but to try and save the hostages . . which means you will all die." But Rose has come along on this trip and tries to out-think Joey. First she appeals to the sibling connection, and then she grabs Joey's hand with the switch in it. "If I hold your thumb down on the trigger, the only way for you to set it off is to leap into some. Sure everyone else here still dies . . but you die with us." But this is just what Joey had the escape route set up for. He puts on a special pair of glasses and then jumps out of the eyes of the guy tied up in the hotel. Then, thinking that he's killed the Titans . . it's time to go after his father. The Titans show up as he's departing, but I think Joey thinks they're all just more voices in his head screaming out to him. Vigilante is also hot on his trail. He arrives at the hotel shortly after he leaves. On the final page Joey has finally come face to face with his father. Oh, I also forgot, Vic was in his hotel room when the news came across the TV. So, as far as he knows the Titans really are dead. So he's also on his way to get some vengeance on Joey. So far I like this story-line. I think Sean McKeever doing a pretty decent job here. I think he's finally found his groove on this title. I wasn't thrilled with Angel Unzueta's pencils, but . . they were ok. Overall I don't think this is really all that complicated of a story-line. But then . . Joey isn't really that complicated of a character. Sure he's got a whole lot of voices in his head, but . . then again, who doesn't? When it all comes down to it, it seems like the whole thing hinges upon the relationship between Joey and his father. Either he's trying to out-do him, or . . he's trying to prove himself to him. Either way, I think he's in a hopeless situation. Really, the only thing that's saving Joey is his power . . and his friendship with the Titans. They just can't bring themselves to believe that he's gone this rogue. Hopefully we'll get some more answers in the next issue of Vigilante.

Action Comics #877 - DC

Andrew Robinson does the cover of this book. I'm not thrilled with it, but . . the interior art is awesome. Sidney Teles does the art and it looks fantastic. He really draws some great action scenes. Last issue Christopher ended up on Lois' doorstep with Thara. They just got done fighting Ursa at the Fortress, and she stabbed Thara with a Kryptonite soaked knife. Lois calls in Dr Light to help them out. She uses her light powers to bombard her with photons that replicate solar light. She wants to give her Kryptonian immune system a jump-start. After she's stabilized and resting Christopher takes off for the Fortress to make sure that Ursa isn't doing anything she shouldn't. Now, here's where the problem comes in. General Lane has been tracking Dr Light. So of course he tracked her right to his daughter's apartment. He's also the one that prompted the order banning all Kryptonians from the planet. So when his satellites pick up 2 at her house, he's a bit concerned. But all he's got is a picture of Thara. Christopher he tracks in action as he flies back to the fortress. While there, I think he talked Ursa into going back to New Krypton. He knows that she and Zod have sleeper agents around the planet, and he explains that she's jeopardizing them by being here. Which . . I guess is what we see on the final page. This couple has just robbed a bank, but when they go out the door the cops already have the bank surrounded. They just stand there . . and start blasting them with their eyes. Greg Rucka wrote this story. I thought he did a fantastic job. I really liked this whole issue . . well, except for the cover. It didn't even really have anything to do with the story. I think Nightwing and Flamebird, Christopher and Thara, are a great addition to this title. Also, I can't wait to see what General Lane is going to do with all of this information.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1 - DC

This book was a bit . . confusing. Tom Tresser, Nemesis, has been taken captive. But we don't know who did it . . why . . or where they're at. He thinks he sees other people that he knows, but . . he's pretty drugged up, and he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness, so . . it could all just be a dream. That's the other part that's confusing, as we go through this story, we don't know what's real, and what's not. Cameron Chase is there, as is Count Vertigo. Those two, I believe, are real. However, he also sees Amanda Waller and Rick Flag. Those two, unfortunately, I think, are apparitions. But I could be wrong. As I said, we don't really know what up or down here. Then, at the end of the issue, one of the OMAC's show up as a guard . . or maybe a tour guide. Maybe Tom is just tripping and the OMAC is his spirit guide. How messed up would that be? Anyways, he tells them that they're free to go whenever they want, and that the doors are not locked. That's when they see a door at the end of the hallway. Cameron and Rick go running for it, but when they open it . . it looks like they're on another planet. It's definitely an alien horizon. The atmosphere rips Rick's body to shreds. Like I said, we don't really know the 'who', 'how', 'what' or 'whys' yet. I assume that will unravel over the course of the 6 issues. It'll have to be, because this issue didn't really tell us anything. If we at least knew what was a dream and what wasn't it might help us figure out what's going on. This one is brought to us by Ivan Brandon and Marco Rudy. The story was interesting . . what I could figure out. And the art was . . ok. I especially liked the 'trippy' stuff with Count Vertigo. Also that cover is by Scott Hampton. I can't really get a fix on this series by this one issue, so . . I'll wait till next time to decide if I like it or not.

Battle for the Cowl: Azrael - Death's Dark Knight #3 - DC

So, in this series we find out that Michael Lane has been given the Suit of Sorrows and Sword of Salvation by the Order of Purity. They're connected to the Order of St Dumas, the ones that created the original Azrael, but . . they're not the same thing. Then he fought Talia, and took the Sword of Sin from her. So, now he has the suit and both swords. This issue he finally comes face to face with Dick. They start out fighting, but . . they end up coming to an understanding. There is a bit of a mystery here though because, Michael has given up the costume that he wore when he was a test subject of Doctor Hurt. However, someone else has taken to wearing his suit. Actually I thought it was Jason Todd. But when Michael's nephew runs into him by accident on the street, he immediately recognizes him. So if it's not Jason . . who is it? Anyways, Dick pretty much opens up the road for Michael to pursue this path. He tells Talia how it's gonna be, "You let Lane keep the Suit of Sorrows. If he goes over the edge, he becomes my responsibility." And, after erasing Michael's memories of the Bat-cave and everything Batman related, he also gives him his blessing. When Michael wakes up after being drugged, he finds the suit, both swords and a note hanging on his door . . "This was a gift from her father to my father. Now I give it to you. Screw up and I'll take it back." Then the Order of Purity gives him someplace to live. "Leland McCauley willed this brownstone to the Order . . and if you accept the role of Azrael . . and agree to let us work with you . . it's all yours." But we find out that the Order doesn't actually serve god . . it serves Ra's al Ghul. "For now, I prefer to see how far this man can go before the madness overtakes him. I will manipulate certain events, provoke certain challenges . . all to see if the armor makes the man or the man makes the armor. If he survives . . the the Order of Purity will have an unstoppable weapon." And . . all of this leads directly into Azrael's own series coming out this fall. Fabian Nicieza and Frazer Irving did the creative part of this book. However, as with Batgirl, we don't really know yet who'll be doing the new series. My vote is for Fabian and Frazer. I think they did a good job with this mini.

Battle for the Cowl: Oracle - the Cure #3 - DC

I was always a Birds of Prey fan, so . . I was thrilled that this mini came out. I also think that Barbara is a fantastic character. However, this series . . or more specifically, this issue . . left me with some questions, and . . some mixed feelings. Last issue, when Babs was in Hong Kong with her hacker friends, the Calculator came after them through the computer. Luckily, with some quick thinking on Babs part, she went right for the circuit breaker and shut everything down. From there it was pretty easy to back-track him to the Alta Viva RPG. And . . where he was operating from . . Gotham City. As if that were a big surprise. However, while all of this was going on, Larry Rand didn't heed Oracle's warning and tried to go into the game to see what was going on. The Calculator's avatar took him down pretty quickly, and because of the crystals and the anti-life equation, what he affects in the game is also affected in the 'real' world. Larry isn't dead, but . . he's pretty close. So Babs flies back to Gotham and heads to the creator of the game, Corey Wynn. She figures since he created it that he might have some back-doors built in. She hoping to quietly put some code in that'll mess up the Calculator's plans. She does so, and from there it's only a matter of time before she takes the Calculator down. She also put in some nasty stuff to keep him out of the cyber-world for a while . . "Calculator, this whole equation is corrupt . . like you . . and now it's part of you . . or at least the residue is. It's linked to a series of alerts on the web . . they'll trigger the rest of the stuff inside you. You go online anywhere, you so much as send an e-mail and I'll know where you are . . so I'd lie low if I were you." Now some of the things I'm questioning . . when she got to Corey he was pretty helpful, without a whole lot of explanation. He claims it's because he remembers Barbara from when she was a librarian. He used to come into the library, because his mother couldn't afford a computer, and Babs would let him use theirs. But I think there's more to it than that. And I think there's more to Corey . . something we aren't being told yet. Also, with all of this build-up, it seemed like Babs took the Calculator down pretty easily. I also didn't like the way she went to the hospital to confront him. I know it was necessary, he was planning on using the crystals, and the equation, on Wendy . . his daughter. But it just seems like she pretty much confirmed his suspicions that she was Oracle. And, if he hadn't pieced it together, she pretty much told him so herself. It just didn't seem like the right move to make. Also, is Babs going to sympathize with Wendy? Now that she's out of her coma . . she can't feel her legs. "Daddy!! I can't feel my legs!! I can't feel them!! Daddy!!!" Does that remind you of anybody? Like, maybe Babs shortly after the Joker shot her. Anyways, luckily we're going to have an outlet for all of these questions because the next evolution of this character is a new Batgirl series coming out soon. I like what was attempted in this mini-series, the goal for the drama, but . . the execution didn't go down right. It just didn't feel right. It was entertaining, and it set up a lot for the Batgirl series, but . . as a separate entity, I don't think that it was all that good. But that's just my opinion. Kevin Vanhook wrote it and Julian Lopez did the art. Unfortunately, we don't know yet who the creative staff will be on the new book. Hopefully . . we should find out soon. Sorry, I'm back to re-edit . . I just read an article on CBR that said that Bryan Q Miller will be the writer of the Batgirl series. But that's really all it says. He doesn't give us to much information. I just wanted to let you know.

Green Lantern Corps #36 - DC

Again, I commend the tremendous job that Peter J Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are doing on this book. To me, this book is second only to the regular Green Lantern title. Right now all the pieces, and people, are being moved into place to get ready for Blackest Night. As we found out at the end of the last issue, Soranik is indeed Sinestro's daughter. I don't think it was a huge surprise, but . . we did finally get the confirmation. This issue starts out with Sinestro relaying the story to her of how they were separated. Soranik is desperately trying to deny it, but . . I believe in her heart she knows that his story is true. Anyways, the main reason he's decided to tell her now is that in his recent encounter with Atrocitus, Atrocitus discovered that Sinestro had a daughter on Korugar. So eventually the Red Lanterns will come here looking for her. Sinestro just wanted to give her a 'heads-up'. Meanwhile, back on OA at the sciencells, there is a major riot going on. Every Lantern has been brought to bear, except for the rookies, and are fighting for their lives and beyond. We just see all the destruction and mayhem. I'm not sure who's going to make it, and who's not, but . . I'm sure we'll be finding that all out very soon. And, back on Daxam, Arisia and Sodam Yat are trying to free the people of this planet from the oppression of Mongul. He's taken over the Sinestro Corps, and is in the process of making Daxam his base of operations. To that extent he about to activate a defense grid around the planet that the Green Lanterns may not even be able to breach. Sodam's plan? He's going to confront Mongul and use his Ion power to take him down. But there's a problem . . he's denied access to the Ion power. "Unable to access due to Guardian interface with power ring. Power ring must be removed. Certain death will result due to extreme toxicity levels of lead in bloodstream from . . . there is a slight possibility that a massive power surge could act as a catalyst and allow a limited time of access to Ion power." So he changes his plan. When he confronts Mongul, he drops all of his body shields and allows Mongul to blast him with the full extent of his yellow energy. He looks dead, but then the Ion power kicks in. It's at 95%. He goes blasting into the atmosphere, where he takes his ring off. From there he goes diving back at Mongul. On the final panel there's a huge explosion directly over Mongul's head. Unfortunately, we won't know until next issue if the plan worked or not. I absolutely love this book. Our creative staff is doing a tremendous job here, and the tension is just building, issue to issue, until . . the Blackest Night drama explodes in July. I can't wait. Geoff Johns explains the story as . . "Blackest Night will recharge the DC Universe as Green Lantern: Rebirth recharged the Green Lantern Corps." That's not to much hype to live up to. Do ya think? The variant cover on this book was again done by Rodolfo Migliari. What can I say? If you're not reading this book . . you're definitely missing out.

Blackest Night #0 - DC

I was really excited when I got to my shop on Wednesday. My guy doesn't usually participate in the free comic book day. I agree with the concept, but . . the distributors should still make it more advantageous for the retailers. From my understanding, if you got all the free books that were available this year, there were about 80. So lets say half of that . . 40, times 50 copies, times the 26 cents each that the retailers have to pay for them, that would be about $520 that it would cost them just to give it all away. Like I said, I like the concept, but the majority of shops are individually owned, or family . . with the way the economy is, I don't know if they could absorb that cost. Anyways . . sorry, I'll get off my soap-box . . the only 'Free Comic Book Day' comic I currently have is the Teen Titans Go! book. And I bought that one for 50 cents a few years later when I saw it in a bin. So I was happy when I saw that he had a stack of the Blackest Night #0 books. Not even so much because it was free, but because I've been thrilled with the stories in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. I know this is going to be a huge story-line, and I couldn't wait to get home and get a little preview about what's coming up. First of all, I was thrilled to see that Ivan Reis will be drawing. Of course Geoff John's scripts will be incredible to, but . . I was disappoint when Ivan was taken off the GL book. Now . . now I know why. It looks like Geoff and Ivan have a heck of a ride prepared for us. This particular story was about Hal and Barry catching up, a bit. Currently I think Ivan is 'The' GL artist. But, I have to say . . he may be 'The' Flash artist also. The way he draws Barry throughout this story is incredible. He even gives is a bit of a Neal Adams influence. In the back we get some pages of descriptions of the various Corps. We see some of the upcoming members to some of them, including the Blue Lanterns. But what really intrigued me was the Indigo Tribe. We know little to nothing of them so far. So I was thrilled to see at least what they look like. Their emotion is 'compassion'. We also get a preview of the Black Lantern Corps. The only 2 members that we see so far are Black Hand and Scar. The rest of them are just hands punching through the dirt like restless corpses. If you know your uniforms, you might recognize a few of the hands. And finally, we get a checklist of the books that will be out this summer. On top of the Blackest Night mini, there's also, Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, Blackest Night: Batman, Blackest Night: Superman, and Blackest Night: Titans. That's along with the regular Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps books. Man . . it's gonna be a hell of a summer. I can't wait.

Trinity #50 - DC

All I can say about this issue is . . . Wow! The magnitude of what's happened here is incredible. Last issue Krona, literally, tore the Earth apart. This issue opens up with pieces, people and objects from Earth floating around the milky-way like so much space junk. It looks like the concert hall, and parking lot, after a Motley Crue concert. I'm laughing because I just got done watching them on my favorite show . . Bones. Anyways, the only thing left standing . . sort of, is Krona and the worldsoul. This is what Krona has wanted all along. He's wanted to talk to the worldsoul and get the answers that he craves. The problem is . . he's not happy with the answers that she gives him. She explains to him that beings like herself . . they don't look at the constraints of reality the same way humans, or sentient beings do. They don't really have 'wants' and 'desires'. They don't 'thirst for knowledge'. And they definitely don't scheme or have hidden motives and agendas. Really . . all this does is piss Krona off. "I've lived for billions of years! I am far older than you. Little soul! I will not be taken in by this . . this . . I . . what was that? All of that? What did it mean? It made no sense. All that. All that. It's . . . it doesn't . . just doesn't . . NO! It's not enough! You can't just . . float and exist . . and dance! This is not the way things work . . I don't accept it! There is more! There has to be more! SHOW ME THE TRUTH!" But, in the middle of his tirade, the Trinity show up. They weren't wiped out as the world was. They decide, with the help of the worldsoul, to encase Krona, and remake the world. But they need all of their energies, including Krona's, to do it. On the final page the world is back, and we see some of our heroes on the North Pole. This is where the fight took place last issue. They don't know that the world's ended and has been recreated. But . . Lois knows something . . somethings wrong. "Oh god. It's not over. It's not over!!" We're almost finished here, and Busiek, Bagley, Nicieza and McDaniel are pulling out all the stops on the final few issues. Not to mention the fantastic Shane Davis cover. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

X-Factor #43 - Marvel

I'm doing this one first this week because . . well, honestly . . I couldn't wait to read it. This has become, I think, my favorite X-title. And, if I'm to continue being honest . . it used to be Exiles. Sorry! That one dropped, and this one rose. What can I say? I just feel that Peter David is doing a fantastic job with these characters. You can really feel each of thier unique personalities, and he pulls the reader in . . we care about them. Marco Santucci and Valentine De Landro are doing the art. It's . . . ok. Nothing great . . nothing terrible. But, you know what? I don't care. In this book, I feel that the story far outshines the art. Of course . . that's just my opinion. Last issue, Longshot saved Lenore's life by stopping a gunman from killing her . . her mother. Just as she's trying to escape from the apartment building, this issue, Darwin shows up. They take her down, but . . I have a feeling that someone is controlling her. But we don't know who, or why. Meanwhile, Guido and Rictor have headed to Vermont to meet on of Jaime's dupes, Rev. John Maddox. They know that something has happened to Jaime and they're hoping that John can help them out. But, there's someone else there also. At the hospital when Monet is trying to figure out what's going on with Lenore's mom, she comes under some type of psychic attack. All she says is . . "Cortex". Whatever that means. In the future Jaime has finally come face to face with Layla. She's at least 21 now. After talking for a little why, they find themselves in a passionate embrace. "Before there was a savagery, a hunger to the kiss. This time . . I lose myself in her. This time it's gentle, and loving, and . . salvation. That's what it is. Salvation. I shouldn't have to look outside myself to find it, but I do. And it's here. With her. For the first time in ages, I feel at peace with myself. And yet I can't help but think . . it won't last. I suppose that's how I know I'm still me." And then Scott tells Jaime he needs a favor from him. "When our people go into a fight, we have a constant telemetry record that goes into a central computer. We lost track of Hecat'e. For about 2 seconds we lost track of her. We don't have glitches. You're a detective. I want you to figure out why." Although, you have to think that if he's smart enough to know that it needs looking in to, then he probably already has a suspicion of what she's up to. Oh yeah, and by the way, the stalker that was hanging out outside of the good Reverends house . . . it turns out it's . . Shatterstar. The problem is . . he also looks possessed. And he's saying the same thing as Monet . . . "Cortex". I love this book, and the characters. Again, I think Peter David is doing a fantastic job. Oh, and he left a note on the recap page . . "What Happens Next Issue: Madrox shaves; there is no follow-up to this issues cliffhanger whatsoever; and Monet strips down and gets it on with Darwin. Be sure to let everyone on the internet know." Funny stuff, dude! Funny stuff!

the Amazing Spider-man #593 - Marvel

First of all, we're getting some pretty cool Joe Quesada covers on this book right now. You'd think being Editor in Chief and all, he'd be to busy for that. But we had a cool one this month and last. Anyways, this story-arc appears to be put together by Mark Waid and Mike McKone. Basically, Spider-man just got back from the macro-verse, with the FF, and as soon as he returns, 2 and 1/2 months later, he finds that old buddy JJ has been elected Mayor of New York City. He tries to mend fences . . you know, civic responsibility, and all that. But JJ isn't having it. In fact . . he's created and implemented an Anti-Spider Squad. Peter has his first run-in with them this issue. They hit him with laser-targeted ultrasonics. However, because of Peter's determination to get under JJ's skin, he's been hitting the city 24/7 and the citizens are starting to notice. So when he gets thrown off-balance, it's the citizens around him that come to his rescue. They badger the Police giving Peter time to recover. So then they decide to set a trap for him. He gets out of it, but then he has a run-in with this new Vulture. We really don't know what he's called, but in the shadows that's who he looks like. However, up close . . he wears all red leather, has glowing red eyes, and a jaw-line that looks like something off of one of those Predator aliens. My first guess is he's some kind of vampire. But we don't really know yet. However, he does spit in Spidey's face, and it's a stinging corrosive acid. It eats right through his mask, and now Peter feels like he's been blinded. Overall, I thought it was an ok issue. We catch up a little bit on Aunt May's relationship with JJ's father. But really that's the only supporting cast that we see. I haven't disliked this new direction with this title . . ever since One More Day. But . . everybody that's written this book since, seems to have a hard time balancing all the supporting characters. We'll see Harry in one issue, but then we won't see him again for about 6 more. The same goes for Aunt May, or Vin, or really anybody else for that matter. To me, that's always been the strength of this title . . the supporting cast, and the important roles that they all play in Peter's life. Like I said, I don't dislike the book. It's just . . different. The supporting cast is all there . . they just don't get as much attention now. That's sad!

Exiles #2 - Marvel

I hate to say it, but . . I wasn't as thrilled about this issue as I have been previous ones. I don't know. The team just didn't seem very organized, and they weren't really working together very well. I know they're a new team, and really they just got put together. But, even coming from various worlds, they've all been on teams before. The only one that's really a 'solo' character is Forge. Their first mission is to go to this world where all the mutants live on Genosha, and Magneto is their king. They're constantly under attack from the outside world, but Magneto and his royal family are always doing whatever they can to protect them. So . . they are loved. However, our Exiles are supposed to help Wolverine overthrow Magneto's rule. The problem is, as soon as they arrive, they find themselves watching a parade. On the float with the royal family is Wolverine's body, stretched out like the maidens on the front of the Viking ships. His head is detached and on a pike. Obviously their assigned mission is going to be a little tough. So, they decide to do a little reconnaissance. Polaris and the Scarlet Witch are part of the royal family, so . . they figure if they can take their place, they can mingle with the natives, as it were, and try to gather some information. They don't have someone to replace Jean with, so . . I'm not really sure how they think they're going to be able to pull this off. Sure they may look like them, but . . everyone has their own distinctive personality and quirks. These people are always combat ready, so . . I'm sure they are constantly on vigil, even for attacks from shape-shifters. So they're going to notice when someone isn't acting normal. They have to be prepared in order to survive. It isn't long before they're all captured by Scott, Bobby, Jean and Warren. "It's an interrogation. We take a dim view of people from other dimensions coming to sabotage our world." I'm really not trying to rag on the story. Jeff Parker wrote it, and I've loved his work on X-Men: First Class. But he does write that one a little more sophomoric than the regular X-titles. In that case it's fine. Actually, if I was used to it here, it would probably be fine also. But . . I wasn't expecting it. This book usually falls outside of any X-Men continuity or story-lines, but . . it still has that serious X-edge to it. Well . . except for Morph. But again . . you expect that. Maybe it's just because Jeff is following Chris Claremont. I don't know. Overall, it just didn't feel right to me. Which is really hard for me to say, because this is one of my favorite books. Salva Espin is doing the art on this series. Again, it's ok, but . . it's all just a little to teen-agery for me. I'm really hoping this isn't the direction of the new series.

the Invincible Iron Man #13 - Marvel

Matt Fraction is doing an incredible job with the story here. I love this World's Most Wanted story-line. Tony is under fire from . . well, everywhere. He can barely catch his breath, let alone try to properly finish what he's doing. Between trying to delete the information from his brain, and trying to make the Iron Man suit more user friendly . . for his anticipated diminished capacity, he's really burning the candle at both ends. Heck, he can't even stop by a tech-fair without somebody spotting him and trying to call in for the reward. Pepper was captured at the end of last issue by Norman Osborn, and HAMMER. By the way, we still don't know what that stands for. Lets try, Hillbilly Army Men Make Erratic Riflemen. That's my bid for this month. Anyways, Pepper was captured and now Norman is trying to get information from her. Overall, though . . I think he takes it pretty easy on her. It's obvious that he lets her go hoping that she'll lead him to Tony. But, he also has another resource available. He lets Lady Masque know . . "Look what we found. Took us a while to make it work, but it's keyed in to hidden Stark facilities that house Iron Man suits that're still online. You want to find Tony Stark? HAMMER jurisdiction is limited to the US so my hands are tied. But . . well, here's where he'll be running if you're curious . . . you can take care of a little personal business for the two of us." Maria Hill has gotten out of the Futurepharm facility. The Controller tried to put her under his sway, but . . she resisted. Then she disrupted as many of his systems on her way out as she could. She managed to find the hard-drive that Tony was looking for, but . . she's bleeding out of her neck so . . it's hard telling how far she'll make it. Tony seems to go into some kind of seizure while he's working on the Iron Man armor. I think he's in Europe somewhere in some small apartment. But back in New York, Pepper has a feeling that somethings wrong with him, and has decided to go looking. She tells JARVIS, "Find Tony Stark. And to hell with Norman Osborn." Salvador Larroca is still the penciller on this series. Between him and Matt, I think they're doing a terrific job here. I've really liked this series so far. Obviously Tony, and Iron Man, will be changed when they come out the other side of all of this. But, we don't know what the extent of that is going to be yet. I can't wait to find out.

New Avengers - the Reunion #3 - Marvel

Clint just does not give up. Does he? He and Bobbi are on a mission now. She created a new group called the WCA, World Counterterrorism Agency, and their trying to stop an AIM scientist from setting off a chemical bomb. Apparently she's trying to assume leadership of AIM, and this bomb will be a display of her resolve and resourcefulness. At least that's what Bobbi thinks. So they've gone off to stop the bomb. Unfortunately, Clint has tagged along with her. He says he wants to watch over her and ensure that she returns unharmed, but really . . really all he wants to do is drive her crazy with questions and scenarios. He can't believe that before she was abducted that she was actually going to follow through with her threat of divorce. And that according to her they never would've made up. During this whole operation though, Bobbi blacks out for a second and we see her memories of how she dealt with her abduction on the Skrull home-world. I'm not sure what this all has to do with the current events, other than that the Skrulls tried to use her friendship and feeling for Clint and Tigra to acclimate her to her new surroundings. In the end, she had to kill the Clint impostor. Even though she knew it wasn't him, I'm sure that was hard. Anyways, she and Clint figure out that Monica Rappaccini is actually trying to abduct all the scientific heads, and when the bomb blows just make it look like they were all killed. But their revelation is to late as the palace comes down on top of Clint, and Monica has decided that Bobbi is important enough to include on her little shopping list. Jim McCann is writing this one. I think he's doing a good job. It appears that everything we thought we knew about Clint and Bobbi's relationship was all just a lie. But . . that's not Jim's fault. It's all because of that whole Skrull thing. Jim's just trying to put it all back together and help Clint, and us, make sense of the whole thing. Plus . . we get the WCA out of it. David Lopez does the pencils. They're ok. He goes for a style that I don't really like all that much, but . . it works ok with this book. Next issue we'll see how this all wraps up. For picking this up by accident, I'm really enjoying it. It's turned out to be a decent little series.

Cable #14 - Marvel

This Messiah War story-line has been pretty intense, right from the very beginning. But now? Now things seem to be heating up even more. Now that Bishop and Stryfe have taken James and Hope . . Nathan is pretty worried. This is the moment that he's been dreading ever since he brought hope into the future. Now they have to accomplish 2 things. First and foremost, of course, is retrieving Hope. That takes precedence over everything else. Secondly, they have to shut down whatever it is that's blocking Logan and his group from returning to the past. Meanwhile, while Stryfe is interrogating James, he and Bishop are both trying to do everything in their power to block out their thoughts of Hope. Neither of them want Stryfe to know how important she is . . or will be. Bishop even uses a nanite bomb on Stryfe to try to get him to lower his psychic shield that he's holding Hope in. It affects him for a second, and in that brief instant he does get a shot off, but . . Stryfe quickly recovers. He immediately assumes that Bishop is trying to betray him, but . . it doesn't take much for him to 'read' that he was actually after the girl. When Stryfe realizes this, the pieces quickly come together. Especially, I'm sure, now that he knows what to look for. He allows Hope to take off his helmet, and of course he looks just like Nathan. "Nathan, is that you . . .? Has it been you this whole time? Are you here in disguise to rescue me?" Stryfe quickly plays on her confusion . . "Yes, Hope. I am here to rescue you from your false father." While all of this is interesting, I'm starting to think that the real story lies with Warren and Apocalypse. At the end of last issue Warren took off because of a voice in his head. During the battle he switched to his Archangel form which, I think, opened him up for Apocalypse's influence. I'm sure as soon as Apocalypse felt his presence he called out for him. Warren finds him near death in a cave. He thinks that Apocalypse is asking him to kill him, but actually I think he wants to feed off of his energy. Doesn't he feed off the mutants? I think he's hoping to feed off of those that have gathered near him. And I'm starting to wonder if maybe that isn't Hope's destiny. Maybe she's the one that's powerful enough that when Apocalypse feeds off of her it'll bring him back to his full glory. Maybe that's how she inadvertantly brings about the end of the world. But if that's the case, isn't Bishop equally as guilty. He is, after all, the one that brought this whole plan together and thereby put all the pieces into the same frying pan. It gives you quite a bit to think about. Huh? I'm really diggin' this story-arc. I can't wait to see how it all comes out. Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti are doing an outstanding job here. My hats off to all involved.

X-Men: First Class - Finals #4 - Marvel

This issue is the end of this particular story-arc . . and series, but it's not the end of the story. This concept has been going on for about 2 years now, in 3 or 4 different incarnations. Next month there's going to be an Uncanny X-Men First Class Giant Sized Special . . try to say that 3 times fast, and then this title will be transformed into Uncanny X-Men First Class. And the dream lives on. As if we thought it was ever going anywhere. The Giant Sized issue will be Jeff Parker's last issue as Scott Gray will be taking over the scripting chores with the new book. However, Roger Cruz will be back on the pencils, so the book will have the same great feel. This issue however is drawn by Amilcar Pinna. Roger just does the finishes. This mini-series was interesting. It's brought us right up to the point where the team goes off to confront Krakoa. Little knowing that it's going to change their lives forever. Personally, I liked the focus on Jean throughout this series. We see the accident that caused her powers to manifest, and her first meeting with Charles. Basically, subconsciously, Jean has been trying to face all the things that could hurt her, and her friends, and force them and herself to confront their biggest fears. And for Jean one of those biggest fears was not facing or dealing with what had happened to her friend on that fateful day. Because of these actions, and the teams recent trip into Jean's mind, Charles ends up asking Scott and Jean to stay on at the school so that he may continue to work with her. And then . . "Cerebro has discovered what may be the most powerful mutant on the planet! We're heading to the Pacific Ocean . . an island called Krakoa." From the very beginning I've enjoyed the First Class series. I like seeing the kids when they were younger, more upbeat and full of life. Hopefully the new book continues in that direction. The theme here seems to be directed more at a teen-aged audience so, I imagine it will. But I'm sure with some angst and drama thrown in too. That is a few of the dietary requirements of the teen-aged life after all.

New Mutants #1 - Marvel

This one had some great covers to it. I've included a few here. The only one I didn't buy was the Bob McLeod one. That one was $25. However, I did buy the $10 Benjamin cover. What can I say. I used to love this group, so . . that's my justification. But 3 copies of a book, even with different covers, is enough for me. I've got to draw the line someplace. Right? The good thing about this first issue though . . considering it now costs $3.99 to enjoy a few of some of my favorite characters, is that it comes with 34 pages of story and art. To me, that's not a bad trade-off for the cover price. This issue, and it appears the series, will be under the creative direction of Zeb Wells and Diogenes Neves. I wasn't sure about Diogenes' art at first, but by the end of the issue . . I was sold. I think his style is definitely going to be a good addition to this title. We start out with the team that we expected, Sam, Roberto, Amara, and Illyana. Xi'an and Dani are also part of the team, but . . they're the ones that are in trouble so basically they were the catalyst for Sam bringing the group back together. Xi'an and Dani went off to Colorado a couple of weeks ago to investigate a little girl that was supposedly endangering a small town. They haven't been heard from since. Then, in the beginning of this issue, Illyana 'ports back in to warn everybody. Basically she says that a year from now Amara scolds her for not being there when Xi'an and Dani needed her. "So . . now I'm here." She says that right now, they still have time to save them. She also has other various bits of knowledge and insight from the future, but . . we'll get into that later. The team ends up in Westcliffe and immediately split in 2. The boys find Dani in the backroom of a bar. She looks beaten and catatonic. And for some reason the locals are very anti-mutant right now. However, the girls also find Dani in the basement of a little girls house who has disappeared. She appears to be locked in a metal box and is asking them for her release. However, when they open it . . they find Legion inside. You know, Xavier and Moira's son. As they open the box and tell her she's free, he says . . "No I'm not, Amara. I wasn't talking about the box . . I'm trapped in here." Apparently, somehow she's trapped in Legion's body. That's an interesting twist of events. I like the way they jumped right into the story this issue. They don't give us a whole lot of build up, or past history, or anything. And this issue appears to take place immediately following the x-infernus mini-series. Illyana disappeared at the end of that one . . after they all fought to bring her back, but now . . now she's back and wants to help. Also Manuel, Empath, is also going to be playing a part in this story, or series, but we don't really know what that's going to be yet. All in all, I really enjoyed this first issue. It'll be interesting to see if any other of the New Mutants show up for this assemblage. There's other characters that I'd really like to see, but . . I guess we'll just have to wait. These characters have been spread out over the various X-books, but . . they've never been quite as effective, or at home, as when they're together. It'll be good to see them together again, in action as a group. "Welcome home, New Mutants family! Welcome home!"

the Boys #30 - Dynamite Entertainment

This one is kind of an aftermath issue. After all the blood and carnage of last issue . . I mean, Godolkin and his G-Men . . all of the G-Men, every single team . . all of them were taken off the board in one fell swoop. And the person, or group, that brought them down? No it wasn't the Boys. Although they were peripherally involved. No it was actually Voight-American that decided to put a cap on the whole thing. They'd known that Godolkin was a little . . 'off', for quite a while now. But, he was manageable. However, with the Boys recent involvement . . well, let's just say there were certain things that they weren't willing to take the chance of them getting out there . . into the world. So, even though it cut off a huge revenue source for them, it was still preferable to watching the whole house-of-cards come tumbling down. But, now there are some things that need to be taken care of in the aftermath. Godolkin had started a new group of Pre-Wiz. They obviously need to be handled by Voight. They can't just be taken out like the rest. They're shipped off to Iceland . . for training or reorientation or something. That's a story for the future. And there's a lot of clean-up, both literally and in the press. The Female has some built up anger because of the whole situation, so she's looking for a way to release that. The Frenchman is trying to convince her to not be so reckless, but . . I don't think he's having much of an effect. Hughie is trying to deal with everything that he's seen, and the loss of his new 'friends' because of the recent events. He ends up spending time with Annie, and crying in her arms. There's a more than a bit of irony there. Mother's Milk has gone off to deal with the whole 'family' issue with his daughter and her mother. And Butcher has gone straight for Raynor. He feels that she set them up through this whole operation. If nothing else, she put his team in the direct line of fire. So he goes to let her know, in no uncertain terms, that this course of action will not be tolerated again. If she should choose to go this path again, he will hurt her and her family. But the real news comes when Voight is talking to the Homelander. He's talking to him about all the changes that need to be considered to up their profile . . "You are now our number 1 source of revenue, and there's going to be quite a shortfall to make up." But the Homelander is pissed about Butcher and his involvement. He wants to do something about it. "You can't do it. You know you can't. What he has could buy you twenty times over." But he does have an alternative, something to appease the Homelander a bit. His superior has been replaced, and as he puts it "Times change." "Killing him is not on the agenda. Crippling that menagerie of his, that could be something else again. There are five of them, after all." It looks like Butcher and his group could have a sh#$load of trouble coming their direction. I love this series. I think Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson have done a fantastic job of building this story over the last 30 issues. They really seem to be enjoying thier work too. It shows. Basically, they're poking fun at every 'super-hero' idea and convention out there. And they're creating their own continuity in the process. The irony is . . in the process of hitting every 'franchise' in the face, they've in essence created their own. Whodathunkit? I can see it now . . 'The Boys' action figures . . fake blood and foul language included. Also . . they're clothing optional.

the Authority #10 - WildStorm

This issue is aptly titled Interludes: "How we all came through the fire". And basically, that's what this book is . . . a series of interludes letting us know how some of the main characters in this little drama, came through the 'end of days'. We start out with Lorenzo, I believe that's his name, from Sliding Albion. He's been in a British prison since he first came here from his own world, in 1925. In the wake of the destruction, he is released. He's on the verge of watching his captors get rendered limb from limb, by his fellow inmates, when he comes to a decision . . "Hello, Hawthorne. It looked like you needed a friend. Here's how this is going to go. I will protect you and keep you alive. You will use the codes Whitehall gave you and get us out of this hellhole. Doesn't that sound like the start of a beautiful friendship to you?" Next we see how the end of the world drove the Doctor mad. He goes to the place where all the past doctors dwell, but . . they're all dead also. In the end he jumps off the top of the Carrier, and as he's falling his forms disperses into a 1000 butterflies. We see Jack burning because all of the cities are burning. And Apollo and Midnighter realize that all of this is the vision that Void had showed him. There's some subtle differences that maybe they were able to effect, but . . then they remember Void showing them that the baby universe had broken free of it's cage and that Jenny would be sacrificed trying to save the Earth. They go rushing off and we hear Jenny screaming. We also see Eidolon rising from the burning waters and coming to his own decision. "There's nothing left except the mad and the dead. So you'll just have to make an army out of them." And finally we see Kaizen Gamorra using his powers to save his city as the wave of destruction flows over the planet. "The world is dead. And Kaizen Gamorra will claim the body." I thought this was an interesting issue. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning answered a few of our questions that we've been wondering about since this whole thing went down. We still have more, but . . it's a start. However, the really impressive part of this issue was Brandon Badeaux' art. It was simply fantastic. Simon Coleby has been drawing this series, and . . he's been doing a pretty decent job. But this issue? This issue was leaps and bounds ahead. There were some pages, and panels, in this book that were simply incredible. I'm not sure if they can keep Brandon on board here, but if so . . it definitely wouldn't hurt the sales of this book. I'm warming up to this one. I wasn't sure at first if I liked the new direction, but . . it's growing on me. The characters have changed . . a bit, but they're really started coming into their own. I've always loved the characters in this series. And . . I'm starting to love them again.

Jonah Hex #43 - DC

First of all, I have to say that Paul Gulacy did a tremendous job on the art of this issue. I love Paul's work. But usually we see him in the 'cloak & dagger', 'spy' type stories. Or, he used to be on Batman for a long time. But I thought it was interesting to see him on this 'western'. It looked really good. This was one of the first issues I've seen in this series that didn't really have an ending that wrapped things up all neat and tidy. Basically, this local gang has taken, I assume, a wealthy man and his daughter hostage in a fancy hotel outside of town. The Sheriff doesn't know what to do because he know that if they pay the ransom, the gang will just end up killing them anyways. So . . he calls in Jonah. He's offered him $1000 each if he can get the man and his daughter out of there alive. Which he spends the first 14 pages of this issue doing so. However, these are bad men. So . . they fight back. In the process, they burn the hotel to the ground, and even though Hex does get both of them out . . the gang had beaten the man and he was already half-dead by the time that Jonah got to him. The daughter doesn't blame Jonah, however . . the bank does. They're the ones that pushed the Sheriff to get the issue resolved, and were putting up the money. So now . . they don't want to pay him. They say that by the time the money that's left pays off the lean on the Hotel . . there's nothing really left. Even for the daughter. In a twist, the daughter decides that she owes Jonah a debt and signs over the land in payment for that. The whole bank thing . . their concerns and motivations, had me a little confused. I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish here. I'm also not sure if she signed the land over to Jonah for the reasons she stated, or . . to spite the bank. A lot of the motivations here were a little confusing and blurred. And at the end of the story, when she questions Jonah about his intentions for the land, as he rides off he tells her . . "It's currency. With the railroads and towns popping up, it's getting so a person can't keep to themselves. Best thing to do is leave it clear and free." Don't get me wrong. I like this series. I think Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are doing a fantastic job here. And those first 14 pages, as Jonah silently works his way through the house trying to take out the gang members one by one . . those 14 pages were brilliant. The scene couldn't have played out better if it was in a movie. It was fantastic. It just seems that this one left us with more questions than answers. I'm not used to that with this book. But overall . . I thought it was a great issue. If you have any interest at all with the 'western' theme . . this is the book to pick up. You're gonna love it!

the Mighty #4 - DC

So far, I'm enjoying this series. I definitely think that it's an interesting twist on the whole 'super-hero' genre. Up to now it's been pretty up beat. Well, except for the couple of deaths, but . . those were inevitable, all just part of the story. Right? Well . . I'm starting to think that there's a dark side to all of this. We just haven't seen it yet. But I think it's right around the corner. We see this issue, as has been hinted in the past, that maybe Alpha One has a secret that he's trying to hide. He gets a little 'twitchy' after saving some people from a chemical fire at a refinery. Plus I think there's more to the relationship between him and Cole than we're necessarily seeing here. He seemed to warm up to Cole, his new boss, awful fast. I'm not sure yet, but . . there's just something 'off' there. It almost seems to be bordering on obsessive or 'stalker'-ish, even. But, I may be reading to much into it. We'll see what happens. Two things though confuse me a bit. First Cole's wife calls Alpha One, behind Cole's back, to talk to him. She's doing it out of concern for her husband. But Alpha One immediately assumes that she's hitting on him. "I understand. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot . . it's a tale as old as time. You feel conflicted." She quickly puts him in his place, "Wait a minute . . the job is dangerous and I worry about him. Save those smooth pick-up lines and make damn sure my husband doesn't end up like Michael Shaw." That was Cole's predecessor. But I'm not sure how Alpha One was left feeling about that whole exchange. Secondly, at the end of the book, it appears that Alpha One sets up a series of events. First he seems to blow the tires off a tanker truck causing a huge accident on the freeway. Then, in the melee, he saves a girl out of a burning car, and replaces her with another so it'll look like she died there. "Try not to squirm, citizen. I'd regret it if you were to fall to your end. You have a much grander destiny to fulfill." As he flies off, we see that cars are burning and people are on fire. What's that all about? I really like the way that Peter J Tomasi and Keith Champagne are handling this series. So far they seem to be keeping their secrets pretty close to the vest. But we're getting hints. Hints that everything may not be all 'peachy-keen' here. I've definitely been intrigued by this one. I'll be interested to see where it all goes.

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #6 - DC

This was a cute way to wrap up this mini-series. For the kids out there, Linda and Lena wrapped up their differences and become friends again. And the kids also get introduced to Mxyzptlk. Although he comes off more evil than mischievous in this story. I liked the book, but . . since it is aimed at kids, I'd have to say that this one would probably be more confusing than anything for them. We get a Supergirl from another dimension, and the whole thing with Mxyzptlk and the Fifth-Dimension, would probably be over their heads. It would probably be enjoyable to the kids . . I mean, they have Streaky and Comet, so . . but I'm not sure that they'd understand all of the dynamics between characters or their motivations. The depth of the story would be lost on them. However, they'd enjoy the slapstick and humor. I'm not saying that they wouldn't enjoy it, but . . I think that it probably comes across as a completely different book to us more seasoned readers. You know? But then again . . maybe I'm just reading to much into it. Although, it might also be because this is the final issue, Landry Walker had to get more into the book than he anticipated. I don't know. Overall I enjoyed the series. I'm sure the kids did to. Now we just have to wait and see what Johnny DC has in store for us . . er, I mean the kids, next.

the Warlord #2 - DC

First of all . . what an awesome Mike Grell cover. Right? I'm glad Mike's back to writing this series. The one that came out a couple of years ago was ok. The best part about it was Bart Sears art. But . . it just wasn't the same. They were trying to reinvent it. But . . it was perfect the first time. So . . there was no need. From the beginning of this series, it appears that they're ignoring those 10 issues. At least that's how it looks for now. But, in Skartaris anything is possible, so . . you never know if somewhere along the line they may decide to try to work it in. In this world . . never say never. This issue reintroduced us to a lot of Travis' rich past and stories. Just in case we'd forgotten . . or you're a new reader. We find out about Deimos . . the Warlord's primary nemesis. They think he might be behind the trouble in the Shadow Kingdom. But, he's dead. However . . he's been dead before. And it didn't stop him then. They also bring Tinder back. He's a Bard from the Queen's court. He seems to be brought back mostly to retell the stories, but . . I think this kid may have more in store for him. However, he does tell the story of how Travis met and fell in love with Tara. Also how he met his best friend Machiste. On their trek to the Shadow Kingdom, it's not long before they find some adventure when they come across a group of slave-raiders. They also see that Machiste is in one of their wagons. Travis and Tinder have a bit of an argument over the decision to save 1 over the many in the surrounding villages. But Travis compares it to the story when Deimos took his son Joshua and aged him to adulthood. He had to kill him in order to survive. So, he feels a debt to his friend and as he goes to free him, Tinder goes off to warn the settlers. Once free . . now they all follow Tinder. I think Joe Prado is doing an excellent job on the art in this series. Sure it would be nice to have Mike doing it, but . . I think Joe really gives this book a good feel. His stuff is similar to Mike's, in ways, but it's got a lot more detail. And obviously, since Mike's writing it, the story and frames flow the same. I'm really glad that this series is back, however . . in order to keep it coming we're really going to need to talk it up on the message boards. I love this series and I'd love for it to be here for the long run. But in order to do so . . we need to get other readers on board. The Warlord is back. Spread the word. And if possible, try to get others to give it a shot. They won't be disappointed.

Power Girl #1 - DC

Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner just got done doing a great run on the mini-series Terra. Now they've rejoined forces and have decided to tackle Power Girl. I wouldn't mind tackling Power Girl. Literally! Anyways, they jump right into reinventing PG this issue. On the very first page they skim over her origin very quickly. Which I'm actually glad they handled that way. "It's a classic tale of a distant and doomed planet named Krypton . . . . . this isn't that story. Not exactly." Rather than see the comparisons she has to Superman, and the Superman family, I'd much rather delve into the differences. PG is a great character all on her own. I like the connections she has to Superman, and the fact that, like our alternate Earth's, she's from an alternate Krypton. I'm not denying that there's a lot that could be done with that. However, in the past that's been done. Personally I'd much rather see the differences and why she's her own character and person. She's resumed her Karen Starr identity, and she's made progress in obtaining and reinvigorating Starrware Labs, her former company. Also, she's jumped right into a battle with a major villain . . the Ultra-Humanite. This issue he's sunk his hooks into Manhattan, literally, and by the end of the issue is holding the entire island hostage . . " . . in exchange for one simple thing. YOU! My brain in your body. A winning combo, don't you think?" Nice pick-up line. Is it any wonder why he doesn't have girls swooning all over him? Why doesn't he just go with the old standard . ."Do you have any albino gorilla in you? . . . Would you like some?" He'd probably have the same chances of getting her to agree. Anyways, for the first issue, I thought it was pretty good. They jumped right into things this issue, and kept everything pretty simple and straight-forward. I liked that. It left me wanting more. I think this'll be an interesting series. I wasn't thrilled with the cover they have pictured here, but the other isn't available for me to pick up anywhere yet. But, when I do, I'll be sure to post it here. It's much better than that one.

Strange Adventures #3 - DC

Well, it appears that when that whole thing went down with Synnar and the Weird at the end of the last series . . somehow their essence, their souls, got intertwined and mixed up. Synnar thought he was going to be resurrected as a being of pure energy . . ultimate power . . "One step closer to my challenging the supreme one!" But things don't always work out as planned. "My spirit obviously became intermingled with his. Chaos triumphed." So when Comet finds the Weird in his apartment, shortly after he's killed the Mortician and his henchmen, all of this is explained to him and Comet swiftly takes him out with a combination of fists and a psychic punch. Meanwhile, Adam Strange is looking into the missing stars, but comes across a cosmic entity that is obviously the Weird . . the eyes look the same. But I think the Weird is just as confused about his situation as Synnar. He doesn't seem to be acting rationally. However, back on New Rann, since Prince Gavyn is also questioning the missing stars, at least Sardath and Alanna are starting to believe Adam's stories now. He's gone to Hardcore Station to find Comet because he knows that he and the Weird are somehow connected. We also find out some more about Eye. It seems that she is also connected to Synnar. Maybe intimately. We don't know everything yet, but . . I have a feeling that it's all relevant. On the final page of the story Synarr comes to visit Comet again. This time in his own body. And he has a warning . . "If you do not aid your friend in his problem with the Weird, I can guarantee that your entire universe will be destroyed." I think he's talking about the Weird's voracious appetite. The star and planets that are disappearing? It appears that the Weird's new energy self is eating them. In the back-up story, Bizarro has also come to Hardcore Station. I'm really not sure how he's connected to this story, other than Synnar's statement that he is one of the Aberrant Six. And we still don't really know what that's all about. I think Jim Starlin is doing a fantastic job with these characters. He's been writing them, off and on now for a couple of years . . through a couple of different series. I like the way he's tying everything together in this little corner of the cosmos. These are the type of stories that Jim writes best. This time he's got Manuel Garcia doing the pencils, with Rafael Albuquerque on the back-up story. These are some DC characters that haven't really gotten the attention they deserve in quite a while. It's good to see them back in the spotlight again.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1 - DC

This one picks up immediately following Final Crisis. It's about Mike Miller, the Human Flame. He wakes up to find himself in a hospital, and he immediately realizes that he needs to get the hell out of Dodge because, Libra, the JLA, Lex Luthor . . and who know who else is looking for him. He stops at one of his old crime-buddy's house, to catch a breather and gather up his belongings. Also he needs some road money, and this guy owes him 5 grand. But of course, being the loser crooks and thieves that these guys are, they talk themselves into doing one more job and splitting the money. His buddy Joey wants to steal some drug money from the Kyrgyzstani mob. Not the brightest idea they ever came up with. Also, after killing the Manhunter, Mike's feeling a little full of himself. He doesn't really have any powers, per-se . . but, he does have some type of napalm suit or something. By the end of the issue, Mike ends up taking the money, but loses his pal Joey in the process. However, as he's leaving town somebody decides their going to make the most of Luthor's million dollar bounty on this guys head. Mike is wearing his suit so he decides to fight back with it. "Why did I ever stop using this suit? I'm invincible in this thing!" Then as he's caught up in the flames and the tank on his back explodes . . "Oh yeah, that's why I stopped using it. Son of a . . . ." This issue ends with he and the people after him engulfed in flames. This one is written by Matt Sturges with art by Freddie Williams II. It's an interesting book. I can probably guess what's going to happen to this guy, but . . I could also be totally off base. It's a 6 issue mini, so . . really anything could happen in that time. If nothing else, maybe we'll find out some more about Libra.

Solomon Grundy #3 - DC

This book is interesting, although . . a bit confusing. I thought I pretty much understood the Solomon Grundy character, but . . I'm not sure that I understand what this character is going through. I know that Alan Scott is trying to stop/help Solomon Grundy by trying to break the cycle. He's trying to break the cycle of violence, and he's trying to find out who originally killed Cyrus Gold. That's the man that was killed and dumped in the swamp and, whatever the essence is that is Solomon Grundy attached itself to. Alan has surmised if he can find his killer, and get Solomon/Cyrus to forgive him, than he may be able to move past this cycle. Personally, I think that's a pipe-dream. The process seems to be as ingrained in this beings life and essence as is breathing. It's just what he does . . what happens . . he's born, he dies, and he's reborn again. I don't really think he can control what happens or how. Plus he just can't seem to get past these murderous rages. However, some of that may be coming from the Cyrus character. It appears that he wasn't a very good person in his life. It looks like he murdered various members of his family and dumped their bodies in the swamp. So maybe, what happened to him is just retribution. And if so, it's probably not in his purview to change that. Meanwhile, this series . . 7 issues, for the 7 days of the week . . the 7 verses in the rhyme . . appear to be set up to show us the various stages and emotions that this character goes through. At the end of this issue he goes after Allen by attacking his home. Unfortunately, the only one there is Molly. I'm also wondering . . how is Etrigan attached to this character? We've seen him before with Solomon, and he shows up in one frame of this issue . . as if he's looking over him, watching him. Like I said, the book is interesting, but . . it definitely raises more questions than it answers. Really, the only reason I'm even buying it is because I'm a fan of Scott Kolins. He's writing and drawing this book. So I thought I'd give it a shot. Maybe it'll make more sense as we move along, but right now . . I'm a bit confused.

Battle for the Cowl: the Network #1 - DC

Anybody who loved the Birds of Prey book . . or just it's theme even . . will love this book. It is, afterall, really just a variation of that book. Or . . maybe just the next step in it's evolution. With all of the problems going on in Gotham right now, Batgirl had the idea of pooling their resources. It's not going to help the city if they're falling all over each other because no one know what the others are doing. So, since Babs already has a system in place, why not use it to coordinate the efforts and maximize the resources. Plus, then she can direct all of the various participants to the situations in which they'll be the most effective. Afterall, they all have the same goal, and progress needs to be made . . asap! Right now the people Oracle is keeping track of include . . Nightwing, Robin, Black Canary, Huntress, Batgirl, Manhunter, Knight & Squire, Wildcat, Misfit, Lady Blackhawk, Man-Bat, Spoiler, El Gaucho and Grace. Not a bad group of soldiers to be in charge of . . if you ask me. This issue is spent fighting a test that's put together by Hugo Strange. "Professor Hugo Strange will test this new Dark Knight . . . and prove the usurper does not merit the mantle of the Bat!" And he hooks up with a rolling casino to make some money on the side while he's doing it. Basically, he's got 3 hostages holed up around town. Each has a different story, and a reason why they should or should not live. But Hugo is only willing to let them save one. So the bets are . . which one will they save. Well, with all these operatives at her command, and Oracle's hacking skills, they end up saving all 3, and . . they shut down the casino operations in the process. Also along the way we learn a couple of things. First, there's something wrong with Misfit. She's trying to hide it from Babs, but . . others are starting to notice. Secondly, Huntress is willing to kill one of the hostages in order to save the other 2. Batgirl and Babs both put a stop to her. But the temptation is there. "With Batman gone, this is our new reality. The Gotham underground is going to get more vicious . . more desperate. We're going to want to take the easy way out whenever possible . . but we can't. I understand why you acted the way you did, Huntress, but it was the easy way out. With or without a Batman, making the hard choices is what we do." And, Oracle has stirred up the ire of Hugo Strange. "Know that on this night you have made an enemy of Hugo Strange. I will find out who your are, where you work and how you operate. And I will systematically destroy you." Babs dismisses it as so much rambling, but . . I think this one may come back to bite her in the ass. I thought it was a great book. But . . I was always a big fan of the Birds of Prey series. And really, this one could've fit right in with that title. It'll be interesting to see if this group . . or idea, has a future. I really hope so. It was deftly written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Don Kramer & J Calafiore. Also that's a pretty cool cover by Ladroon. This Battle for the Cowl is only a 3 issue mini-series, but so far I've gotten 13 books out of all of this. Does that add up right?

Superman: World of New Krypton #3 - DC

I like the way that James Robinson is taking on this story. He seems to be going more towards the 'human nature' of things, rather than focusing on the 'powers'. It would be easy to just write this book as a whole community of 'supermen'. But James seems to be focusing more on the changes and adjustments that these people are having to make, now that they have a world of their own. Remember, they've been locked up in a bottle for a long time. Last issue we find out that the Labor Guild has taken Alura hostage. Commander Gor is ready to take out a group of the Guild that he's gathered, in order to stop the situation with Alura. But Kal has another idea. He just has to get Zod to let him try it. "The Labor Guild isn't simply threatening your aunt, they're threatening the Head of State. If this uprising isn't shut down now, we're looking at the start of a civil war, and I cannot permit that! Deterrence is the best option. If that means Commander Gor spills some Labor Guild blood, so be it." He uses one of Zod's guns and then goes in to talk to the Guild members unarmed and unpowered. It turns out the Guild just wants to be heard. " . . damn yellow sun, it's ruined everything. Since we no longer need to eat, since we no longer sleep, all we're permitted to do is work! Science Guild has had the same labor crews servicing the atmospheric regulators for weeks, no rest! Most of us can't remember when we last saw our families, we want our time back. Second, Some of us are coming down sick. No one knows why. We want the Science Guild to do their duty by us. And third . . we want a Labor Guild seat on the council once it's reformed." And another mystery is opened because we'll have to find out what's making some of the New Kryptonians sick. Kal does end up talking them down, and they turn themselves in, but Gor still tries to shoot their leader, Tam-Or. Luckily, Kal warned Kara to keep an eye out for just such a turn of events. Having been embarrassed in front of his commanding officer, Zod, Gor decides to take out some of his frustration on Kal. But before things can get to heated, Hal and some other Green Lanterns interrupt. "I'd say he's had enough, Kal. More than enough. And anyway . . it's time we talked." I'm starting to see why this is going to take 15 issues to tell this story. There's an awful lot of stuff to explore . . ideas, motivations, politics, etc. . . and there's a lot of adjustments that need to be made, by everyone, to keep this world on it's right path. Pete Woods does a great job with the interior art and Gary Frank turns in a fantastic cover. I'm starting to get into this story, and I'm interested to see how it all plays out.

the Flash Rebirth #2 - DC

I'm really liking the way that Geoff Johns is handling this story. Barry is just as puzzled about his return as everyone else. In fact, I think . . if it was up to him, he may not have. "I was never a saint. I was just a guy chasing justice. Flash fact, Iris: I don't need to be here." That sounded a little despondent. As with a lot of the 'origin' books of late at DC, we get even more of Barry's story out of this one. We find out about his life in the Police Dept. before becoming the Flash. And . . we find out a little about Barry's parents. Somehow Barry's mom was murdered, and Barry's father went to prison for the crime. Although Barry never gave up hope that he could prove his father innocent. I think that everything that's happening to Barry now, is somehow connected to that part of his life and it's memories. His father ended up dying in prison before he could prove his innocence. I don't ever remember ever reading about that part of the Flash story before. I think it's an interesting development. Barry finds out from Wally this issue, at about the same time as Savitar went to dust in his hands . . he was trying to follow Barry's footsteps and use his example to also escape from the Speed Force . . everyone with a connection to the Force had a kind of seizure at the same time. Barry also shows Wally the remains of another speedster . . pieces of his suit, and his body dissolved to ash . . in a field outside of the town he was born in, Fallville. Wally explains to him that it's the Black Flash. Kind of like the Black Racer for the New Gods. "He showed up any time a speedster was about to die and join the Speed Force." That's when Christina Alexandrova . . high priestess to the speed-lord Savitar . . Christina shows up to make Barry suffer for hurting the man she worshipped. And she may be able to do it. She says she has the speed of hundreds of his followers in her. However, when Barry tries to stop her . . and touches her . . she also turns to dust. Wally . . wide eyed, is staring at him . . "You . . . Barry . . " . . Barry's standing there in the middle of the Speed Force, with it crackling all around him, and his costume has turned black . . "Barry . . you're the new Black Flash!" So is this why he returned? And what does it mean for his future, and those around him? I knew it couldn't be as simple as him just popping out of the Speed Force one day. And what does all of this have to do with the Legion? Remember in Justice League where they came back on some kind of secret mission that had to do with the 'lightning'? They ended up bringing Wally and his family back, but . . I think they were after someone else. How are they connected, and . . how did they know? That's another thing that I absolutely love about Geoff's stories. First on my list is his handling of characters. His character development and interactions are phenomenal. They're consistently spot on. But secondly, all these stories that he's done though the Justice League and Action comics . . they all end up being connected. You know how when you reach a point in your life where you realize that you're where you're at because of the sequence of events that led to this exact moment? That's how I feel after I read one of Geoff's stories. A lot of questions are answered, and I see a lot of the connections, but . . at the same time, more questions are raised. And this series, I have a feeling, is going to be questioning everything. Top all of this off with a good helping of Ethan Van Sciver's pencils, and I think we have an instant classic in our hands. We're only on issue #2. You can still probably get it at a reasonable price.

Trinity #49 - DC

I don't know how there can be an issue #50, when it looks like everything ends in issue #49. Last issue we saw that the Trinity had reverse engineered Le Fey's spell, and turned it on Krona. The problem is, between Le Fey and Despero . . these 2 have seen what the extent of this power is, and they're pretty much willing to do anything to get a grasp on it again. Their minions are pretty much dispersed to the winds. Well, they're still around, but they've all switched sides. Le Fey had them all temporarily under her control, but . . they decided on their own that their servitude wasn't worth the ultimate results of her plans. I think at first they just thought her a world conqueror, just like any other madman/woman. They didn't realize that she was willing to destroy it if that's what it took. Maybe the spell they're using to hold Krona was only tenuous. But eventually Le Fey exerts enough power to break it. And when she does, Krona is pissed. "I am free! And I act! And I will have this world's spirit . . I will have what I came for . . even if I must . . rip it out with my own hands!" This guy takes the pursuit of knowledge to a whole new level. He has literally begun ripping the world apart. We see the various heroes around the world doing what they can to hang on, but . . it's all fruitless. How do you fight a god whom is destroying your home? Hopefully we'll find out next issue, because as this issue ends . . the world and it's inhabitants, not to mention all of it's feckless trinkets, are floating away like so much space fodder. It appears to be the end of the world as we know it . . literally. Another fantastic issue by Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Fabian Nicieza and Mike Norton. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the finish.