- Green Lantern #54- Atrocitus has been hanging out in the NYC subway with Dex-Starr (the RL cat) and creepily uses some blood to track the Entities of Light on Earth. Meanwhile, Hal, Carol and Sinestro try to pull the proverbial sword from the stone. A message plays when they try together. They need to gather the resurrected and find the Entities. Who are given names. Predator, Ion and Parallax we know... the rest are: Ophidian (orange), Adara (blue), Proselyte (indigo) and Butcher (red). A mysterious figure pulls Sodam Yat from Daxam's sun and removes Ion from him tethering it next to Parallax. Great art and dialogue keep this slow issue from feeling so.
- Superman: War Of The Supermen #4- A good year and a half of story wraps up in this issue with the whole New Krypton and exiled Superman idea and all the characters and plotlines that developed out of it being cleared away for JMS basically. While Superman and Supergirl get some fight scenes (mostly Superman vs Zod) it's really Superboy and Krypto who are the heroes. SB comes up with the solution to stop the slaughter on both sides and Krypto helps implement it. They save Kara from Ursa, the JLA from Non and Superman from Zod's troops. Krypto even takes a kryptonite knife to the gut from Zod (he lives I guess) which was a big "NOOOO!" scene for me. Gen. Lane shoots himself rather than face any charges. Nightwing/Chris Kent saves Superman from keeping Zod in the Zone forever and reverts back to his kid form finding Mon-El. The Guardian resigns and leaves town.
- Justice League: Generation Lost #2- The JLI desperately tries to convince the rest of the superheroes that Max Lord exists which leads to some comical, yet saddening conversations. As people who are "pushed" come up with alternate explanations for past events. The most egregious being that Ted Kord committed suicide. It also seems that Max is now targeting the JLI by discrediting them, making them hunted. A really good series so far, the Winick/Giffen teaming seems solid.
- Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1- The many characters and plots from DNA's cosmic books converge in this prologue to the "mini-event". Nova, Quasar, the Imperial Guard/Guardian, the Inhumans, the Guardians of the Galaxy. The evil-Quasar and the Magus open the rift in the Fault to the "Cthulu Elder God" universe and we see who the big bad is... and why Thanos will have to be the "hero" of this story. I can't wait to see how this turns out.
- Green Lantern Corps #48- As Ganthet joins the Corps as a Lantern (making his own ring in a way cool scene) it seems the Alpha Lanterns have been "recruiting" others to their ranks willing or not. [The Guardians are their own worst enemy]. Ganthet, Guy and Atrocitus meet to discuss a course of action that might set them against Hal. As Atrocitus is in the GL book too, it'll be interesting to find out how both stories fit together. Bedard seems to be a good successor to Tomasi.
- Secret Avengers #1- I like the team members assembled here. Each brings something to the group; scientific knowledge, technical expertise, etc. Already, in the first issue there is a more natural and ease with which the characters work together than the ACTUAL Avengers title. I still don't see the point of having or needing a "secret" Avengers team. Oh, I understand from the story why, I just don't see it needed as a concept, but that's just me. I have no doubt that this will become THE Avengers title for me and I'm interested in the reveal of the leader of the SA's opponents, the Shadow Council.
The Alright:
- Doomwar #4- This was a standard "we're losing the battle" type story redeemed by the introduction of Deadpool to the storyline ['cause he wasn't in enough books already]. What could have easily been another crass use of an overexposed popular character turned out to be a cool, clever and funny bit of writing. The art was fair with more attention paid to the part that introduced Deadpool to the story.
- X-Force #27- Half of the issue was dialogue free quarter/half page panels showing the battle as the X-Men fight of the first wave of Nimrod Sentinels. Once dealt with, Cyclops came up with the plan for the next wave. X-Force's true nature was revealed to the rest of the X-Men but discussions on it's moral implications were put off until the end of the crossover, er.. the current situation is resolved (i.e. they survive). The battle scenes weren't too action-y, more like still photos than action scenes. The planning scenes were a bit too verbose [making up for the "silent" parts, I guess] The next month's issues wrap up this X-over.
- Atlas #1- Left from last week. This new start (third) to the group continued the storyline of the 1950's super team. It added the modern day version of 3D-Man into the mix. He was introduced to the MU in Kurt Busiek's Avengers as Triathlon and last seen in Avengers: Initiative and Skrull Kill Krew during Secret Invasion. I was glad to see the character reused here. He's probably one of the most hated characters because of the way he was introduced and put on the Avengers. I admit that I hated him, but he grew on me. Eventually he was linked to the original 3D-Man and that went a long way in changing my opinion of the character. That said, I don't think that there was anything that would bring in new readers. If you were reading Atlas in the past, it was building on that familiarity and moving that story forward.
- Thunderbolts #144- I was interested in this new direction for the title. Which was going to be a return to the "classic" T-bolts (villains truly wanting to reform as heroes). What really attracted me was the return of some of those original T-bolts: MACH V(now), Songbird and Moonstone. An interesting dynamic since they were last together. However, they didn't get that much time together as this issue focused on the other members more. Now [and this is me speaking as a fan], I think Marvel really missed an opportunity here. Who better to restore the tarnished name of the Thunderbolts than the one hero who made that first team into heroes..., Hawkeye! Don't get me wrong, I like Luke Cage. But, To me it makes sense that Clint would do this. Cap/Steve Rogers saw and recognized what he had achieved with those T-bolts and I could see him asking Clint to "fix" the team name he helped establish. As is, the use of Luke Cage and the prison element gave it a Suicide Squad feel that I don't know how to respond to. The last page did have a welcome surprise and will keep me around for the next issue even though I'm not really liking the art.
- Fantastic Four #679- Dale Eaglesham's art is the only reason to buy this title. This issue was a lot of pretty pictures and nothing happening. Reed visits the Wizard in jail then sets up a school...yes, he's teaching. Okay, his students are from some of the last few issues of FF including Dragon Man, the fishlike Atlanteans, his own daughter and Artie from X-Factor/New Mutants in 90's. Actually I liked how Hickman gave some growth to that character and his powers. I cannot get over the fact that this title has yet to show the Fantastic FOUR! There is lots of issues with one or two, but few with all four together.
The Bad:
- Batman: The Return Of Bruce Wayne #2- On this episode of Quantum Leap Sam leapt back to Puritan times. Seriously, in this issue Morrison sent Bruce to the early 1700's where he took up immediate battle with a C'thulu evoking Lovecraftian creature. Taken in by a women he rescued from said creature, he became a witchhunter (more apt to base explanations on deductive reasoning than superstition) in Gotham. Meanwhile, the heroes talked to an archivist at the end of time. There was an explanation of Morrison's take on time and time travel in the DCU. In a WTF moment the archivist revealed itself to be Bruce who left the heroes stranded as time (literally) ran out. Oh, and Bruce bumped into his ancestor Nathaniel Wayne who was revealed in Batman & Robin to be a not nice man. I really did not like this art and that's why it's in the Bad category. Otherwise it's perfectly mediocre.
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