Green Arrow #2 - DC

It seems like this lady who's taken over Queen Industries, really has a hard on for Ollie. Or as she calls him, 'the bastard son'. Ollie's set up camp in the forest. I'm not sure where, but it looks like it's in the subway or sewers that were left behind when all the buildings, and people were destroyed. He's found a tree . . obviously from the cover, with a White Lantern symbol on it. He doesn't know what it means, but he assumes that's where the power came from to turn this desolation into a forest over night. It's also probably what's putting a stop to anything electrical or technologically based within it's borders. Including Hal's ring, when he comes to visit. But the men, the private security, that Queen industries keeps sending in to kill Ollie have adapted. But Ollie's got a couple of advantages on his side. First he's used to working, and living, in this type of surrounding. Secondly, there's something about the forest that turns a person around when they're trying to navigate through it. And finally . . Hal's come to visit. His ring isn't working, but . . he's still a pretty good hand-to-hand combatant. And when the first wave's back-up arrives, Ollie slingshots him out of the forest so that he can help out from above. But eventually Ollie's going to have to face this woman who's taken over his father's company. Although if you ask me she seems more infatuated with Robert Queen than necessarily his company. Anyways, it's going to be hard for him to talk to anyone, because . . at the end of the book someone appears to have used Ollie's tricks against him. The issue ends with the secretive assailant planting an arrow straight in the center of Ollie's forehead. Kind of like he did to Prometheus. I'm wondering if the forest, or whatever power is behind it, will come to his aid. We see a guy on the second page, whom also seems to have made the forest his home. I'm guessing it's him, but . . we don't know anything about him. Yet. Anyways, I thought it was a good issue. It gave us a little more of the semantics of what's going on here. And I think JT Krul and Vicente Cifuentes are doing a great job creatively. Of course I have to praise Mauro Cascioli beautiful covers. They're a work of art.

Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne #4 - DC

I really hate to complain about a Batman book, but . . I didn't really like this one. That, or I just didn't get it. I'm not sure what it was. It might have been the way the story was set up, or . . it might have been the dialogue. But there was just something about it that just seemed . . 'off'. Basically, Batman has ended up in the Wild West. Or, well . . the wild west of Gotham. Also Vandal Savage is here. I think he's starting to recognize this 'bat-themed' character as someone he's faced before . . in the past. Anyways, Bruce doesn't really talk to any one, and he seems to be after a specific family. A family that's been tasked with keeping the secret of the 'bat-people'. They have some kind of secret box, that can only be opened with a special code. Any other attempt to open it with completely destroy the contents of whatever is inside of it. When Batman comes to this family's home, they immediately recognize him for who he is, so . . they get the box. They open it, and Batman sees what's inside, but we don't know what it is . . yet. There's also a doctor that's helping Vandal try to torture the information out of this family . . a Dr Thomas. Although at one point it seems that he's an Indian. So I'm not sure what that's all about. At first I thought it was one of the Waynes from the past, but . . I don't think it was connected to that. Although we do see the Waynes beginning to build the manor. And he talks about the special garden that he's going to build because of the 'bat-people', and the box that reminded him of a casket. I think he's calling it a 'death-garden'. But again, if he wasn't the guy with Vandal then how did he see the box? I don't know, there's just a couple of things that happened during this issue that aren't really explained very well. Anyways, at the end of this issue Batman is shot by Jonah Hex, but then he disappears. That's when he's transported farther into the future . . our past. He ends up wandering the streets of Gotham in what looks like the 50's or 60's. He's wounded and very disoriented. Anyways, overall I liked the book. As I do with any Batman book. But . . I just wasn't all that thrilled with it. It just seems like this stop along Bruce's bus-tour of the DC Universe could've been a little more impactful. But then again . . maybe it was. We just don't know it yet. Since we don't know what was actually in the box. As usual, this book is brought to us by Grant Morrison. Georges Jeanty and Walden Wong do the art for this issue. There's only 2 issues left, so . . I would imagine that the story will move along pretty rapidly in those issues. And then we'll have the return of the king. 'The King is dead. Long live the King.'

Birds of Prey #3 - DC

Well . . we get a little further in our story this issue. We find out that Savant and Creote aren't really dead. They seem to be the ones behind all the information that's being threatened to be turned over to the news media. You know, all the files that basically dump any and all information on a whole host of heroes? Somehow they're tied in with this White Canary, but . . we don't really know how yet. Also, as far as the White Canary goes . . we don't know who she is either . . yet. However, we do know that she's not Cassandra or Shiva. As she's fighting her, near the end of the book, Black Canary seems to have a revelation about who she is, but . . she's not telling. I'm guessing, but . . I think it's Sin. Something has been done to her . . experiments . . surgery, I'm not sure what . . but that's my guess. There's also that whole murder charge that's hanging over Diana's head. Remember at the end of the last issue when the White Canary attacked Oswald? Well they're back at his lounge in the beginning of this issue, and he's having a fever dream about his guardian angels. It's hilarious. Dove asks, 'Is Mr Cobblepot all right?', to which Diana replies, 'Well, he was never 'all right', but . . I'd say he's happier in his dreams than his reality right now. Let him dream. Unless he starts fondling the furniture.' Anyways, Gail Simone writes a brilliant book. It's seems that the focus of this first story-arc is to show us that the team can't operate as it has before. Oracle is going to have to amp up her security, and her paranoia. It's a different world now . . from the one they previously operated in. Hell, they might even have Penguin as a team-member. Who knows how that situation is going to turn out? And I'm really enjoying Ed Benes art. My only concern is . . how long will he be on this series? The next story-arc, which begins with issue #5, they have Alvin Lee listed as the artist. I don't know his stuff, so I can't complain. But . . I will miss Ed. And the cover is by Cliff Chiang. I really like these characters, and I'm glad the series is back. No matter who does the art.

Time Masters - Vanishing Point #1 - DC

Since I've been following Booster Gold since the beginning . . and Dan Jurgens started off on the writing and art of that book . . as well as this . . this one, to me, seemed like an obvious extension of the Booster Gold story-line. Basically, Rip and Booster have gone off in search of Batman. Rip knows that Superman and Hal Jordan will attempt the same thing, so . . he gets them involved so that they don't upset the time-stream in their fumbling efforts. But it's an uneasy alliance. Rip and Booster already know that some things can't be changed. No matter how much you don't like the events. And even with all their might and power, some things are just meant to be. Booster learned that the hard way when he tried to help out Barbara Gordon. But it's just not in Clark or Hal's nature to sit by idly, watching an obvious injustice, and not try to do something to help. Anyways, they're going back into the past to look for Bruce. Supernova is trying to get to Vanishing Point, but he's discovered that it's been destroyed. Everyone is assuming that Supernova is Daniel Carter, but . . I'm not so sure. Per Degaton and Despero don't know that Vanishing Point is gone yet, but they do know that they're having some trouble navigating the time-stream. Michael's sister Michelle is also involved in all of this. And on the final page, when Rip tries to send everybody back, he finds that he's be shunted to a different era. The book ends with him coming face to face with Claw, the unconquered. Like I said, to me, this seems like just another issue of Booster Gold. But . . there's the whole tie-in with Bruce's return in October. So that's the draw. But I think the purpose of this series is more to define the players and teams in this whole time-travel business. We even get some time with Rip when he was a kid. Time he's spending with his father . . Michael. I'm sure this story-line will play a part in Batman's return, but . . I think it's really just an excuse for this series to happen. As usual, a tremendous job by Dan Jurgens. I don't think Dan gets enough credit for everything that he's done for the DC Universe. And it's been quite a lot. I don't have time to list it all here . . look it up sometime. Suffice it to say, he's been an invaluable asset. This should be an exciting series as well.

Wolverine #88 - Marvel

Again . . unfortunately, I didn't really like this book. First of all . . I think this whole Franken-Castle thing is a bit insane. I mean . . I can understand why Daken killed Frank . . I guess. But to think that someone went to the trouble of putting him back together? That part kind of stumps me. Anyways, for whatever reason . . they did. And now he's carrying on his mission looking like a reject from a Bela Lugosi movie. Or maybe a Terminator movie. And now, for some reason, he thinks he can hunt down and take on Daken. The guy who killed him and chopped him up. I don't see it happening. Daken and Frank duke it out for most of the issue, until their fight puts them in the way of a mother and child. Then we see a little bit of the old Frank shining through for a second. That's when he uses the distraction to disappear into the subway tunnels and lose Daken. Although I'm sure if he tried Daken could find him . . from his scent alone. The other problem I have with this one is that, obviously, I don't follow any of the Punisher books, so . . I won't be picking up parts 2 and 4 of this story-line. And . . I don't really care. But I do want to get the last few issues of this series. Anyways, this story is by Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu, with art by Stephen Segovia and Paco Diaz. The did look pretty good. I just didn't get into the story all that much. Oh yeah, and the beautiful cover is by Simone Bianchi.

the Amazing Spider-man #638 - Marvel

This series really is a roller-coaster for me. I ended up loving the last story-arc, but . . this one doesn't seem to be starting out to well for me. I think my biggest complaint was that this issue really boiled down to the 8 new pages of story and art by Joe Quesada, Danny Miki and Richard Isanove. The rest of the issue reprinted the story from Amazing Spider-man Annual #21 . . from 1987. I understand that it was trying to drive the point home of what this story was about, but . . I just didn't like it. I didn't really like the way the whole thing was set up. Supposedly . . although I don't remember it . . it must of happened so fast that we didn't see it, but . . supposedly when Mephisto was doing the whole whammy thing on Peter and MJ, Mj whispered something in his ear. This issue we find out what that was. Before Mephisto changed everything, MJ told him . .'You're going to put his life back just as it was. You're going to give him a chance at happiness. Because of what I can offer you. I know Peter. He will never make this deal with you. Never, ever . . unless . . I ask him to. But if I do, this is the end of it . . you will leave him alone for the rest of his days.' So . . the problem I have with all this is that it's never really been explained . . at least to my satisfaction, just how much Peter or MJ remember of their whole 'history'. Now, at least to me, it seems that Peter's memory of their relationship went back to before they got married. While MJ seems to remember more than she's letting on. But it's hard to tell because not much can be explained in 8 pages. And while I appreciate the way the Annual integrated into the story, compared to the stories of today . . the one from 1987 seemed kind of cheesy. To me . . the best part of the whole issue was Paolo Rivera's cover. The rest of it . . I could take or leave. Hopefully the story in the next issue will be a little better and explain a little more. We'll see.

X-Factor #207 - Marvel

All of X-Factor is back together again, and . . they're all in New York City. There's some repercussions from the Second Coming story-line that they still have to deal with . . like Baron Mordo's deal with Monet. She promised him that if he helped them all get back home that he would let him use whatever part of her powers he needed to get himself back to health. He's dying of cancer. Well, Monet is a person of her word, but . . she also knows that Mordo is a very evil person. So she creates the illusion, in his mind, that she's done exactly what she said she would. In his mind's eye, he is better and looks 10 years younger. But, like I said, it's all just an illusion. Monet is hoping that by the time it wears off, or he figures out what's going on, the disease will ravage his body and he'll just pass away. But you just know that this is going to come back to bite them in the butt sooner or later. Anyways, during all of this, the team is hired by a very handsome seductress to go after a man. She's got a Hammer of Thor necklace, but . . it's a fake. She wants X-Factor to retrieve the original from the man who stole it. However when they do get it, they find out that this guy is actually just an imp, and the necklace appears to have been masquerading his appearance. He's quite upset and he talks about the woman being a Goddess. I'm guessing Loki, but . . I might be wrong. Anyways, Rictor and Shatterstar also make some headway sorting out their relationship. But . . just as things start to get normal . . well, more normal than before . . Rahne shows up. And it appears that she's pregnant. This was another great issue by Peter David. But . .he knows these characters better than anybody, and it definitely shows. Sebastian Fiumara does the art, and . . it looks fantastic. Now that Second Coming is over, this team can get back to some of their own story-lines. And Peter can do what he does best . . pull this group across the nails and through the glass and kicking and screaming into their own future. That is what he's doing. Right?

Ultimate Avengers 2 #5 - Marvel

I can't believe that this mini-series only has 1 issue left. This one just flew by. The team is bracing at the White House for the attack by Johnny Blaze. They all think that he's a mutant. They don't have any conception that he's actually a hell-spawn. Anyways, they're trying to protect the Vice-President, whom, unbeknownst to them, is the last surviving member of the group that killed Johnny as an offering to the Devil. However, now the devil has come to collect his due. He offers to give the VP some power to fight Johnny, but . . in order to do so, he also wants his soul. He agrees and now there's 2 Ghost Rider type characters out there fighting on the streets of Washington. The Avengers try to get in there and shake it up a bit with them, but . . these guys are in a whole different league. Even Thor, Cash, appears to be no match for them. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out next issue, because right now it looks as if all the Avengers can do is stand back and watch these 2 go at it . . hoping that they, or any innocent bystanders, don't get caught in the cross-fire. Johnny's got 20 years of rage built up towards Blackthorne. I don't think he's going to slow down any until all of that is spent. As usual Mark Millar turns in a great story. I love the way he's put this Avengers team together as a black-ops unit. Of course, it's the Ultimate Universe, so . . he can pretty much do whatever he wants. How liberating must that be? Anyways, great story, and great art by Leinil Francis Yu. I can't wait to read the next issue. It should be a doozy.

New Mutants #15 - Marvel

I really liked this issue because the team is all back together. And . . unlike the issues of Second Coming, this issue focus' on this books characters. Instead of the entire spectrum of the X-Men. These characters are who I buy this book for . . it's who I want to see. Unfortunately, I don't know how long all of this is going to last. When the New Mutants went to limbo to find Illyana, the US Government, with some nudging from Bastion, I'm sure . . they sent a team of soldiers in after the mutants. They included General Ulysses and Doctor Noc. The problem is . . things in Limbo don't work the same as they do here. Including the passage of time. So, not only were these soldiers changed . . we don't know if they were given powers, or if they just picked up some magical influence along the way, but . . they were gone from Earth for 2 years, but to them they were in there for 20 years fighting and trying to survive. And the General especially seems to have a very big chip on his shoulder when it comes to Illyana. So, while the New Mutants are trying to recover from all the things that have happened to them over the previous few months, General Ulysses is forming a plan to get Illyana into his custody. Sam takes everyone away for a weekend get-away. They need to talk, and relax, and just be together. But we also see the General taking action. We think he's coming after Illyana, but really . . he's gone straight after Pixie. I guess he thought he's pick off the one that's by herself. But Illyana can tell that somethings wrong. She just doesn't know what it is . . yet. The issue ends with the General and his team capturing Pixie. He's got Pixie's blade. 'You're right . . it's not the soul sword. But . . it will do.' Like I said, it's good to see the whole team all back together, but . . I don't think they're going to be coming out of this one the same way they go in to it. I have a feeling that this is going to change the team irrevocably. Zeb Wells does a great job with the story on this one. I know they're bad guys, but . . I really like this group, Delta Black. They're some very interesting characters. Plus, really . . they're just reacting to everything that they experienced in Limbo . . for 20 years. Leonard Kirk does a great job with the art. And the amazing cover is by Dave Wilkins. I can't wait to see what happens next.

the Avengers #3 - Marvel

Well . . we're off on the path with a new Avengers book here, and . . wouldn't you know it, the first story-arc has to do with Kang and some threats to the time-stream. If you've read my blog, you know how these things annoy me. But . . we'll rummage through it. Hopefully things don't get to out of whack. At the end of the last issue Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen show up right outside of Avengers Tower. The question is . . where did they come from. Logan assumes that they're from the future because, obviously, he was one of Apocalypse's Horsemen at one time, so . . this must be a new incarnation . . or, from the future. But they don't get to ask him very many questions because it's all just a slug-fest after that. The only good thing that happens is Tony, Iron Man, stalls Apocalypse long enough that he does and entire scan of him and his armor. From it, and the molecules and particles on him . . 'It's a map of everywhere he's been and where he started from. This will help us pinpoint the exact place we need to go to in the time-stream.' Tony and Noh-Var build the time machine, and either it's already working, or . . there's more trouble in New York City than they anticipated. When they come out of one of Nick's secret bases, they find the streets deserted. That is except for a guy, his sword, and his dinosaur. I guessing that they already went into the future without realizing it. So far I think this book has had a pretty good pace. I'm just not to hip on these time-travel stories. I'm glad that they've kept some of these other members around on the team. Especially Spider-man and Wolverine. I think those two, especially, help to keep things a little more light-hearted and upbeat. No matter what they're going through. Brian Bendis is doing a good job with the stories. And John Romita Jr, as usual, is turning is some great art. Personally, I'd like to get past this story-arc, and move on to the next one. But . . it is what it is. If nothing else, you can't say it's dull. They've jumped right back in to the thick of things.

Ultimate Comics - New Ultimates #3 - Marvel

This issue gives us a lot of the background on Barbara Morris . . Valkrie. If that's even her real name. She was wandering around kind of aimlessly in life until one day she came across an ad on the internet for the Defenders. They were looking for new team-mates. They were a super-team in the traditional sense, as they had no powers. Little did they know that this little girl from . . well, somewhere . . would change all that. Somehow, in her longing to have real powers, she garners the attention of Loki. Although, she doesn't knot that's who it is. Anyways, he turns her into a real Valkrie and Thor falls in love with her. But then Thor got banished to Death's realm . . from which he's been trying to get out ever since, and Valkrie has once again been kind of aimless. Mostly because she doesn't feel that the rest of the team respects, or trusts her. And . . she's probably right. They just didn't say anything when Thor was around. Anyways, so now Loki is trying to make a bid to take over New York City, and he and Amora have got Valkrie, Zarda and Carol Danvers under his spell. Although Carol's faking it, which is what helps to turn the tide. All through this book you know that Valkrie is under his spell, but the way she's talking and thinking . . it just seems that she's kind of given up hope, and also doesn't trust her team-mates. It isn't until Hawkeye shoots Amora, loosening her grip, that Valkrie realizes how far off the path she's gotten. She comes after Loki, but he uses her own sword to impale her. However, just as that happens . . Thor shows up. Having witnessed what Loki has done to Valkrie . . he is seriously pissed. Jeph Loeb does a great job with the interaction and dialogue of these characters. I liked the way he had Valkrie thinking about all of this throughout the story, and using her emotions to justify everything that she's doing. Like I said, without realizing how far off the path she had gotten. I thought it was a great issue, and, as always, I loved Frank Cho's art. I can't wait to see how the dynamic changes here, now that Thor is back. And . . what he's going to do to Loki. This is a great book. I love every issue of it.

Green Hornet #6 - Dynamite Entertainment

Last issue Britt Ried learned the secret of his father . . the original Green Hornet. And out of necessity donned his father's costume to help out Mulan, the new Kato . . the original Kato's daughter. However, while he may have some athletic skills and training, he's never used them for this type of endeavor . . and is sadly lacking when it comes to strategy and planning. But . . that's why Kato, the original, has stuck around . . to train him. Well, that and Britt Reid Sr charged him with his son's protection . . should something happen to him, which . . it did. There's also another Kato in the mix . . Clutch Kato. He's kind of the tech, mechanic, 'M' kind of character. Anyways, most of this issue shows us the progression of Britt into his father's shoes, and the working relationship between him and Mulan. We also see that as well as apologizing, and showing respect for his father . . he's also in this for revenge. He wants the Black Hornet to pay for killing his father. Bad! I like the way that Kevin Smith has progressed this story so far. It's been kind of slow, but . . I think it does effectively show the young Britt's transition. I'm trying to follow some of the other mini-series related to this . . or this character, but . . this is definitely the most exciting. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with the rest, but . . I'll probably be with this one for awhile. I also think Jonathan Lau's pencils get better and better with every issue. I think this particular series has a bright future.

Welcome to Tranquility - One Foot in the Grave #1 - WildStorm

First off, I'd like to say that I miss Neil Googe's art on this series. I thought he did a great job, and really . . he was just hitting his stride when this series ended. The art in this series is by Horacio Domingues, and . . it's ok. I think he tries to keep it looking close to Neil's stuff. The look kind of has the same feel, but . . it's just not the same. Neil does however does do the cover, with Ethan Van Sciver doing the variant. Also, Gail Simone is back for this mini-series, so . . it really does have the same feel. I'm guessing though that this takes place before the apocalyptic events that rocked the WildStorm Universe. If not . . they don't mention anything about it this issue, but . . we'll see what happens as it progresses. Anyways, the main focus of this story is about Mayor Fury getting out of jail. Apparently he's been exonerated of his attempted murder charges of reporter Collette Pearson. One of the differences in this series seems to be the perspective of the story. A lot of the first series was told from Thomasina Lindo point of view . . and Tommy's. They're the law in Tranquility, but . . how much authority do you really have when you're policing over a bunch of ex-supers. I mean . . they can pretty much do whatever they want. All you can really do is try to keep the peace. Anyways, when they're driving him home from the courthouse, their truck is attacked and it looks like the Mayor is the only one to leave it before it explodes. The guy who attacks it helps him escape, but . . we don't know who that is, just yet. I may be wrong but it looks like Thomasina and Tommy have perished in the fire. Also at the end of the last series, Mr Articulate had been killed. Or so everyone was lead to believe. I can't remember if anybody actually ever saw the body. Anyways, the Pink Bunny, Fury's wife, is planning a surprise party for him. But before he can arrive . . because of the previous mentioned difficulties on the road . . Mr Articulate shows up at the door. I think this will be an interesting series. I enjoyed the first run of this book. And this one, so far, seems to have pretty much the same feel to it. I'm also interested to see how all of this fits in with the current state of affairs of the WildStorm Universe.

Hellblazer #269 - DC

We don't get a whole lot of answers this issue, but . . we do get to see a whole lot of interaction between Constantine and Shade. It all starts out with a kiss. But I don't think it's meant to be romantic. I think Shade kisses John so that he can taste what it is that's inside of him . . the magic that appears to be making him go crazy. And I know that doesn't make it sound any better, but . . I guess it's just the way Shade's magic works. Anyways, from what we see this issue . . I think it all comes down to love and loss. I think John is being attacked because there's someone else that's in love with Epiphany. Specifically, I think it's Carew. I think . . and this is just my opinion . . I think that Carew is attacking John, not necessarily because of the way John feels about Epiphany, but because of the way Epiphany feels about John. I think he's trying to diminish John in her eyes. I think that's why his first act . . the part that's really got him upset, and apparently when he blacked out, is when he attacked Epiphany. He really doesn't remember it, but . . he seems to remember the emotions, and after-effects. And I think that all this other stuff that's happening to him is to stop him from putting all the pieces together. But, like I said, that's just my take on the story. The other reason I'm thinking this is because after John and Shade kiss, there seems to be a tension between them, for this entire issue, because of a girl that John kissed in thier past that Shade fancied. I think that was an issue far enough in the past that it wouldn't even be recognized if it weren't for all the emotions bubbling just below the surface . . the emotions that Carew's spell seems to be bringing out. I think Shade got a taste of that and doesn't realize how it's actually affecting him. Anyways, the issue ends with John and Shade finally making it to Epiphany's apartment, and finding out that it may already be to late. Peter Milligan writes a great story, and seems especially adept with this character. There's a lot of emotions written in to this one. I can't wait to see how it all sorts itself out. Once again, Giuseppe Camuncoli did a good job with the art. And we get another beautiful cover by Simon Bisley.

the Spirit #4 - DC

This is another book that I'm not overly thrilled with, but . . I did think it was interesting that David Hine wrote the story for this issue. And, again . . don't get me wrong. Overall, I think this is a good character, and a good series. I guess it's just not my cup of tea. This time it's all about drugs. There's a new drug in town, Frost, and it seems to be sweeping the neighborhoods. The problem is, there are a lot of people OD'ing on this stuff. It's hard to run a business if your clientele keeps disappearing. But there are a few interesting twists in this issue. First of all, we see first hand just how far Dolan's influence goes in this town. In this series, it appears that Dolan, as well as most of the PD are on the take. And while he has considerable influence, because of his relationship with the gangs, when he sends a message to Octopus, it still has to go through a couple of different channels before it gets to him. So, no matter what he thinks, he's not the almighty . . yet. Also, near the end, the girls decide that they're going to try to help the Spirit keep their neighborhood clean. But the youngest ones do it from a distance. Ebony gets up close and personal. Which really pisses off one of the bosses . . Kass. The issue ends with him giving Ebony a syringe of pure Frost. It appears that she's going to OD, and die in the streets. I have to admit, I enjoyed David influence on this book a little more than I thought I would. I think he wrote a pretty compelling story here. Moritat also rose to the occasion and turned in some terrific art. I'd have to say, this is probably the best issue so far. I also enjoyed the Black & White story in the back by Marv Wolfman and Phil Windslade. Although, not as much as the main story. If the book keeps going in this direction, it would definitely be a plus.

Zatanna #3 - DC

While I enjoyed this book . . I was kind of disappointed by the whole premise. I like Zatanna as a character. My only problem is . . there's nothing, really, that she can't do, if she just says it backwards. And basically, she can work as fast as her mind and mouth will let her. And her only weakness is her voice. If it gives out, then she's powerless. But to me . . that does raise a question. What if she were to record her voice? What if she were to digitally record certain spells that she might need in dire situations? Stuff like '!eciov ym nruteR'. Or, '!em tcetorP'. By the way, that's harder to do than it looks. Anyways, I'm just wondering if her voice, or her spells would work that way. But then the question comes it, what if she did that and somebody else got ahold of it? Or worse . . put it on the internet for everybody to download? Now that, I think, would make for an interesting story-line. Anyways, Zatanna has been bothered by Brother Night lately. But once they come face to face, it's just a matter of throwing a few spells back and forth until Zatanna gets the upper-hand. But Brother Night doesn't make it any to easy, because . . he's got Zatanna's dad, Zatarra, under his spell. But luckily . . Zatanna still has Fuseli trapped in her hat. Zatarra is in kind of a ghostly dream-state, so Fuseli just has to get in there and gradually bring him out. Once that's done, Zatanna beats him quite easily and turns him back to normal, Eldon Peck. Once she does that, all she has to do is turn him over to the police to pay for his crimes. And, I guess, that's the part that I didn't really care for. There was a ton of build-up and anticipation, but then in the end . . all it took was a few spells. Eldon's powerless, back to normal and in jail. But she also forced him to renounce his powers and his masters, so . . they aren't going to be taking very kindly to the betrayal. I have a feeling he'll suffer a lot more from them than in any jail. The one question we have now though is . . what's the fate of Zatarra? He seems . . relieved. It appears that he's no longer a denizen of Hell. But what is his final destination? I'm sure we'll see more about that in the future. Don't get me wrong . . I enjoyed the book. I just didn't care for the resolution that Paul Dini wrote for the ending. Stephane Roux does the art, as well as the cover. With Brian Bolland doing the variant.

Azrael #10 - DC

I love Fabian Nicieza's work, but . . I'm equally as thrilled to see that David Hine is writing this next story-arc. I'm not sure if he'll be taking over the creative reigns of this book, but . . he'll at least be here for this part of it. Also Guillem March is doing the pencils. Anyways, we start out this chapter by finding out that the Order of Purity is under attack again. Michael thinks that it might still be La Saligia, but Father Day know that the person responsible is a guy who seems very similar to Michael Lane's Azrael. But he's called the Crusader. It appears that Father Day, as well as 4 other people in the Order, are privy to a secret. The Crusader goes after Jean-Claude Dupuy first. But he obviously doesn't give up the secret because he then goes after Carolyne Vega. And then he goes to see Reverend Morrisey. He's traversing the globe in this endeavor . . first Paris, then California, then London. Besides Father Day, the last of the five is in Somalia . . his name is Khalid. Anyways, the secret is a name. I'm not sure what the relevance, or importance is, but . . the Crusader seems intent on moving Heaven and Earth to get it. And apparently it's important enough the these five are willing to die to protect it. But . . it's only the first chapter. So this issue is really just stacking up the players and the settings. From this issue, this looks to be a very interesting story. And hopefully we'll get the story behind this Crusader fella also. I've liked this book so far. And with David doing the scripts . . we could get a whole different feel for this character. I'm excited to see what's going to happen. By the way, once again . . the beautiful cover is by Francesco Mattina. This might be a book to keep an eye on. I'll let you know.

Supergirl #54 - DC

On the inside of this issue, Supergirl is nowhere near as perky as she appears on this cover. In fact . . she's rather sullen, and down-trodden. She's still wallowing in the grief of what happened to New Krypton, and her mother. Although, I'm sure it's not quite as fatal as everyone believes. I mean, it was the bottle city of Kandor. I can't believe that they'd just blow it up for the sake of a story-line. I think something will happen and we'll find that the city is still around . . somewhere. But that's a story for another time. In this one Metropolis sees the arrival of Bizarro Supergirl. And she beats quite a path around the city before Lana can get Kara to get out of the house and do something to help. Also, Cat Grant overhears Lana's end of the conversation, as she's hiding in a bathroom stall. She doesn't know Kara's identity as Linda Lang, but . . she does know that somehow Supergirl and Lana are connected. In fact, she knows that Lana is a rather influential part of Supergirl's life. I'm sure she's wondering how that came about. Anyways, Jimmy and Gangbuster get captured by Bizarro Supergirl, before Kara can attempt a rescue. But we find out that Bizarro Super-girls 'see-through' vision, being the opposite of Kara's . . turns her into solid steel. The issue ends with us looking at a Supergirl statue. We also get a hint that there's somebody in Metropolis, posing as a policeman, that's capturing children. We just get the barest hint at that storyline, but . . I'm sure it'll progress soon. The creative team on this book is now Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. I think they can bring something different to this book. Now that we're done with the War of the Supermen, Kara . . er, Linda, needs to get her own life going again. I like this book. I hope that they can keep the momentum going.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #14 - DC

I wasn't thrilled with this issue, but . . it does get us back into the Hush story-line. Obviously, with Bruce coming back soon . . something is going to have to be done about Tommy. I don't necessarily mean from like the JLA's point-of-view. I mean as far as DC is concerned. Right now Tommy is posing as Bruce, while being kept under a very, very tight leash. And his jail is the Elliott family manor. The one interesting thing I found in this story is that Tommy is reading some of his late-mother's letters and journals. He's starting to get more of a feeling for how the Elliott's and Wayne's are connected. This issue we see one of the very first instances where Martha meets Thomas Wayne. Needless to say . . it didn't go well. Anyways, like I said . . something is going to have to be done about Tommy because they can't have 2 Bruce's running around. Right? I'm not sure what will happen, but . . in the meantime he's still trying to use the Wayne name. This time he's trying to use his perceived influence, and position on the Board of Arkham, to get more killers released out into the wild of Gotham. Right now . . he's trying to work on Jane Doe. Obviously it's a hopeless cause, but . . stranger things have happened. And plus . . it's really only one more in what I'm sure is ultimately his end-game. It'll be interesting to see what his real goals are. Anyways, like I said, I wasn't overly thrilled with it, but . . I do want to see what happens with Tommy. The story was brought to us by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen. For the back-up, we got the first part of a Two-Face story. Basically it's about the vacuum of power created by the Black Mask's incarceration. Two-Face wants to take over the Gotham underworld, but . . the Falcone's are ready to give up that easily. Plus, no matter what he does, he's going to have Batman to deal with. And now, apparently, the FBI. The second story was by Ivan Brandon and Ramon Bachs. Overall . . I thought it was just an average issue.

Power Girl #14 - DC

Karen has a lot of things coming down on her right now. Probably the most important this is that her company is, or was . . stolen out from under her. Well . . technically Donna didn't steal the company. That's Donna, the woman that Karen hired as her CFO. What Donna did was borrow and leverage as much money as she could against Starrware Labs . . and against it's future revenue, based on the various ideas and plans that it had in the works . . which came to about $50 million. And then . . she took off with it all. Apparently she was so enthralled with this payday that she even left her kid with her 'idiot ex-husband'. This is bad enough as it is. But on top of all of that all of this crap keeps happening . . both in and around the city in which she lives, as well as issues with the JSA . . or, I guess you'd say with the JSA All-stars, since they've now split . . that keeps drawing her attention away from being able to deal with the issues she should be dealing with at Starrware Labs. The one good decision she makes is not getting entangled in Booster's mission to take down Max Lord. Booster comes to Karen because of their time together in the JLI, but . . Karen just has to much on her plate right now. Plus . . she doesn't really know whether to believe him or not. And then . . this robot, I guess is what you'd call it . . this robot shows up that seems to be intent on destroying all of New York City. Actually, he starts out small . . just destroying the things that are in his immediate path. But then, during his fight with Karen . . he seems to upgrade, and enlarge, and now he seems to be intent on making his path of destruction much much larger. As I said, all of this is happening as Nicco is pleading with her to get back to the office. 'Emergency?! We've got the bank gestapo gutting our offices, what could be . . Karen?! . . Karen . . .' Judd Winick and Sami Basri have taken over the creative chores of this book. I'm sure Judd will do a great job. And I'm sure there's more to this story with Donna than we're getting right now. It's just that Karen hasn't slowed down long enough to really dig in to it. But sooner or later she's going to have to stop and focus. It's hard to tell where all of this is going right now . . it's only the first chapter. But I do like the feel of the book right now. I just wish that something would happen right for her. She deserves it.

Superman / Batman #74 - DC

I definitely enjoyed Paul Levitz's story here. And I thought Jerry Ordway did a great job with this painted style of art. Not to mention the great cover by Adrian Syaf. However, my problem came with the way this story was wrapped up. I don't necessarily think that it was Paul or Jerry's fault. But next issue is the 75th issue in this series, as well as the 75 anniversary of DC Comics, so . . I think they were kind of forced to wrap it up to make way for that book. To me, the problem is . . there was just so much potential with this story-line. Luthor has created this Superman cult on Earth to feed into Superman's guilt. While at the same time, had found this planet that Superman had accidentally slighted during one of his space brawls. By the time Superman got back to check up on them, and fix his mistake . . Luthor had already starting feeding them technology and prophecies making Superman out to be the bad guy. He's brainwashed them into thinking that should Superman ever return that he would be the destruction of their world. Anyways, Superman intercepts one of Luthor's deliveries . . unfortunately he's already made more that a few . . so when he finds out about it he goes back to Lex to give him a warning. And, I guess . . that's it. Now, I'm sure we'll see the ramifications of all this further on down the line . . somewhere in the future, but for now . . it's been addressed, and shut down. Like I said, there was a lot of potential here, but to me it just seemed to fall kind of short in this particular story-line. But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book . . I did. I love this series. But . . sometimes . . we get what we get. Hopefully this won't be lost and never thought about again. I don't think it will, but . . you never know.

Legion of Super-heroes #3 - DC

Well, if nothing else . . Earth-Man is certainly shaking up the status-quo of the Legion. The Legion, or Brainiac 5, doesn't know yet that Earth-Man used his Green Lantern ring to short-circuit the tracking device on his Legion ring. However, Earth-Man may have just been to smart for his own good. He kept the Green Lantern ring because he knew of the power it posessed. However, he wasn't aware that each ring comes with an obligation . . a sector of space that they're required to patrol. And now he's fighting with Colossal Boy because he's trying to leave. Gim doesn't understand that he's not trying to leave because he wants to . . well he does, but . . he's being compelled to right now by the ring. There's someone in the sector that he's been assigned that needs his help. But the Legion is still wary, so they send a team to follow him. And it's a good thing he does because he gets in over his head and the Legion has to bail him out. Kirt is already a xenophobe so, he's not to thrilled about being compelled to go to another galaxy to help out an alien race that he certainly doesn't give to squats about. When the mission is complete he gets rid of the ring and tosses it onto the planet. 'Take me back to Earth, Legionnaires . . let the Guardians name a bug Lantern . . I've had it with playing Green Lantern.' But when the ring lands, we see that embryo kind of looking creature that we've seen before. The Legion also has to confront Saturn Queen . . who's stirring up trouble out in the rubble that was once Titan. She's also holding Brainiac 5, Tyroc and Wildfire captive. But when the other Legionnaires show up . . it's just to much for her. And Garth and Irma are still out looking for their boys. They were abducted in some form of mystical flash. When Irma gives Garth the mental image that thier son saw as he was being taken, he figures out it was Avalon. It used to be a medieval world full of 'creepy magic'. However, when they arrive, they find the planet is bustling, and they see a giant statue of Darkseid. We also see a gaggle of Durlans who seem to be plotting some form of revenge against the Legion because they feel that they let RJ Brande die. So, as you can see, Paul Levitz has the Legion going in all different directions. Which is good . . it's realistic, especially considering the sheer number of members that they have. It's really the only way to work all of these various characters into the plot-lines. And I'm sure it takes a considerable amount of effort on Paul's part. But he's doing a terrific job with it. I think everybody has a favorite Legion member, and it sucks when they don't show up in one of the issues. The way Paul fills up these books, it's a pretty good chance you'll see yours. I'm also impressed with Yildiray Cinar's pencils. But he does have Francis Portela helping him a bit this issue. I liked Yildiray's work on Noble Causes. I thought he was improving with every issue. Now I think he's doing a great job. The variant cover, once again is by Jim Lee. Overall I really enjoyed the book. I definitely think that Paul and Yildiray are on the right track.

Justice Society of America #41 - DC

This was a good issue, but most of it was spent with the various heroes reacting to the Starheart's control of either their fellow team-mates, or various villains. The Starheart seems to have a 'chaotic' effect on people with powers either magic, or elemental base. Or any deviation there of. It takes control of Power Girl because her powers are based on her absorption of solar energy. So while she's not directly an elemental . . her powers use that energy. Anyways, Batman has sent Mikaal to the dark-side of the moon where they've discovered that Alan and Todd have set up base. Well . . Alan and Todd as controlled by the Starheart. Also, those 2 seem to be the main targets of the Starheart. Like they're necessary for the entire plan. Anyways, the plan is to send Mikaal in . . he puts up a convincing fight, and then when he's captured he sends information back via telepathy and M'gann. The problem is, Alan ripped the gem out of his chest, so . . he may not be alive that much longer. But . . he's still holding out and sending information while he can. At least until the Starheart takes control of M'gann and flips her out. So now Batman is sending in a team. Hopefully it's a team as far away from the affected energies as he can find. It consists of Wonder Girl, Mr America, Batman, Hourman, Jesse Quick and Jade. My only question is . . if this thing has this much of an effect on Alan and Todd who's to say that it's not going to take over Jenny as well. But at the last second a surprise guest shows up. 'I'll be the seventh soldier who'll get you in there.' It's Shiloh Norman . . Mister Miracle. I wasn't expecting him to pop up. Anyways, I think James Robinson is doing a fantastic job with this story. But to me the real star is Mark Bagley. He's pencilling both sides of this story . . the Justice League chapters, as well as the Justice Society's. And he's doing a terrific job. It doesn't look rushed or hurried. I'm telling you, this guy is an artistic machine. And he really seems to be at home with these characters . . all of them. But this is only chapter 2 of the Dark Things, so . . we've still got a lot of story to go from here.

DC Universe: Legacies #3 - DC

I like the way that they're framing this story. Rather than just giving us a time-line, and listing the events that shaped the DC Universe . . they're showing us how this world has progressed through one of it's citizens eyes . . Paul Franklin. Paul was your typical kid. He grew up in a rough neighborhood, with the always present 'bad-influences', but . . he decided to choose a better path. He decided not to try to take the easy way out . . as had been chosen by many of his neighbors and friends. Even his best friend . . Jimmey Mahoney. Part of his decision was because of some advice some 'costumes' had given him when he was a kid. He took it to heart. So, now that he's an adult, he's decided that he was to be a cop. He knows that he'll never be one of the 'capes', so . . I think this is his own way of trying to do some good. And he decides to get married . . to Jimmey's sister, Peggy. Coincidentally, Paul also serves on the force with one John Jones. But this was before he became a detective and moved to Colorado. So while all of this is going on . . in the background, the DC Universe seems to be unfolding before Paul's eyes. First it's various groups of adventurers . . such as the Sea-Devils, the Challengers of the Unknown and the Blackhawks. Then, one day . . Superman shows up. And his arrival seems to prompt others to come forward . . Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern. And it isn't until the Green Lantern pops up that Paul notices that these aren't the same heroes that he grew up with. This is a whole new generation. And shortly after, he and the world witness the formation of the Justice League. Like I said, I like the way that Len Wein is putting this story together, because, while there's a lot of heroes that have come and gone over the years . . there's also a lot of 'regular joes' . . like Paul. I think it's interesting to see an outsiders view on these progression of events. We've always seen the stories from the heroes point-of-view, but it's nice to see things from someone witnessing the event, rather than being directly involved. Len also scripts a nice story in the back about a team-up between the Challengers and the Sea-Devils. The art for the prologue is by Scott Kolins. While the main story is pencilled by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. A great artist who did a lot of work during the time period that's being presented here. Dave Gibbons does his inks. And then Dave also does the art for the back-up story. All in all I thought it was a good issue. But this was also a pretty exciting time for the DC Universe. Everything seemed to be blossoming at the same time.

Brightest Day #6 - DC

Where do I begin with this one? We're getting a clearer picture of the threat that Jonn faces, but . . we still don't know exactly who this Martian is. I thought she was one of the White Martians, but . . I don't think so. I think she's of Jonn's 'tribe', but . . different. For one . . there seems to be 2 consciousness' inside of her. They both seem to want the same thing . . carnage and destruction, but . . they argue about how to go about it. Jonn checks the Still Zone, where he's holding the White Martians, but none of them are missing. However when he goes to M'gann for support . . he finds that she's been attacked also. We don't know yet that she's dead, but . . she's gotta be seriously injured. During his travels, Jonn discovers that plant life seems to die at his touch. While he doesn't seem to have and adverse affects on animals or people. It's just something else for him to worry about. Anyways, while that's going on . . Boston, as well as Hawk and Dove, are trying to figure out what's going on with the White Ring that he's wearing. They tried to bring Hawk's brother, and Dove's sister back to life, but . . the ring doesn't seem to work that way. Or . . it doesn't want to. Also this ring talks to Boston more than the rings of the other spectrums do to it's bearer. However, most of it's messages are pretty cryptic. Right now it wants Boston to . . 'Eat a cheeseburger'. I have a feeling though that Dove is going to stick with him for a while and help him decipher these messages. Also, Jason and Ronnie have to get together, literally, to save a couple of guys at a construction site. The problem is . . Ronnie tied one on last night and is pretty hung over. They fumble through it, and Ronnie finally tells Jason that he apologizes for what happened to Gen . . that he actually remembers it. Which is amazing because no one else has any memories of what they did while transformed. He tries to explain, and apologize, but . . someone else doesn't. That little voice that they keep hearing is back. 'Yeah, he's sorry, Jace. But me? Not so much.' There's someone in the Firestorm Matrix with them. And Mera finally tells Arthur her story. It seems that the race of people she comes from were actually Atlantean . . at one time. But then they were cast off to a penal colony, after one of their civil wars, behind an impenetrable invisible shield. That was centuries ago. Mera is the King's daughter and was trained to kill the King of Atlantis should they ever be released. There was a fissure . . small enough for one person to get through, and Mera was sent to complete the task. She, however, found that Arthur wasn't whom she was told he was . . and fell in love with him. But now, apparently, they've gotten through as the people that have been attacking him are actually Xebel soldiers, and Siren . . her younger sister. Geoff Johns and Peter J Tomasi did a great job with this issue. I really like the way the story is unfolding for all of these characters . . along with the focus that's being paid to each of them. And of course the art was tremendous. Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Scott Clark, and Joe Prado should be very proud of the book that they've created it. I think it's been fantastic . . week after week.

the Invincible Iron Man #28 - Marvel

This is another series that just keeps going strong each and every month. Now that Tony has gotten his brain functioning properly again . . now he needs to focus on rebuilding his company . . Stark Resilient. I think he's got a few good people lined up, but . . he keeps getting distracted by various things as Iron Man. The most recent of which is the attack at the Japanese subway. By the time Tony and Rhodey get there, Justine Hammer and her new Detroit Steel and pretty much cleaned up the situation. However, what Tony and the rest of the world don't know is that it was Justine that created this situation. She hired the people to make the ruckus, and she outfitted them with Stark Industries cape-killer armor. Which is why Detroit Steel had to kill them all . . she couldn't leave any witness' behind. But, Justine has a younger girl with her also . . Sasha Hammer. And Tony thinks he recognizes her. He connects her to a bombing at a Taiwan hospital that happened the same night that Ezekiel Stane destroyed Start Tower in Taipei. So now he knows that they're connected. 'Whatever this Detroit Steel stuff is . . at the heart of it all is Hammer and Stane.' So what's he going to do next? 'Throw a party.' We also get a glimpse of Pepper in the hospital. She's awake . . and smiling. Anyways, I think that Matt Fraction does a great job with this story. I like the way he's showing Tony trying to rebuild his life . . without a lot of the memories of his previous one. But that doesn't slow down anyone else that does remember. Which is where all the distractions come in. I think it's a nice little drama that's unfolding. And as always, Salvador Larroca turns in a great art job.

Ultimate Spider-man #12 - Marvel

I'm not sure who this guy is, who's taken over for Peter, but . . he's really starting to make a mess of his life. Last issue MJ and Peter went to the Bugle to tell them about the story of Kitty . . you know, about the Feds showing up in school to kick her out. MJ had gotten video of it. Anyways, while there Peter sees JJ, but . . something's wrong. So he excuses himself and follows him . . to the basement. There, whomever was taking JJ's place knocks Peter out and takes his place instead. He doesn't know that he's Spider-man, but . . he does know that he's very powerful. So now, this issue, he's trying to backtrack and figure out just who Peter is, and what is his secret. He screws up the first time by kissing MJ. Then, when Gwen practically attacks him in the attic, he tells her about the encounter. Sending her off into a rage. He also almost beats up Flash. And then, the next day in school, kisses MJ again right in front of Gwen. This is when Gwen decides it's time for her to leave . . both school, and Aunt May's. That's when, while yelling at Peter, she makes a mention of the 'costumes'. The guy immediately runs to the attic and finds Spider-man's costume. 'Never doubt me again. Face it tiger . . we just hit the jackpot.' Peter's already run into Mysterio, so . . I don't think it's him. Maybe it's this reality's version of Chameleon. We don't really know yet. Anyways, this was another great issue. Brian Bendis has once again done a tremendous job with the story. I absolutely love all the interaction between these characters. Also, it was funny seeing this guy, who's taking Peter's place, have to deal with all the angst and trauma of High School life. He probably felt like he was walking into a nightmare. I also enjoyed David LaFuente's art. I think he's getting more and more comfortable with this series with every issue. I look forward to this book every month.

the Amazing Spider-man #637 - Marvel

This issue was a great way to end this story-arc. Peter found Kaine's body last issue, with a black costume laying on top of it, and a note . . 'Hunt Me!' So he does. And he's pissed. He goes after the Kravinoff's with a vengeance. Long story short . . he severely hurts most of the other 'family' members. But he's ready to kill Sergei. Which is what I think Sergei also wants. But Arana talks Peter down. Peter backs away, and when he does . . the Kravinoff's disappear. Later we find out that they've transported themselves to the Savage Land. Sergei has decided that he needs to rebuild his family . . his 'tribe'. So he issues an edict, 'If you can survive . . then you're strong enough to help me begin anew.' But really that just comes down to his son, Alyosha, and daughter, Ana. Because he kills Sasha and Vladimir. Anyways, the important part of all of this is the changes in the Spider-family. Sasha had slit Cassandra, Madame Web's, throat. But in her final moments she transfers her powers over to Julia Carpenter. So, since Julia is the new 'Madame Web', she no longer has need of her black costume. So she gives it to Anya. But she doesn't want to be called Spider-girl. She wants to stick with Arana. At least for now. And on the final page we see that Kaine has had a metamorphosis once again. He's rising from the grave, in response to Sergei's return . . 'One hunter cheats death and now walks the Earth . . so another must rise to meet him'. And he's returning as . . Tarantula. I thought Joe Kelly did a fantastic job with this story. I especially liked the intensity that he gave Peter . . the focus. Also the art by Michael Lark, Marco Checchetto, Stefano Gaudiano and Matt Southworth was really solid. There were some great visual moments in this issue. I think this will definitely go down as a classic. I even liked the conclusion to Kaine's story by JM DeMatteis and Max Fiumara. But I thought the Spidey Sundays by Stan Lee and Marcos Martin were a little corny. Anyways, overall it was a great issue. And next issue . . Mary Jane is back.

X-Force: Sex and Violence #1 - Marvel

This issue opens up the story and sets the stage. Basically, Domino had done some work for the Assassin's Guild . . without actually realizing whom she was working for . . that put her in direct conflict with the Hand. This all happened a while ago, but . . this day the Guild has decided that it's time to come after Domino and settle their debts. So, of course . . she comes running straight to X-Force. I mean . . who else is she going to go to. Anyways, her story is . . they hired her because the Hand was running guns through the Gulf. This was the Guild's territory, so they weren't very happy about that. So, as she's doing what she's told she finds out that the Hand is actually trafficking in human slaves . . young Asian women. So she cuts her losses. She leaves the Guild hanging, and . . she takes the Hand's shipment of girls and gets them out of the bayou. The only problem is . . Domino isn't being completely above board with her story. Later she and Logan are attacked by the Guild. They make pretty short work of their soldiers. However, they've brought an enforcer with them, and he says he's come for payback. 'NEENA!! Where's the money!!' Apparently Domino stole a little more from them than just the girls. This was another cool X-Force story by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. I guess this will fill in for the interim until they get their new title . . and new team. Josh is here to help them this issue, but really he's about the only one we see. I thought it was a good story . . or beginning to one. We'll see how the next 2 issues play out. Also, Gabriele Dell'Otto did an incredible job with the art. What is it about this book that brings out the best in it's artists? Anyways . . I can't wait to see what happens next.

X-Men: Hellbound #3 - Marvel

This one pretty much ends the way we expect it to, but . . it was still a pretty cool ride along the way. I thought Chris Yost did a good job with the story. And Harvey Tolibao's pencils this issue . . the some help from Tom Raney . . were simply fantastic. The story was pretty cool, but . . the art was amazing. There are some really cool pictures in this issue. I especially liked Harvey's interpretation of Illyana and Megan. They're really two sides of the same coin . . who share an intimate connection, since Illyana has a piece of her soul. But despite the prodding that N'Astirh has been pushing on to Megan, she still fights for Illyana. 'She's an X-man. That's what we do!' We also see that Remy has given in to his Death persona . . as appropriated to him via Apocalypse . . or, it's come to the forefront because of the influence of this realm. Regardless, during the course of this story he's decided that he wants to be the ruler of Limbo. It was a pretty cool gambit . . pun intended . . that resulting in Sam stepping up and showing us that he's still one of the strongest X-Men there is. We've gotten used to him being his 'aw-shucks', hayseed self lately. But we're reminded that he was actually trained by Nathan . . to be a soldier. Anyways, in the end, the team rescues Illyana with minimal casualties. She's once again the ruler of Limbo, but I think she's a little more tolerant of the X-Men now. I think the piece of Megan's soul that she possesses may actually be helping her. She's never been 'social', but . . I think she's found some friends in these young X-Men that keep stepping up to the plate for her. I thought it was a good issue and a great series. I'm interested to see what the aftereffects on these characters will be though. Especially Remy. And hopefully Illyana will have a more prominent role in the New Mutants title.